Evergreen content remains relevant and valuable over time. Learn about various types of evergreen content you can create for your organization.
Evergreen Content
Learn what evergreen content is, its benefits and challenges, and how to create timeless content to drive long-term traffic and engagement.
Evergreen content remains relevant, valuable, and high-performing long after it is published.
This section explores what evergreen content is, its benefits, challenges, uses, and provides examples to help you understand how to leverage this powerful content type.
***
What is Evergreen Content?
Evergreen content refers to content that retains its relevance and value over a long period. Unlike news articles, seasonal posts, or trend-based content, evergreen content addresses topics that are always interesting to readers.
This type of content is typically informative, educational, and foundational, providing insights that do not quickly become outdated.
Characteristics of Evergreen Content
Timelessness: Topics that remain relevant regardless of time.
Value: Offers long-term value and utility to readers.
Search-friendly: Often optimized for search engines (SEO) to attract consistent traffic.
Benefits of Evergreen Content
Evergreen content is a timeless asset that can provide your business with various benefits, including:
Long-Term Traffic
Evergreen content continually attracts traffic over time. Well-optimized evergreen articles can rank highly in search engines, driving consistent organic traffic without the need for frequent updates or promotional efforts.
Cost-Effectiveness
Investing in evergreen content can be more cost-effective in the long run. Once created and optimized, it requires less maintenance than content that quickly becomes outdated or needs regular updates.
Authority Building
High-quality evergreen content helps establish your brand as an authority in your industry. By providing valuable information that remains relevant, you build trust and credibility with your audience.
Engagement and Lead Generation
Evergreen content can generate ongoing engagement, leading to higher conversion rates. It serves as a continual source of information and can be used in various stages of the marketing funnel to nurture leads.
Pros and Cons of Evergreen Content
Pros
Sustained Relevance: Evergreen content stays relevant for an extended period.
Continuous Traffic: Evergreen content attracts steady organic traffic over time.
Reduced Effort: Evergreen content requires updating less frequently than other content types.
SEO Benefits: Evergreen content often ranks well in search engines due to consistent relevance.
Cons
Initial Investment: Creating high-quality evergreen content may require significant effort and research.
Competitive: Popular evergreen topics can be highly competitive in search rankings.
Potential for Staleness: Though evergreen, the content may still need occasional updates to maintain accuracy and relevance.
Challenges of Creating Evergreen Content
Topic Selection
Choosing the right topics that will remain relevant over time is crucial. This requires understanding your audience’s long-term interests and the ability to predict which topics will retain their value.
Depth and Quality
Creating in-depth, high-quality content that stands the test of time demands significant research and expertise. Shallow or poorly-researched content will not maintain its relevance or ranking.
SEO Optimization
Effective evergreen content must be well-optimized for search engines. This involves keyword research, proper use of headings, meta descriptions, and other SEO best practices to ensure it ranks well over time.
Regular Audits
Even evergreen content needs periodic reviews to ensure all information remains accurate and up-to-date. Regular audits help maintain its relevance and authority.
Uses of Evergreen Content
Educational Guides
Comprehensive guides on fundamental topics within your industry are classic examples of evergreen content. These guides provide long-term value by educating readers on essential concepts.
How-To Articles
Step-by-step tutorials or how-to articles addressing common questions or challenges faced by your audience. These articles will remain relevant as long as the procedures or techniques they describe do not change significantly.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
FAQ pages addressing common questions about your products, services, or industry can serve as a valuable resource for users, providing consistent traffic and engagement.
Case Studies and Success Stories
Detailed case studies or success stories that highlight timeless principles or strategies can remain relevant and continue to attract interest over time.
Examples of Evergreen Content
By carefully selecting topics, ensuring depth and quality, optimizing for SEO, and conducting regular audits, you can create content that stands the test of time and supports your marketing goals for years to come.
Here are examples of evergreen content you can create:
Articles
Here are examples of evergreen article topics:
“How to Start a Blog: A Beginner’s Guide”: This type of guide remains relevant as long as people are interested in starting blogs.
“10 Tips for Healthy Eating”: General health and wellness advice that does not change frequently can continue to attract readers.
“The Ultimate Guide to SEO”: Comprehensive guides on fundamental aspects of SEO remain valuable as the basics of search engine optimization remain relatively stable.
“Understanding the Basics of Personal Finance”: Foundational financial advice that applies to a broad audience can remain useful indefinitely.
Product Reviews
Comprehensive reviews of products or services that don’t frequently change, such as classic books, traditional household items, or foundational technology tools.
Resource Lists
Curated lists of valuable resources, such as “Top 50 Tools for Digital Marketers” or “Best Free Software for Writers.”
Glossaries and Terminology Guides
Definitions and explanations of key terms and jargon within your industry, such as a “Glossary of Financial Terms” or “Common Marketing Terms Explained.”
Historical Overviews
Articles that delve into the history and evolution of a particular subject, such as “The History of the Internet” or “Evolution of Modern Medicine.”
Best Practices
Articles outlining best practices for various processes or industries, like “Best Practices for Remote Work” or “Best Practices in Customer Service.”
Interviews with Industry Experts
Timeless interviews that provide insights from experts in the field can remain relevant due to the enduring nature of their wisdom and experience.
Success Tips
General tips for success in different areas, such as “Success Tips for Small Business Owners” or “Success Tips for College Students.”
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Lists of common mistakes and how to avoid them, like “Common Mistakes in Job Applications” or “Common Mistakes New Investors Make.”
Checklists
Helpful checklists that guide readers through processes or preparations, such as “Checklist for Moving into a New Home” or “Event Planning Checklist.”
Foundational Theories and Concepts
Explanations of core theories and concepts in various fields, like “Introduction to Basic Economic Principles” or “Fundamentals of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.”
DIY Projects
Guides for do-it-yourself projects that don’t go out of style, such as “DIY Home Improvement Projects” or “Simple DIY Crafts for Kids.”
Health and Wellness Advice
General advice on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, such as “Basic Principles of a Balanced Diet” or “Effective Stress Management Techniques.”
Career Advice
Articles offering career development tips, such as “How to Write a Compelling Resume” or “Networking Tips for Professionals.”
Life Hacks
Practical life hacks that make everyday tasks easier, like “Kitchen Hacks for Faster Cooking” or “Organization Tips for a Clutter-Free Home.”
Travel Guides
Guides to timeless travel destinations and tips for travelers, such as “Ultimate Guide to Backpacking Europe” or “Tips for Safe Solo Travel.”
Summary
Evergreen content provides sustained relevance, continuous traffic, and long-term value.
While creating high-quality evergreen content requires an initial investment of time and effort, the benefits far outweigh the challenges.
Incorporate evergreen content into your strategy to ensure a steady stream of valuable, relevant information for your audience over the long term.
References
Go here for more useful articles and tutorials on creating evergreen content:
Learn how to create a content roadmap to help streamline your content marketing strategy.
Content Roadmap
A content roadmap can enhance your marketing efforts, improve organization, and help you achieve your business goals.
A content roadmap is your guide to executing a successful content strategy.
In this lesson, you will learn how to create and implement a content roadmap that will enhance your marketing efforts, improve organization, and help you achieve your business goals.
***
What Is A Content Roadmap?
Having a clear and structured approach to content creation is essential for success. This is where a content roadmap comes into play.
A content roadmap is a strategic tool that visually represents your content marketing objectives, strategies, and tasks over a specific period.
It outlines the specific steps, timelines, and milestones required to implement your content plan and achieve your content marketing goals.
So, a content roadmap acts as a blueprint, guiding your team from the initial stages of content ideation to execution and evaluation, while ensuring that all activities align with your marketing goals.
Why Is A Content Roadmap Important?
The importance of a content roadmap cannot be overstated. It ensures that all content efforts are aligned with the overall business and marketing objectives, providing a clear direction and focus.
By having a content roadmap, your business can streamline its content creation process, avoid redundancy, and ensure that every piece of content serves a purpose.
This organized approach not only enhances efficiency but also helps in maintaining consistency in messaging and brand voice across various platforms.
Content Roadmap Benefits
A content roadmap:
Improves collaboration within your team by setting clear expectations and deadlines.
Allows for better resource management by prioritizing tasks and allocating resources effectively.
Provides a mechanism for tracking progress and making data-driven adjustments to optimize content performance.
In essence, a content roadmap provides the following benefits to your business:
Alignment: It ensures that all team members and stakeholders are on the same page regarding content objectives and strategies.
Efficiency: By having a clear plan, you can streamline your content creation and distribution processes, reducing wasted effort and resources.
Consistency: It helps to maintain a consistent voice and message across all of your content, reinforcing your brand identity.
Measurement: It provides a framework for tracking progress and measuring the success of your content initiatives, enabling continuous improvement.
Let’s explore this in a little more depth:
Content Roadmap & Marketing Alignment
A content roadmap ensures alignment with overall marketing and business goals by providing a structured framework that ties content initiatives directly to strategic objectives.
Here’s how it accomplishes this:
Goal Setting and Alignment: A content roadmap begins with the identification of content-specific goals that support broader business and marketing objectives. This ensures that every piece of content produced serves a clear purpose and contributes to overarching goals like brand awareness, lead generation, or customer retention.
Strategic Planning: By mapping out content initiatives over a defined period, a content roadmap helps in visualizing the journey from current state to desired outcomes. It outlines key activities, deadlines, and milestones, ensuring that all efforts are strategically planned and timed to support business goals.
Resource Allocation: The roadmap provides clarity on resource needs, helping allocate budget, time, and personnel efficiently. This alignment of resources ensures that high-priority content projects receive the necessary support to achieve business objectives .
Cross-functional Coordination: A content roadmap serves as a communication tool that aligns various teams (e.g., marketing, sales, product) around a unified strategy. This integrated approach ensures that all departments work towards common goals, fostering synergy and preventing siloed efforts.
Performance Tracking: Regularly updated roadmaps allow for ongoing tracking of progress against set goals. This enables timely adjustments based on performance data, ensuring that content efforts remain aligned with evolving business priorities and market conditions.
In summary, a content roadmap connects every aspect of content creation and distribution to the company’s strategic goals, ensuring a cohesive and goal-driven approach to content marketing.
Content Roadmap & Content Production Efficiency
A content roadmap is an invaluable tool for organizing content production, setting priorities, and managing resources effectively.
Here’s how it facilitates these processes:
Organizing Content Production
Structure and Timeline: A content roadmap lays out a clear plan for content creation over a specific period, detailing what content needs to be produced, when it needs to be completed, and the steps involved in the process. This helps in ensuring that content production is systematic and consistent.
Milestones and Deadlines: It includes key milestones and deadlines, helping your team stay on track and meet content goals on time. This prevents last-minute rushes and ensures a steady flow of content.
Setting Priorities
Task Ranking: By listing out all content tasks and ranking them based on their importance and urgency, a content roadmap helps to prioritize tasks that align closely with business objectives.
Alignment with Goals: It ensures that the most critical content projects, those that support key marketing and business goals, are given priority. This ensures that content efforts are focused on what matters most.
Managing Resources Effectively
Resource Allocation: A content roadmap provides clarity on the resources needed for each content project, helping in the efficient allocation of budgets, personnel, and tools. This ensures that resources are used where they are most needed and can be tracked efficiently.
Team Coordination: It facilitates better coordination among team members by clearly outlining roles, responsibilities, and timelines, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and working towards common goals.
Avoiding Resource Conflicts: By planning and scheduling content production in advance, a content roadmap helps avoid resource conflicts and overburdening of team members, leading to smoother operations.
In summary, a content roadmap helps streamline content production, prioritize tasks effectively, and manage resources efficiently, ensuring that content marketing efforts are strategic, focused, and productive.
Content Roadmap & Brand Consistency
A content roadmap is crucial for maintaining a consistent voice and message across all content, thereby reinforcing your brand identity.
Here’s how it achieves this:
Centralized Planning
Unified Strategy: A content roadmap centralizes the planning of all content-related activities, ensuring that every piece of content aligns with your overall brand strategy. This unified approach prevents discrepancies and maintains consistency.
Clear Guidelines: It includes guidelines for tone, style, and messaging, providing a reference for content creators to ensure that all content pieces convey your brand’s voice accurately.
Consistency in Themes and Messaging
Content Themes: By outlining specific content themes and key messages, a roadmap ensures that all content pieces revolve around central ideas that reflect your brand’s core values and goals.
Alignment with Brand Identity: It helps in aligning your content with your brand identity by consistently reinforcing your brand’s mission, vision, and values across different content types and platforms.
Efficient Coordination
Team Collaboration: A content roadmap enhances coordination among team members by clearly defining roles and responsibilities, ensuring everyone is on the same page regarding the brand voice and messaging.
Consistent Execution: It facilitates the consistent execution of your content strategy, making sure that every piece of content, regardless of who creates it, maintains the same quality and tone.
Monitoring and Adjustments
Tracking Progress: By tracking the progress of content initiatives, a roadmap allows for regular reviews and adjustments, ensuring that your content continues to align with your brand’s evolving identity and market trends.
Feedback Incorporation: It provides a structured way to incorporate feedback and make necessary changes to your content strategy, maintaining consistency while adapting to new insights and audience preferences.
In summary, a content roadmap plays a vital role in maintaining a consistent voice and message across all content, reinforcing your brand identity by ensuring alignment, consistency, and effective coordination.
Content Roadmap & Progress Measurement
A content roadmap is an essential tool that provides a structured framework for tracking progress and measuring the success of your content initiatives.
This facilitates continuous improvement through the following mechanisms:
Clear Objectives and Metrics
Defined Goals: A content roadmap starts by setting clear, measurable objectives aligned with business goals. These objectives provide a baseline against which progress can be measured.
Key Metrics: It includes specific metrics to track performance, such as engagement rates, conversion rates, and traffic analytics. These metrics help in assessing the effectiveness of your content efforts.
Regular Monitoring
Progress Tracking: The roadmap allows for ongoing tracking of content production and performance, ensuring that all initiatives stay on course and meet the set milestones.
Visibility and Accountability: It provides visibility into the status of various content projects, enabling your content team to identify bottlenecks and address these promptly. This accountability ensures that deadlines are met and quality is maintained.
Feedback and Adjustments
Performance Analysis: By regularly analyzing performance data against predefined metrics, your team can gain insights into what is working and what is not.
Continuous Improvement: This analysis allows for data-driven decisions and continuous optimization of your content strategy. Adjustments can be made to improve content quality, enhance engagement, and better align with your audience’s needs.
Strategic Adjustments
Agility: A content roadmap provides the flexibility to pivot strategies based on real-time feedback and changing market conditions, ensuring that your content remains relevant and effective.
Alignment with Business Goals: It ensures that content initiatives remain aligned with your overarching business objectives, thus contributing to long-term success.
In summary, a content roadmap is instrumental in tracking progress, measuring success, and fostering continuous improvement by providing a clear framework, facilitating regular monitoring, enabling data-driven adjustments, and ensuring strategic alignment.
How To Plan Your Content Roadmap
Content Roadmap planning steps.
Planning an effective content roadmap involves the following steps:
Goal Setting: Start by setting clear, measurable goals for your content marketing efforts, such as increasing brand awareness, driving more traffic, or generating leads.
Audience Research: Understand your target audience’s needs, preferences, pain points, and behaviors to create relevant and engaging content. Use tools like surveys, analytics, and customer feedback.
Content Audit: Assess your current content to identify gaps, areas for improvement, and high-performing content that can be repurposed or updated.
Content Themes and Topics: Brainstorm and prioritize content themes and topics based on your objectives and audience research. These should align with your brand messaging and address the needs of your target audience.
Create a Content Calendar: Plan the types of content you will produce and develop a calendar to ensure regular and timely content delivery, outlining when each piece of content will be created, published, and promoted. Consider seasonality, industry events, and holidays in your scheduling.
Resource Allocation: Allocate resources such as time, budget, and personnel to support content creation and distribution efforts effectively.
Assign Responsibilities: Designate team members for each task, from content creation to distribution and analysis.
Content Creation: Develop high-quality content assets, including articles, videos, infographics, and podcasts, based on the identified themes and topics.
Distribution Plan: Determine how you will distribute and promote your content across various channels, including social media, email newsletters, and industry forums.
Measurement and Analysis: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your content strategy. Regularly review and analyze content performance and performance data to identify areas of improvement and adjust your roadmap accordingly to stay aligned with your goals.
Content Roadmap Examples
Now that we’ve looked at what a content roadmap is, it’s importance in aligning your content strategy with your marketing objectives, and how to create one for your organization, let’s look at some practical examples of how a content roadmap can actually help businesses achieve their content marketing goals.
Using A Content Roadmap To Increase Brand Awareness
A fashion store can increase brand awareness using a content roadmap by following these steps:
Set Clear Objectives: Define goals such as increasing social media followers by 20% and boosting website traffic by 30% within six months.
