Great content creation, why you need it and what it can do for your business

Article written by Anne Walker.

Anne is a new member of the DAMM Creative team as an expert in SEO content creation. Anne’s skills are a great compliment to us with stunning attention to detail when creating optimised content for your brand. Get in touch to see how we can help your business can the exposure it deserves.

Great content creation, why you need it and what it can do for your business.

You have a product or service you believe in, you’ve invested in a brand identity and sparkly new website you love. So what happens now? Can you just sit back and watch the customers line up? Absolutely not, now you need to get your message to your customers. You need some content creation so they will take notice and buy from you. But do you have the time? Don’t you just want to get on with things and get selling?

"Having an amazing website doesn't mean people will see it"

Your product or service needs to be explained in the right way in order to connect with your customers and keep those search engines happy. Customers are out there, but they’re fussy and have short attention spans. They need to know about what you offer, and feel like they want to do business with you. Not much to ask! But how can you educate search engines, namely Google, to want to show your website in its results? And how can you grab your potential client’s attention and keep it? The answer. Let someone else do it for you.

Why is well written, optimised content creation so important for you?

According to Conductor.com, “brands who invest in content are seeing a significant return on their investment. The results of studies show that content has an even larger impact than you might suspect”

Consumers who read a brand’s educational content were 131% more likely to purchase from that brand.
One week after reading content, customers were still 48% more likely to buy.
Reading content greatly increased consumer trust and brand affinity, which deepened over time.

The best products and websites provide a solution, often to problems their customers didn’t even know they had. It’s tempting to want to talk about what you’ve created and why, the services you offer or the cool stuff you sell, but that won’t move people to invest their time and money in you. Us customers need a reason to buy. We’re looking for ways to spend money, but we need to feel good about it.

Great content creation will help you stand out amongst your competitors.

Small businesses often focus their energy and resources on a killer website design which makes sense but that leaves little in the way of budget for content. So often lovely design is teamed up with mediocre wording and info. Writing can be done by anyone, but how effective will that be and how will customers find you let alone want to spend their money with you?

What types of content are there?

Not all content is created equal and to keep things fresh relevant topics should be presented in a variety of ways. Here are the 3 most popular:

1. Inspirational content

Introducing your product or service in a way that will make your client feel better about themselves. You may be a personal trainer, if so then suggesting the ‘5 best ways to exercise around the house & boost your mood’ could well be of interest to your potential clients. Or you may have a design and printing company, if so then ‘3 free ways to cheer up your workspace’ may speak to your customers. It’s a simple way to grab their interest and while you do, mention your amazing services. Voila!

2. Informative content

Place yourself as a beacon of knowledge in your niche. A well written long form article or tutorial creates trust and shows how passionate you are about what you do. It’s also a great way of gaining subscribers to your website as you encourage readers to ‘sign up’ to receive more valuable information.

3. Opinion and news pieces

Nothing gets people’s interest like an opinion piece. Every business has news that’s not just relevant to you, it can also be very interesting to your client. Readers aren’t only interested in what you do, they want to know what you have to say. Highlighting what’s happening in your sector and encouraging a conversation around it, is a great way to gain engagement with your audience.

What a professional content creator will give you and your business.

1. A fresh perspective

You’re very close to your business, it’s your baby and the first thing you think of in the morning. Does that mean you’ll automatically write well about it? Not at all. Knowing how to speak to your prospective buyers is essential. As strange as it sounds, they’re not interested in how you came to sell X or why you created Y, they only want to know how it will benefit them/make them look cooler/save them some time & or money. A pro content creator can take a step back and see these benefits and will know how to present them to your customers in a straightforward & engaging way.

2. More time

You’ve spent no end of time setting up your business & creating a website, now you’re in amongst the day to day. You’re selling, doing paperwork, answering enquiries and getting caught up in life as a business owner. Your time is valuable. On average, it takes business owners 3-4 times longer to write than a professional creator. Do you have enough of that time to spare?

3. Fresh ideas, well researched and well presented

When finding out what your customers need to know, they’re on it. A professional content creator will know exactly where to look and what to research. They’ll also have the tools to find out exactly what google likes, essential if you’re going to be present in an online search. Fresh content is key, and king and could only do great things for you! This will set you apart from your competitors and will also provide you with a reliable stream of info to reference when creating social media posts.

4. Help with your search engine rankings and customer awareness.

It’s not enough these days to just throw money at advertising. Unless you have deep pockets like Amazon or Nike then advertising alone just won’t do it for you. You have probably already heard of Organic Traffic and how important it is for businesses, especially those just starting out. Organic Traffic is naturally acquiring your visitors through informative content and it will set you apart from others. It will show you care enough about what you do. It means you’ve invested time to write and provide info and insight to your clients. A well-researched and written article or blog post along with informative and optimised landing pages will go a long way to achieve this.

5. Lots of ideas for your social media.

Social media is super important, but it’s not always easy to know what to post and ways to come up with new and interesting material. A steady stream of fresh content for your website is the perfect way to keep your social media channels alive and buzzing with activity. Your blog posts will give you so much info to share and having new interesting content consistently added will give compelling reason to direct customers there. Job done.

So how does it work?

I wrote this blog post the same way I would write yours.

I got to know who my reader would be. That’s you, hi!
I researched what sort of problems/pain points you have creating your online business. How could I help with that?
I studied how people would find this post. What solutions are being provided for them? A list of key search words emerges, which are then woven into the text. Search engines now know this post provides the answers you need.
Thorough research of the subject. I spent a good few hours creating this idea and investigating how others offered their services. Then I drafted and re-drafted until this shiny post became a reality! I would do exactly the same for you.
*Bonus* Not all content creators will offer to measure their results. A well crafted blog post or landing page is often finished and then just sent out there to do its stuff with a fond farewell. Analytics are an essential way of staying in tune with what works on your site and what doesn’t. This saves even more of your time as you get to focus only on the info and writing that your customers will love. So as well as setting up the content for your website I can also get you started with some very helpful analytics and simple ways to boost what’s been created for you.

Final thoughts

Your website is starving. If it’s not starving, it’s almost certainly in need of feeding up a bit! Organic and original content creation is your ticket to standing out. It will show your clients that you mean business and will provide you with a never-ending source of material for your social media channels. Customers these days are very exacting, as they should be.

They may be used to it, but they don’t just want adverts thrown at them. They want authenticity and love it when they see someone with a passion for what they do. All this and more will come across in a well-crafted website that speaks in your voice. You will not only inform potential clients of what you offer, you’ll keep them interested and you’ll win their trust and support. Repeat business should then follow as people feel they want to check in on what you’re doing and know about the new things you’re offering. This makes a connection and keeps it.

Hiring a content creator is a long-term approach. One which doesn’t guarantee instant results. But it will give you a worthy online presence you can be proud of. Something you can build on, a website that you will feel is complete and up to date. Now that’s definitely worth something!

Download our free resource of “Top content every website must have.”