Having Killer Content is Actually Crucial For Your Business
The ‘what’, the ‘why’, and the ‘how’ (plus 7 practical guidelines)
When I successfully managed to turn my web development side hustle into a full-blown business (more on that I’ll probably share later on), I didn’t know a lot of things.
I wasn’t quite sure whether or not I'll be able to skyrocket my professional endeavor, will I have enough clients, will customers appreciate all the effort and hard work I put into my web development agency, will I be able to establish myself as a reliable specialist in my field?
But I did know one thing for sure — my team and I will invest time and energy in creating killer content for sustaining a valuable and customer-oriented blog. And we succeeded at all the goals, blogging included.
‘Content is king.’ — Bill Gates, 1996
For sure many of us have already heard this expression — it simply indicates the need for quality-written content that will be extremely valuable to all the visitors and potential clients for simply any type of business. Make no mistake — there are always topics and subjects you can cover regardless of the field of expertise your business is established in.
In today’s article, I would like to go in-depth on content writing and why it’s so important to maintain an awesome valuable blog. I will also go into detail on some useful tactics you can implement.
Why does content matter when it comes to successful business establishment online
Let’s focus mainly on two topics — customers and search engines since they are the ultimate source for skyrocketing your business on the web. After all, we all aim at discovery, authority, and popularity.
- Good content helps potential clients discover your business and get to know your expertise in the field
If you change perspective for a bit and put yourself in the shoes of a customer, then you’ll most probably want to learn a bit more both about the company’s story and its services or products. By visiting their blog, you can do just that — corporate blogs are niche-oriented and focus mainly on providing useful information to potential clients. Content is a great way to inform people about your skills, company’s goals, and development, as well as to provide solutions to a variety of problems and specific questions.
Nowadays people widely use search engines while seeking an answer to a problem, task, know-how. If you create content based on people’s most searched inquiries, then the chance of potential clients stumbling upon your platform is quite high. This is crucial for establishing a brand and online presence which will surely pay off in the long run.
More on how to discover what topics to cover in your blog I’ll explain down below. For now, let’s just not forget that your content must be created in service of people first.
- Search engines just love high-quality content and they reward you generously for it
If you have already heard about SEO/SEM, then you most certainly know how much of an impact it has on your overall online success.
If these abbreviations sound to you like some kind of peculiar tech slang, then I’ve got you covered — let’s see what it’s all about.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) simply helps your website rank higher on the search results page. The higher your website stands there, the bigger the chances are for clients and customers to quickly discover your products and services.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) consists of establishing ads campaigns on various platforms to increase your website’s visibility, profit, and conversion.
SEO and SEM are of crucial importance for your business development, so to speak. They help you get notices and build authority.
More on SEO and SEM basics you can read here:
A very important part of the SEO process is creating high-quality content. By crawling your articles, the search engines get a better idea of what your business is all about and are likely to rank your texts higher on the result page.
Another important factor is that with the help of new content you show crawlers that your website is alive, fresh, and frequently updated — that’s essential for eCommerce websites and LMS platforms, to name a few.
Some useful guidelines and advice on creating a successful company blog
So far we’ve come to the understanding that focusing on valuable content is an essential part of your business development. I also covered two main reasons why establishing a blog must definitely land on your to-do list.
Now, let’s talk about some useful tips and tricks on how to achieve this.
- Start using keyword research software
- Brainstorm topic ideas
- Create a posting schedule
- Create suitable theme categories for your blog
- Carefully choose inbound and outbound links
- Make sure your article is SEO-friendly
- Choose images with exceptional quality
- Implement charm in your writing style
Start using keyword research software
No matter what your business niche is, there is always something to tell your customers and clients. Essentially, that’s the main purpose of the blog — to be valuable, to bring knowledge, to solve problems, and to spark interest.
Keyword research tools are a great source of information when it comes to finding out people’s search intent. You can filter your niche’s themes and topics and the tool will list all the words, phrases, and questions people lookup online. This approach is a great way to help your website rank higher since visitors will find your content extremely valuable.
