Guest post by Michael Deane

Content still rules in the world of digital marketing.

70 million new blog posts that are published every month prove this.

However, such immense popularity of this strategy means that you should go out of your way in order to attract and build a steady readership, as well as to survive in a competitive content marketing landscape.

Here are a couple of tips that will help you step up your content marketing game.

Create Evergreen Content

Content marketers who are trying to jumpstart their careers sometimes don’t know what to focus on in order to grow their reade

And while this can be a challenging task, it’s all about laying the proper foundation.

Evergreen content is the lifeblood of your content marketing strategy.

These pieces are well-researched, packed with valuable information, optimized for search engines, and they stay fresh without losing relevance over a long period of time.

It’s like creating a capsule collection - items that never go out of fashion that can be easily updated.

There are some formats that age exceptionally well and never lose their edge, including:

How-to guides
Ultimate, comprehensive guides that cover a particular topic in detail
Best practices
Lists
Tips.

Of course, choosing to write in one of these formats won’t automatically make your content evergreen.

Some of the best ways to create evergreen content are:

Answering your target readership’s frequently asked questions and addressing their common pain points
Offering explanations of different industry concepts or useful advice in an understandable manner.

Finally, check out these do’s and don’ts and stick to them:

Use longtail keywords as they’re more likely to bring you visitors genuinely interested in the topic you’re covering
Write for beginners as experts aren’t an audience that is attracted to broad topics
Stay away from industry jargon and technical terms as your readers won’t understand what you’re trying to say
Repurpose your content - update it occasionally with the latest information or reuse your blog post, for example, to create a video.

Focus on Your Headlines

Five times as many people read the headline as read the copy.

This quote by David Ogilvy, the man who revolutionized marketing, should be taken seriously.

In order to capture your audience’s attention and get them to actually read your content, you need compelling headlines.

While it’s a good idea to make your headlines funny and catchy, there’s no need to rack your brains every time you need to come up with one.

Instead of that, you should be absolutely in the know regarding what your readers want and make a promise. Just don’t get carried away and forget to fulfill it.

Here are a couple of formulas that can come in handy when you’re crafting irresistible headlines:

[how to] [verb] your [noun] How to Grow Your Business From Scratch
[benefit] [timeframe] [primary objection] Build a Website in Two Weeks Without Knowing How to Code
[number] [power word] [topic] Top 12 Tips to Boost Your Online Presence

Make Your Content Actionable

Now that you’ve made a promise to help your readers solve a certain problem, you need to deliver. Otherwise, they will be disappointed and will bounce off your website never to come back.

When people land on your website, from the search results page, they expect that your content will be relevant and provide them with a solution to their pain points. If your blog post or video doesn’t do that, it will be flagged as deceptive and misleading.

That’s why it’s essential to make sure to provide actionable tips throughout your content, that your readers will be able to implement. Don’t drag on and discuss theory – get to the point and list concrete steps, together with an explanation about how to complete them.

In other words, the process of creating your content should boil down to:

Picking the right topic, relevant to your audience
Crafting an enticing subject line that will get them to click
Pulling your visitors in with an interesting and intriguing introduction
Building trust by providing well-researched and documented facts and tips
Producing high-quality actionable content that can be used for solving a particular pain point.

Include Visuals

According to a frequently disputed Microsoft Corp. study, our attention span dropped to just 8 seconds.

In a nutshell, your readers are more keen on visually-oriented content that can be easily consumed.

As a result of this trend, it’s crucial to:

Create infographics, which present data in a colorful and graspable way, while being easy on the eyes
Add relevant images to break large chunks of text and make them more scannable
Include videos, as this format allows people to consume your content while they’re commuting or doing something else without the need to look into their mobile device.

Such versatility will make your content more interesting and engaging and help you not only keep your audience but also expand your reach – visuals receive more shares and likes on social media than regular posts.

Follow these simple tips and take your content to the next level in no time.