As a part of our new series 5 Essential Elements of a Successful Web Strategy, we’re going to look at content strategy to understand why it’s an essential part of a successful company website and some tips on how to do it effectively.
We sat down with Olivia Davis, the head of content strategy at Soulheart, to learn some more about the work she does.
What do you like about working on Content Strategy?
Two things: the content and the strategy.
Seriously, though, I’ve always been fascinated with words and how language can become a vehicle of ideas. I studied English in college and then taught it in Athens, Greece for a year, which helped me understand the value of learning to clearly communicate ideas cross-culturally. I’m amazed at the miracle of language – that it’s possible to share thoughts with each other using only 26 shapes and some punctuation marks.
On the other hand, I’m a perpetual problem solver and like to think of creative and simple solutions to big problems by clearly articulating what can be improved.
Content strategy lets me put these two things together. Helping brands discover their own stories and then guiding them as they learn to articulate it in a way that piques their audience’s interest is really rewarding. It’s a field that has lots of those little “light bulb” moments and being the person who gets to usher them in is a lot of fun!
What is content strategy?
As a content strategist, my job is to tell the story of a company using blog posts, website copy, and social media captions. Content strategy is all about using the words on your website to convey a message that will lead to conversions, so I find the smartest ways to publish blogs, articles, and updated copy to create rapport with future clients.
The process is twofold because it involves both the big picture of content – publishing schedules, how website copy relates to blog posts, etc. – and the writing itself. The big picture is where the strategy comes in, which helps us determine the purpose of each piece of language on the website. The writing itself comes in after the strategy, and that’s where mechanics like readability, headings, and SEO come together to produce copy that is exciting and informative while also leading potential customers to purchase your products or services.
How does it work?
Essentially, every word on your website should be there for a very specific purpose. It’s the content strategist’s job to make sure that each piece of writing on the website is shining the best possible light on your company. This is can be tricky because you have to balance a number of different things including:
- The existing content
- A feasible publication schedule
- The most important traffic-driving content
- Articulating the brand’s story
When these all come together – and they do, after some hard work – the content strategy will lead to a greater conversion rate. Having quality content embedded within a strong strategy will increase traffic to your website, earn your credibility, give you authority, and ultimately lead to more customers who are willing to invest in your products and services.
Thanks, Olivia, for talking to us about your work! Next week, we’re going to start looking at the basics of getting started with creating compelling content.
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