Identify Target Audience: Conduct research to understand the preferences and behaviors of their target audience, such as young adults interested in sustainable fashion.
Content Planning:
Blog Posts: Publish bi-weekly blog posts about sustainable fashion trends, styling tips, and behind-the-scenes stories of the brand’s production process.
Social Media: Create daily posts on Instagram and TikTok featuring outfit inspirations, user-generated content, and influencer collaborations to engage with the audience and promote new collections.
Email Newsletters: Send weekly newsletters with exclusive discounts, new arrivals, and fashion advice to keep customers engaged and informed.
Content Calendar: Develop a detailed content calendar scheduling all planned content across different platforms to ensure consistent and timely delivery.
Collaborations and Influencer Marketing: Partner with fashion influencers and bloggers to expand reach and attract new followers. Share their content and feature them on the store’s social media channels.
Monitor and Adjust: Use analytics tools to track the performance of the content and adjust their strategies based on what content performs best and engages their audience most effectively.
Using A Content Roadmap To Drive More Website Traffic
A camping equipment store can drive more traffic to its website using a content roadmap by following these steps:
Set Clear Objectives: Aim to increase website traffic by 25% over the next six months and improve search engine rankings for key camping-related terms.
Identify Target Audience: Focus on outdoor enthusiasts, families, and adventure seekers who are interested in camping gear and tips.
Content Planning:
Blog Posts: Publish weekly blog posts on topics like “Top 10 Camping Gear Essentials” and “Best Camping Spots for Families”. Include keyword-rich content to boost SEO.
Product Reviews: Create detailed reviews and comparisons of camping equipment to help customers make informed decisions.
How-to Guides: Offer practical guides on topics such as “How to Set Up a Tent” or “Campfire Cooking Tips” to provide valuable information to visitors.
Video Content: Produce engaging video tutorials and gear demonstrations to attract a broader audience and enhance user engagement.
Content Calendar: Develop a content calendar that schedules blog posts, product reviews, guides, and videos to ensure a steady flow of new content.
Social Media Promotion: Share all content on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Engage with the audience through comments, contests, and live Q&A sessions.
Email Marketing: Send out monthly newsletters featuring the latest blog posts, product reviews, and exclusive offers to keep subscribers engaged and drive repeat traffic to the website.
Collaborations and Influencer Marketing: Partner with outdoor influencers and bloggers to expand reach. Share their content and feature their camping experiences using the products.
Monitor and Adjust: Use analytics tools to track website traffic, user engagement, and content performance, and adjust the content strategy based on what works best to continuously drive traffic.
Using A Content Roadmap To Generate More Leads
A men’s hair salon can generate more leads and hair cutting appointments using a content roadmap by following these steps:
Set Clear Objectives: Aim to increase the number of new client leads by 30% and boost online appointment bookings by 25% over the next six months.
Identify Target Audience: Focus on men aged 18-45 who are interested in grooming, fashion, and convenience.
Content Planning:
Blog Posts: Publish bi-weekly blog posts on topics like “Top Haircuts for Men in 2024” and “Grooming Tips for the Modern Man.” Include relevant keywords to enhance SEO.
Social Media Content: Share daily updates on Instagram and Facebook featuring client transformations, grooming tips, and behind-the-scenes content to engage followers and attract new clients.
Video Content: Create monthly YouTube videos and Instagram Reels demonstrating different haircuts and styling techniques to showcase the salon’s expertise and attract potential clients.
Content Calendar: Develop a content calendar to schedule blog posts, social media updates, and video content to ensure a consistent and strategic online presence.
Google My Business: Optimize the salon’s Google My Business profile by regularly updating it with new photos, client reviews, and posts about special offers or events.
Email Marketing: Send out bi-weekly newsletters to subscribers featuring exclusive promotions, new services, and grooming tips to encourage repeat visits and referrals.
Collaborations and Influencer Marketing: Partner with local influencers and fashion bloggers to increase brand visibility and reach a wider audience. Feature their haircuts and reviews on the salon’s social media platforms.
Monitor and Adjust: Use analytics tools to track lead generation, website traffic, and appointment bookings, and adjust the content strategy based on performance metrics to optimize results.
Content Roadmap – FAQs
Here are frequently asked questions about content roadmaps:
What is a content roadmap?
A content roadmap is a strategic plan that outlines the creation, publication, and management of content over a specific period. It helps align content efforts with business goals by detailing themes, topics, timelines, and responsibilities.
Why do businesses need a content roadmap?
A content roadmap provides direction, ensures consistency, and aligns content with business objectives. It helps teams stay organized, prioritize tasks, and measure progress, leading to more effective and efficient content marketing efforts.
What are the benefits of a content roadmap?
Improved Planning: Ensures a steady flow of content aligned with marketing goals.
Enhanced Consistency: Maintains a consistent voice and message across all channels.
Resource Management: Allocates tasks and resources effectively, avoiding bottlenecks.
Measurable Progress: Provides metrics to track the success and impact of content initiatives.
Stakeholder Alignment: Keeps everyone on the same page, ensuring cohesive strategies.
What are the challenges of developing a content roadmap?
Time-Consuming: Requires significant time to plan and coordinate.
Flexibility: Needs to be adaptable to changing market conditions and business priorities.
Resource Allocation: Demands careful resource management to meet deadlines and goals.
Stakeholder Buy-In: Ensuring all stakeholders agree and adhere to the roadmap.
What are the pros of implementing a content roadmap?
Strategic Alignment: Aligns content creation with business objectives.
Efficiency: Streamlines content production and reduces last-minute scrambles.
Focus: Helps maintain focus on key content areas and goals.
Collaboration: Enhances teamwork and collaboration by clearly defining roles and responsibilities.
Performance Tracking: Allows for tracking progress and measuring success.
What are the cons of implementing a content roadmap?
Time-Consuming: Initial setup and maintenance can be time-intensive.
Rigidity: May become too rigid, limiting responsiveness to new opportunities.
Complexity: Can be complex to manage, especially for larger teams.
Over-Planning: Excessive detail can lead to complexity and inflexibility.
Maintenance: Requires ongoing updates and adjustments, which can be resource-intensive.
How does a content roadmap enhance resource management?
A content roadmap helps allocate tasks and resources efficiently, avoiding duplication of efforts and ensuring that all team members know their responsibilities and deadlines. This leads to better use of time and skills, and helps in meeting content goals without overburdening any single resource.
How can a content roadmap improve content consistency?
By defining a clear voice, tone, and messaging guidelines, a content roadmap ensures that all content aligns with the brand’s identity. Regular review cycles and a shared understanding among team members help maintain this consistency across all channels.
What tools can assist in creating and managing a content roadmap?
Many popular project management tools can be used to create and manage content roadmaps. These tools offer templates, task management features, and collaboration functionalities that will help you create a clear and organized content roadmap, and streamline processes like tracking progress, setting priorities, and managing resources effectively.
Are there templates available to help get started with content roadmaps?
Yes, many content production tools provide templates to help get started with content roadmaps.
How can a content roadmap help in tracking progress and measuring success?
A content roadmap provides a framework for setting clear objectives and key performance indicators (KPIs). By regularly tracking these metrics, your business can measure the effectiveness of your content strategies, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to enhance future content efforts.
What should be included in a content roadmap?
A comprehensive content roadmap should include:
Content Themes and Topics: What subjects will be covered and why.
Publication Schedule: When and where content will be published.
Responsible Parties: Who is responsible for creating, editing, and publishing content.
Metrics and KPIs: How success will be measured.
Review and Update Cycles: When and how the roadmap will be reviewed and updated.
How often should a content roadmap be updated?
A content roadmap should be reviewed and updated regularly, typically on a monthly or quarterly basis, to ensure it remains aligned with business goals and market trends. This flexibility allows for adjustments based on performance data and new opportunities.
Can small businesses benefit from a content roadmap?
Absolutely. A content roadmap is beneficial for businesses of all sizes. For small businesses, it provides structure and clarity, ensuring that limited resources are used effectively to achieve maximum impact with their content marketing efforts.
What is the first step in creating a content roadmap?
The first step in creating a content roadmap is to define your content strategy. This involves understanding your target audience, setting clear goals, and identifying the key messages and themes that will guide your content creation efforts.
Resources
See these resources for useful tools and software that can assist you in creating and managing a content roadmap:
Here is a long list of content ideas and content topics to help you with your next content project.
Content Ideas
Feeling stuck on what content to write next? Say goodbye to writer’s block and hello to endless new content possibilities! Use these content ideas to unlock your creativity, get inspired, and fuel your next masterpiece!
Consistently generating fresh and engaging content ideas can be a daunting challenge.
Whether you are a seasoned blogger, a business owner, or a marketing professional, understanding the diverse categories of content can help you effectively connect with your audience and achieve your goals.
In this lesson, we explore various content categories that will hopefully provide you with ongoing inspiration, new ideas, and strategies to keep your content pipeline flowing with creativity and relevance.
We recommend bookmarking this page and coming back here whenever you’re feeling stuck on what to write next.
***
Useful Content
Create useful content that offers practical value to the reader, helping them solve problems, learn new skills, or make informed decisions.
Types of Useful Content
Create a List
Lists provide structured and easily digestible information.
Examples:
“10 Best Tools for Remote Work”
“Top 5 Marketing Strategies for Startups”
Show Them “How To”
Create tutorials or guides to teach readers how to accomplish specific tasks.
Examples:
“How to Set Up a Blog in 30 Minutes”
“How to Cook a Perfect Steak”
Create a Case Study
Provide in-depth analyses of a specific instance or project to illustrate success or failure.
Examples:
“Case Study: How XYZ Company Increased Sales by 200%”
“Case Study: The Impact of Social Media on Brand Awareness”
Problems and Solutions
Identify common issues and provide actionable solutions.
Examples:
“How to Troubleshoot Common Laptop Issues”
“Solutions for Reducing Workplace Stress”
Research and Statistics
Present findings from studies or data analysis to inform or persuade.
Examples:
“The Latest Trends in Consumer Behavior for 2024”
“Statistics on Remote Work Adoption Rates”
FAQs
Answer common questions on a particular topic to provide quick help.
Transcribe conversations with experts to provide readers with different insights and perspectives.
Examples:
“Interview with a Leading AI Researcher”
“Entrepreneur Spotlight: Success Stories”
Comparisons
Compare products, services, or methodologies to highlight differences and benefits.
Examples:
“Comparing iOS vs. Android”
“Organic vs. Conventional Farming”
Generous Content
Generous content provides value to others and fosters community, collaboration, and mutual growth by highlighting, supporting, or promoting other peoples’ work.
Types of Generous Content
Profile Others
Highlight and celebrate individuals or organizations for their achievements, skills, or contributions.
Examples:
“Profiles in Courage: Community Heroes Making a Difference”
“Interview with an Up-and-Coming Artist”
Get Others to Contribute
Invite guest writers or experts to share their insights and provide your readers with their diverse perspectives and expertise.
Examples:
“Guest Post: Tips for Sustainable Living by Environmental Expert”
“Collaborative Article: Industry Leaders Discuss the Future of Tech”
Publish a Weekly Roundup
Curate and share a list of the best content, news, or resources from the past week to keep readers informed and inspired.
Examples:
“Weekly Roundup: Top Marketing Articles You Shouldn’t Miss”
“This Week in Tech: Innovations and Trends”
Quotes
Share inspiring, motivational, or thought-provoking quotes from various sources to provide encouragement and insight.
Examples:
“Quotes to Inspire Your Daily Work”
“Famous Quotes on Leadership and Success”
Highlight Acts of Generosity
Showcase stories of kindness and generosity to inspire and motivate others.
Examples:
“10 Inspiring Acts of Generosity from Around the World”
“Local Heroes: Acts of Kindness in Our Community”
Share Resources and Tools
Provide access to valuable resources and tools that can help readers achieve their goals.
Initiate projects that involve contributions from multiple people or organizations to achieve a common goal.
Examples:
“Crowdsourced Cookbook: Recipes from Our Readers”
“Community Art Project: Submit Your Artwork for Our Mural”
Entertaining Content
Entertaining content captivates and delights your audience, and keeps them engaged and coming back for more. Create content to amuse, inspire, provide an enjoyable experience, or elicit emotional responses such as laughter, joy, or surprise.
Types of Entertaining Content
Tell Stories
Craft compelling narratives that resonate with your audience, drawing them into the experiences and lessons shared.
Examples:
“A Day in the Life of a Startup Founder”
“From Zero to Hero: Inspirational Success Stories”
“Travel Tales: Adventures from Around the World”
Cartoons and Memes
Use humor and visual elements to convey messages in a light-hearted and engaging way.
Examples:
“Monday Morning Memes to Brighten Your Day”
“Cartoons that Perfectly Sum Up Office Life”
“Trending Memes Explained: What’s Making the Internet Laugh?”
Share bizarre, unexpected, or quirky tales that intrigue and entertain.
Examples:
“The Strangest Jobs You’ve Never Heard Of”
“Incredible Coincidences You Won’t Believe Happened”
“Bizarre Laws from Around the World”
Behind-the-Scenes Content
Offer a glimpse into the making of a product, event, or everyday operations, giving you audience an insider’s view.
Examples:
“Behind the Scenes: How We Create Our Magazine”
“A Day at the Film Set: Behind the Camera”
“The Making of a Viral Video”
Before-and-After Posts
Showcase transformations and progress through comparative visuals and stories.
Examples:
“Before and After: Home Renovation Projects”
“Fitness Transformations: Inspiring Journeys”
“From Idea to Reality: Product Development Stories”
Interactive Content
Engage the audience through quizzes, polls, games, and other interactive elements.
Examples:
“Which Movie Character Are You? Take Our Quiz!”
“Poll: What’s Your Favorite Summer Activity?”
“Interactive Story: Choose Your Own Adventure”
Challenges and Contests
Invite audience participation through fun and competitive activities.
Examples:
“30-Day Photography Challenge”
“Best DIY Costume Contest”
“Caption This Photo for a Chance to Win”
Timely / Topical Content
Create timely or topical content that is relevant to current events, trends, or issues.
This type of content helps to capture the interest of your audience by addressing subjects that are currently important or trending in the public discourse. It also helps to engage readers with fresh and immediate information, making your content more shareable and engaging.
Types of Timely / Topical Content
Reviews
Provide critiques and evaluations of recent products, services, events, or media.
Examples:
“Review of the Latest iPhone: Is It Worth the Upgrade?”
“New Movie Releases: What’s Worth Watching This Weekend?”
“Top 5 Restaurant Openings This Month”
Survey Results
Analyze and present the findings of surveys on relevant or trending topics.
Examples:
“Survey Results: How Remote Work Is Affecting Employee Productivity”
“Consumer Preferences in 2024: Survey Insights”
“Public Opinion on Climate Change: A Recent Survey Analysis”
News Posts
Report on current events, breaking news, and significant happenings.
Examples:
“Breaking News: Major Developments in the Tech Industry”
“Elections 2024: Latest Updates and Outcomes”
“Natural Disaster Strikes: Immediate Effects and Responses”
Trends
Discuss and analyze emerging trends in various fields.
Examples:
“Top Fashion Trends to Watch This Summer”
“Tech Trends That Will Dominate 2024”
“Health and Wellness Trends: What’s New This Year?”
Issues and Controversy
Explore current debates, controversies, and critical issues.
Examples:
“Debate on Data Privacy: Where Do We Stand?”
“Controversial Legislation: Pros and Cons of the New Law”
“Climate Change Policies: Global Reactions and Implications”
Event Coverage
Write detailed accounts or summaries of recent events, conferences, or public gatherings.
Examples:
“Highlights from the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show”
“Key Takeaways from the Annual Health Summit”
“Live Coverage: Major Sports Event Finals”
Interviews
Record and/or write about conversations with experts, influencers, or newsmakers about current topics.
Examples:
“Interview with a Climate Scientist on the Latest IPCC Report”
“Celebrity Insights: Behind the Scenes of Their Latest Project”
“Tech Innovators: Discussing the Future of AI”
Personal Content
Create personal content by sharing experiences, stories, and thoughts that resonate on a personal level with your audience.
This type of content helps to build a connection with readers by revealing a more intimate and authentic side of the writer, a person, or brand.
Types of Personal Content
Inspirational Stories
Create narratives that motivate and uplift the audience by showcasing perseverance, success, and positive change.
Examples:
“Overcoming Adversity: How I Turned My Life Around”
“From Rags to Riches: Inspiring Entrepreneurial Journeys”
“Finding Hope in the Face of Challenges: Personal Success Stories”
Holiday Posts
Create content centered around personal experiences and celebrations during holidays.
Examples:
“My Memorable Christmas Eve Traditions”
“A Journey Through My Thanksgiving Celebrations Over the Years”
“Celebrating Diwali: A Personal Reflection on Family and Traditions”
Commemorative Days
Write articles that reflect on the significance of special days and personal memories associated with them.
