Remember the old brain teaser “if a tree falls in the woods and nobody’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
Today’s version of that eternal riddle goes something like this: “If you publish amazing content and nobody clicks, does it make an impact?”
Great content that isn’t seen on a wide scale isn’t just a waste of time — it’s a massive lost opportunity. For content marketing to work to its full potential, it needs to combine compelling material with effective distribution.
To help you accomplish just that, let’s review five smart ways to optimize your content:
Know Precisely What You’re Publishing
Large organizations—or those who pursue an aggressive content marketing strategy—often lose track of their overarching strategy due to the sheer volume of content being produced.
When you’re pushing out a large amount of material over multiple channels, it’s easy to duplicate content, miss opportunities as they arise and lose sight of your strategic goals.
To avoid this, take the time to conduct a systemic review of your content history.
Doing so can help you identify pages that have republishing potential, pages that can be updated and any content areas that are under-leveraged and deserve more attention.
Identify Your Winners
Let’s face it: Not every piece of content gets the job done.
This means that businesses with the ability to identify the specific approaches that generate engagement are in the best position to succeed with their content marketing.
The best way to make this happen is a thorough investigation into which pages are ranking and converting — and which are slipping into online obscurity.
Examine Your Approach to Keywords and Ideation
Choosing the right topics and the most impactful keywords to use is absolutely critical when it comes to formulating a content marketing strategy that works.
Smart teams analyze what’s currently working and what isn’t in the search realm, then make adjustments to their approach as needed.
By identifying popular keywords that you’re currently not ranking for, and rigorously scouting for new developments in your industry, you can anticipate the evolving interests of your audience and deliver highly-desirable content.
Stay Dynamic, Not Static
Allowing your pages to stay frozen in time is a bad bet. Instead, pursue a dynamic approach by frequently refreshing your core pages to add new optimized text, images, links and titles.
Refreshing existing pages is a great optimization strategy because it requires a modest investment in time and capital — and can deliver fairly significant results.
Understand the Importance of Secondary Terms
Optimized keywords are important, but they aren’t always — or even likely to be — the source of your incoming traffic.
Artful use of semantic terms and related language that supports your keywords will improve your search position and deliver more traffic.
The Takeaway
Creating great content is only half the battle — smart organizations place just as much emphasis on effective distribution.
Follow the ideas outlined above and your content strategy will see positive results.
Chris C is a top freelance writer within the WriterAccess platform who has created content for thought-leaders, agencies, and our very own company.
See how writers and strategists like Chris can assist you in creating and optimizing content to propel your business forward.
