It’s been said too many times that I can’t even hear it without rolling my eyes. 

Marketing agencies are terrible at their own marketing and content. And to double down on that, over the last 10 years some unsubstantiated observations I have made is that many agencies who are great at marketing themselves don’t offer the best service.

I can say that this is definitely the case within SEO. Cue the spammy search results you will see if you look up local web design agencies. 

This article isn’t here to offer the silver bullet on what will magically make your agency better at content, but here is a strategy that can help make it all much easier. 

Stop With All the Pressure

At the end of the day, developing content is a resource. For many agencies they also feel like it’s a risk. When working with agency clients, there is always this sense that every piece of content has to be perfect. 

That the one piece must perfectly embody the creative ability and masterful advertising mind that the agency projects to the world. 

Just reading that, I bet you have felt that feeling too many times. But also reading that you know that you are putting way too much pressure on yourself. 

So in order to help cut through the intense pressure of what to develop, I’d like to walk through how we advise clients to develop content through the lens of an SEO. 

Thinking of Content through an SEO lens

Just like any other marketing medium, there is always a fight for content. At Zupo we’ve been able to create a content cadence that our agency clients have appreciated and, most importantly, increase the speed of production. 

Its going to get a bit granular, but I promise it’ll make more sense if I walk through everything. 

At Zupo, we operate around 3 general areas of content. They are as follows:

1. Search Intent Content 
2. Linkbuilding Content 
3. UX & Conversion Content

Now you probably already know where I’m going with each, if so, go ahead and skip the definitions below. 

Search Intent Content 

Search intent content is the #1 type of content that agencies outright ignore. These are piece of content that they feel is too basic or sometimes even beneath them to develop. 

This includes articles like:

• What is 
• How to 
• Guides

I like to think of these pieces of content as 101. I personally don’t love these as much either. 

But remember in Marketing we ultimately are at the mercy of the mediums we operate in. And in this case, we are talking about Google. 

So try to keep an open mind.

Many of the most lucrative searches with high traffic and low keyword difficulty still are informational pieces. 

And to rank for these keywords, you will need these search intent content pieces.

Remember, Google and SEO has evolved a lot over the years. That means that you can’t write any piece of content and force it to get to the 1st page. It doesn’t matter if you have all the links in the world, if it doesn’t match search intent, it’s just not going to hit the 1st page. 

These types of pieces are naturally very important. These are the very pages that will get you to the 1st page of Google. 

The great things about these pieces of content, they often don’t take much creativity or resources. Because the nature of the content is quite 101, you could write this in your sleep or have one of the junior members of the firm at least draft it out. 

Now let me reiterate why these are so important. These are the pages that actually have a chance to get to the 1st page of Google.

This means more Organic Traffic and ultimately leads

Linkbuilding Content 

Another name for this is Off Site content. It’s exactly what it sounds like.

It is the content that your agency will use to attract links to your website. Linkbuilding is its own major conversation, but in today’s world of linkbuilding I don’t have to tell you it’s getting harder every day. 

To acquire links, you truly need to go out and provide value.

This can come in the form of:

• Podcast Appearances
• Thought Leadership Articles 
• Speaking 
• Community Events

There are many variations to this, but at the end of the day they all take resources.

At Zupo, we are the most successful with thought leadership articles and naturally every 1500 word article that we write for another site is 1500 words we can’t use on the agency’s site. 

Now this is where we can relieve steam on the pressure of having to craft the perfect content.

For all those headlines that your team has brainstormed and developed, but worried that it’s not cutting edge enough for potential clients to really judge the agency, then this is where they go. 

There are many sites and organizations that are looking for expertise and they don’t need you to be a groundbreaking genius.

Oftentimes they just want someone who is a seasoned professional who can distill the expertise into bite size information they can understand. 

This is the perfect place to showcase the titles and content you weren’t sure about. 

We actively secure thought leadership opportunities for our clients that allow them to provide content without the fear that it will affect the UX of their website. 

The benefit? You get to release some pressure of always having to create the right content AND the huge plus of acquiring links. 

UX & Conversion Content 

Now this content is the one everyone is familiar with. 

This is the content that your agency would be proud when leads and visitors land on the website because man! 

There’s not much I have to say here. This is the content that you already have been wrestling with and wanted just 1 to 2 hours to sit down with a nice cup of coffee to get the content out. 

Get Content Out! 

Now I don’t want to confuse the heading statement with my endorsement that quantity is better than quality.

But let’s really ask ourselves. Has your content really published any pieces of content in the last 6 months? I’d wager that your agency might have blog post published in the last year, but definitely not more than 3. 

Agency owners are smart people, you manage entire marketing strategies for brands all around the globe, so I’m not going to beleaguer you with why no content is coming out. 

Just when you feel that creative pressure is getting too strong, focus in on the Search Intent and Offsite Content.

You’ll find that just sitting down and developing content will help get the rust off and naturally lead to more amazing pieces of content.