March 09, 2020

Content Marketing 101 – The What, The Where, & The Why

Content marketing is more than just putting some words to the page or writing blogs. Content marketing actually covers all of the words you read on a screen. From website copy to emails, case studies and white papers and yes, even blogs.

Here are just a few of the areas that content marketing can include:

Website Copy – think keywords and your brand’s unique online ‘voice’
Blogging – answers, articles, information, and entertainment
Emails – from personalized to automated, email marketing is content marketing
Infographics and eBooks – writing to inform and creating lead magnets along the way
Scripts – video is huge, and writing for your video scripts needs just as much care as designing them
Case Studies – these tell your company’s story, successes, services, and build trust
Social Media – every tweet, post, or photo caption should reflect your business and your voice

Content Marketing for Any On-Page Copy

The words on your website aren’t just for your customers, in fact, in order to even get those customers, you should be writing with Google in mind.

A large part of content marketing is, of course, the keywords – but where should you put these keywords? How many? And how many should you even target per page? Luckily, we’ve been at this for a while, and we know just how to craft the perfect content for your webpage.

Keywords

We recommend targeting 3-5 keywords (or keyword phrases) per page. Make sure you have your keywords in these four locations for the biggest impact:

Page SEO Titles: Your page title is one of the most important places for your keyword to appear. Your page title is the purple text below and is the ‘title’ that shows on search engines for users to click to visit your webpage. Each page of your website should have a unique title between 40-60 characters that includes relevant keywords for that page. A recommended formula is: Page | Relevant Keyword | Company
Meta Descriptions: Metas are the grey text above, showing a snippet of what is on the page. This is a great place to put keywords, so the user knows what to expect on the page. A good meta is between 140-160 characters, too short and you are wasting prime real estate, too long and it will be cut off by Google. Like titles, metas should be unique to each page.
Headers (H1, H2, H3): Your headers are like an outline of your content with H1 being your subject at the top of the page (in the biggest font). You can have multiple H2, H3, H4, etc per page, but only one H1. Since headers are ‘subject lines’, they are weighted more heavily by Google and a great place for keywords! Instead of having your H1 be your name (JSL Marketing) use keywords (Web Design & Digital Marketing That Convert | Dallas Web Design) as this gives multiple keywords and includes location factors. Keep headers under 70 characters for the best results.
Content: Content is any written word on your page, the text you read. Of course, having your keywords in your H1, title, and metas are more visible and therefore most helpful, but if you are going to talk about a subject fully and thoroughly, then these keywords and phrases will naturally be throughout your on-page content as well. Google likes to see ‘in-depth content’ that shows you know what you are talking about – it’s one of the ways it judges your expertise!

Blogging

Blogging is essentially like on-page content, in the way that it is a new ‘page’ you are able to create weekly that gives you more space for content. This content can teach, entertain, or inform your readers and should be both in-depth and keyword rich – just like your webpage copy.

If you can write a solid Home, About, our Services page, then you can create a great blog too – just remember to update it often (weekly or at least monthly) and provide helpful topics related to your industry. You really are trying to give value to your readers when you write a blog, so give them useful and actionable information!

Email Templates

Email templates should be personable and personalized – because no one wants a generic email sent out to thousands. And if that’s what they think yours reads like, it will go right into the trash bin

Write in a conversational way, show your value, and never be pushy. Writing emails or email templates are less about keywords, and more about making connections and (once again) giving value to your readers.

Scripts

As video marketing grows and shows no signs of slowing, then the art of creating content for scripts must also be growing, right? Unfortunately, a lot of people write scripts like they would an email template, with little thought towards SEO. But actually, the words you say in a video can and should be uploaded as the transcription. And if they are words on a page, then Google is reading it!

Think of your scripts for videos more like blogs than email templates, as you are producing content that gets ‘read’ by Google and should therefore include relevant keywords and have a length that shows you know what you’re talking about.

Additionally, make sure you are still being friendly, conversational, and interesting, as most people don’t want to watch a droning 15-minute video that will put them to sleep.

