When many marketers think about content marketing, they tend to think about individual pieces of content, such as a whitepaper. However, content types are really the building blocks of an effective content strategy. Here are six content types that should be included in your content strategy and how you should use them.

Evergreen Content

Evergreen content is considered to be an essential asset in any content marketing strategy. Evergreen content is designed to stand the test of time by continuously providing value to readers. Whether the content is something that is frequently updated, or just created and posted, it will always remain relevant.

Some important things to consider when you create evergreen content are whether there are an adequate number of searches for the topic and whether there is already other material on the web that does a better job of addressing the topic. If there is already content available on the the web, you must decide how your content will offer a better alternative to the existing content for the best results.

User-Generated Content

If your site relies on organic search traffic, user-generated content is an effective tool for ranking your site. Instead of choosing which keywords your site should rank for by writing the content directly, user-generated content allows for the people that use your site to specify which keyword phrases are most important. In addition to helping your site rank in the search engines, user-generated content can also result in more backlinks for your website as your visitors share the content that they have created on other websites.

Long-Tail Content

Writing long-tail content for your site is important if you want to increase your chances of ranking highly in the search engines for particular keywords. However, it is not enough to simply include the keyword periodically in the content, you must also make sure that you include relevant, related keywords in the content. If you want to create long-tail content that is more likely to receive high rankings over the long-term, you should also make sure that your content provides comprehensive information on the topic that is helpful so that it will be shared by your site’s visitors.

Creating long-tail content that is guaranteed to rank requires that you do thorough research. Start by researching what your competitors are doing and use their keyword strategies as the baseline for your own content strategy. In addition, you will also want to look at what the authority competitors are doing in your industry in order to give you an idea of where to start. Finally, you should perform quantitative research that evaluates your chances of being able to rank highly for your chosen keywords. For this research, you should consider hiring an SEO expert to help you select the best keywords.

Link Bait Content

Link bait content is content that is created with a main goal of garnering links to the content. In many cases, the most effective linkable assets that are include in this content type isn’t written content, but digital video, images, and infographics. Link bait content generally takes advantage of current trends so you should make sure that you do some research, perhaps by using Google Trends, to increase the reach of your content. Social media is an important tool for promoting link bait content.

Expert Content

Expert content is content that is created by an authority on a particular topic. This content type may include reviews, third-party articles written by journalists, and how-to guides. This content type is important for use in your sales funnel because customers often search for information posted by experts online before making purchase decisions. Therefore, if one of the goals of your content strategy is to increase leads or sales, you want to make sure that you have expert content created that promotes your business.

Research

Research can help to establish authority for your business in your industry. If your business builds a strong foundation by performing and publishing unique research, these findings can be used in the various other content types that you create. In addition, if the research is truly useful, others in your industry and your customers may come to depend on the research that your company provides. As a result, your research activities then become a part of your content strategy.

Determining which content types will be most effective for your content strategy is not a simple task. This is why it is important that you work with an expert in order to define your content marketing plan. The best content types for promoting a business can only be determined through research on your target audiences and your competitors. As a result, content strategy planning will determine whether you are able to spend your content marketing budget in the most effective manner.

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