Content with purpose

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Content (and by content I mean videos, photos, blog posts) is often considered the best online business bloggers resource.

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• It drives traffic.
• It helps make a sale.
• It provides authority, credibility and liking – all buying triggers.
• oh, and it also helps you market your business.

As I complete my Christian blogging guide, one of the things that has become apparent to me is that purpose is missing from many business blogs. Yes, many business bloggers write their content with a complete lack of direction. They have no purpose in mind. They may write fantastic content, but if it’s missing it’s purpose, it’s missing an opportunity.

So what do you want your blog content to achieve?

It doesn’t matter if it’s short like a blog post or an article. It doesn’t matter if it’s a larger content piece like a report or e-book. It still needs a purpose. If you don’t like purpose, think mission or goal – what’s the thing you would like the reader to do after reading your post?

Potential Content Purposes

• To drive traffic to a web page
• To increase SEO
•  To drive traffic to a sales page
•  To generate affiliate sales
•  To boost credibility and authority
•  To motivate a response/comments/links
•  Collect opt-ins

You may find that occasionally your content has more than one purpose. For example, a report may be designed to collect opt-ins. In addition to the opt-ins you may also include affiliate links within the body of the report to generate income. Or you may deep link back to a sales page on your website to promote your products or services.

Content that’s missing a purpose means you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity.

Making the Decision

The best time to determine the purpose for your content is when you create a content plan. Different people take different approaches. You may plan your content for the coming week. Or you may plan it for the entire year. (If you don’t plan your content at all, consider starting a new practice). Make the most of your efforts and plan.

When you plan your content you’ll also determine the keywords and the topic. I use Market Samurai to do this, it makes life so much easier.  You’ll also decide when you’re going to publish it and where. It makes sense to integrate your content into your traffic generation, SEO, sales and marketing strategies. This means giving your blog post or other type of content purpose.

You may know that in three months you’re going to launch a new product. Your content during that month leading up to the launch will ideally support the launch. It’ll generate interest and excitement. The purpose of the content therefore will be to drive traffic to your opt-in page. People can sign up ahead of time and receive notification when you launch. They may also receive preferntial pricing. Your content can also generate awareness for the need of your new service. Or it can send traffic to your sales page once you launch.

How to create purposeful content

Every piece of content needs to have some sort of call to action. For example, if you want to motivate comments and feedback at the end of a blog post, you have to ask for it. That’s your call to action. If you want to send people to a sales page, you need some sort of “Visit Keyword Rich Link to learn more.” Your purpose is now integrated into your call to action.

Take a look at the content you have planned for the next week or month.

• Does each piece have a purpose?
• Do you have a call to action?
• Is your content part of your overall business growth strategy?

If not, make some quick changes and start reaping the rewards.