Niches are a very useful way to find profitable content. They can be used to create new products or help you build an audience of people interested in what you have to say. Niches are also great because they help you find keywords that will make your site more relevant and effectively drive traffic back towards it.
Pick a broad category.
You should also consider choosing a broad category. This can be challenging, as many subcategories exist in each of the top 10 search terms. The more general your topic is, the more likely it is that someone will find what you’re looking for within that broader umbrella.
For example, if you were researching how to make money online and wanted to learn more about affiliate marketing (a very popular niche), then perhaps searching “how do I make money online?” or “ways I can make money at home” would yield better results than searching “make money working from home” or “free ways I can earn an extra income online.”
Search the broad category.
The first step to finding a niche is by searching the broad category. This will give you an idea of what types of content are being shared and what types of content is ranking well in Google Trends.
For example, if you type “how to cook” into Google Trends, it will return information about how many people search for this topic and how many results are returned. You can also see if there are any unique terms that only appear when searching for “how to cook” (i.e., cooking recipes).
Brainstorm related keywords.
Google Trends is a great way to find keywords that are popular, but it’s also important to think about what your potential customers are searching for. For example, if you’re selling a product related to exercise and health, then you should probably include “exercise” in your keyword research. You could also consider including words like “health” or even “wellness.”
If you take this approach, however, it will be difficult to determine which keywords bring in the most traffic—you’ll have no idea how many people search those terms! To solve this problem, try using Google Autocomplete as part of your keyword strategy:
Type in one or two common nouns and see which ones come up when someone types them into Google’s search bar (this works best if there aren’t too many results). If multiple terms have similar meanings but differ slightly from each other (for example ‘training’ versus ‘running’), then use both of them as part of your list when creating an ad campaign targeting running enthusiasts; otherwise choose one over another based on which term seems more relevant given what type of content needs promoting (i..e., if someone searches “running shoes” then maybe he/she would prefer buying discounted running sneakers rather than full-price ones).
Analyze trends based on those keywords.
You can also use Google Trends to analyze trends based on keywords.
Look at the trend of the keyword over time. This will give you an idea of whether your niche is becoming more or less popular over time, and what that means for your product or service.
Look at the trend of keywords in different locations and countries. If you want to get an idea of how people around the world think about certain topics, this data can provide some valuable information!
Analyze other languages besides English as well—it’s possible that there are other languages being spoken where there weren’t before!
Use Google Trends to compare the popularity of different subcategories.
Google Trends is a great tool for finding popular niches. It shows how popular a niche is over time, and you can see how popular a niche is in different countries, languages and by gender.
You’ll also want to check out Google Insights, which has more information about what people are searching for at different time periods around the world.
Conduct further research with Google autocomplete and Google search results.
You can use Google Trends to find out which niches are growing, and which are shrinking.
Conduct further research with Google autocomplete and Google search results.
Use this information to determine the popularity of a niche.
Check that you can build your own content assets around the niche.
Make sure you have the knowledge and skills to create content for the niche. If there is no existing content, it’s time to start learning about your niche and finding resources that can help you learn more about it.
Check for existing content that you can use. Google Trends is great at showing popular search terms over time, but it doesn’t tell which websites produce this information. The best way to find these sites is by using tools like Ahrefs (our favorite SEO tool) or SEMRush (a competitor of Ahrefs). These tools will allow you see what keywords were searched most recently as well as how many people were searching those terms per month/year with specific intent within each country/language combination used by your website location(s).
You can find good niches by researching keywords, checking their trends and autocomplete results, and analyzing the contents of their results pages.
Find keywords related to the niche.
Check the most popular keywords.
Check the trend of the keyword.
Check autocomplete results and analyze what is being searched for on Google Search Console, along with other tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, which you can use to find trending keywords in your industry and see how much traffic they’re getting right now. If a particular keyword has been trending recently, that’s a good sign that it will still be relevant in the future too!
Conclusion
Google Trends is a powerful tool for finding niches and niched content. The best way to use it is to start with broad categories, then search for related keywords within those subcategories. Once you have found some good options, explore the trends on their results pages and see how popular they are compared with other subcategory results. If your niche has enough competition, then you may want to think about creating your own content assets based on keywords rather than using Google’s algorithm alone.
There’s a reason why some of the brand content, articles and social posts, feel so personal and attractive to read. They have this “Wow, this really speaks to me” thing about them. That’s a subtle art of brand content writing that makes you feel connected to the content. Interested in learning how to ‘speak brand’ like that? Your first step is to know how to become a brand content writer, something we’ll learn in this article.
What Is The Role of A Brand Content Writer?
Imagine you are at a meeting and have to represent your company. How would you introduce them to your audience then? What would you talk about, how will you approach the topic? Would you be bold and energetic or composed and formal?
This is what the role of a brand content writer is. Unlike the general content writing professionals, their approach is customized and specific to the audience of that brand to meet any specific business objective.
To write for a brand, you have to become a part of the brand itself. You begin to think like the brand, speak like the brand and thoroughly understand what the brand stands for. This is what it means to “speak brand”. Your job and primary role as a brand content writer is to figure this out and use it to create content that speaks to your audience and makes them take an action – be it a purchase, a newsletter signup or something as trivial as a like on a social media post.
Why Become a Brand Content Writer?
For one valid reason: brand content writers are high in demand nowadays and the salaries are lucrative for professionals who know their stuff. Content marketing is the king now and seems like businesses now have recognized its value as around 43% of small businesses want to invest more to improve their online visibility in 2024.
Content marketing gets three times more leads than paid search advertising and has created a plethora of opportunities for those writers who can really adapt and excel in brand content creation.
What’s more, a juicy annual wage of over $78,000 is also attractive enough for most content writers to focus on brand content writing and increase their chances of earning even further.
How to Become a Brand Content Writer – Requirements & Skills
· Be Able To Write a Variety of Brand Content
What caught your attention the last time you were scrolling through the social media? A catchy headline? Some attractive visuals? Or were they simple words that jumped off the page directly into your heart? Well, brands need that type of content for every platform they are on.
Here’s what a brand content writer may need to write and connect with their audiences:
1. Blogs
Blog content gives some insights and updates related to the brand’s field. Brands require blogs to educate their readers and engage them to do something meaningful.
2. Social Media Content
Every content you see on social media platforms is meant to catch your eye. Brands need it to create awareness and make their audience interact with it in any way, be it a comment, share or just a like.
3. Product Descriptions
The products or services a brand produces need to be sold. Product descriptions highlight their features and make them desirable to the audience.
4. Marketing Funnel Content
Brands look to create flawlessly engaging and attractive content for their marketing purposes and conversions like emails, landing pages, ads to increase sales and engagements.
To thoroughly understand how to become a brand content writer, the first thing to know is that each type of content is different and demands a separate tone and style.
For example, social media content is lighter, brief, highly engaging and more direct. Its aim is to increase engagement. However, for a blog, the content is comprehensive and the aim is to build trust and authority.
If a brand is not on Google’s first page, it might as well just not exist at all. SEO drives more than 50% of web traffic so it’s something a brand content writer can never ignore. They should know how to use keywords and optimize them naturally and smoothly so that the readers don’t even notice them.
