How To Grow Your Business Through Content Marketing?

How To Grow Your Business Through Content Marketing?

Content is the King!. When it comes to developing content at scale, structuring procedures, or generating high-quality organic traffic, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

I have compiled these 46 Key Highlights, Findings, Insights, and Tips from the 115-page ‘The State of Content Marketing Global Report 2022’ by SEMRUSH that might help any content writer, content creator, blogger, business owner, entrepreneur, or any online marketer if you are one of these, to plan for the future of Content Marketing and to stay ahead in the competition. You may also access the entire report as you read.

1. “How to create content for affiliate marketing” saw a 366% increase on the previous year.

2. B2B and niche industries appear in content-marketing-related trending topics, globally.

3. Searches on “benefits of content marketing" rise significantly, bringing it into the top 20.

4. More people seem to be looking at taking on a career in content marketing.

5. “Corporate content marketing” and “B2B content marketing strategy 2020” together indicate that content marketing is a strong tactic when selling to other businesses.

6. Architecture, healthcare, law, and real estate all feature in the trending searches. This tells us that there is a need for targeted content marketing resources, as well as signaling greater investment in content among certain industries.

7. “Strategy,” “SEO,” and “Digital Marketing” dominate the list of topics, highlighting the clear connection between content marketing, business goals, and search traffic.

8. Create content that resonates more strongly with your audience. Be human (Henneke Duistermaat, Founder at Enchanting Marketing).

9. Think about other forms of content including voice-to text material in 2022. This allows you to reach your on-the-go audience who prefers listening to content on voice first devices (Heidi Cohen, Chief Marketing Officer at Actionable Marketing Guide).

10. Integrating empathy into your content strategy and researching your customer's needs will help your brand connect with your audience by producing personalized content for them. Did you know that 55% of marketing professionals stated that increases conversion rates and promotes growth? It’s no wonder why it’s essential to take time out and dig deep into your customer personas (Kathryn Strachan, Managing Director & Owner of Copy House).

11. “If you're going to work on one specific marketing skill this year, work on being a better storyteller.” Talking to the sales and customer support teams in your company can help you gather important insights about your customers (Casie Gillette, Senior Director, Digital Marketing at KoMarketing).

12. Small businesses will be investing more in content marketing. There will be more positions open for talented content marketers in 2022. 2022 will be the year we will start looking at our content as another channel. Content will be tied to the user intent and be more detailed. Hopefully, Google will continue to become smarter by analyzing pages that can bring the best content experience (Liraz Postan, International SEO and Speaker, Co-founder and CEO at LiLi Marketing Services).

13. The biggest trend in SEO isn’t a ranking factor. It’s a CTR factor. Creating memorable content is the key to long-term success (Andy Crestodina, Chief Marketing Officer and Co-founder, Orbit Media Studios, Inc).

14. In other words, if you are struggling to rank your content or see your traffic declining, chances are, you need to improve the user experience on your website (Amit Panchal, Digital Marketing Consultant at amitpanchal.com).

15. If TikTok and Instagram have taught us anything recently, it’s that short-form videos didn’t die with Vine. They are here to stay and they're only getting more popular. Using video as part of your content output in 2022 is an important way to grow your business. Educating your customer base is important. User-generated content (UGC) can be extremely powerful. Shine the spotlight on positive customer feedback (Adam Connell, Founder of Blogging Wizard and Startup Bonsai).

16. In 2022, content marketing leaders are mainly focusing on how to get the best results from existing content marketing efforts. Sure, some will say that video, AR, VR, voice, and probably even AI are the biggest trends in content marketing. Seek out opportunities for improvement in your existing content (Michael Brenner, CEO of Marketing Insider Group).

17. 78% of companies that believe their content marketing was very successful in 2021 have a documented content marketing strategy.

18. 73% of those companies that believe to have had a very successful content marketing strategy in 2021 spend from 10% to 70% of their total marketing budget on content marketing.

19. 65% of companies whose content marketing was very successful in 2021 run content audits more than twice a year.

20. 59% of companies whose content marketing was unsuccessful in 2021 had no dedicated content marketing team or specialist.

21. Quality of content is the primary success factor in organic ranking and in content marketing in general.

22. Giving your content an extra paid boost can help you attract new audiences at the top and middle of the funnel.

23. The top three content marketing metrics, are organic traffic, search rankings, and leads.

24. While 77% of marketers report that blogging drives results, there’s no cheat sheet for creating valuable, original content.

25. Articles with seven or fewer words in their H1 get 36% more average organic traffic than those with 14 or more words.

26. 47% of articles that have an advanced headings structure (H2 + H3 +H4) belong to the highest-performing organic content group.

27. Articles with more than seven images generate 116% more organic traffic than those with none.

28. Articles over 3,000 words get 138% more traffic than those with fewer than 500 words.

29. Articles that feature “Guide” and “How to” in their headlines attract the most organic traffic.

30. Headlines help both readers and search engines navigate and understand the content. Using the correct subheadings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) can help you cover the entire topic while ensuring a smooth experience for the reader.

31. Use lists wisely: It’s important to always focus on pleasing the actual reader vs. the search engines.

32. Images tell a story, break up the copy and also appear in the image section of the search results (if you include relevant keywords in the alt.text).

33. Don’t write longer articles for the sake of it: Note that while longer articles outperform, it’s because this content tends to be more in-depth—not simply because it has more words.

34. Search is the dominant source of traffic in all industries. The fact that distance learning and marketing and advertising are leading in terms of organic traffic and keywords suggests it’s worth learning from companies in these sectors.

35. Search is the dominant source of traffic in all industries.

36. Taking into account the global trend, which shows the use of images affects ranking, it’s worth selecting visuals carefully.

37. Article titles featuring the word “list” do well in many of the industry categories. “Question” and “How to” are also top performers. This is worth considering, no matter which industry you operate in.

38. When creating content, pay attention to your readers’ search intent. Consider how much information should be provided to cover the question.

39. Use shorter words instead of complex ones, where possible. It sounds patronizing, but the truth is, you want your readers to be able to skim your copy and get as much information as quickly as possible.

40. Consider who you are talking to. Imagine they were sitting across the table from you. Would you be casual, using slang or very informal words? Or would you be a little more polite and formal? This will help you get the tone for each piece of content right. It’s worth the effort, as 78% of high-scoring posts maintain this consistency.

41. Identify areas that could be expanded on or need sources to back up what you are saying. Add internal or external links. Where you are adding external links, be sure to find trustworthy, up-to-date sources that don’t compete for the same clients or keywords.

42. Don’t forget to add alt tags to any visuals. These show Google and other search engines that you’re serious about accessibility and help people who use screen readers to understand what’s on the page.

43. Make sure the headline is optimized—it should include a keyword. 71% of low-scoring content fails to do so.

44. While a high-quality article doesn’t need to be long, it does need to include all the important information.

45. Include external links to authoritative sources and be sure to link internally too. More than half of low-scoring content had too few links.

46. Narrative engages the reader and makes your content more memorable. Also, be sure to include calls to action and next steps—this will bring your readers closer to conversion.

I hope these tips will assist you in developing content marketing strategies that will help your business flourish!

By the way, if you are interested to go through the complete report by Semrush, you may access it here.

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