Recalibrating content strategy for better conversions
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You've seen the TAM, and you've established that there's demand and have managed to capture a part of it, but readers don't seem to be convinced you're worth a shot - ouch.
It's a puzzling paradox – you're attracting the right audience but failing to turn them into loyal customers. Here's the truth most SEO guides won't tell you: ranking high isn't enough.
Think of your content strategy as a medical diagnosis. You've identified a patient (your target audience) with a problem (their unmet needs). But simply acknowledging their symptoms (ranking for relevant keywords) isn't enough to prescribe a cure (compelling content that converts).
Time to benchmark performance, understand the symptoms of your non-performing content, and restrategize to fix it.
Start with multifaceted analysis to establish baselines
Doctors collect information about all your symptoms, history, and lifestyle no matter what concern you go in with. This is important because our body doesn't work in silos, everything is intricately connected, right?
This is important to get a holistic view to drill down to the root cause, instead of just slapping bandaids and azithromycin on everything.
Approach your organic performance in the same way. Get a full picture, and drill down with differential diagnoses to understand what's going wrong, and fix it with data-driven confidence.
Assess organic traffic trends over the past 6 months. Are there seasonal fluctuations or unexplained dips?
Analyze keyword rankings for your target audience and high-value content pieces. Are you ranking for relevant terms with high search volume?
Conduct a comprehensive content audit to identify outdated information, content gaps, and low-performing content that can be refreshed or repurposed.
Perform a technical SEO audit to evaluate website structure, technical elements, and mobile responsiveness. Ensure a smooth user experience for search engines and visitors.
Make data inform your strategy
Great, we're now drowning in data waiting to be analyzed, understood, and utilized.
But search engines don't really leave out playbooks for us SEOs to browse through with our morning coffees, do they?
I've consolidated three core decisions you'll have to make to recalibrate. Feel free to scroll to the diagnosis that applies to your cause for each decision, and understand the treatment you need to boost conversions.
Decision 1: Traffic growth & keyword performance
Diagnosis: High Growth & Strong Keyword Rankings
Treatment:
Maintain your SEO strategy, but shift focus to content optimization.
Analyze top-performing content using tools like Google Search Console to understand user search intent and optimize for featured snippets and rich results.
Conduct competitor gap analysis: identify high-ranking content from competitors and create similar content with a unique value proposition.
Diagnosis: Stable Traffic & Moderate Rankings
Treatment:
Refine your keyword research and consider on-page optimization.
Identify long-tail keywords with lower competition but targeted search intent. Update content with these keywords and optimize meta descriptions and title tags.
Utilize topic clusters: group related content pieces under a central theme to improve internal linking structure and topical authority.
Diagnosis: Declining Traffic & Weak Rankings
Treatment:
A significant overhaul of your SEO and content strategy is likely needed.
Revisit your target audience research and refine your buyer personas. Conduct in-depth keyword research to identify emerging trends and adjust your content pillars accordingly.
Consider a website redesign if technical SEO issues are hindering your performance. Ensure mobile-first design and fast loading speeds.
Decision 2: User engagement & content performance
Diagnosis: High Bounce Rate & Low Time on Page
Treatment:
Visitors are leaving quickly, suggesting a content relevance or user experience issue.
Analyze audience behavior using heatmaps and session recordings to identify user drop-off points. Refine content structure, improve readability, and address user intent more effectively.
Utilize A/B testing to compare different headlines, CTAs, or content formats and identify the most engaging format for your audience.
Diagnosis: Moderate Engagement
Treatment:
Visitors are engaged but not converting. Refine your CTAs and consider lead magnet effectiveness
Ensure CTAs are clear, compelling, and placed strategically within your content. Optimize landing pages for high conversion rates.
Personalize your CTAs based on user behavior or previous interactions. Use exit-intent pop-ups to capture leads who are abandoning pages.
High Engagement & Low Conversions
Your content is engaging, but the conversion path might be unclear.
Analyze lead magnets – are they genuinely valuable and relevant to your content? Offer a variety of lead magnets to cater to different audience segments.
Implement lead nurturing campaigns. Segment your leads based on their interests and provide targeted content that addresses their specific needs and pain points.
Decision 3: Lead source analysis
High Lead Generation from Organic Search
Focus on maintaining strong SEO practices while optimizing content for conversions.
Analyze high-converting organic search terms to understand user intent and optimize content accordingly. Refine CTAs and landing pages to maximize organic lead capture.
High Lead Generation from Referral Traffic
Identify the sources of your referral traffic and tailor content strategies to those channels.
Collaborate with relevant websites for guest blogging opportunities or co-created content that drives targeted referrals. Offer referral incentives if appropriate.
High Lead Generation from Social Media
Leverage your social media presence to nurture leads and amplify content reach.
Analyze social media engagement metrics and tailor content formats based on best-performing platforms. Utilize social media advertising to target specific audiences with relevant content offers.
End: Continuous optimization & growth
This flowchart provides a strategic framework to optimize your content marketing and SEO efforts. However, successful lead generation is a continuous process. Remember to:
Track and Analyze KPIs: Monitor website traffic, keyword rankings, conversion rates, and lead quality regularly.
Data-Driven Decisions: Leverage data insights to inform your content strategy and content creation efforts.
Content Experimentation: Continuously test and iterate various content formats, CTAs, and lead magnets to optimize your funnel.
Stay Ahead of Trends: Keep up with evolving search engine algorithms, content marketing best practices, and user behavior shifts.
The journey from insights to conversions
A good doctor goes beyond the surface level symptoms and dives into your life to understand the root cause of the illness. Similarly, effective content marketing delves deeper than search intent to unearth the emotional drivers and information consumption habits that truly motivate your audience.
Understanding your audience's motivations, frustration, their day to day & long term work goals, and talking about how your product enables them to success while easing their lives is the key to crafting content that resonates and compels action.
Delve deeper than just search intent, write about things that THEY care about. Not about how cool your product is.
This is true for all B2B SaaS software content. The primary role of software is to make users' lives easy and help them accomplish tasks more efficiently and accurately. That's a good baseline to keep referring to while and after writing.
Ranking high is like getting a patient into the doctor's office. But it's and the ability to understand and address their problems effectively that leads a loyal customer for your business.
...I guess we could catch up for a coffee and discuss your content's symptoms?
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Posted Mar 9, 2024
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