Creating top-quality content takes work for a blog or a gallery of creative shots. Top-quality content is crucial not only for SEO strategies but also for building brand awareness. If you want to rise above the rest of your competition, you want content that people will read and link to.
Regardless, it’s hard to build high-quality content every time. It takes skill, experience, and good knowledge of best practices. Here are seven tips and tricks to help you make the best content your audience would love.
1. Write For Your Readers, Not Search Engines
When building high-quality content, the most important thing is writing for your potential audience. If you create content solely based on SEO, you’re not doing it right.
First, take a look at what your competitors are doing. Then, use this research to fill out your content calendar. The content you’re going to create should be geared toward your audience. It shouldn’t only be about SEO. It has to be entertaining and helpful to them.
Google changed the landscape with their new update, where they reward content written to be helpful and valuable to readers. On the flip side, they also updated their algorithm to punish businesses that simply try to play the SEO game with the algorithm.
2. Create Content That’s Shareable
Shareability is the key to great content. You are on the right track if a piece can capture your followers’ attention and compel them to share.
To produce shareworthy content, you must ensure it is actionable and relatable. When writing content, you should aim for something that resonates with your audience. It’s vital to connect with your audience through your content. What makes your brand unique? More importantly, how does your work relate to your audience?
Your content should inspire, educate, and engage your audience. You should clearly understand who your audience is, what they like, and what they don’t like. It’s the only way you connect with your audience.
You’ll also want to avoid vague and boring content. Go for content that makes your readers laugh, cry, or be in awe of what you have written.
3. Use Images And Videos
Visual content engages audiences better and quicker. It increases their dwell time, which means your content is up there for longer. Images and videos are delightful and effective tools to add taste to your content. Visual marketing can be crucial to the success of your campaigns.
For example, food photography relies on images and videos showing some delicious, mouthwatering culinary fare. High-quality photos tell a story, while videos are highly-engaging.
You can add visuals to your blog, articles, and social media posts to sweeten things up. Don’t just throw in content that does not show well. Create a content upgrade instead to offer more value to your readers.
Your images and videos should create impact. They should evoke emotions and make readers think. They should attract the intended audience, capture their attention, and compel them to take action. You need to make it worth their while to continue reading.
4. Consider Search Intent And Goals
When it comes to quality content, you want it geared towards completing several goals. You must arrive at the right keywords and create content that answers people’s questions. It should be made to achieve specific goals and optimized for specific search queries.
The keywords you use must be relevant to your readers’ search intent. Don’t just choose keywords for the sake of it. Your keyword phrase should inform what you want your content to achieve.
You should also set your goals. What do you want your readers to do after they’ve read your content? Are you informing them, entertaining them, or persuading them? Your content should achieve the goal that you’ve set for it.
To help your audience, you must first address their pain points. You can then identify their current challenges.
They may not even know they have an issue in the first place. You need to empower them to realize that there are better alternatives. Show them what they need to realize so they can improve the quality of their user experience.
5. Maximize Formatting And Readability
The way your content looks matters. Your formatting should enhance the content. It should make it easier for your readers to digest.
Use formatting techniques, such as emphasizing, condensing, or expanding on key points. Your content should also be concise but comprehensive. Readers want to feel like they are getting the most for their time.
In addition, use bullet points, numbered lists, and other text formatting techniques. Insert short sentences and small paragraphs you can effortlessly read. Your content should also be easy to read. Avoid jargon, too many long-tail keywords, and redundant information. You don’t want your content to appear too “spammy” to your readers.
Don’t hesitate to use some whitespace, bullets, or subheads to make your content friendlier to your readers. You can place subheads in between paragraphs. This makes it easier to read your content.
6. Use Long Form Content
Long-form content gets more traffic. It’s simply more effective in driving traffic to your site. Long content also ranks higher on Google. Google and other search engines reward long-form content. That’s because long content has proven to get more information across more effectively.
However, don’t confuse long content with low-quality content. Your long content should be engaging and entertaining. It should also be actionable. You should also consider your audience. Longer content produces the best result in terms of ranking.
Long-form content has the propensity to achieve higher search rankings due to keyword variations. Google rewards content with many relevant terms, so long-form content has more keywords.
Longer content also has a higher chance of ranking for keywords. As readers search for specific terms, Google seems to favor longer content. Of course, writing long-form content can take a lot of time and effort, but you’ll increase traffic if you focus on creating valuable content. You’ll also have a lower bounce rate, which means people will spend more time reading your content.
7. Be Trustworthy
Trust is the cornerstone of online content. If you don’t build trust, you don’t have a business. Your readers need to trust you before they do business with you. This is something you should consider when building high-quality content.
Your content should establish and build that trust and authority. It’s the best way to penetrate your market and gain the trust of your audience. You can establish authority with your content by promoting your brand’s expertise.
Consistently creating high-quality content will help you build a strong online reputation. Add testimonials, reviews, and links to trustworthy sources. These assure the readers that you are a credible and reliable source. It also builds their trust, which is key to converting them into customers.
Add a brand story or background to your page. Let people know how your brand started. What makes your brand unique? What inspired you to start the business? What makes your brand different from others? Quality is in the eye of the beholder, and if your audience trusts you, that becomes a quality marker.
The bottom line
High-quality content takes time to build. It requires careful planning and effort. It also involves a lot of research, trial and error, and a team of skilled writers. However, the result is worthwhile.
High-quality content ensures that readers will come back for more. It increases dwell time, establishes your brand’s reputation, and drives traffic to your site. You can make it something that people will share, comment on, and link back to.
