After you have finished with the necessary keyword and competitive analysis, a high level content creation brainstorm meeting is the best way to kick off an SEO strategy. Jumping into content creation without one will usually lead to scattered and irrelevant content being created initially, but will evolve into no content at all- as you get busy and captivated by the sexier aspects of SEO (oh, and they are quite sexy- to be sure!).

Move away from salesy or technical content. Industry specific, but not necessarily company specific, material will provide a great foundation for great content.  The initial brainstorm meeting allows a time to put all the ideas on a whiteboard, then map out a 3 month schedule for creating the content.

Expected meeting duration: about 60-90 minutes

Outline of meeting:

1. Keyword Focus: The keyword research phase, you should have a list of the phrases you will be targeting. Bring these to the meetings, as they should include a list of the top 10 pages- each with 10 phrases to be monitored. Of these top 10, look at the main 3-4 phrases for your homepage and a few of your sub-pages. As you brainstorm ideas, keep these keywords top of mind, so your content will more directly aid your targeted SEO efforts.

2. High level content for entire year: Take  30-40 minutes and identify the scope of content to be created over the next 12 months. Throw every idea you have on the whiteboard (see brainstorming ideas below). It will feel overwhelming when all the ideas are on the board.

3. Brainstorm ideas on a white board, areas of focus may include:

History and timelines within industry: Heinz Catchup example:  Don’t talk about the herbs and spices, but the tomato. After that, move on to other general topics.

Rebuttal: Content about tomatoes won’t sell any catchup.
Counter: Google’s Latent Semantic Indexing will relate the tomato content to catchup, and it will help you in rankings, because you’re giving quality content- so you’ll get rankings in return.

Ideas might include:

• History of the tomato
• How to grow a perfect tomato
• Uses of tomatoes
• Different meanings of the tomato
• Bottling processes- how they have changed
• Bottling- from glass to plastic

Selective employee training material: Auto repair example: what would you teach a new, entry level employee about basic auto repair?

Rebuttal: If I give them all the info- they will just do it themselves.
Counter: Once they see all the work it takes, they will want your help, and they will see you as the expert who taught them the little they do know. The more they know, the more they will want your help. More importantly,  all this content will make your site robust, and Google will love it and give you more exposure for it. Many more clients than you potentially lost by a random DIY person here or there.

Ideas might include:

• General high level training on function of car
• Different makes and models of cars, and what to watch for
• Specific how-to’s on the basics, such as: changing oil, fixing tires, changing filters, etc.
• Tools for doing the job- outline what tools you use everyday
• Processes for tracking and monitoring success
• Give so much- they will need your help to apply

4. Identify content for the next 3 months, now that all the ideas are on the board. Choose a balance between content that can be generated soon (quick wins) and the topics that will address the highest priority keyword terms. Concerning the content that doesn’t fit into the first 3 months- don’t worry about mapping it all out- simply throw it into the 4-12 month section of the timeline and plan it out at a later day. Don’t try and map out the entire year, or you are likely to become overwhelmed, and the plan is certain to get off track by then or change anyway.

5. Leverage existing content, both online and offline materials. Often times, you will be sitting on a mountain of content all around the office or place of business. Looking around for educational resources will usually provide endless content ideas, or places to start. Examples include:

• Training manuals
• Brochures
• Industry books
• Trade magazines
• PDF’s that can be transcribed to HTML

6. Identify how what types of content will be created. Consider the following types of content:

Blog articles: Industry updates, and ‘In the News’ types of blog posts are very common and easy to write. A quick look through trade magazines, or Google Alerts will give endless update ideas. A quick write up (3-8 short paragraphs) make for great content. These do not need to be in-depth technical write-ups, but instead, a short summary of the update with a couple links to online resources for more information or editorial input.

Site permanent pages: Pages that will be sticking around the website for a long time and become an intrigal part of the site deserve a greater investment of time and energy. Usually, beginner sites are fairly slim on these pages. Even if they do include the pages, they will be short and shallow on content. Ideas for these permanent pages may include:

• Robust FAQ’s page
• History of the company page
• In-depth About Us page, complete with executive and employee bios
• Glossary of industry terms
• Client testimonial and case study pages
• Separate page for each service company provides
• Separate page profiling each major brand company carries
• Product or service catalog
• Press release page

Education or Reference Library: A central location, with a tailored design, is an excellent way to organize articles, videos, infographics and other premium content items. It makes for really nice link bait, increasing the entire domain authority. Also, it provides a legitimate increase  site equity, as current and potential customers can use it as a nice industry reference. Many of the premium content elements below can easily be included into the appropriate category- meaning the library continues to grow over time.

Video or screencast tutorials: As internet users start to demand more engagning content- many are migrating to video tutorials and screencast how-to’s. Creating such content has never been easier, as a video studio is relatively inexpensive and screencast software is either free or reasonable, depending on the features required.

Infographics and embeddable content: Although requiring an eye for design, and the ability to simplify advanced concepts, infographics are quickly becoming an internet staple for driving organic links, and inorganic if distributed correctly. As you research for any articles for your blog or reference library, consider simplifying complex processes, stats or timelines into aesthetically pleasing graphics. Making them easier for visitors to consume and learn from, as well as link to. Although a greater investment of time and energy is required, the long term SEO benefit (when targeted correctly) will pay off for months and years- in quality links and rankings.

Coming Soon! Interactive Flash elements:
PDF’s of educational content: