Does Your Content Have a Purpose?Content is often considered an online business owner’s primary resource. It drives traffic. It helps make a sale. It provides authority, credibility and liking – all buying triggers. It also helps you market your business.you may have one of these reasons in mind when you write a blog post or create a new page on your website. With that in mind, does your content have a purpose? When we work with clients, one of the first things we ask is, “Why is the purpose of your website?” Really the question is asking what the client is looking to achieve by having a website; what is the purpose? On a smaller level, this applies to the content on the site. Unfortunately, many business owners write their content without any direction or purpose in mind. They may write fantastic content. Yet if it’s missing a purpose, it’s missing an opportunity. So what do you want your content to accomplish? It doesn’t matter if it’s short like a blog post or an article. It doesn’t matter if it’s a larger content piece like a report or e-book. It needs a purpose. Are you writing, “on purpose?” Does Your Content Have a Purpose? Some Purposes: To drive traffic to a web page To increase SEO To drive traffic to a sales page To generate affiliate income To boost credibility and authority To motivate a response/comments/links Collect opt-ins You may find that occasionally your content has more than one purpose. For example, a report may be designed to collect opt-ins. In addition to the opt-ins you may also include affiliate links within the body of the report to generate income. Or you may link back to a sales page on your website to promote your products or services. On the other hand, if your content is missing a purpose then you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity. Making the Decision So I ask again, “Does Your Content Have a Purpose?” The best time to determine the purpose for your content is when you create a content plan. Different people take different approaches. You may plan your content for the coming week. Or you may plan it for the entire quarter. (If you don’t plan your content at all, consider starting a new practice. Planning your content helps you make the most of your efforts.) When you plan your content you’ll likely determine the keywords and the topic. You’ll also decide when you’re going to publish it and where. It makes sense to integrate your content into your traffic generation, SEO, sales and marketing strategies.