How do we create content for our clients?
Writing website content is something we do for our clients, we have written content on a wide range of business types ranging from campsites to insurance brokers, not to mention keeping our own business blog up to date with useful and interesting posts like this one! Content marketing, in particular, articles and blogs on your website, is one of the most effective forms of inbound marketing and is great for SEO. It is, however, quite time-consuming and if writing is not how you make your money, maintaining an effective business blog can take you way out of your comfort zone.
First – identify objectives…
One of the most important things we have to keep in mind when writing for clients it what the objective of the piece is. Whilst that may sound obvious, it is easy to fall into the trap of blogging for the sake of it - there is little to be gained, in SEO terms, from writing a blog post if you do not start with a clear objective. Before we start working with a client on their digital marketing, we like to take the time to understand the business and its customers. One of the first steps is undertaking some initial keyword research which includes competitor analysis to try and establish which search keywords we should be prioritising as well as identifying those longer tail key phrases which the business may not have considered. Understanding our client’s business goals enables us to write content which helps them work towards those goals, whether that is raising awareness, promoting a new product or services or increasing conversions through the website. Once we understand the objectives, we can then put together a strategy. This can often include other digital marketing elements like paid search, social media and email.
Next - do the research…
When it comes to researching and writing an article or blog post, the first thing you have to decide is what you are going to write about! Having a list of potential topics decided in advance is helpful here. Thinking about what kind of content will lead visitors to a website is a good place to start. Some of our clients are more fortunate than others when it comes to having topics to write about. Whatever the business, thinking about search intent is a good strategy; What are the common questions people ask about your industry, product or service? What information are potential customers trying to find out? If people are asking these questions, they are also doing internet searches about these questions. Looking at other industry blogs can also be a good place for inspiration – it goes without saying though that you should avoid plagiarising other peoples content. Finding a unique angle on a similar topic is what you are aiming for.
Start writing!
In theory, after the initial research and preparation, writing the piece itself is the easy bit – We normally have a list of points we want to cover worked out in advance, this helps to keep your piece on track and gives you an idea of the structure before you start. If you are writing about a topic which is relevant and interesting to your audience, including the keywords and key phrases you have identified in advance should be naturally part of what you write. A lot of people skim read content online, looking for the specific piece of information they need – keep that in mind when writing. Articles and blog posts which are broken up into short, easy to scan sections with clear headings and a summary at the end are less daunting and easier to read. Including visual elements like photographs, charts or infographics into a piece to illustrate your points helps to reinforce the information and is an important part of the process. Taking the time to make sure images keep to a similar visual style is very worthwhile and will make sure the finished article is complementary to the look and feel of the website.
Check and check again.
Proofing the final piece and making sure that it reads well, is grammatically correct and has no typos, is the final part of our process. Using a spelling and grammar checker like Grammarly is helpful - when you have written and then read a piece a few times, it is very easy to skip over your own mistakes and typos. I usually get a fresh pair of eyes to do a final check on my writing.
To produce good quality work which people want to read is time-consuming, but the SEO benefits of adding regular content to a website are well documented. Our clients are often smaller businesses, especially those without a dedicated marketing department, who lack either the time or the expertise to do this themselves. Our flexible approach means that outsourcing can be more economical than you think. If you are interested in finding out more about our content creation services, or wider digital marketing, have a look at our website. For more tips and advice on getting to grips with digital marketing, download our free guide ’10 top tips for effective digital marketing’.