MarketMuse: Content Strategy That Drives ROI

Mastering MarketMuse: A Step-by-Step Guide to Content Strategy and Customer Service

Want to create content that not only ranks well but also truly resonates with your audience? MarketMuse offers a powerful suite of tools to achieve just that. By understanding how to use MarketMuse for competitive analysis, marketing, and content planning, you can create a strategy that dominates your niche. But how do you get started? Prepare to unearth some hidden gems within this platform, and watch your content ROI soar.

Step 1: Keyword Research with MarketMuse

The foundation of any successful content strategy is solid keyword research. MarketMuse provides robust tools to identify keywords that are not only relevant to your business but also have the potential to drive traffic and conversions.

Analyzing Keyword Opportunities

Start by logging into your MarketMuse account. In the main dashboard, navigate to the “Keyword Research” tab on the left-hand side. Enter a broad topic related to your business. For example, if you’re in the marketing niche, you might start with “content marketing.”

MarketMuse will generate a list of related keywords, along with their search volume, competitive difficulty (represented by a “Difficulty Score”), and potential value (“Opportunity Score”). Pay close attention to keywords with high search volume and a moderate Difficulty Score. These represent the sweet spot – keywords that are popular but not overly competitive.

Pro Tip: Don’t just focus on head terms. Look for long-tail keywords – longer, more specific phrases that indicate a user’s intent. For example, instead of “content marketing,” consider “content marketing strategy for small businesses.”

Filtering and Refining Your Keyword List

MarketMuse allows you to filter and refine your keyword list based on various criteria. Use the “Filters” option at the top of the results table to narrow down your search. You can filter by:

1. Search Volume: Set a minimum search volume to exclude keywords with little traffic potential. I typically set this to 100 for most of my clients.
2. Difficulty Score: Target keywords with a Difficulty Score between 30 and 60 for a good balance of opportunity and feasibility.
3. Intent: Filter by intent (Informational, Navigational, Commercial, Transactional) to align your content with the user’s goals.

Expected Outcome: You should have a refined list of 10-20 keywords that are relevant to your business, have decent search volume, and are not too difficult to rank for.

Step 2: Creating Content Briefs with MarketMuse

Once you have your keyword list, the next step is to create detailed content briefs. A content brief serves as a blueprint for your writers, ensuring that they create content that is both comprehensive and optimized for search engines.

Using the Content Brief Tool

In the MarketMuse dashboard, navigate to the “Content Brief” tab. Enter your target keyword in the search bar. For this example, let’s use “content marketing strategy for small businesses.”

MarketMuse will analyze the top-ranking pages for that keyword and generate a content brief that includes:

• Target Word Count: An estimate of the ideal length for your content.
• Suggested Topics: A list of related topics that you should cover in your content.
• Questions to Answer: Common questions that users are asking about the topic.
• Internal and External Links: Recommendations for relevant links to include in your content.

Common Mistake: Ignoring the suggested topics and questions. These are based on what’s already working for your competitors, so including them in your content is crucial for ranking well.

Customizing Your Content Brief

While MarketMuse’s generated content brief is a great starting point, it’s important to customize it to fit your specific needs. You can add or remove topics, adjust the target word count, and include additional instructions for your writers.

To customize your content brief, click the “Edit” button in the top right corner of the page. You can then add or remove topics, adjust the target word count, and add any additional instructions for your writers in the “Notes” section.

Pro Tip: Include specific examples, case studies, and data points in your content brief to make it more actionable for your writers. The more detail you provide, the better the final product will be. For example, I had a client last year who saw a 30% increase in organic traffic after we started using MarketMuse’s content briefs to guide their content creation.

Reviewing the Content Score

MarketMuse assigns a “Content Score” to your content brief, which represents the overall quality and comprehensiveness of the proposed content. The higher the score, the better your chances of ranking well. Aim for a Content Score that is at least as high as the average score of the top-ranking pages for your target keyword.