Examples:
“Remembering a Loved One on Memorial Day”
“The Importance of Earth Day: Personal Actions for Environmental Impact”
“Celebrating International Women’s Day: Stories of Empowerment and Inspiration”
Personal Achievements
Share milestones and successes to inspire and connect with your audience.
Examples:
“My Journey to Running a Marathon: Tips and Experiences”
“Publishing My First Book: Challenges and Triumphs”
“Career Milestones: Reflecting on 10 Years in the Industry”
Daily Life and Routines
Provide insight into your day-to-day activities and routines (or another person’s, e.g. a celebrity or public figure).
Examples:
“A Day in My Life: Balancing Work and Family”
“My Morning Routine: How I Start My Day Productively”
“Finding Balance: A Peek into My Weekly Schedule”
Personal Reflections
Write deep, introspective content that explores personal growth, thoughts, and emotions.
Examples:
“Lessons Learned from a Year of Self-Improvement”
“Reflections on My Journey to Mindfulness”
“Navigating Personal Challenges: A Reflection on Resilience”
Travel Diaries
Share personal travel experiences, tips, and adventures.
Examples:
“Exploring the Hidden Gems of Bali: A Personal Travelogue”
“My Solo Travel Experience: Tips for the Adventurous Spirit”
“A Culinary Journey Through Italy: Personal Stories and Recommendations”
Health and Wellness
Write personal stories and advice related to health, fitness, and well-being.
Examples:
“My Fitness Journey: From Couch Potato to Marathon Runner”
“Dealing with Anxiety: Personal Tips and Strategies”
“The Benefits of Yoga: A Personal Experience”
Repurposed Content
Repurposing content involves taking existing content and transforming it into a different format or updating it to reach new audiences or provide additional value.
This strategy maximizes the utility of your content, extends its lifespan, and enhances its reach across various platforms.
Types of Repurposed Content
Update Older Articles
Refresh and revise older articles to ensure they remain relevant and accurate.
Examples:
“2024 Update: Top SEO Practices for Bloggers”
“Revisiting Our 2020 Predictions: What Came True?”
“Updated Guide to Social Media Marketing Trends in 2024”
Condense Content
Summarize longer content pieces into concise formats like infographics, checklists, or social media posts.
Examples:
“Infographic: Key Points from Our Comprehensive Guide to Digital Marketing”
“Quick Checklist: Essential Steps for Starting Your Own Blog”
“10 Tweetable Tips from Our Latest Webinar on Content Strategy”
Expand Content
Take a brief or high-level content piece and expand it into a more detailed and in-depth article, series, or multimedia content.
Examples:
“In-Depth Series: Breaking Down Our E-book on Personal Branding into a Blog Series”
“Detailed Guide: Expanding Our Top 10 Travel Tips Blog into a Full E-book”
“Video Course: From Blog Post to Online Class on Social Media Marketing”
Create YouTube Videos
Transform blog posts, articles, or whitepapers into engaging video content.
Examples:
“Video Breakdown: Our Blog Post on Effective Content Marketing Strategies”
“Tutorial Video: Step-by-Step Guide from Our Written How-To Article”
“Animated Video: Key Statistics from Our Research Report”
Develop SlideShare Presentations
Convert content into professional slide presentations for sharing on platforms like SlideShare.
Examples:
“SlideShare: Highlights from Our Industry Report”
“Presentation: Key Takeaways from Our Webinar on Digital Transformation”
“Slides: Visual Summary of Our Blog Post on Market Trends”
Create E-books, Whitepapers & Online Courses
Compile related blog posts or articles into comprehensive e-books, whitepapers, or online courses.
Examples:
“E-book: The Ultimate Guide to SEO – Compiled from Our Best Articles”
“Whitepaper: In-Depth Analysis of 2024 Marketing Trends Based on Our Blog Series”
“Downloadable E-book: Combining Our How-To Guides into One Resource”
Create content for different audiences by tailoring your messages and formats to meet the specific needs, interests, and behaviors of various groups that interact with your brand.
This strategy ensures that the content is relevant and engaging for each audience, increasing the chances of achieving your communication goals.
Types of Content for Different Audiences
Visitors / Prospects
Create content aimed at attracting and informing potential customers who are not yet familiar with your brand.
Examples:
“10 Reasons Why You Really Need Our Product”
“Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Our Services”
“How Our Solution Solves Your Problem: A Case Study”
Customers / Clients
Create content designed to support and engage existing customers, helping them get the most out of your products or services.
Examples:
“How to Maximize the Benefits of Your Purchase”
“Customer Success Stories: How Our Clients Achieved Their Goals”
“Advanced Tips for Using Our Product”
Members / Subscribers
Create exclusive content for individuals who have subscribed to your newsletter, membership program, or online community.
Examples:
“Monthly Member-Only Webinars”
“Exclusive Insider News and Updates”
“Subscriber-Only Discounts and Offers”
Suppliers / Wholesalers
Create content that helps build and maintain strong relationships with your suppliers or wholesalers.
Examples:
“Supplier Spotlight: Meet Our Key Partners”
“Best Practices for a Successful Supply Chain Collaboration”
“Latest Industry Trends Impacting Our Supply Network”
Resellers / Affiliates
Provide resources and information to support partners who sell your products or services.
Examples:
“Affiliate Marketing Tips: How to Boost Your Sales”
“Reseller Handbook: Everything You Need to Know”
“Exclusive Training for Our Affiliates”
Internal Staff
Write internal communications that keep your employees informed and engaged.
Examples:
“Quarterly Business Updates from the CEO”
“Employee Spotlight: Celebrating Our Team Members”
“Internal Training Resources and Workshops”
Outsourced Staff
Create content that helps you manage and coordinate outsourcing tasks or projects with external contractors or freelancers.
Examples:
“Guidelines for Our Freelancers”
“How to Align with Our Brand’s Voice and Tone”
“Project Management Best Practices for Remote Teams”
Investors
Create content that provides insights and updates to current and potential investors.
Examples:
“Annual Financial Reports and Forecasts”
“Investor Newsletter: Latest Developments and Strategies”
“Q&A with the CFO: Financial Health and Future Plans”
Media and Press
Write information crafted to appeal to journalists and media outlets.
Examples:
“Press Releases on Major Company Milestones”
“Media Kits with Brand Assets and Key Information”
Use mind mapping to streamline your content planning and content creation process.
Mind Mapping
Use mind mapping to streamline your content planning and content creation process.
Mind mapping is a powerful and effective tool for content planning as it enables you to brainstorm ideas, organize your thoughts, and identify key concepts in a logical and systematic manner.
In this lesson, we explore the benefits of using mind mapping for content planning and content organization. We also provide a list of mind-mapping tools that you can use to plan out your content.
What Is Mind Mapping?
Mind mapping is a technique used to organize and visualize information in a hierarchical and interconnected way. It involves creating a diagram or a “mind map” that connects different ideas, concepts, and pieces of information in a way that reflects how they are related to each other.
The process of mind mapping typically starts with a central idea or topic, which is placed at the center of the map. From there, related ideas and concepts are connected to the central topic using branches or lines, forming a tree-like structure. These branches can then be further expanded with sub-branches to create a more detailed and complex map.
This is the basic structure of a mind map built around a central idea.
For example, if you were creating a mind map for a blog post on “healthy meal planning,” the central topic would be “Healthy Meal Planning.”
You might then create branches for subtopics such as “Meal Prepping,” “Grocery Shopping,” and “Recipe Selection.”
Each of these subtopics could then be further expanded with additional branches, such as “Benefits of Meal Prepping” or “Finding Nutritious Recipes Online,” etc.
Use a mind map to create a blog post outline.
Mind maps can be created using pen and paper, whiteboards, or specialized software. They are often used as a brainstorming tool to generate and organize ideas, streamline processes, take notes, solve problems, foster collaboration between team members, and make decisions.
Mind maps are also very flexible. There is no limit to the number of branches, subconcepts, and relationships you can include to make your mind map as detailed as it needs to be.
Also, the web-like appearance of a mind map makes it easy to visualize and understand relationships between concepts or ideas. The visual and nonlinear nature of mind maps can help users to see patterns and connections that might not be immediately apparent in a more traditional outline or list format.
Using diagrams to visually “map” information and organize your thinking processes using branching and radial pictorial methods goes back centuries.
Why Use Mind Mapping For Content Planning?
Mind mapping is a powerful tool for content planning. Mind maps offer a wide range of benefits over traditional text-based methods of planning.
Some of the benefits of using mind maps when planning out your content include:
Creativity
Mind maps stimulate creativity by allowing you to generate ideas in a free-form, non-linear way. By encouraging a broad range of associations, mind maps can lead to new insights and unexpected connections.
Brainstorming
Mind maps are an excellent tool for brainstorming as they allow you and your team to generate and record ideas in a free-flowing manner.
With mind maps, you can brainstorm and generate new ideas and creative solutions to problems. By visualizing your ideas and concepts in this way, you may discover new connections or insights that you may not have thought of otherwise.
You can also quickly capture all your ideas and then arrange and group them into related categories.
For example, you could use a mind map to brainstorm ideas for a blog post on healthy eating habits.
Organization
Mind maps offer a more structured and organized way of planning content than traditional linear outlines. The visual format allows you to see the relationships between different ideas, making creating a well-structured and cohesive piece of content easier.
Mind maps allow you to organize information in a logical and structured way, making it easier to understand, remember, and identify connections between them. By grouping related concepts together, you and your team can create a clear and coherent framework for your content.
For example, you could use a mind map to organize the key themes and sub-themes for an e-book on personal finance.
Efficiency
Mind maps enable you to plan and organize your content more quickly and efficiently than text-based methods. By providing a clear visual overview of your content plan, you can quickly identify gaps and ensure that all important topics are covered.
As with the e-book example above, you could use a mind map to make sure that you have covered all chapters and topics you plan to write about.
Visualization
Mind maps provide a visual representation of ideas, which can help you and your team to understand and remember them more easily.
The use of colors, symbols, and images can enhance the visual appeal of mind maps and make them more engaging.
For example, you could use a mind map to visualize the key messages and visual elements for an infographic on workplace productivity.
Communication
Mind maps are an effective tool for communicating your content plan to others, such as team members, editors, or clients.
The visual format makes it easier for others to understand the structure and flow of your content, leading to clearer and more effective communication.
Collaboration
Mind maps can be easily shared and edited by multiple users, making them an ideal tool for collaborative content planning. They enable you and your team to work together to generate and refine ideas, and to track progress towards shared goals.
For example, your content planning team could use a mind map to collaborate on the key themes and messaging for a social media campaign.
Flexibility
Mind maps are flexible and adaptable, making them suitable for a wide range of content-planning applications. They can be easily updated and revised as your content plan evolves.
You can add new ideas, expand on existing ones, and reorganize the structure of your plan with ease. They can also be used to plan everything from blog posts and articles to e-books and marketing campaigns.
For example, you could use a mind map to plan the structure and content for a webinar on social media marketing.
Memory retention
Mind maps are a great tool for memory retention as they allow you to visually connect information with images and symbols that represent the concepts. This makes it easier to recall the information later.
For example, you could use a mind map to organize the key ideas and arguments for a research paper on climate change.
Time-saving
Mind maps can save time in content planning by enabling you and your team to identify key concepts and themes and quickly see what content you have already created and what content you still need to create.
This can help to streamline your content creation process and ensure that the final product is well-organized and focused.
For example, you could use a mind map to identify the key topics and themes for a series of blog posts on digital marketing.
How To Create A Mind Map
Creating a mind map for content planning is a simple process that can help you to organize your thoughts and ideas in a visual and structured way.
For this example, we’ll use a free online mind-mapping tool called MindMup (listed in the “Mind Map Tools” section further below).
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to create a mind map for content planning:
Start With A Central Topic
To create a mind map, start by identifying the main topic or theme of your content and write your central topic or main idea in the center of your paper or digital canvas. This will be the foundation of your mind map.
For this example, let’s say we want to create a blog post about “healthy meal planning.”
So, after creating a new mind map file, this will be our first entry:
Central topic: Healthy Meal Planning
Use the central node of your mind map to represent your main topic or theme.
Add Subtopics
Next, add subtopics around the central topic, branching out from the center.
These subtopics should be related to the central topic and form the main categories for your content.
You can brainstorm ideas related to your main topic or theme and add them as branches to the central node.
For our example, we’ll add the following subtopics:
Subtopic 1: Meal Prepping
Subtopic 2: Grocery Shopping
Subtopic 3: Recipe Selection
Add subtopics around the central topic of your mind map.
Expand Your Mind Map
After adding subtopics, add branches to each subtopic to further expand on the specific details and ideas related to each mind map category.
For this example, let’s add a couple of branches to our first subtopic:
Subtopic 1: Meal Prepping
Branch 1: Benefits of Meal Prepping
Branch 2: How to Meal Prep for the Week
Subtopic 2: Grocery Shopping
Subtopic 3: Recipe Selection
Add branches to subtopics.
Continue adding branches to your other subtopics by identifying connections between your content ideas and adding them as links between branches. These can then be divided into smaller subcategories or sub-branches to further break down your content ideas.
Expand your mind map to include all of the main ideas for your topic.
Use Colors And Symbols
Use colors and symbols to visually differentiate between different ideas, concepts, and types of content. This can help you to see the relationships between different subtopics and ideas.
For this example, we’ve used different colors and font sizes to make our central topic and subtopics stand out…
Use colors to identify different groups in your mind map.
Review And Refine
After completing your mind map, review and refine it as needed. This can include adding new ideas, restructuring your map, or removing unnecessary elements.
Convert To An Outline
Once you have a complete and refined mind map, you can easily convert it into a traditional linear outline. This can be helpful if you prefer to work with a more text-based format.
Many mind map tools allow you to export your mind map as a text-based file.
For example, with MindMup, you can download your mind map as an outline:
MindMup lets you export your mind map as an outline.
Select the export format to download your file as (e.g. MS Word/Google Writer)…
Let’s export this file as a Word or GDoc document…
You can now use your mind map text in a range of applications (e.g. create articles, slides, web pages, etc.)
Here’s our mind map exported as a text-based outline.
We cover some practical ways to use mind maps below.
Using Mind Maps
Mind maps can be used in a wide variety of practical applications.
Here are some of the ways you can use mind maps to help in your content-related processes:
Content Research
Mind mapping is a valuable tool for content research. Whether you are conducting research for a writing project, marketing campaign, or building out content for pages on your website, mind maps can help you collect, organize, and analyze information more effectively.
As you conduct your research, gather information on each sub-topic and add it to the corresponding branch of your mind map. This could include quotes, statistics, images, or links to articles or other resources.
Using our earlier example, let’s say that you want to create a blog post on “healthy meal planning”.
You could start building your site map by brainstorming ideas. However, if you want to save time, you can also use AI content research tools like ChatGPT.
For example, here is a list of mind-map items generated by ChatGPT using the following prompt:
“Generate a comprehensive, itemized, and hierarchical list of topics to be included in a mind map where the central topic is “Healthy Meal Planning”.”
Use AI tools like ChatGPT to generate mind map topic lists quickly and easily.
You can also expand your mind map entries further using other content research tools, such as entering a topic into a tool like AnswerThePublic.
Use tools like AnswerThePublic to generate further topic ideas for your mind map.
Continue researching and building out your mind map. Remember to share your mind map with other members of the team, clients, stakeholders, etc for additional input and feedback, collaboration, ideas, etc.
After building out your mind map, analyze and synthesize the information you have gathered. Look for patterns or connections between different sub-topics. Use your mind map to help you identify gaps in your research or areas where you need to dig deeper.
Once you have gathered and analyzed all of your research, use your mind map to create an outline for your content. This will help you structure your content in a logical and easy-to-follow format.
Content Planning
Mind maps can help you plan sections for a blog post or content for an entire website.
For example, here’s the mind map we used to plan the initial content structure for ContentManagementCourse.com …
The mind map used for planning the initial content structure for ContentManagementCourse.com
After mapping out the content structure for this website, this mind map then became part of our content production plan.
Content Production
To illustrate how mind mapping can help with content production, let’s go back to our earlier “healthy meal planning” example.
Suppose we want to create an entire website related to this topic.
All you need to do is build a map containing a list of topics for all the articles, media, pages, etc. that you’ll need to create for your site.
A mind map containing all the topics we’ll want to cover to create content for our website.
As seen earlier, most mind-mapping tools allow you to export your mind map as an outline, so once you’ve built out your site map, this would be the next step.
Exporting your mind map as an outline then becomes the foundation of your content production plan.
Here’s your content production plan.
You can transfer the contents of this outline to a production scheduling tool like a spreadsheet or a content calendar and start building out your content systematically to create a comprehensive and well-structured authoritative site.
Content Documentation
Mind mapping is also very useful for keeping your content processes organized.
For example, suppose you plan to build a website.
You can use a mind map to plan out your website structure, and then refer to this mind map to create and organize all the content for each different section or page of your site.
