All Content is NOT Equal
High-quality content is the catalyst for a successful website. Without it, there’s no reason for search engines or users to visit your site. But you should choose your content carefully. While publishing the right content attracts visitors and encourages higher rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs), the wrong content has the opposite effect. So, how do you create a content marketing strategy that drives success for your website?
Why Your Website Needs High-Quality Content
Regardless of your website’s purpose — to increase brand visibility, generate sales, attract email newsletter signups, etc. — it needs high-quality content to succeed. For starters, high-quality content projects your website as an authority to its target audience. When a user wants to learn more about a topic related to your website’s niche, he or she may stumble upon one of your site’s articles or blog posts. Assuming it’s detailed and relevant, that user will view your website as being a leading authority.
Search rankings are also affected by content. According to Google, filling your website with many pages of high-quality content encourages other webmasters to link to your site. As your backlink portfolio expands, Google and other search engines will rank your website higher in their search results.
Another way in which content affects your website’s search rankings involves user engagement. While neither Google nor Bing have revealed the exact formula they use to rank websites, most digital marketing professionals agree that user engagement is a key ranking signal. The longer visitors stay on a web page, the more likely it is for that page to rank high in the search results. Of course, high-quality content encourages visitors to stay on your website, thereby complimenting your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
The Dangers of Low-Quality Content
On the other hand, publishing low-quality content can place your website on a path to failure. In 2011, Google rolled out one of the largest updates that it’s ever made to its search ranking algorithm. Known as the Pandaupdate, it targeted thin websites consisting mostly of duplicate or low-quality content by lowering their search rankings. Twelve percent of all Google search queries were affected by Panda, signaling a new era for the world’s most popular search engine.
With Panda still in effect, you can no longer achieve high visibility in Google’s search results with an incoherent content marketing strategy. You must provide visitors with relevant, useful information. Otherwise, you’ll struggle to attract backlinks and prevent visitors from leaving your site.
DIY vs Outsourcing Content Creation
There are two ways to fill your website with content: produce it yourself or outsource this task to a professional digital marketing agency. Many webmasters believe the former is the most cost-effective, but this isn’t always true. Unless you have time, skills and resources, it’s best to outsource content creation for your website.
Digital marketing agencies have the tools and experience needed to produce stellar content for your website. A reputable agency will discuss your goals and objectives, and it will create custom content to help you achieve them. This is important because no two websites have the same goals and objectives. Therefore, a custom content marketing strategy is needed to achieve online success.
You don’t have to worry about typos riddling your website’s content if you outsource this task to a professional agency. A team of highly trained copywriters and editors will create error-free content that both visitors and search engines love. Most agencies even run their clients’ content through one or more tools to check for spelling and grammatical errors. Some even use advanced tools to measure readability and Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI). All of this means perfectly polished content for your website.
Additionally, outsourcing your website’s content creation will allow you to focus on other tasks. When you get bogged down on writing and publishing content on your website, you won’t have time to respond to emails, advertise your website or analyze key performance indicators (KPIs). This can make it difficult to grow your website.
Digital Marketing Agencies for Content Creation: What You Should Know
The value of a content creation service varies depending on the digital marketing agency. Unfortunately, not all agencies offer a valuable service, so you need to do your homework before partnering with one.
Some digital marketing agencies provide clients with content that’s already published online. Known as duplicate content, it offers little or no SEO value. If an article is already published on a website, adding it to your website won’t improve your search rankings.
Another shady tactic used by digital marketing agencies to cut corners is spinning content. Basically, this involves running content through a special tool that replaces certain words with synonyms and changes the structure of the content. The idea is to turn duplicate content into unique content. Here’s the thing: Spinning content often results in inferior-quality content that’s difficult for visitors to read. The article may appear original to search engines, but poor phrasing and readability will limit its utility on your website.
To ensure your digital marketing agency is providing you with unique content, run it through a plagiarism detection checker look Copyscape or Plagium. These tools will reveal which if any web pages have already published the content.
The recipe for online success requires a myriad of ingredients. Among the most important, however, is high-quality content. It boosts authority, encourages higher search rankings and differentiates your website from its competitors. Just remember to partner with a reputable digital marketing agency that offers high-quality, unique content.