Anyone who has ever built a business knows that it takes time – and there are millions of “overnight successes” that were years in the making to prove it.

But developing something over time is something that goes against the grain of everything that is happening around us today.   Instagram is instant, Facebook is live and Twitter allows to connect with the world in a few seconds.  It seems that if you don’t reply to an email within a few hours then you are slow, and we are constantly reminded that our attention spans are very short indeed (are you still reading?).

Now, I am a big fan of getting things done quickly and efficiently, as fast as possible in fact.  But I am also an even bigger fan of quality, of building something to last, of creating long-term relationships and staying in the game for the long haul.  So while I understand the importance of getting things done quick-sharpish, I don’t think that quality should be sacrificed in order to meet a crazy turnaround time.

So, how does all of this relate to content creation?  Well, as is the case in many market sectors, there is a wide range of offerings out there.  From the quickest of the quick to the slowest of the slow, from the ultra-researched no-expense-spared quality solution to the rubbish, copied, probably stolen, computer-generated, unedited works delivered by some providers or individuals.  And part of the reason the low end market seems to exist at all is all in the interest of time.  Want a 500-word article delivered in 24 hours or less for a few bucks?  No problem, as long as you are prepared to accept low quality, and I mean really low quality.

The problem with this approach is that simply stuffing a website with poor content is not going to help.  Not in the short time and definitely not in the long term.  Of course, there was a time when churning out keyword-stuffed, poorly-written SEO fodder was enough to get some decent results.  But the Google algorithm updates rightly put a stop to that and Google it seems, is the type of company that favors long-term excellence above all else.  Maybe that comes from the startup philosophy (It doesn’t matter if we are not making a profit right now, we have XXX users and are going to make it in the long term) or simply from a place where it is clear that quality content can help to make the world a better place while poor quality / incorrect / misleading content doesnt help anyone.

In any case, it’ s clear that if you want to build your brand on the internet over the years ahead (and who doesnt?), quality is what counts.  And so however many “likes” or shares or postviews you get today, what is really going to have an impact on your business is an analysis of the numbers over the long term, and not just the number of views of course, but an impact is that is dependent on the action taken by the reader.  Did they give you a call?  Did they sign up ?  Did they buy?  In other words, is your content relevant and effective?

Even if sub-par content snippet was enough to attract someone to your page, will poor content be good enough to convert them once they have arrived?  I doubt it.

So, what’s my point.  Well, it’s simple really.  It’s worth investing in great content in order to achieve fantastic results in the long term.

That’s it!