holistic content marketing

Have you ever assembled a puzzle? Most of us have. There’s a deep sense of satisfaction watching the image slowly come together through tedious effort and clever tactics. But for some, putting the puzzle can be frustrating. There might be one piece, just ONE piece, that’s missing from a section, and it can drive you mad looking for it. Here’s the thing — content marketing can be a lot like a puzzle, with many pieces coming together to make something amazing. Unfortunately, content marketers often get fixated on a single piece, leaving the rest of the puzzle unassembled. That piece is, very often, “Search Engine Optimization (SEO).” SEO and content marketing are becoming two pieces to a puzzle in today’s friendly online marketing era. Yet, SEO as a separate piece has still earned more than its fair share of attention. Frankly, it’s not hard to understand why. Getting to the front page of a search engine like Google can seem like the make-or-break gauge of success for a piece of content. But there’s a lot more to what makes a fantastic SEO and content marketing strategy, where you win with both Google and readers; and ignoring it will simply leave you with an incomplete puzzle. A holistic approach to it all is what you need today in order to win. A Holistic Approach: How SEO and Content Marketing Fit Together Thankfully, there are definitive steps you can take to ensure a holistic approach to your SEO and content marketing strategy. Here’s how: 1. Learn the Difference Between Advertising and Marketing One major mistake marketers tend to make with their content is making it overly advertorial or salesy. Sure, potential customers might stumble across your blog through a referral, or a backlink, or a search engine. But if they’re looking for helpful information or a solution to their problem and all they find is an advertisement for your latest product or service, they’ll feel alienated right off the bat. In fact, 28% of Americans actively seek to avoid advertisements online, according to Hubspot. And advertisers are the second most hated group online, only falling behind criminals and hackers. Yup. If your content becomes perceived as a sneaky advertisement, you might quickly find your brand being seen in a light you never intended. It doesn’t matter how great your SEO is if you’re creating content that is entirely self-serving. Truly great content will help to inform and assist the reader, rather than cajole them into a conversion. The positive impression a reader engaging with your content will have a far greater impact than merely a sales pitch alone. Customers who feel serviced and satisfied will willfully engage with more of your content, explore your brand in greater depth, and even recommend you to others. And here’s the best part — all these efforts to ensure your content benefits a potential customer will pay dividends in SEO. It’s Not Just About Keywords Anymore It’s not just about keywords anymore. There’s a lot more to building a comprehensive SEO strategy. Among the most effective methods to increase search engine visibility is generating quality backlinks from other sites. And, simply put, no one is going to link back to an advertisement. People link back to valuable, easy-to-understand, hyper-relevant content. If you break out of the mindset of needing to convert every reader with a sales pitch tucked in every piece of content, you’ll find your SEO improving in tandem with your conversions. 2. Write Exceptional, Meaty, Evergreen Content for Your SEO and Content Marketing Campaigns How long does it take to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle? No matter how good you are, it’s a time consuming process — and effective content creation is no different. Anyone can whip up a stubby blog a couple hundred words long stuffed with the requisite keywords. As a matter of fact, many are already doing it. It’s a super bad habit, and a perfect example of a strategy focused purely on SEO and not on content. There’s evidence to back this up, too. Neil Patel of Quicksprout found that posts he made over 1500 words received 68% more tweets and 22% more Facebook likes than shorter posts. That’s a massive boost for a more thorough article. Even if you have good intentions about informing your audience, if it’s not well-researched and relevant, it won’t appeal to readers. In content marketing, it’s not the thought that counts — it’s the product. With that said, it’s important to dig deep into your subject matter to create content that’s so thorough, readers will frequently return to you for their information. Speaking of information, that’s the other thing you’re going to have to consider. What kind of information do you intend to share? It can seem daunting to break new ground, especially in fields that are written about with extreme frequency (here’s looking at you, content marketing.) Thus, it can be a bit tempting to jump on current events and tie your content to that. Trending hashtag? Next blog post. Viral challenge? Gotta upload a branded video. There’s just one problem — this type of content has a short shelf-life and won’t have the long-term impact it could. That’s why you need to build a foundation of “evergreen” content for your marketing strategy. Evergreen content involves creating pieces that are relevant for as long as possible (ideally forever, but things do change and need to be updated.) When you develop a marketing strategy, consider developing content that won’t become outdated anytime soon. This means it can continue to draw views, shares and backlinks well after its publication, giving you a long-term SEO boost as a consequence. In the long run, your dedication to creating long-lasting and meaningful content will result in a wealth of engaging and relevant material that will drive readership years after it is written. This doesn’t mean you have to completely ignore current events — quite the opposite. Making your content relevant to the experiences of your viewers is essential. … Read more