Contact JSL Marketing Today for More Tips, Help, or Our Professional Content Marketing Services

We’re here to help you in any way you need, whether that be an on-page content audit, information about digital marketing, email marketing or blogging, or in case you want someone to take the whole project off your hands so you can focus on your business.

We are here and we are ready to help!

Contact JSL Marketing & Web Design to start your content journey today!

October 16, 2019

11 Tips for Creating Content When You Feel Tapped Out [Never Run Out of Blog Topics Again]

Did you know that most bloggers post anywhere from several times a month to 6 times a week? That means there is a lot of content being created, and a lot of content ideas being generated every single week. But how do you avoid burn out, writer’s block, or any of the other hurdles that consistent, quality writers sometimes face?

Well, as JSL Marketing & Web Design blog for both us, our clients, as well as write copy for web pages, eBooks, infographics, case studies, and more every single day, we know a thing or two about flexing your creative muscles.

Here are 11 of our top tips for creating content (even when you feel tapped out).

1. Ask Questions

This is a great blog topic area – questions. Of course, we love our lists formats too (like this blog post, for example) and Google loves lists too, but sometimes simply answering a question is relevant, simple, and helpful.

Think of your industry and the questions you get from others when you tell them what you do. Can’t think up any questions? Check out our next tip:

2. Check Forums in Your Industry

If you are so tapped out you can’t think up any questions on your own, then give a cheeky look to what others are asking in industry-specific forums.

These questions might be more technical, but you don’t have to shy away from them. Just make sure your answers are appropriate for the level of your readers’ understanding and comfort when it comes to your industry.

3. Look at the Competition

No, this isn’t cheating. Looking at what your competitors are posting is a great way to understand what is relevant, what is gaining traction, or simply leach off their creative efforts when you don’t have it flowing.

And don’t worry, your creativity will come back, your content-generating prowess comes in waves, and that’s perfectly natural. But since your editorial calendar doesn’t always listen to your creative waves, creeping in on the competition doesn’t hurt either.

4. Read the Comments

Whether you are reading the comments on your own blog, other blogs, forum comments, or even social media posts – understanding what the general audience thinks, wonders, likes, and doesn’t like is a great way to better understand what content does well and, more importantly, why. So, instead of searching for topics, let the people (and their topics) come to you.

Sometimes it’s okay to work smarter, not harder.

5. See What People Are Posting/Reposting/Reblogging

Simple, yeah? But many people don’t bother to see what is doing well, and so they flounder to find topics that they think will do well instead of simply seeing what topics are doing well.

Make it easier on yourself and let others do the testing, then take what they’ve learned and improved upon it. This could even look like using a tool like Buzzsumo.

6. Look Up YouTube Industry Videos

I don’t know about you, but JSL Marketing & Web Design knows the big players and thought leaders in our industry (Neil Patel, Backlinko, Hubspot, etc) and we follow their social media in many avenues and on many platforms.

And this is great because we don’t just get emails or new blog posts from them, but we also get notified of their new videos. Sometimes videos are repurposed content, but sometimes its new and able to give us a whole slew of new ideas, questions to answer, or areas we want to dive deeper into with our posts.

Plus, you better believe these thought leaders put thought into what content to put out and what is trending/doing well. It’s two birds with one stone, plus, you get to learn as you watch their videos too!

7. Google Search Suggestions

Have you ever begun searching for something on Google – maybe ‘Best Café in ____’ and then Google starts auto-populating similar searches in the drop-down menu? Have you ever read those suggestions? If not, you’re missing out on absolute free gold.

Google uses its own history to populate these ideas, which means people searching the term you’re searching for might also look for suggestions or click on links that deal with those suggested terms too.

It is essentially giving you free help and free data and understanding about what your ideal clients might be looking for or wanting to read about.

8. Share Stories & Snapshots

Sometimes writing about only technical fixes, products, services, or other ‘obvious’ business subjects can get old for both you and your readers – and that is where the ‘share’ comes in.

You can share stories from your job, business, even the history of how your company got to where they are now. Sometimes, being more approachable and less ‘industry’ can be helpful in your posts or content creation ideas.

