You’re trying to build your business and create a well-rounded marketing strategy. As you work on this, you encounter a common dilemma: Should you hire an SEO specialist or invest in a talented freelance writer? Here’s what you should consider as you decide.
Both Content and SEO are Crucial
The problem with the argument over content and SEO is that it can give the impression that one isn’t very important. In truth, both are critical to a digital marketing strategy and achieving desirable search results for your website.
SEO-focused content is just one facet of search engine optimization. But it works in conjunction with technical aspects like website structure and site speed to drive traffic to your site.
Ideally, organizations could work with both a talented writer who creates SEO-centric content and a dedicated SEO specialist who handles day-to-day website operations and core SEO tasks. SEO and content creation have a mutually beneficial relationship.
If you publish relevant, optimized content that engages users, Google will reward you with higher page rankings. At the same time, proven SEO techniques can get more traffic to your content. More traffic can increase business conversions and improve other metrics that search engines use to rank your website.
That said, many companies don’t have the resources to devote multiple positions to SEO and SEO content. This is where a freelance writer with experience in SEO can help.
Integrating SEO with Content
Without quality content, the technical side of SEO is futile. Content is how search engines evaluate a website’s relevance in relation to search queries, and users expect to see content that addresses their searches when they arrive at your website.
However, good content will improve SEO, even if you don’t engage in other forms of search engine optimization. Simply publishing new, relevant content to your website lets search engines know your site is active and is a pertinent source of information, whether for a product or service, or as a general resource.
Professional marketing freelancers not only understand how to write relevant, engaging content, but they also understand basic SEO techniques that can support websites with even rudimentary technical SEO. SEO content writers know how to employ keywords, authoritative links and other best practices to enhance a website’s SEO.
Benefits of Creating a Strong Brand with Content
There are additional benefits to using content in your online marketing. When you emphasize engaging content written by people who are familiar with your industry, your company can implement the following strategies:
Build Authority and Thought Leadership
When you publish content to your website, blog, or social media that communicates expertise, you build your reputation with your audience. Creating this kind of content establishes authority in your online presence. You also develop thought leadership. When you do this successfully, your brand is more likely to be seen as a source of expert advice and insights in your niche.
Increase Website Traffic
By producing more content for your brand, you increase your presence in search engine results. You are likely to see more incoming traffic to your website. Not only does more traffic benefit SEO, but it can also help nudge visitors through the sales funnel.
Educate Customers About Your Products or Services
Keyword-optimized, mid-to-low-funnel content can be used as an effective conversion tool. Make sure to work with talented writers who can:
- Communicate product features and benefits
- Provide relevant tips and advice
- Use storytelling to provide context and real-world examples
The content you use in your marketing efforts will go beyond improving SEO. When it’s done effectively, content writing can help you convert both B2B and B2C customers.
Improve On-Page Metrics
In addition to providing engaging information, good content contains images, internal links, videos, and other elements. These are effective in making content more attractive to audience members. Furthermore, they help ensure that visitors stay on a page for longer periods, click internal links, and engage with your site in other ways. These results boost metrics that Google sees as being positive, such as time on page. Meanwhile, negative metrics, such as bounce rates, decrease.
Earn Backlinks
When another website links to your content, they give your page a crucial vote of confidence. There are two benefits to this. The first is that you may see an increase in direct traffic from their site to yours. The second is that these backlinks send an important signal to search engines that external sources see your content as relevant and worthwhile.
Just remember that the value of backlinks to your content is directly influenced by the reputation of the page that links to your site. You want to earn quality backlinks. The best way to do that is to use a freelance writer to create excellent original content and to include quality external links in your own content. This helps to encourage reciprocal linking.
Connect with Customers at Every Stage
Content is an important tool that you can use to engage people at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Different content types and formats are more relevant to audience members, depending on their needs, concerns, and place in the purchasing process.
By producing a variety of content, you can ensure that they can find the information they need on your site. This is why brands should work with freelance writers who can produce both long and short-form content in a range of formats, such as:
- Blog posts
- White papers
- Case studies
- Infographics
- Guest posts
- How-to guides
- Product overviews
This variety helps ensure that decision-makers have access to the information they seek in a format that works best for them.
Improve Brand Awareness
When customers — and more importantly, potential customers — think of your niche, is your company one of the first that comes to mind? If so, you have successfully gained brand awareness. If not, you need content to help with that.
By publishing quality content, you increase familiarity with your company and what you have to offer. Brand awareness goes beyond simple name recognition, though. It also includes an understanding of what you have to offer.
In many ways, brand awareness is an example of the power of both content and SEO combined. Companies that hire expert freelancers to create high-quality content and use proven optimization techniques are most likely to have the ranking and traffic they need to create a powerful online presence and peak brand awareness.