Twitter has published the latest version of its monthly event calendar, highlighting all the key dates in June to be aware of.
Twitter's event calendars can be a big help in guiding your content strategy - not only do they highlight all the major events you can tap into, but Twitter also includes specific tweet volume numbers for selected topics, giving you a better idea of just how much discussion each is likely to generate (note: if you want to get specific numbers for each event, you can check Twitter's event targeting listings)
So what are the key dates to be aware of next month?
As you can see, there's a broad range of events, with Father's Day being the big one, in a general sense (though the CMA Awards is likely to generate a lot more Twitter conversation). There's also a heap of sports tie-in opportunities, along with 'National Selfie Day' and 'Social Media Day', all worth considering for your promotions.
As noted, Twitter's calendars can be a big help in keeping you on top of the latest happenings, and if you're looking to tap into the rising tweet stream, these events can be a great way to increase brand awareness and make your brand part of the surrounding conversation.
You can download Twitter's June 2018 event calendar here.
Written by: Andrew Hutchinson
May 22, 2018
How to Find Quality Micro-influencers (Even if You're Clueless About Influencer Marketing)
Social media influencers are in high demand, with household brands courting them to become advocates and promoters of their products. But high demand for these influencers also pushes up the costs of using them - as a way around that, small businesses looking to use influencer marketing are increasingly turning to micro influencers.
Like celebrities, influencers with readymade audiences are difficult to engage. Micro-influencers, however, are more approachable, and affordable. They also often have the added benefit of better engagement with their audiences than their high-profile counterparts.
Credibility and trust sway consumer buying and purchasing decisions, and often, micro influencers have more on both fronts with their individual readers or audience members.
For small business owners, the challenge of building such trust with your target audience is time-consuming, but it is also vitally important in this hyper-competitive environment.
What is a micro influencer?
A micro-influencer is someone with a following of anywhere between 1,000 to 100,000 people. This can be on any platform, and many have their own blogs and websites.
Micro-influencers are focused on a targeted niche, and as noted, often come with the advantage of high audience engagement, since their follower numbers are smaller, and thus, easier for them to engage with more often.
Having smaller audiences also means the cost to compensate them is also generally significantly lower than celebrities and high profile accounts.
Where do you look for social media micro-influencers?
The first place to look is your own “backyard.”
Sift through your social media platforms and your blog. Check and see who's commenting and sharing your content. Sometimes these people are micro-influencers.
Now, if a micro-influencer is engaging with your brand, that person is already plugged-in to your target audience. Also, it’s likely they’re already predisposed to your brand, and familiar with your products, which will save time trying to persuade them to work with you.
When you do reach out, be sure to be polite and thank them for following you and interacting with your content. Be sure to follow them on their social channels and participate there - they will appreciate your taking notice and being active.
Whatever you do, don’t begin your dialog by bluntly asking them to participate in your influencer campaign. No one appreciates being sold to, and micro-influencers are no different. Be polite, it goes a long way.
Look for quality content
Quality content and integrity are paramount.
Here’s what I mean by that - does the influencer produce quality content (video, photos and blog copy)? Think of it from the point of view of your brand - is the influencer someone you want to be associated with? Do they produce content you want your company to be associated with?
For example, if you're a family-friendly brand, look to see if the micro influencers use profanity or engage in inappropriate behavior. Do they conduct themselves well and are they a good fit?
Be mindful of congruence and engagement
If you find a micro-influencer that's a huge pastry connoisseur, for example, but your business is about following a sugar-free diet, then they’re probably not the right influencer for you, even if they are engaging with your content.
Not only should they produce the kind of content you want to be associated with your brand, but they should get good engagement with their followers - remember, engagement is far more important than reach.
Check to see how often your targeted micro-influencer posts, and how much reaction it gets in the form of shares, comments, and likes.
The more a micro-influencer engages with their audience, the more influential they are with them. Frequency is good as they are more likely to be considered credible, relevant, and up-to-date with the audience’s needs and concerns. This is what you want.
Once you weigh relevance and communication styles, you’ll want to narrow down your micro-influencers by reach.
How to find micro influencers quickly and easily
An effective strategy for finding the right kind of micro-influencer for your business is using hashtag search features, particularly branded hashtags.
If you search #YourBrandName, you’ll be able to find people who are already engaging with your brand (if they are). This is a simple and straight-forward way of finding out which micro-influencers are already talking about you - these are some of your best bets, as they're already acquainted with your business and will be easier to persuade over influencers who aren’t familiar with you.