Make sure you stay true to your voice (I.E. if you are a highly technical company with a high-held professional image, then maybe talk about the history of your company more than ‘a day in the life’) but have some flexibility as well.

9. Sign Up for Newsletters

Newsletters are great ways to learn, see what others think is relevant, and gain ideas for future content posts. Don’t understand something in a newsletter or email update? Learn it and then make a post explaining what you learned.

Having a full inbox isn’t bad. Instead of thinking of it as being full of clutter, think of it as being full of ideas for better content.

10 Data, Data, Data – Let the Numbers Speak

Studies, or reviews of studies, explaining changes, projections, or statistics can be a great way to show your knowledge and help your client base.

Of course, one of the best and simplest ‘data’ styles can be a list of trends, a list of findings, even a list of tips if you add in the correct valuable links.

Adjacent to ‘data’, making lists of tips (like this post) is a great way to get multiple chunks of helpful, actionable content out to your crowd as well.

11. Get a Professional’s Help

When all else fails, you can always hand off the baton to a professional. We love writing, no really, we do. And we are happy to write for you, complete with an editorial calendar that spans the entire quarter, so you know what we’ll be talking about and you can have the final say in all posts, content, topics, and voice choices.

Contact JSL Marketing & Web Design today to talk about blogging, content marketing strategies and more – we love making businesses grow and thrive, and we can’t wait to start with you.

August 30, 2019

Expert Content Marketing Insights That You Can Actually Understand (& Do)

Content marketing shouldn’t be rocket science, but often people get bogged down with all the advice out there, the rules, the algorithm changes, and recommendations. It’s easy to forget about the truth of writing online – that you are writing to people, not just Google or your computer screen.

But after you re-focus on writing for real people, there are a few (simple) tips that you can understand, and do, that will improve your content writing, marketing skills, and outcomes.

Let’s view six of our expert content marketing team’s top insights for writing, promoting, and measuring your content’s reach.

Know (& State) Your Goal

This is hugely important (hence, it’s number one spot). You need to know your goals for your content marketing and be able to explain them (and measure them – but that comes later).

Are you looking to sell a product, a service, gain a click, or simply be seen, read, and known? Do you want to help your readers understand a problem, solution, or process? Make sure you aren’t marketing your content as informational and then actually creating content that is promotional.

An example could even be this article – it’s clearly labeled and written to give value, information, and knowledge to you (the reader), not to sell you something (promotional).

What is the Buyer’s Journey

If you are working to create a killer content marketing plan, then you need to do your research and understand your ideal client’s buyer journey.

What are the pain points of your ideal client? How can you help? What are the questions your ideal client or customer are considering, asking, or trying to answer?

Putting yourself in the shoes of your client to understand their process and interweave that process with your own content plan is a great way create content that your customer base wants to read (and will find value in).

Consistency is Key

Writing or updating with consistency is good for both the search engines and your consumers. This is because you are showing that you’re active (for the search engines) and letting your consumers see and read your news and content on a regular basis (which helps you maintain your reader base).

Consistency builds trust for your readers and relevancy for the search engines.

Track & Measure

This is something that many potential content marketers forget about – you can’t have a successful content plan without being able to measure that successful content marketing plan.

It’s kind of like saying ‘oh, I’m great at swim racing – I always do well’ but then not knowing any of your event times or how you’re doing in comparison to others. Though that kind of confidence and self-belief might be good for your psyche, it isn’t good for business.

Make sure you have known goals, as well as a relevant way to track and measure those goals. There are tons of software tools out there that can help you understand who is coming to your site or blog, what their actions are, how many become clients, etc. – use that technology.

Know Your Voice, Love Your Voice

This is something that some writers just have, and others have to consciously think of and work at. Our content team works with many clients, and every client of JSL Marketing has a unique online voice.

Some are more professional, technical, or informational, some are more friendly, conversational, or casual. Your online voice is the way people will view you because your content is your main form of communication with your clients.

Having one page seem professional and a little drier, with the next being casual and conversational with humor smattered in will confuse your clients and lacks that consistency we talked about earlier.