Mind you, Google’s got much sharper than before so SEO is not just only about stuffing keywords anymore. It includes having a good content structure, attractive headings, SEO title, meta description and optimized images as well now.
· Adaptability: Be Flexible to Adapt to Brand’s Voice
Let’s imagine you have written something, a blog for instance, for a tech company today. The next day, you are writing for a family-run bakery. Then your one, style and even the language will have a dramatic shift in them all.
For the tech company, you might have used some technical terms and jargons to sound authoritative and formal so that you could sell a new software. For the bakery however, you’d have used a softer and warmer tone to make its audience crave its fresh buns and pastries.
This is how a brand content writer shifts around with flexibility like a chameleon to adapt to the brand’s voice and make the content do their bidding. It’s a huge skill that will set you apart if understood and implemented correctly.
How to Become a Brand Content Writer – 4 Steps to Follow
So you want to join the evergreen world of brand content writing? Great choice. If you push yourself to become good enough, you’ll have opportunities and creativity lying around you all the time. Let’s walk through the steps you’ll need to take to know how to become a brand content writer.
Step 1: Get the Required Education and Training
But is learning really necessary? Absolutely. There’s simply no way around it. Benjamin Franklin once said “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” And how right he was when we take into account Google algorithms that keep changing how content writing impacts a brand’s audience. So to keep up and polish your skills, you HAVE to acquire that knowledge.
Here’s how to get started:
a) Enroll In Targeted Courses, Certifications & Workshops
Look into digital marketing and SEO certification courses offered by Google or HubSpot. Yeah, we know general content writing courses are useful too but they’ll only teach you so much. You have to take part in up-to-date, industry-recognized courses that are verified and can improve your overall digital skillset and not just content writing.
And the good news? Most of them are often free or low-cost. Here are some of the free courses you can enroll in:
In addition to such courses, you can also join the workshops and webinars to get more immediate and practical learning experience.
There are various channels and digital marketing experts who often host such webinars to inform their audience about the latest trends and the tips and techniques.
For instance, Simplilearn’s YouTube channel is quite active and they regularly host such webinars and live teaching classes to make sure their students and followers stay updated.
b) Self-Study Resources & Learn From the Best
So the courses are good enough to learn the basics. But if you want to follow the latest updates and see what’s working and what’s not before they are incorporated in those courses, start following the industry leaders.
LinkedIn and Twitter are your best friends in this regard. Content marketing leaders like Neil Patel, Seth Godin and Ann Handley post their videos and analysis almost on daily basis and also offer invaluable insights through their blogs and books.
We’ve always followed Neil Patel closely on Facebook and he also shares a lot of real world examples and case studies to prove what a successful brand and its content should be like.
Step 2: Gain Experience – It’s Crucial
Think of it this way: knowledge and skills are the tools you have but experience is what shows you how to use them effectively. It’s what tells you how to apply what you’ve learned in real-world scenarios specifically when real stakes are involved.
Here’s how you can gain experience:
a) Apply for Internships Even If They Are Unpaid
You’ve just set foot in the digital marketing world and knowing how to become a brand content writer is not as easy as it seems. So start looking for opportunities around you.
Not getting any job offers? Don’t worry, land an internship instead, even if it’s unpaid. They help you build your resume and learn everything from the inside. According to Flair HR, around 70% of internships turn into full-time job offers.
A great way to build your portfolio without using any platforms is to volunteer your writing services. Offer your brand content writing services to non-profits or local community groups and have your name written as the author of that work as your incentive.
See how the portfolio starts building? Plus, it feels great to give back.
c) Look for Freelance Projects on Freelancing Websites
Start small. It will eventually lead to big opportunities. Use online platforms like Upwork or Freelancer to take on small projects that can build your portfolio while you look around for in-office jobs.
As per a recent survey, over 57% of freelancers use these platforms to find consistent work.
Step 3: Start Building a Good Portfolio
Just like how you need a passport to enter a foreign country, your portfolio is the passport that’ll let you enter a new world of high-paying writing jobs if you know how to become a brand content writer. Adobe says that 59% of hiring managers prefer work portfolios over traditional resumes.
So now that you have gained ample experience, build a portfolio and make sure it’s well-organized and shows a range of skills:
a) Show a Variety of Content
Try to include samples that show your ability to write in different styles and for different platforms such as blogs, social media and email marketing.
Your diverse content writing skills will show your potential employers or clients that you are flexible and adaptable to their needs.
b) Present Everything Very Professionally
One of the first pointers that show your skills and profile in good light is the way of present your skills and work experience in your portfolio.
Create a simple and clean website on WordPress or Wix or use platforms like Behance where your work and experience should be easily visible and accessible.
Present every piece without any typos or formatting errors so your potential clients could see how your profile stands out from the rest.
c) Highlight Your Successful Projects
If you have metrics or results from previous work (e.g., a blog post that ranked well on Google or a campaign that led to increased engagement), include these on your portfolio website. They’re concrete proof of your skills.
For instance, if a blog post you wrote increased traffic to a client’s website by 40%, mention this as it speaks volumes about your actual skills and shows you know your way around the maze of digital marketing.
d) Include Some Testimonials and Feedback
Another foolproof way to win your clients over is to add the feedback and testimonials of your previous clients. Ask them to be detailed and honest in their reviews about your services as they’ll play a huge role to convince your future clients about your abilities to handle their projects.
Step 4: Network and Market Yourself
You may think, “Why can’t I just let my work speak for itself?” Well, creating a portfolio is not enough because how would you make your profile reach the potential clients at all?
A study revealed that over 80% of professionals consider networking to be key to career success. While quality work is crucial, in the digital age, networking is what places your work in front of the right eye. Think of it as the seeds you’ll plant now to sow the sweet fruit later:
a) Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Profile
This platform is simply a goldmine for writers. First, make sure that your profile is fully optimized and updated. Then, connect with industry professionals, join relevant groups and participate in discussions as much as you can.
Once you start sharing your projects and insights, these connections will lead to job opportunities and collaborations. So post regularly and engage in healthy discussions to put yourself out there.
b) Build Your Personal Brand
If there’s one thing that can attract clients and employers to you and not the other way around, it is your personal branding. So establish a personal brand that reflects your unique experience as a brand content writer and professional skills.
Once you have created a professional LinkedIn profile and a portfolio website, it’s time to create social media pages for your company or services. Expand as much as you can to capture more of your potential clients in different digital spaces.
How to Become a Brand Content Writer – Time to Engage With the Brands
Now that you’ve got your foot in the door with some solid experience and a good network, what’s next? Let’s talk about when you receive an offer from a brand and how you can actively work with them to make sure that your career as a brand content writer continues to thrive.
· Craft A Solid, Solution-Oriented Proposal Every Time
When brands approach you or you pitch your services to them, your proposal should speak directly to their needs and goals. Keep this in mind that a brand only requires people who can become a part of their vision.
So do your research, understand what the brand stands for and suggest content ideas that fulfill their needs and align with their marketing strategies.
For instance, if a brand wants to expand its online presence, mention specifically how your SEO-focused articles will enhance their visibility, what steps you’ll take, what solutions you’ll provide and what the results will be.
