Optimizing website content has never been more superficial. SEO practices are constantly changing. This cannot be very clear even for the most experienced content creators. At times, it can feel like chasing a dream. You don’t get there no matter what you do.
A company’s biggest mistake is to try too hard with its content alignment strategy. You might not rank for all relevant keywords if you try too hard. Instead, your goal should narrow your focus on the most important goals you can achieve via content.
A lot of light will make the ground heat up, but it won’t ignite. You can only ignite a flame if you are focused on one thing. This mindset is what you should bring to your content alignment strategy.
Use the Golden Circles
Simon Sinek is a thought leader, author, and speaker who has shared valuable insights for businesses facing challenges with strategy. He refers to it as the Golden Circles. This concept was first introduced in a Ted Talk in 2009.
Sinek states that there are three Golden Circles within a business, one surrounding the other. These three rings can be described as WHY at the center, HOW at the outer, and WHAT is at the middle. The outermost ring has a smaller circle, which indicates that fewer businesses have grasped these concepts.
These circles can be applied to other business or leadership concepts. Let’s, however, use them to help us explore our content alignment strategy. The basics of what you do are pretty straightforward. It is what your business does in the marketplace. Your system of operations, how you think, and what you do are key factors in your ability to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Organizations often get stuck on the why. It doesn’t matter if it is related to their brand image or their content strategy. This is a crucial point to consider. Then, ask yourself why you do what you’re doing and then use that to produce content. Perhaps you make meals to ensure that busy families have access to the healthy, delicious food they need. This will allow you to focus your content better and ensure long-term success.
You can align your goals with metrics.
Once you have found your way, it’s now time to make it concrete. Without data metrics, your content goals will remain a pipe dream. Metrics will show you if your content alignment strategy is effective or not.
Your content strategy might have as its goal to increase brand awareness among your target audience. How can you quantify something so abstract? To better understand how your system is performing, you can look at impressions and page views, and online brand mentions.
Concentrate on one content alignment goal at a time. If you try too many things, you’ll only see incremental improvements across the board. You won’t make any real progress. You will see more visible results if you focus your content on a single goal.
Profile Your Target Audience
Everyone would want your products and services in an ideal world. You will see the most success for your business with a specific audience. This may be easy for some companies, such as diaper brands targeting young parents. It can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint your target audience.
Let’s assume you are a SaaS provider of top-of-the-line project management software. Your target audience could include CEOs, entrepreneurs, and managers with interest in time management and teamwork.
After narrowing down your target audience, now curate content specifically for them. It doesn’t take a lot of content to appeal to all the people who might visit your site. All content should be focused on the audiences you believe will most benefit from your company’s products and services.
Instead of focusing on keywords, focus on topics.
It’s easy to get gray hairs obsessing about keywords. Content marketing indeed requires the ability to rank for relevant keywords. You can become too obsessed with keywords, and your content may suffer.
It’s much easier to concentrate on the topic than trying hard to squeeze every keyword into your content strategy. Find keyword overlap and match it with search intent. Your content quality will improve if you focus on the right keywords. This will help you achieve more organic growth.
Keyword ranking is not something you can abandon. Google loves keywords. You’ll need them to rank high. It would be best if you didn’t get lost in keyword research. This could lead to you forgetting why you’re creating content. (Hint: Your goal is to attract and meet the needs of your target audiences.
SEO and content strategy would be easy for everyone to master. Creating a content alignment strategy that works well for your brand takes time. You can make adjustments to your content alignment strategy to help you focus more effectively and allow your content to carry your business to greater profits, brand recognition, and stability.