This doesn’t mean you can never have a serious post if you are more conversational, or never have a ‘holiday wishes’ post if you are a tech company, it just means you need to create a voice that connects with your target audience and then use in that voice.

Repurpose your Content

This is a tip that will save many content marketers loads of time – especially if you have a large site or extensive backlog of blogs with lots of content already.

If you repurpose your current content (turning blogs into eBooks, eBooks into infographics, articles into page content, two articles into one more comprehensive one, etc.) then you can get more mileage out of the same amount of content/work.

But that’s cheating, isn’t it?

If you take a blog from 6 months ago, rename it and post it as-is, yes, that’s cheating and doesn’t give any value to your customer base, readers, or the search engine’s ranking of you. But, if you take a blog from 3 years ago and reformat it, add to it, and edit it into an eBook or online pamphlet, then no, it isn’t cheating. Because you are giving your clients something new, something of value, while only doing half the work (since some of the content was written before).

Maybe you have a blog that didn’t get a lot of traction in its heyday, try it again with updated stats, information, some new sections, and a new format (infographic, eBook, pamphlet, one-sheet, etc).

What I mean to say is, sometimes you’ve got to give your content a second chance.

Need Content Help? JSL Marketing’s Content Creation Team is Ready & Waiting!

JSL Marketing loves writing – I mean, just look at all the posts we’ve done, with more coming every week! And moreover, we update the copy on our website often too. So, it makes sense that our website would be doing so well, but it also makes sense that we don’t just write for writing’s sake, but because we enjoy updating you on our activities, services, and more.

Maybe you don’t have that writer’s bug, and that’s okay, let us handle your online voice, consistency, blogs, and copy updates so you can get back to the parts of your business you truly enjoy.

Contact the JSL Marketing team today to learn more about our Blogging, Content Marketing, and Copywriting services or fill out a form and have us contact you.

May 11, 2019

Title Tags, H1, H2 & More! [What They Are & Why You Should Care]

We’ve been over the many ranking factors for SEO numerous times, so maybe you’ve heard us mentioning ‘Title Tags’ or ‘H1’ and ‘H2’ tags. But what are these? How do you utilize them? And why are they so important, anyway?

Never fear, the SEO wizards of JSL Marketing are here to answer all your queries and make complete sense of all the different ‘tags’ you need to work with on your site.

But first, let’s start with the basics.

What Are All These Tags & How Do They Help Improve My SEO?

Title Tags

As stated by the SEO education giant MOZ, a Title Tag tells Google (and your readers) the title of the webpage. The Title Tag is shown on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) as the ‘name’ or ‘title’ of the page you are about to click on.

In easier terms – the title tag is the blue section you click on from Google’s first page when you want to visit the site.

In visual terms – here’s an example of something our JSL team likes to search quite often:

As you can see, the blue words (or purple if you’ve already visited the page, like I have) is clickable and will lead you to the Dallas Eater article ‘Tacos in Dallas: Where to Find the City’s Best’.

Those blue/purple words are also the Title Tag.

Now that we have the definition all sorted out and understood, let’s talk about how a Title Tag can help (or hurt) your SEO efforts.

The title tag has to be both accurate (or indicative of the page’s content) but also short and sweet – after all, Google only shows between 50-60 letters in your Title Tag.

If the title tag is short, sweet, and informative of what the page holds, then it will have a lower bounce rate for your readers, because they will know what the page contains due to the accuracy of the title.

However, if your Title Tag is over 60 characters, it will get cut off. And if it is not true to the subject of the page or doesn’t give the user what they are looking for, it will have a higher bounce rate, which will cause Google to lower it in the search results.

Essentially, there is no tricking Google by stuffing in a bunch of similar keywords anymore, because Google is watching and learning what it’s users like thanks to Rankbrain.

So, you better have a Title Tag that lets your human readers know exactly what they’re clicking on, and make sure its short enough for it to fully show.

A common format that many sites use is – “Main keyword | Related Keyword | Company”.

