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If you’re wondering how to create a good content strategy for your blog, check out this post.
But if you got here and you don’t know what a blog content strategy is, this is probably about to change your life!
That’s because having a blog content plan can seriously transform your blogging business because it helps you provides valuable content to your website traffic and more importantly, potential customers.
In 2021, the Content Marketing Institute stated that the most successful businesses had a solid content marketing strategy in their pocket. So this is definitely something that you need to have as part of your blog business plan if you want to get ahead of the game.
Between not knowing what to write about, feeling stuck when thinking of content, or not knowing when to post what, a content strategy can eliminate each of these issues.
Do you want to grow your blog? You’re not the only one. Now that you have a blog, you need to figure out how to grow it so people will take notice. I’m going to tell you some blog content marketing strategies that will help you blow up your blog!
Why You Need a Blog Content Marketing Strategy
Without a blogging strategy, it may seem like you are having to just fly by the seat of your pants.
“What should I write about today…,” or “Ugh, I need to publish a new blog post, but I don’t have one ready yet…”
If either of those thoughts have ever crossed your mind, you need to create a blog content plan.
Not only will it help your sanity, but it will also create a nice flow for your content, audience, and website. Learn more about creating a content strategy that aligns with your audience and goals.
How to Create a Blog Content Marketing Strategy in 6 steps
Creating a strategy for content marketing for your blog isn’t as tough as you might think. With these six basic steps, you can have create more valuable content for your audience in no time.
- Determine your priorities and business goals
- Search keywords in bulk
- Check out your competitors
- Create outlines
- Create a content marketing calendar
- Publish and review your ROI
Let’s dive into each of these steps a little more.
Determine your priorities and business goals
When creating blog content, there are a few things that you’ll want to think about.
Whether you are scheduling out content or writing right now, you need to know what your content priorities are. Are you trying to create content that is…
Entertaining
Entertaining content is used to keep the reader… you guessed it- entertained.
When writing this type of content, you want to make sure that your reader is fully captivated from your header, all the way down to the last word.
Informative
Informative writing is used to teach your audience. Depending on what your narrowed-down niche is, you can write informative content around nearly anything.
You still want to keep this content entertaining, but its job is to inform your target audience.
Affiliate related
If you are writing a blog post that is solely focused on driving the reader to an affiliate product, you really need to know what pain point or problem this affiliate product solves.
That way, your post won’t sound salesy. Instead, it will help your audience gain trust in your blog, as well as show them why they need that product.
RELATED POST: The Best Affiliate Marketing Company to Join (In Any Niche!)
Sponsored
Sponsored posts can be written a few different ways. You can promote a product, discuss a program, or even just mention that the article is sponsored.
To determine how to write a sponsored post, you need to ask the sponsor what they are looking for as well. This is typically stated in the contract between you and the sponsor business.
The most important thing to consider when creating your blog content marketing strategy is your audience
Once you have decided which type of content type you want to focus on, you can then start creating a blog content strategy.
Keep in mind that you can use multiple different styles throughout your content, but I recommend starting with what style you are most comfortable writing in.
Search keywords in bulk
To be a really effective content strategist, you need to know what people are searching for. After you know what type of content you will be writing, it’s time to do some keyword research. It’s really important to optimize your keywords in your blog posts for search engines like Google to attract the attention of your audience.
Keyword research is a way to find the phrases and words you should be using to help you rank higher in Google and practice search engine optimization (SEO).
There are a few different keyword research tools that you can use.
- Ubersuggest
I recommend using this free seo version if you aren’t wanting to invest in a keyword planner yet.
- Keysearch
This is my personal favorite tool to use as a blogger. I highly recommend it if you have the budget for a keyword tool.
- Ahrefs or Semrush
Although each option for this tool is fairly pricey, it can give you some amazing information in regards to not only your competitor’s websites and keywords, but also your own.
Regardless of which tool you choose to use, you should choose between 5-30 keywords per month to focus on for all of your content. Also, look for opportunities to rank using long-tail keywords that are more specific. For example, there would be far too much competition to rank for “cake”. Instead, try using a more targeted keyword phrase like “best German chocolate cake”.
These will be what you are creating pieces of content around.
Look at Competitors for Content Ideas (*not to copy, just for reference)
Once you have your list of keywords, I recommend looking through your competitor’s content and seeing what their marketing strategy is.
Now, you aren’t trying to copy their content AT ALL.
Instead, you are looking to answer these questions:
- How can I improve this post and add value for my readers?
- Is there any useless information that could be removed?
- What could I add to this post to better solve the problem for my audience?
This will also help you because you’ll be revamping existing content topics that you know is already generating website traffic. And, you can apply additional SEO content strategies to gain an edge over what is already working. WIN-WIN!
Form rough outlines based on keywords
Since you now have type of content, keywords, and competitor notes, you can start forming rough outlines for each keyword or keyword phrase.
These outlines don’t have to be in depth. But, it will help you write quicker once you sit down to begin creating your content.
When drafting up an outline, include as much information as you can, without having to think about it for too long.
