We all want to be successful at what we do. If the money isn’t there, it’s back to the ol’ drawing board to figure out what happened and plan the next move from there.
Now let’s be honest – whether you stick with the same business or decide to branch out into something else entirely, the same mistakes tend to follow you into every venture. Am I right? If so, it’s time to re-evaluate how you manage content creation because that is where most troubles begin. Today’s audience is more cutthroat than ever, and if your content doesn’t speak directly to the consumer, your message falls flatly on blind eyes and deaf ears.
With that in mind, I sat down recently and tried to come up with five things that I believe to be the biggest and most costly mistakes marketers (and business owners of all description) make while going through that process. My task today is to help you stop these things in their tracks and develop a solid, long-term content creation system that serves you well in the long term.
Since our firm specializes in web content writing, I’m going to stick close to home with my advice, but, as you will see, these things have a more universal application that I’m sure you will be able to glean from the message. So, without further ado, here are my “Fab Five” content creation nightmares and how you can avoid them.
#1. Over-Emphasizing and Misusing Keywords
I cannot tell you just how big a sticking point this is with me. There are numerous problems that I can see with many clients’ uses of keywords, but there are a few that just keep cropping up over and over again that need to be addressed.
For starters, it isn’t 1997 anymore. You cannot simply seed awful copy with static keywords and expect your site to rank. That might have worked with Lycos or WebCrawler (or any of the plethora of now-defunct search engines from that era), but Google and the other major engines of today are way smarter and far more capable of spotting blatant keyword baiting.
With that in mind, please stop asking your copywriters to try to “organically” include phrases like “licensed plumbers Parsippany” into your blogs. I mean, it can be done, (“we have a team of licensed plumbers Parsippany residents trust…”) but you can only keep that up for so long.
Let me make this perfectly clear: Google and the other major engines do not ignore longtail keywords with connecting words like “in,” “near,” or “from.” In fact, they are far more likely to ignore phrases like, “You need a licensed plumber Parsippany to snake that drain.” What’s a “plumber Parsippany?” If Google doesn’t know, it’s not going to consider the source trustworthy.
#2. Delivering Sub-Par Content
I have discussed this topic at length in past blogs, so I’ll be brief about it (it does, however, need to be mentioned here). If you are using bargain-basement copywriting services or dealing with offshore freelancers who don’t speak the native language of your audience natively themselves, you are doing yourself no favors.
Unless you are already a master wordsmith with the time on your hands necessary to do it right on your own, you must be willing to spend a little more money on good content delivered by professional, native-speaking writers if you want to succeed.
You might get lucky once in a while on that five-dollar site, but it really is a crapshoot. If you have to spend $50 on 10 blogs to only have one of them get results, why not spend that $50 on one high-quality, well-written and researched piece, and market it well?
Bottom line: Copy is not just a means to an end. While much of it does go unread, serious prospects will read every word. With that in mind, present them with something worth reading. It will make a huge and measurable difference in how a prospect responds. It will also help you maintain a good relationship with existing customers and clients.
#3. Skirting Long-Form Articles and Blogs
As people, we tend to look at price first, quality second. Think about it: When you go out to eat, do you look at the left side or right side of the menu first? Budget-conscious people look for numbers that represent what they are willing to spend and decide what to order based on that.
Long-form articles are expensive. Most writers work on a per-word basis, so 500 words will cost a quarter of what 2,000 will. The problem, though, is that if you want to rank high in the search engines, you need to position your brand as an authority. There are few (if any) better ways to accomplish that than through long-form copy.
Present a thorough and deep understanding of your business or niche, and the search engines will take notice. You will also build trust with your customers and followers if you can demonstrate a deeper and more thorough understanding of your business than your competitors.
#4. Not Working with the Right People
These last two I’ve also gone over before, so I’m going to keep them really brief this time…
Always vet your writers or work with an agency that does. Select a writer who has at least a working knowledge of your business or can demonstrate an ability to do quality research. That includes the subject as well as relevant keywords.
#5. Not Aligning All Your Content with Your Brand Message
Finally, as has been my mantra for years, your content must provide an accurate reflection of your brand 100 percent of the time. That includes your writing, visuals, multimedia, social network postings, and so on. Any sign of incongruity in this area will repel savvy prospective customers and will chip away at your relationships with existing customers over time.
Final Takeaway
As you read through this blog, I hope you were taking good notes, and I hope that you will take this advice to heart. I’ve watched many a great business idea fall flat over the years due to poor content creation and distribution strategies. If you saw any warning signs in the message above, take them seriously and take action to start fixing them, starting today.