What qualifies as great content?
Surely you have wondered about the type of content people are looking for, what makes content good? What is worth reading or watching? And the reality is standing out among content creators is not impossible, so here are some tips to get the most out of the content created.
1. Define and understand your audience
The first step you must follow before starting to create content is to know who that content will be directed to. In other words, you want to make sure what you write specifically connects with the people you want, that make them feel involved, and they can even give you feedback to improve your content.
For this, you will have to use your skills in marketing and psychology, because you will have to create a profile of the type of audience you want to reach. So, get to work on this investigation, because you will have to find everything you can about your possible audience to understand it.
From their likes, what they do not like to read, what they share on social networks, the time they spend reading articles, absolutely everything. And once you get the profile of your audience, you can start making great online content for them, based on quality content trends.
2. Use an attractive title and keywords
The title is the first contact your article has with the public; a good title with attractive keywords will depend on how many people click on your content. It does not matter if it is a video, an article, or whatever, your content should be characterized by a title with keywords that tell consumers this is what they are looking for.
But how can you do this? Well, there are several techniques used by the creators. Possibly the most popular option is to use a list, in this way you already have the possible title of your content, as well as the way it will be distributed. For example, 5 ways to prepare healthy fast food, so people searching for the keyword “healthy fast food” can easily find the content.
3. Useful but original content
This is one of the most important tips, possibly the first rule for many content creators. Because your content will never qualify as good if it has traces of plagiarism, not even if it is the most useful and complete article of all.
What makes content good is characterized by being useful to the target audience, but also by being original and one of a kind. To achieve this, you must not only be unique in terms of themes and subtopic distribution but also in terms of prose and writing styles.
Content consumers appreciate when something has been done in a meaningful way, and not just to capture the top spots in Google trends. And of course, you can use trending topics, but always with a unique and special approach, which catches the attention of your audience.
4. Engage your audience
At this point, we will focus on the inside of your content, because it should be relevant, but not as deep as a college essay. For this, you will have to measure the engagement of your audience
and answer these questions: How long does my content consume? Do they consume all the content or do they leave it in the middle? And finally, is my content easy to read?
Once you have answered all of the above, you can make modifications to your content to make it attractive enough. But of course, easy to understand and that can be consumed quickly, without losing meaning.
5. Always stay updated
Never overestimate your level of knowledge about something, not for nothing, all the experts in the world in any area keep learning and updating. And you should not be an exception, so whatever your content is about, you should keep up to date.
From re-uploading an old article with more recent information to continuing to update or advance a review you have done, in order to stay along with the quality content trends.
6. Use real sources
Citing sources is not only useful for college papers because Google cares a lot about its creators citing other content. This is a technique called link-building, and if you have the right contacts, you can generate a link-building chain where your content is cited by others and you cite other content.
But this goes beyond an SEO strategy because citing study sources, newscasts, and even expert opinions gives you a lot of credibility with your audience. Always remember the authority bias; people tend to believe a name with a Ph.D. at the end more than any name.
7. Do not abuse the filling
While we know Google appreciates and ranks the most extensive content, we also know making quality content like this is hard. So it is not uncommon for a little "filler" to be used, either for that purpose or to break the ice with the consumer.
But do not let this divert the idea of your content, always stick to the central theme of what you do. And so you can be at peace with Google and with your consumers.
8. Get criticized with your content
Lastly, this includes everything about the structure, grammar, spelling, and style of your content. All this depends on how good your content is, and how readable it is for the audience you want to reach.
You should sit down to consume your content before considering if it is suitable to present it to your audience, so go ahead and if you think it is impossible to consume, you already know there is a problem. So, do not be afraid to be a little critical of yourself while writing quality content.
Following all of these tips won't put you on top of Google overnight, but it will improve the quality of your content in a big way. This is something that you and your consumers are going to notice, and they will surely enjoy more.
Interested in making awesome content?