When you’re ready to expand your search, you can try hashtags for topics relevant to your brand and products. Simply type your hashtags into the Instagram search bar and a range of choices will pop up.
Let’s say, for example, your business is in the healthy food space. You’d simply type that hashtag into the Instagram search bar:
Another way to find micro influencers is to use influencer databases - some are free, simple and easy. They also provide the added bonus of statistical data on the influencers too.
For example, Scrunch is an easy to use platform which enables you to find micro-influencers quickly. You can also filter them based on category.
In the example below, I put in a search for influencers who cover the topic of marketing:
Some of the statistics Scrunch offers includes audience size, the social platforms the influencers use, the approximate cost to have them create content for you and the topics they post about.
These are all provided with the free version - more advanced statistics are available when you subscribe to the pro version.
Another platform to try is Tinysponsor. This tool focuses on micro-influencers, and enables businesses to find and collaborate, regardless of location or social platform. You can even pay the influencers through it.
When you visit Tinysponsor simply click on the “continue” button and set up your brand profile, then start searching.
Tinysponsor even allows you to search ready-made packages, influencer by influencer or in bulk, by platform, price, city (so you can get local) and tags, so there are lots of options to choose from.
You can add the packages to your cart, define your goals, then checkout. Sponsorships are confirmed by each micro influencer, and funds are held in a protected account.
This enables you to collaborate directly with each micro-influencer on your sponsorship. Once delivered and approved by you, payment is instantly sent.
Anyone of these methods and tools is sufficient to quickly find micro influencers relevant to your business.
The hardest part is getting started, but once you do, you’ll be able to find influencers on demand.
Wrapping up
Influencer marketing is one of the most effective forms of gaining mindshare with your ideal consumers quickly and effectively.
Because of their high engagement rates and cost-effectiveness, most small businesses can leverage this strategy anytime they want - but keep in mind this critical point: The size of the audience is not as important as the engagement. You want to see an active audience.
Even influencers with very small audiences can help you boost your brand’s authenticity and standing. Now you can outmaneuver larger competitors, because you can connect with an already targeted and motivated audience which will skyrocket your brand.
Written By: Tom Augenthaler
May 17, 2018
5 Ways to Build a Useful Editorial Calendar
Executing on a content marketing strategy is a lot of work, but when you combine the efforts of a well-managed team, the results can be downright magical. The challenge, of course, is co-ordination - each contributor has conflicting priorities, and their own, unique style. To keep everyone on the same page you need an editorial calendar.
In its simplest form, an editorial calendar is a document that communicates what you plan to publish, when you'll publish it, and who'll handle each component. But if you choose the right tool it could do so much more - an editorial calendar can also help you clarify the purpose of each piece of content and improve collaboration within your team/s.
But there isn’t one solution that’s ideal for everyone - the trick is to identify a tool that suits the complexity and frequency of your publishing schedule, and that your team will actually use.
Here are five ways to build an editorial calendar, and the pros and cons of each approach.
1. Using a Spreadsheet as an Editorial Calendar
Spreadsheets are great for many organizational tasks, and that includes editorial calendars. Anyone with a computer can access some form of a spreadsheet, and as long as you keep it simple, most people are reasonably comfortable using one.
Spreadsheet style editorial calendars are best for content teams which publish once or twice per week (or less), and it’s useful to set them up in a common environment (like Google Docs or OneDrive) so you can share them with your team members and collaborate on changes.
I sometimes see editorial spreadsheets that have been set up to look like an actual calendar - personally, I find that this limits the tool’s utility. Instead, I prefer to use the traditional row and column layout, so I can manipulate and sort the data when I need a different view.
The information included in an editorial calendar will vary from one organization to the next, but it will usually look something like this:
In addition to the columns shown here, it's often helpful to include other information. For example, I like to add the search volume for my target keywords and links to relevant research.
Pros of a Spreadsheet Style Editorial Calendar:
- Low barrier to entry. Most people have access to and feel comfortable using a simple spreadsheet.
- Limited adoption challenges. Team members can incorporate this tool into their existing file structure and workflow.
- Simple to set up.
- Some collaboration capabilities (if the spreadsheet lives on a shared drive).
- Few limitations. You can use a spreadsheet to do almost anything.
Cons of a Spreadsheet Style Editorial Calendar:
- Spreadsheets require manual maintenance. If your entire team doesn’t commit to using this tool it will become dated.
