What is content marketing? In order to understand this concept, you need to first understand what is meant by the term “content." In general, content refers to anything that makes up a website—writing as well as images and graphics. Often, though, when people use the term “content,” they’re referring to the writing. This is because it’s the writing that results in your website showing up in Google searches. If you write the right way, you can show up in a number of searches but if your writing doesn’t follow the rules of SEO (which are often fluctuating) then you’re less likely to catch the eye of potential customers.

Keywords

A key element of content creation is the use of keywords. The more you use popular keywords, the greater the chances of your showing up in a number of searches. At the same time, you’re also taking the risk of getting lumped together with a number of other articles based on the same keywords. So it’s best to use keywords but to do so in a unique way, if possible.

Also, you need to be careful not to overuse keywords because this might actually result in your website being penalized. Although “keyword stuffing” used to be rampant, search engines soon wised up to the fact that many people were just repeating the same words so that they would show up in searches and not because they were actually out to provide relevant content.

Images and Text

Another way to practice content marketing is to make sure that your content is attractively presented and readable to the viewer. You’ll need to make sure that your images balance out your text. They should also be relevant to the topic that you’re writing about and attractively shot without appearing too posed.

On the Internet, it’s best to present content in a way that is informative rather than ‘salesy’. So news articles, how-to articles and top 10 or top 5 lists are often a good way to catch a customer’s eye. Additionally, you’ll need to break down your writing into subheadings, each with a bolded caption so that viewers can skim through an article and decide which parts they really need to read.

This is providing your audience with a degree of convenience, which is not always available in print. You’re offering them information with the freedom to pick and choose which of it is relevant to them. This is the main difference between writing for print publications and writing for content marketing. Content marketing might be a vehicle for promoting a product or service but it keeps the customer’s needs in mind and doesn’t push them towards buying things they don’t need.

Contact Red Shark Digital for more information on creating the perfect plan for content marketing.