The Internet is undeniably big. So big that even Google cannot seem to decide how much content is out there. In 2008 the official Google blog claimed there were over 1 trillion webpages (1,000,000,000,000) in existence. But by 2012 they were only indexing 50 billion.
The worldwide web is growing every day.
Maybe the de-indexing of content farms helped streamline the Internet a bit, but we’ll never know for sure. Especially seeing as everyone gave up trying to count the web in 2012.
The exponential growth of web content is great news if you are buyer. Much less so as a seller. With literally billions of webpages to compete against, how can your business stand out?
Digital content writing must be exceptional
Let’s face it. Among the hundreds of thousands of new webpages created each day, how many of them contain genuinely useful information presented in a helpful manner? 50%? 20%? My unscientific guesstimate is closer to 0.1%.
Am I biased? Absolutely. But a lot of digital copywriters publish complete junk every day, devaluing the brands they represent as well as their own skills. Worse still, readers and Google alike can spot junk – and they will both avoid your site like the plague.
Time for a harsh truth – Google really doesn’t care about your website rankings unless you pay for AdWords. So if you are serious about ranking well in search results, you have to play by their completely transparent/arbitrary ‘rule’. Your content must be of the highest quality possible so that it actually appeals to real people.
Share your expertise
As an established trader, you know about your industry. You have knowledge and experience that helps you help your customers. And it is this that will elevate your digital content above the mundane.
Your expertise gives you credibility and helps establish your reader’s trust. So don’t hide it away – share it. Your digital content needs to educate customers and answer their questions.
Establish your authority
By combining top quality digital copywriting with your expertise, you can create compelling content that people actually want to read. More importantly, you can begin to establish yourself as an authority in your field. Whitepapers, eGuides and extended documents that combine market research and your expertise further establish your authority.
Comment on the news. Share your most recent industry insights. Start talking openly and regularly about the issues that matter to your customers. Do it often enough, in the right places, and people will start to take notice.
Expertise and authority are powerful tools for establishing credibility. And buyers love a bit of credibility – they’ll even pay a little more for it.
Get social
As I said above, Google isn’t going to bust a gut to prioritise your website. So to stand out from the crowd you’re going to need to do some hard work. You’re going to need to create digital content that is so exceptional, your readers and customers are willing to share it for you. You need to build working relationships with them that continue to supply useful information and build even more trust.
In this way you begin to carve out your own niche among the other trillion-plus webpages online.
Ultimately digital content marketing works on the age-old principle of word-of-mouth advertising. It just has a fancy new name. That said, you probably still need an exceptional digital copywriter to help make it happen.
