My Content Strategy For 2020

It’s funny. I’ve been blogging for 20 years now. You would think I have everything dialed in… all the time. That everything that happens is totally strategic.

Well, that’s not the case. Cuz, I’m human. Also, things change. Priorities change. The industry changes. And sometimes, I go off like a weirdo and just… change my mind. 🙂

So, with that in mind, I thought I would talk a bit about my own personal content strategy that I’m pursuing right now on the Blog Marketing Academy blog. There are a few things that go into it.

#1 – I am continuing to execute the Redwood Strategy.

If you haven’t read about the Redwood Strategy, you can check out this post for the whole rundown. But, the gist is this…

Instead of relying exclusively on new posts all the time, you spend quite a lot of time circling back and editing/updating old posts. Then, as time goes on, those posts develop into major pillar posts that will serve your marketing goals for a long, long time.

This is something I am always doing on my blog. I mean, let’s be real… a huge chunk of the stuff we discuss at the Academy doesn’t change all that much. It would actually be a waste of time for me to constantly churn out new posts when I can just go back and keep the old stuff updated.

So, one of the things I’m doing over time is a content audit. I am going through the archives and I am bringing some old posts up to date. Some of them I am deleting. Some of them are being combined and redirected.

One of the things that help surface what I’m focusing on with the Redwood Strategy is…

#2 – Re-organizing the Blog Around Content Silos

If you go to the site now, you will see 6 sections across the top. Those are new content silos in progress.

A content silo is kind of like a category, except that it is a way of structuring the content in a way that benefits your SEO. Now, a lot of bloggers out there have talked about this idea of content silos. In my opinion, the topic has led to too many people thinking it is some kind of “magic bullet” to search rankings. And that is is NOT. In fact, depending on how you structure silos, it can actually decrease sales and conversion across your blog.

A silo is not a category. We’re not talking about a typical categorical display of posts in the same category. The way I have set up my content silos is more like a LANDING PAGE centered around a particular idea. That idea is something that my market wants.

Each silo is optimized as a content page. It actually has content on there. It has a way to opt into the list. And the silo assembles blog content that’s relevant to it onto that page. When you do your internal linking, you try to keep much of the internal links to other posts with that same silo. And you also link to the main silo page, flowing a lot of “link juice” to that main authority page.

Anyway, I can talk about silos more a little later and add my own little twist to it. 🙂 But, for now…

This silo structure is giving me a framework to how I am approaching my content planning. It helps me determine what to focus on. It helps me find the weak spots in the content. It also surfaces posts that need to be updated so that they’re worthy of being displayed on those silo pages. And it is providing more structure to how the overall blog is being put together.

#3 – More Focus on Tools, Reviews & Tutorials

You might have noticed that I’ve been doing more tools, reviews and comparisons lately. And that’s on purpose.

It’s just called listening to my market. 🙂 I get asked a lot about my thoughts on various tools. My students do spend a lot of time in the beginning evaluating these things.

Plus, my years of experience in this space – and my technical background – give me a unique perspective when I am evaluating these tools. I don’t easily fall for shiny objects. I never promote anything merely for a commission (you can always tell the ones who do). Plus, I am good at not only reviewing a tool from my reader’s perspective, but also as a developer who understands the guts of it. And that means I can give a good overview not only on what a tool can do, but whether it will be user friendly.

Besides, I enjoy checking out these tools. 🙂 I’m a nerd, man. What can I say? 😉

#4 – Greater Frequency

I’ve said many times that it is not necessary to blog with high frequency. And that is true. The Redwood Strategy makes it a lot easier to slow down, too.

But, this year I will probably be posting a bit more often. As I execute this plan, I have reasons to post more. Plus, I’m always testing some things out. 🙂

Lastly…

#5 – More Community

The last couple years, I had the blog sort of on “lock down”. In other words, no community. No comments. No public community. Only the members-only community inside THE LAB.

This year, I am making the decision to open it up again. I was being stubborn. I admit it.

And so, blog comments are now turned back on. And I’ve opened up the new Facebook Group which is open to all readers of the Blog Marketing Academy, whether you’re a LAB member or not.

So, these are some of the things I am focusing on this year when it comes to my own blogging.

What about you?