A Challenge to the Status Quo of Content Strategy: Forget Keywords For A Moment

The thought of creating content without gripping onto keyword research is enough to make the average marketer feel like they're riding a unicycle on a tightrope without a safety net.

Content creation is usually a big investment of time and/or money, so without numbers such as keyword volumes to back up topics, it can feel like a waste from the beginning. 

I'm telling you now, though: You can no longer think about SEO that way. Sure, once upon a time in the user-experience dark ages this may have been the best way to go about things, as the only way to get found.

But give the search engines some credit! How many people are employed by Google? Do you think they all sit around twiddling their thumbs? Every algorithm update that they do pushes search results to look for more and more indicators of quality for the user. 

Nate Dame, writer for Search Engine Land and Propecta CEO, gave me a great way to sum it up: 

"User experience should always trump any kind of marketing trick, but search engine algorithms are so advanced now that good SEO doesn't have to choose one or the other.

Google is really honing in on user intent, and learning to favor topically authoritative pages, so that optimizing content for search engines, more than ever, means optimizing for the user."

It's not the end of your SEO strategy to shift your focus from keyword volumes to user experience, it's the beginning of a better strategy that will stand the test of time and algorithm changes. 
 

The Missing Element: User-Focused "Love Me" Content

Content that is targeted at a positive user experience can be the hardest thing to create. But if you want a site that people will bookmark to come back to, you need it. 

Considering the importance of user experience, you need to create content across your website that is extremely valuable to your target audience. You want the kind of website that makes someone bookmark the whole thing, rather than just a page or worse nothing at all. 

I can imagine that many will be looking at this thinking, "That's too hard. That will take more time than it's worth. Where would I even start?" That's the tricky part...

The biggest challenge of this strategy is coming up with content ideas that will be popular in your niche without relying on search volumes.

I will admit that creating content good enough to make you an authority in your niche is much easier said than done. In fact, I believe that it's one of the hardest things any marketer will have to do in their marketing lifetime, like Neo fighting the Agents, or Frodo getting the ring to Mordor. It is extremely powerful, but boy is it intimidating.

Unfortunately I can't give you a simple solution, because there isn't one. I will, however, share with you my own method for finding topics in the hopes that some of the processes might be useful to you, too.

Suggestions for "Love Me" Content Creation

Here are some ways that I find topics to write about. Think about how you could apply them to your own content strategy, or what else you could do instead. I'd love to hear any that you use below in the comments. 

The key is to figure out what's really interesting about your topic, especially recently emerging topics. The overall type of thinking you need to do can be tricky to get your head around. But when you get the hang of it, your content becomes more fun to create, not to mention more effective.

1. Think about it. Really think about it. 

It's likely you'd have at least SOME interest in the topic you made your website about. So...

• What do YOU want to know?
• What would be an interesting or different thing to look into? 
• What would fire you up about it? 
• Do you chat about it with others who share the same interests? What do you talk about with them? (That's how this post was made!)

The thinking that will help you to find good topics can change from niche to niche, but these should be a good starting point for you. Brainstorm. Scribble all over a piece of paper.

The first idea you have is often not the best idea you will have, so don't worry about whether what you're putting down is good enough. Just write it anyway and keep going. Jot down everything from your head, and see where it takes you. 

You can even look at it with fresh eyes the next day. Are there any patterns? Could some of them be combined to make an even better idea? Explore your possibilities. It sounds super corny, but look for your own fun in the process. Allow yourself to find content that you can get excited about creating. 

2. Look around. Be a good listener.

Keep an eye out as you explore the Internet for anything that stands out as interesting, and make notes for yourself to come back to later. 

I find a lot of interesting stuff when I look around social media for articles. Some are full of information I see commonly, but every now and then someone will have tried something new and exciting.

I'll then mull that over, think, "Could that be explored even further? What would be an argument or different angle to take on it? Is there anything similar I haven't considered before that I could look into?"

You can also look on popular forums and blogs. If you find a site that consistently has good information, or people asking good questions, record that somewhere so you can check regularly for new inspiration.

3. Supplement with traditional topic research methods. 

I'm not saying that you can't do keyword research, but you should do it with a different mindset. Find a keyword to match a great topic rather than the other way around.

Or if you really want to do keyword research to find a topic, be sure to keep your overall site objective in mind when choosing. 

Then give a unique perspective on the topic, something different than what everyone else is saying. Something better. What have they missed? Is there any way you could respond to that topic with an approach that is more targeted to your specific audience?

Thinking like that makes sure that you're thinking about your site visitor's interests when you build your content.

4. Record as you go to build your own topic database. It's much less overwhelming than trying to do it when you're ready to write. 

There are a lot of ways to do this. I simply jot down notes in a Google document, with lines made of hyphens separating them for easy reference. 

Sometimes the ideas I get for topics haven't even been found in the likes of social media. An idea will just occur to me as I go about my own work, and I'll jot that down too.

Then, when it comes time to write another post, I open my list and look at the top one that I haven't written yet. If I'm still excited to write about that topic, I go and do a bit more research, and then I'm off! 

Occasionally I'll delete an idea, deciding that it's not really as interesting as I thought at the time, but that's all part of the process. 

1. Find inspiration in bulk over time
2. Filter it down to the best ideas
3. Poke around for further information (like with this research method here)
4. Then get it flowing onto a page

It takes a little while to figure out where the best inspiration comes from for you personally, but it's like anything else worth your time: The more you do it, the more awesome you'll get.

Don't Forget Your Takeaways

• Does your website have an overall purpose for your site visitors? What does it help them to do?
  • If not, think about how you could sculpt your content in a more focused direction from here on out.
• Have you got a solid strategy for coming up with content topics that focus on people rather than search engines?
• Start a document for recording topic ideas.
  • Brainstorm some topics with audience experience in mind.
  • Look around social media, blogs and forums to discover what people really want to know.
    • Keep an eye out for any questions that come up regularly but receive generic responses. Could you offer an alternative solution? (Think, "Is there an answer to this that would best suit the specific needs of my website's audience?").
  • If you do use keyword research as a topic generation method, think about your audience when you build your seed keyword list. Search volumes should be secondary to having a strong purpose for your content.
• Return to this list when it comes to creating new content rather than trying to come up with something on the spot at the time; it's much easier and more effective overall.

I'd love to hear about the general theme of your website's content, let me know in the comments below. If you don't have an angle for your content, but it's something you'd like to think about, just post your niche, sub niche or website and we can discuss it. All the best!