A huge mistake most marketing teams make (including myself in past) - Producing content to drive traffic instead of conversions. Let me talk about Pain-Point SEO in this post, a different strategy with far more conversions. When I say “conversions”, I mean product/service-related signup or form fills, not an email or newsletter opt-in. Most blogs try to rank for keywords that don’t have intent. A minimum good conversion rate is 3%. Now, if you look into the analytics, you will notice that only a few of your blogs bring most of the traffic, but these blogs aren't the ones bringing you the most conversions. What’s the disconnect? High-volume queries are typically the terms that target the top of the funnel for your product or service — very few searches have intent. On average, keywords with lower volumes are typically the terms that target the bottom of the funnel — fewer people searching but higher purchasing intent. Another advantage is that it is easy to rank as your competitors aren't trying to rank for low-volume keywords. So the way to go about it is to understand buyers' intent, their pain points and find keywords and topics that discuss solutions to the problem the searcher is trying to solve. Now how do you generate those ideas? I use these 5 frameworks to begin with : 1. Comparison posts: this framework objectively compares your product or service to your top competitors. Example 2. Best product or service lists: this framework helps searchers discover the best products or services in the category they’re searching for. Example 3. Alternatives to ‘X’: this framework helps searchers discover alternatives to your competitor's products. Example 4. Articles that talk about pricing: This talks about the pricing of your competitor and then your product or service. Example 5. Product or Service Use Cases: this framework helps searchers figure out how to solve a problem they have and presents your product or service as a potential solution. Example Now that you know the frameworks you should be thinking about, I want to share how you get the ideas that fit into the frameworks. Essentially, all ideas should come from your prospects and customers. If you know your customers inside and out, you’ll be able to develop content ideas. Some ways you can do it - 1. Start putting down objections you hear on sales calls. And try to find keywords around them. 2. Talk formally/informally to them, and make them your friends. Ask them who they view as your competitors, what problems your solution will solve for them, and what features they get the most value from. Create transcripts if needed and later try to find keywords in those conversations. (investigative mind needed, wink) 3. Use survey questions to identify conversion-focused SEO topics to write about. Make sure that all of these questions have open-ended responses. You don’t want to lead people to an answer; you want them to share their thoughts with you. You should see a wide range of responses, and then you want to prioritise responses you get multiple times. What you should take away from this? Now I am not saying you should only produce content around those 5 frameworks. If you are starting out, begin with those frameworks. Once you feel like you’ve exhausted all the potential long-tail keywords using the five frameworks, it makes sense to take a broader approach to find higher-volume keywords in your category that your target audience would potentially read.