By now, everybody and their brother knows that the key to successful digital marketing and strong SEO is creating compelling content.
Of course, this knowledge is just a starting point. At the end of the day, actually creating that content for your business or personal blog – and keeping that blog and its content compelling and fresh over time – involves a good bit of hard work. Just like many TV shows infamously “jump the shark” after a few seasons, you’ll have to really stay on top of things in order to keep your readers coming back for more and more. Yet alone staying anywhere near top of mind with them.
No need to panic, however. When it comes to concepting and creating content, there are a variety of methods and techniques you can employ.
One of the smartest things you can do is rely on Google Analytics to help you set the tone.
That’s right…Google Analytics.
Google Analytics is a truly fantastic tool, and combing through Google Analytics is a truly fantastic way to develop content creation ideas.
A good way to start down this path is to take a close, careful look at the keywords section, then create a listing of phrases people have used to find you in the search engines. Put simply, there is a goldmine of valuable information from which to derive content to be found here.
Take a close look at which page your readers landed on, as well as the “visit duration” for each keyword and phrase. If the analytics show they remained on that page for a while, you should consider creating even more content around that particular topic and subject. Expanding even further on the keyword, topic and subject they seemed most interested in can also be a good idea. The only way to truly understand more about your readers is to write…then watch the numbers come in.
Just remember that the formula for success is quite simple:
Create more and more content around the keywords, topics and subjects that receive the most page views.
In other words, give your readers what they want. If a blog topic that YOU thought was compelling isn’t resulting in page views…swallow your pride and switch your focus. Fast.
You’ll also want to strongly consider interlinking related articles to help educate your readers, provide information they’re looking for and keep them on your site longer. Think of it like stocking your shelves fully, if you were managing a brick-and-mortar store. And providing a high-quality overall shopping experience that makes them want to spend more time inside your world.
If Google Analytics shows you that visitors appeared to jump in and out of a particular page, perhaps the information wasn’t exactly what they were looking for – but the subject matter was.
You can determine this by looking at the “bounce rate” for specific pages as an indicator whether or not people are really finding the answers to the questions they have. Bounce rate is defined as the percentage of visits that go only one page before exiting a site. If you’re getting traffic to a page for a given keyword, but the bounce rate is very high (as in 70% or above), you may need to revise your content or create entirely new content that directly answers those questions.
Think of your content as a salesperson answering questions about your product or service. Something you said or did was effective enough to get customers into your store via the search engines, but your salesperson wasn’t able to effectively answer their questions and concerns, so they left in a hurry. If you see a page with a high bounce rate associated with a specific keyword, then there’s a good chance you need to hire a new salesperson – i.e. revise your content to better answer your customers’ questions.
When you’re browsing through keywords and pages visited, you’ll also want to look for the subjects and keywords that people are NOT finding for you. Keep in mind the topics that you WANT to show up for. If there are no results via Google Analytics that suggest you’re receiving traffic for those topics, start creating valuable content related to those topics. And start cranking out that content as soon as you can.
Applying some of these tips and techniques via Google Analytics should help you keep content ideas pouring in – while also keeping eyeballs pinned to your pages. In the long run, it can also help your business discover which content strategies work best. And which ones you should probably abandon.
Have any thoughts on this topic you want to share? Any methods of using Google Analytics to create compelling content you want to pass along? Feel free to leave feedback in the comments section below this blog post!
