SEO

8 Elements Of A Successful Content Strategy

Published

2 years ago

July 30, 2022

When it comes to content marketing, everything you do needs to be part of a larger strategy designed to achieve specific targets.

More sales, more leads, more page views – whatever it is, you need a clear, well-thought-out, and defined plan. You need a content strategy.

Here’s a look at what that needs to include.

What Is A Content Strategy?

As you probably guessed, a content strategy is a specific set of tactics used in the development and management of content.

It uses various forms of media, including blogs, videos, podcasts, and/or social media posts to achieve specific business ends.

It’s not the same thing as content marketing, but it is your content marketing master plan.

What Are The Anatomical Elements Of A Content Strategy?

Like a marketing octopus, there are eight important appendages to a good marketing strategy.

Let’s run through them in the order you should create them.

1. Goals

A successful content marketing plan always begins with clearly stated goals. This is a stage many people skip, to their own detriment.

Different types of marketing tactics work to achieve different goals, most of which probably corresponds with a step in your sales funnel.

Some of the more common goals are building brand awareness, increasing traffic, growing an email list, generating new leads, converting new customers, improving customer retention, and upselling.

The goal you decide on will determine the type of content and channel for each marketing tactic.

It’s perfectly acceptable to have multiple goals; however, understand that not all content will work for every objective.

Remember, a jack of all trades is a master of none. It’s better to have more specialized content.

2. Research

Every tactic in your content strategy should be backed by research to justify it. And putting in the work here will save you lots of headaches down the road.

Start by looking into your target audience. What are their demographics? What are their pain points? How can you help?

There are a number of ways to find this information, including mining digital data, sending out surveys, and interviewing customers.

Next, apply this knowledge to your current content and identify where it hits the mark, where it could be stronger, and where it missed completely.

Do keyword research, and identify which phrases you’re ranking highly for and which need work. Be sure to note search intent, volume, and relevancy.

Investigate what your competition is doing. What seems to be working?

For digital marketing purposes, identify which keywords they’re ranking for, who is linking to them, and their social media presence.

3. Targeted Topics

By this point, you should have begun compiling a list of potential ideas and messages you want to share.

Identify which topics are most important to each piece of your strategy and how your new content will help achieve your goal.

To evaluate a topic, determine how it will fit with your organizational goals.

For example, if you’re a camping supplies company seeking to educate consumers about your brand, a blog post on the Top 5 Campfire-Building Mistakes, could draw in curious web searchers.

This will give them familiarity with your brand, though it’s unlikely to sell many sleeping bags. For that, a banner ad with a discount code may be more useful.

Try to approach every topic from new angles.

If you can find a new way of framing things, you’ll stand out in a marketplace crowded with retreads of the same idea. Get as specific as you can without limiting your creativity.

4. Editorial Calendar

Now, it’s time to identify when you should publish each piece of content.

Some things have clearly defined seasons. For example, no one is buying a Christmas tree in June, but it’s a huge market in December. Others are more loosely defined (e.g., people need new cars year-round).

Figure out the best time to drop each piece of content, as well as a cadence for how often you’ll release new content. This will vary based on your audience and platform, so there are no hard and fast rules.

Be aware that regularly producing and publishing content takes a lot of work. If you don’t have a content calendar to keep everything on track, it’s easy to fall behind.

You should always be working a few months ahead, so you have things in the pipeline ready to go. This gives you more flexibility in case a new opportunity or emergency pops up, as well as minimizes the stress of content creation.

5. Editorial Guidelines

What does your company sound like? Is it professional? Welcoming? Knowledgeable? Funny? Figure out the voice of your organization.

Write down a document explaining it, and distribute it among your content creators, whether they’re in-house or freelancers. This will create a sense of consistency across all pieces of content and all channels.

In this same document, you should outline formatting requirements, including punctuation, heading styles, and style (e.g., AP style). If you’re including visual aspects, make sure you clearly define brand colors, fonts, and logo usage.

Even if they have completely different objectives and distribution, every piece should have a clear relationship with the next.

6. Distribution Channels

You’ve got your content goals, topics and calendar laid out; now, it’s time to decide where you’ll use it.

Identify the platforms you’ll use to tell your story and your processes and objectives for each one.

Where the content will live will often have an impact on its format and cadence, but your goal is to present a consistent brand narrative across all channels.

By outlining your distribution channels, you’re identifying the best platform for each piece of content.

