“Content Strategy”… Two words that are thrown around a lot at the moment. We’re big fans.

The need for content strategy comes from the changing ways in which people use the web. Visitors have come to expect more from your website than a simple storefront. Which means you need to be providing content that’ll engage and inform your visitors, at the same time as being as SEO friendly as possible.

It’s time to think about quality and quantity. Regularly updated content featuring relevant information as well as relevant keywords; that’s what’s going to win you links, retain visitors, drive conversions and get return on your investment. Tailoring content for the “long-tail” keywords and phrases that reflect the language your customers use allows you to engage them in a dialogue; you’re capturing them early in their buying cycle and building your brand at the same time.

Keep supplying that kind of content and not only are you more likely to get conversions from existing visitors, you’ll also increase your search engine ranking. That’ll bring more people to your site, who’ll engage with that content and pay you back in more links and more conversions.

Content strategy and SEO are a long-term investment; dedicate enough time to them and it should result in you being able to reassess your PPC campaigns and redistribute your advertising spend. Early content strategy and SEO work can be balanced by driving traffic with PPC. The quality content on your website will persuade visitors captured via PPC towards conversion, whilst simultaneously increasing your search engine listings.

Targeting and capitalising on exact term matches with PPC whilst optimising for broader terms in your content helps you to avoid common difficulties with on-page keyword density, and makes your content more readable. The quantifiable nature of PPC traffic, plus the amount of user experience data available through Web Analytics, can be used to tweak your content strategy; it’s all work towards the same goal, conversions and listings.

A well thought through content strategy, combined with a similarly targeted PPC campaign and supported by insightful Web Analytics is a pretty dangerous combination. By employing a content strategy you’ll generate awareness by upping your profile, actively bring in more customers at an earlier stage in their buying cycle, and optimise your website for product categories and keywords. And here’s the kicker: however your visitors get to your website, whether through PPC or natural search, high quality content is persuasive content.

Simultaneously optimising your website for the search engines, improving your visitors’ user experience, and managing your brand?  Not to be sniffed at.