The Intersection of Content and Quality in the Digital World: Stop Writing Disposable Content

The content we write on the Web has become disposable and overcrowded, with websites that say the same things as each other, and brands that are publishing to be publishing. Don’t be another brand to fall into the trap of creating disposable content.

But first… Let’s understand why brands create content non-stop as part of their strategy to drive website traffic.

Brands Publish Content Because:

• It creates signals for the search engines, such as Google and Bing, to determine where a site ranks. Movement up or down is partially dependent on the frequency of new pages and posts being added to the site.
• Adding in keywords and phrases helps to dominate search results.
• Catchy titles that are trending online get clicked on, shared and read.

This means many brands and business owners alike have turned to creating disposable content.

In a conversation with Keith Anderson at Big Design, he brought up this important topic to me and said, “Writers have given up on quality writing and are focusing on SEO.” As a writer, this is disheartening to him and me, too.

As publishers in digital spaces, it is our responsibility to provide content that is important and provides value for the reader.

If we write content that has meaning, it will flow naturally. Take it one step further and optimize your content, and it will organically provide the SEO value needed to get search preference and drive site traffic.

At Content Marketing World everyone was discussing this very important topic about quality content vs. quantity and SEO. Ask yourself: Could the content you are writing be translated into a movie or short story. Before a movie is made it becomes a short story for someone to sign off on or book that enthralled the readers so much that they made it into a movie.

5 Tips to Avoid Writing Disposable Content and Instead Write Meaningful Digital Content

1. Write what you are passionate about and inspires you. Write until you feel the message is complete. You can always shorten the post later to remove the excess words or break it in two parts.
2. Don’t worry about what is popular, but focus on what is needed. Writing on something that is trending is a great way to get buzz; however, if the trend you are following dies off a week later, so does the life-cycle of your content.
3. Answer the questions others have asked. This could be expanding on company FAQs in more detail or responding to a question someone posted on social media.
4. Share new things you learn. An example here would be if you are a plumbing company and you just learned of a new way for your customers to temporarily patch a hole so they can use the water until you get there.
5. Repurpose the really good content you have written into other formats, such as an audio piece, video, Slideshare or infographic. People learn differently so taking a popular blog post and recreating in another format is perfectly acceptable.

Before I close, I have to know … What do you think about disposable content? Have I challenged you to think and write differently in the future?

One last tip, write what means something to you like this post did for me and you’ll be good to go.