How to Scale Your Content Production in the Right Way

Content is the way to grow your business online. High quality and regular content will get your business seen online.

SEMrush reported that 73% of companies that spend from 10% to 70% of their total marketing budget on content marketing were very successful. And 72% of companies plan to increase their content marketing budget this year.

The above stats alone show the importance of content marketing in business. It’s simply something you can’t ignore for your business.

Getting started with content is a challenge.

Writing a lot of content might be your aim, but you’ve got to make sure you have a good process in place that streamlines and uniforms your content production process. You need to be able to hit a high quantity but also make sure every piece of content that you publish is written to a high quality too.

Quality is more important than quantity.

So, let’s show you how to increase your content production.

Is content worth your time and attention?

If you’re looking to grow your business online, then yes.

Having content that people want to read and share will drive traffic and growth for your business.

For people searching online for answers to their questions or issues, they read content. And that content forces them into action. That action could be to enquire about your services or to buy your product. Content drives sales.

Once someone comes to your site it’s your content that helps them to decide whether to stay or keep looking elsewhere. If they stay and they’re interested in what you’re saying, it becomes very easy to direct them to a product or service they’re likely to buy. Then they’ll become your customer forever and ever. Well, that’s the dream anyway!

This is what happens with branded content, and this is why paid search marketing is also important.

The best part is that content is an extremely cost effective approach to marketing. Just think, once you’ve written it, it’s evergreen, meaning it can last forever. Sure, you’ll have to make sure it’s factually correct and up to date every now and then. Mostly, it can be left to do it’s thing.

Content costs 62% less than traditional marketing, but generates 3 times as many leads – so it’s a no-brainer to add content to your marketing strategy if you haven’t already.

Ready to get started with writing content for your business? You won’t regret it!

Getting started with creating your content production process

Starting your content production process takes time. The effort is certainly worth the reward – to grow your business and get more sales leads online.

Generating content ideas

First step, get creative with your content.

You need to make sure that you’re getting ideas for what content to write. If you have a team then you can speak to them about what content to write. If you’re a solopreneur, then you’re on your own to find content ideas.

Always focus on what your customers want to know, not necessarily what you want to write about. Treat them like they’re your children – they’ve always got to come first!

Keep a pen and paper handy

Content inspiration can strike at any point.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the years refining my process for getting ideas.

I always have a note pad and a pen next to my bed, so that when I wake up and start to think about my blog I can jot them down immediately. This has worked well for me because as soon as I wake up I’m usually having the most vivid thoughts about content ideas.

If you’re not so old school like me, then keep notes on your phone.

Competitor research

Seeing what your competitors are talking about is a good way to get ideas.

Don’t copy them though, you need to find your own ideas and voice.

Find a new angle – be creative and don’t fear being different

There’s so much content online and people don’t have time to read boring content.

By offering a fresh perspective on something it will make your content (therefore, you) stand out.

Maybe you have some experience with a certain topic no other blog does? Maybe you’ve got a connection you can interview to give you a more informed viewpoint? Use whatever you have to your advantage.

The key to successful content is trying something new.

Approaching content in a structured way will help you produce good quality content.

All content starts from a concept. That’s nice, but you need some kind of evidence or case to back up your ideas.

Getting data to back up your content idea

SEO keywords research

The most common data to support any content concept you have is through SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) data. More specifically, keyword research.

It’s a great way to see if there’s a ‘search demand’ for your idea. Search demand being if there’s an appetite for people searching on the topic you wish to write about.

You’ll need to research a few you can use before you put a strategy into action.

How to do keyword research

You can use various online SEO tools such as Wordstream. Or even Answerthepublic to see what questions people are searching online around a certain topic.

Even just tapping in a regular Google search related to your blog content can work here. The most searched for terms naturally pop up as you look for content ideas. See the ‘related questions’ on Google search. You can pick up some good questions to answer in your blog.

Speak to your target audience/market

You need to create content for your customers a.k.a., those who are always looking for advice.

There are companies who can complete surveys on your behalf. They’re fantastic to get great customer insights, but they can be expensive. If budget is tight, email any existing customers. Maybe put out a social post asking people for their opinion on a poll.

