{"id":223953,"date":"2020-03-14T07:11:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-14T01:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qcsglobal.com\/marketing\/five-tips-to-establish-a-successful-content-creation-process-search-engine-watch\/"},"modified":"2020-04-18T17:10:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-18T11:40:37","slug":"five-tips-to-establish-a-successful-content-creation-process-search-engine-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qcsglobal.com\/blogs\/five-tips-to-establish-a-successful-content-creation-process-search-engine-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"Five tips to establish a successful content creation process Search Engine Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In this digital age where <\/b>around 90%<\/a> of all digital marketers use content marketing<\/b>, there is no shortage of content that is flowing around, even in niches you probably never heard of.<\/b><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, a big chunk of that content is a spammy mess that exists only to build a link, promote things we do not need, and push an agenda that doesn\u2019t care about facts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite all of that, there is always room for more quality content that can put your business on the map. To do that effectively, you need two things \u2013 <\/span>consistency and a strategic approach to content creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why should you have a consistent content publishing schedule?<\/h2>\n

If you are pumping out mediocre content on a regular basis to try and \u201ctrick\u201d Google into favoring you over other domains, you are probably wasting your time. That\u2019s if you want to listen to Google\u2019s own John Mueller.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s why this discussion doesn\u2019t really matter. On one side, there is a whole <\/span>list of stronger search ranking factors<\/span><\/a> to focus on. On the other hand, even if publishing frequency doesn\u2019t directly affect your rankings, there are plenty of other reasons you want to be consistent with your content creation and publishing process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some do it because they want to run a newsletter, others simply want to keep their blog fresh and have something to share on their social channels. However, most marketers that look to run content consistently are <\/span>those who want to grow their businesses with content marketing.<\/span><\/p>\n

For them, creating consistent content with a purpose is not an option, it\u2019s a necessity. In continuation of this article, we\u2019ll take a look at five tips on how to do exactly that.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Do the groundwork<\/h2>\n

What does it mean to create quality content? I believe most of us know how to intuitively recognize it, but some would have trouble coming up with a clear definition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a snapshot from the guidelines we share with all of our writers that represent how we look at quality content:<\/span><\/p>\n

Writing to the right audience and solving their problems with actionable advice is hard to do if you only have a vague idea of who you are targeting. That\u2019s why it is crucial to properly research your target audience. Go to Quora and Reddit, visit niche forums, run surveys among existing customers and subscribers, follow top blogs in your niche, analyze your competitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re planning to create content consistently, it pays to know both big and small problems your target audience is running into on a regular basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you do extensive research, you should have a substantive list of issues to cover. However, not all of those issues are worth covering on your blog. Creating personalized content is great, but spending 20 hours on a piece that solves an issue exactly three people have is just not worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is where keyword research comes into play. Using tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest, and even Google Trends is a great way to find out what is the scope of the issues you identified and which are, subsequently, worth covering.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a start-up looking to grow through content marketing efforts, keyword research and target audience analysis are the foundation to build upon. For brands with an already active blog, they can expand this preparation step by also doing <\/span>content audit and content gap analysis<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Create content with a purpose<\/h2>\n

I do not know about you, but we like to publish content with a certain goal in mind. In an ideal situation, content should satisfy the following criteria:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. It talks about a real problem <\/span>your target audience has<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. It can be optimized around a keyword with a worthwhile monthly search volume<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. It aims to generate brand awareness, nurture gathered leads or has another specific purpose listed below<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Now, there are only so many content pieces that will be able to check all three boxes, and that\u2019s just fine. Since you plan to create content consistently, you will have to branch out anyway at some point. The trick is not branching out too far. Always look that your content satisfies at least two of the stated criteria.<\/span><\/p>\n

    One example of <\/span>content with a purpose<\/span><\/a> that satisfies \u201conly\u201d two criteria (but is still worth creating) is content for nurturing your hard-earned leads.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    Depending on who you ask, the sales funnel can have between three and six phases. For the purpose of this example, we can hold on to the version with four that is on the illustration above.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s assume that, during your audience research, you defined four different target audience personas you want to cover. Let\u2019s also assume that you decided to create two different pieces of content for every persona at every stage of the funnel.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This leads us to four personas x four funnel stages x two content pieces for each = 32 content pieces!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Some of those 32 pieces will not bring you any organic traffic but they will be an integral part of your email sequences, your Facebook funnels and\/or any other strategy that uses content for lead nurturing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Plan three months in advance<\/h2>\n

    The key point of this section is planning ahead, the number of months is up for discussion. If you have enough resources and the ability to stick to the schedule, you can plan six months ahead or more. For many businesses, however, that is not necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

    For example, we push out one to three content pieces each month and our average time to produce a piece (involves keyword research, outline, writing, polishing, custom images, promotion plans, SEO optimization) is about three weeks (but keep in mind that people don\u2019t work on the content every day).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Considering our available resources, time to produce a single piece, and the number of pieces we publish each month, planning two months ahead is enough to keep everything on track. By \u201ckeeping everything on track\u201d I mean ensuring we never end up in a situation where:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n