“Companies are rushing headlong into content today, and rightly so. It’s a battle to get noticed online amidst the noise and crowds.” Adam Audette, Chief Knowledge Officer, RKG

They say SEO is a combination of art and science. But in fact, it is more like a game, and if you want to be a winner then there is a definite need in a strategy. Most number of serious businesses make the same old mistake. They ignore such an important part of their promotion as a content strategy. It isn’t only about type of content, no. It implies a huge work on researching your user’s persona, topics audience is interested in and promoting them, etc. If it is done in right way, you won’t hunt your potential users/customers, but they will be pulled into your orbit and, moreover, they will choose your website as a go-to source when they need product or service like the ones you provide. To engage them, just switch to the most suitable weapon – content.

It is a big mystery how people do search but it is clear what they want to find. Information, inspiration or solution. A person who creates content should know what type of it can satisfy users’ needs.

Fact: All content types are based on such formats as text, image, audio or video. They are different but can and should be combined.

What content will attract information seekers?

1Providing your audience with content that has research and original data is considered to be one of the powerful ways to drive traffic to the website, establish its authority and also build trust. People understand that doing a research is a very hard work and appreciate it. Moreover, if it catches their attention and interests them, they will share it.
Any research is based on a good topic and it also needs a lot of time and resources. To engage people’s interest serve all the data clear. Don’t forget to use percentage, numbers; even tiny details can matter a lot. For busy and lazy readers make an infographic. We will come back to the last one shortly.

Why is it useful?

Jason is an SEO specialist. He is interested in Search Engines Algorithms and always wanted to make his own research. But he has many clients and can hardly afford to sleep. Harvey is a tech-geek who always was interested in the tiniest details on internet technology processes. He spends few months on researches and publishes them at his blog. On his way to work desperate Jason decides to search for research instead of doing his own and finds Harvey’s blog. He’s happy with what he sees and will definitely come back to geek’s blog again.

2The link page is another way to give your users information. This type of content is very tasty and can attract visitors but there should be trustful and informative sources that won’t influence your reputation badly. While link posts spread your good attitude to other sites, your site gets good reputation among users.
A link page is just a list of links, which should be written down in an article under the title that will stitch together all links. To help a user to understand what content is on the linked page, make a short introduction for each of provided links.

Why is it useful?

Our well-known friend Jason is on his weekend. He spends it with family and kids. To have more time with his wife he needs to distract and entertain his little kids. So he searches for toons. He finds a great source with a link page of Top10 best Disney animated films. Things seem to be better now for Jason but his eldest son needs some material for his school report about American sportsmen. Caring dad goes to the same source of link pages and finds a list of websites with tons of information about the history of the USA sports. Everyone is happy, including Jason and his wife.

3Podcasts keep to be one of the most used forms of content. One of their preferences is an easy way of creation. It is very comfortable for users to listen to podcasts while they do other things: rest, work, travel, run or fall asleep. It is important to not bore your listeners. It won’t cost much to create a podcast. Microphone, minimal technical knowledge, juicy subject, and its tasty serving. To add SEO value to your podcast, publish the transcript of it on your blog . Don’t forget to announce a new release of new episode to your audience.
Why is it useful?

Amanda, Jason’s wife, wants to be closer to her daughter who is teenager. She knows nothing about teens problems. Psychology courses are expensive for their family and Amanda can’t spend much time on reading. Plus, she is an auditory learner. She searches for psychology podcasts and finds the one she likes. Listening of those podcasts doesn’t distract her from everyday house routine and helps to have better relationships with her daughter.

How to satisfy users needs in inspiration?

What do we humans need to be happy and productive? Sometimes it feels like our faith is lost, then we start to search for inspiration. Everyone needs it so this fact makes such type of content high-demanded.

1An interview will save the situation. It is pretty interesting to read about successful people, what opinions they have on different topics, how they built their way to where they are now. Another great benefit of this type of content is the unique information interviewer gets.

To make an interview you should find a leader of the field users are interested in. In invitation set time and place. Now prepare questions. You can do it in different ways. For example, make an announcement at your blog/website and ask the audience what they want to know about the person you are going to have an interview with. In this way, you will certainly interest visitors and they will impatiently wait for the next post. If there is a video of an interview, take care of your audience and provide an overview or written summary of the interview.

Why is it useful?

Our old friend Jason doesn’t know what to expect from SEO in 2016. He doubts if his strategy is right considering all the trends and changes in his field. Then he finds an interview with the founder of the most popular SEO blog with his thoughts about SEO perspectives in 2016. Jason is back to normal again, he found out that he was on a right way to success and he is 100% sure in doing his job perfectly.

2People love to read about people. Some personal stories inspire, some of them motivate, and another make us regret all lost time on reading the story. Common thing is that they don’t let you feel no emotion. They stuck in people’s brains or hearts and if it is a great personal story, then curious visitors will come back to check for something new and exciting, something that will make them feel in the same way they once did. In personal stories readers look for some tips. Give them what they want.
To write this type of content use your own story or tell about people that positively changed their lives or went through hard times, survived and became successful.

Why is it useful?

Jason has hard times again. Something goes wrong at work; he doubts his life choice was right. Maybe he needs to change his job? One of his friends sends him an article with a personal story. It is a well-known SEO specialist, he tells how hard his way to success was and that he regretted his life choice for a few times. He also shares some tips how to organize work process, what apps to use, how to inspire employees to work more productive. Now Jason is full of inspiration and tries some tips at work. In a week or two Jason sees differences and is happy with his life again.

Help your users to find solutions they need

Have problems with using a device? Don’t know how to generate keywords? Need to find out how to bake a birthday cake? All these questions need solutions. Content that includes them will open another channel for more visitors.

1“How-to” content is in the TOP of the most popular content. It can be a how-to guide or how-to article. The topic depends on what field you work in.
The first step in making “how-to” content is choosing a problem that should be solved. Then step-by-step describe the solution of it. Each stage should be detailed. Discuss it, think of all possible difficulties that can occur. In the end, make a summary and provide a conclusion. Done!

To make your “how-to” interesting add infographics, pictures, videos, anything that you think may help readers to solve their issues quicker and in the easiest way.

Why is it useful?

Mathew is Jason’s eldest son. He wants to know how to use a quadcopter as it is not a cheap toy and can be broken easily. He’s not into reading long boring guides, he needs a quick solution which he finds at one of the how-to websites. Now he knows what to do to make his quadcopter work and enjoys using it.

2One of the longest content types is a guide. If you want it to be effective – make it stylish and actual. This delicate kind needs not only a great idea that your audience wants to be described, but also a good writer who will create informative text and designer whose work will be attractive. As a rule, guides are downloadable, which make them even more wanted and popular.
Why is it useful?

Amanda decides to start her own cooking blog. But she doesn’t know how to make a website and chooses a well-known platform for creating one automatically. Not to miss the tiniest detail she prefers to read a long and very useful guide. Few days later Amanda is proud to show her very first post at a perfectly designed website to the world.

Add some more spice

Infographic, memes, lists make a presentation of any information or data better in a visual way. One of the great benefits of infographics is their ability to be shared more. Memes are funny and everyone loves qualitative humor. As for lists, they will visually sort all information and, f.e., help a user to not be lost in a long article.

As you can see there are so many types of content that make it impossible to make one universal set which will guide you to popularity in Web. To be successful you should understand what your audience’s needs are and satisfy them. Combine types, invent new ones, use your knowledge and imagination to see very soon how traffic grows.