One of the best ways to drive a business forward is to invest in the right marketing strategies. And, for many small and medium-sized companies, content marketing, specifically product comparison content, makes for the logical choice, with its multiple benefits, low cost, and high ROI.
But how do you stand out in a sea of product comparison posts available on the internet? And how can you make sure that your content brings the required value to your target audience? These can be difficult questions to answer. Fortunately, however, there are a few tricks you can use to stay ahead of the curve.
So, if you’re interested in writing product comparisons for your company website or social media profiles, here’s how you can produce content that readers will love.
As Always, Start With the Research
One of the most impactful benefits of product comparison content is that it offers tremendous growth potential.
For one, it can be used for driving brand awareness through a careful combination of keyword research and high-quality writing. Secondly, it offers genuine value to consumers feeling lost during their purchasing journey, especially as 96% of people distrust advertising and brand messages. And last but not least, writing product comparison content that ranks high on SERPs offers a unique opportunity for small businesses to increase their revenue through affiliate marketing.
But, to make full use of all these opportunities, it’s essential to know what topics are worth writing about and which ones aren’t.
The absolute best way to find out is, of course, in-depth keyword research. Industry authorities like MOZ offer excellent guides on how to get started with SEO. So if you’ve never done keyword research before, it’s not a bad idea to get familiar with the KPIs you should be looking at.
Of course, that’s not where the research part of the work ends.
If you’re committed to writing amazing product comparison content, you’ll also have to become an expert in your field. So start getting familiar with the technical aspects of each product type, industry trends, and consumer pain points. This way, every time you publish, your post will be something worthy of your audience’s attention and time.
Develop Your Unique Touch
One of the downsides of getting started with product comparison content in 2021 is that there’s so much of it available already.
Nowadays, anyone with an internet connection can write about two or three items, comparing their technical specs. However, most consumers aren’t interested in the technicalities. Instead, they want to know how the differences will affect their real-life experience and how they will benefit from their purchase.
For this reason, it’s a great idea to come up with a unique way to describe these differences.
For example, you may want to write about tech but can’t compete with big names who get reviews units sent to them ahead of launch. In that case, you could base your strategy on a “best buy in 2021” approach, as done by Laptop Mag. This way, you can still cover all the popular products but add your own twist, which will give consumers the type of answer they’re after.
Source: laptopmag.com
Alternatively, you can decide to write for a niche audience, where the keyword search volume won’t be as high but the competition will be lower and the possible returns satisfactory. This is what Solereview does with their comparison posts, tackling topics that zoom in on specific consumer needs, like finding running shoes that can accommodate custom orthotics.
Get to the Point
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when writing product comparison posts is to waste your readers’ precious time on irrelevant or fluff content.
For example, a person who wants to buy an electric toothbrush doesn’t want to spend 5 minutes reading about the history of the product. They want to know which item will be the best choice for them. And that means that you, the writer, need to get to the point as soon as possible.
There are various ways of cutting to the chase when comparing products.
On the one hand, you can do what Medical Alert Buyers Guide does and include your final verdict in the introductory section of your post.
Source: medicalalertbuyersguide.org
But that’s not the only available choice.
You can also make your readers get more out of your content by enriching it with visual comparison tables, as done by Charlotte Law. Or, you can include a clickable table of contents at the beginning of your article for a seamless user experience.
Source: charlottelaw.org
Pay Attention to Article Structure
Last but not least, to offer an incomparable reading experience to your audience, you will want to ensure that your articles are well-structured.
Not just in terms of how you cover the content but visually as well.
Knowing that people prefer consuming well-designed pages, you should include attractive visual elements in your post. These can be product photos, illustrations, or even CTA buttons that complement your site’s overall theme.
Furthermore, organize the writing in a way that won’t overwhelm readers by being a single block of text. Use headings, numbered lists, and bullet points. Moreover, shorten your sentences and paragraphs so that they’re easily readable by anyone who lands on your website – not just people with a college degree.
Ultimately, what you want to do is to avoid falling into the trap of doing too much. Yes, an intricate piece of writing can be beautiful. But, if you think about it, the point of producing product comparison content isn’t to win a Pulitzer. It’s to give easily accessible information to people who need help choosing between the available products in the market.
A good example of a site doing this well comes from Best Mattress Brand in their best mattress post. The post has an easy to follow table of the best ranked mattresses at the top of the page. It then follows with a content box for each of the different mattresses they review with all the pertinent info. This makes it easy for the reader to quickly scan the content and find what they want to know.
Source: bestmattress-brand.org
Final Thoughts
Writing product comparison posts doesn’t just have to be a content marketing strategy for ecommerce brands. For bloggers and influencers, it can be a lucrative business opportunity on its own.
Nonetheless, if you’re looking to truly succeed with this type of writing, you’ll have to do some serious work. Not only do you have to be an expert in your field, but you also have to work towards becoming a better writer.
And, of course, never forget your audience. After all, people will be coming to you for help with the hopes of finding good purchasing advice. So don’t allow yourself to fail them in this regard. Otherwise, you risk losing their trust, which is the key component to having your brand succeed.
