Content creation is king!
If you’re not producing high-quality work on a regular basis it’s easy to get lost in the noise.
If you’re lucky enough to create something that goes viral then you can ride that wave, but that’s a rare day at the office. Real, dependable, reliable success comes from creating well researched, highly optimised content again and again.
Presuming you’ve identified your audience and know your competitors, the next step is a solid content creation strategy.
A lot of people/businesses start strong, creating content around what they love. They pour their heart and soul out into each post until they’ve exhausted all their immediate knowledge.
You’re then left scratching your head. What other topics can you cover without repeating yourself?
The posts become less fun to write, less fun to read and the results start to drop off.
To avoid this kind of burnout you need a content marketing strategy. That may sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be.
How do I make a content creation strategy?
It all starts with your audience. Think about:
- What do they need?
- What are their pain points?
- What are they struggling with?
If you approach the creative process with this mindset you’ll rarely run out of ideas.
- Is there a new niche related product you can review and recommend?
- Have the rules recently changed?
- Can you offer your opinion on a developing situation?
These questions apply to almost every conceivable niche.
Now that you have the curiosity mindset, it’s time to start planning.
Whether you’re creating content about products, services or industries, start by brainstorming everything you already know. Empty your brain into a spreadsheet, walk away, come back after a coffee and add more.
Once you have 30-50 ideas, go to Google.
Type each of your ideas into the search bar but before you hit enter make a note of all the additional suggestions Google throws up.
Do that for each of your ideas and that should expand your list considerably.
That’s the absolute basic level of a content creation strategy. This works for all mediums – blog posts, video, podcasts etc
Repeat the process by putting your ideas/keywords into the search bars for Youtube, Pinterest, Bing, Reddit, Quora etc They all have different algorithms and can all offer variations on the topic.
That’s quite a basic, sledgehammer approach to content creation. But it’s free.
Once you have your list you’ll want to know how much traffic each term will drive to your site, how often they’re searched and how much competition you have. For this, you can use Google Keyword Planner. It’s a free service offered by Google.
I won’t get into the inner workings of GKP in this post as it requires setting up and would need its own tutorial.
An alternative to the above steps would be to use a specialised service:
These services allow you to type in a search term and they’ll produce thousands of variations. They’re normally quite expensive and have a steep learning curve.
And finally, after you know exactly what topics to cover, which ones are easiest to rank for and which will bring the most benefit, then it’s time to create.
Optimising your content for your chosen medium is the final hurdle.
If you want to rank for competitive keywords you’ll need to think about:
- Cornerstone content
- Semantic SEO
- Topical clusters
- Link building
- Repurposing content for other mediums
If this sounds like a lot of work, it’s because it is. If you want to be competitive, successful and build your presence online it takes a lot of work.
This is where a Virtual Assistant comes in.
A skilled VA can do all that heavy lifting for you. They can take a few general topic ideas and create a huge content list, all backed up by data.
Your level of involvement is completely up to you – from sitting back as the VA researches, creates and publishes the content, or working alongside them so they do all the boring, time-consuming tasks you dislike, thus freeing you up to do the enjoyable part.
Book a free 30-minute consultation call with us today and we can discuss your content requirements, your budget and how we can work together to help you achieve greatness.
For a list of all the other services we provide check out our Service section.