- Limited scalability. Spreadsheets are great for small teams who publish once or twice a week, but they can become unwieldy if your publication frequency increases.
- Permissions must be carefully managed to avoid unwanted changes to this critical document.
- Limited workflow collaboration capabilities.
2. Building an Editorial Calendar with Google Calendar
If your team uses Google Calendar, setting up a separate editorial calendar in that same environment is another viable option.
From within Google Calendar, click on the plus sign next to “Add a friend’s calendar” and choose “New Calendar.”
Then select your new calendar and click on the three vertical dots to the right of the name to edit the settings and share the calendar with your team.
Now you can populate the calendar with your content plan and keep everyone informed of the publication schedule.
Add alerts, files and links to each entry, so that your authors will have access to everything they need to complete each piece.
Like spreadsheets, using a Google Calendar to manage your content production schedule is best when your publishing frequency is light - although the tool is familiar and there are some collaboration capabilities, it can become frustrating to those who publish a lot of content.
Pros of Using Google Calendar as an Editorial Calendar:
- Low barrier to entry. Google Calendar is free, familiar and easy to use.
- Limited adoption challenges. Those who already use Google’s suite of tools will find it quite natural to integrate this option into their workflow.
- Simple set up.
Cons of Using Google Calendar as an Editorial Calendar:
- If your team doesn’t use Google Calendar they may not be willing to start now.
- Limited scalability. This is a very simple solution. Using Google Calendar to manage your editorial process can become cumbersome if your publishing frequency increases.
- Limited collaboration capabilities. Complex editorial workflows would benefit from a more robust tool.
3. Integrating an Editorial Calendar into Task or Project Management Tools
If your team already uses a productivity solution, you might be able to build an editorial calendar right into your existing tool. This is a terrific option when several team members work on each piece of content - the right solution can help you manage that workflow and keep everyone informed.
There are many such tools, but I prefer Asana and will use it to illustrate this point.
Asana organizes work into “projects” and the individual “tasks” related each project. You can then view those tasks as a list or on a “Kanban” board - here's an example of an editorial calendar project in Asana that has been set up using the Kanban method.
In this example, a card represents each piece of content (or task) you intend to create. As work is completed, you move the cards from left to right to visually track your progress. But the real magic happens inside each individual card.
Within each card, you can break down tasks into subtasks, and assign them to individual contributors. For example, if you need a graphic for your next blog post, you can assign that subtask to your graphic designer, and that person will then get an alert (with the requested due date). They can then either accept the assignment or request a change.
You can also attach files and communicate with your team right within the tool - this means you'll have everything related to each piece of content in one place.
This is just one example of how you might use a productivity tool to create an editorial calendar and workflow - the list of pros and cons will vary based on the tool you choose and how you use it, but here are the pros and cons of using Asana.
Pros of Using Asana as an Editorial Calendar:
- If you already use the solution you can build your editorial calendar right into your existing task management workflow. This negates the need to juggle documents or manage a complicated solution adoption process.
- Collaboration features make it easy to communicate the status of individual pieces of content and their associated tasks. This will help you avoid bottlenecks.
- Premium features add rich project management functionality that improves the tool’s utility.
Cons of Using Asana as an Editorial Calendar:
- If your team doesn't use a common tool for collaborating on tasks, you'll need to agree on a solution and go through an adoption process.
- Most productivity tools were designed to manage a wide variety of projects and tasks, which means that they may lack features of particular interest to content managers.
- Building an editorial calendar into your productivity solution should work for a moderate production schedule but may challenge your ability to scale.
If you like this concept (especially the Kanban method), but don’t think Asana is right for you, Trello and Monday are good alternatives.
4. Using Airtable as an Editorial Calendar
Spreadsheets and collaborative to-do lists are perfectly fine for managing the content needs of a small team, but you may find that you need a more robust editorial calendar solution as your program matures. Airtable is a good option for people who like using spreadsheets but need something more.
Airtable is a cloud-based application which offers the deep functionality and relational aspects of a database in a visually appealing spreadsheet format. The tool enables you to collaborate with team members, attach files and segment data - a basic version is available for free, while feature-rich upgrades are $20 per user, per month.
This tool is useful for managing a rigorous editorial schedule. There is a learning curve, but Airtable provides use case templates to get you started. Here's a screenshot of their digital content calendar template.
I choose this template because it shows how Airtable can work for a large, prolific team. They also provide simple templates for smaller scale projects, such as the management of the editorial calendar for a blog.
