By now you should be familiar with the idea that content marketing is incredibly important to all businesses, no matter which sector or industry they may operate in. As every company now has an online presence, it’s important that the content you put out into the public sphere is always of top quality, as the quality of your content is going to reflect on your company and the work you carry out.
We all know that great content is necessary, but do you know exactly what needs to go into content to make it good enough? Not all businesses do and, as a result, they end up floundering with poor content marketing strategies.
There are ways to change that, thankfully. You just need to include these key ingredients next time you want to cook up great content.
Originality
Firstly, it’s important for your content to be completely original and unique. There is no point repeating the same message in different posts and articles, as your readers will simply end up being bored. Similarly, you shouldn’t copy anyone else’s content, especially that from your competitors. If you do, there is a possibility you could be sued for a breach of copyright. Most companies will have protected their content, such as blog posts, as intellectual property, so the fines could be high.
A Catchy Headline
One of the best ways to ensure that people want to read your content rather than simply scroll past it is to give each post a catchy caption or title. There are a lot of literary devices that you can use to make sure your title stands out from all the rest, including alliteration and assonance. You might even want to turn it into a cliffhanger so people are compelled to click the link to find out what happens next. Another important tip for captioning your content is to leave open-ended questions. This will provide your audience with an opportunity to engage with your brand. Puns also work wonders, so if you have a head for comedy, you might want to try a few of them in your titles!
Keywords
These days, you need to make sure that your content increases your website’s SEO. Good content that has been SEO-optimized will help your website rise through the ranks of Google’s search results to ensure you are one of the highest-ranking sites for those specific keywords. To help with this, you need to pepper your content with the most appropriate keywords possible. If you aren’t too sure which keywords will be best for your content, you can always use a software such as zag.ai or a similar content creation tool. If you are struggling to write your content in the first place, these tools could even help you with that!
No Spelling Or Grammar Errors
One thing that your content does not need is errors in any way, shape, or form. So, before you hit the publish button, be sure to read through all of the content again to double check that there are no spelling or grammar errors in it. Your content should be easy to read and flow naturally from each paragraph, so you might have to review some of the paragraph structure. Switching a few around might make it easier for readers to follow your point. If writing isn’t your strong suit, you might want to hire a freelance editor to take a quick look through all your content before it is published.
A Call To Action
Every piece of content that you publish needs to have a purpose. Perhaps you want a blog post to persuade your customers to buy one of your new products. Or maybe you want to motivate people to join your mailing list. One way to make sure as many people carry out what it is that you want them to do, you need to add a call to action in your content. This can be any phrase that prompts the reader to do something, such as “sign up here” or “head to our online shop”. Ideally, each blog post and article needs to end with a call to action.
Informative
Your content can’t always be focused on trying to get people to buy things. Sure, this needs to be a part of it, but if a blog post reads too much like a hard sell, then it could turn readers off. So, make sure your content is lighthearted whenever it can be. It should also be informative too, and tell readers something that they might not have already known. Your ultimate goal is to provide real value to your audience. This will build trust between your brand and the consumer.
Sources
If you do use facts, statistics, and other figures from elsewhere in your content, you need to credit where you found them from by adding a source. You can find out how to add a source to your blog posts by checking out the guide from hubspot.com. Don’t forget that it is also worth checking with the source to make sure that they are happy about you using their information. Not everyone will be, and if they stumble upon your blog post and find that you have used their data or information without asking them, then you might get in big trouble indeed!
Mixed Media
These days, written content alone isn’t enough. You will find that your blog posts perform a lot better if you add some video media to them too. Images are also a big help. Not only that, though, but social media posts have also been shown to provide better engagement if you use a mix of media in them. This keeps the content fresh and entertaining, and will ensure that as many people as possible click your posts.
With these key ingredients in place, your content will start to shine!