· Understand & Implement Brand Briefs Properly
Let’s suppose you have been finalized as the ideal candidate and are now employed by the brand. What they’ll provide you initially will be a brand brief.
A brand brief is kind of a roadmap that a brand wants you to follow for all its content writing services. It highlights what they want you to accomplish with your content. So take as much time as you need to really digest what’s asked of you.
Don’t ever hesitate to ask questions if something isn’t clear. According to a report, 43% of content marketers say that they struggle when communicating with influencers or writers and one of the major reasons is that the right questions are never asked and clear answers are never provided.
· Don’t Get Frustrated With Feedback and Revisions
Dealing with feedback is part of the game so never worry about getting too much of it. Remember that revisions aren’t a sign of failure but instead opportunities to refine and improve your content and strategies further.
So maintain professionalism and be open to constructive criticism. Don’t get frustrated at all and implement changes while having an aim to exceed expectations with each revision.
How to Maintain a Successful Career as a Brand Content Writer
Content strategies and preferences are changing every month so it’s extremely crucial for you to stay updated and relevant to get the best results possible.
Here’s what will help you stay on top of your brand content writing game:
Elevate Your Brand Content Writing with ContentERP
ContentERP is an all-in-one revolutionary content management software that can improve your content writing for brands by providing a suite of tools designed to streamline the entire content creation process from keyword research to content publication.
Here are just SOME of its features:
Streamline Your Workflow Management: ContentERP helps you manage multiple content projects with its intuitive dashboard and makes sure that you never miss a deadline again.
Improve Your Collaborations: ContentERP enables collaborations in a seamless way between writers, editors, and brand managers. This feature helps you gather feedback and make revisions quickly.
Optimize Your Content Strategy: Now you can plan and execute a content strategy with built-in tools for keyword integration and SEO optimization.
Get Real-Time Analytics: Get real-time insights into how your team is performing and what their wages are at your fingertips. This data will help you make data-driven decisions to improve engagement and effectiveness.
Conclusion
So now you know how to become a brand content writer it’s time to take the plunge into the world of lucrative content writing. Just keep in mind that every blog you write, every social media post you update and every product description you upload should speak “brand” to engage and convert your audience into buyers.
So invest time in your education, gain some experience and then create a strong portfolio to build a career and get hired by brands to shape their future. Keep your skills sharp and use tools like ContentERP to keep your content strategies extremely effective with minimal efforts.
The brands of tomorrow need your voice today. So roll up your sleeves and start learning right away.
We’ve seen that content creation is a targeted and tedious process – especially now in 2024. Long hours, sleepless nights, missed events are just some of its highlights. Want to avoid the hassles? Then you should know how to hire someone to create a content creation plan.
However, it’s not something as simple as going to the supermarket to buy something and be done with it.
We have put years of blood and sweat into the content writing & social media marketing fields but it’s only now that we know how and where to find the best content creators. So we have written this guide with the practical and step-by-step methods to make your hiring process a breeze.
Let’s get started.
5 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Content Creator to Create a Plan
“People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic,” says Seth Godin. So imagine you have a key create those relations and stories with your audience. You’d use it in a jiffy, right? That’s what a good content creator brings to your team – a chance to tell your story to the audience in a way that will convert them into customers.
So here are the five practical reasons why you should hire a content creator for your business.
1. Increase Your Business Reputation
The right content creator will help you increase your business reputation with high-quality content they create. Informative blog posts, engaging social media content and compelling videos, you name the type of content and they can create it.
Content with higher quality and relevance can position your brand as a trusted authority in your industry and earn the respect and admiration of your target audience.
2. Improve SEO Continuously and Regularly
Google, as a surprise, has been pushing updates for SERPS pretty regularly over the last years and the process has not stopped even today. For business people, it’s a long walk down the road to keep themselves informed & educated with all the new updates.
So a professional content creator will create your content with ultimate precision to make sure that it not only has a high quality but is also perfectly poised to rank on Google by following all the latest tricks and tips and make your business visible to more people.
The fact that almost 70% of online purchases start with a search engine makes knowing how to hire someone to create a content creation plan even more crucial.
3. Build Loyal Audience & More Connections
A successful business is always more than just its quality products and services. It has a special bond, a level of trust with its audience. Now what if our content could do more than just selling your products and services and establish that kind of relationship with your own audience?
That’s what a professional content creator does – speak directly to the hearts and minds to build a loyal and stronger customer base by increasing your audience’s engagement.
You create content to make your audience visit your website and turn them into customers, right? Are they able to find what they need to make their purchasing decisions? Content isn’t what you only fill your pages with, it’s what creates a pathway to action and makes them buy your services and products.
A good content creator will attract visitors and guide them clearly in a compelling way to take action, whether it is to sign up for updates, buy something or even just share your content with others. For example, when a CTA is added in a strategic way, conversion rates can increase up to 68%, a huge improvement.
5. Align Your Content with Your Business Goals
Content should always have a purpose. Are you sure yours has one and is working hard enough for your business? Does each blog on your website, each post on your social media platforms serve its purpose to increase the engagement, visibility and ultimately sales? If not, maybe your content goals in your marketing strategy are not following your business goals.
To ensure that your goals align, you must hire a professional content creator because only the experienced ones can help achieve your business objectives as strategically as you want.
How to Hire Someone to Create a Content Creation Plan: Steps & Tips
Well, as they say, “In recruiting, there are no good or bad experiences – just learning experiences!!” So how to hire someone to create a content creation plan?
As we have already navigated those waters and know what do and what to avoid, we won’t let you have a bad experience. Our years of experience has helped us refine that process here in this section to make sure that the content creator you choose is not just a hire but the right hire.
1. Create a Job Posting
Freelancing and other professional platforms give you an opportunity to find the best match and separate the experienced from the inexperienced. It all begins with a job posting.
Remember the difference between a job posting and a job description. The job description is for internal purposes and cannot be used for an external audience. Here’s a quick difference:
Job Posting: A kind of announcement to inform your potential candidates about the opportunity and includes details like company bio, job roles & responsibilities.
Job Description: An in-depth overview of the role that includes the summary, catalog of all the responsibilities, soft & business skills and minimum qualifications that you require for that role.
a. Give A Suitable Job Title:
So sign in to your preferred platform and go to the “post a job/hire a candidate” or a similar option and then to content creation services. Begin writing your job posting with a very precise job title. It should reflect the scope of work so it should be something like a Content Writer, SEO Content Specialist or a Digital Content Specialist.
b. Specify The Company Details & Probable Salary Range:
Introduce the name and structure of the company. Then mention the salary expectations the content creator should expect from the business. If someone finds themselves an overachiever for the job, they will simply not apply. Saves you time and money.
c. Define The Role & Responsibilities:
Next, mention the requirements including all the responsibilities and the type of content you need. Will they create content creation plans & calendars? Or write social media posts? Or long form articles? Be clear with the details as they’ll attract those who are qualified and are excited to take it on.
d. Highlight The Required Skills:
Now highlight the skills you want them to possess for that post. It could include SEO knowledge, CMS experience in WordPress, ContentERP, Hubspot etc or any specific writing styles.
e. Outline The Instructions To Apply:
The last section is where you mention all the instructions clearly on how to apply, what to include in their application and what projects or samples they should attach. This will help you understand their previous experiences and expertise in a better way.
