Content Strategy 101: Five Things You Need to Know When You’re Writing for the Web

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Are you at a loss for writing great and compelling content?

Or are you perhaps feeling a little bit dismayed by your lack of productivity, click-through rates, and overall ratings?

Or are you simply disappointed at how vastly different the writing strategy is when you are writing for articles to be published online?

Well, fret not.  Working as a content writer for an online marketing agency is not as straightforward as everyone in the industry wants it to be. As it is, you are not the first one to experience this array of dilemmas considering that content strategy is a comparatively fresh niche in the digital webspace. 

However, it frequently finds common ground with interface design, SEO, content marketing, user experience, traditional offline marketing and public relations.

To assist you in overcoming the hurdles there is in content writing, this article will highlight some of the prominent concepts of content strategy around the web. It details some guidelines for one to use especially to those who have never been exposed to content strategy—one that should be considered before they can craft their very own.

Listed below are five things that one needs to be aware for an effective content strategy:

Teamwork is essential in Content Strategy

The importance of compelling content is essentially ingrained in every content writer’s head. However, what most companies overlook is the fact that content alone would not do much and would not be as effective as a content strategy that utilizes the talents of the other members in the team. In order for a good content strategy to come into fruition, teamwork is necessary. As it is, the content strategy phase does not involve copywriting alone; user experience, design, marketing, etc. play a very big part on this too. For maximum content strategy efficacy, the other peer-disciplines should be equally involved as well.

Survey your audience’s literacy level and match that

Studies have shown that both high literacy and low literacy level audiences completed tasks faster and with less frustration when websites utilized contents that does not demand much from their literacy level. Though the usage of jargon may make your website look fairly polished and professional, your audiences may suffer. Use a common language—enough to make your audiences complete basic tasks at ease while maintaining the overall professional quality of your website.  In other words, keep the language simple and concise, you will be doing yourself and your

 low and high literacy level audiences a favor.

Create a voice and a tone for your brand

In order to set your brand apart, create a unique voice for it. It makes it easier for your audiences to identify you through a distinctive voice and a sole tone. This would also help you relate to your audiences on a personal level. Your voice reflects the kind of personality and identity your brand wants to project and to maintain a consistent approach, this voice should be utilized across all of your content. However, the tone should be more adaptable to the type of context your content has.

Exploit SEO and use it to your advantage

Though a lot would say otherwise, SEO is still very much alive. SEO should be a primary part in every content strategy. Let your SEO experts assist you in creating content that would go on to build brands instead of just throwing in a bunch of keywords and hoping your content would get the adequate number of click –throughs. Effective content strategies incorporate SEO and in order to remain in Google’s good list, SEO needs to make sure they embrace SEO content marketing.

Give your audience a voice

Perhaps the most widely overlooked aspect in content strategy is giving your audience a voice. You should never neglect this essential characteristic in crafting a content strategy considering the colossal part your audience plays in giving your website life. It may be humbling to realize that the most important content in your website is not yours, but the ones your audiences create, but this is exactly why websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are so successful. They allow users to create their own content while allowing them to peruse and engage the content of others. The bottom line here is to recognize the stories of your users are far more important that one you craft and in order for them to be seen, you must build platforms that would allow such.

The road to achieving and meeting a content strategy’s ultimate goal of meeting business objectives and fulfilling user’s expectations may be littered with many obstacles and hurdles but considering the finer details may help you reach your destination faster and easier. Ponder on the five guideline enumerated above and integrate them into your content strategy and notice the drastic changes you will make.