Many companies think they have to choose between SEO and content marketing when it comes to digital marketing, but this isn’t the case. In fact, these approaches are intrinsically entwined.
The content on a website is important for SEO purposes and promoting that content through well-designed websites is essential for a successful content marketing strategy.
This blog post discusses how SEO and content marketing can be used together to improve an organization’s online presence and develop a comprehensive marketing strategy.
Differences Between SEO vs Content Marketing
Search engine optimization is the process of making a website and brand’s online presence more visible and aligned with guidelines set by major search engines, such as Google.
Content marketing is the creation and distribution of digital content for your business. The focus is on quality, not quantity. Types of content that can be included in a content marketing strategy include:
- Blog Posts
- Podcasts
- Infographics
- Videos & Images
- eBooks & Downloadable content
SEO and content marketing are not the same, but they are linked. SEO is the process of optimizing a website for Google search with the goal of earning higher web traffic levels. Content marketing is the creation of valuable, relevant, and consistent content with the aim of attracting and retaining a defined audience.
Any content marketing strategy that wants to be successful needs to focus on implementing principles like targeting relevant keywords that are commonly used in search engines. Content is an important part of SEO. Creating content that is optimized for organic search can help increase traffic.
This post provides an introduction to the basics of SEO.
9 Examples Of Content Marketing Activities
There are 9 common content marketing activities that can help drive organic traffic. Here are some examples:
#1 Long-Form Blog Posts
Content comes in many forms, but one of the most common is long-form blog posts. Posts on blogs that are longer than 1000 words are usually guides that are full of useful information for readers.
By writing content that is shareable and promoting it on social media and other platforms, your business can reach a larger audience, engage potential customers, and generate leads. Your organization can also show off how much you know about the industry you’re in and potentially get some valuable sales leads.
Blog posts that are long and focus on search intent are key to a good content marketing strategy. To rank well in search engines, include relevant search queries in your blog posts.
#3 Infographics
They say that an image is worth a thousand words, but it is also important to try to include both images and words when creating content. This suggests that in order to appeal to a wider range of people, one should not only produce content of high quality, but also ensure that this content includes key words that will be picked up by search engines. Another effective strategy is to translate this content into infographics.
An infographic is an image that conveys information in a way that is easy to understand. They are often used to offer insights that would otherwise be difficult to understand. The following images can be helpful in drawing website visitors who prefer not to read lengthy blog posts but still want access to detailed information. They can improve your website’s search engine optimization and can be used for link building campaigns.
#4 Podcasts
Podcasts are a fun way to show off your business’s knowledge. There are many podcast-making tools available that make it easy to create your own show.
You can improve your SEO by creating a website for your podcast and including useful keywords in your written podcast description. This will help your podcast be noticed by your target audience.
If you want to mix up your content strategy, try turning your written content into audio form and publishing it as a podcast. This can be a complement to your existing long-form blog posts.
#5 eBooks
It can be costly and take up a lot of time to publish print books, but it won’t do anything to help your online presence. Thankfully, eBooks are an ideal alternative to printed books.
An eBook is a digital book file that can be sent to an electronic reader, such as a Kindle. Additionally, eBooks can be provided to readers in other formats such as PDFs and large word documents. If you’re looking to generate leads and get contact details from potential clients, writing long explanatory texts can be useful.
When using eBooks as part of a content marketing strategy, it is common to host them on a landing page that requires a form to be filled out in order to download the eBook. This helps to ensure that only genuine prospects are downloading your content.
#6 Webinars
A webinar is an online seminar that uses the internet to conduct a live meeting or conference. Conferences that take place online can be scheduled for a specific time so that attendees can view or listen to them at a later date.
Webinars are a great way to show off your industry expertise, meet other professionals in your industry, and find potential clients. When organising a webinar, make sure to have enough speakers with plenty of seminar ideas and slides to refer to, to ensure the event is valuable and not just an extended video call.
#7 Re-Purposing Blog Posts Into Social Media Posts
It can take a lot of time and effort to create long-form blog posts. You can make the most of your blog posts by converting them into social media content.
If you need help creating social media posts, this blog post is for you. It provides a link to a tool that lets you create posts for a variety of platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and more.
Content shared on social media platforms doesn’t need to be as focused on SEO as it is unlikely that it will appear in search results pages.
#8 Newsletters & Emails
Digital versions of marketing materials such as leaflets, catalogues, newsletters and emails are a great way to connect with potential customers and help guide them through the sales process.
Email newsletters can be a useful way to keep your clients up to date on the latest developments in your business, while also saving you time and effort. To be in compliance with GDPR, you must have the individual’s consent before sending any email marketing messages.
Email marketing can help you stay in touch with your clients and build relationships with them. You can improve your email marketing by using strategies like sending follow-ups to best sellers and offering time-limited deals.
