Writing noteworthy content involves considerable research and analysis. To make content that resounds with your audience’s needs, you need to dig deep into your audience’s mindset. Your content marketing should create content that is closely related to your brand’s product and theme. A brilliant piece of content is one which prompts user action, i.e. to buy, subscribe, follow, etc. Providing share buttons and call to actions in your posts aids lead generation. It should be share worthy so that it boosts online presence and it should target strong keywords.. A good piece of content not only pays due consideration to the target audience’s needs and interests but also ties well with its brand’s product and services.
The type of content you can include in your content marketing can be classified into various categories. Each type of content has its own downsides and benefits, thus, it is recommended to have a clever mix of many content types. Based on their demand and lifetime, we can classify content as:
Types of Content to consider in your Content Mix:
Evergreen:
This is the content that is always useful for your prospective customers, has a long life and is closely related to the brand theme and services. This content is great for SEO as it stays for a long time on the site and thus has a better backlink profile. It is better not to include current dates, news lines or tech terminology in such content as it gives a signal that the content is not updated.
Trending:
This is the content around the trending topics, which can generate a lot of buzz, i.e. social media shares. Writing on these topics gives you the advantage of Google’s QDF (Query Deserves Freshness) algorithm which focuses on presenting new updated content for trending topics.. I wrote this piece, keeping in mind the current interests of the prospective readers. BuzzSumo is a great platform for finding trending topics on your keywords. You may also consider Quora to get the latest queries and concerns of your niche audience.
Seasonal:
The number of readers for such content rises sharply during a particular season or holiday. It is a good idea to get your content ready a week before the actual season so that you get ample of time to optimize content for SEO. Keep in mind that some seasonal content is actually needed much before the holiday. For example – Decoration ideas for Christmas might be read more in November and in the first week of December.
General:
This is the content that caters to the regular audience, is currently relevant and has an average life span (somewhat shorter than evergreen content). Most of your site’s content would probably land in this category. It is a good idea to link your trending and seasonal posts to your general content to generate good crawling and improve site engagement.
A good content strategy includes all types of posts from the above categories. For example, I found this web check-in website doing this to generate different types of traffic. Bring diversity in your content mix by including the following types of content in it:
Types of blog posts in Content Marketing:
List Posts:
A list post is an article in the form of a list. It can be a list of tips, walkthroughs, ideas, trends, etc. It is a tried and tested content type. After infographics, it is the most shared content format. Example: list of books to read to be successful marketer, top ten posts, top ten qualities of high quality list posts etc.
How to posts:
These are the posts that describe the methodology to solve a particular problem or question. HOW TOs are very detailed posts and are written around a target question. It is very effective in targeting long tail keywords and generates great user engagement. Read this guide on how to write good blog posts.
Interviews:
Interviews with the market leaders and testimonials from your current clients work great in generating trust and loyalty. They can be as video or transcripts. These help in getting high-level engagement with viewers as market leaders generate interest and social shares for your site.
Checklists:
Checklists is a list of items to follow for doing a specific job. It is a list post which offers a direct guide to get something done in a proper way. Checklists’ posts work well for a particular query of your target audience and great for targeting long tail keywords.
Checklist example: http://writtent.com/blog/ultimate-blog-post-checklist-hit-publish-button/
Case Study and White Papers:
White papers are factual documents about a product which discuss a topic in depth based on facts and figures. These are highly detailed essay type content that works well in B2B campaigns. Even several blog posts can be made from a single white paper and then they can link back to the main post. Know more about white papers.
Infographics:
Infographics are the most shareable form of content. They are pectoral representation of the information, which might otherwise look boring and disengaging. It displays information with creative visualizations to keep users engaged till the end. It is the best way to gain popularity as it is the most shared and linked type of content and there is huge buzz around it. Know more about infographics. Know More.
Targeting the right keywords is as important as writing great content. Know more on how to target right keywords to get the maximum SEO benefit.
Great post! We use a lot of how-to posts, lists, checklists and a bit of infographics. And among our most high-trafficked posts are list types.
Really enjoyed this article post. Much obliged.