Or something like “Title Tags, H1, & H2 Guide | On-Page SEO | JSL Marketing” which is only 56 characters, includes the subject, additional keyword support, and our brand/company name.

Bonus information for anyone wondering what a ‘bounce rate’ is:

Thanks for the nifty bounce rate definition, Google

H1 Tags & H2 Tags

Now, a Title Tag is easy to understand because of its name, but so are H1, H2 (and even H3-6), you just have to know what the H is for.

In this case, that H stands for ‘Header’. So, an H1 Tag is your Header 1 Tag. This means the H1 tag of this titillating article you are reading through right now is:

And yes, that means the H2 (Header 2) Tag for this post is:

Want to take a crack at the H3 Tags for this article?

In reality, Title Tags are just page titles, and H1 or H2 Tags are just headers – but then why are these so important?

Because Google wants to know what you are talking about, how organized you are, and how thorough you are. And so do your human readers

It is a lot easier for anyone (living or machine) to understand an article or blog post that is well laid out and has an intuitive structure, than to read something that is just one big block of text without anything breaking it up or separating it.

Let’s say you only wanted to learn about Title Tags today, because my Title Tag, H1, H2, and even H3 mention Title Tags, Google knows to show this article to you. Then, once you open the article, you can quickly find the section pertaining to what you want to know as well, instead of wading through paragraphs on the other tags you have no interest in.

This is why having your keywords, or similar (semantically related) keywords in your Title, H1, H2, and H3 tags is extremely important.

Most sites have these headers already set up, which is why I simply write [H1], [H2], [H3], as I write, and then switch those sections to their true ‘header’ formats on the backend of our blog page as I upload each article.

However, some platforms still require you to type it out HTML style, which would look like this:

<h1>Title Tags, H1, H2 & More! [What They Are & Why You Should Care]</h1>

<h2>What Are All These Tags & How Do They Help Improve My SEO?</h2>

<h3>Title Tags</h3> and <h3>H1 Tags & H2 Tags</h3>

Regardless of if you have to put your headers in by hand using the <h1> ___ </h1> format or if your platform does it for you, remember that these tags are for clarity, for organization, and for efficiency.

Tags are your friends, not foes.

Want Someone to Take All the Guesswork Out of Your Content Creation? Get in Touch with JSL Today!

JSL and our marketing team love learning the new updates, tweaking our best practices, and finding the perfect content to engage your audience and educate your readers. So, whether you need help with your website’s copy, content creation plans for the year, or just a monthly blog or two – we’ve got you covered.

Give us a call today to learn more about our prices, packages, or create a custom package to get exactly what you need, nothing more and nothing less.

Check back next week to learn about local SEO and the steps you should be taking for your business!

March 07, 2019

Spring Cleaning Your Content with JSL Marketing & Web Design

JSL Marketing & Web Design is all about keeping tidy, keeping organized, and reminding anyone who will listen that content is king!

That is why we thought there’s no better time to clean up your website’s content than in the spring! After all, you spring clean your house, garage, car, and Facebook friend’s list – why not clean up your website’s content too?

We love creating new content, from blogs to eBooks, infographics to videos. And if you have a strong SEO strategy for the year, you’re probably creating new content on a monthly, or even weekly, basis as well.

That is part of the beauty of truly optimizing your website and SEO strategy – it’s never done! You can create, tweak, and implement different aspects every month. But that can also lead to content overload or too much that can either confuse readers, slow down your site, or become redundant and unnecessary.

To avoid this, JSL recommends a spring cleaning for your content. Check out our easy, 3-step system below!

Step One: Catalog Your Current Content

This step is much easier (and mainly superfluous) if you have a content plan implemented for the quarter or year. But because many don’t utilize a content plan in the best way, or at all, we thought including this starting step would be helpful.

However, if you want to learn how to create a solid content plan and avoid this step in the future, check out our instructions here.

Essentially, cataloging your content means going through every piece of content you have created and organizing it in some way.

We recommend organizing it in a meaningful way – not by date or in alphabetical order – but instead based on subject, purpose, and medium.

After you have your content cataloged, you can see what you have, what you lack, and maybe what you have duplicates of.

