Five Common Content Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Date: September 15, 2022

Content is becoming a bigger and more important part of online marketing efforts for businesses of all types and sizes. It helps your company rank higher on the search engine results pages (SERPs) like Google, and it gives your potential customers confidence in your knowledge and abilities. But many businesses try to enter the world of content marketing without any background knowledge or preparation, and this leads to common, avoidable mistakes.

It’s important to keep in mind what your goal is when it comes to content marketing. Ultimately, the purpose is to create quality content that speaks to your potential clients. Great content has the ability to boost your brand’s profile both in terms of visibility and expertise, but it can’t reach these goals if it’s not executed properly. It’s vital to plan ahead and stay on track in order to achieve these goals. Save your business time and money by going into content creation with a plan in mind, and avoid these common pitfalls.

Mixing Up Content Marketing with Advertising

In many circumstances, it’s easy to conflate marketing and advertising, and assume that the approach to each should be the same. However, when it comes to content, the idea of traditional advertising should be on the back burner. Making your content sound like a sales pitch comes across as disingenuous, and undercuts your true goal in content creation, which should be demonstrating your expertise in the topic at hand.

Additionally, a sales pitch approach will often not provide the reader with the clarity that’s needed at the end of a quality blog post. For example, if your business is a family law firm, a blog that leans more towards the advertising side will likely give reasons why your law firm is the one to choose, but won’t provide information or perspective to back up that claim. On the other hand, a high-quality blog post might give a detailed exploration of the topic at hand, demonstrating an in-depth and hands-on knowledge of the work that needs to be done, and will end with a call to action encouraging the reader to reach out to your firm for further conversation. This format is far more appealing to your potential clients, as it still encourages further discussion with you, but provides them with much more security and confidence in your ability to help.

Not Thinking About Your Target Audience

Speaking of your potential customers, content marketing should be executed with them in mind as much as your company. What does a new prospective client need to know from you? What demonstrates knowledge of your practice area, and your unique perspective on how to help? You may know your niche best, but your audience doesn’t know what gaps are missing in their own knowledge of the subject. Think about your target audience – their gender, age, income level, and the issues they usually bring to you. Consider the questions that they most commonly ask and the information that most of them lack. Understanding your audience will bring you topics that speak specifically to them and build trust with them. Write to answer their common queries, and in doing so, you ensure that your content is making an impact on your website’s ranking and is also improving your reputation with your potential clients by showing that you listen to what they need.

Straying Too Far From Your Goals

When you go down a rabbit hole of content research, it can be tempting to find an interesting topic and start writing, even if the topic isn’t related to the focus of your business. But it’s important to keep in mind that content is meant to reinforce your company’s goals and draw in relevant business. This is not to say that you cannot choose topics that aren’t exactly on target for your business’s objectives – once in a while, commentary on a related topic or on a relevant current event provides interesting variety for your audience. However, spending the majority of your time and energy on blogs unrelated to your business is an error in judgment. You want to be using keywords related to your business and writing about the topics you know best – this will draw in the right attention and bring qualified leads to your website.

Not Considering Search Engine Optimization

Your online content creation serves many purposes within your digital marketing plan. One of the roles it plays is to enhance your standing on search engine results pages (SERPs) through search engine optimization (SEO). Many people who write content in-house without the guidance of SEO experts neglect the important SEO aspects of their content creation. Great content can come from simply sitting down and writing, but it won’t have nearly as much reach as you’d like it to have without optimizing your content for search engine results. Research the keywords, or common search terms, associated with your product or service, and try to include those naturally wherever possible. A trusted SEO team can help guide you through topic choice, drafting, optimization, and distribution of your blogs to ensure that your business is getting the most out of your content as you can. 

Keyword Stuffing

Some writers, however, look at the vital component of using keywords to build quality content and take it to the extreme. Your business should be very conscious of the concept of “keyword stuffing,” a tactic used by some companies to take advantage of useful SEO tactics. Keyword stuffing generally means that your writer is filling your content with as many keywords as possible with little regard for readability or cohesion. Not only does this decrease the quality of the content you’re producing, but it can also lead to Google flagging your website for unethical practices. The key to solving this content marketing mistake is to find a balance between too many keywords and too few – include the ones that make the most sense semantically in your text, without compromising your content’s quality. An experienced SEO expert or team can help you find the right balance for your content. 

Need Guidance For Your Content Marketing? 9Sail Can Help!

Starting the process of content creation can be daunting, and there are pitfalls that can feel unavoidable. At 9Sail, we specialize in helping attorneys like you with their SEO marketing and content creation. We know what the necessary steps are to create content that is both informative and relevant, helping to put your website in front of as many potential customers as possible.

We encourage you to set up a free consultation with our team of experts to start the content creation process. You can make your appointment by calling or submitting your contact information through our online form. We look forward to hearing from you!