Content Marketing

There is only one measurement for content marketing and that is the level of visitor engagement it receives.

It could be that a new visitor becomes a subscriber. Or, a visitor watches a video or emails you a question. Or, of course, the holy grail - some one makes a purchase at your site. Engagement is some level of activity on your page(s) in engagement.

We are swimming in a sea of content on the web. Ever since Google decreed that content is king, content marketers have been churning it out like their jobs depended on it. Some of it is stuffed with value and oozing with insight yet the vast majority is worthless fluff.

As Malcolm Gladwell said in his insightful book Outliers, it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. What hour is your content marketing on?

A. Make A Plan And Keep It

Lay out a plan for yourself that you know you can accomplish. Maybe that plan comes down to writing one article a week. Block off a couple hours in your schedule every Tuesday to focus your attention on this task. In your mind, make this time as important as a client meeting. As the weeks pile up, you'll slowly foster that habit as it becomes ingrained in you.

Your loyal readers will know to expect an article from you every Tuesday and show up on your doorstep eager for the next installment. If you have the chance to write two or three times during the week, that is simply icing on the cake. Regardless, always focus on the quality of the writing and make sure the article is well researched. If you have to nibble on it throughout the week, one great piece of content will always overshadow three hastily thrown together articles.

B. Step Out Of The Herd

Before you begin writing any article, take a step back and ask yourself, “why would I read this - or would I?”

This should show you the extremely limited window you have to capture that reader's attention. Your headline is critical in selling your content. Is it addressing a need? Is it invoking a reaction? The headline is everything; with the zip of a glance you are going to capture that quick attention span.

Getting the reader into the content is only half the battle. Now you have to keep them engaged and keep those eyes moving down the page. Tell a personal story to make that connection with your reader, construct a narrative where the reader has to find out how it ends, buck the status quo to kick up some controversy or thumb your nose at a conventional way of thinking.

C. Make Connections

Be sure you are using the optimized times to distribute your content. For example, most blog posts are read in the morning before 10 AM. Don’t just flush your sweat equity content into the social media tubes. Release it with perfect timing.

1. Own Your Content

Build and publish content that you control and own. While social media platforms are traffic super stores, drive the people reading your content back to a location you own - your website.

2. Exercise Your Wisdom

Don't make your content a taxing read. Help your poor reader out by chopping up your content into short paragraphs. Use compelling images throughout to help break up the content and ease the flow of the page.

2. Call To Action

Nudge that reader to take some action. You did a great job at mapping them to your nuggets. Your call to action can be making a purchase or signing up for our newsletter. It can also be as simple as asking a question or doing a social share.

As you can see, creating engagement through content marketing is no simple task. It takes a lot of planning, a healthy dose of creativity, and unending determination.