Most brands engaged in content marketing understand the value of creating and publishing high-quality, informative content on a regular basis. However, many marketers continue to make the mistake of believing that success with a content creation strategy happens quickly—when it reality it’s a long-term strategy and it may be months before they see any results at all.
Success in digital marketing takes time. The most effective marketers out there are the ones who have come to understand the patience it takes to realize the long tail of content creation.
The reason why a content creation strategy can be so effective is that it allows a brand to build an enormous level of trust with its potential customers—arguably to a higher degree than has ever been possible. Social media and the nature of digital marketing allows us to tell a story and connect directly with the members of our target audience.
All we have to do is offer content our potential customers find valuable. Sounds easy, right?
Why great content ranks well
When you engage in a content creation strategy, your top goal is almost certainly to improve your rankings on Google and the other search engines. Blog content is one great way to make that happen, especially if you can build an audience due to the valuable content you offer on a consistent basis.
It’s important to understand, however, that even the most well-written blog post is unlikely to shoot to the top of the search engine results page (SERP). For your content to rank, Google needs to recognize it as authoritative and relevant. When your blog post begins to rank, more people will click on it and take in the information. If Google finds that people are spending a lot of time on your post, the search engine will likely improve its ranking even more.
This is cyclical process that could take anywhere from a few weeks to several months or more than a year. There have been situations in which we’ve found that a blog post we’ve written more than a year in the past suddenly gains an audience. It will start to show up higher and higher in the SERPs, seemingly out of nowhere.
To that end, if you create a piece of content and it doesn’t seem to be getting much attention online, be patient. You may need to make some adjustments to its readability and/or keywords, but it is quite possible that it may simply take a little time for your content to gain steam.
Remain persistent in your content creation strategy
The same is true for your overall digital marketing efforts. If you have only recently begun blogging on a regular basis, for example, you certainly shouldn’t give up after a couple of months just because you haven’t seen any results from it. We’ve seen many brands toil for months on end with their content creation strategy, and then one day, it’s like someone has flipped on a switch. Suddenly, they are seeing much more traffic to their website and are able to capture more highly qualified leads.
As you continue to work on your content creation strategy, don’t give up. Effective content marketing is the best way to reach consumers in today’s digital world. You are likely to start seeing results if you stick to your plan and focus on offering content of value more than anything else.