Look for opportunities to cross-post. There’s no reason you can’t share the infographic from your blog on Instagram. That gives you twice the exposure with the same amount of work.

7. Analytics

Just because you have the content created and distributed doesn’t mean you can sit on your laurels.

Now, it’s time to evaluate it and see what’s working, and just as importantly, what’s not. It’s time to dive into the analytics.

You’re not just looking at the numbers of shares, clicks, or purchases through your website; you’re looking for the “why?” You’re trying to understand what made content succeed as other pieces failed.

Did it work well on one channel, but fail on another? Why did that happen? Is it a different audience or just a lack of exposure?

Google Analytics can be extremely helpful during this step.

8. Key Performance Indicators

This goes hand-in-hand with the previous step; while analyzing content performance, you should find key performance indicators (KPIs) to back it up.

Again, what you measure will depend on the goal.

Some KPIs you might consider are organic web traffic, sales opportunities generated, keyword ranking changes, social shares and engagement, inbound links, and cost-per-lead.

Plan To Succeed

It has been said that even a bad plan is better than no plan at all, so imagine the great results you’ll generate with your strong new content strategy.

Creating this strategy requires some work, but even the simplest organizations, with the smallest marketing budgets, will benefit from using one. And it’s an absolute must for marketing departments with any type of complexity.

Follow the steps listed here, and you’ll create a well-thought-out content strategy that will help you reach your goals.

Featured Image: fizkes/Shutterstock

Related Topics:Content Elements seo strategy Successful

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SEO

How To Write ChatGPT Prompts To Get The Best Results

Published

18 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Max

How To Write ChatGPT Prompts To Get The Best Results

ChatGPT is a game changer in the field of SEO. This powerful language model can generate human-like content, making it an invaluable tool for SEO professionals.

However, the prompts you provide largely determine the quality of the output.

To unlock the full potential of ChatGPT and create content that resonates with your audience and search engines, writing effective prompts is crucial.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the art of writing prompts for ChatGPT, covering everything from basic techniques to advanced strategies for layering prompts and generating high-quality, SEO-friendly content.

Writing Prompts For ChatGPT

What Is A ChatGPT Prompt?

A ChatGPT prompt is an instruction or discussion topic a user provides for the ChatGPT AI model to respond to.

The prompt can be a question, statement, or any other stimulus to spark creativity, reflection, or engagement.

Users can use the prompt to generate ideas, share their thoughts, or start a conversation.

ChatGPT prompts are designed to be open-ended and can be customized based on the user’s preferences and interests.

How To Write Prompts For ChatGPT

Start by giving ChatGPT a writing prompt, such as, “Write a short story about a person who discovers they have a superpower.”

ChatGPT will then generate a response based on your prompt. Depending on the prompt’s complexity and the level of detail you requested, the answer may be a few sentences or several paragraphs long.

Use the ChatGPT-generated response as a starting point for your writing. You can take the ideas and concepts presented in the answer and expand upon them, adding your own unique spin to the story.

If you want to generate additional ideas, try asking ChatGPT follow-up questions related to your original prompt.

For example, you could ask, “What challenges might the person face in exploring their newfound superpower?” Or, “How might the person’s relationships with others be affected by their superpower?”

Remember that ChatGPT’s answers are generated by artificial intelligence and may not always be perfect or exactly what you want.

However, they can still be a great source of inspiration and help you start writing.

Must-Have GPTs Assistant

I recommend installing the WebBrowser Assistant created by the OpenAI Team. This tool allows you to add relevant Bing results to your ChatGPT prompts.

This assistant adds the first web results to your ChatGPT prompts for more accurate and up-to-date conversations.

It is very easy to install in only two clicks. (Click on Start Chat.)

Screenshot from ChatGPT, April 2024

For example, if I ask, “Who is Vincent Terrasi?,” ChatGPT has no answer.

With WebBrower Assistant, the assistant creates a new prompt with the first Bing results, and now ChatGPT knows who Vincent Terrasi is.

Screenshot from ChatGPT, March 2023

You can test other GPT assistants available in the GPTs search engine if you want to use Google results.

Master Reverse Prompt Engineering

ChatGPT can be an excellent tool for reverse engineering prompts because it generates natural and engaging responses to any given input.

By analyzing the prompts generated by ChatGPT, it is possible to gain insight into the model’s underlying thought processes and decision-making strategies.

One key benefit of using ChatGPT to reverse engineer prompts is that the model is highly transparent in its decision-making.

This means that the reasoning and logic behind each response can be traced, making it easier to understand how the model arrives at its conclusions.

