Did you know that businesses that use content marketing see six times more conversions than companies that don’t?

Content marketing is one of the most valuable strategies for increasing traffic to your site, earning more qualified leads, and boosting conversions. But if you want to have an effective content marketing strategy, you need to keep it up to date with the latest trends.

Luckily, we’ve got a list of 2021 content marketing trends you can jot down to amp up your strategy.

These trends include:

1. Utilize video
2. Focus on the user experience
3. Double-up on content
4. Optimize content for search engines
5. Update old content
6. Optimize content for voice search

Content marketing trend #1: Utilize video

When you think of creating content, most people’s minds go straight to blogging. While blogging is one of the most effective content marketing strategies, it’s not the only player on the field. One of the biggest content marketing trends for 2021 is utilizing video.

Videos are one of the most effective forms of content your business can use to engage your audience.

Just look at a few of these stats that show the power of video marketing:

• Five hours a day is how much time U.S. adults spend each day watching videos
• 90% of people say videos help them make a purchase decision
• 88% more time is spent on pages with videos

As you can see, video marketing has a noticeable impact on your audience and can influence their decision to buy. So, if you’re not incorporating videos as part of your content marketing strategy for 2021, you’re missing a prime opportunity to reach and engage your audience.

You can create numerous types of videos for your audience, including:

• Informational videos
• How-to or explainer videos
• Live videos
• Webinars

When you create your videos, make sure you’re effectively capturing your audience’s attention and making them want to watch your content. Try telling a story or sharing an interesting fact to get your audience invested in your video content.

Content marketing trend #2: Focus on the user experience

Next on our list of 2021 content marketing trends is focusing on the user experience. The user experience is fundamental to ensuring prospects stay engaged when visiting your content pages.

User experience includes multiple facets, so let’s break them down into website-specific and page-specific areas.

Website-specific

To make the most of this 2021 content marketing trend, you must optimize your website’s user experience.

Here are a few ways you can do that:

• Improve site load time: Users don’t want to wait for your content pages to load, so you need to ensure your site loads quickly. Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check your site’s current load time and use their suggestions to improve your site speed.
• Make your site mobile-friendly: People aren’t just reading content on desktop devices — mobile devices are commonly used to read content too. Ensure your site uses responsive design so you can deliver a great experience with your content on mobile.
• Use the right font: When you set your website’s design, you’ll choose a font style for all your pages. Make sure you use a web-safe font so users can easily read your written content across browsers.

Page-specific

In addition to web-specific optimizations, there are also ways to improve the user experience on each page of content you publish.

Here are a few best practices:

• Write in small paragraphs: If you create paragraphs with 7-8 sentences, you’re going to overwhelm your audience and make your content difficult to read. Stick to 2-3 sentences per paragraph to allow for easy skimming and reading.
• Use bulleted lists: If you’re explaining a process or listing multiple options, a bulleted list can help your audience read through information faster. Lists also help break up paragraphs of text.
• Add visuals: When people read your blog posts, they don’t want to see walls of text. To enhance the user experience, add visuals to your content to help break up the text and create a better experience on your site.

Content marketing trend #3: Optimizing content for search engines

Next on our list of 2021 content trends is optimizing content for search engines. This trend has existed for a while, but it still holds true throughout the years. If your content isn’t optimized for search engines, you won’t drive traffic for your business.

So, how can you help your content rank in search results?

Here are a few search engine optimization (SEO) tips to help you optimize your content:

• Integrate relevant keywords: If you want people to find your website in search results, integrate relevant keywords into your site. You want to use a keyword research tool like KeywordsFX to find relevant, long-tail keywords for your site.
• Optimize your title tag and meta description: These two elements appear in search results when users find your content. Optimize your title tag and meta description with your core keyword and stay within the character limit, which is 60- and 155-characters, respectively.

 

 

• Build your backlinks: Backlinks help build your site’s trust and authority. You can earn backlinks by creating high-quality content and inviting leaders in your industry to link to your content.

Content marketing trend #4: Double-up on content

Next on our list of content marketing trends for 2021 is double-up or add other content formats to your existing content.

This approach involves adding elements like:

• Videos
• Infographics
• Custom graphics

For example, let’s say you own a bakery, and you’re detailing how to create bread from scratch. When you get to the step about kneading dough, you may add your video on how to knead dough.

 

 

Likewise, if you wrote a blog post about how to knead dough, you could use an infographic to explain the process visually.

This double-up approach to content is extremely beneficial to keeping leads engaged with your content. Not only that, but it can help you deliver a unique experience that helps you stand out from your competition and potentially outrank them in search.

Content marketing trend #5: Update old content

As more people turn to the web to get information, it’s more important than ever that you deliver accurate and updated info. That’s why updating old content is next on our list of trends in content marketing.

If you want your content strategy to succeed in 2021, turn to past content and make sure it’s accurate.

 

Your industry continually shifts and changes as processes evolve and new trends emerge — your content should reflect those changes. Take the time to look at old content you’ve published on your site and update it with accurate information.

This step is especially crucial for your pages that rank highly in search results. If your site ranks higher in search results, people are more likely to click it, but they won’t stay if your information isn’t current. This high bounce rate can hurt the rankings you’ve worked so hard to attain.

The level of updates your content needs can vary depending on the subject and how it’s changed in your industry. Sometimes it may be as simple as updating numbers, while other times it means adding an entire section of information that was newly included in a process.

By updating content, you’ll breathe new life into valuable pieces on your site that can help you drive more qualified traffic and earn increased rankings.

Content marketing trend #6: Optimize for voice search

The last of the 2021 content trends we’ll look at is optimizing for voice search. With over one billion voice searches happening each month, you can’t neglect voice search optimization.

People often turn to voice devices to help them get answers. Searches like, “What can I substitute eggs for in brownies?” or “How do you spackle a hole in a wall?” generate content pages that detail the answers to those queries.

If your content isn’t optimized for voice search, though, you’ll miss out on this valuable traffic.

So, how do you optimize for voice search?

The best way to optimize for voice search is to answer questions directly and succinctly.

When you give a brief and direct answer, you increase your chances of appearing in the featured snippet. Since 50% of voice search results rely on featured snippets, it’s a critical placement to have to appear in these searches.

With the search query “what can I substitute eggs for in brownies,” you can see the featured snippet has a bulleted list of options. This information gets straight to the point and tells the searcher what they need to know. It makes this listing a perfect option to be read by a voice search device.

 

 

Even if the results don’t have a featured snippet, answering these queries upfront can still lead voice search devices to choose your information over the competition.

Additionally, you want to try creating content optimized for natural language and phrasing.

For example, someone may type the query “first date ideas” but verbally search “what are some ideas for a first date?” You want to ensure you optimize for the way people phrase their voice searches, so you’re more likely to be the one that provides the answer.

One of the upcoming 2021 content marketing trends: Partnering with an agency

Creating high-quality content takes time and effort. When you add optimizing for these 2021 content marketing trends to your list, it easily becomes overwhelming. Instead of trying to manage your content on your own, consider partnering with an agency like WebFX.

We have a team of over 300 marketing experts that can help you craft killer content for your audience.

With our content marketing services, we can help you craft anything from blog posts to videos. We know how to create content that drives results — we’ve driven over 6.3 million leads for our clients in the past five years.

Want to start driving more credible traffic with your content? Contact us online or call us today at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist!