When it comes to fantastic content marketing, there are a number of things every business should be doing to make sure their content is working as hard for them as possible. Here are nine keys to producing great web content.
What is the Purpose of the Content?
One of the first and most important things when it comes to producing great web content is always going to be identifying the purpose and goal of the content. Without this in mind, you can’t hope to produce pieces of content that are fit for purpose, unique or engaging. Understanding your audience and what you’re trying to achieve will make your content hit that much harder while making it easier and more straightforward to produce.
Keep it Current
No one wants information, ideas or design styles from five years ago. Both from the perspective of the information in the content and the style of delivery, you need to make sure it’s all up-to-date, current and contemporary. You don’t want to make your brand or business look out of touch.
Is It Useful?
This should always be your main question when it comes to producing new content. Am I actually producing something useful that someone is going to engage with? This should be one of the main yardsticks by which you decide whether or not to produce a piece of content, as well as being a great indicator as to whether said content is going to perform well or not.
Be Concise
No one likes long, rambling, and boring content. People simply don’t put up with it. If you produce copy that doesn’t get to the point quickly, people will scan-read it and quickly click away. Being concise, as well as producing copy that’s engaging, clear and well presented is always going to be a vital part of producing great web content.
Great Web Content is On-Brand
Being relevant to your business or brand is always going to be important when it comes to producing powerful marketing content. You need to make sure that the articles, videos, infographics or whatever you’re making matches up to your business’s values and attitudes, and is topically relevant enough. Don’t go completely left field and create copy that fails to match anything else on your blogs or social media pages, this is only going to serve to limit you.
Consistency is Key to Great Web Content
Another vital aspect of both building an audience, authority and a body of content, consistently producing, posting and sharing content is always going to be an important part of producing great web content. Far too many online businesses produce three to five pieces of content, get them posted, and then leave their blogs and social media pages abandoned. This is always going to limit the efficacy of your content. Be consistent and post regularly.
Variety
Articles are a great place to start as far as web content goes. However, there are so many other options that can produce great results, especially when utilised regularly. From video to infographic, apps to tutorials and guides, there are loads of different approaches out there. It will be more expensive to produce video content. However, you can expect higher levels of engagement with content that’s easier to view, rather than text. This is especially true on social media. Make sure that your content doesn’t become too samey by maintaining plenty of variety.
Share Your Great Web Content
So, you’ve planned, produced and published your content and everything is looking great, don’t forget to share it! If you don’t feature it on your business social media pages, not only are you going to be missing out on potential new traffic, but you’re also missing an opportunity to get fresh content on your social media pages. One of the big benefits of consistently producing great new content is having material to post on social media pages. Nothing worse than a dead social media page, or business blog, for that matter.
Illustrate Your Point
But avoid using obvious stock photos! Making sure you have some relevant, high-quality images that illustrate your content is key. Especially when it comes to producing content that not only engages but also ranks well. Well-illustrated content with plenty of images is always going to rank better than content that lacks images. Tasteful stock photos can get the job done, but actual illustration or professional photography is always going to be better.
Avoid using glaringly obvious stock photos! Everyone knows how to spot them nowadays.