Tip: Make sure you understand the difference between a freelancer and an employee. Sometimes, but not always, freelancers are way better for short term projects. On the other hand, the employee can go for years and can also understand your business better. Choose as per your needs.
2. Gather Portfolio Details & Reviews about the Applicants
Next up, take a look at the list of candidates who have applied for the job and filter the ones who are unqualified. Usually about 75% of the applicants are unqualified for the jobs they apply for, so it will take you some time to filter them all.
For the qualified ones, start collecting their portfolio details. In ideal situations, we usually also look up for referrals and work history before we interview the candidates. Their past work should also show you their work quality, variety and effectiveness.
If we want to hire or outsource to a freelance writer through a freelancing platform, we read the negative reviews as well. This helps us figure out what everyone complains about in their work and what exactly must we avoid.
If something is repetitive, we simply skip the candidate because we know the chances of us making the same complaint are pretty high.
Tip: If someone is really interested in your job posting, their cover letter and resume will be directly customized as per the job requirements. They’d have mentioned your website, expected payment and relevant experience and all other details.
3. Shortlist Potential Candidates for Interviews
Now that you have posted the job, received several cover letters and applications, it’s time to shortlist candidates. Make a list of the ones who you think are the best fits for an interview. It’ll take you a while to go through them all and shortlist the most suitable ones.
In our personal experience, only 1 to 2 out of 10 applicants are good enough to be considered for the next step of the hiring process. We get hundreds of applications just for one job posting so it takes hours, or sometimes even a couple of days, for us to sift through all of them to find the right ones.
Tip: Don’t forget to consider personal statements & work histories. That’ll show you if they’re inclined to stay & grow professionally or simply jump ships after achieving their short-term goals.
4. Schedule & Conduct Thorough Interviews
Next, you have to interview the selected candidates. Finalize the time, dates and the location (if the job is on-site) of the interviews for each candidate and convey this info to them as per the availability.
During the interview process, try to assess how well the candidate can align with your company’s or business’s work ethics. Ask them about their work preferences and career aspirations as well to get some deeper insights about their abilities.
What we find very considerable during the interviews is to ask them how they research the topics. Do they open the links on the first page of Google & jot everything down from there? Cause then, that new blog won’t provide any new info or out of the box suggestions and advice, thus making it similar to the ones already present over the internet.
If they use YouTube, Quora, Reddit, Medium, AnswerThePublic and other platforms as well to gather info and stats where people are genuinely answering queries, it’s a pointer that they know what to do and might be the writer you are looking for.
Tip: Make sure the writer can understand and acknowledge your mission statement and the content goals you convey during the interview. This would be the basis of their future assessments and projects.
5. Set Clear Expectations & Sign a Contract
So now that you have selected the best candidate, it’s time to move on to the next and last step which is to negotiate a contract and make them fully aware of your expectations.
What are the salary range and increment conditions? When do you hold your meetings? What are the work expectations and KPIs? Payment methods and on what basis, expected timeline for each task etc etc. You should convey everything very clearly to the final candidate.
No questions should be left unanswered and the candidate should ask as many questions as they want. This shows commitment and professionalism that someone is interested in understanding the business and taking it to heights.
Tip: Include a review period (of 30, 60 or 90 days) in your contract so that both the parties can evaluate if this new arrangement is working effectively for everyone.
Where to Find the Best Content Creators
Great content is never just about putting some words together, but rather what and how to string them together. And not everyone can do it exactly as you or your brand needs. But to find the perfect content writer is not a small feat.
So now you know how to hire someone to create a content creation plan, but where should you start looking for your ideal candidate?
For your ease, here are some sources we have gathered that will connect you to some of the top content writers and creators.
Upwork is one of the oldest and most well-managed freelancing platforms and has some of the most experienced freelance content writers and there are less chances of being scammed here due to a strict check and balance between both the parties.
Post Detailed Job Description:
The best thing about Upwork is that you can post a detailed job offer and then receive proposals from all concerned and interested candidates along with direct access to their profile details and portfolio.
Automatic Job Invites:
Upwork also allows you to send invitations to top rated professionals to apply for the job you post even before they can send a proposal themselves. This helps encourage the best and most highly skilled professionals to apply for your job at their earliest to get selected.
The content professionals on Upwork are highly paid so make sure you have a good budget if you want to get extraordinary results.
Fiverr is another top rated freelance platform where you search your required task/job and the Fiverr algorithm recommends individuals to whom you reach out with all the details.
Search by Skillset & Experience:
You can filter your searches by any specific writing skills or expertise to hire the best content writer according to your criteria.
Evaluate Portfolios & Past Reviews:
Every freelancer on Fiverr has a portfolio of their experience and past work along with all the ratings and reviews their clients have provided them. This info will give you the insights about their capability and reliability.
Start Small With Low Budget Hires:
The best thing about Fiverr is that you can start with a low budget here. Professionals on Fiverr provide their services for as low as $5 which is a plus especially if you are on a very tight budget.
LinkedIn has to be the most professional platform for freelancers, outright businesses and high-end clients and is our 2nd most go-to platform to hire our writers. Not only is it an extremely preferred amongst all content professionals but also a go-to place for them to show their skills and experience by actually displaying it in the form of comments, blogs, industry connections etc.
Find Candidates With Recommendations:
The top rated content writers have several authentic endorsements on their profiles by other industry professionals. It becomes easier for you to know which ones are worthy enough to offer a role for your projects.
Engage With Content To Understand Expertise:
Good content managers and writers actively publish blogs and comments to show their expertise. You can take a look at their content to see if their writing style and expertise match your job responsibilities and criteria.
Create an Effective Content Creation Plan with Your New Hire
See how crucial it is to know how to hire someone to create a content creation plan? It covers a whole process that makes sure you select the best content creator to achieve your content goals.
Done with selecting one? Now it’s time for a proper plan to take this forward.
Tell them what you are hoping to achieve and for how long. The objectives need to be clear. Your content creator should know what is expected of him and how he should achieve it.
They might not get it on the first day so give them some time to adjust to the work requirements, brand personality, brand voice etc.
Work with your content creator to define your target audience and develop content strategies and goals. Help and identify the gaps and opportunities for improvements via a content audit.
Once everything is done and you have all the information on your fingertips, now create the perfect content creation plan with a content calendar to make sure that the production, approval and publication of content goes according to the plan.
Hold regular (we suggest keeping the frequency weekly or every 10 days) meetings and tell them about responsibilities and evaluate their work.
Maintain a Successful Relationship with Your Content Team
You see, the business grows when the team grows. There’s very little we can do alone and so much we can do together.
From our experience in the content writing industry, we say can say one thing with confidence: once you start keeping all the teams updated about everything, your teams eventually grow confidence in your decisions and follow it to perfection.
Content is all about creativity & trends and variety is its lifeline in digital marketing. Hence, don’t boss the teams around too much, give them some space to be creative and think out of the box.
So now we know how to hire someone to create a content creation plan, it’s time to kick start a successful professional relation to bring out the best in them. Hear them out and keep a clear communication. It opens doors to fostering a positive work culture. And also the team feels supported and valued.
