Today’s SEO and digital marketing places a lot more emphasis on quality website content. A decade ago, content was still important in the sense that website visitors were not interested in visiting a site and finding junk. But modern content is more than just informational and helpful. It is also a marketing tool. That’s why so many marketing pros make a point of promoting content marketing.

The team at Salt Lake City’s Webtek Digital Marketing defines content marketing as a marketing strategy that relies on website content to attract, engage, and retain audiences. Content can take many forms, including:

• blog posts and informational articles
• FAQ pages and how-to guides
• case studies, white papers, etc.
• videos, podcasts, etc.

Technically, anything on a website is content. But for marketing purposes, certain types of content are designed to directly engage with an appealing message that encourages visitors to do something. With all of that said, here are five interesting things you might not know about content marketing:

1. It Generates More Leads Than Outbound Marketing

Content marketing is inbound marketing in the sense that companies are hoping to reach potential customers who come to them. Outbound marketing is just the opposite. Companies go out to find customers. In terms of overall success, content marketing is typically three times more efficient than its outbound counterpart. For every one customer reached via outbound strategies, three are reached with quality content.

2. Content Marketing Produces Higher Conversion Rates

Conversion occurs when a website visitor makes a positive decision. It could be a purchase decision or decision to sign up for the company newsletter. Either way, content marketing increases conversion rates by up to six times. For websites designed to sell, that translates into a ton of revenue.

3. Content Marketing Costs Considerably Less

When you compare content marketing against other forms of traditional marketing, you find that it tends to cost less. How much depends on how content marketing is approached. But on average, companies can spend up to 62% less developing and publishing high-quality content as compared to investing in PPC ads, radio and TV advertising, and so forth.

4. Longform Content Tends to Do Better

There has long been a debate about blog post and article length for marketing purposes. Common sense dictates that longer pieces would tend to perform better in organic searches because they give search engine algorithms more information to work with. But how long is long enough?

There is no easy answer to that question. Still, research suggests that longform content results in twice as many page views. A general rule of thumb in the SEO industry is to make most standard posts in the neighborhood of 500-600 words while longform content should be 1000 words or more.

5. Content Marketing Requires A Lot Of Work

Last but not least, content marketing requires a lot of work. Content needs to be of sufficiently high quality to produce the desired results. Producing that quality is not something that’s done a few minutes per day. It requires hours of research, planning, actual creation, and tracking.

Companies like Webtek offer professional content marketing because it is so time-consuming and technically involved. It’s not as simple as spending an hour once a week writing a new blog post and getting it online.

Why invest in professional content marketing services? Because they produce results. Content is still king on the internet. If you’re going to invest in digital marketing and SEO services, you might just as well make content marketing part of the package. Otherwise, you are leaving a powerful tool on the table.

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Skye Marshall

Ivy Skye Marshall: Ivy, a social justice reporter, covers human rights issues, social movements, and stories of community resilience.

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