The best way I’ve heard someone describe site content is the “journeyman” of digital marketing. For those not down on sports lingo, a journeyman is a player who’s got the skills but not the glory. Think of your Scottie Pippens or basically any midfielder. In my rather biased opinion, blogs are the foundation upon which the rest of the digital marketing suite is built upon. Social media reach and search ranking improvements are undoubtedly the eye-catchers, but in this post, I hope to give you a greater appreciation for blog content.
What is Site Content?
Content is a loose term. The dictionary definition of content, according to Cambridge, is:
“The subject or ideas contained in something written, said, created, or represented”
Pretty vague for our purposes, but a good starting point. The definition of content I would use in regard to Digital Marketing is as follows:
“Any media which is created and posted on a site to engage an audience, boost SEO or drive sales.”
Sounds simple enough, so let’s break it down piece by piece.
Any Media: What does this include
Here at Wildfire we primarily create blog content for our sites, but there are countless types of media you could publish on your site. Let’s go through the advantages and disadvantages of the prevailing kinds you’re likely to see from major companies all the way to the smallest start-ups.
Blog Content:
Blog articles are a powerful way to draw eyes to your site, due to a variety of factors. Blog content has a quick turnaround, with a weekly blog schedule being very much feasible. This makes it much easier to keep current and capitalize on prevailing trends. Blog content is easily scalable to fit any screen too, making it ideal for mobile and desktop viewing experiences. Blog content is considered less engaging by many in comparison to video and image content. However, with the right topic and a competent writer, you can find yourself with a large number of clicks.
Video Content
Video content is highly engaging and easily accessible. Video content is also easy to share across every marketing channel, as it is an accepted and highly-consumed type of content on social media and et cetera.
There are drawbacks to video content, however. Video content requires a budget of both time and money. The filming, editing and rendering that’s required to create video time can cost an inexperienced user countless hours and a fair sum of money to create, typically with diminishing returns as time goes on. From my experience, video content typically has a high click-through rate when included in a post on your site, as people typically jump to YouTube, Vimeo or wherever the video is hosted. Overall, if you have the budget, video is an omnichannel marketing powerhouse that can definitely drive engagement.
Image Content
Image content is typically reserved for social media. With services such as Canva and photoshop, image content is incredibly easy to create and will be quickly and effectively digested by customers. Image content is great to supplement blogs to improve the effectiveness with which your marketing message is delivered to your audience.
Created and Posted: How is content made?
Content creation is a balancing act between quality and quantity. The more content you get out, and the quicker you do so, the more likely you are to get high rankings and clicks for current topics and keep customer engagement high. However, without quality new audiences aren’t likely to engage with your content. For example, blog typos can negatively impact your Google rankings, and potential customers will immediately be pushed away by terrible videos. From my experience, a weekly schedule for your site, with blogs between 450-600 works allows you to strike the perfect balance between quality, SEO content and quantity. Additional visual content should be sprinkled into this monthly or weekly, depending on skill and budget.
Boost SEO and Drive sales: SEO Explained
SEO short for “Search Engine Optimization” is the act of including the keywords your content needs to reach the top of Google Search Results. Tools such as Ahrefs can help you pick the right keywords for your content based on a few starting terms you enter. SEO-optimizing your blog content not only improves the performance of that page but your site as a whole. This makes your site more visible to potential customers, and with the right links to the right products, could drive sales.
SEO and General Content tips to drive sales:
- Topical or educational. Make titles that people need to read.
- Research keywords both before and after writing your content. A quick rewritten sentence for an extra keyword can boost results dramatically later on.
- Include as many keywords as possible as long as it is legible. Keyword stuffing will negatively impact your final search ranking.
- The proximity of keywords is important. If you’re targeting “women’s clothing sale”, the more legible “women’s clothing for sale” will suffice, but “women’s clothing that is on sale” is pushing it.
- Target a range of keywords. From words with few searches (1-500), to average-sized keywords (500-1k) and finally the most popular search terms (1k<). This range vastly improves your chances of ranking highly within at least one search term.
- Unique formatting such as lists and tables will not only improve your ranking but can place you in the “People Also Ask” area if your information is accurate, SEO Optimized and trusted. This can happen regardless of SEO ranking, so it’s always worth trying to vary your content.
- Keyword stuff your headings. H1 should remain engaging as your title, but ensure to include a few keywords. H2 are ideal for subheadings, and should be predominantly keywords. H3s are ideal for product names.
- Multiple links drive traffic to your products, so include them. However, shouting (i.e “click HERE!!”) will dramatically impact the rankings of your site.
How do I Create Content?
As with any task, the first step of content creation is always the hardest part. Knowing the skills you need and the tools of the trade are vital. Here are my recommendations:
| Skill | Tool | Pros | Cons |
| SEO Keywords | ahrefs | Easy to use & modify and available online. The list is easy to pick keywords from and can be tailored for your needs. | A limited number of searches (700),
Not accurate for smaller search terms. |
| Blog Writing | Microsoft Word | Everyone has it, does the job. Ability to quickly add headings, word counter included. | Paid, No true dark theme, somewhat bloated. |
| Image Creation | Canva | Quick and effective. Easy to use, lots of stock images in the pro package. Always looks professional, easy animation. | Paid service (optional), not as advanced as Photoshop, requires an internet connection. |
| Spell Checking | Grammarly | Available on email, messaging and content. Effective, consistent. Pro features are perfect for brand identity. | Paid service (optional), requires an internet connection. |
| Video Creation/Editing | Adobe Premiere Rush | Simplified but powerful, quick to render, software not online. | Paid service, simplified so not ideal for experts and complicated videos. |
| Analysis | Google Analytics | Easy to read, easy to compile results, highly customisable. | Complicated to set up, somewhat convoluted for beginners. |
No matter the size, scope or industry of your business, the content you create provides the opportunity to grow. Laying down a solid foundation on your site helps you branch out to social media, YouTube, the press and more. Your brand identity begins in the content you put out, and the better the content is the quicker your audience will latch on. The best part about content is: it’s up to you to develop it. Be hands-on and take the reigns, or trust the experts at Wildfire. Make videos that entertain and inform, or produce quality sales pitches that will drive sales. Either way, as long as you put the time and effort into content, you’ll see returns in every aspect.
Thank you for reading, and contact Wildfire today for the content you need to truly begin your business journey.