When it comes to content, you can’t have too much. After all, we know that well-written and strategically used content should drive traffic to your website. Your content should engage your customers to pay attention to what you are saying. It should help you to raise awareness of critical services or products. And your content should enable you to convert web visitors into paying customers.
We’ve previously written about how your corporate blog should be the hardest working page on your website. When used in the right way, your content (whether it’s through blog posts, landing pages, or social media output) should enable you to increase your reputation. It should help others learn more about who you are as a business. In short, your content could be a crucial key to improving your business growth.
But we would say that.
After all, at Gatekeeper Communications, we provide regular written content for various businesses across all sectors throughout the UK.
We know that increasing your content output can be complicated. There’s resourcing to consider, budget constraints, and time limitations. You may even be unsure of what you should be blogging about.
But it is easier to increase your content output than you might think.
Here are a few practical suggestions to get you started.
Be clear on what you want your content to do
One of the biggest challenges when increasing your content output is knowing how to maintain quality and consistency in your communications. You need to be clear on what you want your content to do from the very outset.
- Is it about improving your reputation?
- Are you sharing advice and topical information?
- Do you want to lead to a specific product or service?
- Do you want to engage your visitors and encourage them to follow you on your social media?
Make sure you know what the purpose of your content strategy is from the very beginning.
In our view, content should never be there for the sake of it.
It should always be a driving force of any marketing strategy. If you know what you want your content to do, you will find it much easier to create an ongoing content schedule that aligns with your broader business goals.
Streamline your content process through the creation of brand guidelines or tone of voice documents
A quick and easy way to increase your content output is to encourage people throughout your organisation to feel empowered to contribute to your content. You may be amazed to find that you have talented writers working across different departments. These are people who could give you different opinions and insights into your business.
Alternatively, you may decide that you do not have the resourcing available in-house. In which case, you may need to find the right freelance support (such as Gatekeeper Communications) to help you maintain your content productivity
If you use different writers, you need to ensure that any resulting content feels cohesive and part of a set. While it is beneficial to have a range of writing styles and opinions, you need some form of consistency.
This is where the creation of clear brand guidelines and tone of voice documents can be beneficial.
These aren’t documents that are created for the sake of it. Instead, they are helpful for any writer (internal or external) to understand how you want your content to sound.
A carefully written set of guidelines should enable your writers to know who your audience is. It helps to define what your audience is looking for from your content. You can use your guidelines to clarify any preferred in-house terminology or phrasings and identify any specific style guides on structuring any articles.
Outsourcing your written content can help you achieve your goals
You may want to increase your content but know that you do not have the necessary skills or resources available in-house.
The use of freelance writers allows you to focus on your day-to-day operations. Some writers may require a detailed brief, whereas others (like us) will work closely with your in-house team to create a comprehensive content schedule that aligns with your business priorities.
To make the process easier for all involved, you may need to appoint an internal project manager who is the primary point of contact for any freelance copywriters. This person will oversee the broad end-to-end content strategy. They’ll take responsibility for setting briefs and outlining the corporate vision to any copywriters. They will confirm deadlines, and review the final content. This person will also likely be the individual who uploads the final content onto your website.
If this sounds complex, then you may wish to invest in project management tools such as Basecamp or Asana to manage the workflow. By ensuring clear and consistent expectations and deadlines between all parties, you will find that your content production is quicker and easier.
Remain realistic about what you can do.
You may have a vision of how you plan to increase your content output, but you need to remain realistic at all times. There’s no point in commissioning 10-15+ articles a month from a freelance copywriter if you do not have the time in-house to review each piece and add it to your website.
You need to be realistic about what your internal capabilities are. If you know that your in-house team is busy focusing on other projects, make sure you factor that into your ongoing content schedule.
For example, if you want to increase your content output, it’s not just about asking someone to write additional articles for you. You will also need to consider how you plan to manage your keyword research. Who will update and maintain your content schedule? And who will take responsibility for editing and approving the final content? Even physically adding your written content onto your website can take a considerable amount of time.
In a worst-case scenario, you could end up with a backlog of content that sits dormant and unpublished because you’ve not had the opportunity to review it.
This isn’t an effective use of your time or budget. It’s essential to think about how you can make the most of any external support.
It may help you to consider your chosen copywriter as an extension of your in-house team. As well as asking them to write your content, you can rely on them to manage some of your in-house tasks. That could include updating your social media or even physically uploading the final approved content onto your website on your behalf.
This can free your time to focus on other jobs that you need to do.
Automation can help you to increase your content output
It may sound counter-intuitive that we’re advocating for automation to play a role in any content production.
After all, as trained copywriters, surely, we want to manage any content ourselves.
However, if you need support in increasing your content quickly, then there are a few tools that can help you to manage this process. Automation isn’t about asking a piece of software to write informative, engaging, or relevant articles on your behalf. Instead, it’s about finding the right tools to give you the data that informs your content strategy.
Tools such as Semrush or Moz can help you identify any pressing keywords you should use within your content campaigns. And the data provided through Google Analytics will allow you to track how well your content is performing.
During the writing process itself, you can use Grammarly, ProWriterAid, or Textmetrics to assess the quality and consistency of your content. And as an SEO plugin, Yoast is brilliant for checking that your content is optimised carefully for search acquisition.
Beyond this, you can even use automated tools such as Canva or Lumen5 to add visual aids to your content quickly and easily.
The use of automation isn’t to replace your writers. Instead, automation can help lift your content and make it work even harder without increasing your budget.
At Gatekeeper Communications, we can help you seamlessly increase your content output
We have years of experience working with clients across various sectors to help them make the most of their content strategies. You may have a consumer product you want to promote or a service you want to highlight. You may seek to cement your reputation as knowledgeable and informed. Whatever the case, we are here to help.
Our content marketing and copywriting services are not just about delivering high-quality written content. We take the time to get to know our clients. We understand how to make your content work in partnership with your business goals. And we can collaborate with your in-house team or work independently to create and deliver a comprehensive content schedule that meets your needs.
To find out more about our services, please contact us.
