How to plan a client's blog on Content → Strategy

Content → Strategy is the client's list of blog articles to write. It shows totals for Planned, In Progress, Draft ready and Published, with articles grouped by service.

Add ideas yourself

1. Open the client and go to Content → Strategy.
2. Click Add Content.
3. Enter a Title (required), and optionally a Target Keyword, Long-tail Keyword, Service Category, Status and Notes.
4. Click Add Content to save it.

Use the Edit and Delete buttons on each article to change or remove it. Deleting asks "Are you sure you want to delete this content plan?" first, and can't be undone.

The statuses are Planned, In Progress, Draft ready and Published. Articles without a service are grouped under Uncategorized.

Let Zeus suggest ideas

1. On Content → Strategy, click Suggest ideas with Zeus. The button shows the cost.
2. Zeus looks at the client's latest rankings, Search Console (when it's connected), the client's services and towns, and everything already in the strategy or on the site. Then he suggests about 8 new ideas.
3. Each idea shows a title, target keyword and related keywords, the search intent, the type (blog post, guide, FAQ or service-area page), the service it supports, the pages it should link to, and Why now. Why now is the reason in plain words, for example "Ranks #14 for 'gutter cleaning santa rosa' — a focused post could move it to page 1".
4. Quick win ideas build on a search the client already shows up for, close to page 1. Content gap ideas cover a service that has little or no content yet.
5. All ideas start ticked. Untick the ones you don't want, then click Add selected, or click Add all. Use the pencil to change an idea's title, keyword, service or type before you add it.
6. Click the X on an idea, or Dismiss selected, to say no. Zeus remembers dismissed ideas and won't suggest them (or close variants) again for this client.
7. Click Suggest more for another set. Zeus leaves out everything he has already shown you. Pick 8, 12 or 15 ideas next to the button.

Added ideas are normal Planned articles, the same as ones you add yourself. Zeus's reasons and the pages to link to go into Notes, so Create Blog uses them.

Zeus only suggests content about the client's own services. He doesn't repeat or reword anything already planned or published, and doesn't suggest a new article for a keyword one of the client's pages already targets.

Get a strategy from Zeus

In the Content Generator, choose Blog Content Strategy Document. Zeus plans a set of articles for the services you pick. When it's done, click Save to Client and choose the client. Every article in the document is added to their Content → Strategy as Planned. Writing the strategy costs one Content generation (2 credits), charged when the finished plan is delivered. Saving it to the client is free.

You can also ask in Zeus chat, for example "give me blog ideas for gutter cleaning". Suggesting ideas is free. Say "save that one for Smith Roofing" and Zeus shows a Confirm card to add it to the client's Content → Strategy.

Write the blog

On a Planned article, click Create Blog. The Content Generator opens with the blog title, keyword, long-tail keyword and your notes already filled in. The blog itself costs one Content generation (2 credits, hero image included), refunded if it fails.

When the blog is written, the article moves to Draft ready. It moves to Published only when the post goes live on the client's site: Send to Website → Publish in the Content Generator, or publishing the draft later in Mount Olympus → Blog. A post scheduled for later moves to Published when it goes live. You can still change an article's status by hand with the pencil icon (for example, for an article published somewhere else).

Examples

• A year's plan for a roofer: in the Content Generator choose Blog Content Strategy Document, 24 Articles, tick Roof Repair, Roof Replacement and Gutters, then Save to Client. Write two a month with Create Blog.
• An idea from a client call: Add Content, Title "How to spot hail damage on your roof", Target Keyword "hail damage roof", Status Planned.
• Quick wins for a plumber: click Suggest ideas with Zeus, untick two ideas, click Add selected, then Create Blog on the first one.
• Ideas from Zeus chat: "give me five blog ideas for gutter cleaning in Springfield", then "save the second one for Smith Roofing".

Limits and what it can't do

• Create Blog only shows on articles that are Planned.
• An article moves to Published only when the post goes live on a Mount Olympus site. For a post published somewhere else, change the status by hand.
• There's no calendar or due date on articles. Use Notes for timing.
• Clients don't see this list in their portal, and can't use Suggest ideas with Zeus.
• Suggest ideas with Zeus uses rankings Zeus already has. It doesn't check new rankings. Without tracked keywords or Search Console, Zeus suggests ideas from the client's services and what's already planned.

Credits

Adding, editing, dismissing and deleting ideas is free. Suggest ideas with Zeus (each time, Suggest more too), a Zeus strategy and each blog written from an idea cost one Content generation each (2 credits). Suggest ideas is charged only when Zeus sends back at least one idea.

Who can use it

Agency members with the Clients tool who can see the client. Writing the blog also needs the Content Generator tool.

Troubleshooting

• "Title is required": give the article a title.
• "Zeus found nothing new…": everything Zeus came up with is already planned, on the site or dismissed. No credits were used. Try Suggest more later, after new rankings come in.
• "Search Console not connected" under the ideas: connect it on the client's Google settings so Zeus can use the searches the site shows up for.
• "Failed to add content plan" or "Failed to update content plan": refresh the page and try again.
• The article stayed on Draft ready: the post isn't live yet. Publish it in Mount Olympus → Blog (if the client approves blog posts, it goes live once they approve it).
• Save to Client added nothing: "No articles found in the content strategy" means the document hadn't finished. Wait for it to finish, then click Save to Client again.