You know you need to create high-quality content. You know your customers are expecting it. But how exactly do you do it? Find out what comprises high-quality content, how to go about creating it, and what to do with it once you've got it. You'll be on your way to boosting your authority, increasing conversions, building a community, and possibly even improving your rankings. This was my presentation at PubCon Regional in Austin, TX, January 28, 2014

1. What is
High-Quality Content,
Anyway?
How to Recognize it, Create it,
and Use it to Your Advantage
MICHELLE LOWERY
@MichelleDLowery

2. YOU NEED
HIGH-QUALITY CONTENT!

3. Image Credit: http://www.sciencecartoonsplus.com/
Used With Permission

4. So what is
high-quality content,
anyway?

5. How do you recognize
high-quality content?

6. How do you create
high-quality content?

7. How do you use
high-quality content
to your advantage?

8. How to create
high-quality content

9. How to create
high-quality content
Spelling and Grammar

10. How to create
high-quality content
Spelling and Grammar
Sources

11. How to create
high-quality content
Spelling and Grammar
Sources
Accessibility

12. High-quality content is
grammatically correct
and
spelled correctly.

13. Wud u take me srsly
if my preesention
look like these?
LULZ

14. How many tools do you use in
your marketing efforts?

15. How many tools do you use in
your marketing efforts?
Tools to measure traffic

16. How many tools do you use in
your marketing efforts?
Tools to measure traffic
Tools to measure engagement

17. How many tools do you use in
your marketing efforts?
Tools to measure traffic
Tools to measure engagement
Tools to measure ROI

18. Words are tools you use to
express your ideas.

19. If you use the wrong word, you're
using the wrong tool, and all the tools
that come afterward are measuring
incomplete data.

20. Using correct spelling and
grammar shows you care
about your work.

21. If your content is a
misspelled, grammatically
incorrect mess, what does
that say about you?

22. On the Web,
perception
is
reality.

23. Trust and authority start
with how you express
yourself, and whether
you’ve put effort into it.

24. Assuming people will know
what you mean isn’t good
enough.

25. “But Google, I wanted to be on the first page!
C’mon, you knew what I meant!”
Image Credit: http://attackofthecute.com/on/?i=19940

26. Good spelling and grammar
may contribute to your
rankings.

27. No, really.

28. http://pfcg.me/1eGKsc8

29. “It's not one of the over 200 different
signals that we use to assess the
quality of a page.” – Matt Cutts

30. "We noticed a while ago, that if you look at the
page rank of a page, so, how reputable we think
a particular page or site is, the ability to spell
correlates relatively well with that. So the
reputable sites tend to spell better, and the sites
that are lower page rank...tend not
to spell as well." - Matt Cutts

31. That video was published in
August 2011, six months after
the Panda update was first
released.

32. A lot of sites are still trying to
recover from Panda because
their content was low quality.

33. Would they have been hit
as hard by Panda if their
content had been
high quality to begin with?

34. Aside from ranking factors,
good spelling and grammar
help make for an improved
user experience.

35. It won’t matter to some
people one way or the other.

36. For others,
spelling and grammar
will influence their decision
to do business with you.

37. Do it right, and gain
both groups of customers.

38. Providing correctly spelled
and grammatically correct
content shows respect
for your audience.

39. Anything worth doing is
worth doing right.

40. Spelling and Grammar Resources
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/spelling

41. If you don’t have the time or
desire to improve your
spelling and grammar, you
have two options:

42. If you don’t have the time or
desire to improve your
spelling and grammar, you
have two options:
Hire an editor.

43. If you don’t have the time or
desire to improve your
spelling and grammar, you
have two options:
Hire an editor.
Hire a professional copywriter.

44. High-quality content
contains good sources.

45. Links are much more than
ranking boosters.
They’re citations.

46. Links are to Web content
what footnotes
are to print.

47. Linking to reputable,
authoritative sources boosts
the quality of your content
in two ways:

48. Linking to reputable,
authoritative sources boosts
the quality of your content
in two ways:
You’re providing more value to
your readers.

49. Linking to reputable,
authoritative sources boosts
the quality of your content
in two ways:
You’re providing more value to
your readers.
You’re increasing your authority.

