Inbound Marketing Blog

Thanks to our guest contributor Jessica Fender of Online Writers Rating.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) patterns have changed over the years. Regardless of whether you are a content creator or a planner, these things affect your everyday work. The latest trend to hit global search engines is the inclusion of “topic clustering” as a means to fight mechanical keyword optimization.

It’s no longer enough to simply abide by the logical rules of search engines – your content needs to have relevance and meaning. But how do we define topic clustering and how can we effortlessly implement it into already defined content planning strategies? Let’s take a look at some useful tips that can help you increase your ranking and traffic in no time at all.

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If you've ever tried talking with someone who doesn't seem to listen to you, you know how annoying it can be. You try to make a point, but they just run over it like a steamroller and talk about something that interests them.

Why is this so frustrating? Because, even if they don't mean to, these people send the message, "I only care about me. I don't care about you. You don't matter."

No one likes hearing this. Especially not potential clients--after all, why give money to someone who doesn't respect you? That's why it's so important to understand buyer personas and the buyer's journey--it helps you create content that tells customers, "We understand you, we value you and we have what you need."

You and Google have something in common: you both love fresh, quality content that is full of substance, easily digestible and relevant. Content that is relatable, thought-provoking and maybe elicits a bit of emotion. Content that speaks to the reader, not at the reader.

Sadly, a majority of the content companies produce on a daily basis is just not the quality content people will engage with. It’s dull, with very little substance and has a very me-me-me focus. It's no wonder fake news sites easily captured the majority of readers' attention. But that issue is another blog altogether.

The foundation of a good website content strategy is an outline of the website pages, sometimes known as a sitemap. One of the most important aspects of creating this document is determining the items in the main website navigation menu.

Why is the website navigation menu important?

When we're willing to ruffle a few feathers, we get more engagement. The more engagement we get, the more people will talk to us and about us. 

In 2017, you can find plenty of examples of this dynamic all around you. The abundance of clickbaiting and fake news is probably the best. They elicit emotions and cause us to take action.

Facebook and the Baiting of Clicks

If you haven't heard the term "clickbait," it refers to a title that begs you to click the link for an article. For example, a link might have the title, "You'll be amazed by number 7." When you click through, however, 7 really isn't that important. It's sort of like being Rick Rolled.

I explored this a bit in another blog post I wrote titled, “Is Facebook Making us Stupid and Lazy?” (Of course, I think the answer is yes. You’ll have to take a gander later and let me know what you think.)

"What can you do for me?"

Site visitors will be looking at many types of content on your website to try to uncover this information, but one effective way to help answer that question for them is to include a section for testimonials that showcase customer delight. When a site visitor reads success stories and learns how your business's products or services solved problems for your existing customers, it can help the new prospect move through the buyer's journey by showing them how they can benefit from working with you.

When I began blogging, I took the approach of purely factual and informative writing. Can I be honest? It was boring to write, and even more boring to read. Nobody cares to read blogs that are full of information and lack the human touch. Information is important, sure. However, it's how you present that information that determines its success.

Creating relevant and compelling content isn't as simple as randomly choosing a topic. There are very specific steps to take to successfully create content that reaches your target audience. I happened to learn these through experience. I like to call it:

If you're a writer of any kind, you've probably had people asking you to edit their work since high school. Will you edit my essay? Will you edit my resume? Will you help with this case study? If you're weird (like me), this makes you all excited about checking for grammatical issues and word flow and all of the little nuances that might make that one essay shine. But hold up.