Why Cheap Content Isn’t Good and Good Content Isn’t Cheap

When it comes to SEO content writing, you get what you pay for.

Unfortunately, many business owners view content creation as a cost. Something they want to purchase as cheaply as possible.

In a way, I get that.

Most small and medium businesses have a limited amount of money to spend on expenses like digital marketing. So, by cutting corners (purchasing cheap content from an online writing service), brand owners think they are saving money.

And there’s no shortage of content mills churning out the cheapest articles and blog posts possible.

A naive business owner thinks it’s a win-win proposition: Getting the content they need at a rock-bottom price.

Unfortunately, it turns out to be a lose-lose proposition: Getting worthless content that does next to nothing to help their brand while wasting their money.

The truth is cheaply written articles and blog posts are never any good to your brand.

• Cheap content is hastily written by someone (or maybe an AI bot) that doesn’t care about serving the needs of your audience.
• Cheap content is often never seen by most of your target audience because it isn’t SEO-friendly.
• Cheap content gives visitors a bad first impression of your brand. (It makes you look unprofessional.)
• Cheap content doesn’t offer your target market any value.

That’s why I always say good content isn’t cheap!

• Good content is carefully researched and written by a professional writer to address the needs of your target audience.
• Good content can actually reach your intended audience.
• Good content gives your audience a strong, positive first impression of your brand.
• Good content makes visitors want to take that next step (e.g. signing up for a newsletter, researching your products or services, requesting more information).

While publishing high-quality articles and blog posts will cost you more money up front, it’s worth it to grow and engage your audience, build brand awareness, and drive conversions.

Let me put it to you another way.

1. Do you believe in your product or service?
2. Do you believe you can meet the needs of your audience — even better than your competitors can?
3. Do you believe in your brand’s future?

If you answer yes to all three of those questions, then you have a real shot at creating a successful online business.

But to make that a reality, you have to remember the following.

• Before you have sales, you need quality leads.
• Before you have quality leads, you need quality content.
• Before you have quality content, you need a professional (human writer) who can create it for you.

So, the next time you are in the market for articles or blog posts to publish on your website, don’t evaluate prospective writing services based on how cheap they are.

Instead, evaluate content writing services based on the value they can provide for your brand.

Evan Crosby is a freelance SEO content writer with a decade of experience creating high-impact articles and blog posts. In addition to being a 3x top writer on Medium, his articles have been published on Yahoo Finance and MoneyWise. He is available for hire on nDash.