Each section of your website needs content. The same mind map used for website planning can be used to build out your content and keep it organized.
Other Practical Ways To Use Mind Maps
Mind maps are a valuable tool for content-based applications across a wide range of industries and disciplines.
Here are examples of some other applications related to content where mind maps can be used:
Note-taking and study aids: Mind maps can be used to take notes during lectures, meetings, or brainstorming sessions. They can also be used as a study aid to organize and summarize course material. For example, you can use a mind map to summarize the key concepts and ideas from a lecture, training session, or reading assignment.
Project management: Mind maps can be used to plan and organize projects, breaking down the overall goal into smaller, more manageable tasks. For example, a project manager can create a mind map to outline the steps involved in completing a project, assign tasks to team members, and set deadlines.
Decision-making: Mind maps can be used to weigh the pros and cons of different options and make informed decisions. For example, you can create a mind map to compare and contrast the features of different sales funnels to help you decide which one to accept.
Creativity and ideation: Mind maps can be used to generate and organize ideas for creative projects, such as writing, art, or design. for example, you can create a mind map to brainstorm plot points and characters for a story or ebook.
Strategic planning: Mind maps can be used to develop strategies and plans for achieving specific goals, such as business growth or personal development. For example, you can create a mind map to outline the steps involved in launching a new product, including market research, product design, and marketing.
Process mapping: Mind maps can be used to diagram and streamline complex processes, such as workflows or manufacturing processes. For example, you can create a mind map to visualize and optimize the assembly line process, identifying potential bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
Knowledge management: Mind maps can be used to organize and categorize information for easier retrieval and reference. for example, you can create a mind map to organize your company’s database of research papers and publications, allowing users to quickly search and access relevant information.
Mind Mapping Tools
While you could create mind maps using graphic applications like PowerPoint or Google Slides, there are various different tools available for creating mind maps, from free online tools to paid desktop applications.
A mind map created using Google Slides.
Dedicated mind-mapping tools offer several advantages over traditional software for creating mind maps.
Some of these benefits include:
Specialized functions: Mind-mapping tools are specifically designed to create mind maps, so they offer a variety of specialized functions that are not available in traditional software. These functions can include the ability to easily add branches, colors, images, notes, and links to different elements in the mind map.
Increased productivity: Mind-mapping tools often have keyboard shortcuts, automatic formatting options, and other features that allow for faster and more efficient mind-map creation. This can help to increase productivity and save time.
Collaboration: Many mind-mapping tools offer real-time collaboration features, allowing multiple users to work on the same mind map simultaneously. This can be particularly useful for group projects or brainstorming sessions.
Integration with other tools: Many mind-mapping tools offer integration with other tools such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Trello. This allows for easy sharing and syncing of mind maps with other tools and team members.
Better organization: Mind-mapping tools often have features that allow for better organization of ideas and information. This can include the ability to easily rearrange branches, collapse and expand different sections of the mind map, and add tags or labels to different elements.
More customization: Mind-mapping tools often offer more customization options than traditional software. This can include the ability to customize the colors, fonts, and styles of different elements in the mind map.
Better visualization: Mind-mapping tools often offer better visualization options than traditional software. This can include the ability to create different types of charts, graphs, and diagrams, as well as the ability to add images and icons to different elements in the mind map.
Here is a list of some of the best mind map content planning tools available:
MindMup
MindMup – Free online mind-mapping tool.
MindMup is a powerful and versatile mind map software that helps you organize your ideas and boost your productivity. The mind map software is designed to help you capture and organize your ideas quickly and effortlessly.
With MindMup, you can create unlimited mind maps for free and store them securely in the cloud, so you can access them anytime, anywhere, from any device.
The software boasts a frictionless interface and powerful keyboard shortcuts that help you focus on your ideas and remove all distractions while mapping. MindMup’s keyboard shortcuts allow you to work faster, saving you valuable time and effort.
MindMup is perfect for individual note-taking, collaborative planning, teamwork, and classrooms. Its versatile features and easy-to-use functionality make it an ideal tool for brainstorming, creating presentations, and documenting outlines with ease. You can also publish your ideas online and share them on social networks to reach a wider audience.
MindMup’s powerful features include the ability to convert maps easily to PDF, PowerPoint, outlines, and other file formats. You can also save your maps to Google Drive and manage them using Google Apps. MindMup Atlas adds images and contextual information to ensure that your maps show up nicely on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
MindMup’s functionality goes beyond mind mapping. With MindMup, you can structure writing, create storyboards, post to social media, plan and manage projects, collaborate easily with team members, attach documents, add images and icons, and administer sharing settings for your organization with ease.
MindMup is free to use and there’s no account/login required. Free users can create public maps up to 100 KB and save them for up to six months. Gold users can create private maps, and share and edit concurrently. MindMup also offers community chat help and support to its users.
You’ll probably notice two things about the structure of mind maps. One, they are incredibly flexible. There is no limit to the number of branches, subconcepts, and relationships you can include—your mind map will be exactly as detailed as you need it to be. And two, the web-like appearance makes it incredibly easy to visualize and understand the relationships between each concept or idea.
Lucidspark mind mapping software is a powerful tool that enables you to collaborate with your team to generate innovative ideas and turn them into reality.
With the mind map maker, you can visualize and expand on ideas with ease, making it an ideal solution for teams of all sizes.
Lucidspark’s mind-mapping software is designed to inspire creativity and innovation. It allows you to break down large concepts into specific ideas and explore new ways of thinking. With an unlimited canvas, you can work on multiple ideas simultaneously, using mind map templates and freehand drawing to add your own notes and connect concepts.
Collaboration is key to this mind map maker, and the software enables you to invite your team members to contribute their ideas directly to your mind map.
The in-editor chat, comments, and @mentions make it easy to solicit feedback and keep everyone connected. You can also focus your team’s attention on specific areas of the board and follow individual collaborators to see all their updates in real-time.
A mind map created using Lucidspark.
Lucidspark’s mind map generator comes with a Note Panel that allows you to add bullet points and checkboxes, set the agenda, and provide important context.
With your Note Panel, you can easily brainstorm with your team and keep your ideas organized in a way that makes sense for your team. You can list tasks, document action items, and keep your meeting notes together without creating a separate document.
Lucidspark integrates seamlessly with popular apps, making it easy to access, edit, share, and create a new mind map online using your favorite tools. With Slack integration, you can insert a board in your team’s Slack channel or start a new board directly from Slack.
Google Drive integration allows you to share your board and maintain control with various access permissions. You can import and export your mind map from one application to another without losing your work.
With Lucidspark’s mind map templates, you can add structure to your brainstorming and select the right template for your specific needs.
In short, Lucidspark’s software is easy to use and enables you to invite contributors to your online mind map via email, Slack, or a shareable link. You can even customize your shapes and add more context using the Context Toolbar.
Lucidspark mind mapping software offers a free trial.
Canva is a versatile design software that allows you to easily create mind maps for all kinds of projects.
With a wide variety of customizable templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can create beautiful and informative mind maps in just a few clicks, add images and icons to your map, and export your map as an image or PDF.
You can start building your mind map by choosing from one of Canvas’ professionally designed templates or creating your own from scratch. Add branches, icons, images, and text to create a visual representation of your ideas and thought processes.
With built-in collaboration tools, you can easily share your mind maps with your team and get feedback in real time.
One of the unique features of Canva’s mind maps is the ability to easily customize your mind map with your own branding and color schemes. This allows you to create mind maps that align with your company’s branding guidelines and make your ideas more memorable and impactful.
Whether you’re brainstorming ideas for a new project, organizing your thoughts for a presentation, or mapping out a complex process, Canva makes it easy to create and share professional-looking mind maps with a user-friendly interface and robust set of design tools.
MindMeister is an online mind-mapping software that allows you to easily create stunning, unique mind maps.
Its intuitive editor makes mapping your big ideas together with your team quick and effortless. MindMeister is perfect for a variety of uses including project planning, brainstorming, meeting management, and more.
A checklist mind map created using MindMeister mind-mapping software.
MindMeister gives you access to a range of features to help you create mind maps, including expertly-designed themes, three map layouts: mind map view, org chart, or list, customizable styles, shapes, and start/endpoints of your connection lines to show relationships between any two mind map topics, outline mode to toggle between the visual and linear view, expandable notes, and the ability to attach files to maps or link out to documents, articles, and more on the web. With focus mode, you can eliminate distractions and focus solely on your ideas.
Collaboration is easy with MindMeister. You can hold collaborative brainstorming sessions with your team using Brainstorm mode, and add comments and reactions to spark debate on your mind maps in a structured way.
MindMeister also allows you to define how your team uses the software, manage users, groups, and subscription options from a single team admin portal, and create groups within your organization to streamline map storage and sharing.
Sharing your mind maps is simple with MindMeister via your map’s unique share link. you can also export to PDF, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and more, or print your maps on paper. MindMeister’s iOS and Android apps allow you to map across multiple devices with real-time sync to ensure that your ideas are safeguarded.
MindMeister provides many mind map templates.
MindMeister provides access to many templates and a vast library of public mind map examples, created by MindMeister users that you can view online or copy to your account.
A mind map from MindMeister’s vast mind map library.
Mind Map Pro is a digital tool designed for creative mind mapping and project management to simplify processes and enhance productivity for businesses.
With integrated task management, planning, analysis, and team chat tools, Mind Map Pro allows you to transform your innovation from a concept within a mind map into a real-world solution.
You can collaborate with team mind maps, discuss ideas with live online chat, and use Kanban task boards with SWOT analysis to reach team goals. Mind Map Pro connects teams across more than 90 countries worldwide, improving communication within offices and enhancing connectivity for remote workers and distributed teams.
With a selection of professional templates, you can kick start your project planning, take notes and export them easily, manage meetings and brainstorm ideas, and visualize them in 2D and 3D mind mapping views.
Mind Map Pro lets you visualize your mind maps in 3D views.
Mind Map Pro also offers an innovative way to manage your tasks creatively with mind mapping, making your ideas happen and increasing your productivity to reach your goals faster.
Coggle is an easy-to-use online software for creating and sharing mind maps and flowcharts.
Coggle lets you easily visualize your ideas, whether you’re brainstorming, planning, or taking notes, without the hassle of downloading or installing anything.
One of Coggle’s key features is its real-time collaboration tool, which enables you to work simultaneously with your team on the same diagram.
Additionally, Coggle saves every change made to the diagram, allowing you to review all changes and revert to any previous version with ease.
Coggle also offers unlimited image uploads and the ability to add floating text and images, making it easy to annotate parts of your map. The software also provides powerful flowcharting capabilities, allowing you to create expressive, powerful diagrams that represent process flows and other advanced things.
Create mind maps for complex processes with Coggle.
Another key feature of Coggle is its multiple starting points, which allow you to add central items to your diagrams and map related topics in a single workspace. Coggle also lets you create as many private diagrams as you want, and you can share them with your team, classmates, or the world.
Coggle requires no login for collaboration, making it easy to allow any number of people to edit a diagram by sharing a secret link with them. You can also use Coggle to take structured notes during meetings or brainstorming sessions, and share your ideas with others.
Coggle is a powerful and versatile tool that can help you to organize your ideas, collaborate with others, and create detailed diagrams that accurately represent your thought processes.
Xmind – full-featured mind mapping and brainstorming app.
Xmind is a comprehensive mind-mapping and brainstorming app that provides a complete toolset for creativity and thinking.
With its non-linear approach, intuitive features, and pre-set structures, Xmind allows you to create mind maps for just about anything.
The app’s powerful features let you organize your thoughts easily and enrich your maps with multimedia information. Xmind provides you with a smart combination of multiple structures on the same branch, making your mind map more cohesive and balanced, especially for complex issues or large projects.
You can outline your thoughts hierarchically with the dedicated Outliner view, which is also a quicker way to jot down notes.
A mind map created with Xmind.
Xmind offers a number of different modes and tools, including:
ZEN Mode -helps you stay focused on one mind map, eliminating distractions and boosting productivity.
Pitch Mode – lets you seamlessly turn your mind map into a slideshow. With practical layouts and auto-generated smooth transitions, pitching ideas becomes effortless. Xmind also provides an Essential Mind Toolbox with intuitive tools made for organizing thoughts and adding further information to your mind map.
Relationship – connect two relevant ideas with customizable line style and text description.
Summary – lets you easily add a conclusion or recap to a group of ideas.
Boundary – is a handy tool for highlighting topics that share similarities or mark special concepts.
Markers – offer a great variety of neat icons for marking priorities, assignment of tasks, progress, etc.
You can also use Labels for simple notation and categorization, and Audio Notes to capture additional text information.
Xmind even lets you present mathematical and chemical formulas elegantly with LaTeX command. The smart color theme ensures you achieve a consistent look throughout your map instantly, while the built-in hand-drawn style adds a fun-filled look to your mind maps.
Over 400 Xmind-designed stickers covering the most common scenarios and professionally-designed structures for specific subjects let you create unique and aesthetically pleasing mind maps.
Miro is a robust and collaborative mind-mapping tool that helps distributed teams brainstorm, plan projects, map out information architecture, create org charts, develop sales strategies, and capture and organize ideas quickly with chat, comments, sticky notes, and video.
Miro empowers remote, in-office, and hybrid teams to communicate and collaborate across formats, tools, channels, and time zones without the constraints of physical location, meeting space, and whiteboards.
With Miro, you can toggle into presentation mode, or break up your map into frames to present slides. Built-in video, chat, @mentions, and comments make communication seamless. Multiple team members can co-create synchronously in real-time, and use an infinite canvas to add any content or other mind maps to the same board.
Miro lets you create collaborative mind maps with your team.
Miro Mind Map works across all devices, includes a timer feature that lets you manage and track your time while running a whiteboarding session in real time, and provides over 300 customizable templates.
Mind42 is a free, online mind-mapping software that provides a unique and efficient way of visually organizing information.
With Mind42, you can quickly and easily create mind maps that can be used for anything from to-do lists to brainstorming sessions and event planning.
Mind42 is ad-supported but completely free to use, with private mind maps created by default. You can also choose to share your mind maps with others, either by sending them a link to view the map or by inviting them to collaborate on the map in real time.
A mind map created using Mind42.
As a specialized tool, Mind42 allows you to enter your thoughts, arrange and refine them, and explore your ideas in a graphical way. It is not a multiple-purpose diagramming tool, but rather a powerful software that supports the creation, management, and editing of data structures required for mind maps.
Mind42 is a web application, which means you can access it from anywhere with an internet connection. You don’t need to download or install anything, as it runs directly in your browser. To get the best Mind42 experience, it’s recommended to use a modern browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple’s Safari.
SimpleMind is a mind-mapping software that helps you organize your thoughts, remember information, and generate new ideas.
With its intuitive interface and free-form layout, you can easily place topics anywhere you want or use one of the various auto layouts.
SimpleMind allows you to add color, images, and photos to your Mind Map with its Pro version.
You can customize topics and lines, add notes, links, checkboxes, and much more.
A mind map generated using SimpleMind.
SimpleMind allows you to sync your mind maps across platforms using clouds, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, or OneDrive.
You can easily share your Mind Map as a .pdf or image, create a slideshow to present your ideas, and even print it.
With SimpleMind, you can change the appearance of your Mind Map by selecting one of the 15+ style sheets or create your own. You can maintain an overview by collapsing and expanding branches, hiding or showing branches or topics, or using autofocus to block out distractions.
SimpleMind is a reliable and clear app that does not collect or sell your information.
MindNode is a mind-mapping app designed to help you organize your thoughts quickly and beautifully.
It allows you to capture, organize, style, and share your ideas effortlessly. With its visual brainstorming feature, you can plan your vacation, outline your next project, and write notes with ease.
MindNode also offers tools such as Tasks, Outlining, Quick Entry, Stickers, Themes, Visual Tags, Focus Mode, and Notes to enhance your brainstorming experience.
The app allows you to export and print your mind maps, and sync your data via iCloud for easy access across multiple devices. MindNode makes it easy to stay organized and on top of your ideas without getting in your way.
A mind map created using MindNode.
MindNode lets you capture, organize, style, and share your thoughts on various topics. The software offers powerful features like outlining, visual tags, focus mode, tasks, quick entry, stickers, themes, notes, dark mode, external screen support, customizable panels, and share options, allowing you to create a clear and structured representation of your ideas.
MindNode’s iCloud sync feature ensures you can access your mind map on any device, allowing you to pick up where you left off.
Scapple mind map software is a virtual sheet of paper that lets you make notes and connect them using lines or arrows. You have complete freedom to experiment with how your ideas fit together, and every note is equal.
Creating notes is as easy as double-clicking anywhere on the page and making connections between ideas is as simple as dragging and dropping one note onto another.
A mind map created using Scapple.
You can move notes around and customize their appearance using colors and borders. Scapple is a simple but powerful way of shaping your ideas and is available for download on both macOS and Windows.
