A lot of success in business relies on metrics. We can look at the data of most things and see what works, what doesn’t, and we can tell you how to fix it. These things are actionable, and they have immediate, proven results. This is especially true when it comes to blogging for business.
However, there are some things that are a little more grey area. Not every aspect of SEO and blogging are easy to define or measure. One of these areas is what we call “creating quality content.”
People can surprise us. Sometimes the things we expect to make a splash don’t. Sometimes, the things that we don’t expect to knock it out of the park do.
That doesn’t mean that “quality content” has to remain some sort of undefinable goal that you hope to achieve eventually. In fact, there are ways to define this obscure step in the SEO process, and there are specific steps you can take to achieve them.
To learn more about creating quality content, keep reading. We’re going to break down the meaning of quality content and tell you why it’s so important in keeping your customers engaged.
What is Quality Content?
To understand why quality content matters, you have to be able to define exactly what quality content is. It’s easy to let this word get lost in the abstract. Quality is relative, right? What you find useful might not tickle your neighbor’s fancy.
However, in terms of SEO, quality content is actually pretty easy to define.
Having quality content is important in something called content marketing. Content marketing is when businesses use blogs, ebooks, and emails to inform and entertain their target audience. This then earns them trust, a voice of authority, and sales.
This all starts with having good content.
This means that every page on your website has to have a purpose. Your customers should be able to figure out what each page on your blog is for within the first few seconds of looking at it, otherwise, they’re going to click away. We live in the age of instant answers, your blog has to be able to keep up.
The content on those pages has to meet certain standards as well. You have to be able to write original content in a cohesive, intelligent way. This means that you have to put in a lot of research and time into creating this content.
While Google doesn’t tell us exactly how to write quality content, it does give us a few guidelines to follow. And Google is pretty strict about the content it promotes, so it’s a good idea to follow these at all times.
- According to Google, you should:
- Create your pages for your visitors, not for search engine crawlers.
- Tell the truth
- Create content that you believe in and don’t attempt to trick the system
- Make your website unique
This means that Google wants you to create honest content designed to help your viewers. Their main purpose is to serve their own customers through quick, effective searching techniques. For them to trust you with this job, you have to show them that you have their customers best interests in mind as well.
According to Google, some of the things you should avoid are:
- Link schemes
- Cloaking
- Redirects
- Hidden links
- Automatically generating your content
- Malicious behavior
Pages that do this are either trying to increase their web traffic or they’re trying to steal customer information. If you engage in this behavior, you’re going to get your website penalized.
Why Does Good Content Matter?
Now that we know a little bit more about what Google defines as quality content and what it wants you to avoid, let’s talk about why having quality content on your blog matters for your business.
1. It’ll Increase Your Search Engine Traffic
It’s pretty simple: the more pages of quality, original content you have out in the world, the more people are going to find your blog through organic searches. Every time you publish a new page, you’re offering more information and substance for your potential customers to grab onto.
2. It Builds Your Brand
Blogging offers you a unique platform to get in touch with your target audience. Sure, social media allows you to contact them at a moment’s notice and notify them of specials, but it doesn’t do the same thing that blogging does.
Blogging with quality content allows you to connect with your audience on a personal level. You can share information about your struggles and issues your customers can relate to.
You can also use it as an opportunity to create your brand’s personality. Every word you write counts. Your tone, inflection, and word choice all go into creating a voice for your brand. This will make your company more likable.
3. It Supports Your Social Media Efforts
Using your social media to share the content that other people create is a great way to connect and endear yourself to the community. But there comes a time when you want to post your own content and send people to your site instead of to someone else’s.
When you deliver quality content that is on point to current trends and events, you can generate quick traffic when you use your social media.
Also, if you use email marketing, your blog posts can be excellent additions to your newsletters. Something easy like a list of the best content you released on your website is a nice way to get your customers engaged with your content.
4. Builds Your Authority
When you have a website that speaks with authority, you have your customer’s trust. Nothing is more important when it comes to turning your readers into your customers.
If you create a voice of authority in your community, people are going to come to you for the answers to your questions. They’re going to trust that you know what you’re talking about and, when it comes time to buy, they’re more likely to come to you.
