Don’t just throw your content on there!

One of the most important rules about content marketing is that you have to be consistent. New content must appear on the site regularly otherwise your customers will not know to look for it.

Content marketing is about building a platform – not just throwing up any old stuff. And part of that means having the correct picture, the right text and even the right page design. It all matters.

If you agree, take a deep breath as you look at this piece of content from Lloyds bank. It breaks all the rules… but not in a good way.

As you can see, it focuses on advice about becoming debt free. Some might argue that doing so goes against the grain for a bank – and on this evidence you could question whether Lloyds’ heart is in it. But if they stick with it, the idea could be developed as a substantial article or series of articles.

The page itself consists wholly of an infographic. Let’s be clear: infographics are great, but they need to be supported by text. What Lloyds has essentially done is throw the infographic on the page without links to any other part of its business.

It almost feels as though some text has dropped off.

What is strange about this is that the article was actually promoted via Outbrain. Lloyds must have forgotten that the key to any promotion is to keep customers looking at different links. Otherwise the cost of the exercise is negated.

Additionally, all of the text is hidden. This will prove no help at all when it comes to SEO. There are a number of things to do when creating content:

1. Ensure you choose a good image.

2. Add plenty of links to other content on the site that people might like if they might want more information – and make it clear they can find it now.

3. If you are using an infographic, remember that it will need some explanatory text.

Lastly, quality is not about individual pieces of content. An infographic here, an article there. It needs to work as a theme, both around the idea and the company’s content platform as a whole. And it needs to be consistently adhered to.

Don’t just throw your content on there! is part of Content24, the blog for London content marketing agency FirstWord.