Creating content for your business is not as easy as you might think. There are a lot of things you have to consider, a lot of time you have to spend on ideation, and most pressingly, a lot of mistakes that you can commit. Whether you are creating online marketing content for a franchise or small business, here are the most common mistakes that you must avoid when creating content:
1. Not creating valuable content
The biggest mistake of content creation is not creating valuable content in the first place. Are you posting blog after blog just for the sake of posting? If you’re dishing out poorly hashed content without a second thought, you might not be using your resources to the fullest. Furthermore, readers can recognize half-baked content when they see it, and you don’t want to make a bad impression on your audiences.
2. Failure to use SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps increase the visibility of your page on major search engines, primarily Google. Keep in mind that the majority of potential customers will only view results up to the 2nd or 3rd page, and if your website is located beyond that, your content won’t be as visible as you want it to be.
Here are several ways to optimize your website for search engines:
- Determine what keywords will people type in on the search engine to find your content
- Place those keywords in strategic parts of your content piece (title, page URL, headings, body, etc.)
- Use a search-friendly website URL
- Write an attractive meta title and meta description
- Use alternative text descriptions or ‘alt tags’ for your images and videos
3. Not having a specific audience in mind
Identify who you want to see your content, get to know that target audience, and create content that they will find valuable. Otherwise, your content will underperform (if it will even perform at all), and your page will seem like a hollow persona without its own identity.
4. Making your content hard to read
When creating blogs, you must make them as easy to read as possible. Use bullet points whenever applicable, break the body using subheadings, and write easy-to-digest paragraphs. Bold or italicize important text to attract the reader’s eye. If you write about something complex, make it easier to understand by using visual aids or tables.
The majority of your audience will not read your blog word-for-word. To catch their attention and ensure they pick up something from your blog, make it easy to scan and even easier to understand.
5. Making typos and grammar errors
One of the biggest turn-offs for online audiences is seeing grammatical errors and typos in a piece of content. To avoid mistakes in your work as much as possible, proofread at least twice to spot mistakes before you publish. It is also imperative that you use online grammar checkers to find errors you might have missed, such as Grammarly or Easy Bib. Better yet, hire a proofreader or editor to read and edit your articles before you post them.
6. Ignoring the comments
A great way to engage your audience is by interacting with them in the comment section of your blog or social media post. Doing so can help you start a conversation, answer questions to customer queries, and create meaningful relationships with your audience as much as possible.
Most importantly, respond to comments if the person is critical of your post. Reply to them in public and take the conversation to private messages. Otherwise, your audience might think that you are ignoring negative criticism and being selective about whom to reply to.
7. Not posting regularly
Spacing your content too far out from each other can make your website seem inactive, leading potential customers to think that they won’t receive a prompt response for you. In contrast, posting regularly will make your audience see that you are active, ready to respond to their queries, and not too busy to address their concerns.
There is a fine line between creating content and creating valuable content for your audiences. To ensure the latter, you must be mindful of the mistakes that can make your content deviate from its intended purpose.
Can you think of other content creation mistakes? Please share them with us in the comments below.
