If you think you’re doing everything right and still can’t seem to figure out why your content isn’t working, why it is being avoided instead of being sought out or why it is being overlooked, this one’s for you!
With about 93% of B2B marketers making use of content marketing at the core of their marketing strategy, the internet has turned into an infinite pool of content.
Like Bill Gates says,
One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone with a PC and a modem can publish whatever content they can create. In a sense, the Internet is the multimedia equivalent of the photocopier. It allows the material to be duplicated at a low cost, no matter the size of the audience.
This results in content that has lost meaning of what content marketing is supposed to be – a value-add to the readers.
Readers find value in content that is well researched and engaging. But if your audience feels differently, what you could be dealing with is – Bad content.
What is bad content?
Duplicated, unoriginal, apathetic pieces stuffed with irrelevant keywords and awkward CTA (call-to-action); writing that states the obvious and does not solve the actual problem of the reader; and writing that isn’t reader-centric pretty much sums up what bad content is in our experience as B2B marketers!
But with the likes of AI and ChatGPT also coming into the picture, we’d add a few more parameters to what makes for bad content:
- Low Quality: Poorly written, riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, or lacking in clarity and coherence.
- Irrelevant: Content that doesn’t align with the audience’s interests, needs, or expectations.
- Unoriginal: Plagiarized or lacking unique insights and perspectives, offering no new value.
- Misleading: Factually incorrect, exaggerated, or deceptive, damaging trust and credibility.
- Boring: Unengaging, failing to capture and retain the audience’s attention.
- Inconsistent: Lacking a cohesive voice, tone, or style, leading to a disjointed user experience.
- Overly Promotional: Focused too much on selling rather than providing value, turning off readers.
- Poorly Formatted: Difficult to read due to poor layout, lack of headings, or inadequate use of multimedia.
- Unoptimized: Not optimized for search engines (SEO) or mobile devices, making it hard to find and access.
- Irregular Updates: Infrequently updated, making it stale and outdated.
TLDR; it is the content that no one is reading, engaging with or finding value in enough to reach out to your business. If your content hasn’t been picking up on search or social media, it’s time you reach out to us for a content audit.
How can bad content affect you?
Bad content can cause a lot of damage. Some of which can be irreversible. Creating content, good and bad alike takes time and effort. Putting in resources only to produce something that does nothing but bore your readers to death, ultimately costs your company a low ROI.
One of the most obvious issues pertaining to bad content is the SEO issue. Google (and your readers!) likes fine content and it has specially designed algorithms used to assess the quality of content that is published. It checks for duplicated, keyword-driven posts that serve little or no value to the users and ranks them lower.
Consistently putting up bad content may hurt your brand value and cause some serious reputational damage. Here are some of the serious negatives that a business counters when producing and publishing bad content:
- Damaged Reputation: Poorly written, irrelevant, or misleading content can damage a business’s reputation, making it appear unprofessional or unreliable.
- Loss of Trust: If customers find the content misleading or inaccurate, they may lose trust in the business, leading to decreased customer loyalty.
- Reduced Engagement: Unengaging or boring content can lead to lower user engagement, such as fewer shares, likes, and comments on social media, and reduced time spent on the website.
- Lower Search Engine Rankings: Search engines prioritize high-quality, relevant content. Bad content can result in lower search engine rankings, reducing visibility and organic traffic.
- Increased Bounce Rates: Content that is irrelevant or unengaging can lead to higher bounce rates, where visitors leave the website quickly without interacting further.
- Decreased Conversion Rates: Poorly crafted content can fail to persuade or motivate visitors to take desired actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, leading to lower conversion rates.
- Negative Customer Perception: Customers may perceive the business as careless or unprofessional if they encounter bad content, leading to negative word-of-mouth and reviews.
- Wasted Resources: Time, money, and effort spent creating bad content are wasted resources that could have been better utilized in producing high-quality content.
- Competitive Disadvantage: Competitors with better content can attract more customers, leaving the business at a competitive disadvantage.
- Hindered Brand Authority: Consistently producing bad content can prevent a business from establishing itself as an authority or thought leader in its industry.
- Increased Customer Support Burden: Misleading or unclear content can result in customers seeking clarification or support, increasing the burden on customer service teams.
Now, none of us want any of the above, do we?
So, what makes your content “bad”?
Now that we know what bad content is and what it does to you, we need to figure out those tell-tale signs that make your content…BAD.
Don’t get too worked up because we have it all worked out for you (see what I did there *wink*). Check these out and you’ll be good-to-go!
1. Overly promotional
The difference between a sophisticated and a crude marketing campaign is that the consumers don’t feel sold to. Overly promotional content can make your readers feel like they’ve come across just another piece of advertisement and skip it.
If your piece talks about the product every little opportunity it gets, it leaves little room to describe what the product solves.
For instance, an article could give you in-depth information on a mobile phone and its features but it serves no real purpose until it talks about how it can be of any use to you.
Content like this can only be of value to people who have already made their minds up to buy the phone. The rest of them will simply walk away.
But an article that provides a solution to a problem from a unique standing point where your product just happens to solve the said problem could be of much better value to your readers.
Also, most readers can easily tell when you’ve tried to sneak in your product after 50 odd lines of educating them. This not only puts them off but again, can make them perceive your content as advertising.
Therefore, any comment on the product shouldn’t be passed around like gum in the middle of a class (come on! We’ve all been there). You must do so, deliberately and confidently without beating around the bush too much.
2. Ignorance is not quite the bliss when you’re writing
Content marketing isn’t a cakewalk of any sort. You will have to talk or write about a lot of things that you’ve probably never heard of. And when you talk about something you don’t know, you happen to make a lot of mistakes.
You can’t put up a post commenting on the actions of the government when you don’t know who the president is. (eeks!)
