Creating content is the bread and butter of most brands and businesses. A content marketing plan is something that everyone needs. That goes for beauty bloggers all the way up to multinational corporations. The content is what keeps you relevant and valuable to readers and clients alike.
So how do you create valuable content?
What is ‘Content’?
Content is anything that you create. Absolutely anything that you put on your website that a reader can interact with or use.
You can break the content down into a few categories.
- Text: this is written content, anything that is text-based
- Aural: this type of content is things you can hear and listen to. Podcasts and songs are aural content.
- Visual: this type of content is what people see, so images, gifs, infographics, and videos.
What makes great content?
Great content should be something we all strive for, but what it looks like can vary. To create your own great content, you should be including video, audio, and 1 or 2 images. That example works well for 2000 words of text.
Subsequently, the fewer words you use, the fewer images and audio you will need. The more words you have, the more supporting items you will need.
Things like how-to guides will usually have more visual content, and they guide a user through an experience. Visuals are often preferred, so take a quick screenshot as you go through the process and use these to improve the user experience.
The more details that you have, the more in-depth the content, the more value it will give to the reader. Search sites like Bing, Google, and others care about the user experience and will rank your content higher for your efforts.
Goals
Every time a piece of content is produced, the main goal should be to give value to the reader. By default, this means creating high-quality content that solves a problem.
When creating your content, you will be paying close attention to your SEO. Google only opts for good quality content in terms of ranking on search pages. The context of your content will matter too.
You can do some research based on the content you want to create and find out what people are asking. Keyword research is possible using the following tools:
- Google Keyword Planner
- Keyword Generator
- Answer the Public
- Keyword Surfer
Search engines want to present users with the right resources to answer their queries. This will allow the user to get the product, information, or answers they are looking for.
When setting goals for your content, here is a list that can help you create valuable content that meets your user’s needs:
- Have the content well structured and organized
- Use all three forms of content; text, images, and audio.
- Link out to supporting resources
- Add quotes from reputable sources if they make sense to be included.
- Ignore word count where possible, and aim to ‘complete’ the topic
If you are struggling with the amount of content you are creating, then the following podcast might help.
Listen to GaryVee’s talk about creating 50-100 pieces of content per day.
Content Types
Some content types are quick to consume, and others aren’t. There are several types of content that can be explored when testing what your users respond to. There are six types of content that work very well and are shareable too.
Case Studies
Creating original content is the goal, and case studies are typically original. They are in-depth and give the user a lot of information and details about a topic. Testing theories and performing experiments that a user might not have the resources to can give them the information they might not otherwise have access to.
Case studies can result in a lot of conversation and engagement due to opposing theories and ideas.
How-to Posts
How-to posts are very popular. The guide a user from start to finish and enable them to complete a specific task or to learn a skill. These can be referred to as tutorials too. Often they have many visuals in the form of images and videos.
These are great for combining all of the types of content and producing a well-rounded piece. By answering questions, you are guaranteeing traffic when you make the post SEO friendly.
Reviews
Why by something before you know how it works, looks, smells, or has value? Honest reviewing required a non-biased and non=nonsense approach to a product. You can review practically anything that is valuable for your readers.
Roundups
Roundups are a great way to gather a lot of useful information and have it in one place. It will be easier for readers to find what they need. This also gave you the opportunity to get in touch with several other media outlets or experts and involved too. It is common for them to reciprocate a link back, thus boosting your visibility too.
Lists
Easy to digest, fast to share, and packed with information. Lists can be long or short; the main point is they get to the point quickly. List content is ideal for tips, ideas, images, and quizzes.
Numbers in a title make them click friendly as the reader knows what they are getting. Combining numbers with power words makes for enticing content.
- 10 tips on how to become a master photographer
- 12 of the most beautiful images of elephants
- 75 amazing things about cheese
Resources
Resources are close to lists but with more information. These should typically be focused on a single niche so that the content answers to a specific question. Resources posts will bring together tools, guides, articles, and tips too. Great for SEO as they attract a lot of backlinks and sharing.
No matter how long your content is shaping up to be, consider breaking it down into short sentences and putting space between paragraphs too. This will mean your readers can read it more easily. And add in some tweet to share options, too, making it quick to get your great content out there.
