You have started with your website. Your blog is ready for your first post, and you are about to start with the content. Have you thought about your content strategy? Just as you put effort into your website’s look and feel, you should give deliberate attention to the content strategy as well. The success of a website depends on the content you publish. Why go blindly about the content strategy? In this article, we will discuss how you can create a content strategy for your website and the essential things to keep in mind while designing a content strategy for your website.
There are a few points that are worth mentioning.
Let’s have a look at them one by one.
1. Exploring the Niche for your Website
The first thing you need to explore is the niche of your website. Browse through the categories and businesses that belong to your niche. As you explore, note how these businesses present themselves, how the content is curated, and the focus areas covered by your competition.
As you go through the websites and content, you will observe patterns of content and presentation. Take note of this and try to figure out where you would like to focus, what content you would like to provide, and how you would present it to your audience.
This survey is critical as it will help you see what is happening with your competition. It will also give you inspiration for the content you want on your website. Exploring the niche also broadens your perspective. You can have ideas that you didn’t think of earlier. You will be able to see beyond your fixed context and beliefs.
This exploration will open up new avenues that you can explore for your content strategy. For example, as you browse through the existing content, you will understand what’s missing and what your opportunities are. Content topics also help to see what’s trending and popular. There will be some topics in your niche that aren’t so popular but have little to no competition.
Look for the broad spectrum of topics that are not directly related to your niche. These topics can add to your content positively. Make a list of associations that are observed when specific topics are presented. For example, if a firefighter equipment service associates certain content with home security appliances. Here you can see two different businesses associating with each other through content.
Make a list of your competitors and your potential partners. Categorize the content they develop and scan for insights. If you explore your niche well, you have done the most critical work before writing the first piece of content.
2. Know your audience
Before getting started with your content, know who the audience is. What type of audience are you targeting? What value can you add to these audiences? Asking such questions will give you insight into the right kind of content that will work for your website.
If possible, know the demographic details of your audience. The visitor profiles and user demographics can help you target your content to the right audience. Knowing the audience also makes it easy to create content that’s engaging from the first letter.
Once you have a clearer picture of who your audience is, you can get a lot more creative and run content experiments to see what shines and what does not. Knowing the audience is winning half the battle. It’s the first half of the content battleground, and you cannot do well in the battle if you missed the first half. Know your audience. It’s important. Period.
3. Long Term Focus
‘’Think for the long term and act for a short term” is a bit of popular advice. We can modify it a bit and say that “think and act with long term focus.”
It is easy to lose sight of the goal when you have no long term goal. It would help if you are clear about what you want to achieve in the long run. Most of the efforts you put into creating and following the content strategy bring outcomes after a long time. If you are not sure about your desired outcomes, your efforts will likely go astray. It is important for your website’s success that you have a long-term vision, the big picture that you want to achieve.
What is the long term for you? It can be anywhere from 1 year to 10 years, depending on what you are looking at. It takes time for the results of a content strategy to show up. If you are not happy with the results of your content strategy, you cannot do much except not to make mistakes in the future. But that part of work is lost where you could not decide what you wanted for the long term.
If you find it difficult to form a long term picture for yourself, consider asking yourself questions about the outcome you want. What do you want to gain from your website in the next two years? What success do you envision in the next year for your website? How many readers do you want to reach by the next winter? What is the successful accomplishment for your website if you consider the next five years? There are a couple of variations of such questions that can guide you to find long term goals for your content strategy.
When it comes to creating and following the content strategy, knowing the big picture is always beneficial.
4. Immediate Focus
Once you are clear about your long term goals, you can work out your practical short term goals. These should be the goals that you can focus on in the present and require your immediate focus.
What should you write in the next three months? What categories do you want to cover in the next 100 days? What content do you want to put up this month? Which posts are scheduled for this week? What efforts are required in the short term? Asking such questions will keep you on your toes and help you focus on being productive.
Content that calls for immediate focus requires proactive work. Creating the content and posting it on your website are two essential steps you need to take care of. Again, you should check if the content is beneficial to your website in the short term as well as the long term.
5. Keyword Research
Keyword research is a crucial element in developing a content strategy that works. If you forget to do keyword research, going forward with content strategy will be an attempt to hit for the bullseye with both the eyes blind. You will miss it badly!
You should make a list of keywords that are relevant to your audience and to your niche. Study what search terms fare better for your business, understand what the audience is looking for. Using the right keywords in your content will bring you the right results. You should know the monthly volume for a particular keyword you are targeting. Also, make sure you list your keyword research in the form of an excel sheet. This way, you can have practical data to discuss. Mention the primary keyword, the secondary keyword, monthly volumes, associated keywords, etc. in your excel sheet.
The better you are at keyword research, the more are the chances of your efforts being effective. Do not set to write the content for your website, if there is no keyword research to begin with.
6. The Content
The lion’s share of the content strategy is the content itself! Everything else you prepare is just to make sure you begin right. Yet, the content can be poorly created, presented, and published if you do not care for the quality of the content and your long term vision. Good content differs from bad content in every way. There is a difference between excellent content and average content, too. Each has its own effects. The question is where you want to put your investment. Content creation is a careful process. Carelessness can result in content that cannot achieve its objectives.
There are some essentials you should check for in your content. Does the content target the right keywords? Is the content appropriate for the audience? Is it engaging? Does the content add value to the reader?
Content is the king in today’s world. The heart of the content strategy is the right content. Develop, create, experiment, cultivate, and nourish the content that’s right for your website.
These are the key points you need to remember while developing the content strategy for your website. We hope this article inspires you to create a content strategy for your website. Remember, for the success of a WordPress website a good managed WordPress hosting is as much necessary as is the good content. Also, as your website grows and archives the success it aims for, you will need a WordPress maintenance service to keep it going smoothly. Do not hesitate to invest in your website. Make the right content strategy a part of that investment and you will surely reap the results!