Pros of Using Airtable as an Editorial Calendar:
- Superior collaboration capabilities when compared to spreadsheets.
- Provides robust relational database functionality, combined with easy ways to view and sort the data. This flexibility satisfies spreadsheet fans while also accommodating visual types with calendar, Kanban and gallery views of the same data.
- Offers integrations with many popular applications. This makes it easier to build the solution into your workflow.
Cons of Using Airtable as an Editorial Calendar:
- Significant learning curve, particularly for those who are not familiar with databases.
- Airtable isn’t mainstream yet, which means you’re adding a new tool to the mix and may encounter resistance.
- Spreadsheet power users may expect certain functionality that isn’t yet available. This will require patience. The solution is becoming quite popular and is adding new capabilities all the time.
- Like a spreadsheet, manual updates are necessary to keep the tool effective.
- This solution wasn’t designed specifically for marketers. Marketing-centric features are present but aren't necessarily a top priority.
5. Adopting CoSchedule as Your Editorial Calendar
CoSchedule is a content planning and execution tool designed for marketers. You can use it to build an editorial calendar for all your content and campaigns, while you can also use it to collaborate with contributors and schedule social media posts, all in one place.
The company offers a wide range of pricing options - basic capabilities for bloggers start at $40 per month. The most advanced level of functionality (for enterprises) is $1,200 per month.
Planned content is presented on a calendar, which can show everything or a filtered view. You can manage each piece of content using a customizable, collaborative workflow, so that you always know where things stand. You can also set up a social sharing plan for each piece of content and use it to populate a built-in social media scheduling tool.
Pros of Using the CoSchedule Editorial Calendar:
- Designed for marketers.
- Useful for managing all types of content – blogs, resources, social media content, graphics, white papers, etc.
- Handles the entire content production process – from ideation to publication to social promotion.
- Doubles as a scheduling tool for social media posts. You can set up the entire social sharing plan for each piece of content as part of your content creation workflow.
Cons of Using the CoSchedule Editorial Calendar:
- Yet another tool to adopt and integrate into your workflow. It’s great if all you work on is content, but it doesn’t accommodate the need to manage other types of tasks (the company recently implemented an integration with Zapier, which may make this issue easier to work through).
- Analytics data is limited to the impact of social posts.
- The calendar format is the only option for viewing your plan - you can't convert it to list form.
- Calendar data resides in the tool. You can't extract it for further analysis. For example, if you want to conduct a content audit, you'll need to build an inventory of your content separately.
Choosing an Editorial Calendar Solution
The system you select for documenting and collaborating on your editorial calendar will have a big impact on your efficiency. Defining your requirements, and exploring the solutions above, is a good place to start if you’re working with a small or medium-sized team. There are other options that may be more suitable to your situation, but we'll save that discussion for another day.
May 14, 2018
Beyond keywords: What really matters in SEO content
Going beyond keywords to write high-quality content that attracts new customers and is SEO-friendly is the way to go, says contributor Jessica Foster. Here she shares eight ways to create content that satisfies people and engines.
Just when we thought the saying “Content is king” was gone for good, there it goes showing its sneaky little face again in the search engine optimization (SEO) world.
Bearing in mind also that “Content is queen,” it appears that content is, in fact, pretty danged important — so important that a new sub-industry has squeezed its way into the search engine world: SEO content writing.
Otherwise referred to as “SEO copywriting,” SEO content writing has a bad reputation for being chock-full of keywords and little else. Though this may be more of a stereotype than reality, there is something to be said for going beyond keywords to write high-quality content that attracts new customers AND is SEO-friendly.
What’s the deal with ‘high-quality’ content?
The focus is typically on “high-quality” content — a term that becomes more subjective by the minute. It leads to questions like
- What really makes SEO content “high-quality?”
- Is it measurable?
- More importantly, can it be recreated again and again?
The standard formula of:
keyword research + good writing + on-page SEO = high-quality content
may not be the move anymore. It’s simply not enough. In fact, keywords may be even less important than we all think.
Beyond keyword research
Being consistent with great SEO content writing doesn’t mean it should be formulaic.
Depending too much on robust keyword research and on-page SEO will result in dry content that appeals more to search engines than it does your target audience. Mastering the art of SEO content writing can be the difference between attracting a few website visitors and creating dedicated customers
That all being said, there is a sweet spot between creative content and “content” as we know it. The key lies in going far beyond keyword research and really understanding how words can be used to both attract traffic and drive conversions.