Isn’t that what we all want?
Prevent burnout and have brainstorming sessions where everyone grabs a cup of coffee and pitches in with their ideas, no matter how absurd they sound. Not only will this help get some productive ideas but also give time to the whole team to interact with each other.
FAQs – How to Hire Someone to Create a Content Creation Plan
How much does it cost to hire a content creator?
In our experience, the cost to hire a content writer varies widely and primarily depends on their level of expertise. Typically:
Freelancers: May charge anywhere between $0.05 to $0.5 per word as per their experience & the topic complexity.
Agencies: Usually offer packages content writing that can range from $500 to several thousand per month.
How do I hire someone to create content?
To hire a content creator, you have to:
Define your content needs first of all (like type, goals, volume etc).
Choose the right hiring platform (freelancing websites, professional networks, agencies etc).
Post a job with detailed description, shortlist candidates and conduct interviews.
Clarify your goals and then sign a contract.
Is hiring a content creator worth it?
Oh definitely yes. Hiring a content creator is worth the investment. They should, however, be an expert and a professional enough to help you boost your SEO, engagement and conversions. Here’s a fun fact: content generates over 3 times as many leads as conventional marketing and costs 60% lesser.
How much do agencies charge for content creation?
Agencies usually have packages which include different content writing roles and responsibilities. Their basic packages can start from just a few hundred dollars while more comprehensive ones that may also include SEO optimization, social media management etc may cost you several thousand dollars per month.
How Can ContentERP Improve Your Content Management & Productivity
Well, here it comes, the crown jewel of your content creation plan, ContentERP. We have designed it to help you manage and streamline your niche blog and content websites in a more effective and efficient way.
Here’s how it will make your productivity skyrocket:
Manage Your Keyword Research & SEO
Now track your target keywords automatically or search for new ones in the inbuilt keyword research tool to make sure your content ranks higher on search engines.
Automate Your Content Workflow
No more running around the teams to have your projects completed. ContentERP simplifies content planning, creation and publication with automated workflows and assigns the topics to respective writers. Save your time & increase your productivity with content automation.
Get Performance Analytics
ContentERP gives you all the information and insights you need to make data-driven decisions. See how each writer is doing, track their working hours and efficiency at your fingertips.
By using ContentERP, you’ll be able to create a much more organized, efficient and a highly scalable content creation plan. Sign up today and take your productivity to the next level.
Conclusion
Knowing how to hire someone to create a content creation plan has now become an essential knowledge, one that can affect the future of your brand. The Content Marketing Institute says that 62% of the most successful content marketers have a documented strategy. So to succeed in content strategizing, you have to find someone who not only understand your content’s vision and your brand’s personality but can also use it in the content that actually performs.
It took us years to understand the hiring process and polish it to perfection, but with this blog, we have made sure you get the best hire right away.
So sign up for ContentERP and follow the steps we have mentioned to create not just content but more of an experience that will engage your audience and drive your growth quickly towards success.
So you’ve looked at how to do SEO by yourself (Go you!) And you know all about the keyword types- pose read here and check out those first two articles if you haven’t. All you need now is some keyword analysis tools to help create relevant content.
The word ‘free’ brings some negative connotations, and understandably so. Free tools tend to be limited in their function compared to premium tools. But premium tools can be expensive, especially if you’re starting out on your web content journey.
The solution? Have us scour the far reaches of the internet to find you top-quality free tools you can use in tandem and gain wholesome results.
1. ContentERP
ContentERP is an all-in-one platform designed to streamline your content workflow and keep you organized. Keyword research and analysis is a key feature of the platform, allowing the users to research, analyze, and suggest alternative keywords effortlessly. ContentERP uses Google keyword tools and AI to give insightful data on your keyword and suggest similar keywords that can help rank your content in search engines.
Pros of Using ContentERP
ContentERP is an all-in-one content management platform that allows creators to streamline their content creation and publishing system.
CERP provides in-depth analytics into the keywords and suggest alternative keywords that helps rank the content based on the seed keyword.
Users can easily add keywords to their content once they discovered a high-ranking keyword or save it for later.
It also provides links of top-competitors for a specific keyword being researched.
Cons of Using ContentERP
It is a relatively new keyword research tool, thus not many people are familiar with this platform.
It is impossible to directly compare two keywords. However, you can compare a main keyword with the suggested alternative keywords.
2. Keyword Tool Dominator
KTD is a powerhouse in keyword research tools for e-commerce or multi-channel marketers. It provides autocomplete data from multiple search engines like Google, Etsy, Bing, YouTube, and Amazon, to name a few. This tool will come in handy if you are a cross-platform marketer or web content developer.
Pros of using Keyword Tool Dominator
KTD is an outstanding resource for content developers who want to rank on other search engines besides Google.
Provides a large number of keyword phrases and ranks them according to popularity.
It has a filtering system to make your search results as specific as possible.
Cons of using Keyword Tool Dominator
Unfortunately, the free version limits users to only two daily searches.
Some of the search results are irrelevant to your keyword.
3. Google Trends
Google Trends is a free keyword tool by Google and one of the best in the market.
Google Trends visualizes the relative search popularity of a keyword over time.
You can use a seed keyword and check statistics on how it trended over a period of time, maybe months, maybe years.
The infographic above shows Nike’s relevance to Google’s search engine over the last 12 months. A trends graph can help you plan when to put out content as well as what content gets more interaction from users.
Pros of Trends
Help plan a content calendar by reviewing the best (peak) times to post about a particular topic.
It helps predict the future of specific topics and what’s worth pursuing.
It is possible to compare any two keywords and see which performs better. In the example below, Nike performs better than Adidas in ranking.
Google Trends comparison chart between two competitors.
Cons of Trends
You can’t know detailed market trends from a search. They don’t contain data like keyword difficulty, which helps understand how your content will rank on search engines.
It’s sometimes hard to get accurate statistics as Google groups data in buckets, so two keywords with slightly different phrasing would show the same analytics.
4. Wordtracker
The free version of Wordtracker generates keywords for any seed keyword, with only the first 50 being visible without creating an account.
They are detailed in their metric report, providing a volume score of the average number of monthly searches and the organic competition for the keyword. They also provide an updated count of how many websites have used that keyword.
N.B: As a general rule of thumb, the higher the keyword difficulty score, the more backlinks you’ll need to score.
Cons of Keyword Wordtracker
Search is limited to 50 keywords for a search done without any registration required.
Keyword difficulty ranking is only available for the first 50 keywords.
5. QuestionDB
If you’re a blogger, this is a free keyword tool for you. QuestionDB is a blog topic idea generator. It gets its data from websites like Quora and Reddit and provides you with the questions people are asking related to your keywords.
It is essential to know that QuestionDB limits the results to 50 per query for the free version.
6. Keyword Sheeter
Keyword Sheeter (formerly known as Keyword shitter) is a free keyword analysis tool mines Google autosuggest keywords based on a seed keyword. All you need to do is type in the seed keyword and the system starts sheeting over unlimited keywords.
Pros of Using Keyword Sheeter
It can generate thousands of related and long-tail keywords.
