Creating interesting and unique website content is the aim of all content marketing companies and SEO specialists.
You will have no doubt heard the term ‘content is king’ and in light of the Panda and Penguin updates, this statement has never rung so true.
Unique, high-quality content is not only rewarded by the likes of Google, it increases the chance of natural link creation as well as social shares, making it the foundation upon which all search marketing campaigns should be built.
Creating this kind of content, however, is difficult to do, requiring lots of hard work and original thought. Research is the key to creating high quality content and without it; you will find yourself in a cycle of repetitive copy. This article will cover the importance of good research as well as methods you can use to help improve the quality of your output.
Researching a topic can be extremely time consuming and, at worst, fruitless. Knowing how and where to look will inevitably help for you to find relevant and current information. The best pieces of copy are based around topics that are relevant to the industry in question, current and popular amongst readers. In order to do this in a timely and efficient manner, using a number of tools that are available online is highly recommended. Here are some research tools you should consider using if you don’t already.
Google News – This is a great tool for finding the most recent news updates on your particular search.
Google Trends – helps you isolate topics as well as gather regional data and trends.
Google Insights – This tool allows you to find popular search terms around a topic of interest.
Twitter – Great for finding up to date trending information as well as looking at what kind of content people like to share. Follow the people you want to attract as well as the people who set the industry agenda.
Google Reader – This tool enables you to view all the websites you subscribe to via RSS in one quickly viewable layout. This is essential for keeping up to date with industry websites and conversations.
Content Strategy Generator Tool - This cleverly designed Google document allows you to input keywords into a spreadsheet, which in turn gives you a bunch of recent information from news sites, Twitter, Digg and Google Insights to name but a few.
Using these tools will enable you to get a good perspective on current topics of debate that relate to the sector you’re writing about. From here you can begin to think about using this information to create a unique spin on the topic.
Many copy writers can get in the habit of re writing content, which in turn creates an abundance of very similar, boring content. So think creatively, use your own experiences and add to the conversation, rather than re-hash what other people have said already.