Are you completely satisfied together with your content marketing?
Even when the reply is “You bet I’m!” and in case you’ve been hitting your KPIs consistently, there’s a risk of getting stuck in a rut and subsequently reaching a plateau. In other words, although the tactics you implement aren’t necessarily incorrect or ineffective, sometimes the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach can hold you back from achieving greater success.
So, if you desire to unlock the complete potential of your content marketing, it’s essential to breathe latest life into your content marketing efforts and take a look at something different.
Listed below are eight tricks to serve you as a blueprint.
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1. Involve Third-Party Experts in Creating and Reviewing Your Content
4 eyes see higher than two.
Having plenty of startup experience and knowing your services or products inside out doesn’t routinely imply your content will at all times reflect this fact. Quite the alternative — it would fail to deliver the message or give your audience the answers they’re on the lookout for. Not to say that over time, it would be difficult so that you can stay creative and offer something latest to your readers.
So, on condition that effective content has so as to add value to your audience, it’s best to enlist third-party experts and external consultants to aid you create and review your pieces.
Besides ensuring your blog posts, e-books, case studies, and other varieties of content are well-written and on-point, there are other ways you’ll profit from this approach:
- By having an authority in a particular field create, review, or fact-check your content, you’ll instill a way of trust in your readers. Your audience will likely be sure the knowledge they get comes from experts who understand the nuts and bolts of the topics they cover.
- External experts might offer you a latest, fresh perspective on methods to write and take into consideration your audience’s pain points and methods to frame your products as solutions.
Medical Alert Buyers Guide post on the very best rated medical alert devices is an excellent example of this tactic because readers are informed instantly that an experienced nurse fact-checked and reviewed the content. This fashion, any potential doubt in regards to the credibility of the recommendation is dispelled.
2. Get Featured as a Google Snippet
Securing the highest position in Google SERPs is the holy grail of every content marketer on the market, but you already know what’s even higher than that?
Getting featured as a snippet.
These short excerpts of content are pulled from indexed web pages and placed in a box at the highest of the Google search results page. Often known as “Position Zero,” this VIP area gets all the eye, because it comes before the No. 1 result and accounts for greater than 35% of all clicks.
Featured snippets quickly answer the query from the search, they usually are available the shape of definitions, numbered or bulleted lists, tables, charts, or steps.
Here’s how you’ll be able to optimize for Google’s featured snippets:
- Use the “What’s + keyword” structure in your headings every time applicable. Because the point of Google Snippets is to reply a specific query quickly, using this format in your headings will show the search engine what a part of your content incorporates the precise answer. Plus, questions are conversational and reflect the way in which searchers communicate with Google Assistant once they’re on the lookout for a bit of knowledge.
- In the same vein, the paragraph with your answer needs to be within the format of the “Keyword + is” statement. To optimize your content for Snippets, briefly define the subject in easy language using two to 3 sentences.
- Match the prevailing Featured Snippet format. Check the Featured Snippet for the term you desire to rank and optimize for and discover whether it’s a paragraph, bulleted list, or table. Then include the corresponding structure in your content.
- Don’t make the reply about yourself. Avoid using the primary pronoun, and never mention your brand within the portion of the content you desire to optimize for the Featured Snippet. Be as helpful as possible without pushing your agenda.
3. Double up on Images
Research says that folks following instructions with text and illustrations do 323% higher than those following only textual instructions with no illustrations. This makes a robust case for breaking down your long-form content using images to make it more readable.
Lengthy blog posts with 2,000+ words offer a comprehensive insight into a specific topic, which makes them good for search engine optimisation. But let’s be honest — it’s hard for readers to deal with text-heavy content.
People start watching, learning to acknowledge different shapes and colours, and forming associations between objects based on this from the day they’re born. Reading is a skill that comes later, and it’s only logical that we’re wired to process visuals higher.
Let’s see methods to effectively use images in your content.
- Add one image every 75-100 words. In accordance with BuzzSumo, that’s the very best ratio. Blog posts that implemented it got twice as many shares because the ones with fewer images.
- Make your images relevant to the subject you’re discussing.
- Use high-quality, clear images. Grainy or blurry visuals come across as unprofessional and unappealing.
- Go for legal stock photos. It’s not an excellent idea to download images from the web without citing your sources or paying a fee, if obligatory.
- Create screenshots. This can be a particularly good idea when you desire to show your readers methods to do something by illustrating the method step-by-step.
Going’s guide on methods to use Google flights follows all these principles, and the result’s an image-heavy, easy-to-read blog post. It’s full of screenshots and adds plenty of value to readers due to the “show, don’t tell” approach.
4. Tell Customer Success Stories
92% of consumers read online reviews and testimonials online once they’re attempting to make a purchasing decision. It’s protected to conclude that social proof is instrumental in constructing trust together with your audience, so creating content marketing around it needs to be your top priority.
Customer success stories have the ability to display how your services or products helped someone solve a specific pain point and achieve success. Their deal with the outcomes can paint your solution in a really positive light and show how it really works without seeming like a thinly veiled industrial.
B2C customer success stories have a more relaxed and friendlier tone, and in contrast to their B2B counterparts, they aren’t so data-driven and ROI-oriented. As a substitute of that, they provide the ground to completely satisfied customers and allow them to share their experiences.