Use your social media to get conversations going

Directly ask a question for your followers to answer. Get them to vote on something. Ask for opinions and encourage a discussion in the comments.

A little bit of interaction goes a long way to building your profile.

Now you have an idea and data to backup the idea you want to write about, you can start planning the content.

Decide on the type of content you want to produce

When it comes to your content, there are quite a few different types you could create.

It’s best to test out different types of content to begin with and see what content types best appeal to your customers.

What content types do other businesses write?

Most businesses when marketing their business online turn to blog posts, landing pages, social media posts and videos.

Whatever type of content you’re looking to produce, you’ll need to be able to produce the content regularly to make it a success. This is why blogs are a winner!

Here’s a breakdown of the popular content types to consider for your website: 

Blog posts 

These tend to be more casual and user-friendly. You can use a blog post to explore various topics in tones and styles that follow the online zeitgeist.

Blogs give brands more freedom in what you can include, as well when it comes to supplementary media like embedded videos and images.

Popular blog post types include: 

• Lists
• Guides
• Anecdotes
• Reviews
• Guest bloggers

SEO content

Blogging is part of SEO content, but the SEO content is driven by keyword research.

When working with a writer they will be able to guide you on the type of content to produce for your SEO.

Alongside blogging, SEO content also includes writing up product pages and landing pages for your website. These pages are designed to get users onto a page that will give them the information they need and guide them into enquiring or buying online.

Traditional articles

Anything you write with a more serious, informed tone will fit into a traditional article.

You’ll notice this type of content on news sites and medical journals. This will be whitepapers and articles to feature elsewhere.

Video

If you prefer a visual medium, you can also make a video. Write a video script and ask your in-house or freelance production team to film for it, or once again outsource here as and where you need to.

Still unsure on what content will work for your business?

If you’re unsure, hire a content consultant or in-house content manager to help you decide on what content to publish.

Step-by-steps to writing your content

Content brief

Who will write the briefs for your content

If you had the creative idea in the first place, then you’ll definitely be in the best place to write a brief before writing the first draft of the content.

The brief of your content is so important and shouldn’t be ignored. It allows you to plan exactly what will be covered in your content, along with focusing on your target audience and really painting a picture of who you need to write to and their needs, problems or worries.

As you’re not a copywriter yourself you will then need to pass your brief onto a professional writer to work their magic.

So who is going to be writing your content moving forward?

Pass the brief to your copywriter

Don’t have a professional writer to work with?

You’ll need to decide whether you’re going to be looking for a new recruit to your business, or whether you’ll be outsourcing your content to a freelance writer.

To hire a freelance writer or in-house copywriter – or do both!

You know you need to hire a good copywriter.

You can go in-house or outsource here or use a mixture, whatever you feel works best for you.

Hiring in-house

With the right person on your team, you can be confident that you’ll have a high volume of material on your website in a few weeks.

This is a great way of scaling your content production, because a skilled team member will produce content that people want to read and you’ll be able to delegate the work around them.

You could even hire a senior content marketer to lead your content marketing strategy. That way, they can lead on the type of content you should be producing, leaving you to focus on other important business.

Even with an in-house copywriter or content manager, you can assign tasks and deadlines, set a target for growth, leads or SEO, and as well as putting a budget on the work.

Hire a freelance content expert

Hiring a freelance writer works in a similar way, but they’ll be an external support to you. You can assign a brief, go through various revisions, but you’ll also be working with a large bank of experience.

There are a few options for hiring freelance support with your content, here’s a quick overview of your options:

Freelance content writer/copywriter – specialises in website content and will purely focus on producing new and regular content. They’ll write pages, landing pages, product pages and blogs.

Freelance SEO copywriter – they will focus on creating blogs and landing pages, focusing on SEO keywords.

Content consultant – for all round content strategy and management, a content consultant will be able to advise you on what content you should be doing. They can also offer advice on whether to hire in-house writers or freelancers. They will provide whatever level of support you need. They may even write the content for you.

You will want to find a freelance writer who has written in your industry, or similar.

Combine in-house manager with freelance writers

If you hire a content executive or manager in-house, they will oversee the content production. But then they may not have the capacity to write the content. That’s when you can hire freelance writers.

