How Good is Your Content?

Your content is great… that’s what you think!

Are you happy with all of the marketing content your business is producing?

If so, it’s time for a review.

Yes, I know you have many responsibilities as a business owner, and you may place your content near the bottom of the “To Do” pile. But your content can actually boost sales significantly if done correctly. And if it’s bad, you can lose customers fast.

With this in mind, take a few minutes to ask yourself these questions…

10 Questions to Find Out if Your Content Stinks… and How to Fix it.

1. How many times do you use the word “We”?

“We are the best.”
“We beat the competition.”
“We are the leaders”… blah, blah, blah.No one cares. Stop talking about yourself, and focus on what you can do for your customers!

2. Do you write about the features of your products and services?

Features are boring. Instead, talk about the benefits and what’s in it for your customers. What are all of the great things they will receive and enjoy if they make a purchase from you?

3. DO YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS WITH LOTS OF STRANGE CHARACTERS… !!!?

Well, this is just obnoxious and screams, “Go Away Customers.” We are loud!Instead, use your content to entice customers to make a purchase. Provide valuable benefits and information in a positive, calm tone they will want to read.

4. Is yur grammer and Spellng correct?

This is a no-brainer. Proofread everything to make sure it is written correctly.

5. Is your content easy-to-read?

If you have long paragraphs, break them up and include headers and sub-titles throughout your copy. Make it simple for people to read, or even skim through, what you have to say!

6. Is your copy written in the past tense?

If you are writing about what happened in the past (Our customers liked this product, When used, this product shortened time, saved lives, reduced budgets, and more…), it’s time to add some excitement to your writing with action verbs in the present tense (like, use, shortens, saves, reduces, etc.).

7. Do you focus on one, key product or service per page?

Keep things simple. If you are trying to jam lots of information on just a few pages, it can be overwhelming. Instead, stick to one, key message per page.

8. Do you have landing pages?

Going along with the point above, it’s important to have a landing page (a Website page where site visitors “land”) for each product you are trying to sell. These pages include “copy that sells.” This way, you can write the content is a specific way to entice people to make a purchase, test variables on the page, track the results, and change the writing for the best results. If you don’t have landing pages, you are missing out on sales!

9. How does your content end?

When customers get to the end of your content, do you direct them to another link for more information, another article on your Website, an outside link, or somewhere else? Guide them where you want them to go, and make it easy for them to get information and feel comfortable with your organization.

10. Do customers care about what you write?

If you aren’t providing valuable information to your specific, target-market, you are wasting time. Instead, figure out what your customers want by conducting research and checking the most popular content via your site and social-media analytics on a regular basis. Then, write content specific to their needs that they will want to share with their friends. Provide value and sales will follow!

Is your content really working, or does it need some help?

How did you do with the questions above?

These are just a few, BtoB and BtoC writing-tips, but they can significantly improve your content. And today, this is important.

Content strategy and content marketing are now keys to business success. After all, if your competitors provide targeted and valuable content, and you don’t, guess where your customers are going to go?

What are you going to do right now to improve your content for your BtoB or BtoC business?

If you need help boosting sales with SEO, BtoB content strategy, please contact author Melanie Rembrandt at www.rembrandtwrites.com for more information.