Onsite Content Strategy – What you say to your customers matters. It’s a reflection of your brand and can shape your business results. Your tone, voice, and the amount of value you provide all can be difference makers in the buying process. But how can you ensure your content feels fresh and accurately represents your brand?

While that’s easier said than done, having a strategy in place gives you direction. The next step is to ensure the Onsite Content Strategy works. Here are a few ways to up your content strategy so it avoids becoming stagnant and delivers the results you’re after.

1. Amp Up Your Content’s Authority

If you were an early adopter of search engine optimization practices, you likely learned that frequent, consistent blog posting was essential. More content was preferable to less, and if you could squeeze in oodles of target keywords in each piece, so much the better. Thankfully, times have changed since keyword stuffing was the coin of the SEO realm. Google’s search algorithm now prioritizes well-informed, reader-friendly content that best addresses the user’s search intent.

One proven way to increase your site’s authority and trustworthiness is to craft a content strategy that places content pillars at the center. A content pillar can be understood in two ways. Conceptually, a pillar is one of the main topics you want your company to be known for. So, for example, if you own an online beauty store, hair care might be one pillar, with makeup and skincare being others. Practically, a pillar is a long-form piece of content — usually around 3,000 words — that covers one topic in a comprehensive, informative way.

Content pillars, which are keyword-optimized in a reader-friendly manner, are supported by shorter, more focused pieces that relate to them. For example, a potential customer might ask about the best hair mask for frizzy hair. By producing posts that answer such niche questions and linking them back to the hair care pillar, you accomplish two things. You address the user’s search intent, and you create a web of interlinking content that demonstrates topical authority. Both will prompt Google to rank your site highly.

2. Follow the Numbers

Once you’ve got your (hopefully) highly authoritative content strategy in place, the next step is to monitor its effectiveness. And what better way is there to do that than by evaluating digital marketing metrics? Site traffic, clicks, and time on site are all worthwhile metrics for seeing whether your strategy is working.

Not all businesses will need to look at each data point to know how their content is doing, though. E-commerce sites may hone in on sales conversions versus site traffic. Restaurants may rely on review-oriented stats and clicks to see the menu. So it’s important to tailor the metrics with which you’re judging your site’s performance to the industry you’re in.

If your key performance indicators are underperforming, consider switching things up. Maybe your pillar content isn’t as clear as it could be, or your site doesn’t load fast enough. Whatever the case, getting to the bottom of the underwhelming KPIs and making changes is key. From there, you can revisit the data and continue tweaking as needed.

If your main KPIs are looking good, your work isn’t over — it’s just different. You’ll want to get to the bottom of why your content is working so well. Doing so will allow you to create more of it, potentially for other channels, to spur your growth further. A pop-up survey to glean insights from site visitors may be useful in this regard. Once you know why you’re succeeding, it’s easier to keep your strategy on target and continue to work for you.

3. Think About Your Ecosystem of Content

In the modern world, businesses are more than just brick-and-mortar locations or just websites. Even the most traditional businesses have a digital presence, and even the most digital ones exist beyond the browser. Social media content, emails sent to customers, and any other paid promotional channels also represent your business. So it’s important to keep your content consistent across every node in your ecosystem to create the best customer experience possible.

That may mean updating your content strategy to be more all-encompassing, or it could require rethinking your strategy’s application to various channels. Say your website is thriving and getting plenty of traffic. That’s great! But if a customer receives an email that doesn’t align with your tone or sounds off, you’ve created a disconnect. If they then open Instagram and see a story that’s completely different from your site and email content, it’s even more bewildering.

To avoid causing audience confusion, look for ways to connect the dots. If a new article goes up on your site, find thematically consistent ways to promote it via email or social media. Look for relevant content that enhances the messages you’re already sending and inspires your consumers to buy. The result is a digital content strategy that aligns with your business goals and feels purposeful. That’s something customers — and your bottom line — will appreciate.

Better Content Ahead

Onsite Content Strategy – The best content strategy you can create is going to be a byproduct of regular work and continuous fine-tuning. It’s a combination of the content you’ve produced, the insights that informed it, and the data that demonstrates the results. If your strategy works like it’s supposed to, you’ll be saying the right things to the right people at the right time. Talk about getting bang for your content creation buck.