While mind maps are a powerful tool for content planning, there are several best practices that you should follow to ensure that your mind maps are effective and useful.
Here are some best practices to keep in mind when creating mind maps for content planning:
Start with a Clear Goal: Before you start creating your mind map, it’s important to have a clear goal in mind for your content. This could be a specific topic you want to cover, a target audience you want to reach, or a particular format you want to use.
Keep it Simple: While it can be tempting to include every idea and detail in your mind map, it’s important to keep it simple and focused. Stick to the main categories and subtopics, and only include details that are directly relevant to your content goal.
Use Visuals: Mind maps are a visual tool, so it’s important to use visuals to enhance your map. This could include using colors to differentiate between categories, icons to represent different ideas, or images to illustrate your points.
Be Flexible: Remember that mind maps are a flexible tool, and you should be prepared to revise and refine your map as needed. Be open to adding new ideas, moving things around, or even starting over if your initial plan isn’t working.
Collaborate with Others: Mind maps can be an effective tool for collaborative content planning. Consider working with team members or other content creators to generate new ideas and refine your map.
For example, if you were creating a mind map for a social media campaign, you might start by defining your content goal, such as increasing engagement on your brand’s Instagram account.
From there, you could create main categories like “Visual Content,” “User-Generated Content,” and “Hashtag Campaigns,” and then add specific ideas and details to each category.
By following these best practices, you can create effective and useful mind maps that help you to plan and organize your content in a more creative and efficient way.
Mind-Mapping FAQs
Here are frequently asked questions about mind-mapping:
What is a mind map?
A mind map is a visual diagram that organizes information around a central concept, typically used for note-taking, brainstorming, and complex problem-solving.
What is mind-mapping?
Mind-mapping is a visual technique used to organize and represent information through diagrams that outline ideas in a structured format, enhancing creativity and productivity.
Can mind mapping help with problem-solving?
Yes, mind mapping aids in problem-solving by allowing individuals and teams to visually outline the problem, brainstorm potential solutions, prioritize actions, evaluate alternatives, and understand, track, and address the progress of resolving complex issues effectively.
Can mind-mapping be used to address challenges?
Yes, mind-mapping can be used to address challenges by organizing thoughts and approaches to understand and deal with the issues at hand.
What makes mind-mapping an effective brainstorming tool?
Mind-mapping is effective for brainstorming because it encourages the generation of creative ideas by visually mapping out thoughts and connections among them.
What are the steps involved in mind-mapping for problem-solving?
The steps typically involve identifying the problem, generating possible solutions, and evaluating each solution to find the most effective one. This structured approach helps in thorough analysis and decision-making.
How can you use mind maps in the design process?
In design, mind maps are used to brainstorm ideas, visualize connections, and lay out the structure of arguments, making them integral in conceptualizing products and user experiences.
What are the essential elements of a mind map?
Every mind map should include a central theme, branches for main ideas connected to the center, and keywords or images on the branches to symbolize thoughts and concepts.
What can you do with a computer-generated mind map?
Computer-generated mind maps allow for more dynamic organization of information, easy updates, and sharing capabilities, enhancing collaboration in teams.
How do mind maps facilitate collaboration in teams?
Mind maps facilitate team collaboration by providing a visual representation of collective thoughts, making it easier to brainstorm, organize, and evolve ideas in a group setting.
What benefits do mind maps offer to content researchers?
For content researchers, mind maps can organize complex information, outline structures for articles or content creation, and visually connect various research elements, enhancing clarity and efficiency in the research process.
Summary
Using mind maps for content planning and organization is a powerful way to streamline your content creation process. By using a visual representation of your content ideas, you can easily identify connections between ideas and save time by quickly seeing what content you have already created and what content you still need to create.
There are a number of mind-mapping tools you can use. Each tool has its own unique features and benefits, so it’s important to choose the one that best fits your needs and preferences.
With the right mind-mapping tool, you can streamline your content planning process and create more effective and organized content.
However, without the right tools and processes, this can be quite a daunting task.
Manually planning content can be time-consuming and inefficient.
This is where content planning automation comes in. Automating certain tasks can help you save time and ensure that your content planning is optimized for maximum results.
This lesson is part of our content automation series and provides essential content planning automation tips to help you get started.
Content Planning Automation Tips
Here are some essential content planning automation tips that will help you streamline your workflow and boost your team’s productivity.
1) Use AI-Powered Tools For Content Ideation
AI-powered tools can help you generate fresh and engaging content ideas based on trending topics, search queries, and social media activity. These tools can also provide valuable insights into the performance of your existing content and suggest ways to optimize it.
Follow these steps to automate your content ideation process:
Identify your target audience and the purpose of the content.
Input relevant keywords, topics, and categories into the tool.
Review and analyze the generated content ideas.
Use these ideas as a starting point for your content creation.
Some popular AI-powered tools that can assist in the process of generating content ideas include:
Clearscope – a content optimization tool designed to help you produce high-quality content that is relevant to your audience’s search queries.
MarketMuse – MarketMuse uses AI to analyze your content and identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
BuzzSumo – BuzzSumo uses AI to identify the most shared content related to a given topic on social media platforms.
Google Trends – Google Trends provides insights into the popularity and relevance of specific search terms, allowing you to tailor your content to the interests and needs of your target audience.
See these lessons and resources for more information:
An editorial calendar can help you stay organized and consistent with your content creation.
Automating your editorial calendar can help you plan and organize your content in advance, streamline the process, and save you time. You can use scheduling tools to schedule content publication and ensure that your content is published on time.
Follow these steps to automate your editorial calendar:
Determine the frequency and type of content you want to publish.
Choose an editorial calendar tool that fits your needs.
Plan and schedule your content in advance.
Automate reminders and notifications to keep you on track.
Monitor and adjust your editorial calendar as needed.
Some popular AI-powered editorial calendar tools include:
Monday – Monday.com helps you streamline your content planning and creation process by allowing teams to collaborate, assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress in a visually appealing and customizable dashboard.
CoSchedule – CoSchedule is a comprehensive marketing calendar that allows you to plan and schedule all your marketing activities in one place.
Trello – Trello allows you to create a board for your editorial calendar and add cards for each content piece.
Asana – Asana allows you to create tasks and assign due dates for your content creation process.
See these lessons and resources for more information:
Automating your content research can help you save time and ensure that your content is optimized for your target audience. You can use AI-powered tools to gather data and insights on your target audience, such as their interests, preferences, and behavior.
Follow these steps to automate your content research:
Decide on the keywords and topics you want to research.
Content planning templates can help you stay organized and consistent with your content creation, streamline your content planning process, and ensure that you cover all the essential elements of a successful content marketing strategy.
You can use templates to plan your content themes, formats, channels, and goals.
Follow these steps to automate your content planning with templates:
Determine the type of content you want to create.
Choose a content planning template that fits your needs.
Fill in the necessary information, such as topic, keywords, and target audience.
HubSpot Content Planning Template – HubSpot provides a content planning template that includes sections for the content topic, keywords, format, and distribution channels.
Trello Content Planning Template – Trello provides a content planning template that includes sections for content type, due date, status, and assignee.
See these lessons and resources for more information:
Automating your content distribution can help you reach your target audience more effectively and efficiently, save time, and ensure that your content reaches your target audience.
Follow these steps to automate your content distribution:
This lesson provides an overview of the course modules, what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Hello and welcome to this video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
My name is Martin Aranovitch. I’m a professional content writer and the blog editor of a global software company.
I also run a number of business training websites including ContentManagementCourse.com, where you can learn how to manage your content more effectively for free.
So, why a course on content strategy?
Well, in case you haven’t noticed,
Content is everywhere!
All businesses and websites need content, all content needs management, and all management needs a strategy.
So, whether you are a business or website owner, or someone who creates, promotes, or manages content for a business, or you work in any kind of business that wants to grow using content.
This course will show you how to create a content strategy that will help you produce more targeted content, drive more traffic to your website, generate more leads, and manage your content more effectively!
The aim of this course is to help you develop a sustainable way to grow your business by targeting the right audience, using the right content, at the right time, to get whatever outcome you set as a goal.
This could be buying your products, subscribing to your newsletter, or signing up for a membership.
I designed the lessons in this course to help you create a practical content strategy quickly and easily.
So, if the purpose of having a content strategy is to help your business grow using content, then the first thing we need to do is understand who our target audience is, and set goals for what we want to achieve with our content.
Once we have set our content goals, the next step is to decide which content types and formats will work best to deliver results that will help us achieve our goals.
After we have a clear picture of the content types and formats that our business will create, the next step is to do a content audit of our business.
This will help us assess if any existing content we have fits our strategy and if not, what do we do with it?
The content audit will also help us identify if there are any missing gaps that we need to fill and any content opportunities that we can take advantage of.
Once we have the full picture of the content we will need to create and the resources we have available to work with, the next step is to create a content plan.
We’ll then break down our overall content plan into three key areas and develop a content production plan, a content promotion plan, and a content management plan.
These plans will then be used to execute our content strategy, to put systems in place to measure how our content is performing and to assess and improve the results of our content strategy to make sure that we are meeting our business goals and objectives.
Finally, we will look at troubleshooting any content-related problems to make sure that our content strategy is delivering our expected results to our business.
So that’s the logic behind this video course.
Now, let’s take a brief look at what the lessons in this video series will actually cover:
So this is Module 1, and after this overview, we’ll look at what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.
In module 2, we look at what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business.
And we’ll look at ways and methods to identify the demographics, interests, and pain points of our target audience, create user personas for our business, and understand the buyer’s journey and what type of content will be most relevant and valuable to our audience at each different stage.
In module 4, we’ll use our target audience information to set content goals.
First, we’ll define our business goals, then we’ll align our content strategy with our business goals, and determine what we want to achieve with our content. For example, drive traffic, generate leads, build brand awareness, etc.
We’ll then set SMART goals for our content that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
In module 5, we’ll decide which content types and formats will best help us reach our goals.
We’ll choose the types of content that will be most effective for achieving our goals and resonating with our audience, such as blog posts, videos, infographics, ebooks, podcasts, etc., and consider the format and delivery of our content. For example, digital content delivered online, in-person, in print format, and so on.
This will help us to identify the types of content that our business is currently producing, assess the performance of our existing content, and identify gaps in our current content offerings.
We’ll cover topics like planning out the frequency, topics, and distribution of our content, coordinating with other teams and stakeholders to ensure a consistent and cohesive content plan, deciding which content management tools to use, establishing a content publishing schedule, and assigning tasks and deadlines to team members.
We’ll look at using a variety of sources and methods to generate content ideas such as using keyword research, customer feedback, industry events, etc., developing a workflow process, and how to follow best practices for creating high-quality and engaging content.
We’ll look at ways to identify the channels to distribute our content and create a content distribution plan. Develop a plan to promote our content using a variety of tactics to get the content in front of our target audience. For example, social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and so on, and using analytics and metrics to track the performance of our content, to measure the effectiveness of our content distribution efforts, and determine what is working and what needs improvement.
Here we tie in our goals, audience information, content types, and resources with workflow processes, tools & technologies, content performance and measurement, content documentation, security & storage.
In module 11, we look at troubleshooting and fixing issues with our content, our content strategy, and our content plan.
And in module 12 we’ll bring everything we’ve discussed in the course to a conclusion and discuss the next steps, plus we’ll look at some useful tips and resources.
So, as you can see this is a fairly comprehensive video course.
Now, here’s what I suggest you do to get the most out of this course.
First, go through the entire course and make sure to watch all of the modules and video lessons.
After watching the videos, refer to the online tutorials on ContentManagementCourse.com for more details.
I have spent over a year writing these lessons and tutorials and they are very comprehensive.
I also recommend subscribing to the free email course on the site for additional information related to this course, plus tips, links to useful resources, and updates.
So, that’s an overview of what this course is all about.
A content strategy is a plan for creating, publishing, and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to achieve specific business goals and objectives.
A content strategy helps you define who your target audience is and understand their needs and interests, create the right content to address their needs and speak to their interests, determine the most effective channels for distributing your content — so this could be your website, social media, email marketing, or even offline channels like events or print materials, and track and measure performance so you can continue to improve your results.
So, basically, a content strategy provides an organized and sustainable plan to help your business reach its goals using content.
Now, there are many benefits to having a clear content strategy.
Let’s go through some of these.
So one of the main benefits is consistency. Ensuring consistency in the quality, tone, and style of your content helps to build trust with your audience and establish your brand as a reliable source of information.
Another benefit is improved audience targeting. A content strategy helps to identify your target audience and create content that’s tailored specifically to their needs and interests.
Also, increased brand awareness: Publishing content of a consistently high quality helps to increase awareness of your brand and establish your business as a thought leader in your industry.
Another benefit is greater customer engagement. By providing valuable and relevant content, you can better engage and build relationships with your customers, which can lead to increased loyalty and greater customer retention.
Also, higher search engine rankings. Optimizing your website’s content for search engines leads to higher search rankings and increased organic traffic.
Another benefit is enhanced reputation management. By proactively managing your brand’s reputation, you ensure that all content will align with your brand values and messaging.
Also, increased sales and conversions. By providing valuable and relevant content, you can drive more traffic to your website and convert more visitors into customers.
A content strategy also helps to improve internal communication. Aligning the goals and messaging of different teams within your organization helps to improve internal communication and collaboration.
Also streamlined content creation. A content strategy helps to streamline the content creation process by defining the types of content that will be created, who will create it, and how it will be distributed.
And finally, reduced costs. A content strategy helps you avoid wasting time and resources creating ineffective or redundant content and lets you focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with your target audience.
So, those are some of the key benefits of developing an effective content strategy.
Without a content strategy, your business will just drift aimlessly like a rudderless ship in a vast ocean of digital information.
A content strategy provides the map and the compass that helps you navigate this sea of information and reach your destination.
So, my aim for this course is not just to give you a map and a compass, but a complete GPS content navigation system for your business.
In the next video training module, we’ll look at what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business.
So, thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free 12-part video course.
How To Create An Effective Content Strategy For Your Business – Free Video Course
Learn how to create an effective content strategy for your business with this free 12-part video course.
Welcome to our free video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
In this course, you will learn the key principles and best practices for creating a successful content strategy that drives results for your business.
Whether you are a small business owner, marketer, or content creator, this course will provide you with the tools and knowledge you need to create and execute a content strategy that is tailored to your business goals.
Content is a critical component of any successful marketing strategy, and an effective content strategy is essential for building brand awareness, engaging your audience, and driving business results.
In this course, you will learn how to develop a content strategy that aligns with your business goals, resonates with your target audience, and drives results.
From defining your target audience and identifying your business goals to creating a content calendar and measuring your success, this course will walk you through the entire process of creating an effective content strategy. You will also learn about the different types of content, how to create and promote content, and how to measure your success.
So, whether you are just starting out or looking to improve your existing content strategy, this course is for you. By the end of this course, you will have the skills and knowledge you need to create an effective content strategy that drives results for your business.
This free and comprehensive video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business consists of 12 video lessons with links to detailed step-by-step online tutorials for all topics covered in the lessons.
***
Video Course Description
Part 1 provides an overview of the course modules, what a content strategy is, why your business needs one, and the benefits of having a clear content strategy.
Part 2 covers what you need to know and do before you can create an effective content strategy for your business. Learn about the challenges of managing content effectively and what you need to put in place first.
Part 3 looks at ways and methods to identify the demographics, interests, and pain points of your target audience, create user personas for your business, and understand the buyer’s journey and what types of content will be most relevant and valuable to your audience at each different stage of their journey.
Part 4 covers how to use your target audience information to set SMART goals for your content, plus defining your business goals, aligning your content strategy with your business goals, and determining what you want to achieve with your content (e.g. drive traffic, generate leads, build brand awareness, etc.)
Part 5 covers deciding which content types and formats will best help your business reach its goals.
Part 6 discusses effective ways and tools to do a content audit to identify the types of content your business is currently producing, assess the performance of your existing content, and identify gaps and opportunities in your current content offerings.
Part 7 covers creating a content plan – what a content plan is, why your business needs one, and how to create a content plan for your business.
Part 8 covers creating a content production plan specifying the strategy and the schedule your business will use to create and publish its content.
Part 9 covers creating a content promotion plan specifying the strategy and tactics your business will use to distribute and promote its content.
Part 10 covers creating a content management plan specifying the processes your business will use to manage and maintain its content.
Part 11 covers troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content, your content strategy, and your content plan.
Part 12 provides a recap of the course, discusses the next steps for implementing a content strategy for your business, and provides useful tips and resources.
Click the links in the gallery below the video to visit lesson pages with the video and a full transcript with screenshots…
This lesson provides a recap of the course, discusses the next steps for implementing a content strategy for your business, and provides useful tips and resources.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is module 12 and it’s the last lesson in our video series.
In our previous lessons, we covered all the steps we need to develop a strategy that will allow us to create, promote, and manage our content effectively.
