Why is Original Content so Important Online?
Imagine you are searching for information about a product or service you are in need of. The first place most people look is the internet and you may visit three or four sites to compare the offerings of different businesses. If you read the exact same content on two websites it makes the second one visited seem like a copycat even if that second website wrote it first. Having unique and original content on your websites sets you apart as the experts in your field, and as new businesses may plagiarise your content it is well worth checking your competitors out regularly to ensure they are not lifting content from your site. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but outright copying is a low blow.
Potential customers are not the only ones who notice duplicated content and take a dim view of it; Google also checks for duplicated content across different websites and downgrades the page rank of websites which lift and replicate content from others. It is possible to enable a copyright on your website content that prevents would-be plagiarists from copying and pasting your words, but this can be technically difficult to enact and does not prevent people from simply transcribing your content word for word.
Frequent updates to site content, whether that is to the main body of the site or in the form of a blog, is a tactic also favoured by search engines. Sites which appear to have lain dormant for many months are not deemed to be relevant in search results and although your website may have the most comprehensive and useful information on it, without new content being added it will slowly slip down the search results into the desert of the second page. New content is even more popular with website visitors, especially if you have a high volume of returning traffic. Regular useful updates help position your brand and business as the leaders in your field and set you higher in the esteem of your customers than your competitors who are not seen to be investing in their website as an asset.
If your business operates in a niche market then original content is incredibly important to establish yourself as the expert in a narrow field. Drawing on your unique experience and knowledge means you can offer information and insights that others cannot, and this also helps cement your reputation as the go-to people for a certain product or service. It does not matter if you are not great at writing, a good copywriter can take on your tone and approach and make it seem like you wrote it yourself. Conducting phone or email interviews with a copywriter can give them information to work an article from that you may never have considered and generate even more useful and insightful content than you imagined possible.
If you operate in a competitive marketplace original content is still very important as it helps with your ranking in search results, which is the first step to getting customers in a crowded field. If your content is unique, catchy and easy to understand it will be better received by potential customers than dry, uninspiring words that do not incite a purchase. Knowing your audience inside out is the key to creating copy that will speak to them from the heart and present your business as something special - worth listening to in the noise.
We can work with you to create compelling, catchy copy for your website's main pages and blog, focussing on what is important to you and what helps sell products as well as getting your website higher up in search results than ever before. Get in touch today to see how we can help you.
