Category: Content Marketing

Content MarketingBy Shabana Khan

What is a content audit?

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How is your website content performing? What about the blog content you published two months ago? Two years ago?

Does all of this help you achieve your goals? Do you know – or don’t you have a clue?

Then it’s time for a content audit.

What is a content audit? why should you make one

A content audit is a systematic review of your website’s content, including:

  • blogs.
  • home pages.
  • Product or Service Pages.
  • core content pages.

This review helps you understand if your content is meeting your goals, including reaching your desired audience.

But that’s not all.

4 benefits of a content audit

1. It shows you what content needs improvement (backed by data)

A content audit not only shows you whether your content is working in general, but also gives you specific pointers to areas that you need to improve.

For example, you may find broken links that you weren’t previously aware of, keyword opportunities that you miss, missing metadata, and other issues that you can easily fix to improve your content’s usability and visibility.

2. It gives you an overall bird’s-eye view of your content

When you have a lot of content on your website, an audit can be a mammoth undertaking. However, conducting a content audit is the only way to sift through your entire content trove and get a true understanding of whether it serves your business… or stays flat.

3. A content audit helps you optimize your content so that it works

Even if you have a very small business and don’t have a lot of content, a content review still makes sense. It will help you optimize the content you have so that it works at its best.

And powerful content is powerful.

  • It can convince prospects that your brand is trustworthy: 64% of consumers said they trust a brand after reading educational content from that brand. (Conductor)
  • Good content can influence purchasing decisions: consumers are 131% more likely to buy from a brand with effective content. (Conductor)
  • Optimized content is a lead machine: it generates three times more leads than traditional marketing, but costs 62% less to maintain. (demand metric)

4. It will improve your future content creation

Because a content audit helps you understand what works and what doesn’t (because you’ll see evidence of both on your site!), you can apply this to your future content creation for better results.

When should a content audit be performed?

Now that you know what a content audit is and why you should conduct one, the next question is when.

When is the best time for a content review?

Consider these scenarios:

  • Your website is a few years old and you have never performed a content check before. (You’re probably overdue!)
  • You are building a content strategy and want a clear picture of what you are working with.
  • You revise your content strategy or redesign your website.

Basic steps of a content audit

How does a content audit work? The basic steps include setting goals, collecting your content and data points, and critically analyzing your discoveries.

Step 1: Set goals

Don’t go into a content review without a clear objective or you won’t know what types of content or data points to focus on. Find out what you want from your content review.

Step 2: Gather, categorize and organize your content

You need a way to compare and contrast your content items, get a bird’s-eye view of the data, and categorize each item based on the action you need to take.

Step 3: Analyze your content

Look at the data and determine which parts you want to update, rewrite, keep or delete.

Step 4: Create a plan based on your insights

Prioritize the content that needs immediate attention and create a plan for how you’ll do updates and rewrites.

Step 6: Adjust your content strategy

What did you learn from your content audit? Factor that into your future content strategy.

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Content review tools

When you’re ready to do your content inspection, there are a few options for collecting URLs, data, and metrics, and putting it all together for optimal analysis.

Here are some of the tools you may need.

1. A plain old spreadsheet

For a no-frills content review — or for a relatively small site — a simple spreadsheet is a good option.

A table helps you lay out your content information and data in an organized manner, which makes analysis easier.

Table for checking blog content

This is the most cost-effective way to do a content check because you don’t need any special tools other than Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.

Cons: It can be time-consuming to manually collect all of your data, especially if you have more than a few dozen pieces of content to review.

2. Analysis software

Analytical data is important to your content review. This includes metrics like page views, number of internal links and backlinks, bounce rate, time on page, conversion rate, average position on Google, and more.

You need concrete data about each piece of content so that you can decide what action to take in the future (update, rewrite, delete or leave as is).

If you don’t already track your content performance in a tool like Google Analytics, you can pull your various metrics from SEO tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or SEO Site Checkup.