For my outlines, I like to already have:
- Title options
- Heading 1
- Heading 2s
- Heading 3s
- FAQ section
- Related articles
That way, when you begin filling in your outline, half of the process will already be completed for you!
PRO TIP: Sometimes when I’m feeling stuck, I use talk-to-text and ramble on in each section and then go back and clean up my ideas.
Create your own content marketing calendar
I would argue that the most important part of your digital content strategy will be your content calendar.
Whether you are creating content to relate to holidays or even just trying to figure out when you can realistically stick with publishing, a calendar will make this much easier.
There are some free tools, like an agenda or Canva, that can be used to create a website content calendar.
But, this is actually something that I would recommend investing in a content marketing tool like this for.
CoSchedule is a great tool to use when creating your calendar for so many different reasons. You can schedule things by color, time, day, week, and month. And, you can do it right inside your WordPress blog editor!
Compared to most calendars that only let you schedule things by the day, this is a great perk!
This tool also makes it easy to move around tasks, without having to delete and recreate them.
(P.S.- there is a free trial! So, you can test it out on your own before committing.)
Regardless of what platform you decide to use, there are a few staples that should be on your posting schedule.
- When you will be prioritizing the creation of your content
- When you want to publish each article onto your blog
- When you want to publish content on your social media
- Specific holidays you want to recognize within your content
Start publishing your content!
Now that you have created your posting schedule, it is time to start publishing that content to your blog and social media accounts!
Even if you aren’t totally ready to publish a post just yet, adding all of your perceived publishing dates to your blog content strategy calendar will keep you right on track for a successful blogging business.
What to Think About to Develop a Content Plan
Even though you have probably already decided what type of content to write, there are still some other things to take into consideration when actually creating your content for your editorial calendar.
Since you aren’t writing for yourself, you want to try to look at your content through the eyes of your readers and audience.
Before you begin writing your blog post, and as you write, ask yourself these questions:
- What does your audience want to see?
- What problem(s) are you solving for your target audience?
- How will your content differ from what’s already out there?
- What days do you get the most audience participation?
- When is it easiest for you to create and/or publish?
Successful content creation involves creating a blog strategy focusing on quality content. If you can answer each of those questions, it will also drastically improve your SEO content strategy, while beating out most of your competitors!
Creating a Blog Content Strategy Concluded
Creating a content strategy really isn’t that hard.
So, if you are feeling overwhelmed or just not very prepared with creating, completing, or publishing content, this marketing plan can literally change your blogging life. Using this content marketing strategy template will save you so much time in creating your own plan.
If we’re being honest, I even recommend creating this if you aren’t feeling overwhelmed. That way, you’ll get ahead of the game!
I recommend setting aside a couple hours to sit down and knock it out.
In the long run, it will save you so much more time than it takes to do! The bottom line… Successful content marketing can increase your blog traffic and help you to reach your business goals.
Do you have a blog content strategy?
FAQ:
Do I need a blog content strategy to be successful with blogging?
Technically, you don’t need a blog content strategy to be successful with blogging or social media. But, it can make your life significantly simpler. So, even though some bloggers may choose to create their content idea by idea, I definitely recommend having a plan so that you don’t have to get overwhelmed when thinking of content.
Can I create a blog content strategy without some of these steps?
You can, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Each of the steps previously listed has its own purpose. Although it may be quicker to eliminate a step or two, you will have a much more effective strategy if you follow each of them.
Is creating a blog content strategy free?
Yes, you can create one completely for free. There are some applications, plugins, and tools that you could invest in that would make your strategy an even better flow, but nothing is necessary.
What are the content marketing strategies?
As well as blog posts, there are a number of different content marketing strategies that you can (and should) be using to grow your blog business. Some of these include videos, reviews, infographics, influencer marketing, case studies, ebooks, quizzes, and checklists.
How do you create a good content marketing strategy?
The key to creating a great content marketing strategy is to always be providing targeted value to your audience. If your content is helping them to overcome their struggles in a meaningful and authentic way, and you are not writing content that doesn’t appeal to them, you will be successful!
I really needed this article! I always think I’ll make a content plan tomorrow and never start it. I`ll definitely follow your steps.
Woooohoooo! Excited to see what you create!
Definitely need a plan to blogging. I think it’s so easy to get lost if you dont have a good framework and strategy. Thanks for sharing this.
Hi there! I am beginner and I am going to prepare the first content marketing strategy for my client, I must say that this article is very helpful for me in my self learning.
HI there! I must say that your blog is really very interesting and fun to read. thanks for sharing it with us.
Wow! I wish I’d come across this article sooner. Such amazing advice. Thank you
Some things you talk about are so common sense but I had not thought about them like doing keyword research in bulk.
I really needed this to push me out of my comfort zone and create a marketing plan. Marketing is really my pain point with my business. Thanks for the shove and the boost of confidence.
Adding videos and offering electronic books increases the prestige and credibility of the publication, it is a type of strategy that few of us apply. Thanks for this wonderful article.