5 Content Marketing Rules That You Can’t Afford To Break
The world of content marketing moves at a breakneck pace. What was among the best practices one year will almost certainly be obsolete the next. With evolving search engine algorithms, updated privacy policies, and shifting consumer trends, there is certainly a lot to keep up with.
Content marketing today shares some similarities with the past, but it has also evolved significantly. Whether you are just starting out with content marketing or have been blogging for years, check out Click4Corp’s five content marketing rules you cannot afford to break. Sticking to these content marketing rules will help you create more engaging, more successful content.
5 Content Marketing Rules
1. Prioritize quality over length.
First content marketing rule is the quality. Content marketers have always been obsessed with word count. They all assumed that if a blog was less than 1,500 words long, it would not make it to the first page. However, Google’s search advocate John Mueller himself has stated that the length of a content piece has no bearing on its success in search engine result pages (SERPs).
Search engines are actively trying to provide the best possible responses to every user’s query. And Google has stated unequivocally that hitting a certain word count has no real effect on this. While a word count can still be enforced to ensure that you publish solid, comprehensive blogs, you should never write solely to make your content longer.
2. Focus on getting quality traffic.
Take a look at the best-performing blogs on your website. Sure, they are pulling in traffic — but what about conversions? If your top performers are not converting leads, your content may be drawing in something we like to call “empty traffic.”
Some users will come to your website to read your blogs, but they will not convert. That is your empty traffic. Say your Dallas business ranks first in Google for a particular keyword. Even if ranking first for that search query brings in a huge volume of traffic, none of it is meaningful to your business because none of those visitors are interested in what you are selling.
Content marketers have always been obsessed with SEO and attaining the top spot in search results — but it has now become critical to consider which top spots you are trying to be at and why. You do not want a swarm of unqualified leads to jack up your website traffic. That would be investing your time and effort into content that does not really do anything to grow your business.
You can easily avoid empty traffic on your website by taking a systematic approach to content production. Every piece of content you produce should be tailored to your target audience, centered on a search term relevant to your business, aligned with that search term’s intent, and aimed to attract qualified visitors.
3. Optimize your existing content.
Google began rolling out a “core” algorithm update in May 2020. This update has several takeaways, but one of the most significant changes for content marketers is how Google ranks new content.
One thing to remember is that Google favors content that is fresh, relevant, and regularly updated. However, if you are strapped for time, optimizing the existing content on your website is one of the easiest ways to boost your rankings for relevant keywords in 2021 and beyond. It is far easier to optimize and update existing content than to create new content from scratch — and it also allows you to be more creative.
You can reuse your existing content by converting it into an infographic, a step-by-step instruction manual, or pairing it with a video. Because the bulk of the content has already been written, these conversions are relatively simple. Sprucing up your existing content and checking for 404s, broken links, and outdated information is a simple task with big payoffs.
4. Do not underestimate the value of videos.
Thanks to the rise of video-sharing-focused social networking services like TikTok, short-form videos are ruling the roost. And this trend does not appear to be going away anytime soon.
Why should you care? Well, short-form videos are easy to share. Because of their shareability, you can achieve the brand recognition you seek by investing some time, effort, and money into creating 60-second to two-minute videos with a compelling message.
We are not saying that long-form videos aren’t still effective content marketing tools. Just keep a healthy balance and consider how to get the most out of those longer videos. Is there anything you can edit out of the longer video to make it shorter? That will give you two videos for the work of one!
5. Optimize your content for voice search.
The last content marketing rule is optimization for voice search. Voice search is not a new concept, but ranking for it is. With an increasing number of people investing in voice-controlled smart devices like Amazon Echo and Google Nest, voice search has risen to account for a considerable percentage of all search engine queries. You will put your business ahead of the curve if you can pull in some of that voice search traffic.
Here are two tips that can come in handy if you are trying to improve your voice search rankings:
- Target long-tail keywords. A user performing a voice search is more likely to ask a full question instead of just saying a few keywords. Create content that focuses on those longer, conversational keywords.
- Give prompt and to-the-point answers. Google understands that voice searchers expect instant answers. You will rise to the top of voice searches if you can create “snippets” that directly answer a user’s question.
Final Thoughts
5 Content Marketing Rules That You Can’t Afford To Break
Content marketing is a critical component of any digital marketing strategy. These content marketing rules should help you properly position your brand in today’s competitive cyberspace. And if you need some help getting your content marketing strategy off the ground, contact the Dallas content marketing experts at Click4Corp. We would be happy to help you in designing a content strategy that will generate more qualified leads. Call us at (469) 441-4678 or fill out an online form to get in touch with us today!