Posting regular, new content like whitepapers and blogs to your website will boost your search rankings and help position you as a thought leader. But are your articles offering something new and fresh for your reader? Or is it copycat content found elsewhere?
Content is king. Yes, but not all content writing is created equal. Quality content is king.
Google and social media platforms strongly favour fresh, new, relevant content for the reader. It’s all about articles people find valuable and worth a read – with extra bonuses for any likes and shares. Google is aways changing algorithms. That means repurposing multiple articles on the same topic and throwing in some keywords won't get you the results you need.
Regular, quality content writing is something businesses can do themselves, but to get results takes time, effort and money. You'll need to create a content marketing department, hire content marketing specialists and a bunch of senior professional copywriters – a considerable outlay if copywriting and content marketing aren’t your core business. Because SEO content writing has proven to get results, businesses and marketers are under pressure to produce a large quantity of content regularly. We’re seeing more and more shortcuts taken with articles and content copied from other sources with nothing new to add to a topic. There are cheap options for outsourcing, but you usually end up with keyword-heavy articles of no substance, which no longer fool readers or Google.
Regular content will be helpful for your reader and improve your SEO only if it gives your voice, expertise and experience a platform. You have to bring something new to the table. Give some of your IP away. Have an opinion.
Here's how to create fresh, new content that is interesting and useful for your readers:
Thoroughly research a topic that’s of interest to your customers. Share your findings with your audience and bunch relevant blogs together to create a “best-of" list. Add blurbs to explain to people why each is valuable. Here’s a great one that lists the best blogs about music.
If you have to write about the same topic as a competitor, don’t let their thoughts guide you. Be different. Surprise the reader with new points of view, new formats, tones, visuals or distribution channels. Or find an article you disagree with and then offer a counter opinion. This instantly gives a new angle to the same topic.
Want to unleash the power of thought leadership content for your B2B Marketing? To be seen as a thought leader and get audiences to start listening to you instead of a competitor, you need to create content that is valid, timely and fresh. Use storytelling to solve real problems for your audience and to provide real solutions.
Cross-pollination of websites is always a good idea, so if you admire someone's copywriting or opinions, ask them to contribute something. They'll get a link to their online presences, and you'll have some great, original content to share.
Online, you've got to give a little to get a little. Have your team think about the work you do every day, then break each task down into consumable steps. You'll find they are able to contribute pockets of helpful knowledge about the best practise for each part of the process. It's also great to show your company's expertise on a particular subject. Here’s an example of an article we wrote on something we’re pretty great at – how to write a winning award entry.
Nothing is more powerful than showing how you solved a client's problem – and letting them sing your praises. Customer success stories let your clients do the talking while adding more background and context to some excellent testimonials – and the best part, they'll be unique. Here’s a case study about our long-running client, MYOB. We interviewed them to find out why they like working with us and the results they get from our content writing – it sounds so much better when it comes from them.
Plan to write and post your content a month ahead to take the pressure off, and make sure you get something up regularly. Think about your readers and what they will find interesting or problems that your products and services can solve. Planning will also help give you a good mix of topics that link nicely to your overarching strategic goals.
Regular content writing can fall down the to-do list when you're busy working on your core business. But if you're not producing regular, high-quality articles you can guarantee that your competitors are – and you’ll fall from your customers' 'must buy from list'.
Good quality content that gets results will take time, attention and money to create, but done well, it will pay dividends. Keep top-of-mind, fresh and relevant for your audience with content that does the same.
If doing it in-house is in the 'too hard' basket, I know some cool guys that can do it all for you – get in touch today.
The lead copywriter and creative director at Words for Breakfast. She spends much of her time working with the copy writing team across a variety of projects.