3. Content Quality Tools

To help you quantify content quality, you may want to use some of these tools to check your content for readability, grammar and word usage, and reading level.

  • Yoast SEO: This tool analyzes your text and provides ratings and suggestions for improving readability.
Yoast SEO
  • grammar: In addition to checking grammar and spelling, the paid version of Grammarly offers a performance score that can help with a content review.
Grammar Performance Scores

4. A content inventory tool

If you have a large website, you may need to invest in a content inventory tool to make your life easier. These tools use your sitemap to automatically fetch your content URLs and their associated metrics.

A couple of good options are Screaming Frog SEO Spider and Semrush’s Content Audit Tool.

Types of content reviews and their associated goals

While you can certainly audit every piece of content on your site, it’s a better idea to narrow your focus and conduct an audit based on content type and goals.

For example, check all of your blog content, all of your landing pages, all of your product/service pages, or all of your main content pages.

After you’ve selected a content type, decide what goal you’re aiming for with your content review. Here are a few common ones:

1. Goal: SEO

When you approach a content audit with the goal of improving your SEO, you’ll be concerned about how your content is performing in Google. You need to ask yourself if your content is properly optimized for searchers and Search engines. Look at:

  • content quality.
  • word count.
  • Keyword difficulty and search volume.
  • Average Google position.
  • Organic Pageviews.
  • Content structure and keyword optimization. (Are there headers with keywords? How is the article structured? Is the focus keyword optimally placed?)

2. Goal: Better engagement and usability

With the goal of improving engagement and user experience, your content review should focus on how your readers interact with your content—and how you can increase that engagement. Look at:

  • Social Shares.
  • time on page.
  • bounce rate.
  • conversions.
  • Internal links and/or broken links.

Specifically, look at which parts are getting the most/least engagement and analyze what contributes to that success/failure.

3rd goal: conversion optimization

Another goal you could aim for with a content audit is to see how well your content is converting and identify what needs improvement. You could look at:

  • How well your content addresses each stage of the buyer’s journey and whether there are any gaps
  • Which pages convert well and which don’t, comparing metrics like:
    • time on page.
    • bounce rate.
    • Exchange rate.

What is a content audit? Answer: A necessary part of your content strategy

Quite simply, a content audit is the only way to understand your content at different levels: below in the weeds and above from a bird’s eye view.

Whether your site is huge or tiny, a content audit can help you understand what you have, what you need, what you don’t need, and actions you can take going forward to ensure your ecosystem of content is contributing to your goals.

Remember, there is no one perfect or set way to conduct a content review. Your audit may change depending on the type of content being analyzed and the goals you hope to achieve by the time the audit is completed. With that in mind, tailor your content review to the needs of your site and content strategy.

Last but not least, don’t neglect regular content audits. One-and-done helps your website/business for a limited time only. As your content continues to grow, you need to be constantly taking snapshots of how it’s performing, constantly tweaking, and correcting course.

Content reviews are an essential part of a well-oiled content strategy – don’t neglect this task and you will see results.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily those of Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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About the author

 

Julia McCoy is the founder of Content Hacker, a 7-time author and a leading strategist for creating exceptional content and brand presence that lasts online. At 19, she built a seven-figure writing agency with her last $75, which she sold ten years later. In the 2020s, she is dedicated to teaching founders and marketers the strategy, skills and systems they need to build a business through inbound content so they can have a more lasting impact in the world.

 

 

 

 

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Content MarketingBy Shabana Khan

Ways to Generate Income Through Content Writing & Freelancing

Freelance article writing is fundamental to success in this field. Despite the possibility that this comment represents a unique viewpoint on the situation, all authors share the same objectives. Since the content writing market as a whole is expanding, it is essential to reach the point where you only get paid based on your own credit.
More important than writing under a well-known pen name is the writer’s sense of worth.
Today’s entrepreneurs actually prefer this method because there are fewer people engaged in the process and a clear connection between the writer and the business or product being written for
this line of work.

