Skip to main content

Creating quality content is a labor of love. It takes time to brainstorm topics, create blog posts or shoot a video and share it on social channels.

However, research asserts that the lifespan of a blog post is two years, which means your hard work pays off long after the post is published.

It’s a challenge, however, to create must-read, must-see content in a digital age where there’s a glut of information available. That’s why marketers have to create smarter content. How? Use these data-driven tips to improve your content:

1. Video is more eye-grabbing
One of the fundamental goals of content marketing is to garner as high a rank as possible in Google’s SERP. However, due to ever-evolving algorithms and the propensity to favor blended search results (displaying videos and images towards the top of the first page, and pushing down) landing a first page rank has become harder than ever.

But as the saying goes, when one doors closes, another opens, and from this problem arises a new opportunity. Research asserts that video assets increase your odds considerably, one report from Forrester claims that pages with video are 53x more likely to rank on the first page of Google search results than pages without video.

A common consensus among digital marketers and SEO analysts, experts assert that if your brand hasn’t dabbled in video production, it probably should. Hannah Gilroy, featured writer at the Huffington Post, encourages brands to create and post videos.

“Always include relevant videos in your content where you can,” Gilroy said. Gilroy, who is also an executive in content and digital marketing, has seen first-hand that “users are more likely to convert after watching a video.”

Consider creating and uploading a few videos that focus on your brand or product.

• Tools to help: Turn to easy video creators like Twitter’s Vine, or online tools that make simple animations like Moovly.

2. Use photos of people
Rather than flipping through the stock photo sites for a landscape photo or an icon, use a picture of a person instead. Several case studies compiled by Visual Website Optimizer show significant increases in click rates when images of real people are present.

One case study explores what happened when Medalia Art, an online site that sells Brazilian and Caribbean art, switched images of paintings out for images of the artists. The change resulted in a 95 percent increase in conversions.

Needless to say, using photos of real, relatable people is where it’s at.

Tool to help: Stock sites like iStock have images of people that you can use. Or, consider taking photos of your customers using your product.

3. Share content on social media, particularly Facebook
You’re probably already sharing links to content on social sites, but data shows social sites drive 31 percent of overall website traffic. That’s an impressive number.

Which social site is referring the most traffic? While new kids on the social block are gaining momentum, Facebook is still the reining traffic-referral champ.

“Ensure that your content is Facebook worthy. Facebook now drives 25 percent of all Internet traffic and encourages 340% more shares than each of the other four major social networks,” says Gilroy, who’s referencing data from Shareaholic.

• Tool to help: IFTTT, or If That Than This, can be used to automatically share a link on Facebook when new content is added to your website or blog.

4. Make important pieces of content standout
Nielsen research shows readers skim content. Eye-tracking maps show readers breeze through content in an F-shape. Eyes go horizontally across the top section, then horizontally through the middle section and then vertically up and down the left side of the page.

What does this unique pattern mean for your blog content? The first two paragraphs are crucial. Make sure the important points are made early.

Since readers check out the middle of the content, you should use subheads to offer an organized and “skimmable” palate that convinces readers to actually read from top to bottom.

You should also consider highlighting important sections of text, says Mahogany Beckford, a marketing consultant for startups.

“When we are reading blogs or casually browsing e-commerce sites, we are easily distracted,” she says. “To combat this problem, make focus points of your content slightly bigger or in a bold font to give it greater contrast and attract the reader’s attention.”

• Tool to help: Try downloading a new font from Google Fonts to set your main points apart.

What data drives your content decisions? Share it with us in the comment section below.