Questions that Help Define Your Content Strategy

A few weeks ago, I was asked to give a general SEO tip to share across our social media channels. I replied,“Be Useful!” My brevity was criticized, but I stand behind the simple statement.

My Father, and baseball coach while growing up, continually harped on “Fundamentals, Fundamentals, Fundamentals!” He would holler nearly all practice long, and it was even written on our wall at home. Needless to say, it has always stuck with me, and I have found that sentiment to remain relevant no matter what industry I have personally been working in, and especially when helping determine the content strategy to help our clients succeed within their industry.

The most basic fundamental that must be clearly defined in order to progress your business and your digital content strategy is your business’ goals (hint: it boils down to how you are useful). Once that is clearly defined, ask yourself, how can you provide more useful information? Answer that question, and you are well on your way to a great content strategy. Before we get ahead of ourselves though, let’s break down the process into its fundamentals.

Get Started on Solid Ground

When first looking at any SEO campaign, start with the basics. Focus on your own fundamentals. Clearly define your business’ goals, and then work from there. Did I already say that? Great! I should say it again!

As an entrepreneur, you undoubtedly have had to wear many hats, fill multiple roles, and that can sometimes muddle your own business’ identity; in your own head. When considering your long term outlook, that can be dangerous.

Don’t get me wrong, wearing the different hats and filling the different roles is a great way to start. It’s how many businesses get off the ground. Defining a content strategy, however, is about clearly defining the character of your business (both now and as you envision it in the future) and letting that vision dictate the words and images you use in your digital content strategy.

Fundamentals!

So, What Kind of Rockstar/Superhero Are You?

There are many different ways to position your usefulness within your industry, but defining that can be easier said than done. Do you hope to position your business as the most prestigious firm in the industry, or as a premium provider of [insert your product or service]? Some business owners seek volume, and to provide the most economical product available. No matter what your goal may be, clearly defining how you position your own business model helps to determine your online content strategy moving forward. It seems obvious, but more often that not, business owners do not keep this in mind (or have yet to consider this) when hiring an SEO company or when determining their own content strategy.

Once you have defined your business’ identity, only then can you begin to work towards driving the most relevant, highly converting traffic to your site. So, how do you drive that traffic?

Go Back to Your Fundamentals!

Your business is useful, right? That’s why people pay money for your service or product, right? How you are useful is your most basic fundamental. To build upon that in order to more fully develop your content strategy, start by asking these questions:

Who are your ideal clients?

Haven’t thought about this? Who has been your best client? Why were they great?

What will your ideal clients possibly be searching for when they find you?

Are they looking for more information to better inform them before they actually purchase, or are they just looking for your address? Are you making that information easy to find?

How will your site provide the most useful information possible when those ideal clients/customers search for answers?

Will it be provided in your blog, or the evergreen, static page content? How? Can it be done more efficiently?

Does the copy on your landing pages reflect how you want to position your organization?

How are you being more useful to your clients online than your competitors?

Answering these questions, and writing their answers down will leave you with the material needed to determine what keywords to optimize for, solidify the direction of your business, and give you a long list of subjects to explain, detail, and otherwise inform upon in your blog and site as a whole. Defining these things might even take you to infinity, and maybe even beyond!

After writing this, I realize I should title it, “Want to know a good content strategy? Define your business goals!” Hopefully this post was useful for you, or at least got your wheels turning.

How do you define your business?

Images Courtesy of Flickr User humbert15