The digital transformation we’ve experienced in the past few years has enabled every organization or entrepreneur to legitimately vie for a place of authority in their industry through content marketing. A vital part of every content marketing approach, however - and an area most of us don’t think enough about - is the organization of those pieces of content on the “home base” of the organization, our website.
On this episode of Social Business Engine, Bernie speaks with Gaetano Nino DiNardi, Vice President of Marketing for Sales Hacker. DiNardi explains why periodically conducting a content audit is an absolute must if you want your website to not only be discovered in search engines, but also deliver a helpful experience and effective customer journey to site visitors.
A Content Audit Can Tell You What Content is Working - and What's Not
The great content your organization is creating is meant to accomplish something, right?
Your goal may be to establish and build authority, answer customer questions, or set the stage for a sales conversation. So how do you know if those things are actually happening?
The best way to find out is to perform a content audit on your website. It does take some effort, but it’s the only way you can know the facts regarding your content marketing and sales support results. In the podcast, DiNardi explains what a content audit is, and how the practice can help you evaluate your content, refine your approach, and become more effective with your content marketing efforts.
Four Ways To Approach Your Content Audit
DiNardi says there are some key challenges to performing a content audit - things like large libraries of content to be evaluated, quantitative and qualitative analysis needs, and simply knowing how to determine what is worth evaluating in the first place.
DiNardi suggests that people approach a content audit through four areas of focus: keyword optimization, content types, content topics, and the stage of the customer journey each particular content piece is meant to serve. This approach will enable you to locate and address the most important areas of your website that impact the customer journey - but more importantly, it will also give you clear insights into what you’re doing well and what you're not, so your team can strategically improve your content marketing efforts.
How Often Should You Conduct a Content Audit - and How Long is it Going to Take?
Based on DiNardi’s experience, he advises that any website which has been in existence for one year or more needs to have a content audit performed. From that, you should consider conducting an audit every year, if possible.
If your website is 100 to 200 pages in size, you can expect around 40 hours to be required for an adequate audit. 1000 pages? 70 to 80 hours. If your site contains 3000 to 5000 pages or more, you can expect to spend over 100 hours, even using automated means of spidering and assessing your content.
But DiNardi says that you should not let the time factor dissuade you from starting. The benefits that come from an effective content audit will make the time spent well worth the effort.
The Vital Role of the Sales Team in Content Audits
It’s not uncommon for an organization's content strategy to be devised through marketing department brainstorming sessions - and that’s OK, so long as there's real-world input from the sales team.
The front line sales reps in your company should be asked about the actual pains and problems customers and prospects are facing. That information enables an accurate assessment of whether the team is creating content to address those problems.
If so - great. How can your existing content be improved or complemented to enhance the customer journey or increase its placement in organic search? If not, you’ve discovered holes in your content strategy that need to be filled, and you know exactly where to start.
Featured on this Episode
- Sales Hacker Website
- www.OfficialGaetano.com - Gaetano’s personal website
- Gaetano on LinkedIn
- Gaetano on Twitter: @Gaetano_NYC
Resources and People Mentioned
- Screaming Frog - SEO spidering tool to use for a content audit
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
Connect with Bernie and Social Business Engine
- https://www.facebook.com/socialbusinessengine/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernieborges/
- https://twitter.com/bernieborges
- https://twitter.com/sbengine