3 Common Misbeliefs of Content Creation Services
Content creation services have changed since the Internet dark ages (I mean, the 1990s). Do you hold any of these common misbeliefs regarding content creation? If so, run, don’t walk, to an online marketing agency.
3 Common Content Creation Services Misbeliefs
Common Misbelief #1
Content creation is the same today as it was in 1997.
In the late 1990’s the brochure website was extremely popular among small business owners.
This type of website is characterized by:
- 5 to 10 pages of content, including an About Us and Contact Us page.
- A website that is updated very infrequently, on a monthly, quarterly, or even yearly basis.
- Updates are usually in the form of .PDF monthly, quarterly or annual newsletters.
Unfortunately, too many business owners still have the “brochure website” mindset when it comes to creating content for their business. What these companies fail to realize is that the 5-10 page website that worked for them in 1997 is not going to attract enough website visitors in today’s more competitive digital world.
Digital content creation should include:
- Dozens or even hundreds of pages of content, including weekly or monthly blog articles on topics of interest to your customers.
- Websites that are updated weekly or even daily with new information (product lines, informative articles, news/events).
- Content that is easy to view and share on cell phones and desktops alike.
Remember, if your website visitors do not find your website helpful or useful, they will click off of your site and not return. Give these customers something worth their time. Create great content and lots of it.
Common Misbelief #2
Content creation is a one-time endeavor.
Here are three things that we can do now on websites that we definitely could not do in the 1990s:
We can chat online with salesmen on a corporate website, in real-time (and with newer mobile phones, prospects can engage in video chat with these salesmen anytime, anyplace).
Users can easily share website content on Twitter and other social media (especially if the webpage they are viewing has a plugin that encourages social sharing with a simple click of a button).
The invention of low-cost and/or free content management systems allows business owners to update content about their products and services immediately, as the need arises. They no longer need to contact a webmaster every time a paragraph needs to be added to a website page.
With modern technology, there are ample opportunities for businesses to interact daily with their prospective and current customers on their corporate websites. If you are not engaging your customers through online chatting, creating shareable content, and updating your product pages every time you expand your services, you are not using your website to its fullest potential to attract new business.
It’s no longer 1997. Gone are the days when websites were static “brochure” pages without any interactive features. If you are not updating your website regularly and engaging with your customers every day in real time on your website and in social media, then you are missing out on a whole host of selling opportunities.
Common Misbelief #3
The beauty of content creation is that it doesn’t require marketing.
No, creating website content is not a free way to get more customers. The same way that a paper brochure sitting un-used in an office is not going to generate any customers, a website is not going to generate business on its own. Unless your sales and marketing teams make a considerable effort in getting your website in front of potential buyers, your website will not deliver the results that you need.
And all of these marketing efforts take either time or money or both. Establishing a strong social media presence and sharing web content takes a tremendous amount of time. Link building also requires a lot of time to do, from researching the best directories to be on, to networking with journalists, business owners, and experts in your field in order to generate high-quality links back to your site.
Paid advertising also requires an initial monetary investment but can give your site exposure in a short period of time. Content marketing software, which allows you to do neat things like generate dynamic content, unique to every website visitor, results in a higher ROI in the long run but requires a hefty initial investment in the beginning.
