Is your content meeting these good quality indicators?

From your web copy to your blog posts, your brochure to your proposals and your social media updates to your emails, crafting great copy which draws the reader in and encourages them to take the next step through your sales funnel is a sure fire way to ensure you’re meeting your business goals as an entrepreneur. Creating good quality content is a lot harder than it sounds, especially when you factor in the need for your online copy to be optimised, your sales copy to engage the reader and your overall content assets to serve each stage of the customer journey from awareness through to consideration and finally decision making. 

To help make this tough job a little easier, our own wordsmiths have shared their markers for good quality content. How does your content measure up? 

Content which weaves a story is incredibly compelling and, you’d expect to have at least one or two pieces like this somewhere within your content library or site archives. This could be your brand story and the explanation of how you came to do what you do. 

Generic copy not only turns off readers, it can actively send them to a competitor who’s taken the trouble to create content which demonstrates they ‘get’ that customer. Personalised content can take many forms, from using someone’s name at the start of your automated email chain to sharing resources which serve that particular person’s need. The great thing about personalisation is that it gives you a lot of scope for creativity – provided you put in the leg work to truly understand your clients and website visitors and their relationship to your brand. 

There are dozens of different content types out there but most of us will admit to falling back on the written blog more often than not. This is understandable as it’s a format that everyone is familiar and comfortable with, it’s easily shared, makes for good social media posts and is a boost for your SEO. 

A good quality content profile however needs a bit more variety. Video is one of the hottest mediums at the moment but, if you don’t have the set up or budget for that, going live on social media Stories is another option. Slide shows, image galleries, ebooks, podcast episodes and quizzes are also worth adding into your content mix. 

Audience participation such as comments or reviews may not be appropriate for all content formats but it certainly is for some – and factoring this in can also help you tick off another good quality content box. Some channels will lend themselves more easily to this; social media for example as you can host a Live video or encourage followers to send in their questions. Start with the basics and then get creative!