Content Investment: Time or Money?

By now we know that "Content is King" (yay rah!) and that fresh, unique content is what attracts the spiders and bots that index our pages - and what makes some web pages rank above others in the search results.

So we must have unique content on our sites. Content that interests the search engines, and that also interests our readers.There are two major forces at work against most site owners when it comes to content development: knowing what to write, and taking the time to write it...

While it's not incredibly difficult to write your own content, there is a process involved. You should research your niche and come up with topics for content pages. Write content on each of those topics. Optimize the pages for specific keyword phrases. And then let the world know about your new content - which means getting links pointing to your pages.

This will take an investment of time on your part. In the beginning there may be a bit of a learning curve with the market research and optimization, but that will go quicker as you get the hang of it. Still, there is no getting around the fact that you must invest in your website in order for it to be successful.

There is on alternative, of course: investing money instead of your time. If you have very little time to develop content yourself, you can hire someone to write content for you. There are many companies that offer seo article services, or freelancing writing by the page.

Often I will do the keyword research, make a list of article titles, and then hire someone to write the actual article. Once completed I will proof the article, perhaps make minor edits, and then optimize it myself.

On the opposite side, you could write your own content and then hire someone to do the editing and optimization for you. There is a lot of flexibility in the industry, and many freelancers who are willing to help you in the areas you need it most.

I would be interested to hear some of your personal content solutions - What works best for you?