How to Come Up With Original Content for Your Small Business

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original content

A lot of people create content that’s not good, not original, and not compelling enough for potential customers to engage with their stuff.

If your content isn’t good, then you’ll just get lost in the noise of other mediocre creators. That’s why it’s so important to come up with original content that engages your customers and gives them a reason to stick around.

But how? With seemingly every business using the internet to promote themselves and grow, how does one stand out? How do you write a quality post or design a great website on a site like WordPress? What represents quality and what can be left behind?

In this article, we’ll take a look at that and other things. By the end, you’ll know how to create original content for your small business. Let’s get started!

The #1 Thing You Must Understand About Content

It’s crucial for you to think about creating original content that actually means something to you. Just like someone in person can tell when a business owner isn’t being authentic, you can easily tell through the internet, too.

So just remember, it’s an investment of your time. Do it right the first time. Don’t take shortcuts, or you’ll wind up wasting your time.

Now, let’s look at some specific things you can do to make your content special.

What Is Your Speciality?

One of the biggest mistakes new content creators make is trying to be on every platform. They see or hear it on a Gary Vaynerchuk motivational video, and just assume that they have to be everywhere if they want to make any progress.

The truth is, there is no one size fits all solution for which platforms you should be on. The medium that fits best for you and allows you to maximize your skill sets (think writing vs. video, for example), is probably the best place to start.

Trying to be everywhere often leads to watered down content. Good work takes time. Doing half the job so you can be in more than one place will just give people an extra place to not look at your stuff.

What Type Of Content Should I Create?

The simple solution: pick the one that fits best for you. Start small and grow over time. The truth is, you can repurpose your content down the road (turning a blog post into an instructional video, for example), so it won’t always be as tedious.

Are you good at (or do you value) writing? Then perhaps good blog posts that talk about your business are the way to go.

Can you create videos? Then Live streams on Facebook or making YouTube videos may be the right move.

To create high-quality content, start by mastering one platform. Get really good at Facebook live, writing top-quality blog posts, posting pictures on Pinterest, or recording a podcast for your small business.

It’s better to add platforms slowly as you become proficient in them, otherwise, you will feel like you’re doing too much at once.

Have A Home Base

What makes a great website? Is it just about nice designs? While the aesthetic feel of your site is important, that’s not all. As you start creating content, you want to make it ridiculously easy for people to find and sort through your work.

Use an established platform to set up your website (Blogger, Wix, and WordPress all are good options) or pay someone to do it for you.

A mistake people make is to rely just on one social media platform- Instagram, Facebook etc. They build a following and fear moving people away from it. But what happens if Instagram changes tomorrow? Their “home base” disappears, and they have no control over it.

Solve Specific Problems

Always be asking yourself how you can solve specific problems and share that out in your niche. It’s better to write a 500-word blog post that solves a very small problem than to curate a 2000 word complicated post that people have trouble following.

A key to creating good content is just picking problems and making it as easy as possible for your followers to consume that information.

Follow SEO Best Practices

While the focus of your original content is on delivering yourself in a good light, it’s also crucial to know about and follow the principles of good SEO (search engine optimization). The truth is, more people will discover you by following a few simple tricks. Your investment of tie and energy is more likely to pay off when you follow these principles.

For example, always pick compelling headers and strong keywords. 80% of people read the headline, but only 20% will read your content from start to finish. Think of it as getting people in the door.

Going down the wormhole of SEO may be overwhelming, but here are some SEO best practices to check off as you develop your sense of strong website content creation.

Original Content – Wrap-Up

When it comes to creating original content, the key is to be helpful, original, and follow SEO best practices. Think about it this way:

Being yourself will help people decide if you are right for them or not. Not everyone will like what you have to say, but the people who do are more likely to stick around. And, you won’t have to waste time pretending to be something you aren’t.

Helpful content is what keeps people around. You think 20% read rates are low? See how low they are when your blog post or podcast doesn’t solve any actual problems.

If you’re pandering or not being helpful, people will be less likely to peruse your stuff. Solve problems, even if they are small, and people will love you for it.

Last, SEO is what gets new people in the door. You’ll build your following much faster by following it. It may be confusing at first, but stick to the basics and grow slowly.

Check out more on content management systems and building an original website to keep learning. Good luck!