Once you’ve done this a few times for different types of content, you’ll gain insight into crafting more effective prompts.

Prepare Your ChatGPT For Generating Prompts

First, activate the reverse prompt engineering.

Type the following prompt: “Enable Reverse Prompt Engineering? By Reverse Prompt Engineering I mean creating a prompt from a given text.”

Screenshot from ChatGPT, March 2023

ChatGPT is now ready to generate your prompt. You can test the product description in a new chatbot session and evaluate the generated prompt.

Type: “Create a very technical reverse prompt engineering template for a product description about iPhone 11.”

Reverse Prompt engineering via WebChatGPT

Screenshot from ChatGPT, March 2023

The result is amazing. You can test with a full text that you want to reproduce. Here is an example of a prompt for selling a Kindle on Amazon.

Type: “Reverse Prompt engineer the following {product), capture the writing style and the length of the text :
product =”

Reverse prompt engineering: Amazon product

Screenshot from ChatGPT, March 2023

I tested it on an SEJ blog post. Enjoy the analysis – it is excellent.

Type: “Reverse Prompt engineer the following {text}, capture the tone and writing style of the {text} to include in the prompt :
text = all text coming from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-bard-training-data/478941/”

Reverse prompt engineering an SEJ blog post

Screenshot from ChatGPT, March 2023

But be careful not to use ChatGPT to generate your texts. It is just a personal assistant.

Go Deeper

Prompts and examples for SEO:

Keyword research and content ideas prompt: “Provide a list of 20 long-tail keyword ideas related to ‘local SEO strategies’ along with brief content topic descriptions for each keyword.”
Optimizing content for featured snippets prompt: “Write a 40-50 word paragraph optimized for the query ‘what is the featured snippet in Google search’ that could potentially earn the featured snippet.”
Creating meta descriptions prompt: “Draft a compelling meta description for the following blog post title: ’10 Technical SEO Factors You Can’t Ignore in 2024′.”

Important Considerations:

Always Fact-Check: While ChatGPT can be a helpful tool, it’s crucial to remember that it may generate inaccurate or fabricated information. Always verify any facts, statistics, or quotes generated by ChatGPT before incorporating them into your content.
Maintain Control and Creativity: Use ChatGPT as a tool to assist your writing, not replace it. Don’t rely on it to do your thinking or create content from scratch. Your unique perspective and creativity are essential for producing high-quality, engaging content.
Iteration is Key: Refine and revise the outputs generated by ChatGPT to ensure they align with your voice, style, and intended message.

Additional Prompts for Rewording and SEO:
– Rewrite this sentence to be more concise and impactful.
– Suggest alternative phrasing for this section to improve clarity.
– Identify opportunities to incorporate relevant internal and external links.
– Analyze the keyword density and suggest improvements for better SEO.

Remember, while ChatGPT can be a valuable tool, it’s essential to use it responsibly and maintain control over your content creation process.

Experiment And Refine Your Prompting Techniques

Writing effective prompts for ChatGPT is an essential skill for any SEO professional who wants to harness the power of AI-generated content.

Hopefully, the insights and examples shared in this article can inspire you and help guide you to crafting stronger prompts that yield high-quality content.

Remember to experiment with layering prompts, iterating on the output, and continually refining your prompting techniques.

This will help you stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing world of SEO.

More resources:

Featured Image: Tapati Rinchumrus/Shutterstock

SEO

Measuring Content Impact Across The Customer Journey

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Max

Measuring Content Impact Across The Customer Journey

Understanding the impact of your content at every touchpoint of the customer journey is essential – but that’s easier said than done. From attracting potential leads to nurturing them into loyal customers, there are many touchpoints to look into.

So how do you identify and take advantage of these opportunities for growth?

Watch this on-demand webinar and learn a comprehensive approach for measuring the value of your content initiatives, so you can optimize resource allocation for maximum impact.

You’ll learn:

Fresh methods for measuring your content’s impact.
Fascinating insights using first-touch attribution, and how it differs from the usual last-touch perspective.
Ways to persuade decision-makers to invest in more content by showcasing its value convincingly.

With Bill Franklin and Oliver Tani of DAC Group, we unravel the nuances of attribution modeling, emphasizing the significance of layering first-touch and last-touch attribution within your measurement strategy.

Check out these insights to help you craft compelling content tailored to each stage, using an approach rooted in first-hand experience to ensure your content resonates.

