We create content for people that either hate writing, or simply don’t have the time to do it all themselves. When we create content, we create readable, understandable, unique content that is exclusive for you. No pulling it from an article site where thousands of others have access to it too.
As a result, we get into quite a few conversations about the benefits of original content. With so many awesome solutions available to help you grow your web presence, why should you choose to pay for original content, for instance, when you can have a software program do it for you? Or pay for a writer from overseas to write 10 for the price of one of ours?
The differences are many. There is a reason to use other forms of writing and marketing, but like any of them, you have to go in with your eyes wide open and understand the results you will truly have. Here are some of the popular content writing alternatives.
Niche Specific Content Feeders
I was speaking with a real estate agent the other day who uses a site built on a platform sold through a real estate marketing company. The site used a builder platform, which she could customize. But the main reason she bought into it is for all of the bells and whistles it provided. With a touch of a button, she can use any of the articles released on the corporate site, and bring them over to share on her own. She can use pre-written newsletters to send out to her clientele. She loved the concept because she has access to content – she knew it was important – yet didn’t have to spend the time developing it.
Dig Deeper: The Myth About Outsourcing Blog Writing
She loved it, but so do hundreds of other real estate agents, many competing with her every day. Do you think a potential customer knows the difference when they receive the “same” newsletter in their email box from two different agents with exactly the same message? The only thing that changes are the colors and the logo? Or do you think Google can differentiate between the article on the corporate site and the article you’ve bumped over to your own? Who will get the credit? I guarantee it won’t be the individual.
Using Guest Posts From Article Sites
There are many sites online that offer quality content written from legitimate writers. But there’s a caveat – in order to use the content, you have to give credit back to the original writer. This means that you have to use a link back to the writer’s website in order to place the content onto your site. While this can give you quality content, it can also hurt you in two ways.
Dig Deeper: Content Writing For Top Performance
First, the content already exists in the online world. Meaning the article site is gaining attention for the content from the beginning, and the article itself may be posted to dozens, even hundreds of other sites that choose to use it too. Duplicate content is frowned upon by Google, and it can hurt your site overall.
Second, does the writer share your ethics? Are they in competition with you, providing similar services on their own website? When you hire a ghostblogger, the content is yours, as if it’s written by you. No linking to an author’s site, or risk having duplicate content on your competitors’ sites.
Using Article Writer Sites
If you do a few searches, you can find all kinds of writing sites that will give you articles of any length for a few dollars a piece. Guess what? In most cases, these sites link you to writers where English is not their first language. In some cases, you can get a generic article that is fairly well written. Emphasis on fairly well. It will have errors, both grammatical and comprehensive. And if you are trying to develop a strong relationship with your viewers, you probably won’t get the tone that will pull them in. If “fairly well” works for you, depending on what your business is, this may be a good route to go. But if you are a service business trying to form a relationship with your prospects and customers – one you hope will last for years and years – do you really want to depend on fairly well?
Dig Deeper: Why Writing For Readers Beats Writing For Search Every Time
Yes, there are options for gaining good quality content on your site. You can do it yourself. You can look for resources online. Or you can hire a quality ghostblogger that provides you with well crafted articles that speak directly to your visitors. What’s your strategy?