From blogs and Linked-in posts to case studies and infographics, content takes many forms. But what constitutes good content and why do you need it?

Why you need good content

Content is key to engaging with your audience. It helps educate your customers about your products and services, demonstrates your expertise, raises the profile of your brand and lets you stand out from your competitors. It drives traffic to your site and above all it can help to grow your business. Need we say more?

In order to produce strong and compelling content, you need to be clear about who you are producing the information for (your customers) and how it will benefit them – what issue does it address or what problem does it help your customers solve? 

Here are some of the key things to consider when creating content:

Get your tone of voice right 

It’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it. The tone of voice expresses the personality of your brand and your values. It informs how you communicate with your audience and the type of language you use, which in turn shapes how your customers perceive you, so it pays to put the time in to get it right.

Customers are pretty savvy – being honest and authentic is key.

Be consistent

Once you commit to creating content, you’ve got to stick with it. So, if you decide to blog once a month or post on social media twice a week, make sure you continue with your schedule. Your customers will value it.

Get to grips with SEO

Learn about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) or if not, hire an outside resource to help. This will help improve your rankings on search engines like Google so that people can more easily find the content you are creating. 

Heard about keywords? 

These are the words (or phrases) that people use when searching on the internet. You need to research the most popular keywords used by your customers when searching for your products and services and make sure you include them in your content.

There are lots of keyword research tools that can help you – free and paid for. But don’t just go cramming them in everywhere. Search engines cottoned on to this trick some time ago and the practice, known as keyword stuffing, will harm your rankings.  

Be engaging and authentic  

Remember, the aim is always to create engaging and informative content for your audience. Your content needs to be relevant and authentic. It’s not about creating content for content’s sake; it’s about connecting with your customers and adding value.