We had another fabulous #ContentCircus last night on the topic of How to Audit Your Content. The last two weeks have really taken off, I appreciate everyone’s participation and sharing their smartitude. Here’s a link to the transcript from Hashtracking. I wanted to highlight some of the great points made during the chat:
Readability is a big area to address when doing a content audit. Anything you can do to better organize your information and make it easier for the reader to understand key concepts, is a good thing. Honestly, a lot of this comes down to simple stuff that we can all do, and #ContentCircus participants had some great suggestions:
I like to see break downs – like bullet points – so I can scan and come back if I'm wanting to dig deeper. #ContentCircus
— Kathryn Lang – hopesmith and dream ignitor (@Kathrynclang) January 6, 2021
Site design is important. All of these UX/UI elements are important. But I’d say today, headings, font size, visuals are important. But don’t pick a design that isn’t feasible to maintain. Visuals are great, but harder than hell to keep up effectively. #ContentCircus https://t.co/HbSEyz1O5V
— Fred Faulkner IV (@AccordingtoFred) January 6, 2021
After I’ve addressed readability, I will then move on to editing the actual information in the post. Is any of it outdated and needs to be removed? Is there a new case study or research study I have found that I can add? Also keep in mind as I add or remove material, I am still addressing readability, that carries over throughout the entire process.
After I tackle readability, I like to go back and see if there is any new information I've found since I wrote the post that I can add to it. Like a research study that backs up a key point I made, a cool new case study I found recently, etc. #contentcircus
— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 6, 2021
So changing the date to make the post more recent DOES have a big impact on traffic. I make sure that I only change the date on a post if I make significant changes to the content. If I just add a sentence or two, no date change. It forces me to 'earn' a new date #contentcircus https://t.co/3FlbU9lMKv
— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 6, 2021
Let me give you an example: Let's say i have a 1500 word post I wrote in 2019. If I go back and back and edit it and add 500 words of content and embed a video, I've significatntly changed content, so I would change date to sometime in 2020. #contentcircus https://t.co/3FlbU9lMKv
— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 6, 2021
Next we moved onto discussing using the proper search keywords and phrases during your content audit. Luckily, #ContentCircus community had many helpful suggestions for keyword research tools!
I use Ubersuggest and Keywords Everywhere #ContentCircus
— Christoph Trappe (@CTrappe) January 6, 2021
I mostly use google keywords tool to get the questions persons are searching for. #contentcircus
— Andrae Palmer (@andraepalmer) January 6, 2021
SEMrush is free for one domain, up to 50 keywords. #ContentCircus
— Don Dingee (@don_dingee) January 6, 2021
We use the idea of content pillars – a head term, core topics, and subtopics. We usually start at the back, with a subtopic in the form of a question we can answer. #ContentCircus
— Don Dingee (@don_dingee) January 6, 2021
Next, we covered adding visual elements to your audited content. Note that as we address things like font size for text, headings and subheadings, now adding visual elements, we are (hopefully) making it easier for the reader to process information. That’s what we want. The easier it is for our ideas to flow to the reader, the more likely they are to understand those ideas, and their impact.
One of the last areas I focus on is visual elements. If I add content to a post (say 500 words) I want to avoid creating a 'wall of text', so I look for images and video I can add to break up the text. Maybe even a callout box. But esp video if appropriate #contentcircus
— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 6, 2021
For instance, let's say I've written a post on The North Face's loyalty program, and I am auditing that post. I find a video interview with the CMO talking about the program, that's perfect to add visual element and useful new information to post #contentcircus
— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 6, 2021
Finally, we talked a bit about Calls to Action. Whenever you audit your content, you should add a Call to Action that encourages the reader to take some next step based on who they are, their intent, and what action you want them to take.
So the last area I look at when I audit content is to make sure I have the appropriate calls to action. I think about who will be reading the post, how they will be finding it, and what action I want them to take AFTER reading the post. #contentcircus
— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 6, 2021
A call to action could be something as simple as asking for a comment or subscribe, or maybe it's asking for a sale. It depends on where they are in the buyer's journey when they arrive on my content, and that determines what the next step is and my call to action #contentcircus
— Mack Collier (@MackCollier) January 6, 2021
So that was our first #ContentCircus chat of 2021! We had a wonderful discussion on auditing content, and I hope you can join the next #ContentCircus, which is every Tuesday at 7pm Central, on Twitter! Just follow the #ContentCircus hashtag!