The undeniable fact that an existing customer agreed to participate provides one other layer of credibility and authenticity to your social proof.
Hubspot for Startups has a whole section of the web site dedicated to customer success stories. Customer data is used to clarify precisely how they benefited from using the platform and what they think the most dear aspect of Hubspot is.
Customer testimonials and reviews are typical examples of B2C social proof. They don’t must be long or detailed to be effective. Quote testimonials lend themselves perfectly to social media format and provides an quick credibility boost to your organization. Re-sharing your completely satisfied customers’ social media posts where they mention your brand is one other effective method to capitalize on the authenticity of user-generated content.
WHOOP’s Instagram posts and stories feature completely satisfied customers’ shoutouts and mentions of their brand. The sort of UGC allows the brand to point out how using their product helped customers improve their lives and overall health.
5. Link to Your Product Pages
Many brands are hesitant to place links to conversion-focused pages of their blog posts.
The rationale for that is that blogs are traditionally used mainly to generate and nurture leads and create brand awareness relatively than sell something. But do not forget that a few of your readers are able to convert, so don’t hesitate to incorporate subtle conversion-friendly links to product pages in your blog posts.
Still, there are some aspects you must think about.
- Listen to the relevance of the services or products. When you add links to product pages that don’t have anything to do with the subject you’re covering and the pain points you’re addressing, this tactic will fall flat.
- Explain what the potential customer can expect in the event that they click on the link or CTA. By giving additional context, you’ll walk them through the conversion process and minimize the chances of confusing them.
- Use visuals to draw prospects’ attention to the link and compel them to click.
- Make your link visible. The perfect method to make it stand out is to incorporate it in a picture or call-to-action button and place it at the highest or bottom of the page. You may as well repeat the identical link greater than once, but provided that it is sensible to repeat it.
For instance, Zoma’s guide on mattress sizes and dimensions, which is clearly the bottom-of-the-funnel content for purchase-ready customers, features links to product pages inside mattress size charts. This makes it easy for potential customers to access the products they’re curious about once they pick the size they need.
6. Create Video Content
People spend, on average, 1.4X more time on pages with video than on those without it.
As well as, 66% of consumers prefer watching videos to learn more a few product than reading about it, while almost 90% of them say one of these content convinced them to make a purchase order.
But what makes videos so powerful and fascinating?
To start with, videos stimulate our visual and auditory senses, and by adding different effects, you’ll be able to evoke emotions in your customers. For instance, the ASMR trend has taken the marketing world by storm due to its ability to induce bodily sensations, thus immersing viewers within the video.
Coca-Cola has been leveraging this effect for many years, as their commercials normally prominently feature the hissing sound of opening a soda bottle, the tinkling of ice within the glass, and the splashing sound of soda being poured over the ice. Paired with images of scrumptious foods, these auditory effects trigger the sensation of thirst — which no onomatopoeic word could accomplish that effectively.
Secondly, videos will be used to simplify complex concepts and make them more accessible to your audience.
Finally, Google loves videos because they’re easy to devour, so including this format in your content strategy will lead to higher rankings.
7. Provide Evergreen Content
Evergreen content needs to be on the core of your content strategy. We’re talking about pieces that never lose their mojo and stay relevant for a very long time. They proceed to generate and even grow search traffic and accumulate search engine optimisation juice over time.
It’s not time-sensitive, seasonal content, or news articles that go stale pretty quickly.
We’re talking about how-to guides, tutorials, listicles, glossaries, checklists, customer reviews, FAQs, and testimonials. A lot of these content carry on adding value to your readers, provided they’re commonly updated.
To create content that may stand the test of time:
- Pick the best keywords. Discover what your target market wants to seek out out and write about these topics. Don’t forget to optimize your content for search engine optimisation.
- Don’t use technical language — you’re writing for beginners.
- Repurpose your content and create different formats from a single source.
This comprehensive guide from MarketBeat on the U.S. stock market holidays is a textbook example of high-quality evergreen content. It’s timeless, adds value, uses easy language, and incorporates an in depth Q&A piece with all of the relevant details about how holidays affect the Stock Market and positions in a Foreign Stock.
Despite the fact that search engine optimisation principles change, this guide is a staple that only must be occasionally revisited and refreshed.
8. Understand Your Audience and Deal with Their Pain Points
To be relatable, your content should revolve around your audience and what matters to them.
But how do you get to know your potential customers and understand them?
These semi-fictionalized representations of your ideal customer(s) include their demographic information, behavioral patterns, needs, interests, and pain points.
Whenever you unearth all these details, you should utilize them to cover the topics that address your audience’s pain points and answer their questions. Area of interest content is extremely effective for this purpose because it’s more targeted and tailored to the needs of a smaller group of individuals. So, while you’re researching keywords, go for more specific, long-tail ones. They won’t appeal to a broader audience and won’t bring an excessive amount of traffic, but visitors who find you thru Google search will likely be more engaged and able to convert.
Conclusion
Being consistent about your content marketing is an excellent thing, but this doesn’t mean you must keep on with the usual tactics and approaches. Sometimes that you must experiment or reframe things as a way to amplify your efforts and boost your numbers.
