Marketers have heard time and time again, “Content is King,” but how many truly take those words to heart? If you’re not focused on content marketing for your business in 2014, you may find yourself eating the proverbial dust of your competitors.

Your Content is More Important Now than Ever Before

Writers rejoiced when Google changed its algorithm. Finally, their hard work and attention to detail would no longer be trumped by keyword stuffed articles that were created just for the search engines.

At the same time, many marketers found that their once popular content was now being buried in search engine results. This newest change to the algorithm has transformed the way that we think about content marketing dramatically – and for the betterment of the internet as a whole. No longer will the amount of keywords stuffed into an article help propel it into Google’s good favor. Today, we see a larger reward from providing unique and meaningful content. The content that people actually take a moment to stop and read.

Google isn’t focusing on just one piece of the content puzzle anymore. They’ve honed in on originality, expertise and the many other areas that help to build a loyal audience. Yes folks, it’s a whole new world out there and, in this world, your content can make or break you.

What does this mean for businesses?

According to Forbes contributor, Jayson DeMers article, The Top 7 Content Marketing Trends that will Dominate 2014, it means that if content has never been a strong focus for your business, you’re going to have a lot of catching up to do to remain competitive. DeMers also predicts that the capability of a site to accommodate mobile phone and tablet users will be essential.

The Content Marketing Institute supports DeMers predictions and has released the 2014 Content Marketing Trends infographic, which highlights some of the most important statistics covered in Hana Abaza’s article, Online Content Marketing in 2014: 5 Big Shifts in Store.

It might be tempting, but don’t…just don’t

Times have changed. Because of this, beginning or continuing to utilize some of the once popular methods of creating and marketing content can be detrimental to the future of your business. That said, we feel it’s important to highlight a few things that you should NOT do as you shift your focus to content marketing.

Do not….

Use Content Automation Programs – Although most feel that automating content would be easier, it’s not the best business practice. In fact, the majority of programs that promise automation only result in providing the user with content that is difficult to read, or otherwise irrelevant. Why waste money on content that’s completely worthless to you and your readers?

Use Offshore Writers – For those hoping to save a nice chunk on content creation by hiring offshore writers, don’t. By forcing your readers/customers to bridge the language gap, you’re essentially turning them away. This opens up the door to other marketers, your competitors, that don’t have a problem spending the money to ensure that they make that all-important connection.

Demand Do Follow Links –  Requesting that publishers use “do follow” links in sponsored posts, guest posts, reviews, event promotion and other forms of content advertisement for your company site is a big no-no for two reasons: 1.) It’s unethical for you to ask someone to jeopardize their own site rank in an effort to pass link juice to your site. 2.) Google frowns upon it and may actually penalize your site and the publisher’s site if they catch this happening. You cannot buy your page rank. It is something that is earned over time.

Shortchange Publishers – Remember that you’ve reached out to these publishers for a reason. If you are asking them to perform any task for you, then you should be prepared to fairly compensate them for that task. Bartering a bit on price is fine, but offering 75% or less of the publisher’s quoted price for the work proposed is not good business; it’s an insult. Always treat publishers as you would a potential business partner because that’s exactly what they are to you.

Use Your Content Marketing Plan to Guide You

Because content is moving to the forefront of business, it’s more important than ever to ensure that you and your company have a sound content marketing plan in place. Companies like Promote with Bloggers can work hand in hand with your Director of Content to assist your company in branching out and into the content marketing arena, but we are not the whole answer.

In order to achieve success, you must be diligent in the planning, creation, distribution and management of your content. Once you have a plan in place, it should be executed and altered as needed to ensure that your efforts continue to pay off for your company over the long term.