Anyhow, what we’re trying to tell here is that a lot of why’s and how’s go unanswered when you are not completely aware of what you’re writing. To cover up for it, we may end up using a lot of buzzwords and jargon, all in the wrong places and end up sounding like a wannabe expert.
Consider the case talking about the mobile phone again. An article that says, “get your hands on a 5G-enabled smartphone”, should also explain why you need a 5G-enabled phone and how it can help you.
Answering the most obvious questions and explaining the nitty-gritty of how it works can do the trick.
That’s why it’s good practice to do your research before you jump into something you’re new to.
3. Fooling the experts
Another problem that stems due to ignorance, or rather, inexperience in a subject is that you may unintentionally try to preach the priest.
While your first draft is allowed to be writer-centric, the second must cater to your reader.
Freshly researched data can be raw. This must be processed to provide something of value to both newbies and subject-matter veterans alike.
You can do this by involving yourself directly with the subject at hand and gaining some first-hand experience.
Take an example of a tool review. You would have to use the tool or interview someone who has, before writing a review on it. This makes sure you don’t state the obvious and learn the know-hows instead of making a fool out of yourself.
4. Prioritizing quantity over quality
Google tries to provide you with the most “elaborate” and “comprehensive” search results. Which sounds like more content equals a higher rank.
But, not quite.
Google also tries to give you the most relevant and useful content. It is sensitive to the quality of data that ranks on its SERP (search engine result page).
Here’s Google’s guide to creating quality content,
- Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
- Don’t deceive your users.
- Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”
- Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.
For those of you looking for the complete guide, you’ll find it here.
5. Providing evidence as a certificate of credibility
While a data-driven approach to content marketing is good practice, it is often thrown around carelessly.
When you need the words of an expert to back up your claims, it can mean that you don’t have what it takes to persuade your readers on your own. Sometimes, there isn’t even a claim to support it. A quote here and a stat there is all that’s left for the reader to ponder on. The subject at hand is left without an argument.
However, data alongside a thoroughly researched fact can strengthen your argument and help your readers come to a logical conclusion.
6. Lack of purpose
A well-planned strategy helps you put purpose behind the writing.
Aimlessly pushing content that your users may not need, discredits the whole “value” part of content writing.
It is always a good idea to make sure what your audience needs and have a fixed itinerary for everything that goes into your blog post.
Ask your existing customers what they would like to see right now or what helped them when they were looking for your product or service. This will help you zero down your content to everything relevant to your consumer base.
7. No optimization
And we mean both in terms of the search engine as well as the readability of your content.
If you’re creating content without paying attention to how it reads – the flow, the formatting and how it takes the reader from one section to another, you’re probably losing visitors at 100x the pace at which you’re creating content (read, high bounce rate and exit rate). We recommend making use of smart tools like Grammarly here to ensure your readability is not compromised.
The other part of optimization is for the search engine. Imagine creating content that no one is looking for; it’s going to lie there on the website without anyone caring about its existence! This is where we recommend ensuring that you optimize for intent-based or jobs-to-be done keywords. Here’s a complete guide on getting started with SEO.
Bad content examples that make us cringe
We don’t want to name B2B companies creating content because everyone is; but we do want to highlight a few places where most are going wrong:
Example 1: Website Landing Page
Headline: Our Software is the Best
Content:
We offer the best software solution for your business. It’s easy to use and will improve your productivity. Sign up now to learn more!
Why It’s Bad:
- Vague Headline: The headline is generic and doesn’t clearly convey the unique value proposition.
- Lack of Specifics: There are no details on how the software improves productivity or what features it offers.
- No Call to Action (CTA) Clarity: The CTA is too generic and doesn’t specify what the user will gain by signing up.
Example 2: Blog Post
Title: Maximizing Your Business Efficiency with Software
Content:
Software can help you maximize your business efficiency. It’s important to choose the right software. Our software is the best. Contact us to find out more.
Why It’s Bad:
- Lack of Depth: The post provides no actionable advice or insights on how to maximize business efficiency with software.
- Overly Promotional: It focuses too much on selling the company’s software without providing valuable content.
- No Engagement: There’s no engaging narrative or useful information to keep readers interested.
Example 3: Email Newsletter
Subject: New Features Added!
Content:
Hi,
We’ve added new features to our software. These features will help you. Check them out now!
Thanks,
The Team
Why It’s Bad:
- Generic Subject Line: The subject line doesn’t generate excitement or curiosity.
- Lack of Detail: There’s no explanation of what the new features are or how they will benefit the users.
- Impersonal Tone: The email is impersonal and doesn’t address the recipient’s specific needs or interests.
Worried you may have some of this content too? Reach out to us for a content marketing audit today.
Conclusion
You can’t possibly control all the content pollution happening out there at the end of the day, but you can reprioritize your own work to deliver something of value to your readers.
Only 42% of B2B marketers say they’re effective at content marketing.
This means you can have a good shot at standing out in the B2B space if you start picking your pieces up right now!
If you have a high bounce rate on your content, it’s time to relook how you write it.
Now that you know what bad content is, what it does to you and how you can rectify it; Clean it up, will you? Or, we could do it for you! Reach out to us for a content marketing audit.
Frequently asked questions
What is bad quality content?
Poor-quality content is when you’re creating and publishing something that does not serve the purpose for your target audience or ideal customer persona. It lacks depth, research, experience and expertise and lists out what is commonly available on the internet. On the other hand, high-quality content is original, relevant, helpful and provides clear actionables to the reader.
What would you consider to be good or bad website content?
If your website is beating about the bush and is not able to answer target audience queries clearly, the content can be flagged as bad content or shallow content. This is usually when someone lands on your website, browses through some of the pages but is not able to understand what you have to offer or how they’re going to derive value from it.
