Write Your Own Content

(re-published 2021-04-15

If you want to have a successful website or blog then you should definitely look into content marketing, and especially long-form content.

This is the form of marketing that websites owners and business owners are investing the most time and money into at the moment and for a good reason. Not only is content marketing ideal for building a big audience, it is also a great way to build a relationship with that audience, to earn their trust and to position yourself as a although leader’ in your niche.

The trouble is that writing content takes time and effort and it also requires that you have a basic level of writing skill. It is for these reasons that many site owners will not write their own pages but will instead turn to freelancing sites like UpWork and Freelancer in order to acquire writers. Not only that, they will often rely on other techniques like content submitted by users and content that has been curated from the web.

Why So Effective And Powerful

These options have their place but none is as effective or powerful as writing the content yourself.

Here is why.

° First and Foremost, writing content yourself ensures that it stays precisely on-message and on-brand. Your content does not just need to be well-written to be effective, it also needs to convey a consistence message.

People want to know that you are in their wavelength. They need to know that if you are recommending a product, it is because you believe it is scientifically tested. Ot that you believe it is natural and whore some. Either way, they want to know that your opinions algin with theirs.
If you hire writers to handle your work, then you are going to lose some of that. The best writers will try to stay neutral to avoid putting words in your mouth, while the worst ones might actually contradict the point of view you are trying to adhere to.

° Excitement and Passion. The other trouble is that hieing a writer creates more distance between you and the reader and it removes the excitement and passion that should be present in everything you discuss. The best blogs by far are those that are written by people who know the subject inside out and are passionate about it. Why? Because they have the knowledge and understanding to bring something new to the table. They know the topic well enough to make suggestions that are exciting and to go beyond just beginner introductions.

A hired writer may know the subject well but they won’t ant to be too adventurous with their content because they won’t know what you would be willing to say. Very often though, they will be learning as they write and that means the content is likely to be entry-level at worst.
Of course, their are exceptions to these rules. The best option is to find someone who is as passionate abut the topic as you are. Whatever you do though, don’t settle for outsourced, generic content. Even if it is well-written.

Get Started Today & Learn More About Content Marketing

Long-Form Content 

There are many different approaches to content marketing but one of the best ways to create content that will get shares and that will get read, is to attempt to build long form. This is any content that is longer then 1,000 words and that will usually include lots of images and links. It is also perhaps the most powerful typw of content there is for growing your site and demonstrating value.

Why Long Form Content Works

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 want 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 a site’s quality. One such indicator is length, and if a blog post or article appears to be longer, then this suggest that it is providing more value to the reader. There is only so much information you can convey in 500 words, where as a longer 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 resource.

Another good sign that Google likes long-form content is the fact that longer posts are most likely to get featured as resources tin 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 (or at the end), whether it means providing different opinions 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 too dense. If your site is just one massive block of text, then it is going to be highly off-putting for the reader and require too much of an investment of time in order to read.

Conclusion

Good long-form content should be spaced out with lots of headings and perhaps even a table of contents. 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 tea and dig in!

Featured Image Attribute:  Computer photo created by wayhomestudio – www.freepik.com