The Importance of Creating Relevant Content
Remember when search engine optimization relied on choosing a keyword, stuffing it into your content as many times as possible and then watching it rank well? It probably sounds like a million years ago, but this time did exist. But as quickly as it came around is as quickly as it ended. Today, search engines are smarter and more intuitive. Rather than looking solely at the keywords within the content, the search engines look at the quality of the content. The relevancy of the content. The consistency of the content.
Content is king. But it must be wear the crown of quality.
Varied Content Matters
Before we get started talking about the importance of creating relevant content, we want to remind you that content can take on many forms. If you’re tired of writing lengthy blog posts and articles, you’re in luck.
Try out a colorful, creative infographic instead. Infographics are great for sharing key pieces of information such as statistics or facts. Videos are highly engaging, and sites that use them are ranked more highly. Consider a how-to session, testimonials from influencers or a behind-the-scenes look at your manufacturing process as topics for a new video.
Even social media posts, comics, memes, guest articles and email campaigns count as content. To be relevant, it’s important to have a wide variety of content coming from your company, not just one kind.
Benefits of Creating Quality Content
So what’s the point of creating all different types of content? Is it really worth the time, money and effort that is put into each piece? Absolutely.
Let’s take a look at a few of the key benefits to creating quality content.
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Gives your brand a human face
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Establishes your brand as a thought leader
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Strengthens customer loyalty
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Engages your particular audience
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Boosts search engine optimization efforts
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Increases sales and ROI
The bottom line is that quality content can do wonders for your brand. If it lacks in quality, however, it can be damaging to your reputation and sales, and a waste of time, money and resources. So let’s make it a commitment to put nothing but quality content out there all of the time. Even when you’re tired.
What Constitutes Quality?
What’s confusing for marketers is what quality really means. It’s subjective, really. It’s like asking someone for a recommendation for a great sushi restaurant. Everyone has a different opinion for what constitutes good food. So when you hear “good sushi restaurant,” how do you really know that it’s going to meet your standards?
The same is true for content. What’s quality to one person may not be to another. Your idea of quality content may mean 1,000+ words of informational content with subtitles, images and links. Your friend may think it’s 300 words of sarcastic humor with an image. So how do you know what a superior piece of content looks like?
To help with this, Google has put forth some guidelines to help marketers. This way, they don’t have to be surprised when their “quality” piece is deemed otherwise. There are a handful of expectations that Google has in mind, and here are a few of the most important.
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Is the information in the content to be trusted? Is it factual and based on real data?
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Is the content written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well? Or is it more general in nature?
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Are the topics driven by genuine interest from readers, or are they instead guessed upon by the people writing the articles?
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Does the content include original reporting, research and analysis?
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How does the page rank compare to others in terms of offering valuable information?
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Could the content be printed in a magazine or book?
The main point to remember is that you should be creating content that makes your readers happy and provides them with some type of value. If you’re a law firm, you can give away free legal advice. If you own a landscaping company, you can offer free lawn care tips. You shouldn’t be creating content just to make Google happy.
Can You Take on the Challenge?
As we get ready to close out another year, now is a good time to take a look at your content marketing strategy and ask yourself a few questions. Among them is whether your brand is capable of producing quality content. Here are a few things to consider.
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How well do you know your audience? Are you familiar with their interests, their lifestyles, their pain points?
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Do you have someone available to produce high-quality content, either internally or externally?
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Do you have the time and money to create the kind of content that will keep your audience engaged and possibly even entertained?
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How do you plan to market your content so that it reaches a widespread audience?
If you find that you have a lot of areas that need improvement, don’t feel too bad. All businesses do, even if they excel in this department. Because content marketing is always changing, it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends and hold the bar high. Continue to make the necessary adjustments so that you can better meet the needs of your audience and provide them with information that makes their lives happier, easier, etc.
Conclusion
Every time you post a blog or other piece of content, you have the opportunity to get ranked on a search engine and drive more traffic to your site. Not only that, but each piece of content is another opportunity to be a voice for your brand. Think about the ingredients you put into your blogs and articles and how a person with no prior knowledge of your product or service would view your brand. Without high-quality, relevant content, your website would be nothing.
