If you’re a content creator, advertising might seem like a waste of time and resources. But the right type of format can go a long way in terms of converting your target audience into paying customers. Here are some high-converting frameworks that prove it’s possible to successfully monetize your readership without ads or other intrusive forms of promotion.
A content framework is a tool that helps you create and publish your own content. It’s like a blog, but it’s specifically designed for people who want to create and share their own content with the world. Depending on what type of content you’re creating, there are different types of frameworks to use. Read more in detail here: what is a content framework.
Editor’s note: For this article, I’ve partnered up with Dennis, MYOB’s Digital Marketing Manager and the brains behind Core dna’s organic traffic development.
If your company has reached a position where sustainable development is a clear possibility, take the following steps:
Congrats!
However, although gaining some early traction is satisfying, you still face a number of obstacles.
One of the most difficult challenges is creating content that not only raises brand visibility and traffic, but also encourages readers to convert.
Today, we’ll discuss how your startup’s SEO and content strategy should change as it prepares for exponential development.
We’ll go through seven alternative content frameworks that companies may utilize to get more quality search traffic. Core dna employed the following content kinds to increase organic traffic by 499.81 percent in the past year:
And each month, you’ll get over 2,500 conversions (subscribers and demo signups):
My agency employs the same content frameworks to consistently rank our growth-stage SaaS customers for key terms:
Increase organic traffic in a variety of industries:
And increase conversions along the funnel:
We’ll give you a short overview of each content structure, show you some examples, and walk you through how to rapidly locate the proper keyword opportunities for each one so you can start using it in your company.
Are you in a hurry? To rapidly access to a certain content structure, utilize the buttons below:
Editor’s Note: Do you want to increase your organic traffic, leads, and sales? Here’s how to schedule a free consultation with me.
Let’s start with what not to do before we speak about what to do:
How Not to Approach SEO During the Growth Stage of a Business
As previously said, the primary purpose of your SEO strategy as a new business is to raise brand recognition and begin positioning your product and team as an industry go-to resource.
However, after you’ve created an audience and positioned your brand, you’ll need to change your SEO approach.
Yes, you’ll still need to raise awareness and engage a target audience, but you’ll need to do it on a much higher level.
That is:
You must become laser-focused on producing content that leads your audience to conversion.
Unfortunately, many early-stage companies are still too focused on producing content that looks nice “on paper” but does little to convert readers into paying customers.
Content creation is often influenced by keywords with high search volume but low ranking difficulty. This, however, is only a guarantee of exposure, which the brand has already achieved.
Again:
Growth-stage businesses should focus their SEO efforts on creating content that persuades a newly engaged audience that your product/service is the greatest answer to their issue.
Does it make sense? Let’s have a look at the frameworks.
7 Content Frameworks for Growth-Stage Startups that Increase Conversions
This article will concentrate on building kinds that are tailored to audiences that are closer to making a purchase. i.e. users who are aware of the solution or the product.
Creating such content — and utilizing it to demonstrate the genuine value of your product or service — should persuade your close-to-converting audience to take the next step and become paying clients.
“Alternative to [Brand]” is the first content framework. Posts on the Blog
Your business will always face competition, no matter how “niche” it is.
(As a side point, if you don’t have any rivals, it’s likely that there isn’t much demand for the services you provide.) If this is the case, continued organic traffic growth will be very difficult. Instead, until search demand grows, you’ll need to concentrate on other channels like guest articles, podcasts, and sponsored media.)
In any case, you could want to write content that outlines the fundamentals of some of your niche’s most well-known companies.
Listed below are a few examples:
Best Practices for “Alternative to” Blog Posts include the following:
- Give an outline of what your niche’s top firms have to offer.
- When explaining your solution and that of your rivals, be objective.
- Include facts that your target audience will value (specific features, pricing tiers, pros and cons).
- To guarantee awareness, include your company’s solution early in the article.
Helpjuice is putting itself at the top of the alternatives list.
Helpjuice doesn’t waste any time in introducing their product and giving a brief overview of what they’ll be talking about in the article. This is an excellent SEO copywriting strategy for creating anticipation and drawing readers down the page.
- Create a part or silo on your website for these alternative product roundups. For example, Groove HQ places this mid-funnel material right in the footer.
