The Importance Of Your Brand
Want to use content that builds trust and authority but also gains more exposure for your website?
Website owners and businesses are investing in content marketing for a reason, it builds trust and authority. But not only will content marketing build trust and authority, but it also positions you as a thought leader in your niche.
But there is a problem if you want to use content that builds trust and authority, it takes time and effort. You also need some basic level writing skills. This is one of the most common reasons businesses don’t use content to build trust and authority. If you don’t have the opportunity to write content that builds trust and authority yourself, you can always turn to a freelancer.
If you want to use content that builds trust and authority you need to stop thinking of your content as the stuff you use to fill your website with. Instead, you need to start thinking of content as though it were a product. A product that is just as exciting as anything you might sell and as such, deserves all the same buzz, marketing, and attention.
Content That Builds Trust And Authority
There are many different approaches to content marketing but one of the best ways to create content that will build trust and authority is long-form content. Long-form content is any content that is longer than 1,000 words and that will usually include a lot of images and links. Long-form content is also perhaps the most powerful type of content there is for growing your site and demonstrating value.
Why Long-Form Content?
Google has undergone many changes over the years but almost all of these have had a single purpose: to provide its users with better results. Google wants to show its users the most relevant, entertaining, and useful search results and as such, it wants to remove as much spam as it can from its results pages.
To do this, Google looks for indicators of the quality of a site. One such indicator is length, and if a blog post or article appears to be longer, then this suggests that it is providing more value to the reader. There is only so much information you can convey in 500 words, whereas a long post is something that will be able to go in-depth and explore many different angles of a subject.
This is why Google has actually gone on record to say that the optimum length for a blog post is 1,800 words. If your content is that long, then it will look like it has real value to the reader. You can enhance this by also adding lots of headers, lots of images, and lots of links to high-quality external resources.
Another good sign that Google likes long-form content is the fact that longer posts are more likely to get featured as resources in the SERPs!
How To Device Long-Form Content
To make long-form content that works, you need to choose a topic that you can really go in-depth on. This means thinking of every single way that you can offer more value and useful information to the reader. Whether that means including links to resources throughout the post, whether it means providing different options on the same subject, or whether it means just being the most in-depth guide to the subject currently on the web.
What it absolutely must not mean however is that you stuff your site with words and bulk it up as much as possible. Do not waffle or you will lose the audience that matters.
Another tip is to make sure that your content doesn’t look dense. If your site is just one massive block of text, then it is going to be highly off-putting for the readers and require too much investment of time in order to read.
Good long-form content should be spaced out with lots of headings and perhaps even a table of contests. This way, the reader can skim through to find the parts they are most interested in or they can opt to sit down with a cup of coffee and gid in!
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Content For Both Google And Your Readers
When it comes to writing content for your website or blog, it often seems as though you have two options.
Optio one is to create content that is written for the reader first. Here, your first priority is to create something that people will enjoy and that they will be excited to read. This is the best strategy for those genuinely interested in true content marketing, content that builds trust and authority.
Option two though is to write content for the search engines. In other words, this means that you are writing content in such a way that google will be more likely to index it and will be more likely to present it to users. The risk here is that while you might gain exposure, you could risk losing the enjoyment of your readers and thereby building trust and authority.
But the real question you should be asking is not which of these methods you should adopt but whether or not you can accomplish both things at once.
The New SEO
There was a time when writing for Google and writing for the reader meant two very different things. At this time, SEOs were focused on trying to hack Google’s algorithms and effectively game the system. Google primarily ranked content based on the repetitious use of keywords and phrases and this means that a smart SEO could simply insert the same keywords into their content over and over in order to make something that would rank highly on Google.
Of course, this did not result in content that was readable or enjoyable for the visitor.
Fortunately, Google has wizened up to those methods and is now much savvier at spotting blatant attempts at manipulation. If you repeat the same key terms over and over again, your website is likely to get penalized rather than reach the top. Instead, Google is now smart enough to look for real language and write around the topic. In fact, you can see this now when you search Google for terms. Often it will actually replace the search term with synonyms!
The Message To Remember
The key take-home to remember through all of this is that Google wants to rank the best quality content. The overall aim of Google is to ensure its users find what they are looking for when they search and thus if you offer something genuinely useful. Your goals will be aligned with those of Google and future updates will be more likely to help you rank well. On the other hand, if you are trying to dupe Google then your site will get hurt with each future improvement!
Don’t Forget Your Brand
To understand why your brand is so important, it can be useful to first consider the role of content marketing. The aim of any content marketing campaign is not only to gain more exposure by climbing the ranks of Google and providing content that will be shared on social media. The aim is also to try and help you build authority and trust with your audience.
The hope is that after stumbling on your content a few times and being blown away, your audience will then start to seek out your site because they see it as an authority. Eventually, they might bookmark it and begin to check it daily, at which point your high-quality information and entertainment have done their job.
But in order for this to happen, your audience first needs to recognize that the posts they enjoyed were from the same creator and that they are going to continue being as high quality and as well geared for their particular needs and interests.
How does this happen? Usually, it happens because those visitors noticed the background or the logo at the top of the page and realize it is the same site they enjoyed last time.
At the same time, your logo also needs to convey a certain purpose, mission statement, and style. People are only going to follow your blog if they think that this is a place where they will continue to get information and entertainment they enjoy and find useful.
Your logo is going to play a big part in establishing that fact. Your logo should be strong enough that when a visitor looks at it, they have a good idea of the kind of thing your site is all about. If this appears to be in accord with the post they just read, then they might start to explore further. Your brand is ‘What Ties It All Together.
A brand is not just a logo and a site design though. It is an ethos and a promise. You buy Apple products because you know what to expect. From your previous experience with Apple, you know that their hardware will be well-made and their software will be slick and easy to use.
When you return to a site you like, you do so for the same reason. You are here because you know what the site is all about and in your experience, it delivers the kind of thing you are interested in reading about.
If your blog is going to be successful, then it needs to have its own tone, its own style, and its own particular subject area. All this should be encapsulated and symbolized b your branding.
Wrapping Up
These are just a few things on how you can make and use content that builds trust and authority.
If you have these tips in mind. I am quite sure that you will succeed. That your readers will see you as an authority in your niche and will continue to come back. And, don’t forget your brand, what builds your brand. What makes your brand so good.
One important thing you should never forget or do is try to trick Google with any kind of ‘Black Hat’ SEO techniques. You will never gain from it but only lose in the long run.
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