1. Keyword research, the right way
Though this post is all about going beyond keywords, it’s worth addressing what level of keyword research should be done before hopping into content writing. Keywords are still a component of SEO content — but perhaps shouldn’t be as important a component as traditionally thought.
First, your approach to writing new content should fit in with your existing SEO strategy. This should be a no-brainer, but it is a frequent issue I see in SEO content.
For instance, many business owners and SEOs outsource copywriting with little collaboration with the writer on what keywords are to be used. And, even if keywords are provided, it is unlikely that the writer really understands the fundamentals of using keywords in their writing beyond “keyword density.” This results in content that is incohesive and not SEO-friendly.
Second, when it comes to performing keyword research for your new content, look beyond the data. Sure, SEO tools can tell us a lot in terms of search volume and competition level, but can they tell us what content is really engaging to users? Doing a Google search on your target terms and seeing what post titles come up and how many comments and even social shares they get will give you some ideas as to what content is drawing people in and enticing them to engage.
Finally, SEOs and copywriters alike can spend far too much time focusing on terms they think are relevant without stepping back to see the full picture.
Sure, your rankings may increase due to great SEO, but there are many other factors to consider. Is your audience reading through the entire post? Are they sharing it? Are they opting into your calls to action? These elements of your writing should be your main focus. Be sure to have an outline in place, along with your keyword research, to ensure that you aren’t skimming over what matters most: what is going to help you drive conversions.
Second, when it comes to performing keyword research for your new content, look beyond the data. Sure, SEO tools can tell us a lot in terms of search volume and competition level, but can they tell us what content is really engaging to users? Doing a Google search on your target terms and seeing what post titles come up and how many comments and even social shares they get will give you some ideas as to what content is drawing people in and enticing them to engage.
Finally, SEOs and copywriters alike can spend far too much time focusing on terms they think are relevant without stepping back to see the full picture.
Sure, your rankings may increase due to great SEO, but there are many other factors to consider. Is your audience reading through the entire post? Are they sharing it? Are they opting into your calls to action? These elements of your writing should be your main focus. Be sure to have an outline in place, along with your keyword research, to ensure that you aren’t skimming over what matters most: what is going to help you drive conversions.
2. Get organized
How often have you had a new content idea pop into your head and instantly put fingers on the keyboard?
As much as I am a fan of writing when you feel inspired, there needs to be a structure for your content from the very beginning. Content that is too “stream-of-consciousness” or unorganized simply doesn’t convert well. There is a difference between having a conversational tone and writing whatever comes into your brain. I’m here to say that there is a way to capture that creative flow, all while putting out content that works.
Create an outline of the potential post or page, including the title and headings. Organize your content into sections that are cohesive and keep the reader interested. Figure out if and where the content fits into your website overall and what purpose it serves. You can even go as far as to decide what internal links will be used. Having a plan will both help in overall organization and ensure that it fits into the framework of your existing site.
3. On-brand is your best friend
One component of SEO content writing that is rarely, if ever, talked about is branding. As more SEO experts become aware of the intersection between SEO and a larger marketing strategy, it becomes apparent how big a role branding plays in a business’s success.
Your website content is no exception. This is why hiring out for copywriting outside of the brand, or even the industry, can be a risky move. For one, you risk having the overall tone of the writing shift and become incohesive with the rest of the brand message, and even the most subtle variations can be picked up by readers.
A good way to ensure that your content is on-brand and stays true to the business message is to utilize language that is used throughout the existing site and marketing materials.
For instance:
- Does the brand use the word “passionate” rather than “driven?”
- Are there elements of their tagline that can be broken down and used throughout the text?
- Does their About page have a conversational tone or a professional one?
These are all subtleties to look out for that can make all the difference.
A great SEO copywriter will be able to pick up on the tone, vocabulary and message a brand is putting out and capture it in the posts and pages. There should be no question from the target audience who the content came from and what the message is.
On-brand content means that users can come to depend on the brand acting and sounding a certain way. It ultimately comes down to trust. If a user trusts a brand and understands its core mission, then they are more likely to buy.
4. Integrity & authenticity matter
Integrity and authenticity may seem like “fluffy” words that have no place in the often formulaic world of SEO. But when it comes to writing content that drives more than just traffic (i.e., sales), then these two elements can be the difference between website visitors and paying customers.