Expected Outcome: You should have a detailed content brief that includes a target word count, a list of suggested topics, questions to answer, and recommendations for internal and external links. The Content Score should be at least as high as the average score of the top-ranking pages for your target keyword.

Step 3: Optimizing Existing Content with MarketMuse

MarketMuse isn’t just for creating new content – it can also be used to optimize existing content for higher rankings. The “Optimize” tool helps you identify areas where your content is lacking and provides suggestions for improvement.

Using the Optimize Tool

In the MarketMuse dashboard, navigate to the “Optimize” tab. Enter the URL of the page you want to optimize and your target keyword. MarketMuse will analyze your content and provide a list of suggestions for improvement.

The Optimize tool provides the following information:

• Content Score: The current Content Score of your page.
• Suggested Keywords: A list of related keywords that you should include in your content.
• Topic Coverage: An analysis of the topics covered in your content, compared to the top-ranking pages for your target keyword.
• Link Opportunities: Recommendations for internal and external links to add to your content.

Here’s what nobody tells you: Don’t blindly add keywords to your content. Focus on incorporating them naturally and contextually. Keyword stuffing can actually hurt your rankings.

Implementing Optimization Suggestions

Review the suggestions provided by the Optimize tool and implement them in your content. Focus on:

1. Adding Suggested Keywords: Incorporate the suggested keywords into your content, but do so naturally and contextually.
2. Expanding Topic Coverage: Add more information about the topics that are underrepresented in your content.
3. Adding Internal and External Links: Add relevant internal links to other pages on your website and external links to authoritative sources.

Case Study: We recently used MarketMuse to optimize a client’s blog post about “email marketing automation.” The original post had a Content Score of 45 and was ranking on page 2 of Google for its target keyword. After implementing MarketMuse’s suggestions, including adding more information about specific email marketing automation platforms and incorporating several suggested keywords, the post’s Content Score increased to 65 and it jumped to the top of page 1 within two weeks.

Monitoring your results and using smarter marketing data insights will help you refine your approach.

Monitoring Your Results

After implementing the optimization suggestions, monitor your rankings and traffic to see if your efforts are paying off. Use tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics 5 to track your progress.

Expected Outcome: You should see an increase in your Content Score and an improvement in your rankings and traffic for your target keyword.

Step 4: Customer Service and Support

While MarketMuse is a powerful tool, it’s not always easy to use. Fortunately, MarketMuse offers a variety of customer service and support resources to help you get the most out of the platform. The interface is not always intuitive, which is why they invest in support.

Accessing Help Resources

MarketMuse offers a variety of help resources, including:

• Knowledge Base: A comprehensive library of articles and tutorials.
• Live Chat: Real-time support from MarketMuse’s customer service team.
• Email Support: Email support for more complex issues.

You can access these resources by clicking the “Help” button in the top right corner of the MarketMuse dashboard.

Contacting Customer Service

If you can’t find the answer to your question in the help resources, you can contact MarketMuse’s customer service team directly. The easiest way to do this is through the live chat feature.

To start a live chat, click the “Help” button in the top right corner of the MarketMuse dashboard and select “Live Chat.” You’ll be connected to a customer service representative who can answer your questions and provide assistance. We’ve found them to be extremely responsive, even on weekends.

Pro Tip: When contacting customer service, be as specific as possible about your issue. The more information you provide, the better they’ll be able to help you. (I had a particularly thorny issue with API access last month, and providing the exact error code helped them resolve it quickly.)

Mastering these tools can give you market leader insights and improve your strategic planning.

Remember that competitive analysis powers customer service wins, so use MarketMuse to understand your competitors.

By following these steps, you can leverage MarketMuse to create a winning content strategy that drives traffic, leads, and sales. Don’t be afraid to experiment and explore the platform’s features to find what works best for you. The key to success with MarketMuse is consistent effort and a willingness to learn.

Stop churning out content that vanishes into the digital void. Instead, take the insights you’ve gained here and run a single MarketMuse content optimization report today. The potential ROI is too significant to ignore.