Content marketing is no easy task and many companies still have not adapted to this style. Many say it’s too long of a process or it’s simply too much work.

The truth is, content marketing has made a huge impact on the marketing industry and has become the new way to reach customers. Traditional marketing tactics of cold calls and door-to-door sales are no longer effective. Pushy salespeople simply scare customers away. With content marketing, there is no longer that push and it simply gives customers the choice. That’s what we want as a consumer right, a choice?

Here are 4 ways to help improve your content marketing strategy:

Quality content

Don’t just start word stuffing your content just to make it look longer. Search engine’s are smarter than that and look deeper into what the context actually is. Concentrate on writing quality content and going deeper into your topics. Do some research on your topics and look for sources of inspiration. The worst thing you could do is sit and stare at your blank document until something comes to mind. As a content writer you will quickly learn, the more you read, the more you will be able to create quality content.

When I first started blogging, I was stuck. Curating others and writers and was so clueless when it came to writing my own article. Staring at my computer screen hoping topics would just come to me. As time went on, I adapted my ways constantly reading new content and pushing new ideas into my brain.

One of the best things I did was subscribing to companies such as Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, and even signing up for Google alerts. Having that fresh new content in my mailbox everyday has greatly expanding my writing and more importantly knowledge.

Find your niche

Do you know what is niche is? Does your marketplace specialize in the computer or food industry? Whatever is may be, you must find and embrace it. Writing content with a clear understanding will help reach a more targeted audience instead of just writing on a bunch of different industries. Narrow down your content strategy to your niche and the results will follow.

Reach out to others in your industry to find out what they are doing and what you may possible do to work together. There is an old saying “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”. While I believe keeping your competitors close to you will help build an inner drive to raise your standard of work and drive to become

SEO optimize

Is all your pages of content SEO optimized? Not just with your blogs, but with landing pages as well. Content marketing goes beyond writing blogs but also with your “talk to sales” forms and the rest of the pages on your website. Here is a list of must haves for your pages to be optimized:

• Page Title- Is your page title unique?

• Meta Description- Is your description less than 160 characters?

• H1 Tags- Are there targeted keywords in at least one H1 tag?

• Images- Do you have less than 50 images per page? Keep it minimal

• Calls-to-Action- Are there any on your page?

• Internal Links- Is there links leading to other related content?

• Page Loads- Does your page load with ease? Too much clutter will slow it down.

Create goals

Do your team have any defined goals in mind? What are you trying to accomplish with your content? Are you looking to get 10 new leads by the end of the month or obtain 20 new blog subscribers? It is good to have multiple goals set for your marketing team to achieve. For us, one of our goals is to increase our social footprint month over month by at least 5%. It may sound small but it has a huge impact over time.

There will be months that your goals may not be hit but don’t get discouraged. Keep with your strategy and make minor tweaks when necessary. If you are able to head your goals over time, reward you and the team! As humans we love being rewarded and acknowledged for our work. Be the boss who takes your team out for lunch and get away from the office once in awhile. Creating a bond outside of work will make a much more pleasing work environment knowing everyone is all in for each other.