How to Find Keywords for “Alternative to [Brand]”
1. In the Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, enter ALL of your competitors’ names, then go to the All Keyword Ideas tab:
2. Select Include > Any Word > and put “alternative, alternatives” into the box. Then select “Apply”:
3. Go through the list of brand + alternative keywords and add any that you think are related to your keyword list:
Don’t be concerned about the search volume. These investigative search phrases have a lesser search volume than other keywords, but they convert at a considerably greater rate.
Blog Posts Comparing (Content Framework #2)
In contrast to the “alternative to” content architecture, which discusses a variety of firms’ goods or services in isolation, comparison blog articles compare two or more brands.
You’ll be able to “own” the discussion as people consider potential solutions to their issue by directly comparing your service to the competitors.
In contrast, failing to provide such material would require clients to depend on third-party review sites — or, worse, your rivals’ blogs — for information.
The idea is to take control of the “story.”
Listed below are a few examples:
In terms of creating new business, comparison blog articles may be really beneficial to your organization.
For example, more than 2% of individuals who read our “Standoff” piece go on to become paying customers:
Comparison Blog Post Best Practices
Introduce yourself to the discussion. “Magento 2 versus Shopify Plus vs [Your Company],” for example:
- Give a detailed description of each solution’s characteristics (again, focusing on the features that are important to your audience).
- Draw attention to the areas where your solution has a distinct edge over the competitors (while also approaching these features objectively).
- Include client testimonials, particularly from individuals who have used the other options described in the post.
- Include this material in your website’s blog area.
- Make a TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) version of the comparison and place it immediately after the introduction.
How to Find Keywords for Competitor Comparisons
1. Use the same method as the keywords “Alternative to [Brand].” In Keyword Explorer, enter ALL of your rivals’ names, then go to the All Keyword Ideas tab:
2. Select “Include” > “Any term” > input “versus, comparison” > then select “Apply”:
3. In the Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, scan the list of comparison keywords and add any that are relevant to your keyword list:
Note that just because your brand name isn’t in a comparison query doesn’t mean you can’t target the word. All you have to do now is join the discussion.
Consider the following scenario:
Core dna might develop a piece of content named “bigcommerce versus shopify vs Core dna” and target phrases like “big commerce vs shopify,” “shopify vs core dna,” “core dna vs bigcommerce,” and so on.
“Best Tools for [Specific Task]” is the third content framework. Posts
So far, we’ve discussed designing content based on the premise that your target audience is aware of their alternatives. They are solution-aware, to put it another way.
That isn’t always the case, however.
(You don’t want to overlook raising awareness among new audiences entirely.)
Your audience, on the other hand, will be aware that they have a particular issue to address and are unclear of the best answer. They are problem-aware, in other words.
A simple example would be someone who wants to build a website but is unfamiliar with CMS alternatives such as WordPress, Shopify, Weebly, or Wix.
This audience may be attracted by generating content that exposes them to items or services that will help them achieve their goals.
Here are several examples:
Posts on “Best Tool for [Specific Task]” Best Practices
- Include your product at the top of the tool list, and provide a more detailed feature/benefit summary than the other rivals.
- Concentrate on a single feature of the tools being examined. Keyword research, SEO audit, backlink checker, and other functions are available via Ahrefs (affiliate).
- Make many pieces of content that concentrate on various aspects of your product.
- Despite the low search volume stats, focus on longer tail keywords (e.g., “Best SEO software for small companies”) since people who use these search phrases are seeking for a highly particular solution and are more likely to make a quick purchase.
- Make a list of the most important qualities to seek for in a solution. Provide an explanation of why each feature is useful, as well as UI images for visual context. The majority of the UI pictures should, ideally, feature your product. In my post on the top rank trackers and SEO reporting tools, you can see this in action.
- At the conclusion of each feature section, provide a call out box that allows readers to compare your product to rivals using the material you generated in the previous phases. Groove does a great job with this in this article.
