Strategic Content Planning with Topics
The Chicken and Egg Syndrome for Content
A business owner wants to tell the world, especially future customers, how fantastic their product or service is. But often in content creation as they focus on keywords and worry about search engine optimization (SEO), they forget the customer.
The customer doesn't care if it's your business or a competitor. The customer wants a problem solved or a need fulfilled.
So, which comes first? Your business or the customer need?
Your content is the bridge between your business and your customers. Content creation connects the customer's need with your solution and positions that solution as the most effective solution.
The most useful content integrates responding to customer intent—their queries—and connects with the need and presents your product or service as the solution.
Content for Customers
The very first priority for your web content is to address customer problems and present your solution. Website structure and organization is a critical first step. Make it easy for customers to find their solutions with clear navigation organized by topics. This structure creates a user-friendly environment for your potential customer to explore.
Structure each piece of content to lead to the solution your business has for your customer's problem or need. Explain the problem and lead your customer to your business as the solution.
You never know where a customer will land on your website, so think of each page as a landing page, an introduction to your business. A search query may have brought them to a particular page as an answer to a query. Don't assume that a reader has read anything else on your website.
Now that a customer is on your one piece of content, you want to lead them to the conclusion that you have just what they need.
Focus on one topic per page. Then, use supporting related topics to expand the topic of the page.
Present your information in chunks of text, small paragraphs, that are easy to read. Small pieces of information are easier for a customer to remember. Help them understand the chunks with headings that highlight the information in each section. A long, rambling paragraph challenges your reader to understand the main point.
Content for Search Engines
All the organization and structure you use to help customers understand your product or service, help search engines target your content as the answer to a query.
The artificial intelligence (AI) search engines use, looks at and gathers pertinent topics that match a customer's query. Each topic on your page is an entity. A strong correlation between the topics in your content provides search engines with an understanding of each section (subtopic) on the page and the relationship they have to the main topic.
Search engines "skim" your content in a similar way to how a reader does. Headings and subheadings of paragraphs focused on one topic at a time, help search engines understand the topic of your page.
Search engines need to understand your content in order to deliver it as a response to a query.
Layer in Emotions
As logical as your content structure may be, the key to winning new customers is an appeal to emotions. People buy on emotions, not logic.
If you want someone reading your content to pull out their credit card and buy, add emotional words to pull them in. You don't need to go over the top. Use words that reassure. These words are cues and triggers that encourage your reader to take action. Here are some examples that won't make your content feel like a pushy sales letter.
Reliable
Cost-effective
Profitable
Results
Safe
Save
Worthwhile
Instant
Certain
Words like these reassure the reader and help them understand how your solution is valuable for their situation.
Think Topics and Structure
A topic-centered strategy for your content gives you a double win. Search engines understand and use your content in query responses, and potential customers understand the value of your business and how it matches a need.
If you do keyword research, you'll find that using important keywords fits naturally into your topic-based content. Because your keywords are part of the natural language of your content related to the topic, customers won't have that keyword-stuffed feeling that your content is not sincere.
