In this digital age, if you own a business, the best method to target customers far and wide is by having an online presence – a website. Understanding this need, various DIY platforms exist where an entrepreneur can develop their own site online. But what many fail to understand here is that a pretty looking website with an automated design isn’t what drives traffic or generates business, but a high quality website instead. And what gives a website a high quality and value? CONTENT!

Content is basically the entire package of the website that not just represents a business, but also provides customers with the necessary information that is required to drive the business forward. So how does one generate a high quality content? The key to this not just lies in writing a great informative piece, but also lies in having a sound plan in place to post written materials on a regular basis. Consistency is your magic bullet to drive traffic and acquire new customers. So how does one stay consistent with respect to generating content? Take a look-

• Research

In order to deliver great content, the first and foremost thing that needs to be done is research. To start with, you need to have a thorough understanding of your target customers; their needs, interests, queries, and so on and so forth. This study will help you draft articles, blogs, and other written materials that not only provide users with the necessary information they’re seeking, but will also help you address certain issues, thus making your business stand out from the competitors. Understanding that customers are more than just faceless statistics on a computer screen will take your business a long way. Next, study your competitors. Analyzing your competitors will give you an understanding of the industry, and the type of content that’s most frequently shared, thus leading to an improved SEO. Finally, conduct a keyword research. This will help you draft specific topics and content relating to the current trend, thus keeping you at par with the competition.

• Gather essential data and ideate

As stated earlier, research is essential to understand the market and cater content accordingly. The data that you’ve gathered through research will give you a clear idea on the various topics that have been covered by your competitors, topics that are saturated in the market, and which topics receives the least traction. This will help you ideate on topics better, focus on what’s missing, and finally, a better understanding on what images or visual appeal ought to used for different types of content. A content that is backed with statistics, graphs, charts, and so on will make users believe the claims – leading to an authentic content.

• Make a plan. Stick to it!

If you want your content to sustain a high quality, consistency is the key. However, this does not mean you produce articles and blogs on a daily basis and post them on your website. If the content does not address a certain query or provide specific information to the audience, consistent posting will do you no good. Thus, it is essential to have a plan. Identify the relevant keywords, draft content around the keywords, and finally schedule your content. The most effective method is to plan your content calendar based on product launches or business services. Educate the users, generate a demand, have a batch of write-ups, and finally schedule the post accordingly. Also, make use of different blogging styles such as informational articles, company updates, promotional articles, and so on. Maintaining a stack of write-ups for future uploads will ensure consistency throughout. However, if you find taking out time to generate articles on a regular basis difficult, you can always hire dedicated content writers to perform the task.

• Optimize for SEO

No matter how great your content is or how dedicated a content writer you hire, the write-up is of no value if the users are unable to discover it. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into picture. In order to be visible on search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, content needs to original, of a higher quality, and contain relevant keywords pertaining to that particular market. Additionally, the write-up can also include visuals, images, or slideshows to increase engagement and user sharing, thus leading to a higher ranking on the search engine. However, concentrating on SEO and articles is a time consuming task that business owners can rarely afford. In such cases, entrepreneurs often hire writers and SEO experts in-house, or outsource to professional content writing services in India, Philippines, China, or other countries that fare cheaper with respect to costing.

• Measure content and strategize ahead

If you think posting an article is a job well done, think again! Tracking the evolution of the content is just as essential as planning and ideating. You can make use of a variety of tools like Google search console, rank tracking, and Google analytics to track the progress. This tracking will give you a fair number of conversions, average CTR, its daily evolution, alongside, giving you a clear picture of user behavior and interests; all of which are necessary for future ideation of content.

• Hire writers

As stated previously, producing content on a regular basis, is a challenging task; especially one that busy business owners cannot afford. Thus, the best solution in such cases is to hire a dedicated content writer. Professional writers are usually trained to be in tune with keywords and SEO strategies, thus saving you ample time in the process. However, hiring an in-house resource full-time usually turn out to be far more expensive than anticipated, especially on the pockets of budding entrepreneurs. This is the reason why offshore staffing services exist to provide business owners with virtual assistants. This form of employment works perfectly well under restricted budgets. Ultimately, whether you hire in-house writers or seek offshore help, ensure that the writer you hire is well versed and delivers your task consistently.

To Conclude

Producing quality content is no joke. Thus, refrain from misleading headlines like clickbait, risky SEO techniques, plagiarism, and any other element that questions the authenticity of the content. What you need is an effective content that makes your business visible, promotes engagement, and ultimately, drives sales and traffic. If you religiously adhere to the above mentioned steps and tips, rest assured that you’re creating content of a higher quality, thus making your business discoverable on the search engines.