If you’ve been writing blogs or page content month after month, only to find they contribute very little to your overall strategy, it isn’t necessarily that what you’re writing isn’t helpful – it’s just not what your audience wants. You need to go deeper than something that’s interesting, and further than something a competitor is doing.
Instead, you should be focusing on what your audience actually wants. Not necessarily what you think they should be reading, but content that actually addresses a pain point. It can be easy to slap together some copy and see what sticks, but there’s a better way to curate your content both in terms of individual topics, and how they layer together. If you’re stuck, you don’t need to go running straight to AI for ideas either (though it can be a useful starting point).
Let’s get into the what, why, and how of making a content strategy that’s actually useful for your audience, and good for your brand.
Start With the Problem, Not the Topic
While sticking to a key point for each blog (or page) is important, the underlying piece that needs to tie everything together is the problem or query you’re addressing. This is especially important when it comes to SEO and people are looking for information regarding something specific as not everyone is going to know your brand by name.
Search intent matters, and the nature of the question you’re answering should be for them not the benefits of your specific product or service. For example, if someone’s looking for the best running shoes for overpronation, you’d want to talk about the features they should look for. Then, that’s when you can link to specific products (or categories) you offer that match those features. The person searching for those kinds of shoes cares about comfort on their run and the long-term health of their body, not your brand.
When it comes to planning your content, make sure you’re ticking the boxes:
- Can you answer the question to their problem or query in a sentence? That sentence is the foundation of your content piece.
- What kind of lifestyle or solution is the person reading your content imagining? A resolution can be aspirational when it links to a better lifestyle.
- Where does this information sit in their decision-making? Are they in the early stages of figuring out what they want, or are they resolute and in the research or even buying phase? Having information that operates across different stages of the buyer journey is important for this reason.
Don’t Just Rewrite What’s Already Ranking
Competitor research is a logical place to start when you’re planning content, but simply trying to out-write (and outrank) your competition isn’t going to cut it. We still see that search engines like Google are looking for information that’s unique and comes from a place of experience and expertise. Simply paraphrasing content without adding anything to the conversation isn’t going to make you stand out on the SERP or in people’s minds if they do land on your website.
Instead, focus on a few other areas that are unique to you. Depending on what you do and who your audience is, your topic inspiration could come from any (or a combination of) the following:
- A case study-style topic that shows before and after, or the process you utilise if you’re in lead generation. This gives you information to use that’s informative for people researching, but also showcases what’s unique about who you are and what you do. And, when it’s driven by personal experience, no one else will have that kind of insight.
- Go in with more detail. Rather than a big, sweeping guide that only touches on things at a top level, create a series of ultra-specific posts that act as chapters for an overarching theme. Include information about what to do with the information, and make sure you’re linking internally to make it easy for people to find the next golden piece of information you’ve already prepared for them.
- Insider information about a topic you’re an expert in. When things change, people want to know how to adapt. If you’re in that industry, being able to offer insights from a perspective that has more experience and authority is always going to be a good place to look for fresh content.
With all of this in mind, competitor research is still worth doing, but instead of emulating what’s already been done, work backwards to see what’s missing. Find your own gaps and fit into your own niche.
Where to Actually Find Good Ideas
By this point, you should have a better understanding of where you can start. Refining that context into ideas can be a challenge, and after a certain point it can feel a bit like you’ve already written everything there is to say about your own business or industry. Keep circling back to the original point: your audience. If you’re still stumped, there’s a few ways to get back into sourcing new content ideas regularly:
- If you’re already working with a marketing agency, or have access to a team of copywriters, they’re a major resource for fresh ideas. Not only are they involved with different stages of your business, they’re also directly involved with the customer journey. People who are having those conversations with customers, making the sales, and working in support will naturally pick up on the questions and frustrations real customers raise.
- Use tools that combine SEO and content strategy, like Semrush’s Topic Research and Keyword Magic tools. They’ll give you some ideas on length, who’s doing it well, and give you some context about what’s already been written so you can fill the gaps in a way that makes sense for your brand. These tools can help give you some relevant questions to incorporate, headline ideas, and keyword clusters.
- Go a little outside the box and look at what people are saying about your industry (and competitors) on forums and online communities. This gives you context about common problems and can show you how you can best showcase your knowledge and USPs.
- Search Console and on-site search data, particularly longer queries. Knowing what people are searching for in order to find you in the first place is a great source of topic inspiration. Take what’s already working, and look at what kind of context you can make that’s adjacent to it.
Build a Sequence, Not a Pile of Posts
Once you have your topics more or less in a list, it’s time to bulk them out and consider where they sit. Having a logical order makes a difference for readers, but also helps with your sales funnel. Think of it like you’re writing a book – you need to establish the basics before you get into the complex context. Having a pillar piece that covers a topic at a high level, like a case study for example, is a good place to start. Then, you can break it down into more detailed pieces about how you achieved those results on a granular level.
Having a range of content pieces that work across different stages of the customer journey is also important. Top level pieces about your industry are going to work at capturing people in the research phase, while more detailed guides about what you do or offer are better for people in the comparison level who are almost ready to convert. Finally, content about your business, why someone would choose you, and how you’re different is the layer you need for the transactional decision stage.
Finally, when you’re building your digital content strategy, make sure each piece is unique enough to stand on its own. This means no keyword cannibalisation, but also no doubling up on information you’ve already shared in another post. Mapping out your sequence in advance helps you catch this before it happens, rather than after.
Get Researching
Now, you should be better set up to find what kind of pain points need addressing, how to make your topics unique, and how to match them to intent within the sales funnel. If you’re still unsure about whether you’re on track, or want a second opinion, you can always reach out to the team at Reform Digital for a free audit and discuss where you’re at now, and where you should go next. Get in touch with our team, we’d love to chat.
