Have you jumped on the bandwagon?
Followed the crowd?
Jumped in head first without thinking it through?
We all have, and it’s probably been part of our undoing — especially when it comes to content.
Years ago, someone probably looked at your website and told you one thing:
YOU NEED CONTENT.
“Why?” you asked.
“Because content is king.”
They said that content would help you rank in search engines. They said it would help you crush your competitors. And that content would help you generate new leads.
As you listened to this sage advice, you probably wrung your hands together as if someone has just given you a magic elixir.
You envisioned enormous spikes in traffic, a mad flurry of conversions, and your bank account bursting with money.
So you produced content. Lots of it.
You probably hired interns, your mother-in-law, or a cheap writer you found on the internet to create loads and loads of content.
And yet, as the weeks passed and you sat in front of your computer screen poring over your analytics, you saw that you weren’t actually getting any new customers. Or even any remotely qualified leads. And you were still ranking on page 47,865.
Well, my friend…you were duped.
Your friendly neighborhood web adviser only told you part of the story. And sadly, they left out the MOST important part.
Yes, content is great. And yes, fresh content helps with search engines, but creating content for content sake is a monumental waste of time and money. That’s the truth.
Many people don’t realize that content creation needs to be strategic.
You need to understand your audiences’ needs, problems, and concerns. You need to understand what motivates them and what they respond to. Bottom line — you need to do your research — and so do your writers.
Words have a lot of power, and choosing the right words to say at the right time in the right way can make the difference between generating money and wasting money.
Not everyone can create good content. That’s a fact. And settling for poorly written content that’s cheap is a mistake that will cost you valuable customers and time.
Content has a very important job to do – and you should always remember that. Give your content a goal, and make sure it achieves that goal, or get rid of it and try something different.
Whether you’re writing a blog to educate your prospects about an industry issue, a Facebook ad to get people to sign up for a contest, or a direct mail piece to sell a product, you need to make sure your content is designed with the goal in mind.
Writing content that works takes practice and skill, which is why it doesn’t pay to hire just anyone. Invest your money where it will create a return – with writers who create content that actually works.
See how I can help you.
Theresa Mills | Work That Copy 