So you want a blog content strategy…
Three approaches to long-form content that meet different business goals
How many times have you heard your team say…
“We should have a blog.”
“Let’s put that up on our blog section.”
“That would make a great blog post.”
It’s true.
Well-written, well-researched long-form content is an invaluable tool in your content marketing arsenal. This content can drive traffic to your website, position you as an expert in your field, or help leads (or customers) answer questions. It can exist beyond your website, too. It can be emailed directly to subscribers or broken down into multiple social media posts.
The first step is to identify the primary objective for your long-form content. Here are three major possibilities:
“Search First” - SEO & Keyword. Create long-form content that incorporates keywords to help your website rise in search engine rankings. This content could live on the blog or could become evergreen content for relevant sections of your site.
“User First” - Customer or User Journey. This content answers questions that a potential or existing customer might have about your business. Topics could include product guides, pricing comparisons, or explanations of what it’s like to be a customer. This content could live on the blog or could become evergreen content for relevant sections of your site.
“Expert First” - Thought Leadership. This content showcases your thoughts, ideas, and opinions as an expert in your field in an effort to influence others. This content lives on the blog.
Any of these three strategies are useful to building your long form content, either separately, or in combination with each other. Let’s dive in and take a closer look at each.
“Search First” Content
Whenever you search for something on the web, whether it be “golf tee times,” “Dame Judy Dench,” or “what is Tik Tok and should I be using it,” there’s a lot going on behind the screen to get you the results you want. Search engines like Google or Bing crawl websites to find keywords based on your search terms. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the technical term for the strategy and coding that helps search engines understand millions of pages of content, then giving users the most relevant information.
A good SEO and keyword strategy is fundamental.
First, you need to understand what keywords you want your website to show up for. There are many tools that can help you understand what people search for, how it relates to your business, and how difficult it is to “rank” for (ie, get in the top 10-20 search results). Developing a list of target keywords helps you plan what type of content to write.
Next up, you can create your keyword-optimized content. Write content that is helpful, useful, and additive. Do not repeat what your competitors are doing or write another version of content that is already out there. There is also no need to stuff your content with keywords: focus on 2-5 primary keywords for each piece of content.
Finally, there is a technical component to setting up your content for SEO. (Though to be honest, all website content should be set up like this!) When your content is ready to be added to your website, make sure that all of the headers are correctly tagged and hierarchized, that images have alt-text, and that all meta data fields are filled in.
“Search-first” content can take 6 months or more to start having an effect. Be patient!
“Customer First” Content
You’re the star of your own movie. But try to put yourself into your customer’s movie.
Their journey to becoming your customer might not have been straightforward. How did they become aware of the problem they needed solving? How did they find you as a way to solve that problem? What questions did they have along the way?
Every step of their journey is an opportunity for educational content. They might be searching for answers to questions and find your business’s materials show up first. Serving as an educator and providing clear explanations is a powerful way to generate leads.
If you do not already have a lot of website content that explains your products or services to customers, this is foundational content to create. This content will help your sales team, too.
Here are a few topic ideas to get you started:
Everything you need to know about [SERVICE]
How [SERVICE] helps save customers time
How our [SERVICE] compares to [COMPETITOR]
Our work philosophy
Case studies
“Expert First” Content
Thought leadership content showcases your unique perspective on important issues within your field. These pieces position you and your team as experts in your field. They establish credibility and authority for your brand.
Just how important is thought leadership? According to Semrush, 65% of businesses already include thought leadership in their content marketing, while 29% are planning to start doing so soon (apparently the other 6% are content to just exist without leading).
Your business has already given you a platform; use it to promote yourself and your team leaders as thought leaders in your industry. If your company produces textbooks, write about the state of education in the country. If you manufacture baby food, write about your company’s policy on using preservatives. Whatever your industry, there are probably many different issues upon which you have an opinion: use your long-form content to explore them.
“Expert First” content lives first on your blog but is a powerful tool to share through email marketing and on social media. If you want to kick your social media presence up a notch, you can even record a video discussing the highlights of your position.
Conclusion
These three approaches, whether alone or in combination, will result in a powerful long-form content that drives organic traffic, increases sales, and raises brand awareness. A thoughtful and methodical content plan will help customers find your business, make their journey easier, and build their trust in you.
Need help with long-form content?
Not sure which content approach is right for your business? We can help! We have run these three content strategies and can guide you to one that works for your business’s needs.
Contact us for more information.