Right now, there are at least 5.61 billion indexed pages on the Internet.
Yeah, that’s a lot of content.
Each time a competitor in your industry adds a new web page or blog post, it becomes more difficult for your content to reach customers.
With these 15 content marketing hacks, you can get in front of more customers and attract more clients!
Here are our 15 content tips to help grow your business.
1. Get In-Depth
Give your content a little extra attention by diving into the details. An informative article of 2,000 or more words often performs better on search engine rankings.
That’s right; Google actually prefers lengthy, in-depth articles. Since people are more likely to click on links at the top of the page, these posts will also increase your website traffic.
The more traffic these articles receive, the more Google will view this content as relevant to the original search term.
These articles also improve conversions, so you’re increasing reach, visits, and sales with one move.
To create in-depth content, consider:
- A broad topic with a long-tail keyword
- Adding imagery to keep readers engaged
- Keeping it interesting
- Backing up your information with industry facts
Then, end your post with a clear call-to-action. This will help push readers to convert into customers!
2. Break Out the Tools
Tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner and Google Trends can also help step up your content game.
With Google Keyword Planner, you can brainstorm blog ideas that are relevant to your product or service. The Planner shows keyword suggestions and search volume for these keywords. You can even save your new keywords as a game plan.
That way, you can come up with new blog ideas and plan for future posts!
Meanwhile, Google Trends can help you discover which topics are trending. In addition to showing you search volume, you can also compare keyword popularity. Trends even breaks the data down by state, so you can create a local SEO plan as well.
Once you have your keywords, go ahead and search them. Discover blog posts that already have top of the page status.
That’s your competition. Then you can either create all-new content or try the skyscraper method (below).
3. Build Skyscrapers
No, not literally! The skyscraper method allows you to create improved content. That way you’re writing material that’s better than what currently shows in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
To use this technique, use the research from the previous step. Go ahead and search for one of your new keywords.
Now take a look at the first three results. Once you recognize how you can improve this content, write your own post!
Then share it across your social media platforms.
With the skyscraper method, you can build on an already-existing idea and make it so much better. Put your personal spin on it, inject your brand, and use backlinks.
Then you can rise above the competition, just like a skyscraper.
4. Update Popular Posts
Use Google Analytics to determine which of your existing posts are the most popular.
Here’s the thing though: they won’t be popular forever.
Like you, millions of other companies are posting blog posts and page content online. By updating your most popular content, you can make sure that content never goes stale.
After all, Google prioritizes relevant, unique, and recent content. Here’s how you can update your posts:
- Give the introduction and conclusion a rewrite
- Double check all statistics and research in case they’re out of date
- Check to make sure all links still work
- Switch up the examples you use
- Add more content
- Break up areas with long paragraphs using sub-headers and bullets
- Switch the featured image out
As you update the content, remember the original purpose of the piece. Make sure it stays centered around that purpose.
5. Excel with SEO Best Practices
Don’t let these content marketing hacks distract you from the SEO essentials.
With each new piece of content you post to your website, make sure to check the Yoast SEO plugin. The criteria Yoast uses to recognize optimized content is there to help your posts excel!
To start, check to make sure transition words and phrases are used at the beginning of new ideas. This will help readers, especially those who skim read.
It’s also important to check your sentence and paragraph lengths. Shorter sentences will improve flow and keep readers moving to the next paragraph.
Don’t forget to add your internal and external links (more on this later).
You can also test your content in the Hemingway App to improve your content’s readability. This tool will check for adverb use, word choice, sentence length, and more. Shoot for a nine or lower so your content is easy to read for all website visitors.
6. Be a Guest
You can also attract more clients and new website visitors with guest blogging.
By posting on someone else’s blog, then linking to your company’s website within the blog, you can direct those readers to your own website. This allows you to leverage someone else’s audience to build your own.
As you write your guest blog, focus on your audience. Provide them with relevant, unique content they can’t get anywhere else.
As a result, they’ll come to consider you an authority in your industry. In addition to boosting your organic SERPs ranking, guest blogging also boosts your credibility.
Using guest blogging, you can make a new audience aware of your company and turn that awareness into trust. Common among digital marketing hacks, guest blogging is a great marketing method for promoting your business.
7. Start Shooting Video
Not all of these content marketing hacks involve written content. Instead of a blog post, you can break out the spotlight and shoot video content for a change!
When you post your video within a website post, don’t forget your SEO practices to optimize your content. Then, share your video on social media.
This will help attract more clients to the video on your website, which then boosts the page ranking.
