Making Good Content Takes Time
A lot goes into the process of content creation for commercial purposes. It requires vision and organization. It requires investment, patience, and consistency of approach. And it requires time. But the investment of your creative resources comes with benefits. Here are three ways in which making good content pays off:
Well-Crafted Content Engages
Researching a topic is a time-intensive process. Interviewing experts, teasing out new perspectives, and drafting up an article outline all require sustained effort. From pitch to proofing, original content doesn’t fall pre-formed from the sky.
But once your piece of content is finished and promotion is underway, stand by for the fruits of your content investment. You may not hit the jackpot with every article or e-book. Nor will success necessarily emerge overnight—some content may take many months to gain traction in search.
Don’t be discouraged, though. Stick to your process and the quality of your work will win out. Readers will engage with what you have to say, and the care with which you produced the piece will shine through.
Search Engines Reward Quality
You can expedite a building’s construction, but that doesn’t mean you get to skip the foundations. A rushed piece of copy or a half-conceived e-book may meet your internal deadline and give the sales department something to send to prospects, but it won’t lay the groundwork necessary for a tangible ROI.
True, it’s important to stick to your content plan and not let perfection be the enemy of the good. At the same time, efficiency is wasted if it doesn’t rest on a solid foundation of well-researched, quality content.
This foundational quality is what the search engines ultimately reward. Don’t be put off by the time needed; making something that is well-researched and well-executed may require several rounds of drafting, edits and proofs. There are always efficiencies you can bring to bear when following your content recipe, but cutting corners can result in a content cake that’s underbaked.
Good Content Differentiates From AI
The rapid adoption of marketing automation and AI-driven tools will help the process of content creation in many ways. But it will not circumvent the reality that best-in-class content creation remains a craft that, done well, will remain a couple of steps ahead of the machines.
Of course, content creation benefits from advanced tools, and better tools help drive better outcomes. They increase productivity and can improve the finished goods.
But the synthesizing process that is at the heart of any creative action remains brilliantly, some might say magically, in our hands. While AI text generation may seem at times like its own form of magic, when you start to pick away at the contents of its output, it tends to crumble under close editorial scrutiny.
Taking the time to make good content will differentiate your business and your brand in a world awash with commodity output.