Any experienced website owner or director knows that it is essential to continually add new content to a site in order to keep it ranking well with search engines and to allow potential customers to easily find it. However, the task of writing or purchasing new content each week can sometimes seem overwhelming.
To keep your clients motivated, here are just a few reasons why custom content creation--customized content created just for their sites--is far superior to using public domain content, such as a general analysis by an industry expert.
1. Targeted for their audience.
Nuances matter in sales. When an article is written specifically for your client's website, it is tailored just for their customers or clients. Such content makes readers feel like the business is talking directly to them, not just handing them a stack of material to read that may or may not apply to them. Says Ardath Albee, CEO of Marketing Interactions, custom content creation presents your company as a "trusted partner that provides recognizable value in addition to your product or service offering that your prospects can’t get if they purchased from an alternative choice."
One industrial blogger, Dominick DalSanto of Baghouse advises business bloggers and website owners to create websites around a niche topic and to "learn your topic well enough to be able to teach it to others." Good advice.
2. Unique to search engines.
Search engines love unique content. When your clients create their own articles or purchase exclusive rights to content, they control how and where the content is used. When they use general content, the same page you use may turn up on dozens or even hundreds of websites around the Internet, hurting their search engine rankings.
Related: The Key to Unique Content is You
3. Calls to Action.
Only custom content creation is written to drive sales of your product. Any good piece of content for a commercial site should conclude with some type of sales message. Ideally, your clients have educated readers in the body of the article about how the product will meet the reader's needs. They should close that sale by letting them know how to buy the product at the end of the page.
Related: Mastering the Art of the Flawless Call-to-Action
4. Prospects are searching for your client, not the author.
When using generalized content, especially pieces written by an industry expert, you don't know if your site visitors arrived at your site looking for your product or just to read something by your expert author. Albee advises site owners to assume the latter when in doubt.
Creating unique, targeted custom content on a regular basis can be taxing. However, the effort will be rewarded over time with increased traffic to your clients' websites and subsequent increased sales. And, isn't that why they created their sites in the first place? To learn more about advanced content strategies, check our white paper, "What is Content Marketing? And Why It's So Important."