There are many SEO and marketing strategies that can drive traffic to a page. What matters is what actions users take once they get there. No amount of strong-arming will convince a user to buy. It takes integrity and authenticity to get them there.
People are becoming more and more aware of shady marketing tactics, and traditional methods of manipulation simply don’t work anymore. A website that makes it clear what the brand’s message is, the service it provides and how it can help potential customers truly has a leg up on the rest. Your content should be authentic, honest and in line with the ethics of your business. Otherwise, you will lose your customers before you even get them.
5.Know your target audience
Creating great SEO content goes beyond writing what you think your target audience wants to read to truly listening to what they want to know.
Are you in tune with their needs? Are there questions in the comments section that should be addressed? Are you writing down their common concerns and pain points? If so, these all open the door to creating solid content that will meet their immediate needs and drive them to seek out your services.
It is not enough to do keyword research to see what they are searching for. If that is the foundation of your content, you are likely to attract some readers but little else. But if you are able to keep them on site longer by creating a vast web of information, you are more likely to get them hooked from start to finish.
Even more, if you engage with them using language they understand and bring up their pain points, you are likely to convince them to fill out that contact form, subscribe or pick up the phone.
If you are struggling to think up fresh and engaging content ideas, be intentional about paying attention to what your customers and potential customers are telling you and asking for. Then, do a quick search to see if any other sites have addressed this issue, and how.
If you aren’t snatching up those opportunities, and another business is, you may be leaving money on the table.
6. Micro-engagement makes the difference
Long-form content can be a bore. For that reason, keeping readers engaged throughout the content can be quite difficult. However, mastering the art of micro-engagement can take your SEO content to the next level.
When it comes to informative content that can be a bit of a yawn, it’s a good move to try some different tactics to keep users engaged. Micro-engagement, as I refer to it here, means incorporating elements in your content to keep readers clicking, scrolling and reading more.
This is where a solid understanding of your target audience really comes into play. You should have a sense of what kind of content keeps your audience engaged. Testing different approaches and looking at the results can be a great data-driven method for seeing what works and what doesn’t.
Here are some suggestions to boost micro-engagement:
- Numbered or bulleted lists.
- Engaging photos (that are relevant to the text).
- Funny GIFs or memes.
- Informative and interesting videos.
- Infographics.
- Quizzes or surveys.
- Visually appealing design.
- Calls to action.
- Block quotes.
- Bold text.
- Thought-provoking questions.
- Stories.
- Examples.
- Helpful tips.
Incorporate a few of these ideas into your SEO content and see the difference. Over time, you will get a sense of what your audience likes, what keeps them engaged and what entices them to perform certain actions on your site. This list is by no means exhaustive; feel free to get creative with it and see what happens!
7. Content ‘freshness’ and competitive analysis where it counts
"Freshness” usually refers to having fresh new content on your website, but I believe this should extend beyond that. In other words, you should be putting unique ideas out into the world. How do you do that? By making competitive analysis a part of your SEO content strategy.
Scroll through any SEO or digital marketing site, and you are likely to find the basic posts and pages: “What is SEO?,” “Why You Should Hire an SEO Expert” and the like saturate these sites, and these topics are covered ad nauseam.
What these sites, and others outside of the SEO industry, fail to do is proper competitive analysis when coming up with new content ideas. That is, they are rewriting and reworking the same content that their competitors are using. This is not a good move.
What takes businesses to the top is looking at what competitors are doing and doing it better. Sometimes this even means doing something different. Whenever you are about to write a new piece of content, look to see what your competitors are doing, and consider how you can take it up a notch.
Your best approach is to stay ahead of the curve.
8. Data is everything
You simply can’t create great SEO content without looking at the data.
With a vast array of tools, SEOs and business owners alike should be looking to see what content is performing well, and why. They should be tracking conversions everywhere users are performing an action and seeing what works. This data will indicate the kind of content they can and should create in the future.
Staying on top of your analytics will not only show you the numbers in terms of traffic, but time on page, bounce rate and other valuable metrics that indicate how your content is performing. Through these, you can learn from your mistakes and imitate the strategies that are working. Without this knowledge, you are essentially flying blind and are again playing the guessing game.
Following the data throughout the process will help ensure that you are on the right track and that your utilization of the above principles is working for your business.
To close
There is no cookie-cutter approach to SEO content, but the fundamentals are still there. Write content for people, structure it for search engines and create an experience that is engaging and bound to drive the traffic you deserve.
Written by: Jessica Foster
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