The best SEO practices for 2016 and beyond will require a strategic mindset, as well as a detailed plan on how to leverage what I am about to share in this post. In theory, the best SEO practices are quite simple and straightforward. Yet, the deployment will be complex, as well as require persistence and organization.
"It is a little-known secret that Google and other search engines are making a shift from traditional SEO to a focus on quality and authoritative content. While it is still important to optimize your meta data and remain on top of relevant keywords, it can no longer be denied that when it comes to generating organic search results, quality content with a strong focus on authority is now leading the pack." - Entrepreneur (Jan 6, 2015)
Best SEO Practices Checklist
- Discovering and targeting additional verticals.
- Conducting thorough keyword research for those verticals.
- Creating high-quality content for each keyword. This would include in-depth copywriting.
- Distributing this content on a continually basis. (Email, social media, PPC, native advertising, etc.)
How To Create Quality Content
While this topic could take up an entire book, of which there are many on creating great content, this is a short summary of what almost any brand can deploy with existing resources.Once the additional verticals are identified, as well as conducting the best keywords associated with those verticals, one must create the content. Each keyword must require great and extensive content if that content has any chance of ranking high in search, as well as being shared.
Video will be your best content. Per Cisco, within two years 84% of all internet content consumed will be video content. With tools such as Google Hangouts on Air and Blab, both of which can be uploaded as YouTube videos, there is no reason why any brand or entrepreneur cannot create effective, engaging video content.
Step One: Storyboard
To create great content, you must not only know the verticals and keywords to target, but the questions and interests that people have regarding these verticals. A great resource is to read industry journals and forums to see what audiences are saying in real-time. Based on this research, one can create a storyboard of the content one is to create.Step Two: Choose Your Platforms
Now that you have your story, we need to determine how we will tell it and share it. Will it only be a stand along video on YouTube, or will it also be repurposed into a blog post on your website? My suggestion is to do both. You want to create long, detailed content as this study shows clearly that long content has a better chance of ranking high.Next is determining how those videos will be created. You have many options today, from costing to almost nothing, but your time, to hiring competent and costly video production teams. For those with little cash to spend, I suggest leveraging Google Hangouts On Air. With a few hundred dollars, one can easily upgrade one's video and audio technology to make it look great.
Step Three: Deployment
One should have a schedule, such as once a week. Creating and distributing content on a continual basis is key. A crucial component to branding is CONSISTENCY. Consistency is a key factor in building trust and respect.As part of the deployment is to ensure that best SEO practices are taken into account for one's blog post (Yoast plugin) and one's YouTube videos (Tuberank Jeet).
Another important deployment strategy is to repurpose your content. Transcribe your videos into long blog posts, leveraging the same keywords as your videos. Create ebooks, or even an actual book, from multiple videos. There are other ways to repurpose the same content, such as:
- Infographics
- Podcasts (audio portion of your videos)
- SlideShare
- Brochures
- White Papers
- FAQ Pages
Step Four: Distribution
Creating content is half the battle. Factually, it will require just as much effort and time (and finance in some cases) in seeing that your content is distributed, thus reaching its intended audiences. Here are the top methods for sharing content:- Social Media
- Email Lists
- Partner Marketing - having other brands feature your content to their audiences
- Guest blogging
- Google Ads
- Facebook Ads
- YouTube Ads (for your videos)
- Press Releases
- Native Advertising
- Influencer Marketing
In Summary
There is no such thing as SEO without content. You need words, articles, substance, keywords, verbiage. It’s true: Content is king. We don’t argue about that anymore. It’s a truism of the SEO industry. Content content content.
And what is content marketing all about? It’s about content. The practical application of SEO (content) is the very substance of content marketing.
This YouTube Video gives you additional insight.
This YouTube Video gives you additional insight.
Contact me on how we can create a powerful Content/SEO strategy for your brand.
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