Where Can I Find the “Best Tool for [Specific Task]”? Keywords
1. Make a list of the product’s benefits and solutions.
Consider the following scenario:
Seed subjects pertaining to content management, content marketing, headless commerce, and intranets would be used by Core dna:
2. In Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer, enter all of the product solution head words, then go to the “Phrase Match” tab:
3. Select “Include” > “Any term” > “Include” > “Include” > “Include” > “Include” > “Apply”: “best, platform, solution, top, tool, software, system” > “Enter”: “best, platform, solution, top, tool, software, system”
4. Inside the Keyword Explorer, scan the list and add any relevant possibilities to your master keyword list:
Keep an eye out for long tail modifiers like persona, market, and vertical (eg: enterprise, small business, startup, healthcare, agencies etc). When compared to wider “best tools for X” postings, these keywords will often have considerably greater conversion rates (eg: best ecommerce platform for small businesses vs. best ecommerce software).
Editor’s Note: Do you want to increase your organic traffic, leads, and sales? Here’s how to schedule a free consultation with me.
4. “The Best [Industry/Job Title] Tools” Blog Posts or Product Pages
You may also build roundup entries centered on the many tools often employed by persons or organizations in particular contexts, in a similar spirit to the aforementioned content category.
Here are a few examples:
“Best Tools for [Industry/Job Title]” Best Practices
- As a seed term, use the job title(s) of your target audience.
- Create a variety of material for different audiences (For example, BigCommerce offers content similar to the above example tailored to eCommerce companies in the health & wellness, food & beverage, manufacturing, and automotive industries).
- This information should be posted on your company’s blog, profile page, or industry page.
Another startup that uses use cases, personas, and industry websites to target a particular audience is SPOTIO:
Where Can I Find the “Best Tool for [Industry/Job Title]”? Keywords
1. Make a list of every industry and job description that might benefit from your solution.
2. In Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer, enter all of the head words, then go to the “Phrase Match” tab:
3. Select “Include” > “All words” > “Include” > “Include” > “Include” > “Include” Enter a combination of “best, tool,” “top, tool,” “best, solution,” “top, solution,” “best, platform,” “top, platform,” “best, platform,” “top, platform,” “best, platform,” “top, platform,” “best, platform,” “top, platform,” “best, platform,” “top, platform,” “best, platform,” “top, platform,” “best
Use the same solution/feature seed keywords, but instead insert the modifier “for” into the “Include” > “All Words” filter in the Keyword Explorer to uncover “best tool for [Industry/Job Title]” keywords:
You can also reverse engineer which subfolders are producing organic traffic each month by entering a rival domain into the Ahrefs Site Explorer and heading to the Top Subfolders report:
You’ll be able to view how many pages are in the subfolder, as well as how much organic traffic they get on a monthly basis. To view all of the URLs and their Top Keyword: click the Pages link.
In the scenario above, a firm looking to join the last-mile food delivery software market may take a look at a rival like Bringg and begin developing pages geared for restaurant, retail, and logistics delivery software.
4. Scrutinize the keyword list for those that are relevant to your product and target market:
5. “How to Select the Most Appropriate [Product or Service]” Articles
This is when your material begins to become more “meta.”
That is, rather than discussing all of the many possibilities available to your audience, you will describe the process they must go through to choose which answer is best for them.
Here are a few examples:
It’s self-evident:
Assisting your audience in making the best buying choice increases the likelihood that they will choose your solution.
For example, our advice on selecting a SaaS CMS converts at a rate of 3%.
“How to Choose the Right [Product or Service]” Best Practices Articles
- Provide your audience with step-by-step guidelines for selecting the finest product or service.
- Ascertain that you’re assisting your audience in making the best selection possible, rather than just persuading them to choose your solution regardless of their individual requirements.
- Solicit information from your existing (and most successful) customers about the steps they took to reach a final purchase decision, and utilize that knowledge to educate potential consumers.
How to Locate “How to Select the Appropriate [Product or Service]” Keywords
1. Make a list of all of the product’s overall solutions and features.
2. In Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer, enter all of the head words, then go to the “Phrase Match” tab:
3. Go over the list and add any questions about your product or service that come up.
Reports on Industry Trends
Moving away from product/service-focused material for a while, creating editorial-style studies based on current or future industry trends may also be beneficial.
Consider the following scenario:
Traditional platforms may not give the most effective methods of engaging customers in the near future, as e-commerce business owners who have read our opinion on headless CMS’ know.
You may also promote yourself as an industry thought-leader by producing these reports.