8. Get Social With It
We’ve mentioned sharing your content on social media a few times. In addition to informing your own followers about new content, this also allows you to leverage their followers as well.
With social sharing, your original post can reach your followers, and their followers, and so on, creating a ripple effect. As a result, you can expand your reach and lead more clients towards your website.
On your blog, make sure your social media sharing icons are within view. Make it easy with big share buttons or a click-to-tweet option. That way, readers can easily share excerpts of your work.
Social media can help improve your lead generation and lead to more sales!
9. It’s Game on
Popular among content marketing hacks, gamification uses our society’s desire to share everything to your advantage.
Like retweet sharing on Twitter or reactions on Facebook, gamification turns your blog posts into a shared experience.
For example, customers can vote on their favorite posts and raise those posts to the top of your blog page. This also increases the feeling of connectivity, the same way social media does.
10. Love Up Links
Google checks for internal links (links on your company website) and external links (links to other websites) when crawling your content.
In addition to improving your SERPs ranking, link building also helps readers explore your content. Choose relevant words or phrases to link so they stand out. Then, direct your readers to a page that dives deeper into that subject.
As a result, you can decrease your bounce rate, improve your click-through-rate, and keep visitors on your blog longer.
Using high-quality references in your external links can help increase your credibility. These can include statistics, references, research, or examples that support your own content.
11. Stand Out (and Up!)
Whether you’re using the skyscraper method or writing unique content from scratch, it still needs to stand out. After all, you don’t want to look like one of those 5.61 billion pages you’re competing with.
Instead, search for ways to stand apart from the competition. Consider the value you’re offering readers and make sure they can’t get it anywhere else.
If you can’t provide unique information, at least spin it in a way that engages clients like no one else can. As a result, people are more likely to visit your website than a competitor’s.
Remember, Google searches for unique content. As a result, it’s important to stand out. That way, you can get higher up on search pages.
Make sure your company stands out with growth hacking services.
12. The Need for Speed
That’s right; website speed is a Google ranking factor. Think about it this way: Google wants to list websites on SERPs that are relevant to the search, unique, and offer quality functionality.
A slow-loading website is frustrating for everyone involved. If a potential customer lands on your website but can’t see or experience the content, they’ll probably leave.
By improving your website’s load time, you can give readers a better user experience. To boost your speed, cut back on unnecessary plugins that might cause a lag. You can also limit the number of heavy photos on your landing pages.
Take a look at your pages as if you’re seeing them for the first time. Consider what images, features, and content are essential, then cut back the rest.
After all, your blog posts don’t need fancy bells and whistles to engage customers.
With more focused pages and fewer distractions, you can also keep the reader’s attention where it belongs: on your content! At the same time, you can raise your ranking and attract more clients.
13. Improve Your Writing
Speaking of keeping readers engaged, remember why they’re on your website in the first place! These content marketing hacks won’t actually improve your rankings without content to work with.
To start, try the AIDA writing method. AIDA stands for:
- A – capture attention
- I – build interest
- D – create desire
- A – call-to-action
This strategy will help you win your readers’ attention and, by the end of your blog post, encourage them to convert on the page.
As a result, you can keep visitors on your website longer and increase sales.
Headlines can also help improve your writing. While in the planning stage of your blog post, consider how you can organize the content.
Then, break it up into headings, subheadings, and/or bullets.
This will improve your readability so website visitors read all the way to the bottom of the page.
As you write, remember who your audience is and the value you’re providing them. Focus on communicating to that audience (instead of just writing a blog post) and that effort will show on the page.
14. Test It Out
If you’re unsure about any of these content marketing hacks, why not test them out?
This helps if you’re unsure about which blog titles or CTAs best engage your customers. With A/B testing, you can try alternatives, then measure the results.
That way, you can learn about your customers and make informed decisions with your future blog posts.
A strong title can help attract visitors, while an effective CTA turns those visitors into paying customers. Once you recognize which styles and words work best for your target audience, you can optimize your content for the highest results.
Learn more about how data can help maximize your marketing performance.
15. Revamp Your Content
Content repurposing allows you to get the most out of your content. This can include reusing content across numerous marketing channels, even more than once.
If the content isn’t detailed enough, expand on it.
If you can display the information in a visual (such as an infographic) that’s more informative and engaging, redesign it.
By revamping old content, you can help improve the ranking and provide readers with more relevant, engaging information.
Up Your Game With These 15 Content Marketing Hacks
With these 15 content marketing hacks, you can step up your game and boost your content. As a result, you can get in front of even more customers and drive business growth!
Discover more effective strategies and growth resources on our blog!
