But like everything else in marketing, you have to stay up to date on proper practices and trends to maximize your return on investment. Now more than ever, content marketing is more important with social media having so much control over our sales and communities.

What exactly does content marketing do for your business? Check out this video from semrush.com for a good overview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-shSAxeKO0

Quick Takeaways:

• Content marketing is the premier way to reduce spending and increase traffic to your site

• Writing and publishing content your target audience actually wants to read is crucial

• Maintaining a consistent schedule is important to building brand credibility and authenticity

So what should your strategy look like headed into 2022? Let’s talk about it.

Check up on your fundamentals

Seeing how your organic search rankings are performing is crucial to a healthy content marketing strategy. Keywords drive your content because the higher you rank with keywords, the higher you are on Google’s search results. Be honest, when was the last time you clicked the seventh link down?

Source: FinancesOnline

When maintaining your blog it’s important to follow these rules to give you the best shot at SEO rankings. Playing this one by the book is important as browsers are picky about what gets put at the top of search results and what goes on page 4.

• Keep your word count between 1000 – 1800 words

Google likes articles within this range. Too little or too many might keep your hard work from ranking where it should!

• Know your keywords

For content marketing in 2022, SEO/SEM is most successful when you know what words are the most important to what you talk about. Back to our tech example, words like tech, wearable, watch, would likely contribute best to a higher ranking among similar articles.

• Have a compelling meta description

The hook is everything, right? Having a good description under your article title will be the blurb prospects read. If it’s boring or irrelevant to them, why would they click on your article?  

• Internal Links

Internal links are hyperlinks in your blog content that link to other pages within your domain. You should include 1-2 internal links in every blog post.

• Call to Action (CTA)

CTAs tell readers what their next step is for interacting with your brand, and they can increase conversion rates by 121%. CTAs are the get up and do this part of your article, and are crucial to getting shares and engagement from your readers.

Include calls to action like starting a free trial, subscribing to an email list, or scheduling a free consultation. Don’t leave your readers hanging and give them something to do next.

Check out new distribution lines

Ask what’s on your audience’s mind by communicating with them! This is an important step in identifying their interests and concerns related to what you’re trying to sell.

So how do you check up on where your clients are? Begin with a general audit of your social media habits. What groups is your company interested in online – and more importantly, where is your online voice the loudest? If you don’t have one, you aren’t controlling the market narrative.

By improving your online presence, you are also maintaining a pipeline directly to your customer’s screens. 

Organic engagement is crucial to the engagement of your pieces and the overall value of your brand. This isn’t exclusive to social media, though. Email marketing isn’t dead, and there are plenty of automated tools designed to show you where your message is being received and where it isn’t. 

Email blast services sites can provide insight and organized lists for information and content shipping. These can often be maintained with a smart content calendar.

(Don’t forget to check up on your sales email subject lines, too!)

Create relevant content you would want to see

Quality is one of the most important things when considering your content marketing in 2022. You can follow all of the rules and still fall flat on your face if you aren’t building something your readers will come back to.

Ultimately, content marketing is a business opportunity. So, ask yourself how to get the most out of this opportunity with published posts. You have to be relevant, credible, and aware of what your prospects are thinking.

Consider the audience you’re aiming for and what they ask themselves day to day. If your business was in computer monitors, your potential clients might be researching PC parts or tech blogs.

Content similar to 10 PC Upgrades to Improve Your Gameplay or How To Maximize Your Work From Home PC is a great way to send individuals directly to your site for an ideal prospect that you couldn’t get from a traditional ad.

These possibilities are more likely to convert than someone who is not in the market for new tools seeing your advertisement on a banner ad. Creating interest in your product organically backs your credibility, and thus your brand authenticity.

If your operation is expanding or you’re running out of time to properly handle your content marketing efforts, it might be time to hire some help!

There are two options for this that yield similar results. You can either hire experienced content writers that have experience in SEO writing, or – hire a content marketing agency to do the research, writing, and publishing. 

There are benefits to both, but with a consultancy, you often gain access to resources and experience you can’t always get with individual writers. Doing your research on both is important to find what’s best for your business.

Look to the future

Web 3.0 is the next step in the structure of the internet, and in turn, is the next big thing marketing professionals have to navigate to effectively boost their business’ revenue. 

Currently, you can go to Google Trends or Facebook Suite and look up exactly who is reading your content and where they tend to congregate online. It’s an important part of sharing your content through paid advertising that we’ve grown accustomed to in the world of Web 2.0.

This data is often bought in bulk or included in your subscriptions to these services. It’s not just important to your current marketing efforts, it’s actually the backbone of them.

With Web 3.0 becoming the standard, tracing purchasing habits and online presence will become much more difficult and less reliable than it is today. Not having access to mass data will change the way we think about finding our target demographics and prospects.

Wrap up

Keeping up to date on what’s going on in the digital marketing world and content marketing in 2022 will help you stay on top of your goals for 2023. The future is now, go see what improvements you can make to your online marketing strategy!

Want more ideas to grow your bottom dollar and amplify your small business? Check out our other content on https://www.smallbiztechnology.com to improve your marketing strategies now.

The post Tips for Content Marketing in 2022 (and Beyond!) appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

There are nearly 2 billion websites in the world vying for the attention of online shoppers. Consequently, small businesses need to gain visibility to drive traffic to their site while providing the best solutions to the unique problems of each prospect.

