Can a Content Evolution Boost Your Business?

Content is an evolution.

I think it was Chris Brogan who I heard say that and to that I sing some Beatles, saying if “Content is a Revolution…Ohhhh yeah…we all want to change the world…”

Am I right? Are you working hard to create content to change the world? Or, to at least be significant enough to get noticed, consumed, maybe even shared? Perhaps, to offer a new thought or knowledge or know-how or even to entertain, enlighten and inspire…

And you know what, content is a major contender to help you mix, sizzle, and shake things up in your business. So, Chris Brogan is precisely right in recognizing content currently in an evolutionary state. A revolutionary state and a hot damn bing bang hot commodity for business success.

Business hinges on content—content you offer in context to your business or industry, certainly in context to your audience, and importantly, in the context of the technology landscape of today.

But what’s the right way to look at and handle the content you produce for your business and website?

What’s right? What’s wrong? I’m always looking for best practices and benchmarks as guidance. And, I’m lucky because I have a bunch of smart, top-notch friends and mentors to look to…to help me stay on top of the content creation game.

But, guess what? Many of them disagree on the best direction to take. Many offer contradictions not only with each other but, sometimes even with themselves, or with long-standing industry standards as well!

Listen to this post via the MIX/SIZZLE&SHAKE Your Business podcast here. »»

What’s a Content Creator To Do?

Sooo, what’s a poor little content creator to do? What are you going to do?

Let’s start with Andy Crestodina from Orbit Media because I go to Orbit and Andy a LOT for the latest insights and data-backed information, because well, Andy is an analytical kinda guy.

But, I love when he recently admitted that the most engaging content also requires creativity and uniqueness that only comes from a personal touch. And, even more interesting to me was Andy’s post talking about the analytics that matter from the content you create. He says there are three primary factors, three keys that matter most.

What I love about Andy’s post is he doesn’t name anything, not one thing, you might expect from an article entitled:

SEO Basics: A complete guide to the 3 factors in search rankings.

But, yay, yay, yay, Andy! because finally, someone of importance is talking about the things I believe are truly crucial BUT OFTEN NOT ACKNOWLEDGED in the significant way it deserves!

The content factors Andy identifies as the BIG 3, are after my own heart:

• Relativity
• Authority
• User Interaction Signals

Hooray! Thank you, Andy… now maybe people will believe me!!

Relativity

Making your viewers, users, readers, or customers the hero of the story is one way to make your content relative. 

Further, relativity means your content is relevant, resonates, and references information and ideas relative to the people you are trying to speak to. When content is relative, it speaks directly to a specific person and also eliminates those who are NOT your relevant audience at the same time.

While honing in on your target market, your relevant content also lifts your visibility and increases trust in you. Becoming a reliable resource in your field extends your credibility, helping your business grow. And, helping you get more search engine notice, too!

Authority

With growing relativity to your topic and with people, your authority rises and so may your site. Authority comes about when others realize you know what you’re talking about in your field or industry.

Often the way you do business and the quality and integrity of your product or service speaks for you, building your business and brand in high regard. Trust and authority go hand in hand when your company is highly relevant.

Know-how and passion are a winning combination for authority building in my experience.

User Interaction Signals

Interaction happens in a multitude of ways to let you know if your work is getting traction and resonating with people. While digital signals like shares, likes, and comments are one way to measure interactivity with your content, there are many other ways as well. Maybe you get emails, direct messages, or phone calls from your content. Or sometimes, you hit the jackpot and an influencer (who’s not even in a link this time) shares your content, giving it a little more oomph! Whoa, or someone hires you:)

It’s super awesome when someone (thank you, April Hamm, for one) shares your content directly to their friends, giving it an extra boost for getting consumed by others with a little feather on top, a referral. When other people endorse you, particularly without you asking them to, or when you are asked for a quote or to be spotlighted, then ding, ding, ding. Positive signals, all, resulting from quality content work.

Content that leads to conversations is a good thing. Interactions are an indication of meaningful content, both in terms of search and, more spectacularly, for people.

