With the rise of social media influencers, some companies have decided to get out of the content game. Sure, they have a website, and perhaps a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account, but they’re rarely updated. They may even have a corporate blog section, even though it hasn’t been touched since Obama’s first term. It just seems easier to pay an outside blogger to write articles on their own site, especially since some writers will push out articles simply for free samples. Isn’t that enough?
Using an outside voice can be a meaningful part of your marketing portfolio, but don’t expect their articles to help you generate a lot of web traffic. Bloggers have one, primary goal -- increase readers for their blog. They may have an affiliate link or two that can help you make sales, but it’s kind of a crap shoot if those links convert. And those backlinks won’t necessarily help you, especially if the writing is poor or their domain authority is low.
What will help get you ahead of your competition, however, is for you to generate original blogs, white papers, or e-books for your own site. But why is content creation so important?
Content Plays Into The Science Of Searching
While it may not seem like it, SEO has a great deal of humanity in it. That’s because search engines like Google and Bing try to be as intuitive as possible. They need to ensure that you get exactly what you want every time you search. In response, our search queries have evolved from disjointed words to full sentences.
In the Olden Days, if you wanted to search for dairy-free ice cream, then you would be instructed to type in something like, “Dairy Free” + “Ice cream”. As searching became more intuitive, you could just type in dairy-free ice cream without any extraneous punctuation marks and still get the same results. Basically, Google wants us to search like we talk, and let them do all the heavy lifting.
We’ve now taken this directive to the next level. We may still search for Dairy-Free Ice Cream, and get a slew of product homepages, but we also will type in the best dairy-free desserts or What dairy-free ice cream can I serve at a kids birthday party? In these cases, the search engine pulls up pages that attempt to answer these questions, and a lot of times that isn’t a product’s homepage.
If you rely on contributors to answer these search queries, then you have little control over how these questions are answered. Some may represent your product well, many won’t. They may not even rank in search results. And even if they do, it’s the blogger’s site that will rank, not yours. Every click will go to their playground. To get to your site, the user will have to perform additional actions.
However, if you write your own articles on your own site, then searches will go directly to you. Having a blog that addresses different topics allow you to possibly rank in numerous search queries. By ranking for many different queries, your web traffic will start to climb exponentially. Of course, your content has to be pertinent, well-written, and properly formatted for SEO -- and that’s not always easy to do.
Content Reinforces Your Brand
While it’s great to rank high in a Google search, that’s not the only reason to produce content. After all, you can be found in other ways, like Pay Per Click, Facebook remarketing, and traditional advertising. With the right targeting, these avenues may actually be more effective at driving people to your site. Although, they are usually limited-time campaigns that cost money.
Content is eternal and can be one of the best ways to establish your brand. With the glut of online and offline marketing, consumers have become inundated with noise. The old Mad-Men salesy shtick with a slick slogan and attractive logo doesn’t work much anymore, as most people will just filter that junk out. This is especially true in more niche markets, where customers are more discerning in what they buy or who they get services from.
A static website can establish a brand, but it won’t develop it. Even your heartwarming story about how your dairy-free desserts were developed from recipes handed down from your lactose-intolerant Nana-Booboo doesn’t mean much when it’s parked on your About Us page. These sections are important, but they may not mean very much to a consumer who can see hundreds of About Us pages talking about their own Nana-Booboo recipes.
When you develop content through a blog, white paper, or e-book, you give people a look at your company beyond the gimmick. Instead of yelling “LOOK AT ME” with the rest of the crowd, you develop your brand by talking about what’s most important to the customer. So while your website can talk about how much kids love your dairy-free ice cream, you show how much your product fits a child’s dairy-free lifestyle through blog articles on dairy-free birthday parties. This strategy goes beyond “becoming an expert in your field,” and connects you to your audience on topics that they actually care about.
The Caveat -- Your Content Has To Be Good
There's a big catch on creating content -- it needs to be good. Google and other search engines try to filter out junk that is poorly written, spammy, and/or unhelpful. A search engine’s reputation is based on good experiences and quality results, and that means it needs to lead people to pages that help fulfill their query. If your content is vague and meaningless, or repeats content that’s already is out there, Google will pass you over and all that hard work and time would be for naught.
If you have the time and talent to write engrossing web pages and blog articles, great. Just make sure you post new content consistently (more than one blog post a quarter). One article can help one query. A hundred articles can cast a much larger fishing net. And while content should be brand-building and customer-focused, is also needs to be structurally sound SEO-wise. Each article should use interlinks, keywords, and a strong call to action.
Flint Analytics Can Help With Engaging Content Creation
Let Flint Analytics help you make content an integral part of your marketing portfolio. With strategic planning, SEO audits, and creative service, we can create engaging content that connects you to potential customers. Just contact us with the form below and we can help you fulfill your goals.