It allows searches based on specific location down to a specific city.
It allows keyword filtering.
Cons of Using Keyword Sheeter
It can take time to find meaningful keywords
It does not provide search metrics
7. Keywords surfer
Keyword Surfer is a chrome extension that shows estimated global, and monthly search volumes for any query typed into Google.
Every search result on the Google page has metrics about that post attached to it, including the search volume and conversion rate.
On the right side of the screen, Keyword Surfer also provides data about keyword ideas that can be used in keyword planning and creating more opportunities in that niche.
8. Answer The Public
Answer The public is a favorite to many because of its ease of use and neat data presentation.
This tool finds questions, prepositions, and comparison graphs and gives raw search insights. In the examples below, a search with the keyword ‘fur’ returned results of 348 questions. These questions were then arranged by type of question, preposition, and alphabetical order.
ATP generates trending questions based on your seed keyword. It’s a great tool to have for content writers and bloggers.
Pros of Answer The Public
It provides graphs with different questions on each chart so you can better visualize how people phrase their questions.
It helps you see the kind of content people actually want to see.
Cons of Answer The Public
A pretty colossal downside to Answer the Public is that the free version is limited to only three daily searches. Before using it, you must be sure about the Keywords you want to research.
Answer The Public only displays trending questions that people are asking on specific topics. They do not carry metric data on how these questions rank on search engines, keyword difficulty, or conversion rates.
9. Wordstream
A quick visit to Wordstream’s page will have you falling in love. Their free keyword tool does not limit results or utility and will give hundreds of relevant keywords plus actionable information like the keyword’s competition level.
Pros of Wordstream
They are a terrific alternative to Google’s Keyword Planner.
A search on Wordstream’s free keyword tool will return keyword suggestions, long-tail variations, and search volume from their comprehensive data source on Google and Bing.
They also have many other helpful features; categorization of keywords, filters, keyword suggestions, and data on competitor statistics.
10. Ahref’s Keyword Generator
Ahref’s keyword Generator pulls up keyword ideas from an extensive database of consolidated search engines like Google, Youtube, Amazon, and Bing. The database contains over 8 billion keywords from over 179 countries.
Ahref’s keyword generator data includes search volume, keyword difficulty, long-tail keywords, how recently the keywords were updated, and questions related to the seed keyword.
Pros of Ahref’s keyword Generator
The keyword generator will help you identify long-tail keywords targeted less. It helps you get competitive phrases that may rank well on SERPs.
The keyword generator has a filter that allows for geo search.
Ahref’s free keyword tool provides metric data to help in keyword planning.
Cons of Ahref’s Keyword Generator
the free version of the keyword generator does not allow for results download.
Although they have SERP results, you have to access them on a different page.
Every time you run a search, you will need to prove first that you’re not a robot which can be annoying.
11. SEMrush
SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool is a free tool by SEO giant SEMrush. You must create an account and skip the free trial to access it.
This magic keyword tool gives you access to the broadest database from more than 120 locations worldwide.
A free SEMrush report includes
Monthly search volume
Competitive density (among paid advertisers)
Keyword difficulty
Sorting and organizing features
Semrush magic tool provides you with all the data you need to do your keyword planning. This tool is great for analysis and can incorporate other available SEMrush tools.
Cons of the magic keyword tool
Data obtained is limited to only ten results that you can view with a free account.
It would, however, be an excellent tool to invest in down the road when your website starts reaping the benefits of all you’re doing now.
Conclusion
There are several free keyword research tools to get the best keyword suggestions and metric data estimating how well it might do on search engine results pages.
Adding the Keyword Surfer chrome extension and then using a combination of other free keyword analysis tools will collectively help you gain insight into your keyword research and planning. Don’t be afraid to try out all the tools provided in this list to know what works for you and what doesn’t.
There are times when you just stumble across a website and think “Yes, that’s a good website. This is valuable content” in an instant. You feel drawn in as if every word on that page is written just for you. That, my dear, is the magic of a content strategy that is well-written and well-structured especially for niche websites where every reader counts double. However, a winning content structure for niche website is not something you can build without some targeted efforts.
So today, we will help you create and master a structure that not only attracts but also retains your audience with 5 proven tips and tricks up your sleeve.
Ready to turn your niche website into a reader’s favorite library? Let’s get started.
How to Build a Winning Content Structure for Niche Website: 5 Proven Tips
You may find hundreds of opinions via Google on how to structure your content. Here’s the funny part: to know that secret sauce, you have to focus on how they have structured their OWN content more than how they are telling you to do it.
So we have gathered the best actionable secrets and tips for you here to create great content and structure it for your niche website for maximum engagement.
Here you go.
1. Understand Your Audience Inside Out
For a moment, imagine that you’re throwing a dart in the dark and there’s no indication of the target. Without knowing where the target is, the chances that you’ll actually hit the bullseye are slim. That’s precisely what will happen when you create content without knowing and thoroughly understanding your audience.
Not knowing the target audience is also one of the primary reasons 90% of startups fail miserably. You won’t want to be included in that list, right? So all this know-how about your target market is the very first step to create a good content structure for niche website.
Our digital world is already oversaturated so if you do not customize your message to the needs of your audience, it’s highly likely that you’ll miss your mark every single time.
So how can you understand your audience? Here are a few tips:
Use Analytics & Be Data-Driven
We probably may have nothing closer to mind reading than the numbers and graphs you gather in your digital marketing efforts. So platforms like Google Analytics help you gather data and insights on who your visitors are and which content they like the most on your website.
In addition to that, check your website optimization as well and make sure that it is as user-friendly as it can get because a 1-second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions on average.
These numbers can add up to thousands of dollars in loss over the years and you certainly won’t want that happening to your business.
Conduct Surveys & Polls
There’s simply no substitute for the surveys and polls you’ll conduct within your audience. They are the best source to gather feedback on what topics they find more interesting and how they prefer to consume your content.
Use Google Forms or tools like SurveyMonkey to get their direct opinions.
With this audience research, you’ll have all the answers you’ll need to create content with a structure that really matters for your niche sites and also resonates with your target market to make your business more productive and impactful.
2. Master the Art of Keyword Research
Keywords act like a bridge between your audience and you. They tell you what your target market searches for so you can create content to fulfill that need. So keyword research is what makes sure that your content will be centered on the topics people want to consume and also that your content is found by just the right people.
Conduct a Keyword Research
Keyword research helps you to identify the search terms that are directly relevant to your niche. Shortlist the keywords that have a high search volume and a low to moderate level of competition to give your content a better chance of higher rankings.
There are many tools available for keyword research, with one of the most reliable ones being the Google Keyword Planner. You can also go for more comprehensive ones like Ahrefs, Ubersuggest or Moz even. These tools will enlist the difficulty level, the search volumes and also the related terms of your target keywords along with some more comprehensive analysis.
To create a better content structure for niche website, one of the best techniques is to start with broad keywords related to your niche and then use more specific and long-tail keywords. For instance, if your niche is in eco-friendly products, your first term could be “eco-friendly living” and the specific one will be like “biodegradable everyday products.”
Also use long-tail keywords because they are used in 70% of the Google searches, are less competitive and more targeted and often have much higher conversion rates.
