Transcript
Speaker: Have you ever noticed how terrible a lot of content on really large companies websites is? Not just terrible but kind of irrelevant? Have you noticed big property brands writing articles about buying Bitcoin or have you noticed a large food brand writing about SEO or something? Why is it that very large companies write seemingly completely irrelevant articles? Why is that?
Speaker: I'll tell you why. It's the communication. The larger an organization, the slower the communication between identifying the need for something and that need being met. So this is where, if you're watching this as an SME or someone who does marketing in a small department or an SEO consultant with clients, being the size you are is your biggest advantage when it comes to writing good content. Let me explain the scenario.
Speaker: Very large company, somebody in SEO says, right, we want to rank better for this topic. Let's say Ice Cube Collecting, because that's obviously highly searchable. We want to rank well for this topic. They talk to the marketing lead. The marketing lead speaks to the acquisition department or the procurement, who then speaks to the content department, who then speaks to the content writers. Even after all those steps have happened,
Speaker: The content that's written still has to be reviewed by lots and lots and lots of people. So there can be not only a long gap of time between a need being identified and a need being met,
Speaker: there's also many steps and it can become like that game you play at kids parties where you say a word they whisper it to the person next to you who whispers it to the person next to them and eventually all comes around as purple monkey dishwasher or just something completely different so that's the first thing to remember being an SME or being small is an advantage you're far less likely
Speaker: to write and publish content on your website that has nothing to do with your core business. Brilliant. Now, I'm going to tell you how you can start creating content, but because I don't want to go on for too long about this irrelevant content in large companies issue,
Speaker: then I'm going to link to a really good Ahrefs article. So check the show notes. It also kind of inspired this video, so it's only fair that I link to it. So right, how much SEO knowledge do you think you need in order to be able to create a content strategy? I'll give you two seconds to think. One, two, none.
Speaker: you can create at least start an effective SEO strategy with zero SEO knowledge. Nothing. Never even heard of it. Never seen a book on it. Never listened to a podcast. Zero SEO knowledge. And do you know why? It's because the best content speaks from the heart. Now I don't mean it's written affectionately, although of course we all love our jobs and we love all the topics and niches that we work in. I mean it's written from the things you know,
Speaker: Anybody can write really good articles and start a really good content strategy in their niche just by talking about the things they know. If you've been in a job or started a company for more than a few weeks, you already know what irritates people. Do you know what triggers people? Do you know what the conversations around your office are about?
Speaker: and because SEO is about building authority and generating leads for your website is about developing trust by talking about the things your audience is interested in and is having problems with. You are building trust and you are placing yourself in a position of authority. Just ask around. It's not that difficult. Now,
Speaker: The other advantage you have is agility. You can get articles from conception to publication very, very quickly, because you haven't got to go through all those corporate filters. And it's important to publish fast. If you're writing something in reaction to a change in your industry or some news, you need to get that published fast. Now, it might sound like bad advice, but you don't have to be incredibly
Speaker: Perfect about the final version you publish on your website You can go back and fix things. I mean don't publish complete junk I mean as I say, that's what the corporates are doing publish something good But then come back to it every few weeks or days or whatever period you want Just fact check it. Is this still relevant? Is this still correct? Could this content be improved upon? Google loves revisions
Speaker: They are always going to rank an article that's written from the heart and regularly updated far higher than the most cold -hearted corporate nonsense. That's another thing. That's your big advantage. Remember, not being huge is an advantage. This is what I've always loved about SEO. It's the David versus Goliath aspect to it. A small brand can be a large brand in the rankings. Believe me, I've done it enough times. Use that strength.
Speaker: So I say you don't have to know much about SEO, so why do we bother rolling SEO research into content strategies? It's just the cherry on the top. It's just knowing which article is going to move your website forward the furthest, the quickest, and which topics have the largest appetites. It's kind of the cherry on the top, but, say, knowing nothing about any of that stuff
Speaker: you're still going to do better than a corporate writing and publishing articles that have nothing to do with their core beliefs or their core strategies, their core target audience. You're always going to be better. So if you're watching this saying, well, that's all very well and good for you, but where am I going to get ideas from? I'm looking at the blog section on our company website. It hasn't been updated for so long. I'd say use Google.
Speaker: Type in the niche you're in. Ice cube collecting. Type it in. See what comes up. If there's anything in the first few pages of results that triggers an original thought in your head, write to it. Write to it. Write for it. Ask yourselves people. People who are picking up the phone and being asked questions are a goldmine for knowledge.
Speaker: And if you want to pick at this thread more, go grab a book called They Ask You Answer, written by someone called Marcus Sheridan. It just entirely encapsulates how to make this inbound marketing based on the questions of buyers a complete business strategy. It goes bigger than a content strategy.
Speaker: So there you go. You probably started watching this video thinking it was a strange rant against corporates. Nope, nothing against them. They're just always going to be slower than you are. I'm going to give you one last scenario. So say you are an ice cube collector company and you're the company owner and you look and think, right, we need a lot more content.
Speaker: you start by deciding what your core content is. We're going to have one page that's going to be the best page in the world about Ice Cube collecting. It's going to be our pillar page, our skyscraper, our number one resource. What you then need to do is build content around that that deals with the satellite, the surrounding topics, then make sure you link through to each of those, from each of those articles to your main core page.
Speaker: So if you're the business owner or you're setting an office for you to go, Sarah, I'd like you to ask about, write an article about ice cube trays. Yeah, yeah, yeah, metal and plastic. And by tomorrow, day after, thank you very much. Harold.
Speaker: Harold, write me an article about how water affects ice cube collecting. Thank you, next week's fine, I know you've got annual leave. Ashraf, that's right. Yeah, good topic, good idea, nice one. Those people give you their articles, they publish them or you publish them, they add links, it's fast. Corporate world can't do that. It just can't move that swiftly. Too many checks and balances, too many safety things that just don't matter if you're an SME.
Speaker: There you go. Any questions? Let me know. I hope you enjoyed this video and thank you for watching. Please like, subscribe and tell your mum. Bye -bye.
