Amp up your content marketing strategy with hyper-focused blog posts, curated, user-generated or co-created content
If you’re blogging on your business website, you understand the strength and value of inbound content marketing. But a content hub – a powerful content strategy – takes everything you know about driving traffic to your website and shifts it up to hyper-drive. Not only does a content hub improve your rankings for competitive terms, it supports the deep dive of information some customers crave, which generates quality leads that drive business results.
Not so long ago, when marketing budgets shifted to accommodate a digital spend, SEO was the on-site thruster. Along with optimizing static pages with the appropriate keywords and meta descriptions, business blogs emerged as effective method for “pulling” consumer to a site. But the online content marketing game is now crowded and competitive and simple content optimization is no longer enough.
What is a content hub and how does it work?
Content hubs have the power to create multiple digital headquarters for different topics, allowing customers to soak up much more information on their topic of choice. And the benefits of that hyper-focused blog post or content-rich area of your website can have huge benefits.
1. Create authority. Consistently publishing quality, meaningful content that helps consumers deep dive a particular subject builds trust.
2. Drive traffic. Whether you’re a major player or a niche retailer, content hubs afford a broader SEO reach, which will drive more organic traffic to your site. What’s more, this type of content is much more likely to generate backlinks – a great way to increase your website’s domain authority.
3. Generate leads. Employing more long-tail search terms in your SEO strategy naturally leads customers who are actively looking for the information you’re offering. And those qualified leads are much more likely to sign up for a newsletter, send an email inquiry or visit your store in person.
4. Increase brand awareness. What differentiates you from your competitors? Are you memorable in the marketplace? Because content hubs supply deeply comprehensive, immediately usable information, brand recognition is a natural byproduct.
Types of content hubs
Content hubs can be created, co-created, user-generated or curated. The most successful ones provide an immersive, interactive experience, mixing in video, infographics and other digital media. They’re generally ever-green content, meaning that their value lives on past a season or style. Keep in mind that if your content hub is product based, the shelf life will be shorter as new products emerge. But once you find the winning formula, you can replicate it for new product launches.
- Topic cluster. Use your blog to create a landing page (or pillar page) that’s highly graphic with tiles to represent the different topics within this cluster. Consumers can dive into their area of interest quickly – and jump to keep exploring just as easily. This deep-linking approach from a pivotal spot on your website allows you to rank for a wide variety of keywords and create authority in the marketplace. And remember, you can point to links outside your website from this page – curating content can be just as valuable as creating it yourself.
- Content library. This is the model of how all business blogs should be designed to provide a logical, sustainable SEO strategy. Like a topic cluster, sub-posts are accessible from a pillar post – though this model can be less graphic and more listicle in nature. The bigger topics are explored on this page, with text links to sub-topics for deeper understanding.
- Content database. This approach is the easiest and supported by most blogging platforms – think tagging or categories when creating a blog post. Travel sites like Fodor’s and Lonely Plant do this exceptionally well. Pick any location you want to explore and from one page you can see the best places to stay and eat as well as tourist attractions and off the beaten path suggestions.
Topic gateway. This approach is highly customized and attuned to very specific needs. For example, consider a mattress shopper who wants to know everything there is to know about what’s inside a mattress – but doesn’t have the patience to scroll through a blog with hundreds of pages. A topic gateway page will allow you to showcase highly targeted content to satisfy her initial questions – with links to more detailed information if she’s interested. And remember, this content can be co-created (with the help of expert sources) as well as curated.
- Collection of blog posts that tackle the different types of materials and constructions
- Series of videos or podcasts that get up close and personal with those materials
- Assortment of links scientific research
- Real reviews from real shoppers
Creating a content hub on your website can feel like an overwhelming task but begin with your goals in mind. Hoping to rank for more long tail terms or simply provide a better, easier path to common challenges in your industry? Brainstorming topics will help you create the “umbrella” ideas and then the sub-topics – keyword research will help with this step. From there, assess your content production capabilities. Do you have a writer? Someone who can create infographics or video? Set your production and publishing schedule to keep yourself – and your team – on-track.
A content hub not only helps your customers, it helps you and your business goals. More engaged readers builds trust and authority on your site, which naturally leads to a stronger SEO strategy.
If you’re struggling with your digital strategy, I’d love to hear your questions and how I can help. Drop a comment below or shoot me an email and let’s start talking.
In the meantime, these posts might help you begin your content marketing journey:
Latest comments