Good Content Writing | How do I convince them?

[eljetfan]

Mozzers,

I work in-house for a large lead generation for matchmakers. We do really well with PPC and that will always be there. They will always do PPC but have hired me to do SEO. We're ranking really good for some competitive key phrases as well.

I believe in good content. I feel we should have a quality control for content just like we do before we run a a/b or a multivariate test. However there are people here who would rather pay $3 on oDesk for a article than a much higher price.

How have you convinced your bosses or your clients that good quality content is the way to go? I've hassled for good links and got in contact with some bloggers who are ready to let us Guest Blog who have never done so before.

What would you do?

[randfish]

Hi Brian - I can't really get behind the idea of cheap, non-targeted, non-value-add content that's purely to drive clicks for SEO. Here's my issue with that logic:

• Pay $3, get a crappy-mediocre article
• Build links to your site that come from non-authentic, non-editorially endorsed sources
• Earn a few rankings and start getting traffic from SEO
• SEO traffic is high bounce rate, low satisfaction, and low conversion
• The engines eventually discount your links because they're non-editorial
• The poor user/usage metrics from the high bounce rate (due to low content quality) affect rankings badly as well
• Endgame: You've spent a small amount but gained very little

Compare this to high quality content tactics:

• Pay $1,000 to get a single fantastic article, maybe including an infographic or at least some great visuals and compelling research, unique viewpoints, an author with a brand name, etc.
• The content naturally attracts links, social shares, email traffic, etc.
• The clicks on it from all sources stay a while, read it, share it, spread it further and add more value to the site
• Readers bookmark, subscribe to the RSS feed (they don't want to miss more articles like this one) and come back regularly, building your traffic over time
• Search engines rank the content well based on all factors - links, social stuff, user/usage data, content analysis, etc.
• Your rankings stay steady when others drop, and you win as the engines get better at identifying the "good stuff"
• Users who find/visit the page think more highly of your brand and are more likely to convert, take action, etc.
• Endgame: 1 great article is worth hundreds of mediocre ones, and the traffic is high quality and valuable too

I'd always aim for the absolute highest quality possible. A single fantastic piece of content can drive so much value to a business on the web that it's never worthwhile, IMO, to underinvest here.

Just my $0.02!

Also - some good posts on this topic:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/great-content-for-seo-simpler-than-you-ever-imagined

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/debating-the-value-of-great-content