Now here, you could make your first cuts or edits, but we recommend waiting until you look over step two to know which content pieces or pages are performing the best (and which need some help, or the ax).

Step Two: Check Your Content & Page Statistics

Now that you have your content cataloged, and you know what duplicates or overlap you have, you can look into their numbers.

Here, you can look at everything from interactions, views, reads, comments, time spent on the page, tags met, etc.

Why do you need this to check your content’s stats?

Well, let’s say you have two pages that both deal with branding services you provide. One gets 10 hits per month and one gets 40. The former is ranking for no keywords, but the latter is. The former has a high bounce rate, and the latter doesn’t.

Which page do you think you should cut? Which page should you absorb into another? What content is truly helping you here?

Without the content’s statistics, you wouldn’t know which page to work on, and which to possibly get rid of.

By cataloging and then researching your content, you can know exactly which pages are performing and which are possibly stealing clicks and competing for the same keywords as other better-performing pages.

Additionally, perhaps your research will show you that you could be linking your content better. Let’s say you have an eBook, blog post, and infographic on similar topics – but they are all different mediums.

Because the topics link, you should be able to lead your readers through each of the mediums by placing an internal link and a call to action (CTA) for your readers to learn more.

Obviously, JSL loves our research, but it’s times like these when it becomes clear why.

Success comes to those who know, and those who know had to learn it from somewhere.

Make the effort to always gain knowledge. Then reap the rewards of that knowledge down the line.

Step Three: Kill Your Darlings & Make the Necessary Edits

The end game of all the above steps for your content spring cleaning – the actual cleaning part.

Make sure you have analytics backed-up reasons for all of the edits you are making – like curbing underperforming pages, content, or posts.

And though you don’t have to delete blogs or social posts which didn’t do well, you should be able to learn from them and see what might have been different about them or what might have caused their demise.

Hopefully, with that insight, you’ll know what to avoid in the future.

Content is Created to Be Seen, Make Sure Yours is Doing its Job

If creating a content plan, creating the actual content, edits, research, and pruning all seem like a lot for you to handle – you aren’t alone.

Many of our clients come to us because they just can’t do it all. They can’t manage their business while also managing their website, SEO, content, and advertisements.

Sometimes the best way to help your business is to understand that you don’t need to do it all. Sometimes delegation is more important than control.

So, if you are looking for someone to make your content the gleaming, organized, high-performing king it was meant to be, then check out our content services, or contact us today.

We won’t make you wait, we won’t make you wonder – we’ll get back to you quickly and clearly instead!

Until then, comment, share, read more, and enjoy your spring cleaning!

February 22, 2019

Sharable Content on Social Media for Target Audiences

Sharable content is your way into a wider pool of readers or viewers. But how do you create sharable content on social media? And how can you be sure that your target audience is seeing your content on the right social platforms?

Are there certain platforms that are better than others? Certain platforms you should target? Specific posting times or a number of posts you should shoot for?

In short – yes, and no, and sometimes. All of the above.

That’s the beauty (and terror) of social media, digital marketing, and general content creation. There is no ‘one answer’ because there is no ‘one client’ or ‘one way’ that works for every client.

Let’s start off with an example, for a seemingly simple product, a product that everyone uses. Let’s say that product is – a birthday card.

If you celebrate birthdays, then you would seemingly be the main target audience for a birthday card design or manufacturing company. Right?

And since this is the 21^st century, it’s likely that this mythical birthday card company would like to use SEO and digital marketing, including social media, to promote its products or create brand awareness.

Still follow?

So, where should they post? What should they post? When and how and to whom?

Hard to answer, isn’t it? Unless you have additional information about the products and company.

Let’s split this example now, to give it some distinction, some direction.

Company A is a heartfelt, word-heavy, traditional greeting card company. And Company B is a funny, picture-heavy, sometimes snarky or teasing greeting card company.

Which one would you want to advertise or sell in a Hallmark-like store? Which one would you want to advertise or sell in a joke-store?

Can you think of the disaster if you tried to sell the raunchy cards in the gift shop of a hospital? Or the sentimental ones in Spencer’s Gifts?

