Content marketing – the latest buzzword to capture marketers is nothing new. Everyone’s looking to create good content. Publishers are doing it. Brands are doing it. Everyone’s competing to make the most out of their content strategies and optimizing SEOs.
A little bit of structure in content presenting impacts user behavior and conversions.
- URL
Like it or not, length of your URL does make a difference. Top ranking URLs have 50 characters on an average. That’s right, 50 characters. So, say goodbye to long urls and embrace the simplicity and sweetness of shorter urls.
- Interactive Content
Most people, including me with this article are guilty of not incorporating an interactive content. Graphics, animations, videos – anything interactive gets 2x more conversions than static content. I have the excuse of being a small-time blogger with limited resources. What’s your excuse?
- Title
A great headline is half the battle won or to be precise has a 0.67 correlation with your click through rates which in turn impact rankings. So, ditch the boring titles. Either use questions which your article will answer or stick to the point while keeping it interesting. I recommend the ten words rule. A title should not have more than ten words unless absolutely necessary.
- Simplicity
It needs to be simple to read. Unless your target audience is very evolved and your content very technical. That would come under the immersive reading and engagement strategy. But, simplifying content has hurt no one. You get extra brownie points for explaining complex concepts easily. For reference, get a 15 year old student for testing. If a 15 year old can read and understand your content. It’s easy to read and understand for the majority of the internet audience. Also, don’t under-estimate 15 year olds these days. You may learn something from their content and social savvy lives.
- Structure
A clear structure helps users go through your content quickly and easily. Why is this important? People are impatient. They want their answers quickly. If they don’t get those answers in the first 2 seconds (yes, it’s that short a time span), they switch out or in browser language, close the window and move to the next one. 78% of the top ranking content had a bulleted list of some sort. It’s just how our brain likes to process information – as shorter chunks.
- Font size
Font size matters for any design. The one constant feedback that most designers will get in their careers is “Make the font smaller. Make the logo bigger.” Ditch this rule for content marketing. Make the font BIGGER. No, you don’t have to blow it up to 24px or more. A 16px on an average usually does the trick.
- Faster
HD images are fantastic when you need them for print. They are also amazingly detailed and perfect to enhance your image. But, they also mean huge file size. Huge file size = slower loading time for the website. Keep the image size small – it will help with the search rankings.
- Visuals
So what do all top ranking articles have in common? They have more images. An average of atleast 9 images to say the least. Use visuals and images to make your article more interesting.
- Professional visuals
When I said keep the image size small, I didn’t mean compromise on the visual quality. Get professional photographs. Try creating your own stock photo version rather than use online repositories to add more originality. Professional photos get atleast 120% higher shares online.
- Images and words
There are a lot of points around images. So, just stay here with me. Try including an image for every 75-100 words used in an article. It will impact reader experience positively.
- Floating share buttons
Some agree on using them, others call them interfering. You can pick a side to this debate. But, floating share buttons, increase social traffic by atleast 25%.
- Infographics
Having one at the end of an article makes it easier for outside sites to link to your content. You cannot go wrong with data visualization. Also, refer to point 2.
- Link out
Link out to other articles, sources and people. Hyperlinking within your own domain or to credible references is a great practice and also contributes to more social media shares.
- Length
Long articles are not bad from an SEO perspective. Having over 2000 words with the above mentioned multimedia content, visuals etc. in an article is good enough to cover bases for best practices.
- Shareable
The content needs to be shareable. Which means, you need to offer all social media buttons for your readers to share. They look very similar to the ones on this page.
So go ahead and share this. Feel free to add more tips in the comments below.
Ramblings of Anusha 
Awesome post – I knew visuals was important, but not that it was SO important!
Recently, I read this blog post: https://sleeknote.com/content-marketing-ecommerce/
One of the leading experts in content marketing gives his best tips and tricks – I think it’s a good addition to your great post!
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