Some great keyword research tools are Ahrefs, SEMRush, Ubersuggest, etc.
Brainstorm topic ideas
Dedicate a day or two to brainstorming topic ideas based on the list of queries in the keyword research tool. Check with other businesses in your niche and see how they use words, what their tone of voice is. When having a handful of topics to cover, then you most certainly would feel inspired to kickstart your company’s blog. When scribbling various headlines, always have your customers’ intention in mind — what do most people want to know about that you can educate them on?
Create a posting schedule
Starting and maintaining a successful and popular blog requires persistence and frequent updates. I’ve mentioned above that search engines view new content as website refreshment. When you follow a posting schedule, you will likely manage to post daily or several times per week. This is also a great strategy if you have people subscribed for your blog via email — this way you’ll always be able to present them something new.
Create suitable theme categories for your blog
Now, your business niche is one thing; blog categories, on the other hand, are another.
For example, my company’s business niche is web development with WordPress. The topics we cover on our blog, however, focus on different subthemes in the world of creating websites and WordPress. To get an idea, here are some of the categories from our blog: WordPress issues, design, copywriting, plugins, SEO, marketing, development, etc.
You can outline the main categories in practically each and every niche — this way your visitors can focus on the subjects that spark their interest the most.
Carefully choose inbound and outbound links
Including links in your article is a great way to offer some additional pieces of valuable information for your readers. Add links when you want to refer to resources, widen a subject of discussion, etc. Inbound links are links from your own website — those can be other articles, product or services pages, about pages, contact forms. Outbound links, on the other hand, are links that direct to another website that contains valuable and trustworthy information that enriches your article in some way.
Links are a great way to build your blog post structure.
Make sure your article is SEO-friendly
As we mentioned ‘structure’, we absolutely must refer to SEO. SEO-friendly texts follow a structure that improves readability and readers’ experience. Primarily focus on heading distribution (only have one H1 heading, include H2’s and H3's), short paragraphs, a decent amount of white spaces, bullet points, numerals, quotes, images (including alt texts), etc.
Choose images with exceptional quality
Humans are visual creators and it’s only natural for them to pay attention to articles that stand out. One way to achieve this is with the help of the headline; the other is by choosing great visuals. Images and infographics are a great way to make a point and emotionally charge your article.
Beware: always choose images that are under the ‘free usage’ license (copyright infringement is not something you would want to face). Such image galleries are Unsplash, Pexels, Freepik, Pixabay, etc.
Implement charm in your writing style
If you’ve seen 1998's ‘The mask of Zoro’, then you probably remember a remarkable dialogue between Don Diego de la Vega (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas).
In this scene, the young Zoro (played by Banderas) has come to the end of his education and learning — he has clearly mastered the craft. But then Don Diego de la Vega adds one final component that needs to be implemented — charm, essentially.
No matter how well-structured and valuable to readers your content is, never forget to add a sprinkle of charm, individuality, and sense of style — all these combined help your articles be pleasurable to be read.
In a nutshell
Fortunately content will always matter as long as the Internet improves and aims at offering exceptional and valuable experiences. Blogs are a great way for a business to let clients get to know its ideas, portfolio, products, and services.
People are always curious, always hungry for knowledge, always willing to acquire new sets of skills, always ready to find their future business partner, agency, or like-minded individuals.
No matter how digital and tech-oriented the world gets, we will always love to read. Sure, tendencies change and nowadays we devour huge chunks of text in front of the screen of our devices, instead of stepping into our reading nooks with a book, but our passion for words is not something that will disappear any time soon.
All we can do is offer our fair share of quality content creation.
Hi, guys, I’m Ivan and I’m here to share with all of you my passion for words, great content, entrepreneurship, personal development, management, hobbies, and everything in between.
I serve as a CEO for my WordPress Development Agency @ Vipe Studio where I have the pleasure to lead a diverse, wonderful and energetic team of experts. Feel free to contact me anytime — I would love to exchange new ideas and inspire each other!
