Are you creating written content at professional standards? If not, what is keeping you from writing like a pro and offering high-quality written content on your business’ website? This article is here to help you sharpen your skills and create professional-grade written content that not only sets your business apart from the competition but provides quality information and service to your website’s visitors and customers. Engage with your base on a higher level by following the tips and advice offered below.
Why Write?
First off, why write? To answer this question, we must look at it from two different perspectives. Why, in general, should your website offer written content? Second, why are you writing about any particular piece of content? It is important to answer question number one from your perspective and question number two from that of your customers.
You should write for your website because written content is a proven and effective method of building your brand, growing your audience, and maintaining high search engine rankings. If you have nothing to offer, it is unlikely that you will ever crack the first page of Google. Written content lets you show your expertise while targeting specific audiences that can be converted into paying customers. Written Content is a necessary step in any successful sales funnel.
As for why you should write any single piece of content, the answer is much simpler. Because you have information that others do not and you wish to share it with your audience. If you are writing just to put content out, you are setting yourself up for boring and unreadable works. However, when you have something to say you are likelier to say it well and audiences are much likelier to be interested.
SEO
Written Content is the fertile ground for Search Engine Optimization or SEO. SEO helps you prime your website for specific search engine terms you’d like to rank for and for specific audiences you’d like to reach directly. While it is true that SEO can be performed on any type of content, be in a video, a meme, or an audio blurb, it can be most easily manipulated via long-form written content. The more your write, the more terms you can match, the more links you can build, and the more information you can disperse between you and your audience.
Written Content is not just great for building an audience from article to article, but the SEO involved in article writing and publication is beneficial to the entire health of your website. Written Content is a proven method of building your content library while strengthening the internet presence of your business. If you are not producing written content as part of your marketing strategy you are missing out.
Text as a Backbone
Expounding on the idea presented above, text is the backbone of a healthy website. Text helps you flesh out ideas and the identity of your business in an easily produced and easily consumable method. Text provides you the opportunity to establish yourself as an expert. Written Content is how you back-up your own credibility and expertise. Flashy videos, funny memes, and short tweets are important, but full written content helps you elaborate on your ideas and connect with your audience in an intentional and meaningful way.
Your website doesn’t just benefit from written content, it needs written content. Written content is generally cheap to create. Even if you cannot hire a writer, you can write articles for free on web-based document services as well as on the back-end of most web-hosting sites. It can be flexible, covering a variety of topics and subjects that you can pick. This is your opportunity to tailor content directly to your audience and your business.
Text > Images and Videos
Text is not as eye-popping or as instantly engaging as video. Colorful images and captivating visual designs will always catch the attention easier than a block of text. However, this doesn’t mean that text is pointless. You first have to consider that most videos seen on social media sites, specifically Twitter and Facebook, are viewed silently. People are already used to watching AND reading. Written Content is the most accessible form for complex and long-form information delivery. Written Content allows readers to move and consume information at their own place. It is also easier to return to and find the exact information they are looking for without having to scroll through timecodes. Written content allows you to present guided, organized information directly to your audience.
Contextual Links
Let’s talk about how written content is an effective SEO tool and can boost your Search Engine Rankings with greater ease and direction than video content. Links are a crucial aspect of performing SEO on your website. While it is true that you can place links within most videos and images, they are not as ideal or as accessible as links embedded within written content. Why not?
Because links in video content disrupt the flow of the action. Video links that appear throughout a video can be disruptive to the primary video itself because following them usually entails exiting or pausing the video you are currently watching. And links placed at the end of a video are often far removed from their original reference.
Keywords embedded within written content simply have a better flow. They can be placed directly next to their reference within your content and opened in a new window. They can be consumed after reading, but with the proper reference structure in place. This is a simple, visual difference, but it can be a majorly beneficial difference.
Combinations
Like most things business-related, diversity is key. Written Content alone is not an end all be all solution, the same way that video or graphic content is not an end all be all solution. The best way to keep your website healthy and performing with high-quality results is to utilize written, visual, and audible content together. This means using video links or developing video content to expound upon or go along with pre-existing written content. Make sure that you are creating written content that reflects your video and graphic content. It can be beneficial to follow up a meme with a blog or article discussing something in the meme or offering a solution. Make sure to also use text descriptions for your videos and images that utilize keywords and links if necessary.
Branding through Text
Written Content is a terrific way to establish and reinforce your brand. What better way to let your customers and webpage visitors know what you are about than to directly tell them exactly what your business is about?
The best way to establish your brand is to be direct. Take the time to write a post detailing your company’s mission and objectives. What do you need your customers to know about you? What does your company do that uniquely sets you apart from the competition? The best way to let people know is to go out of your way to tell them.
You can follow up on this with blogs or articles that provide context to your business. You may have an about you page for your employees or a link to charities your business partners with. You can also provide details of certain services or programs you offer that give back to the community or support a cause. Look for what makes your business unique and share those details through your website.
Credibility Through Text
Text is a terrific way to establish and maintain credibility. Much of this comes through providing links within your written content. If you make a claim that might require verification, embed a link to your source or to a website that can provide similar information and context. This aids both your visitors and search engines. It shows that your website provides reliable information that can be confirmed via independent sources. Websites that are docked for unbacked claims and low credibility do not rank highly on Google’s front page nor do they encourage return visits from web traffic and visitors.
Conclusion
Written Content is the backbone of a healthy business website. If you are not creating written content to be deployed on your website and across your business’ social media accounts, you are not creating a website that is meeting its maximum potential. You need written content to establish your brand, to fully communicate with your website visitors, perform complete search engine optimization, and set yourself apart from the competition. By taking all of these items into consideration you can begin writing like a professional and creating effective content that provides a service to your customers and reflects well on not just your website but your business as a whole. So take the initiative today and start creating written content for your business.
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