How to use content to boost your online presence: 6 tips.

So you already have a website. Why do you need to add new content to it?

Because high quality website content helps to boost your online presence. It helps to attract organic traffic, engage users and convert them into customers.

Content is a really important part of your digital marketing strategy. That’s because content:

• Uses keywords that help users find your website
• Tells search engines what problems you solve for customers
• Shows search engines that your site is fresh and relevant
• Encourages users to spend more time on your site, which sends good signals to search engines
• Attracts backlinks, because people like to link to good content
• Helps you turn more visitors into loyal customers who recommend your company

Websites that know how to use content generally feature higher up in search engine result pages (SERPs) and have a higher volume of website traffic.

We’ll be honest. It takes time and consistency. You don’t tend to get the same quick wins as with paid ads. But a solid digital content strategy will produce results for a much longer time, making it much more cost-effective over the long run.

Images, videos and infographics make really engaging and effective website content. But for the purposes of this article, we’re going to focus on how to use written website content. We’re talking blog posts, ebooks, white papers and/or case studies.

If you’re ready to get more eyes on your website, read on to discover how to use content to boost your digital presence.

How to use content to boost your online presence

1. Tailor content to your audience

The founding principle of any digital content strategy? The content on your website needs to be engaging and valuable for your readers (aka your ideal customers).

If you answer their questions and provide authoritative info, they’re more likely to find your site. And stick around on it.

You can start by deciding on the topics you want your website content to cover. Try to create your content around 3-5 strong, customer-centric categories.

For example, if you run a photography business, you may choose to create content about:

• How the photography process works
• Wedding photography
• Family photography
• Personal brand photography

Then, you need to build content around each content topic. Think about the doubts, questions and pain points people experience in relation to your product or service.

Let’s take the example of personal brand photography. Using this as your content topic, you could create content like:

• How to look natural in personal brand photographs
• Ways to make a personal branding shoot run smoothly
• Personal branding: the ultimate guide

Your knowledge of your customers and their needs is really useful at this stage of the content process. But if you already have a website, analytics can also help.

It can show you which of your existing content is most popular. This may help you draw some conclusions about which types of content your audience is most likely to want.

2. Be consistent

To keep your site on Google’s radar, you need to add new website content regularly. Having a content calendar can help you plan content writing time and stay accountable.

The more regularly you can post, the better. But try not to spread yourself so thin that content quality suffers.

One carefully crafted piece of content can drive a ton of traffic to your website – and encourage customers further down the conversion funnel. More so than lots of rushed, poor quality pieces.

So try to make every piece of content well-researched, well-written and engaging. And create a realistic content schedule that you can stick to.

Try for a minimum of one blog post and one marketing email per month and you’ll be ahead of most small business owners.

Also, bear in mind that you can repurpose old content. And use content to feed your other digital content marketing efforts. You don’t have to start from scratch every time.

Refresh old blog posts with new research or insights. Break down a blog post to create a collection of social media posts. Or highlight a case study in your email newsletter.

By wringing all the benefits out of every piece of content, you’ll find it easier to add content to your website consistently.

Here’s a useful content calendar template you can download for free.

3. Write in your brand tone of voice

Another great way to improve your website content? Using a tone of voice that reflects your brand and sounds like you. This is why we don’t recommend using generic, AI-generated content (although AI can be useful for coming up with content ideas).

Your website content is an opportunity for your customers to get to know you (and trust you). So it needs to have personality and authenticity.

Also, remember that just because you want to come across as an authority on the topic doesn’t mean you need to write in corporate or academic language.

Readers – even the most highly educated – appreciate content that is easy to read and understand. So unless your brand personality demands it, write in a conversational style.

That means:

• It’s fine to use contractions (like you’re, we’ve, it’s)
• You can break grammar rules (by starting sentences with and and but) if it helps your content flow better
• Shorter words are better than longer, more complex words (e.g. use instead of utilize, so instead of therefore)

On-brand, human content is more engaging for readers. They hang around on your site for longer, which means Google gets all the right signals to boost your website further up SERPs.

4. Use keywords

A digital content strategy is nothing without keyword research. That’s because, when you use keywords, you increase the chances of your content showing up in search results.

There are lots of keyword tools out there. But you can start by simply brainstorming all of the questions your customers might want answers to. Once you have a keyword shortlist, it’s time for keyword research.

Google’s Keyword Planner is a good, free keyword research tool. You can enter your chosen keyword and see:

• how many people search for your chosen term
• how competitive it is to rank for your chosen term
• other related keyword ideas

If you’re just starting out with website content, we’d recommend picking keywords with a high number of average monthly searches and low competition. This gives you the best chance of your content ranking highly.

And when it comes to using your keywords in your written website content, here are a few extra SEO rules of thumb:

• Target a different keyword with each new piece of content (although bear in mind that similar keywords can be grouped together)
• Use your keyword in the title of your content, in subheadings, in the main body of your text, and as the title of images
• Avoid keyword stuffing – this is where you overuse your keywords or stick them in places where they don’t naturally fit

5. Add internal links

Internal links make it easier for users to navigate your website content. They also make it easier for search engines to find and index your content. So it shows up in search results.

When writing new content for your website, try to keep your content back catalogue in mind. If there’s a place where you can naturally link to another blog post or case study, stick it in.

A handful of relevant internal links in each piece of content will make your website more visible in search results.

You can maximize the power of internal linking by creating content pillars. This is where you create one huge piece of content, like a long form blog post or a white paper.

For example, if you were a travel agency, you could create an in-depth destination guide as a pillar post. You might cover:

• need-to-know travel info
• must-see sights
• top 10 activities
• the country’s cuisine
• an accommodation shortlist

You could then create smaller supporting blog posts called cluster posts. These posts take each pillar post sub-heading (e.g. must-see sights, need-to-know travel info) and turn them into individual blog posts.

The most important bit of this digital content strategy? Both pillar and cluster content should link to one another. This passes link juice onto your pillar post and helps it to rank more highly.

6. Make your website a great landing point

So now you know how to use content on your website. But there’s one last final piece of the puzzle.

You could have the greatest content on the whole of the internet. But unless your website also works to engage and convert users, you’re unlikely to have much success.

As well as top-quality content, the best websites have:

• Easy-on-the-eye design
• Intuitive navigation
• A clear conversion funnel
• An excellent user experience (UX)

It should be easy for users to find the content that is most relevant to their current needs.

And whether users enter your website via your blog or your homepage, they should be gently guided towards a sale, subscription, or contact form.

Want help making your website content shine? We design and develop new websites from scratch. And we provide a range of services to help boost your online presence.

If you want more website traffic and conversions, contact the friendly Radical team today.