That way, your in-house expert can lead the editorial calendar while the freelancers write the copy. The in-house content manager/executive can act as editorial lead to proofread and publish the content produced by the freelancers.

Making your content visually appealing

It’s not just the way you write that’ll draw a reader in. It’s also the way your content looks. Keep this in mind – when you’re trying to increase your content production, it can be easy to miss out on the small and crucial details.

For example, you can use the screen grab tool to get some high-quality images you can then embed into your posts.

Who will review the first draft?

Content doesn’t just happen. It takes time.

A first draft of the content will come through, and someone needs to read through to check it for:

• Making sure it’s accurate
• Interesting read
• Reads well
• Is free of errors and typos

The first draft is exactly that, a draft. Editing is the key to a successful piece of content.

Checking over 2nd, 3rd and 4th drafts

It may take many drafts to get the content right. You need to be prepared for that and have the writer, editor and key stakeholder (the one who approved the content at the end) working together.

Don’t worry if a piece of content takes 4 or more revisions to finally hit your website. You want to get the content just right.

Getting your content ready to publish online

It’s best to have a system in place to post regularly to all your platforms. As most businesses have more than one account to publish to, you’ll need to include them all on a rotating weekly schedule.

Once you’ve been through the drafts and you’re happy with the content itself, you’ll need to prep a few other bits for the content.

Where are your visuals coming from?

Visuals are a big part of any digital marketing campaign. Pictures or digital graphics nicely complement the written word and help to keep people’s attention.

So, will you work with a designer or will you use photography? If you use photography you can download free to use pictures, vectors, templates, and other graphics from websites like Unsplash and Freepik.

Our best piece of advice is combine images that represent you best as a business, fit with your logo and is sustainable. As long as you can regularly keep the images consistent then that’s the main thing.

Final read through

With the content and visuals in place, it’s time for the final read through.

This is your chance to check that everything is right with your content.

Have you written something you’d be interested to read? Are you happy with the final draft? Has it been edited well, for spelling errors and general readability? Do any added visuals make sense?

Who will hit the big red publish button?

Will it be you? Or would you prefer to leave it to a professional content writer or editor?

The person publishing it is key as they will be the last glancing eye to look over the content.

Now you have the content creation steps in place, how will you manage the workflow?

Producing more content than ever before is quite a leap to take. It’s best to get a lead to manage the workflow.

Someone who knows how content works in the online world, who can oversee a team of people who may even be working remotely, and has your end goal in mind.

If you’re the one in charge, make the workflow easier; use project management tools to oversee it all. You can automate the process using platforms like Monday.com, Trello, and Asana. The benefit of using apps like these is that they take much of the guesswork out.

They also allow you to focus on what you’re doing, rather than be overwhelmed by the micromanagement element of content production. You’ll be able to see how everyone is progressing according to the timeline you’ve set.

Once the content is published, how will you get people to read it?

Once you’ve made one blog post, you can make upwards of 10 more posts out of that one piece of writing. Expand on a certain part, or write a critique of a post that was written a long time ago.

Repurposing your content is an easy way to drive up your traffic thanks to just how many times you’ll be hitting the same SEO keywords over and over again. However, you’ll be putting a new spin on it every single time.

Using social media you can then promote your blog content via text posts and video elements. Break your original post down into easily digestible parts and quote them on Twitter to start a conversation. Create a Facebook infographic to demonstrate the point you’re trying to make in your original post. Share a video on Instagram and relate it to your own writing in the caption.

If you’ve written something you’re particularly proud of, you can continue the story in additional blogs. Create a 3 to 4 part series to reel people in – once they’ve gotten to the end of part 1 and are keen for a resolution, they’ll be keen to come back for more.

And of course, if the blog has been written with SEO in mind then over time, you should see people coming to your website by finding the blog on the likes of Google, Bing and Yahoo search.

It’s time to put your content production scaling in progress

Creating content is a natural part of marketing a website. Stepping up this production takes time and effort but the payoff is always worth it.

After all, your SEO strategy will improve and your website traffic will see a renewed drive. More content means more expansion and that’s the one big goal many businesses have in mind.

Remember, it’s all about quality rather than quantity.

Even though you’ve published more in the last week than you have in the last year, a piece should never be sloppy. Draft, edit, rewrite, and read through every single time.