By converting data and other facts into content that your audience can understand and learn from, they will have every reason to trust your brand in the future.
You may also have your report picked up and linked to by other websites and newspapers in your business, either purposefully or unintentionally.
This may provide your business a lot of exposure while also establishing trust and credibility with a new audience.
Consider the following scenario:
Core dna’s article on 2020 eCommerce trends has already received links from 21 different sites and ranks for 370 keywords:
Industry studies like these are simple to link to, and for many firms, they are the most linked-to assets.
Industry-Trend Reporting Best Practices
- Explain why certain tendencies have evolved, or are on the verge of forming.
- In your specialty, talk about how the demands of current consumers are changing.
- Make forecasts and projections about your industry’s future prospects.
- Include the following data to back up each trend prediction:
- To substantiate trend statements, use expert research and/or quotes:
Reach out to other influencers and incorporate their thoughts in a roundup-style report if your firm is in an area where it’s difficult to draw on current research or data.
Keywords for “Industry Trends” and How to Find Them
1. Make a list of all industries and job titles that your solution might help.
2. In Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer, enter all of the head words and choose the “All Keyword Ideas” tab:
3. Add any subjects that are pertinent to your Master keyword list.
7. Product pages or blog posts that are focused on a certain use case
This is a very successful method since it:
- Provides rookie prospects with surface-level value (without requiring them to make a purchase).
- Prepares them for when they need to buy anything, at which time they’ll be much more likely to look at what you have to offer.
Take a look at the samples below:
This kind of material is critical for raising conversions once again. Many of our use case product pages, in fact, convert at well over 10%:
Product Usage Best Practices-Case Pages
- Explain what your product or service is and accomplishes — and what it allows your consumers to do — on product pages:
- Demonstrate how easy it is to get started.
- Include current user social proof.
- Include a FAQ section to answer any last-minute concerns or objections.
- Structure your blog entries in a “how-to” manner, showing how your solution allows the consumer to take the route of least resistance:
(Ahrefs demonstrates how to construct broken links using both free and paid technologies.)
How to Find Keywords for “Use-Case Product Pages and Blog Posts”
1. Make a list of “Jobs-to-Be-Done” for your target market (JBTD).
Locate informative keywords, find competitor’s backlinks, resource page link building, guest blogging, link reclamation, and so on are examples of Ahrefs’ JBTD.
Pro tip: Look for your competitor’s solutions and/or feature pages on their website.
2. In Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer, enter all of the head words, then go to the “Phrase Match” tab.
3. Choose “Include” > “Any term” > “best, how to, methods, recommendations, and approaches” > “Apply.”
4. Add any phrases that are related to your master keyword list to your keyword list.
Editor’s Note: Do you want to increase your organic traffic, leads, and sales? Here’s how to schedule a free consultation with me.
To properly qualify (and prioritize) your keyword set, use SERP analysis.
You should have a tailored list of conversion-focused keywords by now:
Now comes the most crucial part of the keyword research process:
Qualification.
When qualifying (and prioritizing) your keyword set, consider the following six factors.
#1: Link Metrics at the Domain and Page Level:
There is a definite link between the number of referring domains linking to a website and its ranks, according to studies:
It’s even been validated by Google as a high ranking criteria. As a consequence, constantly check the amount of competing assets’ page-level referring domains in the SERP:
Image: Using the Ahrefs Keyword Explorer to analyze the SERP data.
We’re searching for a SERP with at least a handful of results with a referring domain count in the single digits or low teens.
Domain and Page Authority are the second and third factors to consider.
According to this research, there is a substantial link between keyword ranks and domain authority:
In addition to page authority:
It makes sense since the quality and relevance of the links leading to the domain/URL are the most important factors in determining domain and page authority.
Returning to our “best ecommerce platform” example, we can see that the lowest Domain Rating is 72, and all of the URLs have a minimum rating of 30 or above.
Core dna has a 70 Domain Rating, thus they have a good probability of ranking. They will, however, need a large number of backlinks.
On the other hand, the query “best intranet software” is a considerably less competitive target:
Multiple sites with lower Domain Ratings and no backlinks rank in this SERP analysis. With a decent piece of content and a few relevant links, Core dna might crack the top page for this phrase in 30-60 days.
