5 Content Marketing Mistakes You Don't Want To Make

Everyone will tell you what you should be doing when it comes to content marketing, but what about the mistakes you should be avoiding?

More often than not, these are a bit harder to discern. And, unfortunately, a lot of brands typically end up making the same mistakes over and over again.

Here's how you can break the cycle.

In this post, I'm going to highlight some of the most common content marketing mistakes out there. Avoid doing any (even better all) of these, and you're going to be well on your way to better results when it comes to your content marketing campaigns.

1. Ignoring Search Engine Optimization

Understanding at least a little bit about SEO is an essential part of creating good content. That means everything from understanding keywords to making sure your site is in ship shape for search engines to crawl.

First, you need to plan around the keywords that your audiences are searching for so you can create content around them. And then, you need to make sure your content (and that includes your website more than your blog) is optimized so it's search friendly and can start showing up on Google.

If your brand is running on WordPress pick up a plugin like Yoast. It can help you make sure your posts and pages get optimized for search for your keywords.

2. Not Promoting Your Content

It's not enough today to write a post and hope for the best. Unless you've hit on a great keyword and you're ranking #1 on Google for it, you need other sources of traffic.

Promotion plays a big part in that. The easy way to start is by sharing your content across your social media channels. From there, share via your email newsletters. And, finally, reach out to others who you've mentioned or are related to your niche and ask them to share as well.

3. Ignoring Mobile

Over 50% of all web traffic today is accessed via mobile devices. So while desktop browsing is indeed still relevant, the world is heading towards mobile.

Recently, Google rolled out its mobile-first indexing upgrade. It means that Google's bots will first crawl the mobile version of your site rather than the desktop version. So if your website isn't mobile-friendly, you're likely going to get penalized.

If you're on WordPress, you can do a few quick fixes to make sure your site is mobile friendly. One option is to get a theme that optimizes for mobile. If you can't get a new theme, look for plugins that help convert your current theme to something that is mobile responsive. WP Touch is a good option.

4. Not Planning Content

Consumers today are savvy, they are overloaded with content from every direction and want the good stuff. So, you can stand out from the crowd by giving it to them.

A big part of that is planning. That doesn't just mean scheduling something to go up every Tuesday. It's all about understanding your consumer's hopes and fears, the questions they are likely to ask, and how they can benefit from your product or service. Then create highly relevant content that helps push them through your sales funnel.

Start thinking this way, and you won't have to scramble to come up with something on Monday night, you'll have a well of ideas you can use to start creating really valuable and engaging content for your consumers.

5. Not Asking Readers to Take Action

At the end of the day, if your brand has a blog, it is creating content with the hopes of making money. That's not a dirty word!

But, all too often, brands aren't helping readers turn into customers through their content. It's not enough to have a feeble ask in the sidebar for people to sign up to your mailing list, you need to ask them to take action with every interaction.

Start simple with signing up for email lists. But don't stop there. In your next newsletter ask your subscribers to do something else; maybe respond to you with some challenge they are facing (hello market research) or check out a few new blog posts or download a free whitepaper.

If you're worried it feels pushy, it doesn't. It helps build a relationship between readers and your brand and helps you see whose distancing themselves from the pack when it comes to moving to the next stage of the funnel.

Final Thoughts

These are some fundamental mistakes, but you don't have to fall into the trap of making them when it comes to your marketing.

Focusing on each of these can lead to real results down the road and help build a more cohesive content marketing strategy for the future.