Content creation is the act of developing topic idea that appeal to current or potential customers, content idea can be written or in visual format and making that information available to your audience in the form of blog, video, or other format.
The first place where people go when they need answer to their question is Google or any other preferred search engine
Whenever anyone enter a question into the search bar on Google or any other search engines those links that appears in your search results are content and people consume content on a daily basis.
Content creation can be an effective way to drive traffic to your website which can later become leads and then customers but it takes a lot of work, time and effort.
One of the challenges in creating content is that you have to continuously create new content and you can’t create any kind of content.
You have to create content that will align with your audience interest.
There are various method of creating content out there but in this article am going to discuss 5 content creation formats that can drive traffic to your website.
What is content Creation
Content creation is all about telling stories, and it’s a form of digital marketing that involves developing a strategic approach to create Valuable and consistent content in order to attract and engage your target audience and eventually persuade them to take the action you desire.
When creating content you should be focused on building a strong relationship with your target audience by providing content that is relevant to them.
Because creating content relevant to your target audience shows that you care about your customers and this will help you get their attention.
When creating content your priority should be on the quality of the content and not the quantity.
Also, you should consider your target audience’s pain points and tailor your content to solve their problem.
Otherwise, your effort will be wasted if your content does not cater to the right people with the right problem.
By answering the concerns and addressing the pain points of your target audience, you can increase traffic to your website which will might eventually lead to conversion.
The only way to get people to pay attention to your content is to create something that is relevant to your target audience.
Therefore when developing a content creation strategy it should align with your business and customer needs, and how it will address their problems and solve them.
Why should you create content?
In this digital era, content creation is more competitive than ever, every time you Google something millions of results show up and you get to see the top ten pages and a few ads.
Those top ten pages are the ones with content ranking for that particular phrase or keyword you search and that means you get to see few pages for that keyword.
Whether you own a flower shop, run a bakery you need to develop a strategy for content creation, because this will get people to discover your website and what you have to offer when they search for your products or services similar to yours.
It will help people think about your product or services and eventually they might buy from you.
People becoming aware of your business does not guarantee that they will buy from you, but because of the content you created, they know who you are, and if people do not know who you are, they will not be able to visit your website, become leads, or buy from you.
As a result, content creation contributes to the building of brand awareness and engagement for your products and services.
Where can you create content?
Since the world has become digitalized and most people go online to search for products or services they want to use.
The best place for content creation is on your website through a blog page or you can use different social media platforms.
If you have a website and the content on your blog page or different pages on your website is properly optimized for SEO, you will keep showing up on the first page of the SERP (Search engine result page).
For example, we run a digital marketing skill institute and if i go on any search engine to conduct a search on “digital marketing skill” different pages on our website will appear because we are ranking for that particular keyword.
A particular page of our website is showing on the first page of the search engine result page for the keyword “digital marketing skill” on Microsoft Bing.
Also on Google when you search for that keyword term ( digital marketing skill) a page on our website is also ranking for that keyword and we are shown on first page on Google search engine result page.
Basically that keyword represent what we do; we teach people or help people gain digital marketing skill.
So you see, we are creating content that are relevant to our target audience.
Also when you create content on social media platform it helps people discover your business, and you can also show up on search engine result page
For example, when i search for the keyword “digital marketing skill” our LinkedIn business page profile also appeared on the first page on Google.
Also one of our YouTube videos appeared on the First page on Microsoft Bing
Creating content on your blog page or social media pages will make it easy for people searching for product or services similar to yours to find your business first online.
So, always ensure that the content you create on your blog page, or other pages on your website and social media platform are relevant to what you offer.
But what is the point if your content appears on the first page on search engine result page, then people click on it and immediately they do they leave away.
It all points to the fact that your content does not align to the need of your target audience or your content is not quality enough.
So, before putting any content out there ensure it is quality enough and it resonates with what your target audience will be searching for.
So if you want people to discover your product or service easily when they search for the product and service similar to what you offer; register for our 90% digital marketing course
Types of content creation
Content creation can be used to engage your audience. reach new target market, provide values to your customers and attract potential customer.
When you get your content right; people will not just find your website, they will visit, become leads and eventually become paying customers.
But not everyone in your target audience would respond to the same content format, some might prefer a write-up(article) others a video while some a podcast.
In order to meet the expectation of everyone within your target audience you need to create different types of content format.
Their are various method of creating content to promote your product and services.
1. Blogs
Blogging is a type of content creation format.
It is a well-written articles about topics that your target audiences are interested in.
Today, a lot of businesses use blog post to engage with their target audience.
This is because it is a great way of establishing trust, building relationships, and increase the rate of conversions for your business.
Blog posts are easy shareable content and they are quickly found by search engines.
Although blogging is effective way of driving traffic to your website but it requires a lot of commitment and consistency.
People get to know who you are when they visit your blog posts, how do you know who they are?