Today’s discerning consumers are motivated less by competitive prices and more by whether a company’s website provides a positive user experience. In other words, content marketing can help you build a following and increase conversion rates for ongoing success.

Keep reading to gain a better understanding of the importance of content marketing and learn how to develop an effective strategy for your marketing efforts.

Quick Takeaways

• Content marketing helps set you apart from the competition. As a result, it increases visibility. Likewise, it drives traffic to your site for higher conversion rates and revenue generation.
• Setting SMART goals and identifying your online shoppers help shape your content marketing strategy for optimal results.
• Mapping out content and creating a distribution schedule provides parameters against which to measure the success of your content marketing efforts.

Why is Content Marketing Important?

Content marketing has a far-reaching impact. Today’s consumers want to receive relevant, authoritative information. Therefore, the more quality content you create that resonates with your audience, the more trust, and loyalty you build among your followers.

This increases the likelihood that they’ll share your information with their own contacts and broaden your reach exponentially. In the same vein, quality content enables you to:

• Engage with your audience. Storytelling helps you connect and build lasting relationships with your readers. This is important because existing customers make 65% of a company’s purchases.
• Build your reputation. When you consistently deliver quality content, people will rely on you as a trusted source and industry leader.
• Boost your ROI. The conversion rates for content marketing are six times higher than other marketing strategies.
• Enhance digital marketing channels. Social media, email, video, and more benefit from quality content.

When you craft tailored messages that address particular issues, you deliver a positive experience to your audience. Consequently, search engines identify you as a valuable resource for their users and reward you with higher ranking placement.

This is crucial since 75% of online users don’t look past the first page of Google search results. The following video provides more detail about how to write for SEO to increase your visibility and drive more quality traffic to your site:

Content marketing is key to setting your small business apart from the competition, getting more leads, closing sales, and generating revenue.

5 Steps to Building an Effective Content Marketing Strategy

To benefit from content marketing, every small business must first develop a roadmap for creating and distributing quality content. Here are five steps to building an effective content marketing strategy.

Step 1: Set SMART Goals

Before you can plan your content, you must first know what objectives you’re trying to reach. Whether you want to drive more traffic to your site or increase audience engagement, set SMART goals that are:

• Specific: Whether it’s a number to reach or a deadline to meet, specificity can help provide direction for your campaign.
• Measurable: Milestones help you gauge the impact of your strategy.
• Achievable: Goals should be realistic and attainable. A series of small successes can help propel you forward.
• Relevant: Short-term plans should align with your long-term mission.
• Timely: Set an end date to motivate you toward success.

Setting goals will help you deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

Step 2: Identify Your Audience

For the greatest impact, you must have a strong understanding of who your online audience is. As a result, combining basic demographics like age and gender with insight into which channels they frequent (and how often) can help you build the framework for an effective content marketing strategy.

Analyze your data to identify audience personas. Likewise, learn more by monitoring their online activity to see what kind of feedback they give and what candid conversations they have about you and your competitors.

Use that information to plan content that specifically addresses concerns and frustrations and proves why your solutions are superior. In short, by understanding what your audience wants, you can create custom content that resonates and compels them to shop with your small business.

Step 3: Map Out Your Content

With your goals set and your target audience identified, you can begin to plan your content. Choose relevant topics that are meaningful to your readers. Content marketing encompasses a wide variety of materials, including:

• Blog Articles: Expert content includes high-performing keywords and links to reputable sources that help deliver a positive user experience and boost SEO.
• Videos: People can digest information while performing other tasks.
• White Papers: Research findings help establish you as a leader in your field while delivering essential information.
• Social Media Posts: Engage your audience and learn more about their preferences, pain points, and opportunities to provide solutions.

Based on audience behavior and preferences, choose the type of content that makes the most sense for your goals. Further, as you develop your messaging, be sure to keep the customer in mind. Address their specific needs and build trust with valuable information. After all, trust is a top priority for 53% of shoppers.

Step 4: Schedule Your Distribution

Knowing your audience and the type of content you plan to post will help you set a distribution schedule. You’ll know which channels you should use to reach your readers and when the best time is to post.

If your customers respond well to images, you know to focus on an Instagram campaign. For people who prefer email, you’ll have a better open rate with content sent in the mornings. Use all this insight to create a content schedule that helps you know what topics will be covered and through which channels you should syndicate it.

In addition to keeping you focused on your goals, setting an agenda helps you assign work to team members or outsource the work to a professional writing service. With the content subject matter planned out, you can find writers specializing in those topics to create expert messaging that resonates, brings value, and earns customer loyalty.

Creating a distribution schedule ensures organization, helps you create timely messages for greater impact, and sets parameters against which you can measure success.

5. Track Your Progress

Metrics are essential to determine whether your content marketing strategy is truly successful. Measure which channels are yielding positive results and identify areas that need adjustment. Engagement, open rates, and bounce rates can tell you things like:

• which avenues aren’t a good fit for your audience;
• what topics aren’t generating interest;
• time of day or day of the week that content distribution gets the best results; and
• whether you’ve accurately identified your audience and their needs.

In conclusion, there are lots of factors involved in a successful content marketing strategy. You can pinpoint what adaptations need to be made to achieve the best possible outcome by measuring progress.

The post How to Develop an Effective Small Business Content Marketing Strategy appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.