5 Common Content Marketing Mistakes Businesses Often Neglect
There was once a time when not many businesses were into content marketing. However, in the past few years, most have realised the power of the concept.
As more and more businesses are trying their hands at content marketing, we keep finding new strategies and best practices that work.
At the same time, however, many businesses are not adapting and keep repeating some common mistakes that ultimately take them nowhere.
Content marketing works! There is no doubt about it.
If it isn’t working for you, chances are that you haven’t been doing it right.
In this post, we take a look at 5 common content marketing mistakes that most businesses often neglect. Go through each of these mistakes and see if you have been doing the same thing. It might be time to redeem yourself and overhaul your content marketing strategy.
Now, let’s see some of the content marketing mistakes that you must avoid.
1. Not Being Consistent Enough
If you can only learn one thing about content marketing, let it be this one.
Be consistent in what you are trying to do and achieve.
Content marketing does not work if you are not being consistent. It does not matter how you do it, you have to consistently get content out there for your readers and target audience.
The frequency of publishing new content directly impacts the overall leads you generate via content marketing. See:
2. Not Using an Editorial Calendar
When you have access to the right tools and applications, it is better to use them.
Are you currently using an editorial calendar? If not, it is one of your mistakes you definitely need to focus on.
Understand that content marketing isn’t a one-off thing. It takes months and lots of high-quality pieces to build a strategy that works. How can you do it if you don’t have the records to track?
If you are using WordPress, you can install a free WordPress plugin such as Editorial Calendar.
Furthermore, if you have a content marketing team, an editorial calendar becomes all the more important for you.
3. Believe that Keyword Optimisation is Dead
Keyword optimisation is never going to be dead. After all, it is the “keywords” that search engines use to identify the context of a web page.
Yes, the dynamics of keyword research and keyword optimisation have changed slightly since the introduction of Google Hummingbird update. However, the basics still remain the same.
You need to optimise your content around keywords that your target audience are most likely to use. That said there is no need of over-optimisation of keywords. Over-the-top, high keyword density, in fact, now leads to severe Google penalties and demotion in search engine rankings.
As per modern SEO rules, you should be focusing on integration of long-tail keywords and using LSI keywords in your content. It will not only help you avoid the problem of over-optimisation, but it may also lead to better search engine rankings and more organic traffic.
4. Not Knowing Who Your Target Audience Is
It is definitely one of the more common mistakes that don’t allow businesses to reach their full potential.
Sometimes, you create a lot of high-quality content, but as you’re not aware of who your target audience is, you fail to capitalise on that.
If you are not seeing great results, you might want to adjust or rewrite your content to suit your target audience better. There are many indications that can help you understand if this is your problem.
For instance, high bounce rate, low conversions, visitors spending less-than-average time on your website, low subscription rate, etc. are good indicators that you are not catering to the right audience.
Run a few surveys, spend time on websites like Quora, join forums and Facebook groups where your target audience hangs out and try to find what their real problems are. Then, once your audience is defined, adjust your strategy and content for them.
5. Not Promoting Your Content
How do you promote your contents once you have published them?
And no, sharing on your own social media profiles doesn’t really count!
If you are not promoting your content enough, well you have a problem. The digital world is full of tough competition and the “build-it-and-they-will-come” strategy doesn’t really work. You will have to actively promote what you build or else you will fail.
Reach out to bloggers and influencers within your niche and share your content with them. Mention them in your articles and create backlinks to start conversations and connections. Publish guest-posts on other blogs to promote your own stuff. Join forums and groups and actively participate by helping people. If a genuine need comes, share your content.
It can be time-consuming, and it is definitely hard, but it is all worth it.
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