As your business grows, old content can become a series of relics. Some of it may be outdated; some may not represent your current content or business as a whole. Though that may be true, it doesn’t mean that your old content has to be deleted. Many successful content strategies believe in keeping your past content active on your website but adding minor changes here and there to modernize it.
What is a Content Strategy?
A content strategy is a plan that businesses create to achieve their online marketing goals. Typically, these plans outline how they can attract their target audience, how to implement SEO or search engine optimization to drive traffic to their website, and the kind of content they want to create and post. There are many ways for a business to develop a content strategy; however, the most commonly followed steps include:
Having a goal in mind
What is the goal of creating your content? What are you trying to communicate to your audience? How will this help with SEO? Questions like this are crucial to keep in mind when you are first thinking about how you are going to create your own unique content strategy.
Conducting research with your goal in mind
After you have a clear image of your content goals, look at other businesses with a similar model to yours. See what they do well and what could use improvement and keep all of that in mind for your own content.
Choosing a content management system
There are many wonderful and helpful content management systems available on the market today. It is important to keep your goals in mind when choosing one. Make sure it is the best choice for you and your business.
Figuring out what you want your content to look like
This may also require research if you are unsure about what you want your content to be like. Do you want images? What tone do you want the content to be in? Consider all aspects of the content image and decide what you think will work the best for your content.
Brainstorming ideas for your content
Now that you have a clear idea of how you want your content to look, now is the time to figure out what the bulk of the content will be. Researching popular topics relating to your field is a great place to start for blog posts and other forms of content.
Creating your content
Once you have a few relevant topics in mind for your posts, begin creating the content. Make sure to do thorough research if the topic requires it. You want to make sure that you are creating original content that is accurate and informative for your target audience.
Editing and publishing your content
After you have everything written, reread it a few times and make any last-minute edits you may have before publishing it. Once you publish it, make sure to check it in the following days to see how your audience is interacting with it.
Managing your content over time
You don’t have to check up on your posts every day but every once in a while, see how they’re doing and if they can be improved upon. Add any changes you believe to be necessary and continue to do so down the line.
Great content strategies may require a lot of trial and error on behalf of the business. There is a learning curve where you may need to alter your content strategy or trajectory, but over time it will become much easier to manage as you figure out what works best for you.
Why Content Strategy is Necessary
Content marketing has been proven to be a very lucrative venture for business owners. It generates more website traffic and can also generate plenty of new leads. If you happen to post content that ends up attracting a lot of attention, new leads can be generated on their own for a while without any help from you. Additionally, coming up with a plan can help you navigate your other forms of content on various social media platforms and help you create a brand for your business.
How to Update Your Existing Content
You have options if you have old content on your website that you don’t know what to do with. While many people may choose to delete it, there are ways to revitalize old content and make it feel like new. Some of the ways you can do this include:
Updating information
If you have previously written content that was ongoing or pending a solution, updating the information surrounding the topic periodically can greatly benefit you. If readers see that you are consistently updating content, they are more likely to check the content frequently for any future updates. It is also important to update any content that may have been disproven, edited, or revoked so that you are putting out accurate and up-to-date information.
Rewording and reoptimizing existing content
Sometimes rewriting old content can give it a new life. You can reword the title and the body content to be more SEO friendly and add keywords that may draw more attention to the content. If you have never made your content SEO friendly, then doing so is also a great practice that can help you gain new readers.
Learning from reader’s comments
If you have a comment section under posts, regularly reading the comments is a great practice to get into. You will be able to see how people feel about your content while seeing where they wish you could have presented the content differently. If you want, you could use the comments to reword or rewrite the piece in question, however, the comments are great to keep in mind when creating future content that appeals to your audience.
All content on your website can be improved upon if you think it’s necessary to do so. While old content may not be entirely representative of your current content or business strategy, you have the option of editing them to be. Redoing old content may also generate new leads and interest in your business.
Contact Us
If you need help revitalizing your old content or would like an entire customized content strategy for your business, contact the experts at NOVA Advertising. You can call us at 703-855-9641 or directly on our website here.
