Creating stunning content for your business’ blog site or social media platforms can often be the most daunting task for any business owner or marketing professional. After all, if you’re not a natural writer or not necessarily inclined to the task, it can be tough to come up with topics that will interest your audience and promote your brand. When creating content, it’s important to remember that quality is more important than quantity.
Often, businesses come up with different forms of content that do not really add value to their audience. Instead of creating filler content, businesses should focus on creating helpful, informative, or entertaining content for the desired target audience. This article will discuss the importance of content and the steps to create stunning pieces that will engage your audience.
The Importance of Creating Quality Content
Who doesn’t want to read quality content?
Before you write or even publish your drafts, always put yourself in your reader’s shoes. What benefit will they get from reading your piece? How does it address their needs or wants? If you can answer these questions honestly, you’re on the right track. Creating quality content also has many benefits for businesses. For one, it helps them establish their brand and build trust with their target market. Quality content is rare nowadays. With everything coming out of the gate, it’s hard to distinguish valuable content from fluff. A library of informational content immediately sets a company apart from the competition and gives its target market a reason to trust them.
Another significant benefit of quality content is that it helps businesses attract organic traffic to their site. When people search for topics related to what you’ve written about, and your content appears on the search results page, it helps increase your brand’s visibility. Quality content is also more likely to be shared by readers, which can help further amplify your reach and establish your brand as an expert in your industry.
Producing content that informs and entertains is not easy, but it’s definitely doable with the right mindset and approach. When starting your business, you may be the one to write this content, or if you have an allotted budget, you may opt to hire someone who can do it for you. If you decide to go the latter route, find a reputable writer or agency that can produce quality content aligned with your brand voice because you don’t want to confuse your niche with a tone that doesn’t match your usual tone.
What Type of Content Does Your Business Need?
Determining the type of content your business needs is essential to its success. After all, there’s no use pumping out content if it doesn’t help you achieve your business goals. When coming up with ideas, consider what kind of approach matches your brand’s needs. If you want to be seen as an expert in your industry, then thought-leadership pieces are a must. These are usually long-form articles that provide valuable insights on current trends or issues in your field. If you want to increase brand awareness, then listicles, infographics, and other easily shareable content will do the trick. You can also use these to drive traffic to your site. Take the time to understand their needs and wants so you can better serve them with the right content.
Aside from understanding your target audience, it’s also essential to understand what kind of content will work best for each stage of the buyer’s journey. For instance, if you’re targeting people in the awareness stage, your content should be educational and informative so you can introduce them to your product or service. If you’re targeting people in the consideration stage, your content should be more persuasive to convince them to buy from you. And finally, if you’re targeting people in the decision stage, your content should be focused on getting them to take action and purchase. As a general rule of thumb, your content should be directed towards these three goals:
- Top-of-the-funnel- To increase brand awareness and reach new audiences
- Middle-of-the-funnel- To nurture leads and convert them into customers
- Bottom-of-the-funnel- To upsell or cross-sell current customers
Ensure that the topics you discuss and the formats you use are appropriate for each stage of the buyer’s journey.
- Write for your target audience first, not for the search engines- It’s easy to get caught up in keyword research and SEO tactics when creating content. However, it’s important to remember that you’re writing for people first and foremost, not for search engines. Write content that is interesting and valuable to your target audience, and the rest will follow.
- Keep it simple and direct- People have short attention spans, so it’s important to get your point across quickly and effectively. Write clearly and concisely by using simple words and sentences. Avoid jargon or overly technical terms unless you’re writing for a niche audience who will appreciate it.
- Use imagery and multimedia – A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. Adding images, videos, or infographics to your content helps break up the text and makes it more visually appealing. These also help with SEO, as they can supplement your keywords and improve your search engine ranking.
- Promote your content – Don’t just publish and forget about it. Make sure you’re promoting your content on social media, through email marketing, or any other channels available to you. The more people see it, the more likely it is to be shared, which will help increase your reach even further.
