The web can be the most crowded place or one of the most lonely. We’ve all had moments where we put out content and it just fades away without grabbing any attention. So what do we do? We try to navigate through the digital seaweed and find clarity to help our efforts.
Wanting to increase your audience base and visibility of your brand is a struggle well known. Online publishing is a powerful medium wherein you can enjoy maximum viewership. Whether you’re on the lookout for new readers, educating people about what you do or simply marketing your brand - publishing content of all kinds can be a tricky road to go through.
When done right, this content marketing can help improve search engine ranking and thereby overall exposure to newer readers. As we know that the digital space can get challenging, here are a few ways you can magnify your audience base.
1. Who comes to my website?
The first thing to look into is - who do you help? Who is the target of your content? You could be focusing on legal news or entertainment only. You could use Google-analytics to find your answer. This can help you not only gauge your reader personas but also help create content knowing exactly who’s reading your content. Even something as small as a region specific insight can help create the structural integrity of your content pieces.
2. Don’t forget your offline roots
If you’ve maintained any offline viewership through print or networking alone, don’t let them be in hiding. It’s easier to get your offline connections to get to read your content than maybe making new online connections. So how do you do this? Don’t fear away from adding recent posts in your email signature. Market your content on your social channels - this one is basic.
3. Consistency - will help over writing too much
Publishing multiple times a month can seem like the first solution. And while having sufficient content can ensure that you have a library, it’s important to have a relevant library. You could have content flowing in huge numbers but what about when you run out? If you focus on a niche, this is a huge possibility. While we’d recommend having a few content options as backup, we also urge you to not be an overkill. There is such a thing as too much content. Rather than churning out a load of content, we encourage you to be consistent with your content. Value echoes.
4. Keep things different and interesting
This could be harder for a seasoned publisher. Once you’ve found your content style and brand it’s often advised to stick with it. This way you’re easier to find on the digital platform. However, while you stay loyal to your audience, you can always invite fresh pair of eyes by switching up the format a little.
Visual elements like gifs, moving graphs, images etc
Adding an audio format of the same content
Having a video content of the event or around the subject
Having text bubbles to assist the conversational format of content
Centre the story around comment section through highlighting public discussions
5. Enable effective reader engagement
Not everybody who lands on your website is going to stay there and read everything you have to say. Especially with so many sites today that work behind subscriptions and logins. Ensure that the users who come in to view your content for the first time are not bombarded with unnecessary content. Give them what they came for and keep distractions at bay.
What’s going to help with retention is essentially website performance and ease of navigation. Here are a few more things to keep in mind.
Provide summaries for your audience
Remove distracting elements
Update your older content
Fix any broken images or links
Check in on the accessibility of each content piece
Draw regular conclusions from your analytics
Reduce the load of multimedia on the pages that are slow
Always, always improve readability of your articles
Increasing audience engagement and your message can take time. However it’s important to know how to do it. Don’t let the weight of content crush you. Focus on the quality of your content and not the quantity. We’ve discussed a few points here, let us know if there are other ways that have helped you improve your content visibility.
Content is always rewarded on the web when done right. Focus on your target audience and remember that good things take time - as does SEO. For more articles on similar topics click the links.