Problem of Great Content for Small Businesses

[JonnyMP]

The real problem for most business people is how they are not natural writers. Some of these site owners and real world business owners know how to do just one thing and writing is not part of the skill set.

For those situations, it's just better to hire a professional writer, rather than trying to guess at how to create good site content.

A professional writer will not only know about SEO and keywords but also how to write an article that draws an audience in.

And, considering how much Google loves good content, it's well worth the investment.

 

[neils3]

This is a very interesting thread.

If you are passionate about your business, you will naturally care about what you put online. That's not just quality content but everything from branding, images and structure. Ranking highly in Google is just the side bonus - it's actually a nice way to think about it.

There will always be a group of people who don't want to spend time or money on doing something e.g. creating content online. That's not new. That doesn't mean the advice is bad, it just means they are not your target market, not ready to take that step. Advising plumbers who currently spend time and money in online marketing to create content to rank in Google will probably go down better.

As for the actual advice of creating content, I agree ROI is super important and is why I don't think jumping on the content band wagon is the right thing. Creating a large website with loads of content that doesn't generate any hits from search results can harm your websites SEO power. A larger website does not necessarily mean larger search benefits.

Like someone else mentioned here, find your target market and go there.

 

[Alan]

We write for our clients, but put it out on the internet because thats where it is. Is it great content, probably. Do we get a +ve ROI, no I don't believe so, but then I guess we are not content marketing.

 

[davidvidgen]

It's my view that good content should seek to attract visitors, generate leads and turn them into profitable customers. I suggest that content comes in many formats (videos, pdfs, etc) and targets visitors based on where they are in the buyers journey. So you need content that educates, helps them decide and continues to add to their purchase experience.

I agree wholeheartedly with the thread above where the individual indicates that plumber general Joe has plenty to contribute to the web. He certainly has the expertise and subject know how, what Joe lacks is perhaps the understanding that if he fails to invest time and effort into creating content that educates, helps consumers decide and continues to add good value to his existing client base through his website, then Joe will never actually reap the rewards for doing so. Blogs and websites are not expensive, despite the comment above. Nor do I believe for one minute that Plumber Joe should not be trying to outrank Yahoo on how to fix a tap, that ship has long sailed. Plumber Joe would be better off educating his audience on how to spot a dodgy plumber, the questions to ask potential plumbers, what work should be carried out and typical costs etc. This is more likely to build trust, and trust will build customers. Plumber Joe may in fact be an expensive plumber, and because he has demonstrated his expertise and know how (through videos, how to guides, supplements etc), and he understands re-marketing, he gets the contract. (96% of visitors to your website will not buy on their first visit, so good content also persuades them to leave their details so you can continue to build that trust).

In fact, few websites really offer good content, because the attitude of most business owners is to copy and duplicate what already exists. Despite the vast size of the internet, I actually believe we are still very much in the infancy when it comes to good content. There is real opportunity for any person who has the genuine expertise in any given field, to produce good content and they will reap the rewards for doing so, not just on Google but via Social and Word of Mouth Marketing.

If any small business is struggling to understand what is good content or what good content looks like, it would do them no harm to have a good look at Hubspot. (I am in no way an affiliate or employee of them). They have some really good articles, posts, videos etc on how to create great content that attracts visitors and where they are in the buyers journey.

 

[davidvidgen]

Apologies, post uploaded twice so second one removed.

 

[intelligentppc]

I has excelent with content pleez call mer for quote.

 

[Paul Murray]

I agree in some respects with the article, but the fact is if a small business isn't prepared to pay for services that will help them, then they'll lose out to their competitors who will. It's the old "adapt or die" adage.

Even the local plumber can benefit. They may rank well for local searches but it the competiton (who rank lower) have persuasive content (including the snippet) they will get the new business.

This is a good point. When customers are looking for a service, they will often shop around to avoid being ripped-off. Simply having the top position in Google or another SERP won't guarantee you business unless the content is designed and written to convert.

On many occasions I've gone to another search result simply because the previous result didn't feel right, or the site was dated and amateurish, which I assumed their service also would be.

 

[iiisark]

Great content will always rank higher above the crappy one. The problem is that some webmsters think that great content is enough to rank well. Imagine you have 2 sites - 1st with grat content, but with poor navigation and design, lots of ads and links,.The 2ond site doesn't have such a great content but has good clean design, many links from reputable sites and is user friendly. Which one do you think will rank better?
P.S.: Google uses more than 200 factors to rank a website and great content is one of the most important but is just 1 of these 200