Use Keywords Naturally
Once you are done with your keyword research, it is time to use them naturally in your content. It’s a challenge that many cannot successfully complete because it requires you to add the keywords in a way that feels logical and gives the readers an improved experience instead of feeling like a forced and unnatural word stuffing.
Create valuable and user-friendly content with those keywords and use them throughout the body, in your title, your content headings in even in your meta description. Always make them make sense and never compromise on the quality and readability just to use more keywords.
3. Create a Content Hierarchy That Flows
And now we come to the most important part of content structure for niche website – a content hierarchy. What it basically means is that you organize information in such a way that you convey the most important part of the message first and its detailed explanation later.
Your audience will only spend 5.59 seconds on average to read your content, so you HAVE to grab their attention with a good flow before they decide to move on.
Here is how you can create a content hierarchy with a logical flow:
Start with a Strong Introduction
Try to capture the attention of your audience quickly with a compelling hook. You can do it with a question, a surprising fact or even a relatable anecdote. This will grab the attention and let your readers know about what’s to come.
Organize Your Content with Headings and Subheadings
These will guide your readers through the different sections and main points of your content to make the reading experience understandable and helpful. Create each heading with clear words to give the reader a quick idea of what they will learn in that section.
Use Bullets to Highlight Key Points
Bullet points break up large blocks of text and make your content much more readable and easier to scan. Always use bullets if you are going to list any features, benefits, steps or any important points you want to emphasize.
Keep Paragraphs Short For Higher Engagement
Online readers tend to skim everything they usually read so keep your paragraphs short and sweet. This will help you hold their attention for longer periods.
Also keep in mind to use your keywords in the headings and subheadings naturally. They should not feel forced and stuffed in a way that compromises the entire natural flow of your content.
4. Optimize Multimedia for a Better Content Structure
You must have heard this saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”. But in the world of digital content, a picture is not just worth a thousand words – it’s worth countless clicks, shares and engagement if it’s relevant and attractive.
But why use multimedia in your content at all? Because a blog with pictures will get 94% more views than those without.
Large blocks of text are boring and intimidating. Nobody likes to keep on reading unless it’s a book or a novel. So when you add images, videos and infographics, they break up the text and provide some visual respite to the eyes of the readers.
In addition to the above points, properly optimized multimedia is a factor that Google looks at while it ranks your content. Hence, SEO optimization will require you to add visuals and images to your text to make it easy for search engines to rank.
Here’s how you can add them to improve the content structure for your niche websites.
Add Alt Text For Every Image
Every image or video should have descriptive alt text that should also include relevant keywords. This way, the search engines will be able to understand the content of the multimedia.
Create File Names With Keywords
Try to include keyword-rich and descriptive file names for your images and videos before you upload them to your site with the content. This also helps improve the content’s SEO. For instance, “image1.jpg” seems dull and unclear. But a name like “homemade-chocolate-chip-cookies.jpg” will communicate to the search engines what that image is about.
Multimedia Should Be Responsive
High quality, though desirable for many, can slow down your website considerably. So always make sure that your multimedia elements are properly optimized for all devices to improve the user experience and SEO rankings on Google.
5. Continuously Optimize and Update Your Content
The only constant in the digital world is change. So for your content to stay relevant and ahead of the curve, it’s crucial that you review, update and optimize your content on a regular basis.
Why do content audits actually matter? Because regular content audits are like your visits to your doctors for health checks. They will help you identify outdated information to update it, remove any underperforming content and find new opportunities for SEO and content optimization.
So for a better content structure for niche website, here’s how you can optimize your content:
Refresh Outdated Content
Update statistics, facts and links as much as you can. There are times when the updated information can actually negate any older studies. For example, you can’t keep using the stats from 2020 when 2023 stats have been released.
So these regular updates can affect your content in various ways. For one, your credibility improves and your content becomes more authoritative.
And second, refreshing your content can also help Google think that the content is relevant and has the latest info, hence improving its SEO visibility and engagement.
Improve On-Page SEO
SEO is ever-evolving. That dust never settles. So revisit your content every now and then to re-evaluate your keyword strategy, meta descriptions and alt tags. Make sure that your content has all the new keywords that are trending and is also fully optimized for other current SEO best practices.
Encourage Engagement
Update your call-to-action prompts, and encourage comments and shares to boost engagement. Engaging with your audience in the comments section can also provide valuable insights for future content.
Along with that, also pay close attention to user comments and feedback about your content. This direct line of communication with your audience is invaluable and will help you customize your content strategy to meet their needs in the future too.
FAQs on Building a Winning Content Structure for Niche Websites
Q: What is a content niche website?
A content niche website is the one that focuses its content on a specific topic, industry or audience segment. It does not go around like generic websites that cover a wide range of subjects. Niche sites always have a particular area of interest. For example, instead of a broad “health and wellness” site, a niche site may be centered around “yoga for beginners.” Notice the specification?
Q: How do I create a niche website content?
To create content for a niche website, you have to:
Understand who your audience is, their pain points and also the information they want.
Identify specific keywords and phrases that are usually used by your target audience that are directly related to your niche.
Write high-quality, informative content that answers your audience’s questions with real value.
Use SEO best practices to optimize your content for search engines. This makes it easier for your target audience to find you.
Q: What is the structure of a niche website?
Here’s what the structure of a niche website typically includes:
Homepage: Introduces your main focus and highlights your key content.
About Page: Offers information on the site or the author and the site’s mission.
Blog or Article Section: Contains all the posts and articles.
Contact Page: Provides ways for visitors to get in touch.
Q: How much can a niche site make?
Some niche sites may only make a few hundred dollars a month, while others can generate thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars monthly. Earnings from a niche site depend on a lot of factors.
This includes the site’s traffic, monetization strategies (such as advertising, affiliate marketing, product sales etc) and the niche’s profitability.
Q: What is the difference between a blog and a niche website?
The main difference is in scope and purpose. A blog is often personal and reflects the interests and thoughts of the author. A niche website, on the other hand, is more focused and targeted with a very specific topic or audience segment.
Q: How do I find my content creation niche?
Start with what you know and loveand then look for gaps in the market that your content can fill. 77% of people with internet access read blogs almost on a regular basis, so there’s a huge potential. Once you are done with finding the gaps and creating content, consider how you can monetize your niche. After monetization, keep an eye on the user feedback and suggestions to keep improving and refining your content and strategy.
Conclusion
It’s no small feat to build a good content structure that provides real value to your readers. It requires a lot of effort and commitment to understand your audience, master the keyword research and a seamless content flow. This effort even continues eternally with content optimizations.
But in the end, the effort is well worth it when you see your engagement increase in a drastic way and your website climb up on the search rankings.
Remember that every piece of content is an opportunity to connect with your reader. Make it count. Now, we’d love to hear from you: Which of these tips are you excited to implement? Or do you have any secrets of your own to share? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Imagine standing at the edge of a vast digital forest which for us would be the WWW or World Wide Web. Your mission? To lead people through this forest to find your hidden treasure: your website. But how can you guide them? The answer is – right keywords. So knowing how to find out a website’s keywords becomes the basis of your SEO success here.
