What Is Content FOR, Anyway?

There’s a lot of buzz about content in digital marketing.  Once you understand what content IS, the next thing to understand about content is:

WHAT IT’S FOR…

The Twin Purposes of Content

Two Purposes

1. Content is there to increase understanding of the value you deliver

The better people understand what you deliver, the better your results will be.  Good content increases understanding when it talks clearly and consistently about what your purpose is, the problems you solve and the results you deliver.

2. Content is there to build trust from your visitors

The world has a trust deficit at the moment, particularly online.  Your content needs to let your visitors know they can trust you and your ability to deliver on your promises.  Good content demonstrates that you are real, and that the solutions you deliver are valuable.

For Two Audiences

Content serves two quite separate and distinct audiences with different needs. BOTH these audiences need to understand the value you offer AND trust you are genuine:

1. The human visitors to your site

Your content needs to meet human needs for information, value and enjoyment.  It needs to be useful, it needs to be tuned to the different ways that people process information (images, words, audio, movies).  It will be extra valuable if it’s tuned to different learning styles and different forms of trust-measuring.  It needs to engage people and encourage them to action.

2. The search engines that bring traffic to your site

Search engines are looking for engaging, good quality information from genuine providers.   They measure quality in all sorts of ways — from the quality of your code to the consistency and originality of your text content. <<Link to separate post when released>>.

Quality content is consistent, original and well-labelled.  It particularly requires effective words (search engines can’t process images and videos – yet).

Is Your Content Delivering?

Tools like Google Analytics can give a good indication of how well your content is delivering.   If your visitors “bounce” off as soon as they arrive, you have a problem — could be with your look and feel, your content or your keywords.  If your rankings are low and your traffic is low, you may have a trust problem with Google, or you may be out of touch with how your potential customers are searching for you.

Don’t know — and don’t know where to start?  Our Digital Health check is a low-cost way to get an independent assessment of how your website and your content are delivering for you.  Contact Us today to get started. <<Link to contacts page>>