More than 3.5 billion people are online right now. And over 20 million are from Australia. If these people were to search your business or your category in Google, will your business show up on the first page?

With so many people searching online, and so many businesses trying to win customers’ attention, getting to the top of the search results page is extremely important.

Here’s why: 67% of all clicks go to the first five results in Google. Anything else that displays on page 2 and beyond? Your audience won’t probably see them.

Statistics show that more than 57% of the buying journey occurs before a customer contacts you. This means, they have already made up their mind about you after searching your business online and comparing you to your competitors.

Content Strategy Starts with SEO

A content strategy starts with SEO because that is where you will find the right audience metrics. A digital strategy that doesn’t drive SEO through content is actually not worth having.

For a limited time only, Step Change is offering 5x half-day workshops with the Step Change team, where we will create the content strategy and plan that will grow your digital pipeline. We will answer the following questions:

• What content topics should you own? (Primary and secondary keywords)
• What content types will motivate buyers?
• How can we deliver timely and personalised content?
• What would an analytics dashboard look like?
• What does a 6-month content plan look like?

We will then manage the program and content month to month after the workshop. This will include metrics and reporting on performance. We will track the ranking of your website for keywords and build a content pipeline for the business.

Half-day intensive: $5K. Ongoing Management: $4K per month, no lock-in contracts.
Find out more now!

So what will make you stand out in the sea of competitors? What will help you improve your organic rankings in Google?

Answer: Content strategy and keyword optimisation.

What clients think about you is directly impacted by the keywords and the content you produce on your website. Content is king — it is the message you’re trying to deliver to your website visitors, leads, customers, and promoters. Blogs, emails, landing pages, social media — these are all examples of content. And to attract the right readers/viewers/visitors to your website, you need to determine the right keywords that relate to your business. A keyword is a word or phrase that significantly embodies what web content is all about. This makes it possible for people to find you via Google search.

All this being said, it is only right to say that everything we put on our website — blogs, products, and services — must be born out of a carefully planned and brilliantly executed content strategy.

What Is Content Strategy?

Kristina Halvorson, the CEO of Brain Traffic and author of Content Strategy for the Web, expertly pointed out that content strategy:

1. Defines how you’re going to use content to meet your business (or project) goals and satisfy your user’s needs
2. Guides decisions about content throughout its lifecycle, from discovery to deletion
3. Sets the benchmarks against which to measure the success of your content.

And it all starts with search engine optimisation.

Converting Visitors to Leads through Search Engine Optimisation

Search engine optimisation (or SEO) is the process of ensuring your online content is efficient, or optimised, so a search engine will show it on the top result basing on searching of a certain keyword.

Most mid-sized companies say, “We don’t need SEO. Our brand does the talking.” But the truth is, a brand needs to be an equal thought, not afterthought.

As an industry leader, is your business on page one for your major services and markets? Do you have a team set up to guide how your clients find you?

When done properly, SEO can help to increase site visits and sales. However, a particular keyword may help you earn a high Google ranking, but it may only generate tire kickers.

For example, a site selling children’s books online will not necessarily want good rankings for a keyword such as “Sydney Lawyer”. However, if your business is a legal firm, your conversion value for a keyword such as “Sydney Industrial Lawyer” may be a lot higher, as people who do a search using this type of keyword are definitely interested in an industry speciality. This is also known as long-tail keywords.

Importance of Keyword Analysis

Systematic keyword research helps improve the chances your relevant content will reach your target audience. A website that consistently uses the right keywords speak the same language as its target audience.

Make sure you are talking to the listening — actually creating something that answers a question or drives a discussion on an existing topic. There is little point in writing about what only interests your internal view on the world. You need to put yourself in the shoes of your reader and actually give them something of value. The lesson here is to focus on two-word and three-word combinations of keywords that your clients are actually using.

The Rules of SEO

“Create content that will interest your clients and their influencers“.

Links, pages, content, and imagery can all be manipulated in the process of chasing after customers, but if your clients are not actually that interested, they won’t tell their friends about you.

It’s all about interest. But how can you measure the value of a lead’s interest? By the number of social shares and the number of people that register/reach out to you once they have read your content. By checking keyword rankings, you can also work out if your target audiences are searching for your product/services.

The second keyword is influencers. The content has to be something interested media would want to write about. If you didn’t write a press release about the content or call a media briefing, would the media and blogosphere still write about the content?

Written by Robert Steers, Head of Digital at Step Change

Robert is a digital leader with over 15 years’ experience in digital transformation projects and acquisition campaigns. A catalyst for art and science, Robert has delivered impressive results for clients including a 60x increase in engagement across the ASX 200 and a $0 to $1m/yr acquisition campaign for toilet paper. With experience ranging from B2B channel marketing to B2C ecommerce programs, Robert has worked with global brands such as Jeep, Johns Manville, Grays Online, United Colors of Benetton, LJ Hooker, Konica Minolta, Ray White, and York Fitness.