What The Future of Web Content Writing Looks Like

Conventional wisdom on web content writing ten years ago was to “stuff as many keywords into your copy” and the reader be damned.

Of course, Google’s PageRank algorithm was refined further - and so has web content writing.

We now arguably live in the age of “clickbait” - though the future of web content may look very different.

In this blog, I’ll break down emerging trends in web content writing and what the future may hold for marketers and web content writers of all stripes.

The Human Factor In Web Content Writing

We all know that AI copywriting is coming. In fact, it’s here.

However, despite our collective best efforts to replace humans with machines, we still encounter the uncanny valley. This is no more obvious in supermarkets; I’ve yet to meet one person who’s felt a connection or affinity with an automated checkout. Does anyone find a soulless voice announcing “unidentified item in the bagging area” cute or endearing?

The same will apply for content writing. There will be an upsurge in AI content - but humans are smarter. We can tell there’s no soul behind the screen - we know something is missing, even in Zoom meetings.

Authentic, thoughtful, and informative web content will always remain king; despite an army of bots invading the kingdom and threatening its throne.

Topic Authority Will Displace Keywords & Backlinking

As an SEO copywriter and web content writer, I know all about keyword relevancy. It’s how your business gets noticed on Google.

However, Google’s AI and crawlers will transition toward topical authority as a ranking tool more so than keyword relevance and backlinking. As marketing AI and machine learning expert Eduard Klein says:

When marketers talk about authority, they talk about building backlinks. This is still the case, but as google gets smarter about semantics, link relevancy will likely decrease over time. Organisations that cover a topic with the most depth will own the future traffic flow for related queries.

The remedy is to focus on long-form, well researched, and potentially peer-reviewed web content that forms the pillars of your web content writing. Having web content that is thesis-like in scope but rich in media and interactivity will be a boon to business. The “mega-skyscraper” web content will be in vogue soon.

Good Web Content Is Good User Experiences

Just having web content on a white blank page that loads slow won’t cut it any more - good web content will be part and parcel of delivering a good overall user experience across all device types - perhaps even AR and VR such as the Oculus or HTC Vive (as an owner of one, I can tell you how awful reading web content is on one of those things.)

Interactivity and other experiences that users will come back to time and again will drive the future of web content writing.

Giving Users Control Over Web Content

This means how they consume, share, and remix content - can they get the same content in video as they do as text? What about as audio, like a book on tape? Giving users the option for multi-faceted media that suits their lifestyle or consumption habits will be valuable to marketers and businesses in the future. If you’re a web content writer that only writes for web copy, be prepared to branch out into writing for podcasts and video, too.

Value-Driven Web Content Will Rise

Free eBooks about how to set up Mailchimp or the five best tips for writing about ducks in exchange for an email list sign-up won’t cut it any more. There are so many tips out there for the taking, a bit of Google-fu can give you the entire sum of knowledge in the area without signing up for anything. If you think what you are offering is an insight and you’re peddling it without cost, it’s probably not.

Gated and cards-to-the-chest web content will become extinct - providing valuable web content as your core offering will be the future that inspires the success of your business or brand. The value proposition should be immediate and obvious.

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Are your ready for the future of web content writing? Want to know more, or get started while the competition sleeps? Contact me!

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What is Digital Marketing In 2022?

Digital marketing - we’ve all likely heard the term being bandied about in boardrooms and offices - but what is it really? Marketing is the process and art of identifying and satisfying customer needs through mass communication. Marketing has been aided by digital means since the 1960s, with mainframes crunching demographic numbers for advertising agencies. However digital marketing refers to marketing purely using media driven by digital means - the World Wide Web, hand-held computing, electronic billboards, and so on. Now that our culture is digital, our marketing is also digital. This gives marketing greater speed, accuracy, and channels to promote products and services than ever before.

Digital Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing

The biggest difference between “traditional” marketing and digital marketing is that digital marketing is often bi-directional - audiences can “talk back” to brands and companies. This can be a blessing and a curse for digital marketers, who can use the data to refine their product or service; but also means managing negative feedback and how that can effect community and sales. So what is digital marketing in 2022?

Digital Marketing Channels

Digital marketing companies will often tout they are “channel agnostic” or “omni-channel” - meaning they employ as many media (that is, carriers of messages) as possible. Digital marketing channels need not be discrete: they often overlap and complement one another. For example, let’s take a look at the web and Search Engine Optimisation first.

Search Engine Optimisation

If you are a business and have a website, the aim is to have it shown to as many people as possible to gain as much traffic and sales as possible. This is achieved by Search Engine Optimisation, as I’ve discussed in detail here. This means organising or curating your content to match what people are searching for on Search Engines so it ranks higher in relevance and above your competitors in search engine results. This organic, or non-paid traffic, means a higher return on investment over time than paying for leads or sales over and over again.

