The Biggest Content Marketing Challenge: Figuring Out What To Say

What is the biggest content marketing challenge? It’s generating quality content. If you’re going to invest time in generating content then you’ve got to get the SEO right.

In a blog post previous to this one, the idea of “Staying True to Your Words”  was presented. We revealed how a web 2.0 revolution changed the SEO game to yield a literal word-war where the victory goes to the player who can wield words with the most discipline, sustaining the use of key terms in content. While this seems simple enough in theory, in practice it does require true discipline to sustain, and be successful at, particularly in the face of strong competition.

The biggest content marketing challenge is knowing which words to say.

Marketing is easy once you’ve done it and seen success, kind of like riding a bike. Just like riding a bike it can be a little daunting and scary before you’ve done it.  But once you’ve done it, it’s not that daunting or scary any more, its actually pretty fun and a great way to get where you need to be. Writing content for SEO is actually fun once you’ve got a groove going. Let me help you get into that groove. 

When you’re creating content the freedom you face is daunting. Deciding exactly what to create isn’t easy faced with so much freedom. Where do you go? What do you create?  You can write about anything!

When you’re writing for a purpose, what you write is critical. When you’re writing for SEO, the choice of words determines your result. Finding out what words to use is key. Finding the right words keeps you in the box that generates results. It limits your freedom so that your content production efforts head in the right direction. Using the Google Keyword Tool  is the key to discovering what words to use. Using it is really easy, but first you have to have an Adwords account.

• Setting up an Adwords account is relatively easy as long as you’ve got a Gmail or Google login already. I’ll assume that if you’re reading this you probably have one already.  Just go to http://www.google.com/adwords . I’m not going to recommend you freeload and use the tool without spending a couple bucks on ads. Throw some dollars at learning how Adwords works if you can. It’s pretty amazing.
• After you’ve got an Adwords account you go to Tools & Analysis > Keyword Planner. Then choose “Search for New Keyword Ideas”.
• Make an initial list of key terms. You’ve got to start from somewhere, and this is often the hardest step for most people, getting that starting list of terms. Just put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer and try to imagine what words they’d be using when they’re searching for you and your competition.
• Follow the instructions and enter the list of key terms you’ve made. Separate the terms with commas or by putting them on individual lines. If you’re considering a local audience, try restricting based on location using the form fields. Click on “Get Ideas” and continue.
• In the results that are returned to you, pay attention to the number of searches that were performed. The more searches performed, the more valuable that particular keyword to exercise is. Choose words that have the most searches. Write around those words.
• Keep a list of words you should be writing about. Order the list by the number of searches, descending. Work more on the words at the top of the list, less on the words at the bottom.

There are other methodologies for deriving keywords, this is just one tactic. Other tactics involve analyzing competition, performing horizontal strategies, and analyzing inbound traffic from search pages. Each of these tactics has its own merits. What’s best is to use a combination of tactics. If the end result is a list of the most queried search terms then your efforts pay off.

That begs the question: How? How should that those words be used? What writing tactics and technical considerations maximize content production efforts? We’ll talk about that in an upcoming blog post. Follow us on Facebook and Google Plus to be the first to read it.

If you have any questions about how to pick the right words in your content marketing efforts, please let us know.