By Amine Rahal, a tech entrepreneur and writer. He is currently the CEO of IronMonk Solutions.
In 2023, the web is crowded with more content than ever. It’s no surprise, then, that it’s important to focus on quality over quantity in content production.
However, since the ChatGPT revolution, we’ve seen an explosion in the quantity of AI-generated content polluting the internet (paywall). Therefore, to stay competitive in an increasingly saturated web environment, you should improve the quality of your content while also ramping up the quantity.
This year, I’ve managed to increase my content output by about 50% per man hours worked compared to last year’s benchmark—all while preserving or even improving its quality. Here are a few of my biggest tips to help entrepreneurs do it, too.
1. Skip Graphic Design Tools (When Possible) And Use Image AI
Listen, I don’t think that AI is a panacea when it comes to content. There are a lot of misuses of AI floating around on the internet, and it’s bogging down the web with repetitive, low-value content. But when used correctly, I believe that generative AI solutions can provide a ton of value for your content and speed up its production.
This is especially true for image generation. Previously, I used graphic design and editing tools for probably 80% or 90% of the featured images in my blog posts. These days, I use these paid platforms for maybe 10% or 20%. For most blog posts, I’m content with using detailed and highly specific AI-generated images.
Obviously, graphs and detailed infographics are still the domain of paid graphic design tools. But I prefer simply prompting up a beautiful image using AI if I simply need a thumbnail for an article or even a YouTube video.
2. Do Keyword Research In Batches
Even in 2023, SEO is important to the success of a content marketing campaign. The downside is that using platforms to conduct keyword research can take hours—especially if you’re digging through pages or highly competitive search terms.
That’s why I always insist on doing keyword research in large batches. I used to research keywords one at a time by following a process in which I would find the keyword I wanted, write an article based on the selected keyword and then repeat the process by searching for a new keyword. However, these days I’ll select at least 30 viable keywords before starting the month’s content.
Compiling large batches of keywords allows you to map out a full month-long content strategy and stay focused throughout the month on content creation versus planning. This can save you a considerable amount of time since you won’t need to switch between tasks as often.
3. Keep It Short And To The Point
Shakespeare said that “brevity is the soul of wit,” and, honestly, he wasn’t wrong. Today, much of the internet consists of long-winded SEO content written by novice writers trying to hit a word count or AI chatbots that don’t care about brevity at all. To make your content stand out, don’t shy away from keeping your articles, captions and content short and sweet.
I used to insist that all my articles be at least 1,000 words long. That’s not the case anymore. Today, I’ll sometimes dip as low as 500 words if I can sufficiently convey the message in an article of that length.
4. Repurpose Old Content
If an old article is still relevant to the present day but is in need of updating, consider taking it down and rewriting it with new information included. For instance, you could update an older guide to WordPress plugins to include new plugins that have been recently listed on WordPress. In my opinion, a full refresh every two or three years is usually ideal.
5. Create Multi-Channel Content
Often, you can repackage content that originated as a blog post into discrete Tweets, Instagram posts and Facebook posts. I like to take screenshots of highlights in a blog post and upload them as social media posts with unique captions that ultimately link to the original blog post. You can stagger the social media posts so that each content platform shares the same piece of content on different dates. This has the effect of stretching a single piece of content into several.
The same principle applies to audiovisual content. Whenever you create a short YouTube video or Facebook video, you can repackage it in a condensed vertical format for TikTok. This way, you can derive more content out of the same amount of work.
Create A Winning Content Strategy With AI, Multi-Channel Output And Efficiency
Ultimately, if you want to see real results in content marketing, you should focus on providing value to your reader or customer. If you don’t, it likely won’t matter how efficiently you are able to crank out article after article. Unless you have a qualitative edge over your competition, you can wave goodbye to your dreams of ranking.
But there are legitimate strategies for gaining this elusive edge. In this article, I’ve shared some of my top recommendations that have carried me to success in 2023. They consist of using emerging technologies appropriately, working efficiently, repurposing wherever necessary and using brevity and concision to your advantage.