When a writer first decides to pursue freelance content writing as a source of income, they typically must:
The freelance market is much harsher than the market for creating commercial content, and it will consume a good script. For a writer who is just discovering the secrets of the trade, competing with artists from around the world might be extremely intimidating. However, a writer is prepared to make money as a freelancer provided they have the necessary expertise and knowledge to accommodate to the desired time and bid. However, this list can be useful for authors who really are beginning to examine this road as a method of assistance and are seeking information on how they might make a good living doing it. It’s critical to recognize that all of these pointers and instructions are just are only pertinent when you have gained experience in the field and have developed a solid, thorough understanding of content and how it serves both customers and clients.


Acknowledge Your Worth

It is crucial for writers to be aware of market pricing in the field. They ought to be aware of the prices per word, per page, and those that differ depending on the line of employment. In such a situation, they must take their industry knowledge into account while setting their price on websites and decide the matter properly. It’s crucial to refrain from providing services for less than market value.
Along with all of the above, meeting deadlines, being an expert communicator with clients, and having good time management skills are some more qualities to look for. When such things are mastered, working independently is practical. All of the aforementioned suggestions are not a quick fix for making money because Freelance work requires patience. The key is to maintain optimism and keep working toward your goals until you succeed. Although this advice is a terrific place to start, your perseverance and work will directly affect the outcome.
Set up a profile on Fiverr and other freelance platforms.

One of the easiest sites for independent content writers to use to earn money is Fiverr.
Building a portfolio and selecting a specific operational area should be followed by marketing and advertising their competence on the website.
If Fiverr posts the writer’s profile on its website once they make an account, the writer will have a global presence and a customer.
Writing an engaging description, profile bio, and portfolio is now absolutely necessary to attract buyers.
Being attractive is one of the most important factors in this field, therefore make sure to capture the client’s attention right away in the profile bio.
They must follow the same steps and set up comparable profiles on other websites that hire independent article writers.

Focus on a Certain Market

In the business sector, it is usually important for content writers to find fresh and innovative approaches to creating content.
Writing for a particular industry or just one kind of product may limit the writer’s originality and confine them to a single area of expertise.
The writer must explore each and every alternative for generating content in the business world in order to comprehend their strengths.
They must determine the industry or genre they are most at ease writing in after gathering this information.
The core of this idea is that knowledge would bring comfort, and this would guarantee better content.
Once that has been decided, it is crucial that the writer bases both their blog posts and portfolio on that genre to make it easy for clients who hire on that basis.
The writer should have a strong grasp of various types of content, but they should excel in one particular area.

Begin Posting to Your Blog

The majority of content is written as blog articles. Blogs used to be very popular, and even now, blogs that focus on current events and subjects receive much attention. That view of the company, however, is later. When putting together a portfolio for a freelance writing job, a writer should start with a blog post. The author should start posting blogs on occasion on any platform or on well-known blogging platforms like Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, and others.
The writer will still have a digital presence owing to the blog even if it doesn’t receive enough online traffic, and the blog entries will increase the client’s portfolio of sample work.


Establish a Portfolio.

It is appropriate to assume that a writer will have enough work available after investing a significant amount of time in the article writing industry.
A portfolio is a collection of all the author’s finest work bound together in one document to serve as a memorial.
Client confidence is increased when you are able to provide them with the portfolio or evidence of work that clients frequently request in the freelance industry.
Additionally, having a collection of documents rather than just one as a sample of work allows for more adaptability, diversity in ideas, and the emphasis on pertinent concerns.

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Content MarketingBy Shabana Khan

4 Content Marketing Tips for 2023.

Social Media Marketing is currently a basic association point among brands and purchasers. It’s not just where numerous customers initially draw in with your image yet where your allure, worth and industry authority is first settled and supported.

Without a successful substance showcasing system driving your effort, you’re botching a once-in-a-lifetime chance to streamline that underlying association and influence important substance for your full potential benefit. At the point when done well, this fundamental advanced apparatus can assist with augmenting brand mindfulness, developing believability and devotion, extending your range and engaging development long term.

