Content marketing is one of the easiest but often misunderstood ways of bringing the much needed traffic to your blog. But developing a content strategy that actually works is a lot different in practice than it is in theory. Even if you do have a good content writing strategy in place, it can be challenging to figure out if it is working, and why, if it isn’t.
Perhaps the biggest challenge with content marketing is that in order to get tangible results to track progress, you have to wait for significantly long time intervals, often up to 6 months.
If you don’t see the results after this time has passed, you will know that your content writing strategy is to blame.
But just because you’re not getting results after 4 to 6 months doesn’t mean you have to start over. Sometimes a few minor tweaks and changes are all you need to adjust.
Here are 6 common reasons why you’re not getting tangible results from your content writing strategy.
1. You Don’t Have a Professional Copywriter
Many businesses hire content writing services to take care of all their content and SEO needs. Creating content can be a bit tough if you’re new and are still learning the ropes. In order to stand out from the crowd, you have to create content that meets the standards set up by your industry, Google, and other online platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, and Bing).
Remember, you’re not just putting together a random string of keywords in hopes that search engines buy it. Search engines are becoming smarter by the day and only value content that has been exceptionally well written. This requires access to a reasonably good writer. Most entrepreneurs who personally take on the task of content writing for their website risk burning themselves out.
It’s simply not realistic for entrepreneurs to spend time managing their business and sparing hours upon hours towards creating SEO-optimized content. The best course of action is to simply hire content writing services.
2. Content Writing Doesn’t Have a Goal
Are you posting blogs randomly? A lot of marketers fall into this trap, infect, only about 37% of B2B marketers have a fully fleshed out content marketing strategy. This means that many marketers aren’t strategically thinking about the content that they’re creating.
The most common content marketing goals are as follows:
- Increasing rank on search engines
- Driving new traffic to websites
- Gaining new backlinks
- Gaining new followers
- Creating a weekly newsletter
In order to achieve these goals, you need a blueprint that neatly lays out your content strategy. This content strategy gives the writing team (and you) a roadmap to follow. Without having a proper roadmap, you’re going to try too many things at once and end up missing the mark. A content strategy also gives you a bird’s eye view of the steps you have to take.
It becomes easy to create attainable goals and re-adjust your strategy to refine your content marketing approach.
3. You Are Not Publishing Frequently Enough
When it comes to content creation, you have to ensure that what you put out there is extremely original, thought provoking, and relevant to your audience.
However, if you’re just posting only once or twice a month, you’ll find it tough to gain any traction at all. If there’s one thing we’ve noticed search engines do time and time again, it’s that they reward blogs, both new and old, handsomely for publishing frequently on a consistent basis. Publishing posts on a regular basis builds trust and credibility both with the end-user and search engines.
It is worth noting that if you mindlessly spam your blog with low-quality blogs and nonsensical information that isn’t relevant to your audience, it doesn’t matter how often you post.
Here’s the formula for success that works every time without fail: publish high quality blog posts on a regular basis.
The trick is to find the right balance between quality and quantity.
4. Blogs on Their Own Can be Boring
Alright let’s get the ugly truth out of the way: not everyone likes reading giant walls of text that just go on and on and on.
In a survey of over 3000 consumers conducted by digital marketing experts at HubSpot, 53% of people said they would like to see more videos and pictures instead of purely textual blogs.
People need visual cues to guide them through blog posts, especially long-form blogs. This is why most professional bloggers make use of high quality pictures and videos where relevant.
Sometimes it is easier to digest information if it is presented in bite-size chunks in the form of pictures. Bonus points if you can create infographics. The statistics make it very clear why infographics are so effective. In fact, audiences are up to 30 times more likely to be read a blog in its entirety if it contains infographics and visual aids.
5. Too Many Sales Pitches
Here’s the rule of thumb they don’t tell you in content marketing classes: content isn’t designed to sell.
At least not directly.
While this may sound ironic since the whole purpose of content marketing strategy is to drive up revenue and sales, it is bad practice to start your relationship with a sales pitch.
When users click on your post to learn something new, they’re not expecting to be hammered with ad pop-ups about your product and services.
If they want to buy something, they will make up their own mind without being told to do so.
This is because customers now have access to more options without ever needing to speak to a salesperson. The goal of your content strategy then, is to win over the confidence of your prospects. If you create a well-written blog post full of information, your readers will be more likely to buy your products and services.
Let’s take a leaf out of GoPros’s marketing playbook.
This high quality picture grabs your attention and causes you to stop and stare. It also shows what the GoPro camera is capable of. This picture, which is little more than an ad by the way, not only increases awareness about the camera but also entertains you. This is what ultimately sells.
6. You Don’t Know Your Unique Selling Points
It is tough to stay truly original since there are thousands of competitors with the same ideas as you. But if you look too generic, users will go to more established brands instead.
This is why it is important to be familiar with the user’s buying journey when writing posts. You can craft content based on each step involved in the buying journey. Don’t do something just because your competitors are doing it. Try to get into your reader’s shoes and see if the product you’re pitching through your content is unique enough.
If your content is too similar to what your competitors are pushing out, you might struggle to get attention. In this case, you won’t entice your readers or offer them anything of value. Every product or service has its unique selling point – for you it could be affordability, quality, freebies, value added services, top notch customer care, after added services, etc.
You will have to get into the nitty-gritty of what it is that makes your product truly unique. This information will then allow you to create more unique content.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it, all the important reasons why your content strategy isn’t working. Keep these tips in mind next time you create content. If you don’t have time, try hiring content writing services to make the process much more smoother.
