Originally published August 16, 2021 , updated on August 30, 2024

Businesses are planning ahead and looking at how to grow leads, customers and profits. This means that many are looking at how content writing services can benefit their company. The best content writing services, for their part, are looking ahead, too. They are trying to figure out new and innovative ways to support their clients’ business needs. And many are finding a couple of trends emerging.

Here are the top trends and what you can expect from professional website writing services this year and beyond. Make a note of these to stay ahead.

Expect More Involvement in Idea Generation

Previously, businesses would typically suggest article ideas they’d like to include on their website or blog in the upcoming months. Companies would then brief the content writing service and expect the copy to be delivered on an agreed upon deadline. But these days, agencies are getting more involved in idea generation from the start.

While they don’t know your business as you do, they know how website content works and the right keywords to use. As a result, they can suggest topics based on what people search for around your goods and services.

To ensure that you and your agency are on the same page, prepare a brainstorming session to plan ideas ahead of time. This way, everyone can share ideas and concepts based on the industry and best practices, and you can sign off on topics ahead of time.

There Will Be Checklists Galore

If you want your website stories to rank high in search results, you need to optimise for search. But, this isn’t just about adding keywords and hoping for the best. There are many things to take into account. As a result, agencies create long checklists for writers. Before writers submit stories, they have to go through this checklist.

If you have someone on your internal team who checks your pieces and signs off, they should have this list too. It won’t hurt to also go through the checklist before signing off the copy. This ensures that everything is in place and that all articles meet SEO standards.

There Is More Focus On the Value of a Piece

By this, we mean the value that a website article or blog post provides the reader. Search engines are getting smarter. They are looking at how much value stories bring to people. Yes, you can focus on backlinks, keywords, etc. But if your pieces are not benefiting your readers, then it’s not deemed valuable.

As a result, agencies need to ensure that every piece they produce helps or adds some value to the reader. Whether it’s a how-to piece, or a detailed product description, it needs to be accurate and relevant to the reader.

Expect More Flexibility From Content Writing Services

Before the global pandemic, things were very different. Agencies could pretty much set out an editorial calendar two to three months ahead of time. These days, the world is ever-changing. As a result, content writers need to be flexible enough to change things on the fly and at any moment.

Let’s take a video call software company as an example. Companies are changing their remote working policies and expectations based on lockdown restrictions. So, it would become important for agencies to be flexible with the pieces they do for this type of client. Perhaps they planned a piece about how to make use of video meetings from the office. If the region goes into lockdown at a moment’s notice, the idea would need to change.

And the pandemic isn’t the only factor to consider. Things generally change all the time. So, it’s important that businesses and agencies remain as agile as possible.

There Will Be Frequent Updates to Old Content

As the world changes, so do SEO requirements. This means that some of your older pieces may no longer meet these requirements. You can expect content writing businesses to frequently check your older articles and update them.

They might add new information to older pieces or tweak it to adhere to current best practices. Either way, it’s good to do a content audit and check what information on your website could use some updates.

There Is More Repurposing Information

The best content writing service should be following your business on social media and other digital channels. By monitoring your social media platforms, content writers can take what they see there and repurpose them for use elsewhere. Perhaps your Facebook post would work well as a longer blog post or thought leadership piece. There are many ideas that could spark through the repurposing of information.

This is something that will become common practice going forward. Repurposing content from social media and other places to use on the website will be more popular. And vice-versa.

A Wider Variety of Content Types

While many writing companies focus on writing, you will soon start seeing a shift towards other types of content. In a world where more than two billion people log in to YouTube every month, it’s hard to ignore video. More companies are also finding value in podcasts and infographics. In fact, a recent survey highlighted that 37% of Americans over the age of 12 listen to at least one podcast every month. This is an increase of 5% when compared to 2019. While writing may still be the focus for many agencies, it’s hard to ignore these other formats. They are here to stay. Going forward, agencies will start to find more ways to incorporate different content formats in order to appeal to all audiences. This could be videos, infographics, images or podcasts.

These are just a handful of things to expect from professional content writing services in 2021 and beyond. The world is more connected than ever before and people’s media consumption habits are changing all the time. And because of this, we’re sure that content will get another shake-up soon enough.

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