# Sharp Edges: Content Strategy

Critical mistakes that waste content investment and prevent growth.

---

## 1. The Content Graveyard

**Severity:** Critical
**Situation:** Publishing content that no one finds or reads
**Why Dangerous:** Time and money wasted on invisible content.

```
THE TRAP:
"Let's publish 4 blog posts per week!"

Result:
- 200 blog posts published
- 50 total monthly visitors
- 0 leads generated
- 0 revenue attributed

THE REALITY:
Most content gets:
- No search traffic (no SEO)
- No social traction (not shareable)
- No conversions (no strategy)

WHY CONTENT FAILS:
1. No keyword research (not what people search)
2. Not better than existing content (why click?)
3. No distribution plan (build it ≠ they come)
4. No clear CTA (traffic but no conversion)
5. Wrong format for topic (should be video, not text)

THE FIX:
Before writing anything:
□ Who is this for specifically?
□ What are they searching?
□ What exists already?
□ How will we beat it?
□ Where will we distribute it?
□ What action do we want?

BETTER APPROACH:
4 excellent posts per month > 16 mediocre posts
Each post: researched, optimized, promoted
```

---

## 2. The Keyword-First Trap

**Severity:** High
**Situation:** Writing for search engines, forgetting about humans
**Why Dangerous:** Ranks but doesn't convert. Or doesn't rank at all.

```
THE TRAP:
"This keyword has 10K monthly searches!"

Content:
"Best CRM software for small business. Small
business CRM software is important. When
looking for CRM software for small business,
small businesses should consider..."

Reader: *closes tab*
Google: *ranks competitor higher*

THE REALITY:
Google measures user satisfaction:
- Time on page
- Bounce rate
- Scroll depth
- Click-through from SERPs

Keyword-stuffed content = bad metrics = lower rankings

THE FIX:
1. Research keyword intent
   What do they actually want to learn?

2. Write for the reader first
   Solve their problem thoroughly

3. Naturally include keywords
   In title, headings, intro
   But not forced or repeated

4. Add unique value
   Original insights, data, examples
   What can only you provide?

PROCESS:
Keyword research → Understand intent →
Create best resource → Optimize naturally →
Measure user engagement
```

---

## 3. The Me-First Content

**Severity:** High
**Situation:** Content about your company, not your audience
**Why Dangerous:** No one cares about you until you help them first.

```
THE TRAP:
Blog post topics:
- "Our CEO's vision for 2024"
- "Company culture at [Company]"
- "Our new office tour"
- "Employee spotlight: Meet Sarah"
- "Our 5th anniversary celebration"

Traffic: 47 visits (all internal)

THE REALITY:
Your audience cares about:
- Their problems
- Their goals
- Their industry
- Learning new skills

Not:
- Your company news
- Your culture
- Your team

CONTENT THAT WORKS:
Problem-focused:
"How to solve [problem they have]"

Educational:
"The complete guide to [topic they care about]"

Tactical:
"5 ways to [achieve outcome they want]"

ME-FIRST CONTENT RULES:
✓ Customer stories (their success, not your product)
✓ Product updates (if saves them time/money)
✓ Industry insights (if actionable for them)
✗ Company news (save for press releases)
✗ Internal celebrations (save for LinkedIn)
✗ Self-congratulation (just don't)
```

---

## 4. The One-and-Done

**Severity:** High
**Situation:** Publishing content once and never touching it again
**Why Dangerous:** Content decays. Old content hurts more than helps.

```
THE TRAP:
Published: "Best Tools for [X] in 2020"
Still live in 2024
Rankings: Dropped
Information: Outdated
User experience: Bad
Brand perception: Neglected

THE REALITY:
Content has a lifecycle:
- New: Building authority
- Growing: Gaining traction
- Peak: Maximum performance
- Declining: Losing relevance
- Dead: Hurting rankings

CAUSES OF DECAY:
- Information outdated
- Links broken
- Better content published by others
- Keyword trends shift
- UI/UX feels dated

THE FIX:
1. Content audit (quarterly)
   - Which content still performs?
   - Which is outdated?
   - Which should be pruned?

2. Update winners
   - Refresh statistics
   - Add new sections
   - Update screenshots
   - Improve SEO

3. Consolidate related content
   - Merge thin articles
   - Create comprehensive guides
   - Redirect old URLs

4. Prune dead content
   - Remove or noindex
   - Redirect if has links
   - Free up crawl budget

CONTENT MAINTENANCE:
Top 20% content: Update quarterly
Middle 60%: Review annually
Bottom 20%: Prune or consolidate
```