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or new to content measurement, this webinar promises valuable insights and actionable tactics to elevate your SEO game and optimize your content initiatives for success.

View the slides below or check out the full webinar for all the details.

SEO

How to Find and Use Competitor Keywords

Published

2 days ago

April 23, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

Competitor keywords are the keywords your rivals rank for in Google’s search results. They may rank organically or pay for Google Ads to rank in the paid results.

Knowing your competitors’ keywords is the easiest form of keyword research. If your competitors rank for or target particular keywords, it might be worth it for you to target them, too.

There is no way to see your competitors’ keywords without a tool like Ahrefs, which has a database of keywords and the sites that rank for them. As far as we know, Ahrefs has the biggest database of these keywords.

How to find all the keywords your competitor ranks for

Go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer
Enter your competitor’s domain
Go to the Organic keywords report

The report is sorted by traffic to show you the keywords sending your competitor the most visits. For example, Mailchimp gets most of its organic traffic from the keyword “mailchimp.”

Since you’re unlikely to rank for your competitor’s brand, you might want to exclude branded keywords from the report. You can do this by adding a Keyword > Doesn’t contain filter. In this example, we’ll filter out keywords containing “mailchimp” or any potential misspellings:

Filtering out branded keywords in Organic keywords report

If you’re a new brand competing with one that’s established, you might also want to look for popular low-difficulty keywords. You can do this by setting the Volume filter to a minimum of 500 and the KD filter to a maximum of 10.

Finding popular, low-difficulty keywords in Organic keywords

How to find keywords your competitor ranks for, but you don’t

Go to Competitive Analysis
Enter your domain in the This target doesn’t rank for section
Enter your competitor’s domain in the But these competitors do section

Hit “Show keyword opportunities,” and you’ll see all the keywords your competitor ranks for, but you don’t.

You can also add a Volume and KD filter to find popular, low-difficulty keywords in this report.

How to find keywords multiple competitors rank for, but you don’t

Go to Competitive Analysis
Enter your domain in the This target doesn’t rank for section
Enter the domains of multiple competitors in the But these competitors do section

Competitive analysis report with multiple competitors

You’ll see all the keywords that at least one of these competitors ranks for, but you don’t.

Content gap report with multiple competitors

You can also narrow the list down to keywords that all competitors rank for. Click on the Competitors’ positions filter and choose All 3 competitors:

Selecting all 3 competitors to see keywords all 3 competitors rank for

Go to Ahrefs’ Site Explorer
Enter your competitor’s domain
Go to the Paid keywords report

This report shows you the keywords your competitors are targeting via Google Ads.

Since your competitor is paying for traffic from these keywords, it may indicate that they’re profitable for them—and could be for you, too.

You know what keywords your competitors are ranking for or bidding on. But what do you do with them? There are basically three options.

1. Create pages to target these keywords

You can only rank for keywords if you have content about them. So, the most straightforward thing you can do for competitors’ keywords you want to rank for is to create pages to target them.

However, before you do this, it’s worth clustering your competitor’s keywords by Parent Topic. This will group keywords that mean the same or similar things so you can target them all with one page.

Here’s how to do that:

Export your competitor’s keywords, either from the Organic Keywords or Content Gap report

Paste them into Keywords Explorer
Click the “Clusters by Parent Topic” tab

For example, MailChimp ranks for keywords like “what is digital marketing” and “digital marketing definition.” These and many others get clustered under the Parent Topic of “digital marketing” because people searching for them are all looking for the same thing: a definition of digital marketing. You only need to create one page to potentially rank for all these keywords.

Keywords under the cluster of "digital marketing"

2. Optimize existing content by filling subtopics

You don’t always need to create new content to rank for competitors’ keywords. Sometimes, you can optimize the content you already have to rank for them.

How do you know which keywords you can do this for? Try this:

Export your competitor’s keywords

Paste them into Keywords Explorer
Click the “Clusters by Parent Topic” tab
Look for Parent Topics you already have content about

For example, if we analyze our competitor, we can see that seven keywords they rank for fall under the Parent Topic of “press release template.”

Our competitor ranks for seven keywords that fall under the "press release template" cluster

If we search our site, we see that we already have a page about this topic.

Site search finds that we already have a blog post on press release templates

If we click the caret and check the keywords in the cluster, we see keywords like “press release example” and “press release format.”

Keywords under the cluster of "press release template"

To rank for the keywords in the cluster, we can probably optimize the page we already have by adding sections about the subtopics of “press release examples” and “press release format.”