Content Strategy Template [Free Download + Instructions]

Use our free content material technique template and directions to create a content material advertising technique in your web site.

The ensuing doc will allow you to:

• Plan and create content material that helps your enterprise objectives
• Take advantage of out of your obtainable sources
• Maintain all of your workforce members aligned

The best way to Use the Content material Technique Template

To make use of the content material technique template, open this Google Docs link. And signal into Google if obligatory.

Then, click on “Make a duplicate.” 

This may create and open a duplicate of the template in your Google Drive.

Subsequent, you’ll discover ways to fill out the content material advertising technique template. Part by part.

1. Set Content material Objectives

First, outline your basic content marketing objectives and the way you’ll measure them.

This may give route to the remainder of your content strategy. And help you observe your success sooner or later.

Set objectives which are SMART:

S	Particular	Exact, unambiguous objectives preserve your efforts targeted. Break down broad goals into clearer sub-objectives.
M	Measurable	Monitoring your progress objectively permits you to make data-led selections. Translate obscure goals into quantifiable ones.
A	Attainable	Over-ambitious objectives can demotivate your workforce. Create practical objectives by contemplating your sources and referring to related benchmarks.
R	Related	Content material objectives ought to align together with your broader marketing strategy. You’ll see higher outcomes when everybody works towards comparable goals.
T	Time-bound	Encourage your workforce and enhance monitoring by setting a deadline for every objective. However ensure you have sufficient time to make an impression.

Based on Semrush’s State of Content Marketing report, the commonest content material objectives are:

• Appeal to extra site visitors to our web site
• Enhance model consciousness
• Generate leads
• Generate gross sales/income
• Enhance buyer loyalty and engagement

The SMART model of “Appeal to extra site visitors” might be “Enhance web site site visitors by 25% over the following six months by optimizing present content material for search engine marketing and publishing high-quality weblog posts twice every week.”

(You may wish to refine your objectives later. After getting extra data in your technique.)

Whenever you’ve determined in your objective, add it to your content material technique template. And observe the way you’ll measure it. For instance, you may use Google Analytics 4 to measure site visitors.

This course of ensures that your objectives are sensible and clear. 

2. Create Purchaser Personas

Subsequent, create and summarize buyer personas (fictional profiles that characterize completely different segments of your target market).

This may allow you to perceive every sort of prospect—and create content material they’ll love.

Right here’s an instance of a full persona, created with the Semrush Persona software:

And the corresponding abstract in our example content strategy:

In the event you haven’t created purchaser personas but (otherwise you wish to enhance yours), you’ll must conduct in-depth audience research.

You may study your web site customers’ demographics by Google Analytics. 

Navigate to “Reviews”> “Consumer” > “Consumer attributes” > “Overview” to see a breakdown of your viewers by nation, metropolis, gender, pursuits, age, and language.

For additional insights, analyze your market with Semrush’s One2Target software. 

Choose your goal location, enter as much as 5 opponents’ domains, then click on “Analyze.”

The software will analyze your market viewers. And supply three experiences with helpful breakdowns:

• Demographics: Age, intercourse, and nation
• Socioeconomics: Family measurement, earnings degree, employment standing, and schooling degree 
• Habits: Pursuits, gadgets, and social media

Within the “Viewers Overlap” tab, you may see which internet sites these customers go to most.

This will help you perceive what varieties of content material your prospects love. And establish key locations for content distribution. 

3. Doc Your Assets

Subsequent, doc the sources obtainable to you or your workforce.

This consists of:

• Folks: Who’re the folks in your workforce? What are their ability units? How a lot time have they got obtainable for content material tasks?
• Instruments: What content tools do you’ve entry to? What are their features?
• Finances: Do you’ve a price range for added sources? How a lot are you able to spend and on what?

Noting this data helps you identify which tasks are viable. And allocate sources extra successfully.

Say you fill out your content material technique template like this:

This reveals that you just’re well-equipped to create search-optimized weblog posts. However you may battle to create high-quality movies.

4. Analyze Opponents’ Content material

Analyze competitors’ content to see what’s working for them—and what isn’t. Then, preserve notes to tell your individual content material advertising technique. 

On this context, a competitor is any website publishing comparable content material to yours. Business rivals are of explicit curiosity. However you would additionally glean insights from trade bloggers, for instance.

To get began, search your area and nation in Semrush’s Organic Research software.

Then, go to the “Opponents” report to search out websites that share probably the most organic keywords with you. (That means their content material is just like yours.)

To study extra a couple of competitor, click on on their area. (This searches the area in Natural Analysis.)

Then, go to the “Pages” report to find the rival’s top-performing URLs.

You’ll discover the next metrics for every web page:

• Visitors: The estimated variety of unpaid visits from Google every month
• Key phrases: The variety of key phrases the web page ranks for (with a search intent breakdown)
• Backlinks: The variety of hyperlinks this web page has from different domains (you might must click on “Present”)

Usually, the stronger these metrics, the higher the content material.

Click on the “Exterior hyperlink” icon to go to any URL and conduct additional evaluation.

Ask your self the next questions. And add notes to your content material technique template.

• What sort(s) of content material does this competitor create?
• What matters does this competitor cowl?
• Which items of content material carry out finest?
• What does this competitor do properly?
• What might they do higher?

