We’ve all been there. You’ve poured your heart into creating a beautiful website, filled it with content, and maybe even shared it on social media.
But despite your efforts, the traffic just isn’t coming. It’s frustrating, right? You’re left wondering, “What am I doing wrong?”
Here’s the hard truth: the problem might not be your content itself, but the lack of a clear strategy behind it.
Writing content without a plan is like setting off on a road trip without a map—you might move forward, but you’re unlikely to reach your destination. Let me show you how a content strategy can transform your website’s performance, using a real-life case study as an example.
The Challenge: A Stagnant Website
This case study features an old service-based website created last 2019 with a few content that seems to be ranking some of its pages already , but seems to be getting little to no clicks on most days for years now.
One of my clients came to me with a service-based website they’d launched back in 2019. Over the years, they’d published a handful of blog posts, and some of their pages were ranking for certain keywords. But despite this, their traffic was minimal—some days, they’d get little to no clicks at all. After five years, they realized something needed to change.
Here’s what their website looked like before we started working together:
- No Google Search Console Profile: They’d never set one up, which meant they had no way to track their performance or identify issues.
- Low Traffic: Despite having some ranking pages, their overall traffic was stagnant.
- No Clear Strategy: Their content was scattered, with no clear focus or alignment with their business goals.
Their primary objectives were:
- To rank for location-based keywords.
- To target a specific niche keyword.
- To create an ebook and launch an email campaign.
The following are the website’s metrics before the optimization.
For 5 years, they never created a Google Search Console profile so it was the first thing I did while doing the website audit.
The client came to me to ask for help on getting traffic for their business objective and to create an ebook for them and help them on their planned email campaign.
Their primary objective is to show up for location and a specific niche keyword.
Why a Content Strategy is a Game-Changer
A content strategy isn’t just about writing more blog posts or posting on social media. It’s about creating a roadmap that aligns your content with your audience’s needs and your business goals. Here’s why it’s so powerful:
- Know Your Audience: A strategy helps you understand who you’re talking to. Instead of guessing what your audience wants, you can create content that speaks directly to their pain points and interests.
- SEO Optimization: A good strategy ensures your content is optimized for search engines. This means using the right keywords, structuring your pages correctly, and making it easy for Google to understand what your site is about.
- Consistency: Posting regularly keeps your audience engaged and coming back for more. A strategy helps you plan and maintain a consistent publishing schedule.
- Alignment with Goals: Whether you’re looking to drive sales, generate leads, or build brand awareness, a strategy ensures your content supports these objectives.
The Risks of Flying Blind
When you create content without a strategy, you’re essentially shooting in the dark. Here’s what can go wrong:
- Missing the Mark: Without understanding your audience, you might end up writing content that doesn’t resonate with them.
- Inconsistency: Posting sporadically confuses your audience and makes it harder to build a loyal following.
- Poor SEO: If your content isn’t optimized, search engines won’t rank it, and potential visitors won’t find it.
- Lack of Direction: Without a clear plan, your content can feel disjointed and fail to build momentum.
The Solution: A Comprehensive Content Strategy
To turn things around for my client, I started with a thorough website audit. Here’s what we uncovered and how we addressed it:
- Technical and On-Page Optimizations: The website needed several fixes, including improving site speed, fixing broken links, and optimizing meta tags.
- Keyword Realignment: Many of the existing pages were targeting the wrong keywords. We conducted intensive keyword research to identify the best opportunities for their niche and location-based goals.
- Content Updates: The blog posts that were already ranking needed updates to make them more helpful and relevant to readers.
- New Content Creation: Using the insights from our keyword research, we created new blog posts, location pages, and an ebook designed to attract their target audience.
The Results: A Dramatic Improvement
Within just four months, the website’s performance improved significantly. Here’s what changed:
Higher Engagement: The updated and new content resonated with readers, leading to longer time on site and lower bounce rates.
More Keywords Ranking: The number of keywords the site ranked for increased dramatically, as shown in Ahrefs.
Increased Organic Traffic: Google Search Console data confirmed a steady rise in organic traffic and impressions.
Stats last June 2024
What This Means for You
Imagine what your website could achieve with a solid content strategy in place. Over five years, the difference between a strategy-driven approach and winging it could be massive. Here’s what you can take away from this case study:
Be Consistent: Regular updates and new content keep your audience engaged and help you build authority in your niche.
Start with a Plan: A content strategy gives you direction and ensures every piece of content you create serves a purpose.
Optimize for SEO: Technical and on-page SEO are essential for making your site visible to search engines.
Create Helpful Content: Focus on creating content that solves problems and answers questions for your audience.
Here’s to Getting More Traffic To Your Website
So the what can we take from this… well, I guess today is never too late to start getting a plan for your website.
Getting more traffic to your website should not only rely on links shared on your social media. The key to make it sustainable is to have organic traffic that you can only get when you have a solid technical structure, on page SEO optimization every now and then, and creating helpful content guided by a keyword strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you do the same for my website?
Yes your website could rank with my strategy, but not every website could get the same result in 4 months as my content strategy is not just about creating content but also includes optimizing the website to have a web structure with a good technical SEO and keyword map in mind and sometimes it takes longer specially when there are a lot of pages and fixes needed.
You can set up a call/email exchange with me for a free consultation.
What did you actually do on this project?
I did everything from initial audit, monitoring, on page, and technical SEO optimizations on WordPress , keyword research, content creation and content strategy.
My campaign for them is not over yet since ranking the website is just the first phase of it there are more to be done for their campaign.
Which package did they get?
They chose the Custom package since they were only willing to work on a budget and had other goals than just SEO. Since this is the case, the implementation timeline was beyond 6 months and inclusions of the project varies.
For example, they did not include Offpage SEO, but eventually with the quality content produced they were able to get organic backlinks from relevant websites from their niche.
Check out other SEO case studies and results >>
Original Article by Author: Simple Reason You’re Not Getting More Traffic To Your Website
