High-quality content goes a lot further than quantity in your content strategy. Chances are that you have clicked onto a site and immediately left because the content was marred by spelling mistakes, factual inconsistencies, or an awkward tone. Rather than focusing on churning out low-quality content in large amounts, follow these steps to produce well-researched, high-quality content which will win your business a fan-base of online consumers.

1. Work Hard to Be Original – and Trustworthy

Remember those term papers you had to submit for school? Well, it’s time to wear your academic hat again, because producing quality content requires just as much creativity and research. Unfortunately, it won’t do to sit down and write a stream-of-consciousness narrative about why your product is better than your rival’s. Good content requires essay-like planning from the formation of a topic to the final edit.

Your primary aim is to win over indecisive online surfers who might be choosing between five webpages similar to yours. Winning their favor requires establishing an authoritative voice.

A simple product image probably won't help your content stand out, either. Use user-generated content to highlight your unique community's experience with your products to stand out from similar brands. This helps establish trust with your brand and offers additional original validation.

2. Keep your Prose Simple

The writing best suited to promotional content is accessible, lively, professional, and inviting. Keep your diction simple, and your sentence structure on the shorter side. Craft your words into clear, concise paragraphs that logically lead your reader through your thought process – this is particularly important in longer pieces. Additionally, use language and a tone that resonates with your audience.

3. Include Visual Inspiration

Attention spans are notoriously short so mastering other media will accelerate your content to the next level. Break up long sections of text with simple graphs, video footage, and high-resolution images that help explain your topic. These visual aids will help to cement your message in your reader’s mind (especially for those who find it easier to learn through pictures). Even better, use UGC in these spaces to further connect the reader to your brand. Content with UGC has been shown to boost on-page engagement, leading to a better conversion rate overall.

4. Publish Just Enough

Publish frequency depends mainly on two factors: the channel and the audience. Overpublishing can result in diminishing returns on engagement, but under-publishing can lead to missed opportunities to engage your audience. It's always good to experiment with different content types, channels, and frequencies.  

Generally, though, one well-researched, long-form blog entry per month is infinitely more valuable than three haphazardly-written Tweets per day. High-quality articles are much more likely to be shared around on social media than messily-finished content which is derivative and unoriginal.

Highlighting quality content and UGC on your website helps elevate your brand in the eye of your audience. Not only does good content provide value that your audience is likely to engage with for longer amounts of time, but it also builds long term trust in your brand.

‍Harper is a young creative writer residing in Auckland, New Zealand. When she isn’t up to her knees in freelance writing projects (her happy place, btw!) for blogs or business sites such as Crombie Lockwood, you can find her digesting out the latest technology news or chuckling at the antics of fantails and blackbirds outside her house. Check out Harper’s personal blog here.