Now you understand what would happen if you try to share content on LinkedIn that should clearly be on Tumblr, or vise versa.

Sharable content not only has to be good but placed on the right platform for optimal sharability. Let’s learn how to create truly sharable content together.

How to Create Sharable Content for Social Media Platforms

As shown above, one of the most important places to start is with your ideal customer profiles. This means you need a clear idea of who you are marketing to.

Once you know the who, the research and data for what to create, and even where to post it, is readily available.

So, like almost every aspect of digital marketing, social media marketing, or content marketing, research must be your starting point.

Are you posting for B2B or B2C?

B2B, or Business to Business, would mean that you are looking to create content for another business, not an individual customer (B2C). This also means you should probably be looking for more educational content to create and share.

You want to build confidence in your audience, or, you want them to know that you are a leader in the industry and that they should look to you for information, education, and expertise.

For B2B, creating and sharing content that gives value to your potential business customers is the best way to build confidence, as well as being direct about the profitability of what you are offering.

For B2C, you need to create content that provides value for them personally, which can come in many more ways than in B2B. Value can be given in emotion, interest, pricing or promotions, education, and more.

Are you targeting a certain demographic, age group, or interest group?

You not only have to know who you are marketing to, but why they are buying your product. Are they looking for beauty, health, knowledge, convenience?

If you want your messaging and content to be targeted, well, you need a target. This means your customer profile needs to have emotions, a backstory, and a reason for buying whatever you are selling.

Are they buying that funny birthday card because they are humorous people and they searched out your card, or because it was the cheapest one on the rack? Are they drawn to the colors or theme chosen, or are they looking for convenience and your cards are always near the checkout?

You need to go in-depth when creating your profiles in order to understand your customers, and therefore, their online habits, platforms frequented, and what content they are more likely to share.

Where to Post Your Sharable Social Media Content

For customer profiles who prefer visuals (younger generations or any products that have strong aesthetics, such as makeup, photography, gym wear, etc.) platforms like Instagram would be best.

For customer profiles who are preoccupied with convenience, then maybe a streamlines advertisement on Facebook, where they are most likely already scrolling, would be best.

For professional individuals, as well as more expensive products or services, LinkedIn is king.

The list, and data goes on and on. But it all starts with who you are marketing to, and why. Then you can begin on where and how often.

Individualization, transparency, and streamlining are good places to start with all customers, but the real advantages come from understanding your target audience, what they want, what they need, and then providing it.

Do You Need Help With Your Customer Profiles, Content Creation, or Social Media Platforms? JSL Marketing & Web Design Can Help!

If all the research seems like a lot to worry about, all while still running your business, you aren’t wrong. And many others feel the same way, which is why SEO and Digital Marketing companies exist.

JSL Marketing & Web Design is happy to help you discover your target audience, their ‘why’, and then create the perfect posting plan and content creation plan to reach them.

Shareability doesn’t have to be hard – it’s just about posting what your audience wants to see and being consistent and valuable.

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February 08, 2019

How To Make A Solid Content Plan

It is possible that creating, planning, and implementing a ‘solid content plan’ is a little daunting for many businesses or website owners.

And that isn’t surprising, as many people’s understanding of content marketing only scratches the surface of what it really is – and what it can do for your online presence, rankings, and overall SEO.

But what does a true content plan look like? How do you start it, maintain it and schedule it? These are just a few of the questions our superstar content team will answer in our latest blog post.

Have additional questions? Need clarification or extra tips and tricks? Check out our previous blog posts about a wide range of subjects, or you can always comment, message, or call us for more information.

We would love to help you create the perfect content plan for your business.

Who knows, you might even enjoy it.

What is a Content Plan?

A content plan is fairly basic when you look at the terms used. At its most basic, it is a tool you can use to layout and plan your content.

See? Pretty much just like it sounds.

But, here’s the tricky part – your content isn’t just the great written word. It is anything, any media, that you create for your company.

