What Content Farms Produce Isn’t Fit for Consumption

It’s important to understand the value of publishing fresh, original content. Many times, however, the quality of the writing is not taken into consideration.

Down on the Farm

Most web users don’t know what a content farm is. They only see what is produced by these companies when they search the internet for a plumber or electrician or look for the cheapest deals for shoes or medical supplies. 

Any business with a web presence—that is to say ALL businesses should understand the value of publishing fresh, original content. Many times the quality of the writing is not taken into consideration.

It’s not enough to throw content up on a landing page and see what sticks. It takes some thought, strategy, consistency, and sure, a little bit of help from our third-party friends.

Marketing agencies that mass produce content for hundreds of different clients know this, but their business model can’t support paying writers what their worth. The result is cut-rate writing by writers to create quality up to their pay grade. You get what you pay for from these places. You don’t have to use them.

Cranking out content

Much of what you read on the web gets created by writers who bid on work through freelancing platforms. The more writers who bid, the lower the rate gets. Quality suffers as writers compete against each other by offering their services for the lowest rate possible. I have used these platforms.

Some of what you read on the internet is written by freelancers working for marketing companies that offer a high volume of work for a few cents per word and demand quick turnarounds. I have worked for these companies.

With both of these approaches to content creation, I can tell you from experience, that writers will only write up to their pay grade. The way to earn more money isn’t to write better content, it is to write content faster.  To make a living writers need to work like machines and crank out enough content to meet the word count. The middleman takes a cut and nobody is happy.

The bottom line is low pay, equals poor writing. Maybe you don’t care about quality and are only interested in gaming the SEO system with word stuffing and other black hat techniques. You’re in luck there are companies out there who will be happy to take your money and promise you the moon. 

Blogs boost business

Also known as content factories or content mills, these companies deliver bulk web content at deeply discounted rates. The thinking behind cut-rate content is that SEO is all that counts. Quality is not valued by these companies, therefore they farm out writing work at a very low rate of pay. Many times these companies rely on writers outside of the United States to generate content. Obviously for writers in the US, this is a bad deal. It’s also a bad deal for the companies who put subpar content on their websites. By being focused on a cheap price tag, they don’t realize how shoddy content can hurt their company’s image and their brand.

Content farms are companies that deliver bulk content at discounted rates. The reasoning behind this cut-rate content is that SEO is all that counts. Quality is not valued by these companies, therefore they can farm out content creation at a very low rate of pay. By being focused on a cheap price tag, they don’t realize how shoddy content can hurt their company’s image and their brand.

Do content farms help or hurt?

The bargain basement content cranked out by content farms lowers the bar for quality. If you are using a company like this to create your marketing copy, your landing pages, and your weekly blogs, this reflects directly on your company. It dilutes the impact of the brand. 

A company that uses a writer mill to generate copy for their website may feel that it is the user who is the final judge of quality, and if business is booming what difference does it make? If business is so good then why cut corners?

Disadvantages of using a content farm

• Poor quality content reflects poorly on your business

• Sites with low-quality content may be filtered out by search engines

• Overly general content fails to fully engage potential customers

Advantages of using a content farm

• Cheap

• Low cost

• Basement rates

A drought for content farms?

Many writers have been predicting the death of the content farm for years. They cite the introduction of new Google algorithms as the final blow. While it is true that Google introduced many changes to its algorithms to specifically punish content farms and keep them from ranking highly in search returns, content farms have changed their tactics too. As long as they avoid keyword stuffing and remain militant about the use of passive verbs and run it all through Grammarly and plagiarism checker they think this is good enough.

Panda is the software used by Google to prevent low-quality content sites from returning highly in Internet searches. This has forced many companies to change their marketing strategies. Is improving quality ever a bad idea in business?

Quality content is key

Quality content is worth the price if it is representing your business. Would it make sense for the owner of a retail business to handwrite the sign that hangs in front of their store just because they could buy cheap posterboard and markers at a dollar store? Of course not, but many companies will rely on low-quality content farms to produce the copy for their businesses just to save a buck. If that’s the impression you want to give to potential clients and customers, fine. If not, you need quality content for website landing pages, a mix of topical and evergreen blog posts, as well as great marketing materials. Great web writing makes good use of SEO practices, without sacrificing readability.

Leap Over and Past the Competition

Blogs are no longer for niche markets. Your business needs well-crafted content with great SEO optimization. You need blog writers who know your industry and can attract and engage potential customers. Get in touch.

A few years ago, Google released new guidelines that would put increased emphasis on the expertise, authority, and trustworthiness of web content, known as EAT. These guidelines were accompanied by changes to algorithms to target thin and irrelevant content, and websites that lack authority or contain too many affiliate links.

Most web users don’t know what a content farm is. They only see what gets produced by these companies when they search the internet for a plumber or electrician or look for the cheapest deals on shoes or medical supplies. 

Any business with a web presence—that is to say ALL businesses should understand the value of publishing fresh, original content. Many times, however, the quality of the writing is not taken into consideration.

It’s not enough to throw content up on a landing page or blog and see what sticks. It takes thought, strategy, consistency, and yes, a little bit of help from third-party friends.

Marketing agencies that mass produce content for hundreds of clients know this, but they make their money in volume and this business model can’t support paying writers a decent rate. The result is poor quality content from writers only willing to work up to their pay grade. Who can blame them?

You get what you pay for from content farms and writers' mills. You don’t have to use them.

Don’t cut corners, cut bad content

Your business needs well-crafted content with great SEO optimization. Blogs help small businesses reach new customers. You need writers who know your industry and can attract and engage potential customers. To talk about getting quality SEO content for your company website, get in touch.