However, getting your content marketing showcasing endeavours into the perfect locations isn’t generally so direct. Search engine optimization and online socila media marketing best practices are continually changing, and knowing how to make content that reverberates can frequently want to attempt to hit a moving objective.

The following are a couple of content in social media marketing showcasing rules to get your essential promoting approach centred, develop your web-based presence and turn your web journals, online entertainment posts and video content into dynamic brand-building resources.

  1. Get inventive with your substance advertising

Restricted computerized promotion financial plans and assets can make it hard to construct a hearty content marketing in social media showcasing methodology that boosts brand openness. At the point when times are tight however you actually need a strong presence across the web, a tiny amount of content promoting inventiveness can make a huge difference toward keeping your business upfront.

One normal however viable method for expanding the existence of your substance is reusing. Knowing how to reuse long-structure web journals, articles and pages into more modest posts and across new stages can assist squeeze with really esteeming out of your substance without depleting restricted assets.

Obviously, staying away from abuse and monotony is basic, things that can test your adherents’ understanding and consideration. However, when you have the right satisfying rhythm, your reusing endeavours can give a truly necessary foothold among your crowd even after the first went live.

Piggybacking on viral patterns and hashtags can likewise be an inventive method for keeping your substance technique murmuring without the time and cost of creating long-structure content without any preparation. Bouncing on viral points permits you to become a web sensation likewise, keeping away from the difficult work of making a recent fad while profiting from the openness and web traffic moving subjects will generally pull in.

2. Be demanding where you distribute

The web offers various stages for posting content and spreading the news, enticing numerous to take a chance with everything and distribute on each outlet in sight.

But since not all satisfied and virtual entertainment stages have a similar reach, concentration, or search authority, being more specific, out of the gate is fundamental. Spreading out and investigating your choices might be powerful, especially while you’re increasing or have a greater spending plan. Be that as it may, while you’re beginning, doing your research is significant.

Realizing where your crowd and the kinds of content they draw in with is vital to maximising brand perceivability and getting your content market where having an impact is the best bet. At the point when you’ve got your work done, you can start to shape and share each blog entry and article where they’ll get forward movement. This hones the focus on your image while pushing your substance advertising financial plan considerably further.

When you have a decent beat on a couple of brand-accommodating stages and a more set presence, you can investigate other substance-promoting potential chances to build reach and mindfulness.

3. collect your information

Some time ago happy advertisers constructed online journals and social posts around what they thought clients needed, making surmises about what might propel commitment. Luckily, we presently have an assortment of supportive examination weapons in our munitions stockpile

These content marketing advertising devices give significant information on what your interest group is searching for and the highlights driving perceivability, snaps and explicit kinds of commitment. With this information readily available, you can now shape your substance-promoting effort around things like catchphrases, site traffic, post reach, skip rate, and space authority from there, the sky is the limit, making information-driven content better situated to convey results.

Examination devices can give a huge benefit to any satisfied promoting group building site content, overseeing web-based entertainment, making messages or just looking for a perceivability support in web search tools. Easy-to-use examination stages like Ahrefs, Moz, Google Investigation, Hootsuite and HubSpot ought to be utilized to refine your substance promoting to further develop advertising returns and poke past different rivals in your space.

4. Get your crowd included

Once in a while, the most effective way to spread the news and fabricate a more fruitful substance-promoting system is to go straightforwardly to those you’re attempting to come to the substance buyer. This is otherwise called local area showcasing; producing discussions between your business, and your crowd offers various chances to get the message out and make a more unique brand presence on the web.

Making intuitive substance like surveys and tests draws in individuals and permits you to make two-way discussions with your crowd, supporting brand connection.

Mentioning surveys of your items or requesting that clients label you while utilizing your administrations can likewise be a powerful method for obtaining new, and a great substance that can then be advanced inside your own substance-promoting procedure – client-produced content (UGC) that is free as well as cultivates a feeling of the local area that loans a feeling of mankind and client validity to your image.

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