By conducting an on-page content strategy, you can ensure that the copy you create is engaging for your readers, while helping you to rank higher for keywords – driving more organic traffic to your website.
Creating a content strategy can take a lot of time and seem daunting – especially if it’s your first time doing one! If this is the case, then don’t worry, as in this blog, we take a look at the steps you need to take to create an effective on-page content strategy.
Audit your content first
You can’t create an on-page content strategy without auditing your current copy first. By doing a content audit, you can redirect copy that isn’t performing, optimise pages that have potential, and see which content has been successful.
Once you’ve done that, you can base your new ideas on content that’s already performed well; while reducing the risk of creating duplicated content by thinking of a “great” idea for a blog, that was actually written three years ago and just needed an update.
Review your competitors
When thinking of future content ideas that will form your strategy, head on over to your competitors’ sites.
Identify gaps in keywords that your competitors are ranking for, but you aren’t. You’ll likely find that there is search volume for a specific landing page, or a few blog articles that you haven’t yet covered, that your competitors are currently getting traffic for.
Include these ideas in your strategy, so you can start to claim some of your competitors’ organic traffic (just make sure the content you create is better than theirs – and isn’t duplicated, obviously!).
See what people are talking about
By using tools like BuzzSumo and AnswerThePublic; you can see what content has performed well in your industry; and the questions users are asking about specific topics.
You can then base your keyword research on this, to find out exactly what users are searching for, so you can create targeted content. Take a look at our favourite keyword research tools to use for this.
Think about the logistics
Coming up with ideas that your (potential) customers want to read is really important; but if it’s a blog strategy you’re creating specifically, you’ll need to think about the logistics-side of things too.
Categories
Have a think about the different topics your content will cover. For example, if you’re a financial services company, you might be writing about the following:
- Budgeting
- Mortgages / homes
- Pensions / retirement
- Travel
- University students
Create these categories so you can categorise your current and new blogs. If you find in the future you’ve written an article that doesn’t fit into any of these categories, then you can create a new one.
You should also consider creating a generic industry news, and/or company updates category, for when you want to post blogs that won’t rank, but are related directly to you or the industry you operate in.
URL structure
We’d always recommend having /blog/ in your article’s URL so you can easily monitor performance on Google Analytics; but if you have categories on your blog, you need to decide if you’re going to include it within the URL.
It doesn’t matter whether you do or not; you just need to ensure that your URL structure is consistent amongst all of your articles.
Posting frequency
When creating your on-page content strategy, think about how much time you can commit to writing content. One post a week can be a good start; and you can then create a content calendar that runs a month ahead, so you can make sure your articles are written in advance.
Try sticking to the same day and time when publishing your articles, so readers will get used to when this will be. Make sure you promote your newest article with a post across your social media channels.
Design and layout
You could have written the best content in the world, but if it’s not laid out in an engaging way, no one will read it. As part of your strategy, assess your blog homepage to see if it encourages readers to click through – think high quality images, striking titles, and categories that are easy to navigate.
Next, take a look at your blog article template. Break up text with high quality images (avoiding any that look obviously stock), keep paragraphs short, and include subheadings.
Once you have your content strategy in place, you can start writing engaging blog articles and landing pages, to help you rank for new keywords, and encourage an increase in organic traffic to your site.
If you’d like help with SEO, or creating an on-page content strategy, get in touch today! Alternatively, for the latest digital news, check out our blog.