We also looked at how to troubleshoot any problems and issues that can affect our content’s performance and results.
In this final lesson, I want to recap what we have covered in this course, talk about the next steps to take after creating a content strategy and provide links to additional information and useful resources.
If your business has done everything that we’ve talked about in this course and put all of the right foundations in place, developed a content strategy, created a sound content plan, and implemented plans to create, promote, and manage your content effectively, then you can expect your content to perform well and deliver your business great results.
And here is why your business can expect this.
Your business is thinking about content strategically. Strategic thinking lets you adapt and respond quickly to changes. You don’t change your destination, you just change the methods and tactics you are using to get there.
You can also expect great results if your business has set clear goals and objectives and you understand your audience’s needs, interests, and pain points, then create the right content, delivered at the right stage of their buyer journey, in the right type and format, and distribute it using the right channels, so that your content production and promotion are fully aligned with your business goals and your audience’s needs.
And you can also expect great results if your business uses documented systems to create, promote, manage, track, measure, and improve its content, and has a methodical approach to troubleshoot and fix issues.
This is what an effective content strategy aims to do. It lets you examine every area of your business that involves using content and make sure that everyone involved is aligned with the right goals and objectives and is working toward achieving these.
Now, I admit that this is not easy to do, especially if your business is already going full steam ahead and hasn’t put in place the systems and processes that we’ve discussed in this course…
…but this is the map that will get your business there and deliver you success using content.
So, now that you know what the purpose of having a content strategy is and how to create one, where do you go from here?
Well, if you plan to start a business or a website and haven’t started yet, then the first thing you need to do is put all the right business foundations in place, develop a content strategy, and create and implement plans to produce, promote, and manage your content effectively, as shown in this course.
And if your business is already going full steam ahead and it hasn’t put in place the systems and processes that we’ve discussed in this course, then that’s what you need to do next.
However poorly you do it, any attempt to develop and implement a content strategy with plans, systems, and documented processes is better than none at all.
The worst thing that can happen if you attempt to develop a content strategy for a business that hasn’t got one is that it will show you why your business actually needs one.
So, once you have this awareness, you can begin to do something about it.
So, regardless of whether you are planning to start a business or trying to manage content for an existing business, here are the practical steps that I recommend taking next…
First, I suggest that you review all of the video course lessons and any accompanying notes that are included with this course.
Next, go through all of the detailed tutorials that expand on these lessons. They are all available for free on ContentManagementCourse.com.
If you haven’t already, I also suggest that you register for the content management course email lessons on the site. It’s also 100% free and it will take you step-by-step through everything you need to know to manage content for your business or website effectively.
I have created another comprehensive email course on how to generate new content ideas for your website, blog, or newsletter. It’s also completely free to subscribe and will help you create an endless content pipeline for your business.
If your business uses WordPress as its content management system, I have created detailed step-by-step tutorials on how to use WordPress that you can access for free at WPTrainingManual.com
And I also run a site that provides thousands of video lessons that will help you develop digital business skills and master using WordPress. This site is not free but there’s a very low subscription price, so it’s extremely affordable.
So, I hope that you have found this video course instructive, useful, and practical.
I’m Martin Aranovitch, thank you for watching, and make sure to review the accompanying notes for ways to stay connected and updated.
Also, make sure to visit ContentManagementCourse.com for additional information and comprehensive tutorials that expand on everything we’ve covered in his course.
This lesson covers troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content, your content strategy, and your content plan.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is module 11.
In the previous lessons, we looked at creating a content strategy and implementing plans for creating, promoting, and managing your content.
Now, what we want to do is look at what we can do if our content strategy isn’t working as expected, and how we can troubleshoot and find ways to fix any issues related to our content.
So, in this lesson, I’m going to introduce you to a systematic approach for troubleshooting content-related issues.
We’ll look at the general principles of this approach, and then look at how to troubleshoot issues with your content strategy and your content plan.
Everything covered in this lesson is documented in detail in a Content Troubleshooting Guide that you can refer to by visiting the link on your screen.
So here is the simple model we’ll use.
Basically, it’s a drill-down approach. So, when you run into a problem with your content, we start at the top to see if we can address, correct and eliminate the problem at that level, and if we can’t fix it at that level, we then drill down to the next level below it and start diagnosing the issue at that level, and so on.
Now, before we get into this, let me show you what I believe is the most important slide of this entire course.
Ok, this chart looks very simple, but if you really get it and understand what it means, you will realize that it is the key to fixing not only problems related to your content but also most of the problems in your business too!
And I’m not exaggerating here about the importance of understanding this chart. I showed this same chart to someone who was struggling to grow their business many years ago and it completely transformed their business.
Every business has three levels of decision-making and you can’t get away from this. So, even if you are just a one-person business, your business still has these three levels. You’ll just have to wear three different hats when making business decisions.
So let’s go through these.
The executive level is where strategic decisions get made, like defining your business vision and setting targets, goals and objectives.
The managerial level is where decisions get made that affect how your business will achieve the strategic goals and targets set by the executive level.
Now many people think that the managerial level is about managing people, but that’s the wrong approach.
Managerial-level decisions should be about implementing and managing the systems that the business will use to achieve its strategic goals and objectives.
So it’s about managing systems, not people.
And the tactical or technical level is where people do the actual work that will help the business realize its vision and achieve its goals and objectives.
At this level, people should be trained to follow the systems put in place by the management level, to hit the targets and goals set by the strategic level.
So, ideally, the way this works is that the executive level sets a strategic target, like for example “to increase annual sales by 20%”.
The managerial level then figures out which systems the business needs to put in place to achieve that 20% increase in sales.
The managerial level then also implements those systems and makes sure that the people hired to fill the tactical or technical roles have the skills and the training to operate those systems because when they do that, it will help to achieve the vision and goals set at the executive level.
Now, let me show you why understanding this is so important to fixing problems in your business like content-related issues.
So, let’s say that you have a small business and you want to grow your business with content marketing.
So you put together a content team with an editor, a couple of content writers, an illustrator with video-making skills, and a marketer who can do email marketing and social media marketing.
So everything is going well. Your team is publishing regular articles and blog posts, posting social media updates, uploading videos online, sending out newsletters, and so on.
A few months down the track, your manager informs you that the content is not really performing too well in terms of generating new leads, increasing engagement, and improving conversions.
And your content team also tells you that they’ve run out of content ideas and that the content pipeline has run dry.
So now we have a couple of serious problems on our hands.
We’re running out of new content ideas and our existing content isn’t delivering us the results that we need.
This is all costing us time and money so we need to find a solution.
At this point, many businesses kind of get stuck and start looking at short-term solutions.
So you can start running regular brainstorming sessions with your team each week to try and keep your content pipeline going, but if your content is not delivering the results you need, then just creating content for content’s sake isn’t going to fix anything.
It’s also kind of hard to know what to do to improve things like increase traffic from organic search or get more engagement on social media or convert traffic into sales if all you have is lots of data from analytics reports, but no systems or processes in place for turning this data into specific actions.
So what do you do to fix these problems?
Let’s go back to our chart with the three levels of decision-making and let’s map it on top of this scenario, and let’s see if it can help us troubleshoot and fix these problems.
First, if you really understand what this chart is about, you will see straight away why asking your writers to brainstorm new content ideas to create a content pipeline is not going to fix your issues and improve your results.
Why? Because you’re asking people at the tactical level to fix issues that should have been addressed at the strategic and managerial levels.
So you can come up with new content ideas all day long but if the content isn’t helping your business grow, then you’re just wasting valuable time, money, and resources.
But you can’t brainstorm new content ideas unless you first have a clear idea of what you are aiming to achieve, of who your target audience is, what kind of content you should be focusing on, and so on.
All of these questions need to be answered by the managerial level in the form of a content plan spelling out in nitty-gritty detail what kind of content needs to be written, how it should be delivered, and so on.
But the managerial level can’t create an effective content plan if the executive level hasn’t defined a content strategy with realistic and achievable goals and objectives, allocated sufficient budget for resources, tools, and training, and so on.
So the point here is, if your content pipeline runs dry, it’s not the responsibility of people at the tactical level to fix the issue. The responsibility is at the managerial level.
A business owner has the big picture of their business but everyone below that level doesn’t.
So, your editor and your content writers, they don’t have the big picture, which means that putting them in charge of your content strategy is only going to create more problems.
And if your content isn’t performing well, the problem may not even be at the managerial level. It could be at the strategic level, which is the responsibility of the business owners to fix.
This is where many businesses say “well… I’m too busy trying to run other parts of the business to fix content issues and come up with new content ideas – that’s why we hired all these content experts!”
Well, how can you blame the body for following a head that doesn’t know where it’s going?
So this is what this chart is telling you. That the executive level has to know where it’s going and the managerial level has to put the systems in place to help the business get there before your business can start putting people into tactical or technical roles and giving them responsibilities for getting the work done.
Without putting those foundations in place, your business will just keep running into problems.
This is why outsourcing areas of your business like content production, content promotion, or even content management to a digital agency or freelance writers without first putting systems in place to manage the outsourcing process can often lead to poor results.
The chart tells you that an external digital agency is not part of the executive level of the business and so they shouldn’t make executive-level decisions, and that freelance writers won’t build managerial-level systems that will help the business realize its vision, so a lot of the time, what businesses think is outsourcing is really just abdicating their responsibility for making executive and managerial-level decisions.
Once you know which level is responsible for doing what in the business, you can start troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content.
Until this happens, any short-term fixes are really just a game of “passing the buck” where nothing is really going to get fixed in the long run.
So, now that we understand this, let’s apply our content troubleshooting approach and see how we would solve the issues of getting our content pipeline running again and improve our content’s performance.
So we’ll use our simple content troubleshooting model and map our chart of decision-making levels on top of it.
As I mentioned earlier, this is a top-down approach, so we’ll start at the top by making sure that our basic business principles are in place.
This means looking at things like:
Has the business clearly defined its vision, mission, and core values?
Has the business set clear, realistic, and achievable goals and objectives?
Does it have a business plan, marketing strategy, and marketing plan that flow logically from its vision, mission, and core values?
Is there an allocated budget for resources and is it realistic?
Are the business and marketing plans aligned with the goals and objectives of the business?
And more importantly, is all of this documented and accessible to everyone in the business?
If all of the above are not in place, then the business is going to experience problems at the levels of implementation.
Let’s assume, then, that everything checks out at the foundational level, so the next level to look at is your content strategy.
As you can see from this chart, creating a content strategy is an executive-level responsibility.
The managerial and tactical levels can be involved and contribute to the content strategy, but the responsibility for setting the overall strategy for the long-term vision and direction of the content ultimately lies with the executive level.
So let’s look at some of the key areas to assess and review when troubleshooting our content strategy.
I’ve listed here a number of areas that can lead to content issues when certain things aren’t addressed at the content strategy level.
You will notice that many of these areas will also show up at the managerial level, i.e. the content plan, but for different reasons.
For example, if poor search engine optimization is identified as an issue that’s affecting your content performance, the strategic level is responsible for outlining in its content strategy that all content must follow SEO best practices.
The managerial level then has to figure out what these SEO best practices are and put together the SEO systems, guides, and guidelines that the content team should follow to make sure that SEO best practices are being implemented.
Another example is the allocation of resources.
Your content strategy might allocate a budget for content marketing based on their total budget for all business areas, but when the managerial level tries to implement their plans, they might find that their allocated budget is insufficient to cover all of the costs needed to meet the content strategy’s specifications, like hiring or training new content team members, investing in tools and technologies, and covering production costs like creating high-quality videos, and so on.
In this case, either the executive level needs to find and allocated additional funds or re-evaluate their specifications.
So as before, let’s assume that our content strategy has all of these areas covered, but that our content team still has no content pipeline and that our content isn’t performing as well as expected.
So, we have to go down one more level and see if we can try to locate the issues at the level of the content plan.
Here are some of the key areas to look at when troubleshooting your content plan.
What you will find with most of the areas listed here, is that the real time-consuming work of building systems, processes, and procedures to make the content strategy work is the managerial level’s responsibility. The executive and tactical levels can be involved in helping to document the content plan, but it’s not the responsibility of the content team to create it.
So, with areas like no content measuring or evaluating, a content strategy will tell us which metrics are important to track, but setting up the systems, processes, and tools to measure and report on those metrics is a managerial-level responsibility.
A content manager might choose to create and run those systems themselves, or assign it to someone else in the team, or even to outsource the task to experts, but it is their responsibility to create a content plan first that addresses all of these areas.
So the point here is that these are all managerial-level decisions and responsibilities. And if any of these areas is deficient, then your content team will struggle to have an ongoing pipeline and your business will struggle to improve its content performance.
Your business will keep running into problems if managers are trying to manage people instead of putting systems and processes in place for tactical and technical-level roles to follow.
So if the strategic level has clearly outlined the metrics that are important to track in its content strategy and the managerial level has implemented an effective content tracking system as per their content plan, and the same thing has been done for all of the other important areas like understanding the target market, defining content types, setting guidelines for your content, branding, SEO, etc. then you should be able to identify and pinpoint exactly what’s causing the issue with a content pipeline or with your content performance.
You would have all the systems in place for creating, promoting, and managing your content effectively and your content team would know what content topics and themes they should be focusing on.
This is where and when they can help brainstorm new content ideas to keep the content pipeline running.
If everything at the content plan level is fine and there are still issues, then the next step is to drill further down into your content plan and look at the specific components like your content production plan, your content promotion plan, and your content management plan.
Once again, creating these is the responsibility of the managerial level.
So, for example, if having no content pipeline is still an issue, you would look at your content production plan and see if there are any issues or problems like poorly-defined production workflow processes, or a lack of documented procedures, or are people just not following the documented processes and guidelines, or is there no content calendar, or are there unclear roles and responsibilities, or lack of skills or training in using the right tools, and so on.
Now, if your content performance hasn’t improved after reviewing your content plan, then you would look at your content promotion plan and see if there are any issues or problems like whether your team is following the marketing plan, if they have access to analytics data and reports and can understand the metrics, if they are using the right distribution channels and the right tools to track content performance, improve SEO, and so on.
Similarly, if after drilling all the way down there are still issues, then you would go through your content management plan and review whether any areas here are causing issues.
For example, issues at this level may be related to poor organization, poor time management, work overload, blurry roles and responsibilities, or a lack of documentation, or even issues with content tracking and content protection, poor content linking practices, failures to backup content, a lack of knowledge of using management tools, and so on.
So, in summary,
Understanding the three levels of decision-making in a business is very important, as it helps to work out who is responsible for doing what in your business.
Use a top-down approach to diagnose and troubleshoot issues with your content. This is an effective approach because as you address and eliminate issues at the higher levels, your business will experience fewer problems and get better results as time goes on.
Also, keep in mind that most content-related issues are caused by the lack of a well-defined content strategy, so the more you focus on getting your content strategy clear from the outset, the fewer problems you will experience later in other areas of your business.
And finally, keep in mind that your content strategy is really an outline of the work that needs to be done but most of the time-consuming work of implementing the strategy is done at the managerial level, such as documenting system, processes, and guidelines, making sure that the content team is trained to follow systems, guidelines, and procedures, and troubleshooting and fixing issues with your content systems.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, you can refer to the comprehensive Content Troubleshooting Guide and tutorials on ContentManagementCourse.com if you need help with any of these areas.
So, that’s all for this video.
In the next and final lesson, we’ll wrap up this course with a recap and useful tips and suggestions for taking the next steps.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
This lesson covers creating a content management plan specifying the processes your business will use to manage and maintain its content.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is module 10.
In the previous lesson, we looked at creating a content promotion plan for your business.
In this lesson, we’ll look at creating and implementing a content management plan.
This is the part of the content plan that determines how we’ll manage and maintain all of the content that we create, publish, and promote.
In this lesson, we’ll cover what a content management plan is, why your business needs it, and how to create one for your business.
So, what is a content management plan?
A content management plan is a document that outlines the processes your business will use to manage and maintain all of its content.
It includes your content management goals and objectives, information about your target audience, the types of content and distribution channels that you will manage, and the KPIs that will be used to measure the success of your content management practices.
Now, why does your business need a content management plan?
It needs a content management plan because it helps your business to…
Manage all the content it produces, from initial idea to final publication.
Also, to make roles and responsibilities of team members and stakeholders clear.
Establish a consistent workflow to ensure content is accurate, on-brand, and on time.
It helps you track your content performance over time, ensuring that content goals are being met and that your target audience is being reached.
It also helps to ensure that your content is organized, easily searchable, and retrievable, saving your business time and resources and providing a consistent customer experience.
Also, it helps to avoid duplication of effort and ensures compliance with legal or regulatory requirements.
And it also helps your business to stay consistent and on-brand with your messaging.
So, in short, your content management plan is a strategy for organizing, storing, and maintaining your business content. It helps your business keep its content organized, ensuring that it stays up-to-date and relevant, and making it easily accessible to the people who need it.
