A Simple Guide To Your Website’s Content Strategy
Content is king.
Launching a website sits at the beginning of a marketing journey, rather than the end. As search engine algorithms evolve and audiences change, the content that populated that shiny new website may become increasingly less relevant – particularly as corporate goals subtly shift.
This is where an effective content management system can be invaluable. Also known as CMS, a content management system allows authorised personnel to modify existing content or add new material at any time. The introduction of original content can dovetail with wider marketing/advertising/PR campaigns, focus on flagship/struggling products and services, and even build upon partnerships with other companies or complementary services.
However, an integrated CMS is only effective if the content being generated is of sufficiently high quality. Below are five golden rules of content strategy and the maximising of the corporate benefits of a CMS interface:
Make it original: Search engines now penalise plagiarised content and mark down websites that repeat material from one page to the next. By contrast, they will uprate sites that regularly introduce original content. Blogs and news pages are ideal forums, providing they’re written by a senior member of staff or a professional copywriter with good knowledge of the industry/product/service/target audience. Individual articles of circa 500 words will achieve good search results rankings without requiring too much writing (or reading) time.
Make it interesting: Appealing to search engines is only part of the battle, and modern SEO techniques reflect the importance of writing for people rather than algorithms. Audiences regularly return to websites they like, so pique their interest or tell them things they don’t already know. Content should answer a question or make a point, ideally in ways that existing material doesn’t. Interesting updates with compelling headlines will be shared and commented on via social media, expanding the potential target audience.
Make it promotional: For a content management system to succeed, the material being uploaded should promote a company’s key products and services. Clothing retailers can discuss fashion trends and this season’s colours, but there should also be a hook that draws readers towards newly uploaded products or which encourages them to order a particular shade of outfit. A good SEO content strategy will subtly (yet effectively) explain why this particular site is a go-to destination for that product or service, encouraging custom and building trust.
Make it regular: There are no hard and fast rules on how often to update a CMS, but a couple of weekly revisions will keep search engines interested. Give one person the job of managing the content management system so they become fluent in it, and create lists of all previous content to identify areas that have been extensively covered or that would benefit from more SEO work. Try to have one person dedicated to content production, since each writer has a unique tone of voice that creates a unified theme across a website.
Make it keyword relevant: Always write new content with keywords and SEO phrases in mind, rather than retrospectively trying to shoehorn them in. Incorporating keywords into headlines and captions is advantageous, but not essential. Consider the terms readers might search for (using software like Google AdWords or SEMrush) and use the most relevant ones a few times each per post. Recommended keywords will vary over time, which is why new SEO content needs to reflect changes in the market, and newer or more popular search terms.