Content Strategy Template [Free Download + Instructions]

Use our free content strategy template and instructions to make a contented selling strategy for your website.

The resulting papers volition assistance you:

• Plan and make contented that supports your concern goals
• Make the astir retired of your disposable resources
• Keep each your squad members aligned

How to Use the Content Strategy Template

To usage the contented strategy template, open this Google Docs link. And motion into Google if necessary.

Then, click “Make a copy.” 

This volition make and unfastened a transcript of the template successful your Google Drive.

Next, you’ll larn however to capable retired the contented selling strategy template. Section by section.

1. Set Content Goals

First, specify your wide content marketing goals and however you’ll measurement them.

This volition springiness absorption to the remainder of your content strategy. And let you to way your occurrence successful the future.

Set goals that are SMART:

According to Semrush’s State of Content Marketing report, the astir communal contented goals are:

• Attract much postulation to our website
• Increase marque awareness
• Generate leads
• Generate sales/revenue
• Improve lawsuit loyalty and engagement

The SMART mentation of “Attract much traffic” could beryllium “Increase website postulation by 25% implicit the adjacent six months by optimizing existing contented for SEO and publishing high-quality blog posts doubly a week.”

(You mightiness privation to refine your goals later. Once you person much accusation successful your strategy.)

When you’ve decided connected your goal, adhd it to your contented strategy template. And enactment however you’ll measurement it. For example, you mightiness usage Google Analytics 4 to measurement traffic.

This process ensures that your goals are applicable and clear. 

2. Create Buyer Personas

Next, make and summarize buyer personas (fictional profiles that correspond antithetic segments of your people audience).

This volition assistance you recognize each benignant of prospect—and make contented they’ll love.

Here’s an illustration of a afloat persona, created with the Semrush Persona tool:

And the corresponding summary successful our example contented strategy:

If you haven’t created purchaser personas yet (or you privation to amended yours), you’ll request to behaviour in-depth audience research.

You tin larn astir your website users’ demographics done Google Analytics. 

Navigate to “Reports”> “User” > “User attributes” > “Overview” to spot a breakdown of your assemblage by country, city, gender, interests, age, and language.

For further insights, analyse your marketplace with Semrush’s One2Target tool. 

Select your people location, participate up to 5 competitors’ domains, past click “Analyze.”

The instrumentality volition analyse your marketplace audience. And supply 3 reports with utile breakdowns:

• Demographics: Age, sex, and country
• Socioeconomics: Household size, income level, employment status, and acquisition level 
• Behavior: Interests, devices, and societal media

In the “Audience Overlap” tab, you tin spot which sites these users sojourn most.

This tin assistance you recognize what types of contented your prospects love. And place cardinal places for content distribution. 

3. Document Your Resources

Next, papers the resources disposable to you oregon your team.

This includes:

• People: Who are the radical connected your team? What are their accomplishment sets? How overmuch clip bash they person disposable for contented projects?
• Tools: What content tools bash you person entree to? What are their functions?
• Budget: Do you person a fund for further resources? How overmuch tin you walk and connected what?

Noting this accusation helps you find which projects are viable. And allocate resources much effectively.

Say you capable retired your contented strategy template similar this:

This shows that you’re well-equipped to make search-optimized blog posts. But you mightiness conflict to make high-quality videos.

4. Analyze Competitors’ Content

Analyze competitors’ content to spot what’s moving for them—and what isn’t. Then, support notes to pass your ain contented selling strategy. 

In this context, a rival is immoderate tract publishing akin contented to yours. Commercial rivals are of peculiar interest. But you could besides glean insights from manufacture bloggers, for example.

To get started, hunt your domain and state successful Semrush’s Organic Research tool.

Then, spell to the “Competitors” study to find sites that stock the astir organic keywords with you. (Meaning their contented is akin to yours.)

To larn much astir a competitor, click connected their domain. (This searches the domain successful Organic Research.)

Then, spell to the “Pages” study to observe the rival’s top-performing URLs.

You’ll find the pursuing metrics for each page:

• Traffic: The estimated fig of unpaid visits from Google each month
• Keywords: The fig of keywords the leafage ranks for (with a search intent breakdown)
• Backlinks: The fig of links this leafage has from different domains (you whitethorn request to click “Show”)

Generally, the stronger these metrics, the amended the content.

Click the “External link” icon to sojourn immoderate URL and behaviour further analysis.

Ask yourself the pursuing questions. And adhd notes to your contented strategy template.

• What type(s) of contented does this rival create?
• What topics does this rival cover?
• Which pieces of contented execute best?
• What does this rival bash well?
• What could they bash better?

Like this:

5. Audit Your Content

A content audit is an investigation of your existing content. You should reappraisal each leafage connected your website and determine what to bash with it:

• Keep: The contented is adjuvant and performing well. So, it should beryllium kept as-is.
• Improve: The contented could beryllium improved oregon is not performing arsenic good arsenic it could. Improving this contented could beryllium a cost-effective mode to get much postulation and/or conversions.
• Remove: The contented offers nary worth and has small to nary potential. It should beryllium removed, arsenic it could beryllium doing much harm than good.

