Create Authoritative Content The Right Way

You may have heard it said, “Content is King!” and it is true. It has been that way for a long time and, today, it is even more true then ever before. And yet, many people ignore content. Maybe they are not the best writers. Maybe they feel it is better to focus on other things. Perhaps they hope content will just appear! You really CAN create authoritative content on your own, or with a little help.

But it isn’t like that. You have to work at it. You need to create, or acquire, great content for the things you do – websites, blogs, ebooks, slide presentations, images, podcasts, and videos. You can do it yourself, hire it done, or use third-party private label rights (PLR) materials.

That’s right. You see, the thing is, you can create authoritative content on your website is not only foundational to your success, it is the primary factor in developing and driving solid organic traffic. You may not understand that fully yet, but it is important you begin developing your content (and thereby your website) NOW! This also applies to most other content modalities. They become a part of, and help define, who you are. You want only the very best.

Four Key Elements Necessary to Create Authoritative Content

Quality

It should go without saying that your content should always be quality content. This is, however, one of the key reasons people don’t write; they feel they cannot produce good quality content. The thing is, you can begin where you are and create some content. You can evaluate it and work at creating better and better content as you move forward.

There are several good reasons to be creating content now and you can always go back and edit and improve what you have written. You cannot go back and actually write new content in the past. You will discover that “now” is as important as “good” in the long run, so don’t put it off until you are simply better than you are now.

In time you will write better quality posts than you competitors. Additional things you can do is format them correctly, include the correct elements, and handle SEO factors.

Frequency

The term <i>authoritative</i> is vague. Google doesn’t tell us exactly what it sees as authoritative. The frequency of your posts is important. Frequent posting shows Google, and other search engines, you know what you are writing about and you mean what you say.

If you post more often than your competitors you will have the edge. If they post monthly, you post two or three times a month. If they post weekly, you post two or three times a week. If they post daily, you post two or three times a day.

It is hard. Nobody said blogging would be easy, but it gets easier with time and practice and it helps to use good tools that support your efforts. One tool I have found to be exceedingly helpful is the free WordPress plugin, Editorial Calendar. It helps with scheduling multiple posts in advance.

Continuity

A big part of success with creating authoritative content is to post on a more regular schedule than your competitor. If necessary use software, such as the WordPress plugin Editorial Calendar (above), to schedule posts out into the future to avoid unexpected gaps in your posting.

Being consistent shows commitment to what you are doing. It suggests you have something to say and know what you are saying. It helps Google and other search engines establish a consistent indexing schedule for regularly returning to your site. It’s easy to see what your competitors are doing. You just need to do better than they do.

Seniority

Age of your website and your posts — actual age, not some artificial time-stamp you have set — is a factor in the indexing of your content by some search engines, including Google. And while this may be a small factor, later, when you are fighting over top spots in the search engines return pages (SERPs) every little bit extra will count.

You cannot start sooner than you do. You cannot go back in time to start earlier than you did. So do not wait for things to be perfect. If you have not started posting already, or if your site is not yet public, begin now. You want to start before your competitors, if at all possible, and keep at it longer than they do. You cannot go back and start sooner when the time comes to wish that you could. Do not wait for the right time. Open your site to the public and begin blogging NOW!

Blogging is not hard. Adding content to your isn’t either. It really comes down to knowing your craft and writing about what you know. There are lots of places to find ideas. Sign up for on-topic newsletters and mailing lists. Don’t copy their content, but ideas cannot be copyrighted so sample them freely and use them to spur your own writing. Even the spam mailings you get can offer up ideas you can use. Be creative, but write.

If you cannot write your own material, you can hire it done, work with a joint venture (JV) partner, offer space to guest bloggers, or purchase ready-made content with private label rights (PLR) and re-write this to your own voice. There are many good sources of PLR (see here) that can provide you with materials you need or give you ideas of how to format and re-purpose the materials you already have.

But what about search engine optimization (SEO)? Can you do your own on-page SEO for website content and blog posts? I have written about all this in a blog post called, Baker’s Dozen: 13 On-Page SEO Tips. You can FIND IT HERE. It will give you everything you need to know to begin ranking your posts in search.

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