I hate the race…the pressure to add more and more pages of content at an ever-increasing rate.
A few years ago millions of rubbish pages were being uploaded to the web every day. Then Google put a big dent in that approach with its Panda updates.
Unfortunately, the race is still being run, but with a slightly improved quality of content.
It’s still a race.
And I hate that.
I want to publish content according to my own calendar, not because I feel I have to compete with everyone else.
And I want to publish content that has a purpose, not simply because “more content is good”.
And that’s the nub of it. It drives me nuts when companies and individuals upload content simply because “more is good”, and “fresher is better than older”. There is an element of truth to both of those reasons, but the downside is that everyone gets into a race to upload truck loads of content that is just “good enough”, and created simply to satisfy the call for “more content”.
This pressure to create content more frequently drives people to write more often than they should.
For example, a writer may determine that he or she has enough ideas and raw material to create a really, really good page of content once every two weeks.
But that writer is almost always under pressure to create more than that. He or she is told to up the ante and create five posts a week. As the site owner or web manager might say, “If we want to be active in social media, we need fresh content every day! We need those social signals, baby!”
The outcome? Lower quality. Derivative drivel. Same old same old.
That’s a fool’s game. It’s a downward spiral. Bucket loads of just-good-enough content will discourage and exhaust your writers, and ultimately damage your brand.
As a company, how can you get off this treadmill?
Don’t publish content simply to be in the race. Don’t publish frequently because someone told you that frequency and freshness are good.
Instead, create a content marketing strategy that is aligned with your marketing strategy and calendar, and then publish content that is “on purpose”.
You want to create signal, not noise.
Publishing in high volumes simply because “more is good” is just noise, and is lost within the clamor of your competitors.
Publishing content that is on strategy and on purpose is signal.
If you want to make this switch you’ll have to put more time and thought into your content marketing strategy. You’ll have to pay closer attention to your marketing calendar and then invest in the creation of higher-quality content that is on time and on purpose.
You might even have to find some better writers and pay them higher fees.
But it’s all worth it, simply to get away from the race and the noise, and create content that actually contributes to the sales process and increases your revenues.
Where the web content writer fits into this picture…
If you are a writer, and want to be able to command those higher fees writing content, you’ll have to up your game as well. You’ll need to be able to write content that is more than just noise. And you’ll have to understand how quality content fits into the online marketing strategy.
Also, you’ll need to seek out clients who are looking for quality.
Is there a market for writers who create on-purpose content? Absolutely there is, and these writers do get paid more. Better still, the market is growing. Smart companies are aware that web content can play a key role in their marketing strategy. And they are looking for writers who understand this, and can write high quality content that drives interest, builds loyalty and moves the reader closer to the point of sale.
This is the way forward for any content writer who wants to do quality work and get paid a good fee for their efforts.
Related promotion:
The king of content marketing strategy is Brian Clark of Copyblogger Media. His business generates over $7 million a year in revenues, all of it built on the back of content marketing. He knows exactly how to write on-purpose content that is all signal and no noise.
Best of all, he has now created a program that will teach you to do the same. His program is aimed at freelance content writers who want to learn the secrets he has used to build Copyblogger. He isn’t promising a 7-figure income for everyone who takes the program, but a 6-figure income is well within reach if you practice what he teaches.
His 8-part, live program is being hosted by AWAI and is called 4 Weeks to Content Marketing Mastery with Brian Clark.
About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…