How to Make Your Blog a Useful Marketing Machine That Makes Money

7 Habits for Effective Content Marketing

By Eliza Medley and Janice Wald

Everybody seems to be doing content marketing nowadays. The thing is, quite a few people agree that it’s not actually that effective for them. There are many reasons for that, but one of the biggest ones has to be that many people don’t actually know how to run an effective content marketing campaign.

If that’s the case for you, then I’m here to help you figure out what you can do better and what behaviors you can pick up to make sure that your content marketing becomes a more honed marketing machine that gets people clicking through to your product and converting visitors into buyers.

That sounds good? Let’s get on with it, shall we?

They look at the data

The first step to an effective marketing strategy is to make sure that you’ve actually got data on which to make your decision. After all, one of the greatest advantages of the online marketplace is that information doesn’t just go from you to your customers but the other ways as well. To not take advantage of that would be like deciding to run a race with a blindfold on. You don’t know where you’re going and you don’t know when you’ll get there.

To get at the data you’ve got to have some sort of data analysis software installed. You could use Google Analytics, for example, though that’s only one of many.

If you’ve got it installed, make sure you don’t just look at the vanity numbers (e.g. how many visitors you get), either. You’ve got to make sure you’re aware of what’s going on. That means tracking how well your posts do, what your landing pages are and from what pages people are bouncing.

In this way, you’ll know what is going on, what kind of content your audience likes and what you really shouldn’t produce any more of. That alone will make it far easier to adjust your strategy so that it becomes ever more effective.

Spread out the content production

A lot of bloggers leave content creation to their virtual assistants. That’s a mistake. Your assistants might be good at putting your product in the best light, but that doesn’t mean they know the ins and outs of every aspect of your website.

Content marketing is all about finding insights that are new and original. That’s going to be far easier to do if you’ve got a lot of different people involved. Your assistants can come up with insights and ideas for your content marketing campaign that will make your strategy far more effective. However, you should have the final word on content creation.

Give them their due

Even better, let other people offer content suggestions. 

These could include other bloggers that ask questions in your comment section.  You might vary your formatting by having a Q & A post. You could answer bloggers’ questions in subsequent posts. Make sure you link to all bloggers who help you with content ideas.

They will appreciate the gesture. Links improve SEO. Who knows, they may retweet your article and your exposure to new readers will grow!

Ideally, you are reading blogs of influencers in your niche. If you link to them, let them know. If they share on their social media, your exposure to potential customers could grow by tens of thousands!

And that will make it far easier to content market your product.

Focus on quality over quantity

You don’t actually have to post that much content for your content marketing strategy to be effective. Of course, you want to publish at least something a week, otherwise, you might find your audience drifting away, but you certainly don’t need to put something out there every day.

Instead, focus on making your content as good as it can be. After all, it’s going to be out there for a long time and can potentially still influence people six months or a year down the line – particularly if it’s evergreen.

So, make sure that your writing about things that are interesting and make sure that you’re writing about it in the most interesting way you can. For example, read up on what the best writing practices are, follow a writing workshop, and in other ways make the best of your content production.

Remarket and repackage

If you’ve got a piece of content that’s doing especially well, don’t just sit there and go ‘oh, that’s nice’. Instead, give it an extra push. When you find that content is getting a lot of attention, spend some money on getting it in front of more people.

And don’t just do that today, but in a month from now, hit that same piece of content again, as unless it’s a time sensitive piece, people will no doubt still be interested at that time as well.

Don’t just stop there, either. Instead, when you’ve got something that’s really working, consider repackaging it into different formats. Was it originally a blog post? Then turn it into an infographic. Did you do an interview on a podcast? Then turn it into a video.

In this way, as most people prefer to consume media in different forms, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to reach different people with the same piece of content.

Remember that it’s about stories

We love stories. For that reason, make sure that your content marketing isn’t just about facts, but about human interests as well. Talk about clients that are happy. Offer testimonials.

In this way, you’ll draw people in by telling them things they really want to know and you’ll keep them interested by creating a connection between yourself and them.

Create editorial guidelines

If you’ve got a lot of people involved in your content creation like guest authors, then you’re going to need editorial guidelines. The reason you need these is to create cohesion. In this way, people will know your central message that you’re all working towards, rather than individuals who can’t agree on anything, including the style of your publications.

Editorial guidelines help in another way and that is to make it easier for you to take the content that you’re given by your guest author and fit it to your website. In this way, rather than needing to spend hours editing every post so that it fits your style, you’ll be able to get on with other things like planning next week’s content.

Last words

It takes time, patience and persistence to get a new habit learned. For that reason, don’t try to do everything on this list. Instead, take the habit that you think would be the most effective for you and your website and internalize that first. Only when it has become automatic, should you move on to the next one.

In this way, you won’t be overwhelmed by trying to do too many new things. You’ll make it far more likely that you acquire one or two new habits instead of trying your hand at all of these and ending up with none of them.

Readers, please share, so other content creators know about these tips for monetization.

Guest author Eliza ended the article by suggesting you try one tip at a time. Have you tried any of them yet? Which tip would you recommend to people wanting to market their content?

I look forward to your views in the comment section.

Related Posts:

9 Best Methods to Make Money on the Internet

This is How to Monetize Your Knowledge and Make Money Blogging

How to Make Big Money Blogging, 15 Tips

How to Make Money in 2016 and Beyond as a Beginner

This is the Way You Can Make Big Money Blogging Now