So now that we have a basic understanding of what a content management plan is and why your business needs it, let’s look at how to create one.
I’ve outlined here the main steps and suggestions for creating a content management plan.
Like in our previous lessons, I’m only going to touch briefly on these points, because we’ve already covered many of the steps listed here in our Content Plan lesson in module 7.
If you need help with these steps, visit the link on the screen for a detailed tutorial.
So, how do we create a content management plan?
First, we need to define our content management goals. For example, it may be improving your website traffic or increasing customer engagement.
Next, we make an inventory of all of our existing content, including formats, topics, and target audience, and we covered this in Module 6.
To manage your content effectively, you’ll need to develop a content strategy and this is the central focus of our video course. Creating a content strategy includes outlining your content goals, defining your target audience, your content topics, content types and formats, and a whole lot more.
Next, establish a content workflow and document the processes your business will use to create, review, edit, and publish content.
Set up a content calendar with your content publishing schedule.
Document the roles and responsibilities involved in creating, editing, publishing, and promoting your content.
Use a content management system to organize, store, and distribute your content.
Document your SEO Guidelines. Include best SEO practices, links to SEO courses, resources, tutorials, etc.
Use analytics tools to track and analyze your content performance and gather insights for future content.
Review and update to make sure your content stays fresh and relevant.
Collaborate and communicate with your team members and stakeholders to ensure that your content stays aligned with your overall goals and objectives.
Document all of your processes to ensure that anyone can manage your content to the highest quality standards set by your business.
Make regular content backups to keep your content safe and protected and to ensure business continuity, and
Continuously monitor and improve your content management processes.
In terms of choosing a content management system for your business, I recommend that you consider using a platform like WordPress.
WordPress is the most popular content management system platform in the world,
Over one-third of all websites in fact run on WordPress.
WordPress is a free, open-source CMS, which means it’s infinitely expandable with add-ons, which WordPress calls plugins.
WordPress is also actively supported by a community of thousands of web developers, so it’s always being updated with new features and bug fixes, which means that it’s secure.
And you can build any kind of website you can imagine with WordPress. From company websites and blogs to full-featured e-commerce stores, private membership sites, business directories, and so much more!
Plus, WordPress is easy-to-use and requires no coding skills.
You can learn more about using content management systems by following the link on the screen.
More importantly, if your website runs on WordPress, I have created comprehensive and detailed step-by-step tutorials on how to use WordPress.
You can access these tutorials for free at WPTrainingManual.com. Just visit the link on the slide for more details.
x
Also, in terms of content organization, you’ll want to implement systems that will improve your efficiency and user experience, that will save you time and money, and that will help your business maximize its resources.
So, see the link on your screen for a detailed tutorial on ways to organize your content.
And regarding documenting, backing up, and protecting your content, I have also written comprehensive tutorials covering each of these areas, so if you need help with any of these areas visit the links on the screen.
So, in summary,
A content management plan specifies the processes for managing and maintaining your content.
It also includes your goals and objectives for managing your content, information about your target audience, the content types and the distribution channels that you will manage, and the KPIs you will use to measure your content.
Follow the steps discussed in this lesson to create and implement a content management plan for your business and if you need help or want to see an example of a content management plan, check out the tutorials listed on the screen.
So, that’s all for this lesson.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to troubleshoot and fix issues with your content strategy.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
This lesson covers creating a content promotion plan specifying the strategy and tactics your business will use to distribute and promote its content.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
x
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is module 9.
In the previous lesson, we looked at creating a content production plan for your business.
In this lesson, we’ll look at creating and implementing a content promotion plan.
This is the part of the content plan that determines how we’ll promote and get our content in front of our target audiences.
So in this lesson, we’ll cover what a content promotion plan is, why your business needs it, and how to create one for your business.
So, what is a content promotion plan?
A content promotion plan is a document that outlines the strategy and tactics your business will use to distribute and promote its content.
It includes your content promotion goals and objectives, information about your target audience, the types of content you will produce, the distribution channels that you will use to get your content out there, and the KPIs or key performance indicators that will be used to measure the success of your content promotion activities.
Now, why does your business need a content promotion plan?
Your business needs a content promotion plan because it helps your business to:
Reach and engage your target audience more effectively.
Helps to maximize the impact of the content you produce.
It helps to allocate resources and budgets more efficiently toward content promotion.
It helps to track your content’s performance over time.
It helps to identify & leverage the most effective distribution channels to reach your target audience.
And it helps you to stay consistent and on-brand with your messaging.
So in short, your content promotion plan tells you how to get the word out about your content, increase its visibility and drive engagement and conversions.
So now that we have a basic understanding of what a content promotion plan is and why your business needs it, let’s look at how to create one.
I’ve outlined here the main steps and suggestions for creating a content promotion plan.
Like in our previous lessons, I’m only going to touch briefly on these points, because many of these steps have already been covered in our Content Plan lesson in module 7.
If you need help with these steps, visit the link on the screen for a detailed tutorial.
So, to create a content production plan we’ll need to…
Define our goals for promoting our content, for example, increase website traffic, generate leads, etc.
Identify our target audience: Where are they are most likely to be found?
Create a plan for distributing our content through various channels, for example, social media, email, videos, paid advertising, etc.
Use a promotion calendar or scheduling tool to plan out when and how to promote each published piece of content.
Optimize content for search engines
Share the content on social media platforms and encourage followers to share it.
And you may also want to reach out to influencers in your industry and ask them to share your content with their audience.
Also, you can leverage email and video marketing, so include the content in your email newsletter and send it to your email subscribers.
And upload and share your videos on video-sharing platforms
And also you can consider using paid promotions like Google Ads or Facebook ads, to reach a larger audience.
Additionally, set metrics and use analytics tools to track and analyze your promotions and gather insights for future campaigns.
Repurpose and refresh your content with new information and insights to reach new audiences and keep your existing audiences engaged.
And continuously monitor and improve your promotion strategy based on your results and feedback.
So, in summary…
Your content promotion plan specifies the strategy and schedule for promoting and distributing your content, and it includes your goals and objectives for promoting your content, information about your target audience, the content types that you will create, your distribution channels, and the key performance indicators you will use to measure the success of your content promotion efforts.
Follow the steps presented in this lesson to create and implement a content promotion plan for your business and if you need help or want to see an example of a content promotion plan, check out the tutorials listed on the screen.
So that’s all for this lesson.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to create a content management plan for your business.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
This lesson covers creating a content production plan specifying the strategy and the schedule your business will use to create and publish its content.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is module 8.
In the previous lesson, we looked at creating a content plan so we can start implementing our content strategy.
In this lesson, we’ll look at creating and implementing a content production plan.
This is the part of the content plan that determines how we’ll create and produce all the content in our business.
So in this lesson, we’ll cover what a content production plan is, why your business needs it, and how to create one for your business.
So, what is a content production plan?
A content production plan is a document that outlines the strategy and schedule your business will use to create and publish its content.
It includes your content production goals and objectives, information about your target audience, the types of content you will produce, the distribution channels that you will use, and the KPIs or key performance indicators that will be used to measure the success of your content production efforts.
Ok. Now that we know what a content production plan is, why does your business need one?
Your business needs one because it helps your business to:
Align its content efforts with its overall marketing and business goals.
It also ensures the creation of relevant, valuable, and engaging content for your target audience.
It helps you allocate resources and budget more efficiently towards content creation.
Helps you track content performance over time.
Helps you to identify and fill gaps in your content offerings.
And it helps you stay consistent and on-brand with your messaging.
So in short, a content production plan is a detailed plan that outlines the specific actions and resources that your business will use to create and publish content.
So now that we have a basic understanding of what a content production plan is and why your business needs it, let’s look at how to create one.
I’ve outlined here the main steps to creating a content production plan.
I’m only going to touch briefly on these points here, because many of these steps have already been covered in the Content Plan lesson in module 7.
If you need help, I’ve also written a detailed tutorial covering these steps, just visit the link on the screen.
So to create a content production plan, we need to…
Review our content plan and make sure that we have a clear understanding of our audience, goals, topics, and distribution channels.
We also have to assign roles and responsibilities, which means deciding who will be responsible for each aspect of the content creation process, like who will do the research, writing, editing, design, etc.
We also need a calendar or a scheduling tool to plan out when each piece of content will be created, reviewed, and published.
Another important step is to create a detailed workflow outlining the specific steps that will be taken for each piece of content. This should include research, writing, editing, design, and distribution. We’ll cover this in the next slide.
Also, outline the process for creating each type of content. Identify the tools, resources, and steps required to create different types of content, such as blog posts, videos, podcasts, infographics, etc.
And, finally, review and optimize. Review the content production plan regularly and make adjustments when needed. Use the metrics defined in your content plan to measure the success of your content and to make changes that will help to improve your results over time.
In terms of defining our workflow, we want to outline the processes for creating, reviewing, editing, and publishing content for each different type of content that we will create.
Obviously creating an article for a blog requires a different process than creating a video, so when we outline the workflow for each content type, we need to define things like:
The steps involved
Who is responsible for doing each step and what each step involves doing
How and when should a process move to the next step
What formats, guidelines, and procedures need to be followed to ensure that consistent standards are maintained
How and when to deliver each step, and so on.
For more information about outlining and documenting workflow processes visit the links on the screen.
Another thing to keep in mind when creating your content production plan is to include different methods like content repurposing.
Content repurposing is the process of taking existing content and adapting it for use on different platforms or in different formats.
This can include things like turning a blog post into a video, or republishing an article on a different website or creating an infographic from a research report, and many other forms, such as the examples listed here.
Repurposing content helps you get the most out of the content you have already created, maximizing your resources, and helping you reach new audiences.
The link on this screen has more information about repurposing content.
Coming up with ideas for your content can be a challenging part of the content creation process. But with the right sources, resources, and methods, you can generate a steady stream of ideas to keep your content fresh and engaging.
I recommend visiting ContentManagementCourse.com and signing up for my free and comprehensive email course on how to keep coming up with endless new content ideas for your website articles, blog posts, and newsletters.
So, in summary…
A content production plan specifies the strategy and schedule for creating and publishing your content, and it typically includes the goals and objectives for your content, information about your target audience, the content types that you will create, your distribution channels, and the KPIs that will be used to measure the success of your content production efforts.
Follow the steps discussed in this lesson to create and implement a content production plan for your business and if you need help or want to see an example of a content production plan, check out the tutorials listed on the screen.
Also, make sure to sign up for the free content ideas creation email course so you’ll never run out of content ideas.
So, that’s all for this lesson.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at creating a content promotion plan for your business.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
This lesson covers creating a content plan – what a content plan is, why your business needs one, and how to create a content plan for your business.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is module 7.
In the previous lesson, we looked at doing a content audit, which is taking an inventory of all of our existing content.
In this lesson, we’ll look at how to create a content plan so we can start implementing our content strategy in our business.
So, this is where we take all of the information we’ve been compiling about our audience, setting content goals, choosing content types, and doing a content audit, and we put it all together into a cohesive and actionable plan.
In this lesson, we are going to cover what a content plan is, why your business needs one, and how to create a content plan that will deliver your business results.
So, what is a content plan?
A content plan is a document that specifies what content your business will create to target your audience at all stages of their buyer journey, and how this content will be created, distributed, and managed.
A content plan also outlines…
who is responsible for creating the content,
what the purpose of the content is, and
how the content impacts your content strategy
The difference between a content plan and a content strategy, is that a content strategy is the overarching plan for creating, publishing, and managing content that aligns with the goals and objectives of your organization.
A content strategy defines the goals for the content, the audience it will target, and the overall tone and style of the content.
A content plan, on the other hand, is the tactical plan for executing your content strategy.
A content plan outlines the specific pieces of content that will be created, the channels through which they will be distributed, and the schedule for publishing and promoting your content. It also includes tasks and responsibilities for creating, editing, and publishing your content.
So, in short, a content strategy tells us the why and what, and a content plan tells us the how and when.
Now, why does your business need a content plan?
Your business needs a content plan to ensure that the right systems and workflow processes are put in place to create the right content, for the right audience, at the right time, using the right distribution channels, to help your business achieve its strategic goals.
So essentially, the goal of the content plan is to deliver the goals of the content strategy.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what a content plan is and why our business needs one, let’s look at how to create a content plan.
Here I’ve outlined 12 steps to creating a content plan and I’m just going to touch on these briefly in this lesson because I’ve written a comprehensive tutorial that covers all of these steps in detail and you can go through each of these at your own pace by visiting the link on the screen.
So in Step 1, we ask the question “what do we want our content to achieve?” Are we looking to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? We covered this step in module 4 of this course.
We also covered Step 3 which content types to focus on in module 5, so if you need help in those areas, just go back and review those modules.
So let’s take a brief look, then, at Steps 2, 4, and 5, which is setting the frequency, topics, and distribution of our content.
And these are the questions that we need to ask
How often should we be publishing new content?” This will tell us the frequency.
What content should we be writing or talking about?” This will tell us the topics to write about, and
How should we be getting our content out into the world?” This will tell us the distribution methods.
So let’s look at frequency first.
It’s important to find a sustainable balance between producing enough content to keep your audience engaged, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming or low quality.
It also depends on the type of business you’re in. For example, if you run a news website, you’ll probably need to publish multiple articles a day to keep up with the latest developments. On the other hand, if you’re running a personal blog or a small business, you might only have the capacity to publish once or twice a week or a few times a month.
So, it’s important to consider our audience, our resources, and our goals when determining the frequency of our content. In general, it’s a good idea to find a frequency that we can sustain over the long term. Consistency is key when it comes to content marketing, so it’s better to publish on a regular schedule rather than trying to push out as much content as possible and then burn out.
Next up, are the topics you should be writing or talking about. Again, this will depend on your goals and audience.
If you’re running a business, you’ll want to focus on topics that are relevant to your products or services. For example, if you sell outdoor gear, you might want to write about hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities.
It’s also a good idea to consider what your audience is interested in. You can use social media polls, surveys, and other tools to get a sense of what your followers want to see more of.
Finally, there’s distribution. There are many options to choose from when it comes to getting your content out, including social media, email newsletters, press releases, guest blogging on other websites, and so on.
So it’s important to find the right mix of distribution channels for your business or personal brand. For example, if you’re targeting a younger audience, you might want to focus on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. And if you’re targeting a more professional audience, you may want to target channels like LinkedIn.
Another important area of distribution is understanding that there are different types of distribution channels, like owned media, paid media, and earned media.
Owned media is content that you create, own, and have full and complete control over. Like blog posts and articles that you write and publish on your website.
Paid media is where you pay to promote your content. Like taking ads on Google and social media.
And then there’s earned media, which is content that someone else creates, and you don’t pay for it but it benefits your business. Like when someone posts a great review about your business.
You can read more about these distribution channels by visiting the link on the screen.
Our content plan needs to align with our content strategy, so if our content strategy includes paid media, this brings up the next step, which is how to allocate our resources.
So the two main areas we need to focus on here are financial and personnel resources.
Financial resources mostly come down to the budget allocated to create and distribute content and to invest in the right tools.
So, if our content strategy specifies using paid media to distribute our content and there’s no budget for paid media, we’re going to have a problem.
We either have to try and find the budget, or rework our content strategy and content plan to focus more on owned media like blog posts and articles.
Which brings up the issue of personnel resources.
So, what kind of content team can your business afford to put together?
Creating and promoting content involves many different skills and responsibilities.
Whatever talent you have available to create and promote content is going to have a tremendous impact on your content plan.
For example, I run a number of websites on my own and I also work with a team in my full-time job, and both of these have pros and cons.
Working with a content team, for example, requires having really effective communication.
So, to implement a content plan effectively with a team means that we need to establish a central point of contact. This can be a content manager or a designated member of the team.
We also need to set up regular meetings or check-ins with all relevant teams and stakeholders and establish clear guidelines and processes for creating and approving content.
We’ll cover some parts of this step in this lesson, like setting up a content calendar. But in the next lesson, we’ll talk about editorial guidelines and workflow processes for reviewing and approving content.
It’s also very important to choose the right tools to ensure that everyone has access to the latest version of the content plan.
So, this would be like a document management system and also setting up team communication channels so everyone can communicate effectively, especially if your team comprises of people working remotely.
This can be done using tools like Slack and email, plus tools for live meetings, conference calls, and online presentations, like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype, etc.
And we also need to choose our content management tools. These include Project Management Software like for example, Monday.com, or Asana, Jira, or Trello, and a Content Management System like WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla.
Once again, the tools you choose will depend on your budget, your needs, and how you’ve designed your workflow processes.
If you need more information about these tools, visit the links on the screen.
After choosing the tools your team will use to collaborate, communicate, and manage your content, the next step is to set up a content publishing schedule to organize and schedule your content creation and promotion activities.
Typically, this will be a tool that lets you set up and manage a content calendar or an editorial calendar.
