Are you looking for a content creation agency to handle written content and SEO for your business? Great content usually has one end goal in mind – business growth. Like anything, content marketing is an investment, so you need to choose carefully when selecting people or agencies to work with. Here’s what you need to know.
Why is written content important?
Written content is the cornerstone of any business website. Well, that is if you want to get noticed on Google. Search engines like Google rank pages according to their relevance, as well as many other factors that influence SEO. However, there are plenty more benefits to developing high-quality content.
Check the video below for some basic content writing tips, to give you an idea of what you should look for.
Higher Google rankings
When we talk about boosting your search engine rankings, we’re mainly talking about Google. At the time of writing, Google accounts for around 92% of search engine traffic, so while there are other search engines out there, none come close to Google.
Another interesting thing to consider is that if your page appears on page 2 of Google’s search results, you can expect to get less than 1% of traffic. When it comes to producing relevant, informative and engaging content that Google is happy to recommend to users, you need to be on your game. Long-form content of more than 1000 words is a terrific way to get noticed, but do you know what the average word count is for medium to high competition search queries? It’s closer to 2000 words.
So, as you can see, it’s important to get your content right. Google is committed to delivering a great search experience to users, meaning it only wants to show people the most relevant and SEO-friendly content out there.
Delivering value to your readers
When you write great content, you should never just bury it on your website. Most written content online is in the form of blogs, articles or landing pages. Every business is different, with a different target audience. That’s why digital marketing is no walk in the park. However, if you go to the effort or expense to write an informative article, you can get a lot more benefits than just SEO.
The written content you produce should be aimed at your audience, and it should always deliver value. So, when you publish a blog on your website, for example, make sure you share it around on social media as much as you can. The more that readers benefit from your articles, the greater the trust in your brand.
Establishing yourself as a thought leader
There are several platforms online where you can establish yourself as a leader in your industry. If we’re being honest, generic, throwaway blog articles do have their place in digital marketing. But to be considered a thought leader, you need truly great content.
When you publish an insightful, informative article, one of the best places to share it is on LinkedIn. People go to LinkedIn to find engaging, well-written content. Unlike other forms of social media, you are more likely to develop business professionals and decision-makers on LinkedIn.
Being seen as a thought leader in your industry can have numerous benefits, such as more sales, collaboration opportunities and stronger development of your brand.
Convert website visitors to sales
SEO is all about directing traffic to your website. But what happens next? It’s great to get more people checking out your business, but if they’re not contacting you, downloading resources or buying anything, your SEO efforts have been wasted.
That’s why you need great written content. Optimising for search engines is one thing, but your content also needs to speak to customers. Whether it’s a dedicated landing page or just your normal website, the written content should be informative, easy to read and encourage visitors to take the next step.
A content creation agency adds value to SEO activities
If you’re already investing money in SEO activities, it’s crucial to have good content along with it. As we just mentioned, SEO is great, but if you can’t convince customers to buy, it’s not worth much. So, content is just one part of your SEO activities, but a very important one.
This is why many people choose to work with professional marketing services rather than just an SEO team. Your content will support all of the other SEO and marketing campaigns you’ve got happening. Plus, regularly publishing good content helps improve your domain authority score, and therefore, your Google rankings.
Email marketing
So many companies use email marketing these days. And why not? If you’ve got a list of customers who have already shown interest in your products or services it would be pretty neglectful to not use that.
But what if the content you send them is poor? Whether it’s a newsletter or a quick email about a special discount, people expect a level of quality. Don’t send emails to customers full of spelling mistakes and errors. A content creation agency can help develop strong wording for your emails that entices customers to buy.
How to find a content creation agency
Finding the right way to produce content can be difficult. In many ways, that’s because the whole digital marketing industry is very broad. You might find a digital marketing agency that is great at fixing the technical SEO on your website, or great at PPC advertising or social media marketing. But the quality of the written content they provide may not be the best. By the same token, you might have a great writer on your team, but without some SEO skills, great words alone simply won’t be enough.
Here are some tips for finding a content creation agency that works for you.
The link between SEO and content
We won’t go into great detail about what SEO is and all of the surrounding activities that could form part of any SEO campaign. Suffice it to say, the written content is a big part of it. SEO is all about getting your website ranking higher on Google for relevant search queries. Naturally, there is a link between this and SEO.
Google expects a certain standard of writing. If your writing is pointless, not informative and shows poor readability, it can negate some of the other SEO activities you’re doing. On the flip side, great content with great SEO is usually considered a recipe for success.
So, when searching for an agency, try to find ones that deliver great written content and can also handle some of your SEO activities.
Pro tip: Don’t hire writers who have no idea about SEO, no matter how good their writing is. If you do, you’ll probably need to engage and pay for someone else to look after your SEO.
Forget testimonials, pick up the phone
When you check out a website, do you go straight to the testimonials? In theory, it’s a great way to hear from satisfied customers. But there’s one problem, and you’ll need to excuse my language. So many online testimonials are bullshit.
There are some checks and balances for things like Google reviews, trying to ensure they’re more legitimate. But many website testimonials are entirely false, and some even include generic stock photos next to them rather than a real photo of a customer.
So, when you next visit a website for a content creation agency, if you’re interested in their work, just contact them. There’s virtually no way to verify if a testimonial is legit, so pick up the phone or send an email to get a real idea of the agency’s customer service.
