Every business can benefit from an increase in the number of leads they produce on a monthly basis by improving their content strategy.
9 out of 10 startups are implementing content marketing in their growth strategy. This is because it is a proven method of marketing that generates three times as many leads as paid advertising at 62% of the cost.
One of the major factors that will have the biggest impact on the quality of the leads you receive are the search terms for which you’re optimized.
Identify keyword clusters to attract the bulk of the traffic in any given niche. And establish a keyword strategy to build content that uses long tail key phrases and LSI keywords.
Optimize for voice search and long tail keywords
Voice assistants have forced us to pay more attention to optimizing for long tail key phrases. It is estimated that voice search will account for 50% of all searches by 2020.
By optimizing for search phrases made in conversational tones and in the form of questions, we are able to include a wide variety of main keywords.
At the same time, we also target phrases that are extremely specific to the type of visitor we are attracting to the website.
By making our key search phrases highly descriptive, we can also leverage the search position our website receives by outranking the competition via a highly optimized web page.
Researching your competition will give you insight into a crucial element for how you develop your content. Establish a minimum word count for your homepage.
The most recent studies indicate that 750 words was the average length for websites ranked in the top three positions.
This number can vary from niche to niche, so take an inventory of what your competition is doing in this department to ensure you meet and exceed that standard.
Boost your website’s SEO with long-form content
When you are building content to your homepage, keep in mind that the goal is to hold the attention of your visitors for as long as possible.
Dwell time and bounce rate are two important metrics that are improved by keeping your visitors on your site longer.
Google considers it a positive ranking signal when visitors are showing engagement. This can be demonstrated through the average time spent on your website.
Analytics (which every website should have installed or another form of tracking software) reports the average time spent on your site by each visitor.
By improving this metric your website is signalling to Google that people are enjoying your content and finding value in it.
The first section of Google’s mission statement states:
Our goal is always to provide you the most useful and relevant information.
Show Google that people are enjoying the content you provide by developing long-form content.
It takes a longer amount of time for visitors to read through to the end of a 1500 word article than it does a 300-word article.
The trick is to make sure your content holds their attention well enough so that they want to get through it.
Using images and videos will help to maintain your visitors’ attention as well as retain the message you’re communicating.
John Medina from Brainrules states that when a person hears information they will retain 10% of the info three days later. If an image is attached to that information the person retains 65%.
Post evergreen content to encourage sharing and increase traffic
Create evergreen posts to increase the volume of traffic your website receives. An evergreen post is an article that never gets old — even long after it’s been published.
These types of articles are created in many different formats with the intention of providing full coverage of a specific idea or topic.
Some of the most popular, well-received examples of evergreen content include “how to” guides, infographics, interviews, case studies, product reviews, ultimate strategy guides.
By producing content in this format you are teaching readers a skill or informing them about a topic that is covered in depth. This provides value and encourages return visits.
Visitors tend to return to the site because they either:
- don’t finish the article in one sitting
- find it a useful resource and return to the site for the useful tips that help them apply solutions to issues in their lives
The concept that is being incorporated for your on-site content is the same concept that should be applied off-site.
When you have content that is engaging visitors and providing value, it needs to be shared.
A proven method for improving your ranking is to produce content at the same level of quality and get it published on exterior websites that have credibility in your niche.
Publish great content off-site as a guest author
Guest posting is one avenue to pursue that facilitates more traffic to your website by improving your ranking in the search results.
One of the major criteria for ranking competitively is the strength of your backlink profile. When your article is published on another blog or website, you gain a backlink to your site.
If the site that gives you a backlink has already established itself as an authority site, it is the equivalent of an authority in your niche giving you a great reference.
Search engine bots assess websites, taking into account their backlink profile. The more quality backlinks your website can show, the more ranking power your site will possess.
Another bonus to guest posting is gaining access to the subscribers who regularly read the blog.
Many sites have thousands of subscribers which gives your company the opportunity to be presented in front of a wider audience than what’s available through an organic search.
If people like your content, they will end up on your site. This creates another stream of targeted traffic for potential leads.
By publishing on related sites, their audiences have already indicated interest in what you’re offering by reading your article.
All content you produce that is affiliated with your company should be aimed at fulfilling a minimum standard of quality.
Long-form, in-depth, evergreen articles have been proven to generate a steady stream of traffic that stands the test of time.
The result, if implemented successfully, is a steady increase in the amount of traffic your website receives which generates more leads when visitors find value in the content your company produces.