#9 YouTube Videos
The last item on our content marketing list is creating YouTube videos. This is a vital part of any video content marketing strategy. YouTube is a video-focused social media platform that has also become a successful search engine.
YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world, after Google. This is thanks to its ease of use and the variety of innovative content. You will need to create an account and learn how to make videos that people will want to watch on YouTube if you want to be able to share them.
Making Youtube videos is easy depending on how you want to make them. You don’t need expensive equipment to get started with YouTube. You can use your smartphone to film content. While creating your videos, you should keep in mind that even though the quality might not be perfect, it could still lead to views from people who are interested in your content.
9 Great Lessons You Can Apply From Print to Modern Content Marketing
To improve your content marketing and ensure everything you publish online is exactly as good as the work in your favorite print magazines, follow these tips:
1. Do Your Research
Most of us are familiar with the basics of good research, but it takes real skill and patience to do good research for online writing. Copywriters who are constantly researching are the best in the world. If you want to ensure that your research is better than others, use an app like Evernote to save interesting pieces of information, and organize it by subject.
After you have collected your information, examine it carefully to find a new and unique perspective, then share it with your readers. Your peers will not only appreciate your innovation, but you will also stand out as a copywriter with valuable, in-depth ideas to share.
2. Seek to Teach
The main responsibility of a copywriter is to educate their audience on a particular topic. Some examples of essays from large journals are The New Yorker and Harper’s. The articles in this collection are not only well-written, but also informative. To keep your audience engaged, you need to focus on teaching them something. This will ensure that the content you create is worthy of their notice.
Your job is not to simply regurgitate information that is already out there, but to help people see the topic from a new angle. Find something that will make your reader pay attention by shocking them. It’s not difficult to write content, but it can be challenging to write educational content that readers will want to discuss with their friends. Shoot for the latter.
3. Serve Your Content Objective—With Personality
If you want to reach a lot of people who are smart, the best option is to use an unbiased perspective. It is possible to have a career as a writer even if you have a strong personality. However, readers are mostly looking for information and entertainment second. Keep this in mind as you write so that you can maintain a neutral perspective on the topic you’re covering. If you paraphrase this text, you will be able to provide more value for your readers by presenting the facts on a subject without blurring it with opinion or perception.
It is important to write with a unique voice. It can be difficult to find the right balance between presenting the facts and appealing to your readers’ interests, but it is a valuable skill to have. This balance is something that is often lacking in the copywriting community but is common in print journalism.
4. Master Your Craft
You wouldn’t want to buy a display bowl from a shoddy woodworker, and you wouldn’t want to read content from a copywriter who can barely spell or use correct grammar. Since it’s important to produce high-quality writing that is free of errors, it’s crucial to learn the skills of writing well. Every piece of writing that is published in print goes through several rounds of editing and proofreading. By the time it makes it to the magazine, it is supposed to be flawless.
While online content should be held to the same standards as other content, the fact that marketers are often their own editors makes it easy for them to put out content of poor quality that is full of mistakes. This text is saying that if you want to be taken seriously as a copywriter, you need to make sure your spelling and grammar is perfect.
If you have Difficulty correcting your spelling and grammar, hire someone to do it for you. A small change in your approach can have a big impact on your professional life.
6. Specify, Specify, Specify
An editor from a well-known magazine would reject your content if it used words like “very,” “a lot,” “big,” “often,” or “heavy.”
These are words that are not specific and do not help the reader learn something new.
It’s important to be precise in your online writing. If you want your online copy to stand out, try incorporating current facts, statistics, and figures.
7. Aim for Depth
An award-winning story about a homeless man would go into greater depth about the man’s backstory and experiences than a news story about a homeless man. This is saying that if you find a topic boring, it’s because you’re not looking at it the right way. There are always interesting stories to be found if you look hard enough.
It is beneficial to learn how to tap into human emotions and include aspects like tension, sadness, love, and happiness into the stories you tell. This makes your copy easier to read and more engaging for readers.
8. Slice a Story Into Digestible Bits
If you’re writing great content, it will probably be long and complex. The New Yorker is known for publishing long articles, but what keeps these stories from being boring is the ability of the authors to break up the content into manageable pieces by relating it to other events, introducing a large number of characters, and adding humor and facts for momentary relief.
It’s better to think of breaking a task into smaller, more manageable pieces rather than trying to do the entire thing at once.
It’s more enjoyable and a lot less messy for everyone if we’re not cleaning up spills.
9. Diversify
A well-rounded print magazine will feature stories from a variety of perspectives on a range of topics. If you want your online content to remain fresh, have the same goal in mind. Making sure your content is varied and interesting is a skill you can learn, which will help you connect with readers and make your online writing better.
From Print to the Web: Good Copy Carries Over
There are many similarities between the world of print copy and the world of online copy. However, there is much to be learned from the older style of print copy. By following these nine strategies, copywriters can improve their writing and increase their online visibility.
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