How to write high-quality content on a shoestring budget.
Yes, you can.
When it comes to publishing high quality content on shoestring budgets, I have experienced two types of clients:
- Those who have a genuine problem with cash and right now, really cannot spend much money on my content writing services.
- Those who think that spending money on content writing is not worth it, and they must squeeze as much content as possible with as little money as possible.
The focus of the current blog post are the clients of the first category – who really need to publish high-quality content on a shoestring budget.
Frankly, if you want to publish a 2500-word blog post that is well researched, you will need to spend money on a content writer.
It is like, when you go to the Domino’s and you want to order a large pizza, you are going to have to pay for it. Cannot pay? Too bad. Find alternatives. Go for another fast food that may be equally yummy and appetizing.
When my clients do not have enough money, I don’t cut corners.
I either don’t take the assignment because sometimes even I cannot afford to work on lesser paying assignments, or I offer an alternative.
The trick is, publish as much high-quality content as possible. Do not, do not compromise on quality even if you get to publish less content. Less content does not mean bad content. It simply means less content. There is nothing wrong in that.
This is how you can publish high-quality content on a shoestring budget
Publish small blog posts and web pages
In my previous blog post titled How to start blogging right now I have written that most of the clients think that if they need to publish their blogs, they need to publish at least 1000 words.
Yes, there are definitely benefits of publishing longer pieces of content. The advantages of long form content are well proven. Long form content enjoys better search engine rankings, and it also gets shared more compared to shorter pieces of content.
But right now, in the beginning, when you are working on a shoestring budget, do not worry about publishing long form content. You cannot afford it and you don’t want to compromise on the quality of your content.
The benefits of publishing small blog posts and web pages is that you can publish them almost immediately. Instead of worrying about the number of words, you focus on the message and the quality of your content.
Deliver the central message and then be done with that.
Even if you need to pay your content writer, since your content writer will be writing smaller pieces of content, he or she will not charge much, and you will be able to collaborate with him or her within your shoestring budget.
It is not like once you have published web pages and blog posts you cannot come back to them and expand them. You can go on adding new content as and when you can afford.
For example, in the beginning you publish a blog post of just 200 words. You publish it and then submit it to the Google Search Console. It will get crawled and indexed. One important job is done.
After a month, you can add another 400 words and then resubmit your link to the Google Search Console. Now you have 600 words, and the content is crawled again.
Publish content iteratively
I have covered this topic in the above-mentioned point. Publishing content iteratively means publishing it in stages. You publish the bare-bones version for the first time and submit your link to Google.
Then you can go on visiting the link and keep on adding new content to it.
Please remember that the problem is not with how much content you have, the problem in the beginning is the lack of it.
If you keep on waiting for the time when you will be able to publish blog posts and web pages of thousands of words, you will either compromise on quality or you will go on waiting, and this will cause harm to your business.
Instead, publish module, smaller chunks of content and then let them grow over time.
Re-purpose existing content
Have you already got a few web pages and blog posts? Maybe you can take out some chunks and reuse them?
These days when I don’t get time to add new content to my blog, I randomly pick up (relevant & useful) paragraphs and sentences, make them into a quotable image, and then share the image on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Curate useful content
This was the initial essence of blogging I remember. Someone posted something, and then scores of people linked to the original piece and shared their own opinion on it. This is how blogging grew and millions of blog posts got interconnected.
There are many content segregation platforms and apps you can use to gather useful links in your industry.
I use them for gathering high-quality updates on content marketing, content writing and SEO from other blogs and websites.
I choose a link, link to it from a new blog post, and then write a few paragraphs either explaining the contents of the original link, or expressing my own opinion.
You do not always have to agree to the link that you have found. You can also disagree. For example, recently I found a link extolling the benefits of long form content and according to my experience, sometimes you can achieve the same results by publishing shorter blog posts. I wrote about that.
Just make sure that when you are disagreeing, you have a valid reason, otherwise, it becomes counter-productive.
Share quick tips and tricks about your business or expertise
Again, these tips and tricks don’t need to be very long and comprehensive.
Take for example this blog post – Content writing advice: In the beginning it is important to associate your name with what you do or offer.
I was having a conversation with a client, and it occurred to me that the advice that I was giving to him, I could also write and publish on the blog. I did. It hardly took me 10 minutes.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this blog post, some clients are simply miserly and don’t appreciate paying for good content, and some clients have a real problem. These clients know the value of high-quality content. They wouldn’t mind paying for it. It is just that right now they need to work on a shoestring budget.