Content Marketing Checklist: 13 Things You Must Do Before You Publish Content

Content Marketing Checklist: 13 Things You Must Do Before You Publish Content:by Heidi Cohen
What content creator hasn’t hit “submit” without taking that extra couple of minutes to check over what is about to publish? While it’s understandable (particularly when you are under the gun with a looming deadline), luck often dictates that the one time you don’t stop to give your piece the once-over will be the time it contains a glaring error.
To make sure your published content is always at its error-free best, keep this 13-point checklist on hand at all times. (And for tips on how to promote your content after you publish, check out Brody Dorland’s 12 Things to Do After You Write Your Blog Post.)

1. Align your content with specific sub-goals: While your marketing efforts should all support your overall business objectives, each piece of content should meet specific sub-goals that flow into higher-level achievements. For example, if your business goal is to increase sales, your content marketing goal would be to create content to show how to style clothes or, more specifically, create a Pin board and a Tumblr to show how to combine women’s summer separates. Target’s Tumblr is a great example.
2. Target specific elements of your audience: Each article or piece of content doesn’t need to apply to your entire market. But it does need to speak to a relevant segment of that audience, as described in your marketing persona and social media persona, depending on where your content will be distributed.
3. Optimize for one or two keyword search phrases: Each article should be focused on a couple of keywords from your overall list to support its findability.
4. Link to additional content, both on and off of your site: To further support your SEO goals, include links to other content you’ve created, such as product information (where applicable), as well as to relevant content and/or resources on third-party sites. Don’t forget to associate these links with specific keywords within your content.
5. Ensure your headline is as magnetic as possible: Killer headlines do the heavy lifting for content, since many potential readers decide whether or not to read your content based on how well your headline draws them in from your site, newsletters, or social media. Where possible, incorporate one of your target keywords near the beginning of the title, since this will help your optimization efforts.
6. Integrate corporate branding: Every piece of content you produce is an opportunity to extend the reach of your organization’s brand and reinforce your professional expertise. This will help your 360-degree brand shine through the various elements of your content, particularly in social media. In content marketing and social media, your brand is no longer just a logo. It’s how your brand looks, talks, and acts. A great example of this is Ford’s Facebook timeline photograph. 
7. Communicate in a voice that’s consistent with your other content: In today’s social media world, your content must speak in a human voice to a human audience. The objective is for your content to have a consistent voice regardless of who’s doing the writing.
8. Include an image (preferably a photograph): Visual content does a great job of helping your content grab readers. If possible, use images that include human faces to maximize the impact, and avoid using bland stock photography. And don’t forget to check that the images you choose are copyright-cleared for commercial use. (Note: Flickr allows you to sort on this dimension.) 
9. Format content to facilitate readability: Make content easy to read and scan so your target audience can consume it on the go via any device (think smartphones or other devices, such as tablets). This means using bullet points and bolding to help guide the reader. Also, keep your content left-aligned.
10. Skip the foul language: No one wants to listen to a potty mouth. So unless your brand identity includes using adult language (such as Redhead Writing), eliminate the profanity. Instead craft content that grabs readers’ attention. If you can’t find the right words, consider another form of content, like photographs.
11. Review your copy for grammatical and spelling mistakes: While many word processors have spell checkers, they don’t catch everything — such as when you made the wrong choice of whether to use “they’re,” “there” or “their.” To this end, it’s useful to have a copy editor to check your content and ensure that it’s consistent with grammar and style rules for whatever content outlet you are using.
12. Incorporate a call to action: Each piece of content should encourage readers to take a specific action — such as visiting your site, subscribing to your newsletter, etc. Assess whether your article explicitly directs consumers to take the next step.
13. Engage readers: This is particularly important when you want to encourage readers to comment on your content. To expand the conversation, include a question for readers to address and social sharing buttons to make it easy for them to do so. Remember, the goal isn’t to stump your readers but rather to get others involved in your content-related conversation — even if only a small percentage of your audience is likely to respond.

When it comes to content creation in today’s connected social media world, writing requires more than great, compelling content. It needs that extra attention to details.
What other tips would you recommend to other content creators to increase the effectiveness of their writing process and why?
BTW, if you haven’t signed up for Content Marketing World yet, please consider joining me at my Content Marketing 101 Workshop, which will help you get your 2013 content marketing plans on track.