Don’t Let Your B2B Content Get Stuck in a Rut in 2011

The beginning of a New Year is the perfect opportunity to address and make changes to your current content strategy and to start implementing your resolutions that affect content. One of the biggest problems that many organizations face when it comes to their content is that it often begins to seem and feel repetitive or stale (even if it’s new content). Your content developers don’t have an unending reservoir of ideas, and often writers begin to fall into an uninspiring, uninventive content creation routine. To help you avoid starting 2011 off on a repetitive note, here are some of our best tips for writing inspiring content in the New Year.

What are some of the key elements of fresh content?

1. Strategic. Your content needs to fit and support your online strategy and your online strategy needs to fit and support your customers’ wants and needs. Your copy needs to make a connection with your audience, and if you’re consistently in tune with your visitors’ online interests then you should constantly be updating your content so it evolves along with what they’re looking for.
2. Search engine-friendly. It doesn’t matter if you’re constantly updating your content if no one can find it. Your SEO strategy and content strategy need to work together to ensure that your new content is getting the same attention as your older stuff.
3. Analytics-driven. Your analytics are your best source of information on what your customers want and need from you in terms of content. By analyzing how your customers find your content, what keywords they search to find it and which they find the most helpful, you can make sure that your continually writing content that your customers want.

1. News stories. Everyone wants to stay on top of what’s going on in your industry. Providing commentary and insight into what’s going on and how it’s going to affect your customers is good way to grab readers’ attention.
2. Popular industry blogs and websites. The popular blogs and websites in your industry are probably already doing something right in terms of content. Take a look to see what your customers are already reading and figure out how you can make that work for your content in your own unique way (tip: copying what other websites are doing isn’t a way to succeed, just use them for ideas!)
3. Social bookmarking sites. These websites are consistently updating what the general public (including your target audience) think is interesting at any given point in time and can help to keep your content current. 
4. Colleagues! Your colleagues are already interested in your space. Use them as a source of fresh ideas when you run out of inspiration. 
5. Social networks. Social networks provide a repository of hundreds of thousands ideas, opinions and news reports. Use them to get up to date on what people are talking about.

Posted by Amberlie Denny at January 4, 2011 8:00 AM

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