Implementing these changes tends to beryllium much cost-effective than creating caller content. Plus, it gives you a coagulated instauration to physique upon.

To find if contented should beryllium improved, inquire yourself:

• Is the contented helpful, comprehensive, and accurate?
• Does the contented show E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)?
• Does the taxable person concern potential? 
• Does your assemblage privation oregon request this content?

To find if contented is performing well, inquire yourself:

• Does your contented fulfill its archetypal goals?
• How overmuch postulation does the leafage generate?
• How galore conversions does the leafage generate?

Make definite to adhd each your notes to the contented strategy template. Like this:

Need assistance with your audit? 

Use Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker.

Enter the people keywords for each of your pages. The instrumentality volition supply a database of optimization ideas for each. Based connected SEO champion practices and investigation of top-ranking content.

These ideas tin subordinate to content, SEO strategy, backlinks, idiosyncratic experience, method SEO, SERP features, and semantic SEO.

Plus, each leafage gets a precedence people based connected the fig of optimization ideas, the easiness of implementing these ideas, and the imaginable postulation gain.

6. Identify Content Gaps

Content gaps are topics your website could payment from covering. Because they’re applicable to your assemblage and your brand.

Filling these gaps done content creation means addressing much of your audience’s needs. So you tin summation traffic, engagement, and conversions.

It besides helps you physique a much robust content selling funnel. In different words, contented that nurtures users astatine each signifier of the buying journey.

So, it’s important to admit and specify these gaps. Like this:

One mode to place contented gaps is with Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool. 

It tin amusement you keywords that rivals fertile for—but you don’t.

Another enactment is the Topic Research tool. Which sources fashionable and trending subtopics based connected your chosen topic.

To spot what benignant of contented you’d request to create, hunt your keyword oregon taxable successful the Keyword Overview tool. And scroll down to the “SERP Analysis” section.

This shows you which pages are presently ranking apical successful your location.

You’ll request to make thing akin (but better) to gain a salient ranking.

7. Establish Content Guidelines

In the last section, found and outline your contented guidelines. 

These are the principles of contented creation. Which assistance your squad enactment aligned and nutrient on-brand, goal-oriented content.

Start by creating and linking to cardinal resources, including:

• Tone of dependable guidelines: A papers that defines your brand’s tone of voice. This is the property that should travel done successful each your writing.
• Content calendar: A docket detailing the contented you volition publish. Use our content calendar template to make yours. 
• Style guide: A papers outlining your plan standards. This helps you nutrient ocular contented that consistently fits your marque identity.

Also jot down cardinal details for casual reference. Like this:

Next, determine what types of contented marketing you privation to prosecute in. And physique retired the guidelines for each. Making definite to notation each the accusation successful your contented strategy template truthful far.

• Format: The benignant of contented (blog post, video, ebook, etc.). Consider your purchaser personas, resources, etc.
• Topics: The topics you privation your contented to cover. These should beryllium applicable to your brand, absorbing to your audience, and compatible with your chosen format.
• Frequency: How often bash you privation to make and people this benignant of content? Consider your disposable resources. And retrieve that prime trumps quantity.
• Distribution: How volition you amplify your contented to get much radical to spot it? You tin distribute content via societal media, email newsletters, etc.
• Notes: Anything other that’s important to note. For example, the main intent of the content.

Here’s a snapshot from our contented strategy example:

To rename your website contented strategy template:

1. Click the existent rubric successful the top-left corner
2. Type successful your preferred title 
3. Hit Enter/Return connected your keyboard

To duplicate a table:

1. Use your rodent to item the full table
2. Right-click your rodent and click “Copy”
3. Place your cursor wherever you’d similar to adhd the table, past right-click and prime “Paste”

To adhd array rows oregon columns: 

1. Place your cursor adjacent to the desired determination for the row/column
2. Right-click your rodent and click “Insert enactment above,” “Insert enactment below,” “Insert file left,” oregon “Insert file right” 

To alteration array colors:

1. Highlight the cells you’d similar to change
2. Click the overgarment tin icon successful the toolbar
3. Select your preferred color

To determination your papers to different folder: 

1. Click the arrow folder icon astatine the top
2. Choose your preferred determination successful your Google Drive
3. Select “Move”

To export your document: 

1. Click “File” > “Download”
2. Select your preferred record format
3. The record volition prevention to the default determination connected your device

To stock your document: 

1. Click the “Share” fastener successful the upper-right corner
2. Add circumstantial radical and/or alteration wide access
3. Choose Viewer/Commenter/Editor support arsenic required

Next Steps

The adjacent measurement is utilizing your contented strategy to make a content plan—a papers that outlines circumstantial tasks for the coming weeks oregon months.

You tin past commencement creating. And monitoring your content’s success.

As a regularisation of thumb, we urge refreshing your contented strategy papers each six months. Or whenever there’s a large alteration to your concern oregon market.

This allows capable clip to spot the existent interaction of your efforts. While giving you the accidental to accommodate to results and important changes.