#3: Format/Type of Content
Many of my customers make the mistake of targeting keywords with the incorrect content type.
Should you, for example, publish:
- What about a blog post?
- Is there a page for categories?
- Is there a product page?
- Is there a comparison page?
- Video?
If you make the incorrect option, you’ll end up wasting a lot of time and money attempting to rank a piece of content that is effectively dead in the water.
Consider the following example:
A customer asked us to help them rank a product page for the search “interactive infographics.” The page was stuck on page two no matter how much excellent material they published or how many backlinks they got.
After examining the SERP, it became clear why. They were attempting to rank a product page when the SERP informed them that they needed to target the keyword using a list-based (format) long form blog post (type).
Within 60 days, we had developed a list article and placed the firm first.
This is a basic illustration of the significance of matching keywords to the appropriate content type. The good news is that Google will tell you which one you should use.
Quality of Content #4:
This one should go without saying. You must create content that is on par with, if not better than, everything else in the SERP.
Analyze the top ten results and create a content brief that outlines all of the subjects that must be addressed. The value of your content should equal the sum of the top results.
In my training course, I go through this procedure in great depth.
#5: SERP Fluctuation:
Typically, you’ll want to target terms that have some SERP volatility:
Image: Ahrefs Keyword Explorer’s SERP Volatility Report.
As you can see in the sample above, Namogoo rose from nothing to top place in less than 30 days.
All else being equal, this is a positive hint that a list-based (format) blog post (type) targeting the term “b2b ecommerce platform” might rank rapidly.
#6: Economic Value (1-3):
After we’ve qualified the keywords, we’ll provide a business value on a scale of 1 to 3:
1 – Raise awareness of the issue (top funnel). There is no clear solution/feature alignment with the informational aim.
2 – Raise awareness of the solution (middle funnel). With an indirect solution/feature viewpoint, there is an investigative goal.
For instance, a person may realize that they need to invest in a CMS for their eCommerce firm, but they are unaware of all the possibilities accessible.
Core dna may write a post on the “best B2B ecommerce systems” or “best business content management software,” for example. While it wouldn’t be devoted to their solution, they’d be able to point it out and compare it to the competitors.
3 – Make people aware of the product. With a direct solution/feature perspective, there is a strong desire to buy. People will be actively comparing you to the competition, knowing precisely what they are searching for and who they are considering in the final purchase decision.
“Corporate intranet software,” “magento vs. Volusion vs. Bigcommerce,” and so on.
After the analysis is complete, each term will be classified and given a content type and business value depending on whether or not we can compete with it:
This template enables us to cooperate with the customer and swiftly narrow down the chances to the most valued targets for which we can realistically rank in the next 3-6 months.
Following that, we’ll map the keywords to content kinds and envision where they’ll fit into the site’s structure:
Finally, add the keywords to our Pipeline document so we can assign authors, create briefs, and start scaling content production:
Editor’s Note: If you want to learn more about keyword research, check out The SEO Playbook, my training program.
You’ll learn how to identify, qualify, prioritize, and map large amounts of keyword data:
Screenshots from The SEO Playbook’s Aggregate and Keyword Mapping sections.
Or:
Contact me here to schedule a free strategy call if you’d want me to handle all of this for you.
In 2022, whatever content framework is your startup going to use?
So there you have it; while you’re at that development stage, it’s not all about the traffic. For growth-stage businesses, there are other details to consider: brand name searches, branded phrases, MQLs, SQLs, and so on.
Traffic is good for businesses in their early stages, but conversion is even better.
To summarize, your firm should design the following 7 conversion-boosting content frameworks:
- Blog Posts titled “An Alternative to [Brand]”
- Comparison Blog Posts
- “The Most Effective Tools for [Specific Task]” Posts on the Blog
- Product pages or blog posts titled “Best Tools for [Industry/Job Title]”
- “How to Select the Most Appropriate [Product or Service]” Articles
- Reports on Industry Trends
- Product pages or blog posts with a use-case focus
Is there a content structure I’m missing? Please let me know by writing a comment below.
Watch This Video-
Content creation frameworks are a great way to start your marketing efforts. They allow you to create high-converting content in a short amount of time, and they make it easy for you to optimize your content as well. Reference: content creation framework.
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