5 things to scrap from your content marketing strategy

Content marketing has become so essential to the success of an online business that a strong strategy is required. And like most of the things in life, there is a right and wrong way to that.

In a survey, conducted by content marketing institute, 66% of marketers expect to receive an increase to their content marketing budget next year.

Content is a catalyst for higher visibility in search engine rankings when you get it right.  

As long as you are creating engaging content that provides value to your readers, it's a powerful weapon for your marketing strategy.  However, if your content does not interest readers, you are more likely to damage your value to search engines. And you might complain that content marketing doesn’t work.

But if it worked for thousands of brands, then it can work for you as well. Maybe it's time to reconsider your strategy. Are you using the old tactics and techniques that no longer attract and engage the readers?

Here are the 5 things to scrap from your content marketing strategy suggested by experts from Chicago SEO company

• Drop the standard of 500- words article

Research shows that longer articles perform well on search engines. And the reason behind is search engine wants to provide users with the in-depth informative content that best answers their search query. The longer the article is, the detailed information it will contain.

Moreover, the longer articles provide impression to search engines that the content has been published by the expert in their field and is thus distributing the content that can be trusted and offers a real value.  

Mobile users are also impacting the search engine results. The end-users interacting with the Internet through mobile devices do not want articles of length 100 words plus. They prefer to read the micro-content of 200-300 words that is easily readable on small screen.

Therefore your content strategy has to benefit the target audience, not just regarding quality but also keeping in mind the type of device your audience is using.

• Quality over quantity is more important

Yes, this true that publishing articles more frequently will attract the readers and the search engine crawlers, but this will only be true if you are publishing high-quality content.

If you are posting articles just to maintain your blogs and improve your search engine rankings then you might do more harm than good. It’s much better to publish one high-quality article a month then to publish two low-quality articles per week.

The key point behind publishing a content is to keep the readers on the page, compel them to explore the website and drive them towards the buy button.

When your content is unable to engage the readers, they will leave your site in less than a minute and it will cause an increase in bounce rate and setback your search engine rankings.  

• Publish original material

While it is tough to come up with the original idea every week, it is possible to stamp your unique personality to your content and modify the same topic in a new and exciting way.

It is important to think in a different direction in order to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Think outside the box, do your research more creatively and present yourself in a more interesting way to develop a brand personality that readers want to follow.

• Avoid using generalizations and clichés

Stereotypes and sweeping statements can turn off your readers and so many other lazy writing mistakes. Readers want to be entertained and informed when they are reading content so be creative.

For example, how many times you have heard ‘We all know…'. what is wrong with this statement is that it is a generalization because not everyone might know and secondly, it has become a cliché.

• Do not look for low-quality inbound links

Backlinks are excellent for higher rankings but only when they organic. The penguin algorithm punishes a lot of websites that have a large number of low-quality or unnatural inbound links. And if you go looking for backlinks from low authority sites and paid link farms, your site might attract penalty that will negatively affect your online earnings.

To get that prominent position in SERP, inbound links should be organic and if you are publishing high- quality content, you increase your chances of receiving the backlinks from third party publishers.

Conclusion

If you are going to invest in content marketing, do it right. It's better to pay professional content writers to produce top-quality articles on your behalf then sticking to the strategy that will never work.

The digital landscape has changed and it's better that your attitude towards the content marketing also changes with it. Working with seo company Chicago will definitely help you achieve better position in the SERP.