Like this:

5. Audit Your Content material

A content audit is an evaluation of your present content material. You need to assessment each web page in your web site and resolve what to do with it:

• Maintain: The content material is useful and performing properly. So, it ought to be stored as-is.
• Enhance: The content material might be improved or isn’t performing in addition to it might. Enhancing this content material might be an economical strategy to get extra site visitors and/or conversions.
• Take away: The content material presents no worth and has little to no potential. It ought to be eliminated, because it might be doing extra hurt than good.

Implementing these adjustments tends to be cheaper than creating new content material. Plus, it offers you a strong basis to construct upon.

To find out if content material ought to be improved, ask your self:

• Is the content material useful, complete, and correct?
• Does the content material exhibit E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)?
• Does the subject have enterprise potential? 
• Does your viewers need or want this content material?

To find out if content material is performing properly, ask your self:

• Does your content material fulfill its unique objectives?
• How a lot site visitors does the web page generate?
• What number of conversions does the web page generate?

Be certain so as to add all of your notes to the content material technique template. Like this:

Need assistance together with your audit? 

Use Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker.

Enter the goal key phrases for every of your pages. The software will present a listing of optimization concepts for every. Primarily based on search engine marketing finest practices and evaluation of top-ranking content material.

These concepts can relate to content material, search engine marketing technique, backlinks, consumer expertise, technical search engine marketing, SERP options, and semantic search engine marketing.

Plus, every web page will get a precedence rating based mostly on the variety of optimization concepts, the benefit of implementing these concepts, and the potential site visitors achieve.

6. Establish Content material Gaps

Content gaps are matters your web site may gain advantage from overlaying. As a result of they’re related to your viewers and your model.

Filling these gaps by content creation means addressing extra of your viewers’s wants. So you may improve site visitors, engagement, and conversions.

It additionally helps you construct a extra strong content marketing funnel. In different phrases, content material that nurtures customers at each stage of the shopping for journey.

So, it’s vital to acknowledge and outline these gaps. Like this:

One strategy to establish content material gaps is with Semrush’s Keyword Gap software. 

It might present you key phrases that rivals rank for—however you don’t.

Another choice is the Topic Research software. Which sources standard and trending subtopics based mostly in your chosen matter.

To see what sort of content material you’d must create, search your key phrase or matter within the Keyword Overview software. And scroll all the way down to the “SERP Evaluation” part.

This reveals you which of them pages are presently rating prime in your location.

You’ll must create one thing comparable (however higher) to earn a distinguished rating.

7. Set up Content material Pointers

Within the closing part, set up and description your content material tips. 

These are the rules of content material creation. Which assist your workforce keep aligned and produce on-brand, goal-oriented content material.

Begin by creating and linking to key sources, together with:

• Tone of voice tips: A doc that defines your model’s tone of voice. That is the persona that ought to come by in all of your writing.
• Content material calendar: A schedule detailing the content material you’ll publish. Use our content calendar template to create yours. 
• Model information: A doc outlining your design requirements. This helps you produce visible content material that persistently matches your model identification.

Additionally jot down key particulars for simple reference. Like this:

Subsequent, resolve what types of content marketing you wish to interact in. And construct out the rules for every. Ensuring to reference all the data in your content material technique template to date.

• Format: The kind of content material (weblog submit, video, e-book, and so forth.). Think about your purchaser personas, sources, and so forth.
• Matters: The matters you need your content material to cowl. These ought to be related to your model, attention-grabbing to your viewers, and appropriate together with your chosen format.
• Frequency: How usually do you wish to create and publish this sort of content material? Think about your obtainable sources. And keep in mind that high quality trumps amount.
• Distribution: How will you amplify your content material to get extra folks to see it? You may distribute content through social media, e mail newsletters, and so forth.
• Notes: The rest that’s vital to notice. For instance, the principle objective of the content material.

Right here’s a snapshot from our content material technique instance:

The best way to Customise and Share Your Doc

To rename your web site content material technique template:

1. Click on the present title within the top-left nook
2. Kind in your most well-liked title 
3. Hit Enter/Return in your keyboard

To duplicate a desk:

1. Use your mouse to focus on all the desk
2. Proper-click your mouse and click on “Copy”
3. Place your cursor the place you’d like so as to add the desk, then right-click and choose “Paste”

So as to add desk rows or columns: 

1. Place your cursor subsequent to the specified location for the row/column
2. Proper-click your mouse and click on “Insert row above,” “Insert row under,” “Insert column left,” or “Insert column proper” 

To vary desk colours:

1. Spotlight the cells you’d like to vary
2. Click on the paint can icon within the toolbar
3. Choose your most well-liked shade

To maneuver your doc to a different folder: 

1. Click on the arrow folder icon on the prime
2. Select your most well-liked location in your Google Drive
3. Choose “Transfer”

To export your doc: 

1. Click on “File” > “Obtain”
2. Choose your most well-liked file format
3. The file will save to the default location in your gadget

To share your doc: 

1. Click on the “Share” button within the upper-right nook
2. Add particular folks and/or allow basic entry
3. Select Viewer/Commenter/Editor permission as required

Subsequent Steps

The subsequent step is utilizing your content material technique to create a content plan—a doc that outlines particular duties for the approaching weeks or months.

You may then begin creating. And monitoring your content’s success.

As a rule of thumb, we suggest refreshing your content material technique doc each six months. Or each time there’s a serious change to your enterprise or market.

This enables sufficient time to see the true impression of your efforts. Whereas supplying you with the chance to adapt to outcomes and vital adjustments.