In the world of online marketing, content is king. Sure, factors like design and promotion are important, but content is essential. Even the best design in the world will get zero results if it has zero content, but there are many examples of great content overcoming not-so-great design.
When it comes to budgeting, though, content production is often the one thing that gets left off the list. Creating content, apparently, is a hobby that most anyone can do, and do well. But although getting something for nothing might seem like a great investment, the limited quality or quantity of such content can seriously limit the overall value of your online efforts.
Content marketing can provide huge returns, if you are willing to invest in it. There are several reasons why adding a content budget to your SEO campaign is an investment that can pay off.- Content is SEO. Content, particularly in written form, is what the search engines index and is what potential customers search for. All of your other SEO efforts are just supplements or add-ons to the content itself. Without the content, any other SEO strategies will not really have much effect.
- Search engines are getting smarter. In the earlier days of the web, there were many ways that marketers could "fool" search engines with a variety of SEO tricks. Thankfully, that is no longer the case, as such black hat SEO tactics are actively punished by the search engines. Today's search engines are much better at doing exactly what they are supposed to do: determine which pages have the best content to match what people are searching for. As they continue to refine their algorithms, the quality of your content will become more and more important, while technical SEO factors will theoretically have less of an impact on rankings.
- Author reputation now matters. Google's AuthorRank is the next big adjustment to how the ubiquitous search site determines page rankings. It looks at the quality and the popularity of an author's previous content to help determine the ranking of new content by that author. This means that reputation is becoming more important, and having poorly-written content is something that can haunt your SEO efforts in the future.
- It improves the conversion rate. In the end, sales are what you are looking for. Getting more visitors to the site does not help much if you don't then convince them to take the next step. It is your content that tells the story, and has the biggest impact on whether a visitor turns into a customer.
- It employs the power of social networks. Search engines are not the only source of visitors, as social network referrals have become a major driver of internet traffic. People on social networks don't care about your SEO efforts; they are only interested in sharing compelling content. By having something they want to share, you essentially get people to promote your site for free, and have the possibility of it going viral. And since social media popularity now also factors into AuthorRank and search engine algorithms, being popular on social media will help your SEO efforts, as well.
Considering its overarching importance, it only makes sense to invest in the best content possible by including content marketing in your budget.
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