3 Steps to Create Quality Content
Now that we have established the importance of quality content, it’s time to move on to discuss the process of creating impactful content for your readers, clients, and target niche. Most of the time, writers may need to go out of the box to come up with relevant topics that may interest their readers. Some may encounter problems because they don’t have enough depth, knowledge, or experience to produce a quality article. Here are the three steps to creating stunning content:
-
Do your research and write with your audience in mind
This is an essential part of the process because it will determine the quality of your article. When conducting your research, go beyond the surface and dive deep into the topic you are writing about. This way, you will be able to provide your readers with valuable insights that they may not be able to find elsewhere. It is crucial to base your data and claims on reputable sources to ensure the accuracy of your content. Aside from that, always keep your audience in mind when writing your piece. Write as if you are conversing with them, and avoid using jargon they may not be familiar with. The goal is to ensure they understand what you are trying to say and enjoy reading your content.
-
Fact check and edit your work
Before publishing your content, it’s important to review it one last time to check for errors or any misstated facts. You don’t want to give your readers false information and have them tag you as unreliable. Once you’re done editing, allow someone else to read it to get a second opinion or catch anything you may have missed. Fact-checking is tedious, but it’s vital to ensure your content’s accuracy and consistency. If you have difficulty double-checking your facts, do not hesitate to reach out to industry experts who can give you first-hand insight into the topic you are writing about.
-
Choose an attention-grabbing headline
A great headline can make or break your article. A good headline is usually around six to seven words long and gives readers a general idea of the article. This is your chance to be creative and hook your readers in. If you are having a hard time coming up with a headline, try using a headline generator tool to help you out.
Who Should Write Your Content?
Now that you have a solid idea of how to create impactful content, the next question is- who should be writing your content? The answer to that will depend on various factors, such as your business type, your budget, and the quality of content you require.
If you are a small business owner with a limited budget, you may be tempted to produce your content or delegate it to someone within your company. While this is an option, it’s essential to consider the quality of content you want to publish. If you need high-quality, well-researched articles, hiring a professional writer with the expertise and experience to produce such content would be the best option. On the other hand, if you have a larger budget or need quantity over quality, you may want to consider outsourcing your content creation to a content marketing agency. This option would be ideal for businesses that require a consistent stream of content to maintain their online presence. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons of having an in-house and outsourced content writer onboard:
In-house content writers
The main advantage of having in-house content writers is that they are more familiar with your company and particular offers. They understand your brand voice and can produce quality content that is aligned with your company’s values. In-house writers are also readily available whenever you need them and are usually more flexible with last-minute changes. However, the downside to having in-house content writers is that they may be less experienced than outsourced writers. They may also juggle other responsibilities within the company, which can affect the quality and quantity of their output. If you decide to go with this option, you must be willing to train your writers and provide them with the necessary resources to do their job well.
Outsourced content writers
Outsourcing is a great alternative if you don’t have the budget or workforce to support an in-house content team. Many talented and experienced writers can provide quality content for your website or blog site. One of the advantages of outsourcing is that you have a wider pool of talent to choose from. You can also find writers specializing in specific niches, which can be beneficial if you require niche-specific content. The downside to outsourcing is that it can be more expensive than having an in-house team, and there is always the risk that the quality of the content may not be up to your standards. Before you decide to outsource, be sure to do your research and only work with writers that you can trust.
Ultimately, deciding who should write your content will come down to what works best for your company. If you have the budget to support an in-house team, that may be your best option. However, if you don’t have the resources to do that, outsourcing may be a pretty ideal choice. Whichever route you choose, just make sure you invest in quality content that will help you achieve your business goals.
Conclusion
Quality content is essential to the success of your brand. It helps establish authority, build relationships, and drive traffic to your site. You may not always get it right on the first try, but as long as you are consistent in your efforts and open to feedback, you will see improvement in your content creation over time. Believe it or not, readers can feel when a piece is genuine and well-written, so make it your responsibility to keep your insights fresh and your facts straight. With the right amount of effort and dedication, you can create stunning content that will help take your business to the next level.
All writers are readers as well. You will feel what resonates well with readers by reading different pieces from various mediums. It can also help you determine the topics to write about and better position your brand to the target market. To top these all off, don’t forget to keep reading, researching, and finding ways to harness your skill. As the adage says- practice makes perfect!
Author’s Bio:
Catherine vanVonno is the President and CEO of 20four7VA, a trusted remote staffing company. She oversees the overall growth and success of the company, leads the short and long-term strategies, and manages the company’s finances. She also directs the management team regarding daily operations, brand management and marketing, client relations, strategic planning, and business development.