Now, these terms are often used interchangeably, but an editorial calendar generally outlines each step of the process, while a content calendar usually covers one aspect, such as when posts are published or shared to social media.
If you’re just starting out, you can use a spreadsheet to track your content publishing schedule, but if keeping track of things starts to become too hard, you might want to use a calendar tool.
Some project management tools and content management systems also include scheduling features, so whichever method you choose, just make sure that everyone in your team can access the tool and that they know how to use it.
For a detailed tutorial on how to set up a content scheduling calendar, visit the link shown on the screen.
Now, we’re almost done setting up our content plan.
We just need to work out how to assign tasks and set deadlines for everyone who is involved in creating and promoting our content.
And here are some things to keep in mind.
First, we want to provide clear and detailed descriptions of the task and ensure that everyone on the team understands the expected outcomes.
So include any necessary resources or instructions.
Also, we want to take each team member’s skills and workload into consideration and make sure that we assign the task to the right person.
It’s also important to set realistic deadlines by learning to estimate accurately how long tasks will take to complete and how complex they are.
We also want to clearly communicate tasks and deadlines to assigned team members.
To do this, we can use team meetings, email, or a project management tool to follow up with team members and make sure they understand the task and have what they need to complete it.
And we also want to check in with our team members periodically to keep track of their progress, offer assistance and support, provide additional resources, and answer any questions they may have.
Finally, it’s important to create guidelines for assigning tasks to members that include all the points we’ve just discussed and add these guidelines to your workflow documentation.
The next step in creating your content plan is to include ways to measure content performance and content ROI, so you can see which parts of the plan are working and which areas will need improvement.
With content performance, we want to set up metrics to measure and analyze our content’s performance in areas like engagement, traffic, lead generation, conversions, bounce rates, and so.
We also want to set up ways to track revenue generated from our content and compare this to the costs of creating and promoting our content to work out our return on investment.
The links on the slide will take you to tutorials on how to set up content metrics, content tracking and a content measurement plan, and lists of tools you can use to measure your content performance.
Now the last step in creating our content plan is to schedule a periodic review of the plan itself to make sure that everything set out in the plan is progressing along, that all strategic goals are being met, and to figure out how to improve things if the goals are not being met.
So, in summary, a content plan tells us how and when to execute our content strategy.
Follow the steps we’ve covered in this lesson to create and implement a content plan for your business, and if you need help in any of these areas refer to the tutorials listed on the screen.
So, that’s all for this lesson.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to break our content plan into a content production plan, a content promotion plan, and a content management plan, so we can create, promote and manage our content more effectively.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
This lesson discusses effective ways and tools to do a content audit to identify the types of content your business is currently producing, assess the performance of your existing content, and identify gaps and opportunities in your current content offerings.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is Module 6.
In the previous lesson, we looked at the types of content we’ll need to produce to meet our audience’s needs and the goals we have set.
In this lesson, we’ll look at doing a content audit, which is taking an inventory of our existing content to see how it’s performing and to identify any gaps or opportunities that we may be missing.
Up to this point, the focus has been to get our thinking organized so we know who we are going to be creating content for, what types of content we’ll be creating, and what we want to achieve with our content.
Now, it’s time to take stock of where we are currently at, so we can plan where to go from here.
So.. how do we go about identifying the types of content that our business is currently producing?
The best way is by doing a content audit.
So in this lesson, we are going to look at what a content audit is and why your business needs one.
And we’ll also look at how to perform a content audit and tools that will help make this easier and faster.
So, what is a content audit?
A content audit is the process of systematically analyzing and evaluating our existing content’s performance and effectiveness.
It involves identifying and cataloging all of our content, evaluating its quality and relevance, and determining which content should be kept, updated, consolidated, or removed.
The goal of a content audit is to ensure that our content is aligned with our business goals and objectives and is providing value to our target audience.
So, why does your business need to perform a content audit? What are the benefits?
Well, there are a number of reasons for performing a content audit.
The first reason is to make sure that the content is aligned with your business goals.
By evaluating the relevance and effectiveness of your existing content, we can then identify areas that need to improve to better support the goals of the business.
Another reason is to improve user experience.
A content audit can help to identify content that is confusing, outdated, or irrelevant to users, which can negatively impact their experience.
By removing or updating this content, we can improve the overall experience of our visitors.
Another benefit is that it helps to identify gaps in our content and inform our future content strategy and planning activities.
A content audit also helps to improve SEO: By identifying and removing duplicate or low-quality content, we can improve our content’s search engine rankings and visibility.
And a content audit also provides insights to help evaluate our content performance in terms of engagement and conversions, and identify which content is resonating with our audience and which content isn’t.
So those are some of the reasons for performing a content audit.
Now, how do we actually perform one?
Well, the first step is to set some goals.
So, here are some general goals we’ll want to set.
First, we’ll want to start by identifying the purpose and the main objectives of the audit.
This could be to improve the user experience, increase conversions, or to align our content with the overall goals of our business.
Once we have identified the main objectives of our content audit, the next step is to define the specific goals and steps that will help us achieve those objectives.
For example, if our goal is to improve user experience, a specific goal could be to reduce the bounce rate on our website.
We’ll also want to set measurable targets to track our progress and evaluate the success of our audit.
For example, if our goal is to reduce the bounce rate on our website, then we’ll want to set a target percentage to achieve.
It’s also important to establish a timeline and set a deadline for achieving our goals.
It’s easy to get lost in all the little details and become overwhelmed once we start, so defining a time frame will help us to stay focused and motivated throughout the audit process.
We’ll also want to review and revise our results once the content audit is completed and evaluate whether the goals were met.
If they weren’t, we’ll need to revise our goals and identify any areas that need improvement.
Once we have set goals for our content audit, the next step is to perform an inventory of our existing content.
The aim of the content inventory is to basically take stock of all of our existing content … so, that means making a list of all of our blog posts and articles, videos, podcasts, social media posts, email newsletters, infographics, and any other types of content that we are currently outputting.
There are a number of tools that can help make this process easier and faster, and I’ve listed these in the URL shown on the screen.
After gathering and making an inventory of all our content, the next step is to organize and categorize it.
You can use a spreadsheet to document everything. You can create this spreadsheet from scratch or use a template.
There are content audit templates that you can download and I’ve added links to useful content audit templates in the slide.
In our spreadsheet, we simply create a column for every new category of data that we want to analyze, add each new content item from our inventory into a new row, and then just go across and fill in the information.
The table on the slide lists some of the items that you may want to include in your spreadsheet to categorize content-related, SEO, and performance elements.
And how you choose to organize and categorize your content and how much detail you want to record about each item is completely up to you.
At a minimum, you’ll want to list your content URLs, and add various useful categories, some metadata, and important metrics to track.
It’s also a good idea to categorize the content into different types. For example, written content, video content, social media posts, etc.
Also, if you review your content calendar – which we’ll talk about in another lesson, it will help you identify the types of content that your business is currently producing and planning to create in the near future.
After categorizing our content, we can then start to analyze our data.
Analyzing our content gives us a better understanding of the types of content our business is currently producing.
So we can begin by asking questions like:
Which topics or themes are we mostly focused on writing about?
Which content types are we mostly focused on creating?
How often are we producing this type of content?
What is the purpose of the content (is it to educate, entertain, generate leads, etc.)?
Who is its intended audience?
Which stage of the buyer journey is this content aimed at?
Which types of content perform the best?
Which types of content are most popular with our audience?
Are there any obvious gaps in the content that stand out, which we should be addressing and taking advantage of?
Do this for your web content, your social media channels, your email marketing, etc.
As you analyze your content, you can also record notes about each item to help your team decide what to do with it later on.
For example, you can mark items as having
Missing content. So, are there any topics that the content hasn’t covered which would be of interest to the audience?
Underperforming content. Looking at the numbers, are there any items that aren’t performing as well as they should?
Outdated content. Can the information be refined (or updated or reworked) to remain optimized and relevant to our audience?
Hit Content. This is content that’s performing well, and its metrics and results are meeting or exceeding all targets and expectations. So it can be left alone, as it’s already doing well.
A really useful tip is to use color coding where assigning colors to different categories in your analysis, then highlight the rows with these colors as you work through the spreadsheet.
So, for example, you can highlight items with missing content in a light red color, underperforming content in yellow, or outdated content in blue, and hit content in green.
This way, anyone looking at the spreadsheet will quickly be able to tell which items need attention and filter these for actioning later.
You can also use tools like Google Analytics and social media analytics tools to gather data on how your content is performing.
After analyzing the content, the next step is to classify it.
This step is important if you plan to rank content by priorities or include a timeline for your audit.
So, the goals that we defined earlier will help to prioritize what needs to be executed first.
For example, you may want to prioritize content from 1 to 5, and then define what happens to content assigned to each of these levels.
So, we would first classify all items as 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
Then, let’s say that all items ranked 1 are top-converting content and should be given top-priority treatment.
So, we analyze all priority treatment items, that is all items marked 1, further to find ways to do things like
Improve the content, for example, make sections clearer or more detailed, add supporting media like explainer videos, downloadable reports, etc.
Or improve search ranking through different SEO methods, for example, internal linking, more helpful content, etc.
Or improve traffic through social media, email newsletters, paid ads, content repurposing, etc.
So using this process, we can then specify that all items with a score lower than 3 should be transferred to a separate spreadsheet, analyzed in more detail, and assigned different highlight colors to determine whether the content should be updated, rewritten, or trashed.
Now. depending on how much content there is, you may also want to schedule it using a content production tool or your editorial calendar.
And the last step of the content audit process is to take action.
Here we evaluate our content and note what’s working and what isn’t.
Are you seeing desired results from your content like increased website traffic, leads, etc.? If not, what can be improved?
Look for opportunities for improvement and document your findings in your content strategy.
Ultimately, the objective of the content audit is to help you decide whether to keep, discard, refine, or develop content after analyzing each content item that you have inventoried.
So with each item of content, we would use our analysis data and notes to decide if we are going to keep or trash the item.
If we decide to trash the item, there are some things to consider, like whether the item has any kind of traffic or SEO value.
If so, we may want to redirect visitors to another content item before trashing it.
And if we decide to keep the item, does it need to be refined with a quick fix, a longer update, or even a complete rewrite?
Also, the audit may reveal missing gaps and opportunities to develop new content, repurpose existing content, like turning an article into a video or even consolidate a number of articles or blog posts on a similar topic into one authoritative long-form article or guide.
For more information on how to make the most from each of these options, please visit the tutorial listed on the screen.
Let me give you just a couple more tips before we move on…
After performing a content audit, list 5-10 immediate action steps and start getting to work on those right away.
Also, keep in mind that some actions that require little effort can deliver big results (like improving page structure or adding internal links to other content on your site), while other actions need a lot of effort but could deliver poor results (like spending weeks creating a downloadable guide or an eBook).
It’s also important to keep things manageable. As you can imagine, a content audit can turn into a huge and overwhelming task, especially if your business has already published lots of existing content already.
Ideally, performing a complete and thorough audit of your content is best. However, it’s completely up to you to decide which content you will audit, how you will do it, and what goals you are trying to achieve.
So for example if time is a limiting factor, you can break things down into smaller goals and audit only content that falls within a certain period of time (e.g. the previous 6-12 months), or content that meets only certain metrics (like your 50 most popular articles ranked by traffic or conversions), or audit only your website’s blog posts, etc.
Finally, after performing an initial content audit, you will want to schedule regular content reviews (e.g. perform an annual review), as this will continue delivering valuable insights on ways to improve not just your content strategy, but your website and your business too.
Now, let’s talk briefly about taking our content audit further.
A content audit doesn’t have to be limited only to content on your website.
You can also perform audits in areas like…
Offsite content assets. So if you’ve published content on external sites like infographics or slide decks, it’s a good idea to include as much data as you can gather on any external content pieces to help you assess how effective your content marketing efforts are.
There’s also other marketing channels you can look at. As mentioned earlier, you are not restricted only to your web content, you can also look at your social media channels, email marketing, and so on.
For example, if you run email marketing campaigns, is the content in your autoresponders up-to-date? Are there messages with higher open rates than others? Many email services provide analytics and reports that can help you improve the performance of your emails.
You can also audit your social shares. If your site displays share counters on pages, you can measure social shares by looking at the post itself, or by entering the URL of the page or post into various online services. This should provide plenty of actionable data about areas where your competition is outperforming your site.
Also, think about approaching sites that are linking to your competitors with a better piece of content or a guest post idea on the same topic and see if you can persuade them to link to your site instead.
And finally, you can also audit your competitor’s websites. You can use many of the same tools that you used to analyze your own site to perform competitive analysis on your competitors’ sites.
This can help to improve your content performance, especially in areas like SEO or driving more traffic to your site.
While you won’t be able to access certain metrics about their website (such as bounce rate, average time on page, and conversion rate), there are things you can track, like who is ranking higher for the keywords you are targeting, number of backlinks, etc.
So in summary,
If your business has existing content, performing a content audit is key to an effective content strategy.
Taking stock of what we have helps us know how we are doing and where we are going.
A content audit can benefit your business in many ways. It helps to align your content with your goals, improve user experience, identify missing gaps and new opportunities, make better data-driven decisions, and improve your content strategy’s overall performance and results.
And depending on how much content you have, a content audit can be a major task, so use tools to help you. Keep it manageable, but take action. Don’t just let the information sit in a spreadsheet.
After performing an initial content audit, schedule regular content reviews to make sure that there’s continuous improvement and better results in your business and your website.
And finally, remember that you can perform content audits in other areas of your business too, such as external content, other marketing channels, social shares, even audit your competition!
For more detailed information about what we’ve covered in this video, visit the tutorials and lessons listed on your screen.
So that’s all for this lesson.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to start implementing our content strategy by creating a content plan for our business.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
This lesson covers deciding which content types and formats will best help your business reach its goals.
***
Watch the video lesson below or refer to the video transcript:
Video Transcript
Welcome back to our video course on how to create an effective content strategy for your business.
This is module 5.
In the previous lesson, we looked at setting goals for our content.
In this lesson, we’ll look at the different types of content that we’ll include in our content strategy.
You can read about each of these content types, including the challenges of creating each of these types, recommended best practices, and links to useful tutorials, tools, and other helpful resources by visiting the URL on your screen.
I’ve listed them here, but I won’t go into each specific type in this lesson.
Content formats include not only common formats like text, images, video, and audio but also interactive formats, virtual and augmented reality, and live streaming.
What I do want to cover in this lesson are the key things to consider when making decisions about which content types you will use.
So, the first thing to consider is your target audience’s needs.
There are many different kinds of business models and what type of business you’re in will affect which types of content you should create to keep your audience engaged.
For example, if we look at these side-by-side charts of content types for B2B and B2C businesses, we can see that while both types of businesses use articles and videos, with B2B businesses, there’s more emphasis on using content types like webinars, case studies, and whitepapers, whereas B2C businesses focus more on using infographics, charts, and long articles.
So what kind of business are you in? What type of audience will you be creating content for?
The next area is knowing what types of content our audience wants to consume, do they prefer their information delivered in the form of blog posts, webinars, case studies, eBooks, etc.?
As we will see in the next lesson, knowing which types of content we will need to create for different stages of our audience’s buying journey is also important.
Resources are the other important area to consider when choosing content types.
These resources mostly have to do with our budget and what kind of team we have available to work on our content.
For example, if our content strategy requires the regular production of high-quality videos, then we obviously need to make sure that we have the budget to cover this and access to people with video production skills, plus the tools to create and edit video content, and so on.
That’s one of the challenges we talked about in module 2.
An important part of creating our content strategy, then, is working with budgets and knowing what percentage of our total marketing budget will be allocated to areas like content production and marketing activities.
So, to summarize what we have covered in this lesson…
To create an effective content strategy, we not only need to understand our target audience and set content goals, we also need to familiarize ourselves with different content types and formats,
We need to know what kind of business we are in, as different business models need different content types.
We need to understand our audience’s content preferences and which content types work best for different stages of the buyer journey,
We need to assess our resources in terms of the budget and team we have to work with, and then we have to decide which content types we’ll create to meet our audience’s needs within our available resources.
For more information about all of these areas, see the tutorials and lessons listed on the screen.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at doing a content audit, which is taking an inventory of our existing content to see how it’s performing and identify any gaps or opportunities that we may be missing out on.
Thank you for watching and I’ll see you in the next lesson.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Evergreen content remains relevant, valuable, and high-performing long after it is published.
A content roadmap is your guide to executing a successful 
Mind mapping is a powerful and effective tool for content planning as it enables you to brainstorm ideas, organize your thoughts, and identify key concepts in a logical and systematic manner.
Content planning
This is Part 1 of our free 
So that’s all for this lesson.
Content formats include not only common formats like text, images, video, and audio but also interactive formats, virtual and augmented reality, and live streaming.
What I do want to cover in this lesson are the key things to consider when making decisions about which content types you will use.
In the next lesson, we’ll look at doing a