For many SMEs and non-profit organisations, the untapped potential of their websites is a missed opportunity that negatively impacts the organisation’s or business’s profitability.

While the effects of neglecting the website and its impact on business profitability may be subtle, Google has recently advised business owners and executives in non-profit organisations to recognise the potential benefits of prioritising their website, particularly content.

In April 2024, Google made it clear that content marketing is still king in the SEO game. Google values content so much that it has created a page on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.

For business owners who have ignored or placed content marketing in the too-hard basket, now is the time to prioritise content development and marketing for the organisation’s website and begin to reap the benefits.

WHAT ARE THE HESITATIONS THAT BUSINESS OWNERS HAVE ABOUT CREATING CONTENT?

Generally, there are a few basic reasons business owners do not prioritise content development.

a.  Lack of time

Many business owners are already struggling to keep up with the demands of running the business. Adding content creation to an already stretched list feels impossible.

b. Essential vs Important

This is the old conundrum between what is important and what is essential. Often in running a business, the important demands immediate attention. While content creation is critical to the business’s long-term success, it is pushed further down the list of priorities because it lacks immediacy for most owners and executives.

c.  Confidence in writing

The strengths of running a business do not necessarily include the strengths of writing people-centred content.

While business owners may know what message they want to convey, sitting down and writing can be daunting. Consequently, leaders often divert their attention to what they feel comfortable doing rather than creating content.

While these reasons are valid, they must be weighed against the benefits of content marketing to the business.

Benefits to a business of CONTENT MARKETING

There are several benefits to a business.

1. Greater visibility and reach

An organisation’s website is its digital storefront. However, it is not just about having a website—it is having a website that ranks. Google ranking measures a web page’s relevance, usefulness, and importance for a given search query.

Content is required for ranking. Gary Illyes from Google says, “Without content, ranking is impossible.”

2. Credibility and Trust

A well-designed website with relevant and up-to-date information builds credibility and professionalism, increasing consumer trust and confidence in the business.

Websites with a lack of information, old information, or broken links raise questions about the legitimacy of the business for potential customers.

3. Sales and Conversions

A well-optimised website that ranks well and has relevant content drives sales, particularly in today’s economy, where customers research online before purchasing.

Content marketing generates three times the number of leads and costs 62% less than traditional marketing.

For businesses investing heavily in traditional marketing, the switch to content marketing is essential. It reduces costs and increases the number of leads, which is a win-win situation for most businesses.

4. Adapting to changing consumer behaviour

To survive in the current economy, SMEs must adapt to changing consumer behaviour. As consumers have shifted to online research and shopping, a lack of website content will prevent small businesses from meeting evolving consumer expectations.

The importance of quality content

Content in a business’s website is foundational. However, it is not just having any content on the website; it is having quality content. In other words, content that;

●      Creates value.

●      Is credible.

●      Is specific to the query being searched; and

●      Creates a good user experience.

The question is how to create quality content that does these things, i.e., creates value, is credible and creates a good user experience for the customer.

THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY CONTENT

Content in a business’s website is foundational. However, it is not just having any content on the website; it is having quality content. In other words, content that;

●      Creates value.

●      Is credible.

●      Is specific to the query being searched; and

●      Creates a good user experience.

The question is how to create quality content that does these things, i.e., creates value, is credible and creates a good user experience for the customer.

Creating quality content

Several steps must be considered when developing quality content for websites. Some steps are more technical and deal with back-end set-up, such as Keyword optimisation, website speed, and backlinks.

In this section, we will consider the customer-facing aspects that must be considered when writing quality content.

Know and review your customer base

This cannot be stressed enough. When business owners have been in business for some time, it is easy to be lulled into a false sense of confidence that they know their customer base. However, the customer base may be changing. New groups of customers may be developing while the traditional customer base is declining.

Business owners must spend time analysing the data they collect from customers. Setting aside time to analyse the data leads to other questions, such as:

●      What trends are emerging?

●      What is the data not telling us?

●      Do we need to collect data that is different from what we have been?

●      Based on the data, how do we change our marketing?

Quality content always addresses the customer or potential customer. If you, as a business owner, do not know your customers, you cannot write quality content targeted to them.

What questions are your customers looking for answers?

Knowing your customers is crucial to understanding what questions they are asking and what problems they are looking for solutions.

Quality content addresses the problems and questions of your customers. Hence, it is:

●      Personal – the content is written to address your customers rather than some generic individual.

●      Relevant – the content is relevant to the question being answered. It is essential to get straight to the point or, at the very least, provide a hook that keeps a person’s attention for longer than three seconds. If people cannot find the answer they are looking for, they will look at other websites.

●      Accurate—Customers quickly spot inaccurate information, which can destroy credibility and trust. Once credibility and trust are damaged, a business can find it difficult to rebuild them with customers.

It is important to remember that while quality content seeks to answer customers’ problems, not every problem can be solved. However, at the very least, the content should aim to provide a different perspective for the customer.

Credibility

Credibility is vital to quality content on the business website.

Knowing your customers and their questions are the first two essential steps in being credible.

The other steps in developing credibility are:

●      Demonstrating experience and expertise.

●      Writing with authority.

●      Being trustworthy.

We demonstrate our experience and expertise in writing, ensure the sources or references we use are reputable and of a high standard, and maintain an open and credible online presence.

Demonstrating our experience and expertise allows our personality to shine through in our writing. This is also essential to building trust and credibility, particularly in a time of much debate about the use of AI.

While AI was once held up as the easy solution to writing content, there is more awareness now of the flaws and mistakes that AI can make when it is collecting information. This means relying on AI is no substitute for the writing of an individual who:

●      Knows the business’s customers and the questions that concern them.

●      Has the expertise and experience to be able to write.

●      Can write authoritatively to assist customers with their questions.

Writing content this way has positive consequences and flow-on effects for business sustainability and growth.

Public outrage has become much easier in the 21st century. We can express our outrage in the comfort of our homes by pressing ‘send’ while sipping our soy latte or chardonnay.

While the public may laugh off some cultural blunders and use them as memes that themselves become part of the cultural landscape, for many brands, cultural blunders can have profound and devastating consequences.