Build a Content Plan

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Content Planning
A step-by-step workflow. Plus, shortcuts, tips and rules of
thumb to get things done efficiently.

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Mike Roberts
Founder and CEO, SpyFu

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SpyFu in 60
seconds
Bootstrapped SaaS
company based in
Scottsdale,AZ

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What I’m going to talk about.
• Goal of your content
• Developing your core keywords
• Create topics → Write articles → Track results →
Improve …and Repeat.

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Always ask this question (out loud) first.
What is the goal of all this content?

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Funny thing about that question…
Everybody thinks they know the answer, and so it
seems like a stupid question. So, nobody asks.

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Here’s a little hack. Ask it this way:
“How will we measure the success of this content?
Which metrics will we use?...”
“…in other words, what is the goal of this content?”

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The overall goal should have something
to do with money.

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Does every piece of content need to
convert?

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It’s easy bruh, just build
REALLY GREAT CONTENT

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Traffic || Authoritative || Conversion
!(Traffic &&Authoritative && Conversion) //yes, I’m a nerd. ;)

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Traffic || Authoritative || Conversion
Content → Money

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Find your Core Keywords
You don’t need to worry about the long-tail right now.

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Where do you already have good traction?
Google Search Console, SpyFu...etc.

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Gank from your own PPC campaign.

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What has worked for your competitors?

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Two kinds of competitors:
1. Those you want to crush.
2. Those you admire.

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Mine the Keyword Universe

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New Free Tool:
Group and
Rollup external
lists

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Groups
and
Rollups for
any list for
free.

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How big should a core keyword be?
Enough for about 3-10 pieces of content.

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So… how big should each piece of content be?
Rule of thumb: ~300 – 3,000 searches per month

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So, a good sized core keyword is about
5,000 searches per month.

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How much content do I need?
Add up the search volume for all of your core
keywords. Divide by 1,000.

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How to get from Keywords → Content Ideas

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Start with one of the keywords

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Two keywords with a similar number of clicks

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Look at the SERP.
See what’s
ranking.
(Ignore the
really strong
domains.)

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See what else
those pages
rank on.

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Can you
do better?
Format, length,
quality?

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Shortcut 1:
Just start
answering
questions.

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Imagine
there’s an
internal subject
matter expert
on grants…

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Shortcut 2:
Start with
your
competitors’
best content

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Zoom in
on the
best
content for
your topic
area.

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Create topics → Write articles → Track results
→ Improve …and Repeat.

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Now to “write” the articles.

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You can DIY. But, you don’t have to.

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Leverage the crowd.

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Leverage the crowd.
1. Translate topic into a brief spec.
2. Select a writer.
3. Approve content.

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This is the entirety f’ing of the spec.

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That costs about $100 for a 1500
word article.

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You don’t *have* to have them write
an entire article.

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Track your results.
Remember how I said you didn’t need to worry about
the long tail yet? Now is when you do.

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You’ll see the
needle moving
in the long-tail
way before you
see it on your
core keywords.

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Most of
your
content is
going to
suck

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Google Search
Console is my
favorite to see
progress

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Side by side comparison

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Super efficient improvement loop
1. Make sure your Titles and H1s contain your top
keyword.
2. Combine and crosslink
3. Expand

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1. Make sure
your Title and
H1 match the
top keyword

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2.
Combine
and
Crosslink

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Filter by
the top
Keyword

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These are
your
combine and
crosslink
opportunities

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3. Expand: Answer questions
• Answer
questions

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3. Expand.
• Improve the article – go deeper
• Add video content – sometimes more than one
• Infographics

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One last thought:
There are 20-50x more clicks available once you’ve
got a foothold.
…and every spot you move up adds 20-50%

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Let’s say you have 20 core keywords
• Average of 5,000 searches per month.
• 20 x 5,000 searches = 100,000 impressions.

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That’s how many articles you’ll need to write.
100,000 searches per month / 1,000 = 100 articles

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That’s a good first pass.
Measure. Find successes, and double down. Repeat.

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That’s a good first
pass.
Measure. Find successes,
and double down. Repeat.

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How many visitors is this going to get?
Rule of thumb:
2-20 visits per month per 1000 impressions.

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More simply
Each piece of content adds about 5-10 visitors per
month

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Assumption:
You’re probably going to average somewhere near the
bottom of the first page to second page.

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You can improve from there.
There are 20-50x more clicks available once you’ve
got a foothold.

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Super-convenient little trick:
Moving up one spot on the first page will get you 50%
more clicks.
(Moving up one spot on page 2+ will get you ~20%.)

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Here’s where we are:
20 core keywords → 100k searches → 100 pieces of
content → ~1000 visitors per month

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But, it’s a recurring asset.
Let’s assume: Evergreen content has an average
lifespan of ~5 years.

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What’s the lifetime value of content?
5-10 visitors per month x 60 months = ~500 visitors / article
1000 visitors per month x 60 months = 60,000 total visitors

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What’s the value of a visitor?
• YMMV.
• What’s the conversion rate of a first time organic visitor to
your blog? Multiply that by customer LTV.
• What’s your opportunity cost for the same traffic (in PPC
dollars)?

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For my company:
Between $4 and $8 depending on the method.
So, let’s go with $4.

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Lifetime value of content in dollars:
500 visitors per article x $4 per visitor =
$2000 per article
60k visitors x $4 per visitor =
$240,000 LTV

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GLORY!
60k visitors x $4 per visitor =
$240,000 LTV

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BTW, not all content needs to be
evergreen.
You should still measure value by LTV.
500 visitors today is better than 500
visitors over 5 years.

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In fact, you might be able to use timely
content to pay for your evergreen content.
Paying $500 per article is operating at a
loss for the first year. But a 4:1 mixture
of evergreen and timely = break even.

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6 hours per article… 600 hours.
You’ll be done in 15 weeks.

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Hopefully, you’re
*extremely* passionate
about the topic.

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Similar to the
previous
one… in that
it kinda
sucks.

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My advice: Structure it like a hub and spokes.
You should personally write the hub content.

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Then the hubs link together

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Then use that to blow up planets.

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Now you only have 20 articles to write…
and you have to time to make them
“thought-leader” quality.

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How to create the other 80 supporting
articles.

Build a Content Plan

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