And I know the funny Ann Handley, one of my earliest influences regarding web content creation and web writing, agrees.

Ann wrote “Everybody Writes” and I highly recommend it to everybody who writes!! Ha

I model quite a few things I use in my writing craft from Ann—even throwing her under the bus when I purposely break rules in writing—saying Ann Handley says I’m allowed so, I use her to overrule, say, The New York Times stylebook or collegiate grammar on purpose.

But, Ann also warns writers and creators to slow down. Quality beats quantity and I feel like Ann kind of endorses “thoughtful content” if you will. I love this quote from a recent webinar with Ann:

Content blooms everywhere. Even in unexpected places.”~Ann Handley

That quote and her affinity with words, word use and meaning, and color in the written word confirm, I think, a thoughtful approach to content. And, again, I take this cue from Ann in my own work as well.

Another point Ann makes, and often, is the fact that all content starts with excellent writing. To me, that makes the skill, the craft, the thoughtful approach to writing all the more important. Writing is the base of your content pyramid and even though Ann’s book says Everybody Writes, that simply doesn’t mean everybody should!

This is where I challenge my friend Ana Hoffman who crazily says, “Even a dog can write.” And of course, I’m going to have to disagree.

But Ana, like Ann, agrees with quality over quantity for a winning formula. She even did an experiment proving it on her own high traffic blog, Traffic Generation Cafe.

Ana found that while frequency in posting on her blog increased overall traffic, the quality of her traffic decreased dramatically. Conversions decreased even though she had more visitors, much to her surprise!

So, just any traffic or traffic volume may not be what’s most important for your business.

More Proof From Andy

For more proof supporting what Andy tackles in his post… take a look at this…

Andy says:

Checking to see if you rank is probably the worst way to track success. Leads and sales from organic search traffic is probably the best. There are several metrics in between.” ~Andy Crestodina

“Here are a list of questions (and the reports in Analytics where you’ll find answers):

•  Did your work lead to changes in visibility in search? (Acquisition > Search Console > Landing pages …see impressions before/after)
• Did your work lead to changes in traffic from search (Acquisition > Channels > Organic traffic before/after)
• Did visitors from search take action? (Conversions > Goals …segment for organic traffic and check total conversions)
• Did the content that attracts visitors from search also attract subscribers? (Conversions > Reverse Goal Path …set goal to subscribers, segment for organic, see which pages are in the goal path)

Hint: It’s all 100% measurable! If this sound confusing, take a look at the Analytics section of the blog or get Content Chemistry on Amazon.”

Social signals also tell you about how you’re doing in relevance and help you analyze what content most resonates with your audience. Also, if you’re still not over worrying about Google, your social media channel interactivity IS a factor to them. And, by the way, Social media content has taken on a life of its own… but that’s another story…

So, what am I getting to? Well, for one thing, CONTENT IS A LOT BIGGER THAN GOOGLE!!! And, what I mean first and foremost, is almost no one really wants to produce content for a search engine algorithm.

BUT, what you do want and need to do, is to produce content for your particular audience and appeal solely to them.

No Guaranteed Single Content Formula

There’s not one formula to do it though. One of my favorite mentors and buddies, Henneke D of Enchanting Marketing is a perfect example.

First, she’s created a consistent content schedule—and I mean consistent like clockwork—for her highly engaged audience.

But, Henneke’s regular and trusted schedule is way less aggressive than my friend Lisa Sicard’s InspireToThrive blog which is a content producing powerhouse bringing it a wide and faithful audience. Lisa does have other contributors to her blog so that’s one reason she can offer more quantity also.

But, on the other end of the spectrum are folks like Brian Dean and like Ana, who only publish a few powerhouse posts and drive more traffic than all of us. Then there’s Mark Schaefer who predominantly writes most of the daily posts on his {grow} blog. Whew, and they’re ALL good, too.

I’m not used to a set schedule and I know myself well enough to admit it. I feel I want to publish on my blog only when I have something very worthwhile to offer but, I’m also thinking the thoughtful, quality-driven, high-value approach to my blog has guided me so far. Also, client work takes precedence and it should.

