This is such a vital issue in Internet Marketing. What qualifies as quality content? Can a few paragraphs with an affiliate link thrown in the middle pass as good quality content? There are no hard and fast rules, but I believe there are degrees of content quality. Spam is the absolute worst, and those newsletters that you can’t wait to devour are at the top of the list, and then there’s some stuff in between. Sometimes new internet marketers tend to fall in this in-between category.
I think the problem lies in trying too hard. We are trying so hard to write a good article, or to write a pre-sell, or to prevent a sales pitch from sounding like a sales pitch, or to stuff keywords in our articles to make them relevant, that we truly lose the essence of own voice in writing. This creates a horribly written end piece that does not appeal to the user. And because of that, you lose. You lose the reader. You lose the potential sale. You lose credibility.
Now, if you just stopped trying really hard and forcing the writing, and instead, took a deep breath, and started ’speaing’ in your own voice, you’ll see a completely different piece develop. Most of all, write with the audience in mind. Write with respect for the audience in mind. I’m reading Robert McKee’s Story, and he mentions this point in his introduction, and it really hit home. Think about how your readers will feel when they read what you have written. Ed Dale has re-iterated this point over and over again in the 30 Day Challenge - Simple put, when the reader comes to your page, do they get happy or do they get sad?
Yes, its just as basic as that. Respect your audience, give them quality content, and make them happy :).
Tags: affiliate marketing, internet marketing, quality content