---

## 5. The Generalist Trap

**Severity:** High
**Situation:** Writing about everything, owning nothing
**Why Dangerous:** Impossible to build topical authority.

```
THE TRAP:
Blog topics:
- Marketing automation
- Home office design
- Productivity tips
- Industry news
- Recipe of the week
- Travel destinations
- Tech reviews

Result: Authority in nothing
SEO: Confused about your expertise
Audience: Who is this even for?

THE REALITY:
SEO rewards topical authority:
- Deep coverage of a topic
- Internal linking between related content
- Expertise signals

THE FIX:
1. Define 3-5 content pillars
   Core topics you own
   Aligned with product and audience

2. Go deep, not wide
   Comprehensive coverage
   All angles of each pillar

3. Build topic clusters
   Pillar page: Comprehensive overview
   Cluster pages: Specific subtopics
   Internal links: Connect them all

EXAMPLE:
Pillar: "Email Marketing"
├── "Email list building"
├── "Email automation"
├── "Email copywriting"
├── "Email deliverability"
├── "Email design"
└── "Email analytics"

Each pillar: 10-20 cluster articles
Interlinked, building authority
```

---

## 6. The Distribution Blindspot

**Severity:** Critical
**Situation:** All effort on creation, none on distribution
**Why Dangerous:** Great content no one sees is worthless.

```
THE TRAP:
Process:
1. Spend 20 hours creating content
2. Click publish
3. Tweet once
4. Wonder why no traffic

THE REALITY:
Creation : Distribution should be 1:1
20 hours creating = 20 hours promoting

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS:
Owned:
- Email list
- Website/blog
- Social profiles

Earned:
- SEO (long-term)
- Social shares
- Press mentions
- Guest posts

Paid:
- Social ads
- Content ads
- Sponsored content

DISTRIBUTION PLAYBOOK:
Day 0: Publish + email list
Day 1: Social posts (all platforms)
Day 2: Employee amplification
Day 3: Community sharing
Day 7: LinkedIn article version
Day 14: Twitter thread version
Day 30: Update and reshare

REPURPOSING:
Blog post → Twitter thread
Blog post → LinkedIn carousel
Blog post → YouTube video
Blog post → Podcast episode
Blog post → Email series
```

---

## 7. The Vanity Topic

**Severity:** High
**Situation:** Choosing topics that sound impressive but serve no one
**Why Dangerous:** Ego content, not strategic content.

```
THE TRAP:
"Let's write about AI and the future of work"
"Thought piece on digital transformation"
"The intersection of blockchain and creativity"

THE REALITY:
Vanity topics are:
- Too broad to rank
- Too vague to help
- Too obvious to differentiate
- Too generic to convert

BETTER APPROACH:
Instead of: "AI in Marketing"
Try: "How to use ChatGPT for email subject lines"

Instead of: "Digital Transformation"
Try: "How to migrate from Salesforce to HubSpot"

Instead of: "The Future of Work"
Try: "How to run productive async standups"

TOPIC VALIDATION:
1. Search volume exists
2. You can rank (competition)
3. It relates to your product
4. It serves a clear audience
5. There's a clear action after reading

SPECIFICITY WINS:
Broad = high competition, low intent
Specific = achievable rankings, high intent
```

---

## 8. The Listicle Addiction

**Severity:** Medium
**Situation:** Every piece of content is "X Ways to..." or "Top 10..."
**Why Dangerous:** Overused format, limited depth, low differentiation.

```
THE TRAP:
Content plan:
- "10 Ways to Improve Productivity"
- "15 Best Tools for..."
- "7 Tips for Better..."
- "20 Hacks to..."

THE REALITY:
Listicles are:
✓ Easy to scan
✓ Shareable
✓ Quick to produce

But also:
✗ Everyone makes them
✗ Often thin content
✗ Low depth of insight
✗ Easily commoditized

CONTENT FORMAT VARIETY:
1. How-to guides (step-by-step)
2. Ultimate guides (comprehensive)
3. Case studies (proof and story)
4. Original research (unique data)
5. Expert roundups (credibility)
6. Comparisons (decision support)
7. Templates (immediate value)
8. Tools/calculators (utility)

LISTICLE RULES:
✓ Use when truly the best format
✗ Don't default to lists
✓ Add depth to each item
✗ Don't pad with filler
✓ Make it actionable
✗ Don't just summarize existing content
```

