Most Internet marketers recognize that frequent, relevant content is a golden ticket to brand awareness, customer confidence, and meeting the business bottom line. Yet so many entrepreneurs fail to recognize poor-quality content when they see it. Others repeat themselves, post sporadically, or produce content that’s merely thinly veiled advertising. Read on to discover the three common pitfalls of today’s content marketers – and what your marketing team can do to avoid them.

Choose Quality Every Time

The most common trap marketers fall into is the myth that quantity trumps quality. As such, consumers are barraged by a multitude of meaningless content, effectively turning them off to a brand for months, years, or even a lifetime. It’s critical that marketers are focusing on informative, relevant content their audiences can actually make use of. An influx of brief, breezy content ultimately comes across as empty to the consumer, so it’s far wiser to focus on real-life information your audience can truly put to use. 

Don’t Mistake SEO Content with Advertising

Though SEO content is often crafted to appeal to Google searches, boosting a brand’s rankings and earning a website more pageviews, the ultimate goal of high-quality SEO isn’t to advertise your product or service. Rather, you’re tailoring great content to attract potential customers, drawing them to your wealth of knowledge rather than to your products themselves. Envision SEO content as a way to inform and educate your viewers – you’re not looking to actually sell them anything, at least not directly. 

Be Your Own Brand

Today’s consumers are smart, savvy, and quick to notice gimmicks and mimicry. As such, it’s imperative that you eke out your own brand presence in the world rather than relying on tactics and catchphrases employed by your competitors. Don’t attempt to slay the competition, insult brands similar to yours, or embed negative energy into your content. Instead, focus on empowering your own unique brand, and when it comes to SEO, that means honing in on the wisdom you can offer to an audience. Customers will grow instantly wary the minute they recognize other brands in your SEO content. 

Remember: Effective SEO should never come across as spam. Rather, quality content serves to add credibly to your brand or business by providing relevant information to the consumer, free of charge. You’re not asking your audience to buy; you’re inviting them to learn. Keep this in mind, and you’re bound to see a rise in traffic – and in sales – as the quality and integrity of your SEO continues to improve.