There is a reason why “content is king”. Content is a great way for MSPs to market their services, build trust with potential customers, and drive traffic to websites. Content creation isn’t easy though when you’re not in the know. It requires a lot of thought and planning even before you start writing.
When creating content, you will need to know what your audience wants to read about, how to select topics that are SEO driven and how to structure it. As well as everything else you need to know about content creation so that you can ensure its high quality and worth the time of your reader.
Know Your Audience
Before you even start researching your topic, you need to know your audience inside-out. Who are they? What position do they hold in their organisation, what’s important to them and how much do they understand about managed services and IT? Is there something about their job that keeps them up at night?
This will help you to narrow down your topic choices so that you can create content for your reader. It will also allow you to set the tone of voice for your articles and it will guide the language that you use in your writing, so you can meet them where they are.
If you know your audience well, you will know what keywords they would search for, what types of content they would like to read, and what type of information to provide, so you can meet them at their knowledge level.
If you aren’t sure what your audience is like ask them, conduct surveys, use Answer The Public, and keyword search tools to find what they look for. This will help you to create content that is tailored to your reader, which will increase your traffic and help improve your conversion rates.
Select an SEO Driven Topic
Once you know your audience, you need to pick a topic for your content. There are many ways to pick a topic for your blog post or article, but the easiest way is to use a keyword research tool to find a topic that your audience is searching for.
The topic you choose for your blog post or article can also be used in your content title and your blog post meta description. This is important since search engines use these two parts of your content to decide what your page is about and rank you higher in their search engine results pages (SERPs).
Keep in mind that the topic you choose should be interesting and engaging to your readers. It should also be something that you have enough knowledge about to write a detailed post. If you’re struggling to find a topic to write about, try the following strategies.
- What is happening in your industry right now? What new technologies or policies are being released? What common problems are being addressed? How are people using your product or service?
- Think about what your readers might be curious about. What questions do they have? What don’t they understand about what you do?
- Look at your blog analytics and see what topics people are searching for. What are they clicking on but not reading?
- Brainstorm with your team and see what topics everyone has an interest in writing about. What are people asking about that you can answer?
When selecting your topic, remember to ask, ‘what’s in it for the reader?’ It’s not about you, it’s about your audience.
Research Your Subject
Once you’ve picked a topic, you need to do research around your topic. Researching your topic will:
- help you to see what others have written so you can create something unique
- write a more detailed post and
- will make it easier for readers to trust your information when you cite sources and use facts
This will make it clear to readers where you got your information from. Choose trustworthy sources to make sure you are citing accurate information. You can also use the information you found while researching to create an effective outline for your content. This will make it easier to write your post since you already have the main points written down.
Write With Structure
Consider the structure of your content. Make sure your content has a clear introduction, body, and conclusion so that readers are engaged and know what you are going to include in each section. But why?
- Having the structure developed will save you time as you write. It will ensure that you include all the necessary information without any pointless detail. In addition, it will improve the flow of the writing and keep the readers’ attention.
- Utilise the AIDA model to ensure the structure is engaging. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Really knowing your audience and what will grab their attention will help ensure your writing is on point.
Show, Don’t Tell
If you’re new to blogging, you might be writing all your posts in the “tell” manner. This is where you simply tell your readers what you’re talking about. For example, “this blog post is about content creation.” While this may be an effective way to inform readers, it’s not as engaging as showing readers what you’re talking about.
This can be done by including real-life examples such as “this blog post is about how to create content that drives traffic to your website.” Similarly, if you’re talking about a concept or idea, try to show readers what you mean. Rather than saying “this topic is important to understand,” you can say “this topic is important because it helps to build trust with potential customers.”
Content Marketing Strategies
Your topics, articles and where and how you share them is part of your content marketing strategy, and it’s an important part of any MSP’s marketing strategy.
There are many ways to share your content so that it’s seen by a wider audience.
- Post your article on social media. Post it on your company’s Facebook page, Twitter feed, LinkedIn page, or any other social media feed that your audience follows. Make sure to use hashtags when posting on Twitter and Instagram to make sure that your post gets seen by more people.
- Post your article on industry-related forums is a great way to market your content to people who are in the industry/industries you are targeting. This is a great way to build your credibility in that space/spaces by sharing your knowledge with others.
- Email your existing email list is a great way to let your customers know about the content you’ve created. Be sure to send your content out at the times when your customers are open to receiving emails from you.
- Send your content to publication websites. If your article is long enough for an article, send it to publication websites such as Entrepreneur and Inc. These are large publications that accept content from anyone in any industry. If your article is short enough to be a blog post, share it with blogging websites.
- Share your content to your professional network, friends, and family. If they’re interested in your article, they will click on the link and visit your website, or they might share it with their network to help you get more views. You never know who they are connected with.
Summed up
Content is an important way for MSPs to communicate and market their services and solutions. It’s important to know your audience before you start creating content, pick a topic, and do research around your topic. Once you’ve created your article, you need to share it with your audience.
There are many ways to share your content so that it’s seen by a wider audience. Now that you know everything you need to know about content creation, you can create content tailored toward your readers and improve your traffic and conversion rates.
Our expert content marketing strategists can take your content to the next level with unique and tailored ideas fit for your MSP and the industries you are targeting.