---

## 9. The Orphan Content

**Severity:** High
**Situation:** Content with no internal links, not connected to site structure
**Why Dangerous:** Loses SEO value, users can't discover it.

```
THE TRAP:
New blog post: Published!
Links pointing to it: 0
Links going from it: 1 (to homepage)
Connected to content strategy: No

THE REALITY:
Internal linking:
- Distributes page authority
- Helps users discover related content
- Signals topic relationships to Google
- Improves engagement and time on site

THE FIX:
Every new piece of content:
1. Links TO 3-5 related articles
2. Gets links FROM 3-5 related articles
3. Links to relevant product pages
4. Connected to pillar/cluster structure

INTERNAL LINKING AUDIT:
- Find pages with few internal links
- Find opportunities in existing content
- Build linking into creation process
- Update old content with new links

CONTENT CONNECTIONS:
Pillar page ← → Cluster pages
Related topics ← → Each other
Content ← → Product pages
New content ← → Old content
```

---

## 10. The Ignored Analytics

**Severity:** High
**Situation:** Creating content without measuring or learning from results
**Why Dangerous:** No improvement over time, repeated mistakes.

```
THE TRAP:
Q: "Which content performs best?"
A: "I don't know, we don't really track that"

Q: "What drives conversions?"
A: "Probably the blog? Not sure"

Q: "What should we create more of?"
A: "Whatever the CEO wants"

THE REALITY:
Without measurement:
- Keep making same mistakes
- Can't justify content investment
- No learning or optimization
- Decisions based on opinion

CONTENT METRICS:
Traffic metrics:
- Page views
- Unique visitors
- Traffic source

Engagement metrics:
- Time on page
- Scroll depth
- Bounce rate

SEO metrics:
- Rankings for target keywords
- Organic traffic growth
- Backlinks acquired

Business metrics:
- Conversions from content
- Revenue attributed
- Email signups

CONTENT MEASUREMENT PROCESS:
Monthly: Traffic and engagement review
Quarterly: Content audit and optimization
Annually: Strategy review and planning
```

---

## 11. The Template Trap

**Severity:** Medium
**Situation:** Following the same content formula for every piece
**Why Dangerous:** Predictable content doesn't stand out.

```
THE TRAP:
Every blog post:
1. Introduction with hook
2. "In this article, you'll learn..."
3. 5 subheadings
4. Image every 300 words
5. Conclusion with CTA
6. Author bio

THE REALITY:
Template content:
- Blends with everything else
- Feels formulaic to readers
- Optimized for completion, not quality
- Misses creative opportunities

BREAKING THE TEMPLATE:
Sometimes:
- Lead with the takeaway
- Use only one powerful example
- Tell a story throughout
- Make it interactive
- Create a tool instead of an article
- Use visuals as primary content

FORMAT VARIETY:
Week 1: Long-form guide
Week 2: Quick tactical tip
Week 3: Case study
Week 4: Comparison/review
Week 5: Original research
Week 6: Expert interview

TEMPLATE BALANCE:
Structure is good for:
- Consistency
- Efficiency
- SEO optimization

Flexibility is good for:
- Standing out
- Reader engagement
- Brand personality
```

---

## 12. The Content Calendar Tyranny

**Severity:** Medium
**Situation:** Rigid calendar that prioritizes schedule over quality
**Why Dangerous:** Publishing bad content to "stay on schedule."

```
THE TRAP:
"We HAVE to publish Tuesday!"
"The calendar says this post goes live today"
"We're behind, just ship it"

Result:
- Mediocre content published
- Quality sacrificed for schedule
- Calendar is master, not tool
- Burnout from constant deadlines

THE REALITY:
A content calendar should:
- Provide visibility and planning
- Enable coordination
- Track progress

A content calendar should NOT:
- Force publishing unready content
- Create artificial pressure
- Replace editorial judgment
- Be the ultimate authority

THE FIX:
1. Buffer time
   Plan content 2-3 weeks ahead
   Room for delays and iteration

2. Quality gates
   Content isn't ready until it's ready
   Slip the date, not the quality

3. Flexible formats
   If post isn't ready, run curated content
   If schedule is tight, go shorter

4. Strategic scheduling
   Big pieces: When ready
   Regular content: Predictable schedule
   Reactive: As needed

CALENDAR RULES:
Calendar serves strategy, not vice versa
Never publish mediocre to hit a date
Build slack into the system
```
