Create-A-Content-Strategy-Template1 - How to Create a Content Strategy

Sep 1, 2026

Upload by Angel

A practical, step-by-step framework for building a content strategy starting from a content inventory and continuing through analysis of existing materials and competitive inputs. The approach clarifies that a strategy is not just a list or an audit, but a process that defines goals, analyzes competition, draws conclusions, and converts them into actionable recommendations. It emphasizes separating content thinking from SEO rankings and using collected data to define what “good” content means for marketing communications.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatDOC

Pages5

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

How to Create a Content Strategy

Break the connection between SEO and content

Step 1: Do a content inventory

Build URL groups by category

Run the site crawl with Screaming Frog

How to Create a Content Strategy (In Only 652 Steps) By Ian Lurie This is a really, really, really long piece. There's no TL;DR version. That's because a content audit has a lot of steps. I've tried to break them down and explain each one, so that a writer who knows their way around a computer or a marketing geek who knows how to write can take this and do a complete audit. First, a content strategy is not an inventory or an audit. An inventory is a simple list. A strategy: Inventories existing content Analyzes the competition Draws conclusions Lays out a strategy based on those conclusions #1 is the most mechanically-involved task, because you have to grab a lot of data and mush it all together. #2 is the shortest. #3 and 4 are the most demanding (for me, anyway) because I have to suss out impossible-to-automate marketing stuff that's essential to success. Before you start A few basic assumptions, and some sacred cows to slay: What you're auditing One of the team here at Portent read a draft of this and said, "This is actually a conversation audit!" It's true. Conversations are comprised of content. Content is how we converse. That's why some guy wrote a book in 2003 or so about Conversation Marketing. See what I did there? In all seriousness, content drives every exchange you have with a potential customer: Product descriptions are content. So are photos, blog posts, podcasts, your company's "About Us" page, those 40 ridiculous links you stuff at the bottom of your home page, and every other scrap of information you put, anywhere. The goal of a content strategy Content strategies have three goals: Call out goals, and how you'll accomplish them. Persuade the reader—your client/boss— that they should believe you, stop barfing keyword essays out on their site, and become a true resource for potential customers. Create a 'profile' of particularly successful content types that others can apply for the foreseeable future. Trust me, none of these are easy. First, though, you have to break the connection in your brain between SEO and content. Forget the rankings Whatdidyousay? I said: Forget about SEO and rankings. This is about content, which affects every inch of your marketing strategy. Content influences everything in marketing: relative influence of content on marketing - infographicDid I set out to create an infographic? No. It just happened. SEO is one reason to do a fantastic job on content. It's certainly not the only one. I see SEO as 20% of the reason to create great content. This whole step-by-step is meant to support all of your organization's communications efforts. It'll only support those efforts if you use the data you collect to define 'good' content for your site. That will only happen if you look at content as a marketing strategist, rather than an SEO. OK - start sending me flaming e-mails. Step 1: Do a content inventory You could go through your entire web site, by hand, and find every last piece of content. You could. Or, you can automate the inventory. Which is what I strongly suggest. Here's what I do, and how I do it: The site crawl: Break it up, before you go-go Yikes. Awful, I know, but that's the music I grew up with. The first step in any inventory is getting a list of your stuff. Here, the first step is getting a list of site pages. All you need is a list of page URLs. If you have a large site (say, more than 1000 pages) you should group those URLs by category. Wait, what? Grouped by category? Ian, WTF?!!! I'll have to do that by hand!!! Nope. Assuming your site has any semblance of structure, you'll have categories, and those categories will have a hub page, like this: Sample sitemap Example of a logical URL group On this site, you'd probably create an 'Outerwear' URL group that included everything in the Outerwear/ folder, including the outerwear page itself. Then you'd create another one for underwear, and so on. If there's a blog, you break that u

FAQs

What is the difference between a content strategy and a content inventory or an audit?

An inventory is a simple list, while a strategy invents and organizes existing content, analyzes the competition, draws conclusions, and lays out actions based on those conclusions.

What are the three goals of a content strategy?

They include calling out goals and how to accomplish them, persuading stakeholders and customers through useful resources, and building a repeatable “profile” of successful content types.

How should you start the content audit process?

Begin with a content inventory by generating a list of site page URLs, grouping them by category when the site is large, and then auditing each URL group separately.

Sep 1, 2026

Upload by Angel