What makes content good?

As part of our content series we recently talked about content strategy, how to write for the web, the perfect toolkit for writing for the web, writing SEO friendly content and how to make content work for you. Today we’ll discuss more generally what makes good content.

Good content depends on a solid foundation or what you could call bedrock content.

We would highlight 7 key fundamentals for bedrock content. Bedrock content must be accurate, up to date, cover a range of topics, encourage engagement, link appropriately and evergreen.

1. Accurate and thorough

Ensuring accuracy involves engaging with the subject matter experts. It is important to keep your content thorough.

2. Up-to-date and fresh

A good long-term piece of content can only be kept relevant if reviewed regularly to ensure it does not go out-of-date. It should be kept under review for additional links to other content on your website and for any errors. It is important to keep your content fresh.

3. Cover a range of topics as relevant for your business

Let’s say your content pillar is all about how your product services your largest market segment (e.g., energy), so you decide to do a piece of bedrock content on the different sub market segments that form part of the energy market and how your product serves these markets (e.g., renewables, oil and gas, etc).

In this piece of content, you would want to cover many different types of market segments and facts about how your product serves them and where you can buy your product.

This should be a piece of long form content to reinforce your authority on the subject matter. However, you shouldn’t be aiming to whitepaper. It should be easy to read and absorb. With this example, you may choose to break up your content into two pieces of bedrock content on the different sub markets of energy – one for oil and gas and one for renewables.

4. Visual and encourage engagement

It’s important to consider how you can visually entice the reader to read a piece of long form content. Your content may be full of interesting facts and and insights but your need to keep your reader engaged for as long as possible. Short videos, infographics, images, and gifs will break up bulky sections of text and retain interest.

5. Encourage conversion

Good content should encourage your customer to discover more about your products and services. It should act as a springboard to download a whitepaper, read more about one of your topics or view a video.

6. Link appropriately

Good content should link to other pieces of content. The whole purpose of a good piece of content is for customers to find it. You want to provide essential information in an engaging way, while also effectively linking to other content on your site. Your content should feature links to other bedrock content articles and they should link back to it in return.

7. Evergreen

• Bedrock content should be perennial – think of evergreen trees that don’t have to drop their leaves in the winter – and always relevant.
• News articles on your site are great in the moment but their relevance declines over time – think of deciduous trees that shed leaves in the winter and lose weight as time passes.
• Good bedrock content can last many years and is as relevant as it was when it was first written. Of course, like all content on your website it needs to be kept under review to ensure links are working correctly and sources for the information are kept up to date.

If you need help reinventing your digital presence or if you want to get more output from your website content, contact us today.