You can know who they are when you include a call-to-action or a form on your blogposts, this will help you retarget them in order to convince them to buy your product or use your services.
The reason for this is that, most people might not buy form you or use your services immediately after discovering your content but if you provide a form or you include a call-to-action on your article, and your article is engaging then people might sign up or fill the form.
So, you can use the information to retarget them.
In addition make sure you focus on topics that will interest your target audience and optimize your post with relevant keywords.
2. Ebooks
Ebooks are electronic books that are often available as PDF downloads, it is a long form content that you can use to share knowledge and expertise on specific topics that are relevant to your industry.
Creating an e- book Requires research, time, and quality writing and it must be relevant to your target audience.
Because if your content is not relevant to your target audience then it won’t be of value to them
Therefore when writing ebook you should be focused on providing solutions to the pain points of your target audience.
Ebooks have a number of benefits which include lead generation, establishing authority, growing your email lists and focusing on the quality of your entire content.
Ebook is another great way of creating content and an excellent lead magnet to get quality people to subscribe to your email list, and you retarget these people.
3. Videos
Video content is one of the most popular form of content creation format consumed on the internet.
This is due to the fact that most people like to watch videos, which has been proven to grab peoples attention.
It is one of the most effective ways to engage and communicate with your target customers, resulting in long-term relationships and customer retention.
Video has evolved into one of the most important types of content that a brand or business can share on social media.
The most important aspect of any type of video content is that it fits with your brand or business and is relevant to your target audience.
Because how potential customers react to your brand or business and video content is very important.
viewers claim they retain 95% of a message when obtained via a video and a significant and 86% of marketers say that video has helped them increase website traffic.
Also 78% of video marketers says video has directly helped them to increase sales
According to social media News by 2022 the number of videos crossing the internet per second will approach 1 million translating into 82% of all online traffic.
As a result, video content creation should be an essential component of your marketing strategy.
Just like other content creation format video content will help you engage with your audience, drive traffic to your website and increase sales for you business.
You create an explainer video to introduce people to your business.
you can create a video showcasing features of your product and services or do a video to give visitors a step by step instruction on how to use your product or service.
You can also create a testimonial video showing how people have benefited from your business.
Just like ebooks and other form of content, the main aim of a video should be to provide value to your audience by answering questions, providing solution addressing their pain point.
When creating video content, your video content should be between 5-10 minutes and be sure to include a call-to-action at the end of the video to send viewers to your landing page or your website.
4. Infographics
An infographic is a type of visual content that is appealing to the eye, memorable, and simple to comprehend.
It is one of the most popular types of content to create because they visually display a lot of information, such as statistics, research, and other data, in an engaging and shareable way.
You can use infographics as an effective marketing tool to educate your target audience about your products and services.
Because we live in a digital era and a lot businesses or brands are going online, Infographic is an extremely useful content creation for your brand or business to stand out.
90% of information sent to the brain is visual. Consumers are more likely to pay attention to “information-carrying pictures” like infographics than they are to read through text alone
Also Infographics have been shown to increase web traffic by 12%.
SO, infographics can be another type of content creation format that you can use to reach out to your target audience.
5. Podcast
A podcast is a collection of digital audio files made accessible for download or listening through the internet; each audio recording is referred to as a podcast episode and it is another form of content creation.
Podcast are typically hosted by an individual or individual who leads a conversation on a streaming platform such as iTunes, Spotify, Google podcasts and Apple podcast.
Podcasts are a terrific way to engage your audience since they allow consumers to listen to your content whenever and wherever they choose.
The growing interest in the medium is mirrored in the global number of podcast listeners, which has reached a new high in 2020 at 485 million consumers worldwide.
While this is already showing the expansion of the podcast market, the number of listeners is estimated to increase further to over 800 million users in 2025.
A podcast is another great option for repurposing existing content.
If you’ve created a video, the audio can easily be converted to a podcast, and you can also convert a blogpost into a podcast.
Podcast can be a way of building awareness or improve conversion for your business and it can also be another source of revenue.
Every part of your content strategy has a goal, so you should decide what would a podcast do for you or what can your business benefit from doing a podcast.
For example, our digital marketing skill institute podcast focuses on digital marketing topics.
We also create podcasts to interview past students about their accomplishments and how our course has helped them.
However, as with other content creation formats, you should always keep in mind that the main objective of all content formats is to solve a problem or a pain point for their audience.
Conclusion
Content creation is a great way of creating awareness for your product and service, in order to drive traffic to your website and get people to buy your product or use your services.
Although there are different formats of content creation which you can use to create awareness for your business but before you start creating content it is important to know you target audience.
This is because you can’t write appealing content until you know who you are writing for and what they want to hear.
you can produce great content but if you aren’t targeting the right right people you won’t receive any leads or sales
Knowing your target audience can help you create content that is relevant to them.
Once you know your target audience, you will be able to structure an effective content strategy.
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