Implementing a long tail keyword strategy is one of the best ways to create sustainable SEO value for your website. But this requires dedication, patience and, of course, a lot of content at regular intervals.
That last part – “a lot of content at regular intervals” – is often a big pain point for small businesses. It’s not that they’re not dedicated; it’s not that they don’t want to create great content; it’s not that they don’t want to succeed – they just don’t know what to write about!
If you’re in a similar predicament, here’s an easy answer that should provide you with enough fodder to keep you generating new content for months (if not longer):
Answer your customers’ questions.
Sounds easy… and it is. Find out what questions they need answered and answer them. A single question can easily take an entire blog post to answer. Just be willing to go in depth and offer something of value.
Take this post as an example. I get this questions all the time:
I know I need to get more content on my site, and we have a blog, but I just don’t know what to write about!
This post is an answer to that question.
How Do I Find Out What Questions Need to be Answered?
What do people really want to know? Here are a few techniques and resources to build up your fodder file:
- Forums and Communities – Find the online water coolers for your industry and dive in. We’re social animals, and forums are a great place to rant and complain about our problems or beg and plead for help. Poke around and see what questions pop up.
- Yahoo! Answers – Type your main industry phrases in the search box and see what people are asking about.
- LinkedIn Answers – Type in a keyword or select a category.
- WordTracker Keyword Questions – This is a neat tool that looks at actual questions typed into search engines.
- Internal Search Queries – Hopefully you’re tracking what people type into the search box on your website. This info is a goldmine of relevant user inquiries.
- Just Ask! – If you have a way to reach your customers directly, just ask them what they’d like to know.
After going through all these steps, you should have a substantial list of questions to answer. No need to rush. Don’t make a one-line response to each one, slap them on an FAQ page and call it good.
Start with one question and provide a detailed, useful answer on a dedicated page (a blog is the easy way to do this, but not necessary). Then move on to the next one. Just keep going at it one question at a time every day or every week and eventually you’ll have a massive body of long tail goodness.
PS – If the content on your site is the answer to customer questions, then the products and services you provide are the solutions to their problems.
So, what are the biggest SEO questions on your mind?
Photo credit: Karen Eliot