This detailed guide will tell you how to filter the keywords your competitors use to reach the top of Google. Businesses that show up on the first page of Google get 92% of consumer traffic. It’s no magic, we assure you, but a tricky trade that requires you to choose the right and straight path for your audience to your website.
Let’s get started.
How to Find Out a Website’s Keywords: The Easiest & Most Effective Ways
Trying to rank your website is a journey where your compass will be the tools and techniques you’d use to find your way to the top. Here is how to find out which keywords a website is using with our tried and tested methods.
1. Conduct a Competitor Analysis with KW Research Tools
They say “keep your enemies closer” but we’d say keep your competitors closer instead. Because when it comes to SEO, you’ll be able to get a feedback and insights from your competitors and other ranked websites which no other source can rival in the slightest.
What’s more, 41% of the marketers have said that the competitor analysis helped them come up with successful strategies on a search engine like Google.
Start with tools like Semrush, google Keyword Planner and Ahrefs for a site search. Here’s how to use them to find out SEO keywords of a website within mere seconds.
How to Use Ahrefs to Find the Competitor Keywords
Go to Ahref’s site explorer and enter the URL of the website you want to analyze and find keywords. You will have to adjust the settings as per your requirements for the entire website, a single URL or a path. Enter “Search” after adding the URL.
Now go to the “Organic Keywords” report. There you will see a comprehensive list of all the keywords that the website (or that exact URL) ranks for on Google.
If you want to know more about the selected keywords, Ahref’s site explorer will also provide you different metrics like search engine results for those keywords, their keyword difficulty and also their ranking histories.
How to Use Semrush to Find the Competitor Keywords
Go to the Organic Research Tool on Semrush website. Enter your competitor’s website here and click on “Search”.
You’ll then be shown a comprehensive overview of that website. Go to the “Positions” tab where all the keywords of the site will be listed by the percentage of traffic they are pulling from Google.
To export and download the data, check the boxes of the keywords that seem to be relevant to your needs and audience and then click on “Export” and choose “Selected” to download the file in your desired format.
How To Use Google Keyword Planner To Check the Latest Trends
The best place to hide a dead website is the second page of Google search. Hence, it becomes highly irrelevant if you don’t rank in the top 10 or 20 of an organic search. So to make sure that your website does not end up buried that way, you can use Google Keyword Planner, a free keyword tool to analyze your worldwide competition.
It was once known as Google Adwords and is an absolutely free-to-use tool that analyzes the data from the 8.5 billion searches conducted through Google to search for keywords.
Though it won’t give you the option to know exactly what keywords your competitors uses to rank, it will provide some close estimates about the traffic and search volume of the keywords you want to use.
Go to the Google Keyword Planner home page and select “Discover new keywords”. Now enter the keywords you want metrics for in the search bar and hit “Get results”.
The results will show you all the metrics of those keywords including the monthly search volumes and competition levels.
The “Keyword ideas” and the “Competition” columns will tell what your competitors are usually using to rank their own content and how hard it will be to rank the content with your own keywords based on the volume and competition metric.
Recent researches have shown us that long-tail keywords (phrases containing three or more words) are responsible for up to 70% of all search traffic so try to focus on them as well in your keyword strategy.
2. View the Page Source and Use CTRL + F
This method is useful if you are not 100% sure which keyword your competitor’s website is primarily ranking and will work well in most browsers. With this, you will know the density of the probable keywords in the content and confirm which one is the primary KW being used in the content for search engine optimization.
Here’s how you can do it.
Simply right-click after opening the web page of your desired website/URL and select “View Page Source” on the pop-up window. You can also use the shortcut CRTL + U to open that webpage’s HTML code in a separate tab.
Now write your desired keyword in the search field and hit enter. The exact phrase/words will be highlighted in the HTML code for you to scrutinize. For example, suppose you are looking for some buyer intent keywords. Simply type your desired KW, like ‘sale’ in the search box and it’ll be highlighted in yellow throughout the page’s text.
Keep searching for different phrases and keywords you think that content is ranking for. Here’s how you can confirm the exact key phrase your competitor is using:
Check the title of the webpage’s content to find keywords. As with most SEO practices, the main keyword is usually used once in the title. Use the CTRL + F feature and look for the < title > tags in the HTML code.
Now check for the meta description as well using the same CTRL + F feature. The meta description is supposed to use the primary keyword at least once or twice and may also include the related keywords your competitor is using.
Search the headings and subheadings by typing “h1,” “h2,” “h3,” and so on into the search box. If that page is properly SEO optimized, these headings will also contain the exact keywords.
With these searches, you should be able to build a list of the best keywords and even find the exact primary keyword that is helping the webpage rank on Google.
3. Use Google Search Operators To Understand Content Structure
Sometimes, it so happens that you already know the keywords that your competitor blog is ranking for. In that case, you may want to know the exact content and its structure being used by them that is helping with the SEO optimization. This can be done by using the Google Search Operators.
This technique lets you search only that specific website for any terms instead of the whole web. Here’s how to do it.
Go to the Google search bar and type your competitor’s website in the format “site:www.anywebsite.com”. This “anywebsite” part should be the website name you want to search the KWs on. Now leave a space and then type the keywords/phrases you want to search on that website. The whole search query should look like this: “site:www.anywebsite.com your keywords”. The results will show you the webpages of the site that use those keywords in their content.
Another method to identify competing sites is to search the URLs that include your specific keywords. Go to the Google search bar and type “inurl: your keyword” and hit enter. This will show all the websites with the exact keyword match in their URLs.
FAQs on How to Find Out a Website’s Keywords
How does Google extract keywords?
Google’s algorithms are pretty sophisticated and they also keep changing regularly so nobody knows exactly which factors account for how much while ranking a website.
However, generally speaking, Google uses a combination of textual analysis and machine learning to understand the search intent and categorize the context and relevant keywords on your webpage. It pays close attention to your title tag, meta descriptions, headings and the body text (among other factors) to determine if your page is rankable or not.
How do I search for a word in a long website?
Using the ‘Find’ or ’Search’ function. Press Ctrl + F (or Command + F on a Mac) to open a search box where you can type the word or phrase you want to look for.
How do I search within a website?
By using search operators. Type site:websiteURL.com “search term” into Google’s search bar to see the search results from a specified domain.
How do I find out what keywords are used on a website?
SEO tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs and Moz can show the keywords for which your competitor’s site appears in search results. These tools analyze a site’s content and backlink profile to identify the searched terms.
How do I find the primary keywords for my blog?
First, you have to understand your niche and audience. Begin by brainstorming topics that are directly related to your blog’s theme. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner and AnswerThePublic to pinpoint your primary keywords and then expand this list with related search terms and questions your audience might be asking.
Conclusion
You don’t need to look for anything magical to discover the perfect keywords for your website. But it does demand the right combo of the tools and a good eye for analysis to understand how to find out a website’s keywords.
With a thorough competitor analysis with Google and other keyword research tools, you’ll be able to create the exact SEO strategy for success and also leave an impression on your audience that will actually last for longer.
So start this journey with curiosity and the willingness to adapt. Because in the changing world of SEO, today’s insights are highly likely to be tomorrow’s victories.