This is the perfect chance for you to establish yourself as an expert.
5. Generates Inbound Links
One of the best ways to improve your SEO is to have good quality blogs linking back to your website. But, unless you have a blog with consistent, high-quality information, how are other businesses supposed to link back to you?
Quality content acts as a way for bloggers, journalists, authors, contributors, and other businesses to use your website as a source of content in their articles.
And while it’s great that these links can improve your search engine rankings, it also works to generate other traffic back to your blog.
6. Opens You Up to Long Tail Searches
Without a blog, you’re going to have a hard time ranking high for long-tail search queries. It’s not too hard to rank for simple searches related to your business, like your business name or other one or two-word searches.
However, the real trick is ranking for the longer searches.
The way people use Google has changed. They don’t just plug in specific keywords anymore and search for what they want. Instead, they type in very specific questions and look for the very first result that shows up.
It might be easy to rank for “Linda’s Cupcakes” but you’re going to have a harder of a time ranking for “how to make chocolate icing” or “how to plan a child’s birthday party” if you aren’t using a blog.
These longer searches are key to generating traffic to your website. Without them, people aren’t going to learn about your business or your website naturally.
7. Increase Your Leads
The more pages your website has, the more leads you’re going to get. So the more you write, the more customers are going to visit your website. You can generate more emails for your newsletters, get more people to agree to a quote, and generate more sales.
8. Create Discussion
Similar to another point we made, when you have a blog with quality content, you open yourself up to discussion with your customers. It shows that you’re willing to engage in conversation with the people who matter the most to your business: your customers.
It’s a good idea to make a link to your feedback page accessible. This is the best way to make sure that you can hear your customer’s ideas, suggestions, and insights.
9. Keeps Your Company Fresh
The one way to ensure your customers know your company is keeping up to date on trends and issues that are important to them is to write about them in your blog. But it goes a little deeper than that, too.
Google actually rewards the websites that add new content on a frequent basis. Also, if you keep your blog posts on trend, you’ll get more exposure on those searches.
How to Create Quality Blog Posts
Now that you understand what a high-quality blog post is and why they’re so important to your business, you’re probably wondering how to go about writing one.
Know Who You’re Talking To
Before you ever set a virtual pen to paper, you have to know who your audience is. The people who come to a blog are usually looking for very specific information, and if you want your website to be right for them, you want to make sure you’re putting out relevant information.
Take a look at who your target audience is and write for them, not anyone else.
Write Something of Value
People usually read blogs to learn something new. Make sure that you’re writing content that reflects this.
You want to write content that aims to improve your readers’ lives. Whether that’s through inspiration, persuasion, or to teach them to do something that they don’t know how to do is up to you. Make sure you’re putting content out there that people want to read.
Make it Comprehensive
You’re going to win over a lot of people when your content includes all of the relevant information.
When a Google user searches for information, they don’t want to have to stop at two or three different places to get it. It’s a good idea to try and make your content as full and complete as possible, that way people know to come to you when they have a problem.
Keep it Simple
While you want your blog post to include all the important information, it’s more important that you make that information easy to read.
No matter who your audience is, you don’t want to talk over their heads. Keep it simple and don’t include useless fluff.
Format it Right
Readers expect to see a specific format when they open up a blog post.
You should start with a short intro, then divide your information up with relevant headers so that it’s easy for your readers to scan through.
Avoid walls of text, too, because our attention spans aren’t that great.
At the end of every piece of quality content, you want to include a call to action. This is something that tells your readers what they should do next.
Quality Content: The Key to Success
No matter what your approach to SEO is, one thing is for sure: creating quality content is the way to achieve success in your e-commerce endeavors. It allows your blog to stay on trend and it gives your customers the ability to trust you.
Despite its straightforwardness, writing quality content isn’t as easy as it sounds. But once you master this skill, you open the door to endless growth possibilities.
If you think that writing consistent, high-quality content is out of your reach right now, the good news is that you’re not alone. Visit us today to learn how you can find a writer to write your content for you, so you can leave yourself open for other things: like running your business.
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