In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, you need to capture your customers’ attention with scroll-stopping content to grow your business. That’s where a blog can be your marketing MVP.
Maybe you’ve been thinking about starting a blog for your contractor website, or you’re too busy running your business to write new blog posts. Truth is, you need up-to-date content if you want to outpace the competition and fuel your business with a steady stream of leads.
Why? It’s simple: Most old blog posts are only going to decline in ranking and drive less traffic to your website. At the same time, your potential customers will judge the quality and relevance of your blog content when they’re trying to choose the best local contractor for the job. How does your content stack up to the competition?
Trust us: Even if you’re already working overtime to run your business, it’s still worth investing some time into your content marketing efforts. So, what are you waiting for? Here’s how to take a different strategy to content marketing with up-to-date website content.
Picture this: You’re searching for the latest SEO news and updates so you can dominate the competition with a powerful marketing strategy. You stumble upon a blog post—just to realize those strategies aren’t valid anymore. Chances are, you’re going to click away and make a mental note of that website to avoid outdated marketing advice.
Up-to-date content doesn’t just matter for marketing websites; it matters for contractors, too. You need to make sure your website content is relevant and useful to your target audience. When local homeowners search for the latest landscaping trends or newest energy-efficient HVAC appliances, they’re looking for updated information. If you’re wasting their time with blog posts that are months (or even years) old—and have not been updated in equally as long—you’re going to lose points for credibility.
According to marketing statistics, 72 percent of marketers describe content creation as the most effective SEO strategy—but only 38 percent update their older articles. If you’re not updating your blog regularly, here’s why you should start.
Maybe you’re new to the SEO game, and you’re discovering new techniques to optimize your content. Or maybe you have some old content lying around that hasn’t been updated in years. Your old content probably has not been optimized for SEO, so nobody reads it, it can’t be found in search engines, and it’s not up to your current content standards.
That’s where updated content can save the day. Even if you spend a few minutes incorporating some new keywords, providing up-to-date information, and refreshing dates, you can start driving new traffic from old content. Sure, it might take some time and effort to revamp old blog content, but it’ll be worth the payoff in website traffic, brand awareness, and new leads.
You already know that updated content can drive more traffic, but it’ll also boost your search engine rankings. How? Well, every blog post stands alone in the search rankings, but they act as a whole to influence your website’s rankings, too. If you have 50 blog posts and only five drive traffic, the other 45 are just going to drag your best posts down.
The good news? If you refresh posts regularly with amazing SEO and up-to-date information, they won’t drag you down. Instead, they’ll drive your business forward with better search engine rankings. Sometimes, improving search rankings might be as simple as tweaking your headline, sprinkling in some new keywords, or adding more depth to your content to keep Google (and your audience) happy.
Want to plug the leaks in your sales funnel? Start by stepping up your blog content. Posting regular content is one of the best ways to build brand loyalty and keep your visitors coming back for more. Think of your blog as a direct line of communication with potential customers, helping you build relationships, earn trust, and deepen the connection before they take the next step.
At the end of the day, customers are more likely to choose your company over the competition if they trust it—and there’s no better way to give customers a reason to care about your business than to make their lives easier with relevant, informative, and engaging content.
Let’s face it: All organic content starts to decay eventually. Over time and for various reasons, your posts are going to lose traffic, drop in search engine rankings, and drive fewer leads. Don’t worry—it’s normal.
This decay happens slowly enough that no alarms go off. The steady flow of fresh blog content usually makes up for losses, so it’s harder to detect outdated content without some scrolling.
If you want to amplify your content marketing and dominate the competition, it’s time to run toward the fire with up-to-date content. Here’s how to transform your older posts into lead magnets.
The first step to updating website content, whether it’s a one-off project or monthly blog refresh, is to conduct an audit. This way, you’ll be able to measure which posts are succeeding or failing by your marketing standards.
Let’s say you have two blog posts that are a few months old. Your first blog post is still at the top of the search engine results page, but you’re noticing rankings drop on the second post month after month. When it’s time to update content, the second post should take priority.
To make smart decisions, you’ll need to track a few marketing metrics. For example, if you’re trying to raise brand awareness with top-of-the-funnel content, you should focus on web traffic, search click-through rates, and rankings to measure the success of your blog content.
If you’re like most contractor businesses, your cornerstone content drives the most traffic to your website. Local homeowners are searching for solutions to their problems—and you need to swoop in, answer their questions, and keep them informed with up-to-date content.
If you’re not sure what your cornerstones are, take a minute to think about your best blog posts. Is one of them broad enough to become a guide to the other articles on your blog about that topic? You don’t want to target the same keywords over and over again, so you should try condensing your SEO efforts into one piece.
When you’re updating content, cornerstones should be your #1 priority. They’re the articles you want to be found for. For example, if you’re running an HVAC business, your guide to the most common homeowner HVAC problems might be your top-ranking post. So, when your customers start reporting new issues, you’ll want to update your cornerstone article.
If you have related blog posts, make sure to link those posts back to the cornerstone article. This way, you’ll show crawlers the importance of that page within your site. You can also add internal links every time you touch on the topic from other articles or pages around your website.
We get it: Updating your website content can be a lot of work, especially if you already have hundreds of blog posts under your belt. If you can’t decide where to start, figure out which blog posts drive the most traffic. High-traffic pages are seen by your audience most often, so they have the highest priority when it comes to refreshing your content.
Be sure to update your blog posts according to relevant industry updates, changing SEO trends, and any changes to your brand’s style guide. Update your keywords and make sure they’re still relevant to your marketing strategy.
Remember: You want primary keywords to appear naturally throughout your blog posts, from the header to the summary, and your body content should include some internal links to newer content to keep visitors moving around your website. To take your blog posts to the next level, try incorporating different types of content (think: infographics, short videos, and images).
When you’re growing a blog and writing tons of posts, some of your older content will become too outdated. It’s inevitable. Some of your posts will serve as evergreen content, but some just will no longer be relevant.
If you’re not driving traffic from these articles anymore, it might be time to delete them. And if you’re not sure whether to delete or update old posts, consider whether you have any related website content. If deleting the blog would create a content gap, take some time to revamp the blog. If the blog post isn’t relevant anymore, it’s time to hit the Delete button. However, before you do so, be sure to identify and update any internal site links that might be taking users to that page.
You can easily create high-quality content from older posts with some tweaks. For example, you might merge three blog posts about the same subject into a new post by updating the post that ranks highest. Or, publish a video series filled with up-to-date material from your older posts.
Up-to-date website content shouldn’t end with your blog posts. Studies show that 93 percent of online experiences start with a search engine, and your website offers countless opportunities to capture new leads. If you want to position your business as an industry authority, you’ll need to impress leads with a professional website—complete with updated landing pages, user-friendly web design, and more.
When you’re finished updating your blog posts, refresh your landing pages with any new services, industry updates, or SEO keywords to drive up your rankings. Don’t forget about your “About Us” or “Contact Us” pages, either. Instead of leaving outdated phone numbers and business information lying around your website, keep your customers in the loop.
Updating your website content might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. Even if you only have a few minutes each day, it’s possible to transform an outdated blog into an effective lead magnet.
Ready to brainstorm your new content marketing strategy? Give us a call today to ignite your contractor business with conversion-worthy content.
