In the last post I have shared some basic material about SEO and I have introduced main steps how to make SEO strategy effective for a fashion website. Further text will focus on Content Marketing as a part of SEO strategy with links to other digital marketing tools to make the strategy effective. Even though that some articles share the idea that Content is a ‘KING’, it might not be true in general. This post also introduces some risks when creating SEO strategy.
What is Content Marketing
Let’s start with definition … Digital Content Marketing is ” the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements profitably in the context of digital content, or bit-based objects distributed through electronic channels” (Rowley, 2008). In other words, it is a strategy of creating valuable and relevant content to attract your audience and gain a profit. You can write or add your content to the website/blog or social media channels – be active! Content is not just about text, it can be video/picture/infographics/app or game!
It is also useful to mention that to provide content might differ from providing information. In these days, where you can read a lot of articles/messages on companies’ websites, which are really not relevant or valuable, the value of Content Marketing is increasing.
Regarding to Rowley (2008), that is mean that content should have characteristics showed below (for more information about each characteristic, please read the article cited at the end of the post).
Value is contextual Reproducibility and multiplicability Interactivity
Repackageability Delivery and technology Perishability Homogeneity
Inseparability Tangibility
Moreover, Harad’s article (2016) introduces five motivating paragraphs how to go through the Content Marketing’ building process. There is mentioned, for example, that the relevance of content is prior BUT how to write a relevant content for everybody? Yes, it is impossible, you have to define your audience (target market) and then you should know what content your potential customers would like to read. Within the article, you can also appreciate information about frequency of posting and sharing; referrals or strategy process.
Content Marketing within the SEO
Majority of blogs and articles focused on Content Marketing show that quality content is required within marketing generally, and also, that great content has an impact on your chosen digital strategy, for example, Social media marketing, PR, Pay-per-click, Inbound marketing … but mainly SEO!
This is a very nice picture to explain the ‘relationship’ between SEO and Content Marketing (Source: blog.kissmetrics.com)
Let’s take it together at this stage and answer the question ->
WHY TO FOCUS ON CONTENT MARKETING WHEN IT COMES TO SEO
SEO -> content <- content marketing
SEO -> keywords <- content consists of keywords
SEO -> backlinks <- content marketing introduces backlinks
SEO -> optimization (metadata, tags,…) <- related to content marketing as well!
SEO -> consistency <- content marketing
In other words, if you will build an effective Content Marketing, in the same time you are improving your SEO strategy and this should make the website and your brand more visible, it increases web traffic, it will engage more consumers, will lead to more sales and much more … Within Google Analytics, you can evaluate the effectiveness of your SEO strategy with some valuable information on how your consumers react on your content.
Not sure how to write the right content? This blog post with audio interview tell you the basics! 🙂
The video below shows engaging discussion about Content Marketing and its value in Digital Marketing with college educator, keynot speaker and strategy consultant Mark W. Schaefer, author of the book The Content Code: Six essential strategies to ignite your content, your marketing, and your business.
-> Just keep in mind the fact that ‘everything has changing fast‘; so every marketer should firstly review the current situation and based on that build some strategy; what has been effective two years ago, does not have to bring benefits now. <-
SEO strategy and risks
Companies focus on SEO when they feel that there is a need to increase web site traffic, want to get higher within SEO rankings, or improve brand visibility, etc. Strategy is individual, it depends on the industry and other factors, so in the first place there is a need to evaluate a current situation (and target market) and look for a gaps.
Web site optimization and modifying the site codes (Sen, 2005), which is also related to the links and content marketing, should be included in the strategy as well as social media marketing.
But moreover, keywords and content marketing are usually the most discussed. But there is also a suggestion to rather write relevant content and link it to other sources then waste time by optimizing keywords. Simply, you should be still open-minded and find out which approach give you the advantage!
So, how is it with the KING content marketing? Within the online articles, it seems that content marketing is no longer a KING, because content marketing needs LINKS to be effective! Content without links will be rank lower BUT it is possible to rank higher with minimal content with adequate links!
In overall, even if the effective SEO strategy gives you more visitors to your website or put you higher in rankings, your strategy to make your business more visible should include more digital tools and each of the initiatives needs a justification relevant to your situation.
RISKS … take it together, we should be aware of some features about SEO before implementing a strategy … Please see these articles to know more about cons of SEO and content marketing and the summary is below:
Too much competition Poor conversions Results take time
Potential investment No ongoing SEO strategy
Potential to be penalized No full control No guarantee for results
Site changes might destroy rankings
Link-building might be dangerous (low-quality sites)
Social media has a big impact on companies’ marketing strategy and advertising, even bad (for example might be considered as a ‘spam’) or advantageous. However, within social networking, vendors has a space to introduce their goods or share a content to engage their target market. This feature has been discussed in a short research article written by Forouzandeh, Soltanpanah, & Sheikhahmadi (2014).
When talking about creating digital marketing strategy, there is valuable book written by Ryan & Jones (2012), which shows also some examples to gain better understanding; author also included paragraphs to Content Marketing and tried to guid a reader within a process of writing an effective web content.
Overall, if you are new to Content Marketing, you can start here, and from that point, continue to focus on your industry and apply the knowledge in different way to gain some advantage … but primary have a satisfied consumers! 🙂
References and further reading:
Forouzandeh, S., Soltanpanah, H. & Sheikhahmadi, A. 2014, “Content marketing through data mining on Facebook social network”, Webology, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1.
Harad, K.C. 2016, “Don’t Avoid Content Marketing”, Journal of Financial Planning, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 20.
Rowley, J. 2008, “Understanding digital content marketing”, Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 24, no. 5-6, pp. 517-540.
Ryan, D. & Jones, C. 2012, Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation, 2nd edn, Kogan Page, London.
Sen, R. 2005, “Optimal Search Engine Marketing Strategy”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 9-25
https://yoast.com/3-seo-quick-wins/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-101/seo-myths/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/content-king-least-seo-small-business-digital-marketing-peter-kent/
www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/
http://www.razorsocial.com/content-marketing-ineffective/
https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/valuable-content/
http://www.newsvend.com/blog/7/how-to-build-a-killer-content-marketing-strategy
http://digitalmarketingphilippines.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-using-seo-for-your-business/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/11-essential-ways-build-links-content-marketing/139266/