Pay Per Click Advertising

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising has been around a long time (in computer terms) with the first ever PPC ad bought by a Silicon Valley law firm on the now defunct Global Network Navigator site as far back as September 1993.

As I wrote on my blog Crushtor.net,

“Advertising alongside search engine results pages (SERPs) became the standard in October of 2000, when Google launched its AdWords service. Companies and brands would pay for sponsored links that appear at the top of search results, bidding for the top spot using automated algorithms. When a browser clicked on the ad, the company paid for the privilege – what’s known as a “Pay Per Click” advertisement.”

By most accounts, a business can expect to earn $2 in revenue for each $1 they spend on PPC. This is further refined by using data to pinpoint where ad spend (i.e. higher quality keywords, remarketing, demographic shifts, etc.) should go to receive the maximum return on investment.

Social Media

Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are “no brainer” digital marketing platforms. Billions of people combined use social media every day, and deploying advertising and marketing through these channels is the reason why these channels exist in the first place. However, it also gives brands and companies opportunities to talk directly to consumers and hear their concerns - as well as the added challenge of responding to negative feedback. Social media marketing comprises Pay Per Click advertising, organic community management, and content strategy or curation.

Content Strategy

Content strategy, as I’ve outlined here, is a part of digital marketing in terms of reaching customers or audiences using text, video, moving images, audio, and other multimedia. The more strategic content a brand or company can leverage, the more it flows into SEO, social media, and other aspects of digital marketing.

Email Marketing (eDM)

Email marketing or electronic Direct Mail (eDM) is a powerful tool in a digital marketer’s arsenal, allowing marketing communications to be sent to willing customers (as almost all jurisdictions forbid unsolicited eDMs - aka spam.) These customers opt-in to mailing lists to recieve special offers, tips or tricks, or affiliate offers. Sort of like my fantastic eDM, which you should definitely sign up for!

Native Advertising

Native advertising is a story or piece that’s published to a blog or online news site that’s supposed to look like normal, unbranded content - but in fact is an advertisement for a product or service. This may be disclosed as “in partnership with” or “promotional consideration by.”

Videos and Podcasting

Producing video or podcast content is fast becoming a new avenue for digital marketing, as it too is a space where digital marketers can either buy up time in various (and hopefully popular) video/podcasts for impressions or launch a video or podcast series that directly markets to consumers on their own. This has some overlap with influencer marketing.

Affiliate or Influencer Marketing

One of the more recent developments in digital marketing is using affiliates or influencers - people with a substantial following on social media - to promote products or services. This could appear as native advertising - e.g. sending your new prototype watch to a watch review channel on YouTube (my favourites being The Urban Gentry and Just One More Watch) or paid advertising such as sponsored posts. Affiliates get a commission for each sale they make, usually through partner programs as run by Amazon.

Using Data Driven Marketing

One of the major differences between digital and traditional marketing is the data this type of marketing generates. Clicks, page views, bounce rates, interaction rates, demographic information - is all harvested through various applications such as Google Analytics, Google Search Consoles, or Customer Relationship Management software (CRM.) This helps marketers identify incoming search terms, what people are looking for and tailoring content to fit, and market to specific niche segments, e.g. 18-24 year old men who enjoy watching football and eating chocolate ice-cream (yes, it can get that granular!)

Does my business need Digital Marketing?

In short: yes. If you want to reach customers, create a community, and sell to a wider audience, your business absolutely must employ some measure of digital marketing. “Building it and the audience will come” is relying on hope and prayer to ensure business success. Holistic and sustained digital marketing campaigns help your business not only survive in the online marketplace, but thrive and grow into the long term.

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Do you need help with your digital marketing and copywriting in Melbourne? Contact me today!

Turning Phrases, Turning Heads - My BBN Seminar

I'm delighted to formally announce my seminar for the Bayside Business Network Seminar Series! Here are the details:

What’s the secret to a great turn of phrase? Can you learn to think different? Or can you Just do it? Can a simple clutch of words turn a brand from meh into I’m Lovin’ It?

Turning Phrases, Turning Heads takes the mystery out of words – business’ most powerful ally and most fearsome foe. Learn simple ways to turn drab prose into clear, concise and dynamic writing. Enhance your business by mastering the basics of rhetoric, persuasion and cutting through to customers (well, metaphorically of course.) Spur your thoughts into intention, your intention into action and your action into success. (I’ll also teach you the term for that rhetorical turn of phrase, too!) Learn the best tips for keeping people on your site, buying from you and coming back for more.

Lapsed writers, nervous scribblers and maths nerds all – you too can coin masterful phrases and turn heads in this fun, engaging and enlightening seminar!

Cost: FREE for members, $25 for non-members.