First things first – if you don’t have a blog on your website right now, you are a crazy person. That’s right Mrs. or Mr. Marketing Director of Some Company, if you don’t have a blog, then you’re missing out on a gaggle of primo traffic opportunities. I won’t bore you with all the details, but everything you post on your blog (if done correctly) becomes a delicious little SEO landing page for web surfers to find you. We’ve already got tips for getting your business blog off the ground and of course the plan of action for selecting good images for said blogs, but are you aware just how important writing valuable content is? Do you know what valuable content is?

Well, pull up your bean bag ultra-professional desk chair and take some notes, because I’m going to tell you exactly why writing valuable content for your website is so important while giving you some tips on how to do just that.

Why is writing valuable content really important?

There’s a reason you keep seeing articles about content on your Facebook feed, and that’s because content is imperative if you have any plans on monetizing that sexy little website of yours. Anyone can launch a blog, just head on over to Blogger or WordPress and you can have a blog online in a matter of minutes. It won’t be pretty, mind you, and certainly not as pretty as our blog (do you like our new categories design at the top? Nifty, eh?), but it will be a blog.

That’s only a tiny piece of the puzzle. There are two ways that content can be valuable, and providing both in a single article will ensure returns on the time investment. Content is valuable if:

1. It provides value to your readers

I’ll write more about this later, but if you’re just throwing out an article with a bunch of keywords hoping it’s going to make a difference to your bottom line, stop spinning your wheels right now. First, Google’s current algorithm, Pigeon, knows how to snake out the obvious blog tricks in a very basic way, because one of the key-most ingredients to an SEO-performing website is your bounce rate. If you’re providing content that doesn’t resonate, visitors will bail – plain and simple.

2. It provides value to your website

Google doesn’t just simply crawl the homepage of your website – every single page, including articles, is a chance for a new visitor to find you. Each topic you write about can answer a specific question for a massive audience or become that piece that goes viral content that gets shared around the world, introducing you to a large influx of visitors who can learn about your product or organization.

Content truly is king right now, no doubt, so without further adieu – here are some tips for writing valuable content.

Writing Valuable Content: The Guide

1. Be specific

How often do you read an article just because it really speaks to you or because it was on the first page of a search engine result? The first step to writing valuable content is to take the time to become an expert on the topic you’ve decided to write about.  The biggest reason for this is to provide that real value to your readers, because chances are you’ll only get one shot for them to decide to come back. The second reason is, people are Googling for answers to very specific questions as a first resort to almost everything.

By having specific content on your website that will bring legit value to your visitors, you’ll quickly gain a following. Heck, chances are you are reading this right now simply because the title of the article promises to answer a question you’ve asked. The pressure is now on me as the author to keep you engaged through the next five points. That’s a big responsibility – but don’t worry, I’ve got you.

2. Write for a target market

Make sure your content stays geared toward your target market in each article. Jumping from one target market to the next in a single post will likely result in losing the interest of visitors. It’s like showing up to a vegan joint and seeing a grass-fed beef burger on the menu. It makes you inauthentic (and downright lazy) and will likely enrage both parties.

Remember, we’re trying to cultivate a following. Every single post on the Marqana blog is meant to bring value to those interested in digital marketing. That’s our target audience. You should do the same with yours!

3. Have fun with it

I sure hope you like reading this, because I think it’s pretty damn entertaining. Sure, you can write an educational article on any topic with the right amount of know-how, but why not have some fun while you’re at it? Toss in a joke once in a while! Make a funny meme and throw it in there while you’re at it. Here, I’ll do just that:

Boom. I threw that together in three minutes, and it made this article oh so much more enjoyable for both you and me!

4. Read the news

People are interested in the latest crazes. Tying your content into the latest news is not only recommended, it’s sometimes mandatory. I can’t tell you how many iPhone 6 and iOS 8 articles found their way into my feeds the past two weeks. Everyone’s crazy about it! Be careful, though, and always lean towards the safe side. You don’t want to be the clowns (oh no, I hope I don’t offend the clown community) who offer some sort of promotional deal or blog about some news topic that’s completely in poor taste. Try to be smart.

5. Don’t forget to share

Or rather, make sharing easy. Writing valuable content is one of many steps to making sure people find your website, but if they love your valuable content you want to ensure they can show their friends. Personally, I see no reason to use anything other than AddThis to enable sharing on your website, but there’s also handy tools like Jetpack and Shareholic that’ll do the trick.

6. Putting it on something pretty helps

I’m not being a salesman, this is just me being honest. I’m going to stick around Hubspot’s blog, Inbound Hub, and keep coming back for more because it’s pretty, it’s easy to navigate, and they’ve got great content that helps me out in a pinch. In fact, I’m such a visual person that the first step to my actually reading content is the visual validation of the page it’s on. That’s why Marqana spends so much time telling you about design, because it matters more now than ever. People expect everything they look at to be top notch, or they’ll just go to one of another gazillion options that do it better. You’ve been warned!

Conclusion/You’re Welcome/Subscribe!

Writing valuable content that speaks to your visitors is one of the most important things you can do for your business for all of the reasons described above and much, much more. Don’t forget, if you enjoy awesome digital marketing articles like this, you can subscribe to our newsletter in the handy footer of this here website. Of course, if any of this seems like too much of a burden, you can always give Marqana a call, and we’ll happily do it for you.