Doing SEO for multiple clients, who should make the content?

[BrianAlpert78]

I realize that since content marketing is (or can be) a part of SEO, then it would logically follow that it's up to whoever is doing the SEO to create the content*. And when it's 1 person or a small group of people that work for 1 company, doing its SEO, that makes perfect sense. But I'm having a little trouble wrapping my mind around how that's supposed to scale up for an outside agency responsible for the SEO of 5 or 10 or 50 other companies.

One of the biggest factors in my misunderstanding of the system is the reasoning for creating content in the first place. I absolutely understand how a professional in some field (let's say dentistry for example) could write up some insightful, accurate blog post about why flossing is great. After all, a dentist does (or should, hopefully) have a level of expertise on the subject that most people don't have. That blog post is a tangible addition of value to the website for anyone curious about the subject.

But why would anyone want to read a blog post about wisdom teeth written by just some random person at a marketing company? If that person has the time to do a lot of research and BECOME something of an authority on the subject of dental care, then that's fine. But what if they also need to create content for clients that do plumbing, car repairs, and cooking? I don't really see how someone can become enough of an expert on enough subjects and still have any time to do the other parts of their job. Maybe I'm just expecting too much, but I sort of feel that the internet is already full enough of advice and information from people that have no idea what they're talking about, so content from someone that's not an expert (but is a marketing person that the expert hired) seems... frivolous to me.

So to get back to the actual question, should/can an SEO ask their clients to create at least some of their own content, or is it the SEO's responsibility to generate all the content, even if it's not always stellar? Or is it just one of those "Could God make a rock so big that he couldn't lift it? Yes, he could, and then he would lift it" (or however that saying went) sorts of deals?

Thanks for the feedback, this can all be kind of overwhelming for me at times.

*"Creating content" in this specific case meaning writing blog posts, making videos, etc.

[KevinBudzynski]

Yes, the best content is usually generated by someone who knows what they are writing about. However, most clients do not have time to generate content. So I try to get the client to do an interview, write out bullet points, write notes or anything that a good copywriter could take and spin into an informative article. If the content is generated by the client and they are a good writer, that would be ideal but rarely happens.

[djlaidler]

Hey Brian,

If you tear everything away what are you left with?  A company that would like to rank better and a search engine that wants people to do the right thing and naturally build their online business. Therefore, who is the best person to write content for Blogs and other backlinks? The Client.

The simply reality is they almost never have the time to. This is where your skills as an SEO really get tested. Work out which backlinks require an experts response. Directories you can do yourself. Feed a constant stream of blogs (already posted on the Web) for the client to comment, if their time poor, get them to voice record an answer (most OS have a voice recorder). Writting blogs... If you have to write a blog for your client, I can tell already, your looking to post it on the wrong site. FACT. Any site willing to publish an article by someone completely outside their skill set, is the wrong site.

I think about it this way, you should always aim to get more value out of the interest of an article or blog post via natural traffic than the value of the backlink itself. If it's the other way round, generally it's not worth it.

Dan

[EGOL]

I agree with you, I agree with you, I AGREE WITH YOU!

But why would anyone want to read a blog post about wisdom teeth written by just some random person at a marketing company?

Yep!  It is probably BS, bad advice and the language this person uses will sound like a noob to anybody who knows much about dentistry.

Dentists (and other professionals) hire SEOs because they want the rankings and either don't know how to do the work and they don't have time.  Maybe it's cheaper to hire an SEO than it is to do it themselves so they can be down at the pub while the SEO's contractor is writing this crap.

I sort of feel that the internet is already full enough of advice and information from people that have no idea what they're talking about.

Man has seen the Stone Age and the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.  Now we are in the Age of Bullshit Content. 

I don't have the answer for you but I have a couple of stories that you might enjoy.

One guy writes and wants to send me an article for my website about a technical subject.  I write back and say... "tell me your qualifications".  He writes back and gives me the name of the guy who will write the article (his story changed) and I Google him.  He is a professional in the field so I say, "I'll consider the article."  I get the article and could tell  it was written by a noob in the first sentence.  Joe Pro did not write it.  Some noob wrote it.

A different day I was using google image search and find one of my images on an law firm blog.  They hired an SEO company to blog on a different domain and point links at their site.  Those rats were using stolen images in their articles.

I don't do SEO for other people any more but if I did I would try to sell them on the idea of building a fantastic website with expert content.    That is such a great thing in many ways.  It demonstrates their expertise, it shows that they are generous and it is a great way to promote their website.

So few people are willing to do this that it is often easy to really stand out in your business niche.