Five Things You Should Never Do With Your Content

Having a strong online content strategy is integral to the success of any web company or a website. Your content is what keeps people coming back. It’s what gets people to tell their friends about you. It’s the reason they link to you. It’s the reason they “share” or “like” or “retweet” you on social media.

That’s why getting your content strategy right is so important. If you’re making any one of these five mistakes, chances are you’re destroying your website’s chances at success.

Mistake #1 – Not Owning Your Content 

It’s very common for people to publish content on websites other than their own. For example, you might publish content on other people’s sites through guest blogging or article marketing.

There’s nothing wrong with this. The mistake comes in when you don’t own any of your best content.

The majority of your top notch content should be on your own website. It shouldn’t be out on the internet. Your best content should be used to build your brand, not someone else’s.

Mistake #2 – Not Knowing Your Target Audience

Who are you talking to? What are their needs? What have they already heard before and what are they dying to hear? What kind of words and language do they use?

If you don’t have a crystal clear sense of who your target audience is, you aren’t going to be able to speak to them in a way that has them feel understood.

Try to get a solid sense of who your target audience is by asking them as many questions as possible. Browse internet forums to see what kind of questions they tend to ask.

Mistake #3 – Relying on Content with No Link Strategy

It’s true that high quality content is important. Yet, webmasters who focus only on the quality of their content and not on SEO are invariably disappointed.

Your content won’t spread virally on its own. You won’t get ranked just on the merits of your content. As great as your content may be, you still need to understand the basics of SEO.

It’s like the parable of the inventor who didn’t know how to sell his invention. It doesn’t matter how great your invention (your content) is, if you can’t sell it, it won’t make an ounce of difference.

Come up with a great linkbuilding strategy to help get your high quality content in front of your readers.

Mistake #4 – Too Much Sales

Your website’s job should first and foremost be about providing high quality content. This is what will attract people to your website.

Webmasters who spend the majority of their web space on promotions end up shooting themselves in the foot by alienating their audience.

Don’t lock your content. Don’t put it behind newsletter walls and squeeze pages. Don’t make your customers work to view the quality of your content.

Put your best content right upfront, so people can see that you’re the real deal. This builds credibility and increases reader loyalty.

Mistake #5 – Not Using Multi-Media

The internet isn’t a text-based universe. Perhaps ten years ago it was, but today if you’re only getting your message out by text, you’re going to get left behind.

Take a look at your Facebook feed. How many articles are being shared? And how many YouTube videos are being shared?

Multi-media is getting more and more prevalent and it’s only going to get more so in the future.

Develop the right content strategy by taking your existing content and concepts and packaging them into different forms of content. Take your blog posts and turn them into audio podcasts that people can listen to on their iPods and iPhones. Take your comedic or controversial ideas and turn them into videos that can spread virally.

Brainstorm new ideas to express your opinions and your brands that wouldn’t have been possible in text. Take full advantage of the power of new media that’s available today.

Getting into media production today is cheaper than it has ever been before. A high definition camera costs under $200. Professional grade video editing can be done at bargain prices. The level of investment simply shouldn’t be a barrier for taking your company’s content into the digital age.

These are five of the most common and fatal content strategy mistakes that people make. Avoid these mistakes at all costs.

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Reduce Time and Stress Spent on Managing Social Media

Most business owners and entrepreneurs have extremely packed schedules. If your calendar is already full to the brim, where can you find time for social media? How can you manage your Twitter account, your Facebook page and your blog without over booking yourself and stressing yourself out? The answer: To add social media to your lifestyle. Instead of viewing it as another task, integrate it into how you live your life.

Here’s how to do it.

Tweet or Facebook on Your Smartphone

You’re going to have downtime during the day. Perhaps it’s while you’re on the bus. Perhaps it’s while you’re eating lunch. Perhaps it’s when you’re in the bathroom.

Wherever it is, there are going to be times in the day where you’re simply not doing anything else. Instead of wasting this time, use your smartphone or your iPad and turn it into social media time.

Use this time to write 140 character Tweets. Use this time to update your Facebook page. Use this time to come up with new blog ideas or to write the outline for your next blog post.

Replace Newspaper With Tweeting 

For most people, the first thing they do in the morning is grab a cup of coffee and read the newspaper.

But the reality is, reading the newspaper isn’t going to do all that much for your business and professional life. Instead, what if you made tweeting with coffee your daily habit?

This would allow you to reach out to your audience while you’re just going through your everyday routines. You won’t ever miss a day of tweeting, because it’s part of your daily schedule.

The 30 Minute a Day Habit

Wrap-up the end of your work day with 30 minutes of work on your social media. The key here again is to make this part of your everyday schedule. If you don’t have to think about it, it won’t stress you out.

This 30 minutes can be spent on anything. You can use it to write tweets, or even schedule out tweets using HootSuite. You can use it to update your Facebook page. You can also spend it writing a blog post.

Just knowing that you have these 30 minutes at the end of your work day will help relieve the pressure or sense of obligation that you should be working on your social media. You know you’ll get to it. It also prevents you from wasting time on Facebook or on chatter, as you know you only have 30 minutes to get things done.

Put on Your “Share Goggles”

As you move through your everyday life, ask yourself: “Can I Share This?” Whenever you look at something, think about whether it can be part of a photo share. Whenever something unique happens, think about whether you can tie it to a lesson for your blog.

For example, let’s say you run a small investment firm. You recently got into playing chess. If you didn’t have your “Share Goggles” on, you might treat them as completely unrelated.

With your “Share Goggles” on however, you might start seeing correlations. You might see similarities in the learning curve between learning how to manage money and how to play chess. You might see similarities in how people think of risk. You might see similarities in how people handle loss.

You then write up a blog post, “9 Lessons About Investing I Learned from Chess” and make your blog popular.

Even if you have a completely booked schedule and feel like you’re working around the clock, you can still find the time for social media if you incorporate it into your lifestyle. Don’t stress about it, just make it part of your life.

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