Content marketing serves a number of purposes, so it’s no wonder 97 percent of marketers use it, according to the SEMrush State of Content Marketing 2022 report.
For the 3 percent of brands that don’t, here are the most compelling reasons to invest in content:
- Establish a brand story
- Organically attract strong leads with engaging and educational content
- Provide readers with the information they need to make a purchase decision
- Help boost your reputation
- Provide content for social media channels
- Start the process of converting search engine queries into loyal customers
- Retain current customers by providing information that demonstrates your brand’s value and the benefits of your products/services
4 crucial reasons to invest in high-quality content
Sure, it’s easy to say to your team, “Let’s write engaging content,” but it’s probably harder to actually put pen to paper or finger to keypad. There are a number of reasons why it’s critical to invest in a high-quality content source, from engaging your audience to better SEO performance.
Here are four reasons to invest in content — and not just any content — but the type that will attract, retain, and convert readers.
1. Well-written, SEO-friendly content performs better
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an incredible tool for brand marketers. The process of optimizing your brand’s content to searchers’ intent includes metadata, on-page keyword optimizations, page structure, and even image optimizations for visually impaired web users.
Google loves when your content is properly optimized and will reward you with better rankings. When you optimize content, you’re making your website more visible for those on search engines to learn more about your brand.
“As a result, this increases visitors to the website who will hopefully take the desired action — from buying a product to signing up for a service or providing their email address for later promotions,” says ClearVoicer Lindsay Tigar.
2. Long-form content has a higher ROI
Sure, short-form content, which as the name implies, is content with a shorter word count, works well on social media and in emails. But long-form content with a minimum of 1,200 words and upwards of 20,000 —“can be a great way to build awareness, appear in searches, and establish thought-leadership in a category,” says ClearVoicer Nancy Shenker.
While marketers once thought quantity over quality was important, this is no longer the case. SEMrush published a recent study on “The Anatomy of Top Performing Articles” validating this assertion. The study analyzed the engagement rates on hundreds of thousands of articles based on a number of factors, including article length.
The study revealed a big word-count trend — that long-form content massively outperforms shorter content, making it one of the most persuasive reasons to invest in content.
When compared to articles of average length (901 to 1,200 words), articles with 3,000+ words get:
- 3x more traffic
- 4x more social shares
- 3.5x more backlinks
When compared to short articles (300 to 600 words), articles with 3,000+ words get:
- 6.4x more traffic
- 4.5x more social shares
- 5x more backlinks
The moral of the story is that the more time you spend creating high-quality, long-form content, the higher the reward in the future.
3. Quality content engages readers
Writing engaging content is crucial to the long-term success of your content efforts — yet, it is no easy task. The degree to which you engage readers is what makes website visitors want to learn more or flee. Each time you create content, you should be mindful of the following elements:
- Title
- Lede
- Subheads
- Images
- Page structure
- Conclusion
- Calls to action
And within those elements, your content should address your core audience, include links and relevant statistics, create emotional appeal, and prompt readers to take further action.
4. High-quality content converts readers into advocates
Due to Google’s recent algorithm updates, it has become increasingly difficult to rank in searches with low-quality content. That’s why one of the most important reasons to invest in content is to ensure it is high quality enough that both your readers and search engines approve.
Here are some indicators of low-quality content:
- Poor site design and typography
- High quantity of online advertisements
- Low word count
- Content with grammatical errors or typos
- The content is scraped from another website, is auto-generated, or artificially spun
- The links or on-page resources are out of date
- The content is thin and has no value to the reader; meaning they’re not learning something by reading your content
By contrast, high-quality content has the power to create curiosity about your brand and converts readers into loyal advocates. It provides value to the reader, talks deeply about a specific subject matter, cites credible or first-person sources, is cleanly written by those devoted to the craft of writing, presents many angles of thinking, and is unique.
What ClearVoice offers for your content plans
Now that you know the biggest reasons to invest in content, you understand how well-written, high-quality organic content is a core factor in a brand’s staying power.
It can help you educate new audiences and, more importantly, connect the dots for readers to become loyal enthusiasts of your brand.
Let’s face it, whether you don’t have the time, energy, or desire to learn about how to market wisely through content, there’s good news. You can invest in content experts to help you along the way.
If you’re ready to drive your business forward with engaging content, let us help. From fully managed content plans to content strategy, you can select the plan that works for your needs and budget
