Content is king is a phrase commonly heard in the digital marketing world. Whilst there are lots of elements involved in creating a strong web presence, content has always been and will continue to be at the forefront.
But what does content actually mean?
Over the years, Google has changed its algorithms so many times; it can be hard to keep up. But ultimately, the key to having great content is creating information for your consumers to engage with them and spark interesting conversations.
Whether that’s creating a blog, an interesting video, an infographic or going deeper into topics with white papers, e-books or webinars. Content is just that – it’s providing information available to those who wish to see it.
As a marketing agency, we often get asked by clients why regular content is required and what it means for your business and your customers.
That’s why we’ve put together some of the top 5 reasons why adding regular content to your website is not only beneficial for your site to help it grow but also for your consumers and business growth. Along with some tips on how best to structure your content strategy to truly enhance your digital presence.
1) Relevant, regular content = engagement
A key aspect of creating engaging content is to ensure that it’s relevant – not just for your business and industry but for your customers. After all, they’re the people you’re trying to reach and engage with to build your business.
Great content answers questions, creates and engages conversation and provides updates on relevant industry and business-related news. But, of course, the ultimate question is – is this interesting for my readers?
People aren’t just interested in the end product or service anymore. They want to know who you are as a business, what your values are and if they can build trust and relationships with who they buy from in the long term.
Adding regular content that showcases who you are as a business and helps your customers gain insight and helpful information is invaluable. It not only encourages further conversations and interaction but can help build on reputation and, as a result, help grow the business.
2) Showcase your business as industry leaders
Providing helpful, insightful and well-researched pieces of content regularly can showcase your business as thought leaders. This helps gain trust, respect and increase the chances that you’ll convert your readers/viewers into customers.
It’s not just about writing blogs regularly but becoming immersed in communities online, sharing thoughts, commenting on relevant articles and having opinions. To do this well, you’ll need to have active social media accounts both for your business and the leaders of your business, as well as produce regular content through your blog and additional resources, so you’re providing a range of sources to suit different types of customers.
Personality and individuality are really important in demonstrating your expertise in the industry through content. It’s not just about the brand but about the people who sit behind it and do the work. Creating pieces that provide more information through experts can help to nurture your leads as they work through the marketing funnel.
Evoking a leadership presence and staying in touch regularly with more information gets people to notice your brand. As a result, they’ll likely remember you when they need to purchase a product or service.
3) Build your online presence
Different types of content are great for communicating with new and existing clients as well as connecting and engaging with people in the industry.
Content is king became a key part of marketing strategies way back when Google started to introduce different algorithms to enhance people’s rankings and to get noticed online.
After many years, search engine optimisation (SEO) has changed dramatically, and Google is a lot stricter on businesses that were attempting to cheat the rules.
Nowadays, having an engaging, relevant and interesting website that reaches your target audience can work wonders. After all, if you’re a legitimate website, then what’s the harm, right?
But due to a hugely populated and competitive digital world, regular and optimised content is still key in helping keep your website further up in the ranks when people are searching for your product or service.
This also includes embracing SEO activities whilst posting. For example, ensuring you’re still including relevant keywords in your pieces as well as thinking about what people might be searching for when looking for advice online (and not just the end product).
Optimised blogs, listicles, how-to guides and case studies that all include your relevant keywords are great ways to boost your SEO whilst providing a source of information for your users. These can then be reposted on social media or adapted and repurposed into videos, e-books or infographics to further nurture your leads.
It’s also worth looking at what the competition is doing in your area. Look at their blogs and what they’re writing about so you can see what’s working for them and do it better!
4) Google likes it
I touched on SEO and keywords in your content above that can help to boost your online presence, but there’s also another key element to be taken into the mix – Google!
Think about it.
If you’ve set up a new website, you’ve written your content for the site, and it’s all been optimised technically in the background – great. We’re good to go.
Then what?
Do you just wait for Google to crawl it and then hope because you’ve written something relevant and right for your clients, it’s going to automatically go up the ranks?
URL’s get regularly crawled by Google’s bots and monitor which websites tick which boxes technically and on-page. Regular content is a BIG tick in Google’s mind.
If you’re not posting regular content, it’s unlikely that the bots will come back around to you any time soon, and sooner or later, your website becomes a little stagnant. With so much content being published regularly in the competitive digital world, you’re going to get left behind.
It’s not just about adding blogs either to keep up the momentum, but as a business, you should be updating your website copy, posting regularly on social media, sharing interesting articles and videos, adding case studies or whatever is right for your business.
If you don’t necessarily have the resources in-house, there are plenty of digital marketing agencies that can help provide content alongside your activities to create a really strong marketing presence online.
5) Stay relevant
Similarly, you don’t just want to get Google’s attention but maintain the attention of your audience as well.
If you come across a website and they haven’t updated their site in a while, I tend to wonder if they’re still open as a business, so often, I need to do more research. Would you buy from a website that hasn’t updated its content in a year or more?
That’s not always the case, of course. But most people, when vetting a company for their products or services, will check out a website and look at who you are as a business, your services and what sort of additional and useful information you can provide to inform their buying decision. The more up to date, the more confidence your user will have in your brand.
Are you looking to optimise your content marketing strategy?
As competition grows in the digital landscape, you need to have a content strategy that produces the best results. One hurdle many businesses fail to overcome is finding the time to write, optimise and share regular content.
Digital marketing agencies can help you with your content strategy, but equally, you need to have your own voice too and invest in employee advocacy to share your pieces and engage with what you’re sharing on a more personable level. Our in-house team of experts will be happy to develop your ideas into optimised pieces of content and create a unique content marketing plan for your business.
If you’d like to speak to us, just get in touch or call on 01794 725454
