your guide to writing content that will fuel business growth in 2022

We can probably all remember the time when content marketing was still quite a novel idea. The latest buzzword. An exciting concept that only the most forward-thinking businesses were thoughtfully embracing and investing in. Those days are long gone. 

Far from being an optional element, quality content is now the pillar of any digital marketing initiative. And companies around the world of all sizes – be that large multinational corporations or SMEs – have long jumped on the content bandwagon, now increasingly dependent on quality content to form connections, create brand awareness and help boost sales. Indicatively, HubSpot statistics highlight that 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing today. The pandemic has inevitably had an important role to play. With fewer personal connections being made, and less contact via physical meetings, businesses are now more heavily reliant on their websites and content to convey their message.

But how do you maintain a competitive edge when you get down to writing your company’s content to promote your brand, increase engagement and help generate leads? Let’s dive in and look at some key pointers to help fuel your business growth this year. 

1.     Set down your goals to leverage the power of your words 

Rushing to share content just to post something on your company website won’t get you very far, and it can harm your business if it lacks a clear purpose. Every single content strategy needs to begin with clearly defined goals and a target audience in mind, in line with your wider business goals. Think about how you would like to impact your reader, and how you can do this effectively through the power of your words. What services do you most want to promote? Who do you want to attract as a new customer? What are their interests and what kind of language appeals to them? What would you like your brand/website to rank for and be associated with? If your writing lacks a clear vision, your readers will most likely feel lost, and you’ll immediately lose their interest. 

2.      Remember that genuine content now reigns supreme

In an online world saturated with information, readers will not identify with content that doesn’t sound genuine. Nobody wants to read an insight article, news piece, or blog that sounds just like a copy of something they’ve read before. What consumers really want is content that sheds light on something interesting that comes from a genuine place. Prioritize purposeful quality content that will be engaging for your target audience, written in a language that they can relate to, that is highly relevant to your product or service. This will help ensure that you become an authority in your industry – showcasing your expertise and cultivating trust with your target audience to generate sustainable and long-term valuable customer contacts and sales. And the more authentic and genuine you are, the more readers are likely to share your posts far and wide across social media. 

3.     Invest in the power of blogging 

As videos and podcasts gain even greater prominence in the content marketing world, you may be inclined to dismiss the power of blogging. But it’s still more relevant than ever. Consumers are always in search of new information – think of how many times you search for a product or service in Google – and websites that incorporate blogs are shown to have 434% more indexed pages (visited by a Google crawler). Companies with a blog presence also benefit from 97% more links to their websites. In short, blogging is still one of the most popular lead-generating tools you can use to help attract more customers. But blogging is a long-term investment and learning process – it takes time and effort to create lasting bonds with your audience as you fine-tune what works and what doesn’t. Bringing on board professional writers will help with the process and lighten the load.

4.     Always optimize your content for SEO 

Search engines need to know that your content matters. And you need to make sure that you’re making use of all the search engine optimization (SEO) tricks and tools available so that your business ranks highly in search engines. This means conducting in-depth research to find the right keywords, using unique SEO titles, adding meta descriptions – which directly affect how your page appears in search results and your CTR (click-through rate) – as well as internal and outbound links, and more.

5.      Be aware that consistency is key 

Consumers will habitually turn to your website and business only if you become a trusted source of regular information. If you’re not consistent with your posts, you won’t form genuine lasting connections with your audience. It’s as simple as that. There is no magic formula when it comes to blogging frequency, but we suggest posting once or twice a week to ensure that you start being discovered by search engines and become a more familiar brand with your target audience. 

6.     Keep in mind that longer is now better 

A blog article needs to be over 300 words minimum to boost search engine rankings, but contrary to a long-held belief, this does not mean that you should stick to publishing short posts. Recent studies now indicate that longer articles perform better in search engines. According to Orbit Media’s 2021 blogging statistics, it becomes clear that while writing 1500 word articles was once very rare, it is now far more common, with studies showing a direct correlation between article length and results in search rankings. Interestingly, the average length of content that ranks in the top 10 Google search results is 1,447 words. But before you get carried away with writing as much as possible, you must ensure that your long-form content is readable, broken down into succinct and easily digestible paragraphs to make it easy to take in. 

7.     Be smart with your visuals 

We all know that it’s convenient to turn to stock imagery to add visual appeal to your company’s web content or blog copy, but stock photos don’t help improve your rankings. If you want to reap more benefits, invest in a portfolio of genuine photos that provide real insight into your business, goods, or services, rather than a generic image you found online. Aside from more believable images, you can add in videos and catchy infographics to bring the text to life. Remember that every visual should have the right descriptive keyword-rich caption too, clearly reflecting the topic within the article. This helps search engines to better scan the site and should help you attract website traffic via google image searches. 

8.     Don’t forget your Call to Action (CTA)

So, you’ve attracted your target reader and they’ve been thoroughly engrossed in your content from start to finish. At this point, you don’t want to lose them! Take a moment to think about how your articles inspire your reader to take the next step. Every good piece of content needs to end with the right Call to Action (CTA) to boost sales and ensure that your target audience interacts with the given content to bring them on board. Add a contact form within your article, a button to join your newsletter, a banner that instructs the user on what to do next, or a ‘click to claim’ voucher. Be creative and fun. And make sure that your content is sharable, with share tabs clearly indicated at the bottom of each article on your company website.

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach when it comes to writing winning company content. 

However, there are certainly ways to ensure you improve your existing content to make your voice heard amid today’s content marketing storm. Every pointer in our checklist should help you along the way; many changes are small and subtle, while others will require greater effort and investment. But perhaps the most important thing to remember is that creating better content must be part of a much wider and holistic approach in line with your company’s overall marketing goals. Be purposeful, keep your comms targets front of mind, but don’t lose touch with your authentic voice to keep your audience interested.

If you know you need to up your content game but are not sure how to do it, our content creators at Action Global Communications are here to help guide you every step of the way. Reach out to Zoe via email at [email protected].