drought

Every day I run into a website that needs content and yet has none, or just has a few pages up. Where is the content?! Did the web dry up and the words evaporate, leaving nothing behind but dry, cracked websites?

A quick example:

Wednesday I met with a friend who installs custom showers and bathrooms in people’s homes. At one point I wrote them up 1 large piece of content in exchange for something they did at my place. I photographed the before and after of the bathroom they had worked on. In the town they are in, nobody had yet written this content, so within 6 hours of me publishing it they were right on the top of page 1 in Google search for a variety of terms. This 1 single article has brought in for them tens of thousands of dollars of new business. Anyways, during our lunch, they said “I would really like to tap into X neighorhood”. I pulled out my phone and Googled “custom showers X neighborhood”. Nothing, absolutely nothing, not even for the name of the town! There are 20 businesses within 30 miles doing the same thing and yet none, none of them had the content up on their website. I asked them if they’ve done work in the neighborhood. It turns out, yes, they have, on several occasions. If I were them I would be putting up a new article practically every single day. Why the heck are they not adding this stuff to their company’s blog?!?! I scolded them, and they promised to do better, but I doubt that they will.

Content all the Things!

Just because they’re selling shower installations, they don’t have to just talk about showers. Make a YouTube video of someone seeing their shower for the first time! Interview a plumber. Talk about the entrance to this beautiful community they like servicing. Other than the $2.5million homes, what do they love about it? Do they eat at any nearby restaurants? Are there any birds unique to the area? What kinds of dogs do people have there? Can they blog about a disaster and restoration company that they love? What is so great about their showers? Are they made of tile? Can they install a shower with 3 shower heads? Who does the installation? Why do they like building bathrooms in the first place? What is the tallest toiled they’ve seen? Can they install a urinal? Do those hot tub bathtubs get filled with germs? How should I clean them? Can they put a timer on the bathroom lights? What is the strangest thing they’ve found in a drain? Who are their favorite home builders? Does a new bathroom increase the resale value of a home? Do they carry faucets that are made in America? Can they set me up with an off the grid water heater? Have they ever seen a cat use the toilet? Do they use animated GIF images in their blog posts? Do they use animated GIFs of cats using the toilet in their blog post?! I do.
cat toilet gif
This is what I just spewed off of the top of my head in under 3 minutes. And yes, I know, I know, a cat using the toilet is probably not something many business owners want on their blog. Still, there are plenty, plenty of articles they can write, pictures they can take, videos they can record, etc.

I call this The Great Content Drought of 2015.

There is a major lack of content everywhere I look. Why is this? It is tough to wrap your head around the value of content if you have never ranked on the front page of Google search. I’ve been there, and experienced the success of it, and my clients tell me every day how much it means to them.

You may also be interested in hearing other business owners explain how unique content has helped them here: Great examples of business website content. Either write your own content or hire a good copywriter. You may also like: How to choose a good copywriter.

It is 2015. Get that content up! YouTube is watched more than TV, the Internet is read more than papers, people use search now, not the Yellow Pages, in most businesses, having great content is by far the best way to obtain new business.

Len

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