Content Marketing – Optimize Everything!

Written by: Gary Horsman

Content Marketing

Content Optimization

By now it should go without saying that you need to optimize all your Web content. However, don’t make the mistake of optimizing your site merely for the search engines. Look at optimization from multiple perspectives.

While optimizing for the search engines (SEO) is an important factor of optimization, if you aren’t taking into account the actual users, your efforts could be wasted. As you optimize your content, make sure it is also user-friendly.

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How?

• Include targeted keywords in your copy, titles, meta-descriptions, and tags
• Add calls to action when appropriate in promotional content or define the next step
• Use high-quality images with optimized alt descriptions
• Craft winning headlines and engaging content
• Post content regularly
• Design intuitive (read: user-friendly) site navigation
• Decrease page loading time

Let’s talk about the last point a bit more.

According to Econsultancy, a whopping 40% of users will abandon a site or page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. That means you have, realistically, fractions of seconds just to convince users to look at your site—let alone stick around and engage with it.

Additionally, make sure your Web hosting provider offers the right services. If your site gets a lot of traffic, lower budget hosts may not be able to accommodate you. I also recommend using a hosting provider that can help you sort out technical issues when they occur. The low cost providers typically do not provide support. Also, low cost providers may put many sites on the same server which can compromise your load times even if you do everything right.

You also want your hosting provider to work hard to ensure site security. You want to use a provider that keeps their software up to date.

In short, look at the many factors you can control, adjust or influence and then optimize them to provide the best experience for your visitors.