The pricing needs to be right
Everybody has a budget, right? As a business owner, you need to keep control of your finances and make smart decisions about who you engage for services. This is where there’s no set advice we can give. An agency’s price will either be within your budget, or it won’t. Don’t try to stretch yourself too thin financially.
SEO and content creation won’t deliver you instant customers, despite what some agencies will try to tell you. It takes time, and in the early stages of hiring an SEO or content team, you may not see a great deal of movement. So, while you definitely want a return on your investment, be prepared to pay for around 6 months of services before you can determine whether it’s worth continuing.
Find a content creation agency that works in-house
When it comes to digital marketing in Australia, there is SO much outsourcing going on. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s what smart businesses do to save money or access a wider talent pool. But there is one particular area where this simply doesn’t work. Content creation.
Not only should your writer have good SEO knowledge, but they should also have an exceptional handle on the English language. Unfortunately, many agencies outsource the written content component of their services overseas to non-English speaking workers who just don’t deliver good content.
We’ve seen it time and time again, so don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you hire a company to create content for you, request a phone call or meeting with the writer or writers. This should happen anyway because the writer should understand your business. But it also gives you peace of mind that your content is being written in-house by a native English speaker.
Your agency should understand your business
As we touched on, writers and content marketing agencies really need to understand your business. A restaurant isn’t the same as a tyre shop. And a tyre shop isn’t identical to the tyre shop down the road. Every business has its own goals and ambitions and unique service offerings. These should be highlighted in your written content, and that can’t happen if the content agency doesn’t know what you do.
If an agency just wants you to quickly sign up for a contract or pay upfront for services without even having a proper consultation, run a mile in the other direction.
Communication and reliability
Working with a content agency or professional copywriting service should feel like a partnership. If you need something, your agency contact should be responsive. Of course, it’s a little hard to tell whether a person or business is going to be reliable with their communication, but there are some ways to test it out.
Firstly, take note of your early communications with the agency. Do they respond quickly to your first query? Do they answer the phone when you call? These are some giveaways – if they can’t handle the basic communication required to attract a potential customer, they’re likely to be even worse once you start paying them.
The fact is, if an agency was running late with an article or there were some legitimate delays when working with them, you’d probably understand. As long as they communicate IN ADVANCE. It should never be up to you to chase agencies.
A multi-angled approach to SEO and content creation
Remember earlier, we mentioned that you’ll need to pay for SEO services if your copywriter or content agency can’t handle it for you? Well, there’s one way to solve that. If you can find small business SEO services that also manage content creation, you’re on a winner.
A good agency should be able to tailor its approach to helping your business grow. Because business growth is essentially what you’re paying for. So, in your early enquiries, ask if monthly packages are set in stone or if they’re flexible. Ideally, they’ll be flexible enough to work towards your goals.
Your agency can have constructive discussions
Let’s be honest here. You’re calling an SEO agency or content creator because those things aren’t really your strong point. Or, you simply don’t have time because you’re focused on running a business. That’s totally fine – your copywriter probably can’t do most of the things you do! So, when you have an initial consultation for the first time, keep an eye out for the ‘yes people’.
Some agencies will just say anything to have you sign up. They’ll agree with everything you say, and make you feel important. But the problem is, you’re not calling them to feel important. You’re calling them because you need genuine help with a service. A good agency can have constructive conversations and tell you, tactfully, why some of your ideas might not work.
That’s their job, and that’s why you’ve called them. On the other side of the coin, they should also be able to handle criticism and make the changes you request, as long as it doesn’t impact SEO or the integrity of the work.
Look for a content creation agency that values collaboration
Finally, the most important thing in any business relationship is collaboration. You can generally spot an agency that doesn’t value collaboration. Their prices and packages are very firmly fixed with no wiggle room. They have templates for everything. You’ll also notice that they’re not really willing to have long conversations or explain anything in detail.
That’s because they don’t want to work with you. They want your money, and they’ll provide a service, but you won’t get much more. Collaboration is a way to move the goal posts, target different audiences, and switch marketing strategies when necessary. It’s extremely important, and something you should never overlook.
Wait, can’t freelancers handle this sort of thing?
When it comes to writing great content, you might be wondering why you even need an agency. Wouldn’t a freelancer do it cheaper? The answer is yes, they probably could. But would the product be as good? Well, there are plenty of amazing copywriters out there, so it quite possibly could be as good.
But remember what we mentioned before about the link between SEO and content creation? It’s pretty rare to find copywriters with anything more than a passing knowledge of SEO. So, you’ll end up hiring one freelancer for writing. Another for SEO keyword research. Maybe another to fix your website. It all adds up to an unnecessary expense when there are agencies out there who can handle all of those things.
Plus, freelancers can be notoriously unreliable. Not all of them, because there are some amazing freelancers out there doing great things. But with an agency, you have a little more recourse because they won’t just disappear off the face of the earth if something goes wrong.
Find a content agency you can trust
Content Solutions Australia offers a wide range of content services, with packages completely customisable to your needs. We listen to your business goals and understand what you want to achieve. Templates and one-size-fits-all solutions are thrown out the window around here, for two reasons. Firstly, doing the same thing every day is boring. Secondly, every business is different and requires a unique service.
If you want a content creation agency you can form a real partnership with, talk to us today. We’ll tailor a monthly package designed to grow your business and deliver real value.