50. Higher SERP positions
do not always correlate
to higher quality.

52. This means you may have to
dig for the good stuff.

53. Image credit: http://petcenternews.com/

54. Primary sources
outweigh
secondary sources.

55. Clinic that performed and
published a study:
Primary source

56. News outlet that reported
the results of the study:
Secondary source

57. How you cite your sources is
just as important as
what sources you cite.

58. Poor citation: According to the
CDC, approximately 79,000 flu
hospitalizations were prevented
in the 2012-2013 flu season.

59. Good citation: Approximately
79,000 flu hospitalizations were
prevented in the 2012-2013 flu
season.

60. By not explicitly naming the
source, you retain some of that
authority for yourself while still
giving credit via the link.

61. How do you identify good
sources and avoid bad ones?

62. Good Sources

63. Good Sources
.gov and .edu sites

64. Good Sources
.gov and .edu sites
Recognized industry leaders (Mayo Clinic)

65. Good Sources
.gov and .edu sites
Recognized industry leaders (Mayo Clinic)
Established sites (domain age)

66. Good Sources
.gov and .edu sites
Recognized industry leaders (Mayo Clinic)
Established sites (domain age)
Not MFAs (Made for AdSense)

67. Good Sources
.gov and .edu sites
Recognized industry leaders (Mayo Clinic)
Established sites (domain age)
Not MFAs (Made for AdSense)
Not UGCs (User-Generated Content)

68. Good Sources
.gov and .edu sites
Recognized industry leaders (Mayo Clinic)
Established sites (domain age)
Not MFAs (Made for AdSense)
Not UGCs (User-Generated Content)
Good spelling and grammar!

69. High-quality content is
accessible.

70. Create content for your
audience, not for the
search engines.

71. Accessible content is comprised of
three key components:

72. Accessible content is comprised of
three key components:
Natural-sounding language

73. Accessible content is comprised of
three key components:
Natural-sounding language
Median vocabulary

74. Accessible content is comprised of
three key components:
Natural-sounding language
Median vocabulary
Useful information

75. Natural-Sounding Language
Try writing the way you
speak, in a more casual,
personable tone.

76. Natural-Sounding Language
This is more important than
ever in light of the Google
Hummingbird update.

77. Median Vocabulary
Use good vocabulary, but not
so good that it’s uncommon
or difficult to understand.

78. Median Vocabulary
You may alienate readers by
talking over their heads, or by
talking down to them.

79. Useful Information
Ask yourself:
What is the content’s
purpose?

80. Useful Information
Inform

81. Useful Information
Inform
Educate

82. Useful Information
Inform
Educate
Entertain

83. Useful Information
Inform
Educate
Entertain
Convert

84. There’s no reason you can’t
do all four at the same time.

85. Image Credit:
http://www.jpeterman.com/

86. How to recognize
high-quality content

87. If you can create
high-quality content,
you can recognize it.

88. Don’t confuse
appeal with quality.

89. Value is subjective;
quality is not.

90. How to use
high-quality content
to your advantage

91. Connect with your
audience

92. The Power of Empathy

93. Think like a consumer;
you’re a consumer, too.

94. Remember you’re talking
to people,
not their wallets.

95. If you wouldn’t say it
in person,
don’t say it online.

96. A lack of empathy
is divisive.

97. With empathy, you can encourage or
help a larger group of people
instead of polarizing them.

98. Buying is an emotional decision.
Appeal to your customers’
emotions, and you stand a better
chance of converting them.

99. Be passionate about what you do.
Content created without passion
is just a collection of words
and images.

100. If you’re not passionate about
your content, how can you
expect anyone else to feel
that way about it?

101. There is no excuse
for poor-quality content
on your site.

102. Create high-quality content,
and everyone’s happy—you,
your customers, and even
Google.

103. Image Credit: http://attackofthecute.com/on/?i=23241

104. Connect With Us





http://passionfruitcreativegroup.com/blog/
@PassionFruitCG
facebook.com/PassionFruitCreativeGroup
gplus.to/PassionFruitCreativeGroup
linkedin.com/company/passion-fruit-creative-group