Your content schedule is about two things, your audience, and your business content strategy. Being unique in combining the two is your secret ingredient.Click To Tweet

And Then Again

Then again, going all the way back to Ann Handley again, she put herself on a new blog schedule or maybe it’s Newsletter, but, “Annarchy,”’ as she calls it, is now delivered fortnightly, which means every two weeks.

By the way, subscribe to Ann’s blog… it will make you laugh and cry, I promise and turn you onto something you didn’t know yet, too.

But Ann says she wanted to self-impose a new consistent deadline, well, sort of for her own good…to oil her maybe squeaky writing muscle and grow by making herself go back to the roots of all…her writing craft.

And like Ann does, it gets me thinking.

Even though I haven’t grown out of writing as a regular diet like world hopping marketing keynote presenter, Ann, I have recently learned that when I really need to get something done on my own site or projects, I need to schedule myself, like I do if I were working for a client. I’ve even created proposals for projects to keep me on task and following a prescribed workflow like I would for a client.

So, thinking about self-imposing a schedule is something I’m considering and think about whether you need to nail down that content schedule for your own good, too. Think about it.

Write Consistently: You Can Use Your Head

Maybe Mike Allton from The Social Media Hat can help if you want to commit to a set deadline for yourself. I’m so happy we connected on Facebook because that’s where I caught a video with Mike’s savvy blog posting advice.

He says write consistently for creating blog content by writing things without going hog wild crazy in research land… where we all know it’s easy to get lost for days at a time, right?

Mike suggests you write from what you know, what you have in your head as you understand your subject matter. Something that, oh my goodness, did he say this…why yes he did…something WITHOUT any links. Oh, my word!!! What? Hmmm.

You know, there is a lot of stuff in my head, Mike. How hard is it (so you say) to get something usable and worthwhile done by sitting down an hour and just doing it?

Well, for me it may take more than an hour, but I think Mike will let me slide if I start with the goal of say, one sitting instead of one hour. I said I know myself!!

But, Lisa thinks I need to post more too. Ann gave herself a schedule and Henneke makes her every deadline for her site, no matter what. Mark writes so often it blows my mind but, hey, he’s not afraid to skip the links some days just like Mike tells us is okay!

Hey, maybe this is one of those posts. A discussion post because I have a passion for content and am thinking about improving all the time, trying out this post type with minimal use of reference links. And hopefully, you still find value or it makes you think for your business and blog needs. (Okay, so I admit it. I’m thinking of giving myself a schedule for the first time in my life. Or at least for as long as I can remember. Gulp.)

Your content schedule is about two things, your audience, and your business content strategy. Being unique in combining the two is your secret ingredient.

Another Enchanting Henneke Example

For example, and now back again to Henneke…

Her latest accomplishment incorporates her blog’s signature design based on Henneke’s  “InfoDrawings” featuring her hand-drawn character, named Henrietta.

Henrietta is a blog mascot in a way and helps Henneke illustrate ideas and points in her writing. And, Henrietta is now a recognizable part of The Enchanting Marketing signature look. Henneke can add “illustrator” to her title as Henrietta becomes known.

Go check out Henneke’s Enchanting Marketing blog to see and feel Henrietta’s impact. Or, grab a mug with one of her designs for your creator’s desk for extra inspiration.

Oh, and look for my smiling face in the mug shot gallery.

Now, to get back to creating winning content for your business, there’s something else to think about.

Something that seems to get me in trouble again and again but, I’m feeling stronger and stronger in my conviction to say it outright. Because doing your content to be the same, to follow the dictated and accepted formula, to go with the rules or someone else’s set standards or based on them, is a mistake.

Being original, creative, helpful and valuable to others; exciting, entertaining, and inspiring is the only way to go.

Craft content that rumbles, tumbles, explores, and roars. Dare to lead the content evolution.

I’d love to know what you think in the comments:)

Well, for one thing, CONTENT IS A LOT BIGGER THAN GOOGLE!!! And, what I mean first and foremost, is almost no one really wants to produce content for a search engine algorithm.Click To Tweet