6 Sure-Fire Steps of Creating Optimized Content

If you’re contending with content strategy headaches and poor engagements, the issue might be the lack of a solid content creation process. The secret is to know where to start from. This read will unearth tried and proven strategies that will set you up for success.

But first things first:

What is Content Creation?

In a nutshell, content creation is the process of unearthing topic ideas that resonate with your buyer persona and creating textual and non-textual content around these ideas.

It doesn’t stop there. You need to make the messages accessible to your target audience through an infographic, video, blog post, social media platforms’ post, and other content formats.

With a robust content creation process, you can ultimately:

• Attract traffic to your site
• Boost your digital visibility
• Capture leads
• Establish and cement your brand awareness
• Engage and educate your audience
• Gain credibility
• Achieve your business goals

Sure-Fire Steps To  an Amazing Content Creation

it's now time to weave your dream team. Remember to set SMART goals in every step.

1. Establish a Tightly-Knit Team of Content Creators

No man is an island. This well-worn adage still remains true. You need a content team that consists of various specialists, even though some jacks-of-all-trade may work with you. Here are some of the specialists that you can include in your content marketing crew:

• Content writers
• Editors
• Graphic designers
• Animators
• Stylists
• Models
• Voiceover artists
• Photographers
• Videographers
• Social media managers

Apart from these boots-on-the-ground creatives, you need content marketing members to steer the ship:

• SEO guru
• Creative director
• Project manager
• Content strategist
• Content Writer
• Content Marketer/Marketing manager

But where can you source these members when building your dream battalion? Here are your options:

• Divvy up the tasks among your current marketing team members
• Hire new experts to establish a robust in-house crew or freelance teams
• outsource to an agency that specializes in content marketing to do the heavy lifting

It all boils down to your budget and the type of content you’re looking to produce. Remember to weigh your options, start small, and expand your team and content marketing efforts with time.

2. Know Your Target Audience

Who should be reading and viewing your content? You don’t want to take a shot in the dark when writing your content pieces. Pinpointing your reader is crucial if you’re looking to:

• Tailor your marketing messages in a way that resonates with the target audience
• Identify and entice leads
• Enhance your brand awareness
• Support long-term relationships with fans and customers
• Meet your business goals

So for every main customer demographics, develop your audience persona. That way, you can clarify the characteristics of your readers and what they’re searching online to solve their pain points.

Your best bet is to conduct interviews and client data analysis to determine each persona’s likes, dislikes, motivations, and other details. With this knowledge, you are in a better position to articulate how your offers can be their best solutions.

Then summarize your discovery in a concise deck and share it with the rest of your content crew members.

3. Research Your SEO and Keywords

We get it- nailing down your target key terms can be a bit technical. However, it’s what sets great online content from a good one. With amazing keyword research, you can identify your audience and what they’re searching to solve their pain points.

To make the ‘how’ part less daunting, come up with a few key terms that might fit your content. Thereafter, branch out and refine your results.

Here are our best steps:

• Discover seed keywords
• Find new keywords
• Study your competitors’ keywords
• Research keyword metrics
• Choose and implement the key terms that stand out

Robust tools like Ahrefs, People Also Ask, and SEMrush can make the process a breeze without breaking your bank.

4. Brainstorm Your Content Ideas

A successful content creation process is impossible without a list of ideas. So after identifying the key terms to target, it’s now time for ideation. While the internet is awash with many ideation methods, the use of topic clusters will make your brainstorming session a breeze.

Topic Clusters focuses on relevant topics rather than keywords to boost site architecture, give Google an easy time discovering your content, and ultimately boost your search engine’s visibility.

In this model, each grouping (pillar) covers a single keyword in-depth. Within this group, you can create shorter cluster pieces of content that focus on specific long-tail keywords (delve deeper into the topic).

The pillar links to each cluster page and vise versa, each time with the same hyperlinked keyword. That way, when a page performs well, the entire topic cluster gets a boost.

After establishing this structure, dig deeper into books, competitors’ resources, industry studies, and SERPs-related searches to add meat to the bones gradually. Then fill up your editorial calendar with your ideas.

5. Produce Your Content- i.e. Write

After brainstorming your ideas and developing a content plan, it’s time to put every topic idea into words. Remember people and Google are always looking for evergreen and quality content. That’s where uniqueness steps in. stay clear of regurgitating the content that already exists.

A solid content production process is user-focused- Write for your target audience and stay faithful to them alone. That means you need to weave their euphemisms, humor, and voice into every piece of content.

At the same time, stay true to your voice. You don’t want to distract or scare away your readers with an expansive vocabulary and eloquent prose.

Also, write in clear and concise sentences that will help your readers relate to you. If your audience has to sift through the confusing metaphors and jargon to derive value, they may never come back.

Don’t forget to spice up your articles with teasers like titles, Meta descriptions, and visual content. That way, readers will want to click and dive deeper. Also, conduct a thorough content audit to ensure you're posting high-quality content.

6. Post and Promote

Here comes the moment of truth. Contrary to popular opinions, posting involves more than just clicking a button. For one, consistent publishing (maybe a content piece every week) is a game-changer. A Forbes study reveals that consistency can boost traffic up to 90% within half a year.

Another thing is to publish based on time-sensitive and trending events. For instance, it’s a no-brainer that content related to national holidays is relevant during those specific days.

Be sure to use a robust Content Management System (CMS) to make content uploading, hosting, and publishing a breeze. With a CMS, you can schedule publishing, link content to a landing page, and analyze your content marketing strategy for a specific campaign.

Zoey Writers Know the Process In and Out!

So there you have it, the entire process of weaving a piece of quality content that stands out. Ready to begin your content creation journey? Our continuously evolving content strategy will help you skyrocket organic traffic. But if DIY is not your thing, you can hire our content creators and freelance writers. 

Zoey Writers are those process owners with excellent content writing services that will tailor content that suits your brand.