Pictures, blogging, on-page content, landing pages, social media posts, downloadable content, even videos! All of this should be planned and will, therefore, fall into your content plan for the year (or the quarter – which is often a more manageable timeframe to work within).

JSL Marketing uses quarters for our content plans, meaning we make four content plans a year. One for January through March, April through June, July through September, and finally, October through December.

This is the ideal amount of time for your content plan to run, as it is manageable in smaller chunks and can be adjusted fairly easily based on changing business needs or seasons.

Essentially, your content plan should be a part of your marketing plan and it should show your clients or customer base who you are, what you are doing, and what you know.

Content is king in recent years – so make sure your king deserves the crown.

Create Your Content Plan

Creating a content plan starts with a template or some form of visual organization.

You can use a grid, a chart, or even simple, evenly spaced lines. As long as your content plan is easily understood and able to be followed, then the aesthetic design is up to you.

Here is an example of a simple content plan format.

Let’s pretend it’s for a Yoga Studio in Topeka, Kansas, called Toga Yoga.

	January	February	March
Newsletter	New Year, New Yoga Classes with Toga Yoga
Blog 1	New Year Resolution Yoga Classes with Toga Yoga
Blog 2	Beat the Winter Blues with Hot Yoga in Topeka
Video Topic	Toga Yoga: Relaxed Home Yoga Routine
Content Additions	*Update schedule & class information for 2019
Facebook	Posts about new yoga classes in the new year, healthy resolution help, hot yoga classes, home yoga routine & link newsletter, blogs & video
Twitter
LinkedIn
eBook	The Best Yoga Style for You \| Toga Yoga
Infographic	The Benefits of Yoga in Topeka \| Toga Yoga

The above chart is easy to make, easy to understand, and easy to follow – three key factors when making a plan that involves many moving pieces or different team members.

Now, of course, I didn’t fill in February or March. But you would simply repeat the process for each month and make sure there was some continuity, without being repetitive and while keeping your keywords and their frequency in mind.

Additionally, you might not make eBooks or infographics for your company. Maybe you don’t post to Twitter but do on Instagram. Or maybe you have emails instead of newsletters. That is all fine, the above is merely an example.

One more difference between a true content plan and my example above is that all content plans need to be rooted in research, all the way down to the keywords you choose to try rank for.

Can you guess what some of my make-believe keywords were?

Toga Yoga, Yoga Classes, Yoga in Topeka, Home Yoga Routine, Best Yoga Style, and again, Yoga in Topeka

Now, I didn’t actually do the SEO research for this made-up company and made-up content plan. But you can see the reasoning and see the train of thought I was having for this particular company.

They have a local market, so some localized keywords would help get them faster movement on Google.
Their keywords are things that individuals looking for those services would easily type and search for.
Their name is a keyword, as we want people to easily find them if searching for them directly
There is a semi-theme throughout the first quarter – new year, winter, etc.

The exception to the themes mentioned above would be the video, infographic, and eBook. This is because they are more timeless and can be pushed or promoted for the remainder of the year and don’t have to be tied to any singular season as much.

When & Where to Publish

So now you understand what a content plan is. You understand the basics of how to make one, and you know you need to do the research before you put any other pieces in place.

But what do you do now that you have all your ducks in a row?

Research some more, of course!

Did you know there are specific times of the day, and days of the week, that have better open rates for emails? Or did you know that certain social media platforms cater to certain crowds and demographics?

If you did, then great job! You are ready to start publishing your content with confidence. But if you didn’t, perhaps you should consider who you are writing to, how they receive their information, and when.

Making a buyer persona can help here as well, as it can give you a (fictional) customer to try to understand and research.

Check out these helpful hints about social media platforms, content, written voice, and more!

Can JSL Marketing & Web Design Help Your Content Plan Be a Success?

If the research, planning, charting, writing, and implementation of a content plan seems a little over your head, or simply too time-consuming, then you are in luck.

Our content marketing team loves to research, plan, create and write. But what we love even more is seeing your business succeed.

Give us a call today, leave a comment, or message us directly to learn more about how we can help your business thrive in 2019, and how we can make your content king.

We can’t wait to hear from you!