Tag: seo trends

Content marketing is as crucial to businesses as ever, and investment remains high. One 2024 survey revealed that 45% of organizations intended to increase their content spending in the 12 months ahead.

However, if you run a small business and have little to no content marketing experience, developing a strategy can be tough. Where do you start? And what types of content should you focus on?

To help you start building your strategy, our Orange County SEO pros share four ideas below.

Define Who Your Content is for and How It Will Help

Before you start creating content, you must know who you’re writing it for, why they need to read it, and the value it’ll offer.

For example, you might publish certain types of content to capture data and generate leads. Invite users to submit their name and email address in exchange for a well-written ebook on a compelling topic.

Other types of content — such as blog posts and webinars — may be created to:

• Demonstrate thought leadership
• Build credibility
• Encourage engagement (e.g. comments, ‘likes’ on social media)
• Boost site traffic
• Add valuable keywords to your site

When preparing a new content marketing strategy, outline the goals you want to achieve and keep those in mind when creating your content calendar.

Include Multiple Content Formats in Your Strategy

Your content marketing strategy should include multiple formats to cater to users who consume content in different ways. Options include:

• Videos
• Blog posts
• Podcasts
• Guides/how-tos
• Case studies
• Infographics
• Whitepapers
• ebooks

Some types of content have a bigger reach than others (more than 100 million people in the U.S. listen to a podcast weekly, for instance), but they all have their own benefits and suit particular goals.

Podcasting can help you increase brand awareness, create an ongoing conversation with your listeners (e.g. through emailing or calling into the show), and establish your business as a thought leader. And it can do all that while your listeners are taking out the garbage, walking the dog, or riding the train to work.

The more content formats you incorporate into your strategy, the more opportunities you have to expand your reach and position yourself as an authority.

Study Content Published By Your Favorite Brands

Starting out on your content marketing journey can be tough. You may not know what voice or style you want to use in your content. But one simple way to generate ideas is to analyze other businesses’ work. Even if they’re not in your industry or niche, you can still take inspiration from other companies’ content.

You might love the long-form blog posts that your favorite clothing brand publishes each week because they combine in-depth, original insights with a fun voice. While you may write on completely different topics and for different readers, you can use their work as a jumping-off point for your own.

Ready to Take Your Small Business Further Online?

Content marketing is a critical part of boosting your online visibility, along with SEO, social advertising, retargeting, and other powerful techniques. Our Orange County SEO agency is here to help you reach your target audience with a comprehensive strategy tailored to your small business.

To chat with our SEO specialists, get in touch today!

Content marketing matters now more than ever, especially for businesses looking to grow and engage their audience. Estimated global content marketing revenue rose from $72 billion in 2023 to $82 billion in 2024. And it’s expected to reach $107 billion by 2026.

But creating effective content that grabs the right people and interests them in your business isn’t easy. To help you engage prospective customers and build your audience, our Orange County SEO agency shares five valuable tips below.

Prioritize Quality and Value

Bashing content out and publishing it daily isn’t enough. Sure, search engines love fresh content, but they also know bad content when they see it.

Focus on constructing content with a clear message, audience, and goal. You should publish content regularly and according to a schedule, but create a checklist of points your criteria your content must meet. Whether it’s a blog post, podcast, or video, good quality is paramount.

Engage Your Audience with Stories

Try to include stories in your content. That might be an anecdote about an event, the background of your business, or a case study of a client you’ve helped.

Storytelling can engage users, connect with them emotionally, and keep them on your site for longer.

Try to Make Content Evergreen

Evergreen content stays on your site and remains relevant for years. You might need to update it from time to time, but it won’t have an expiry date unlike topical content.

Popular examples of evergreen content include guides, case studies, checklists, and FAQ pages. Promote these in social media posts regularly, as part of your social media marketing strategy, to attract new visitors.

Use Your Own Research and Insights

Adding research and links to authority sites is important to support points in content. But building content around your own research will make it unique and original.

Sharing a fresh perspective can provide readers with more value than content that primarily relies on other people’s findings. If you do it regularly enough, it can also position you as a thought leader in a specific area.

Avoid Clickbait Headlines

It’s tempting to use catchy headlines that might not exactly reflect the contents of a blog post, podcast, or video. But don’t give in to that temptation. Otherwise, you could lose visitors as soon as they realize what you’ve done. And many will know clickbait when they see it and avoid your content altogether.

Create eye-catching, engaging headlines that honestly align with subject matter. Your audience will likely appreciate that more than headlines that are exciting but misleading.

Conclusion

Creating high-quality, high-value content is fantastic for marketing your business. But bringing more people to your website and satisfying search engines demands more than just great content.

Effective SEO is vital for securing a strong position on results pages, and our Orange County SEO agency can help you with bespoke packages. To find out how we can build your site’s online presence, get in touch today!