How to Create A Content Strategy for Your Resume Writing Business

I love talking about content. My last two blog posts were focused on monetizing your content. Here's a post from last month about writing better content. But maybe I should back up a moment and talk about how resume writers can create a "content strategy."

Do you have a content strategy? Or are you just winging it? You post a blog post when you think of something to write about, and you might have three blog posts in a row, followed by a month of non-posting. Or you decide to engage in article marketing and write 4 or 5 articles for free article sites -- but the key to those sites is quantity. You need to write 10 or 20 or even 50 articles (over time is fine -- one a week is 52 a year!) if you're going to make it a significant source of traffic for your site.

What Is a Content Strategy?
A content strategy is exactly what it sounds like. It's a plan to create, organize, market, and maximize your content. You can plan a week in advance, a month, a quarter or even a year in advance. When you have a content strategy in place, the process of creating content for your blog or website becomes much easier. It's also easier to outsource it when you know exactly what you need.

Here are seven questions to ask yourself when creating your content strategy.

1. Where will you publish your content? 

Now this may seem like an obvious question -- on your blog or website, of course! However, you may also want to guest blog, publish on article marketing sites, and submit content to other newsletters or magazines. Think about where you want to publish your content. Then move onto the next question.

2. What types of content will you publish?

Blog posts? Articles? Reports? Downloads? That's the first question, and then you want to take a look at the formats or styles that your readers respond to. For example, maybe you find that lists are your reader's favorite articles or that they love downloadable checklists. When you know what they like, you can include it in your plan.

3. What's the goal or purpose for your content?

To have extremely effective content, you want it to have a goal or a purpose. For example, do you want to drive traffic to your website? Do you want prospective clients to email you their resume for a review? Do you want to promote an affiliate product? What about driving traffic to your opt-in page to build your mailing list? Create a purpose or goal for every piece of content you create.

4. When will you write your content?

Now that you know what you're going to publish, and you have a goal for it, it's time to schedule it. Some people write all their content at the beginning of the week or month. Others write a little bit every day. It's the same as writing resumes -- you'll find that you have a particular rhythm that works for you. There's no right or wrong way to do this, but you do want to schedule it so it gets done.

5. When will you publish/upload?

When will you publish your content? For example, will you write the content for the week on Monday and publish it on Tuesday? Blogs allow you to upload posts ahead of time and schedule them for publication. If you're using article marketing sites or have a website, then you'll want to schedule publishing time into your day. (It can be as simple as setting yourself a reminder alarm to upload your content.)

6. How can you maximize your content?

Next, plan how you can repurpose and reuse your content. For example, can you tweak the article and publish it in your newsletter? Can you share it on a social networking site? Can you collect articles and create a short report? Plan how you can use your article in other ways to make the most of your time and energy.

7. How will you market your content and use your content to market your business?

Finally, how will you make readers and prospects aware of your content? For example, will you link to it from Facebook? Publish it in your Twitter feed? Will you create a weekly wrap-up blog post or email and highlight your new articles for the week? The more people who are aware of your content, the more readers and traffic you'll have.

Once you get the hang of it, implementing your content plan to promote your resume writing business will be a quick and easy process.