Writing content for construction companies that helps them rank, boost traffic, and convert clients is just as challenging as any other industry—but it carries its own unique challenges as well. That said, construction is booming all around the world, and producing top-tier content is a surefire way to set yourself apart.
We reached out to industry and marketing experts who have a front-row seat to these challenges and asked if they would share their insights. The replies we received are sure to help even the most seasoned international construction company.
Interested in challenges faced by construction companies in the United States? Read more here!
1. Lack of Good Writer Options
“As an SEO provider with over 10 years experience in the construction and trade industries in Australia & Singapore, the greatest challenge I used to face was getting content written.
This is primarily because the best person to write the content is often out on jobs, quotes or managing projects.
With Google’s latest algorithm update focusing on rich content, and with the introduction of rich snippets, it is now more important than ever to provide consistent content.
The past 3 years we have resolved this issue in my agency.
Clients have no choice but to either a) provide monthly content, b) pay for copywriting services, or c) be aware that their rankings are likely to suffer and SEO is likely to be 50% effective if fresh content is not provided.
This has completely resolved the issue for us, and I’m happy to report that none of our clients suffered ranking losses in the recent algorithm update.“
“In working with residential construction companies, the biggest challenge I find is maintaining a high standard of content that answers users’ queries. Due to the nature of the industry and niche expertise required, quality content can be hard to develop.
For example, I have found in outsourcing to freelancers you risk getting poor quality and inconsistent content. A freelance copywriter with experience in the niche is nigh on impossible to find. On the other hand, if you push for the client to write anything, it is never going to get done. They have other priorities, such as running the business.
One way I try to bring some of the client’s expertise into the content creation is via ‘interviews’. Every few months I secure an hour of the clients time and record a conversation on numerous topic areas that are relevant to the business. We can then take this away and use their expertise to inform any new content created, whether that be developed in-house or outsourced.”
“Over the last few years, I have worked with a wide range of companies and there have been a good handful of construction companies. Some quite generic and others very specific, such as plant hire and GPR surveyors.
We originally attempted to get the customer to write the content, but most of the people you deal within the construction industry are not familiar with the idea of blog posts. We then tried writing the posts, but the content writers were struggling to write it without any input as it is such a niche topic.
We finally found a solution whereby we send the client an overview of the post that we plan to write along with a few questions for them to answer, which is the input we need to give the content writers a head start. Once the post is created, we send it over to the client to ensure that any terminology has been used correctly etc.”
“I worked at a marketing agency before that was commissioned a lot of writing work, and construction was one of the topics we had to write about. The problem was, we had to do it in-house and not hire anyone externally, and none of our writers had any expertise in construction. As a result, they had to do a lot of research to produce something that was barely good enough for our client to accept it. In the end, the amount of time we spent on writing this was not worth the revenue we got from the client.
From that point on, we only accepted to work in those niches where we had some expert insights or at least enough knowledge to allow us to build upon it.”
2. Excess Jargon & Lack of Marketing Know-How
“By far the biggest challenge with getting from clients in the construction industry is with clients who want to create the content themselves.
The clients’ subject matter expertise lends itself perfectly to addressing the topic that the content will cover. This industry knowledge is a huge bonus as it means that the pieces will be sprinkled with jargon used on the job site, so the reader can gain additional insight or understanding due to this shared knowledge.
This expert knowledge also satisfies Google’s ever-increasing requirement for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of content pieces on websites.
Freelancers will never have the same language use, or E.A.T. in Google’s eyes when creating content, so getting the client to write their own content can generate really insightful content.
However, being pro-builders means they aren’t pro-marketers.
To ensure that clients hit the mark, supply them with a detailed brief–in a Word document give them a structured set of header tags (like H1s, H2s) to follow and add the keywords that should be addressed under each header section into the brief too.
This gives the client freedom to write using language that their readers will identify with while also ensuring that the content is also written with search engines in mind, so can satisfy both human readers and search bots.”
Kyle Douglas—SEO Manager at Revium, Australia
3. Finding Room to Innovate & Add Value
”When creating construction-related content, it’s important to think about your goals first. Do you want this content to attract backlinks or go viral and get lots of eyeballs reading it? Then, the biggest challenge is figuring out what topic to write about so you can achieve this. I find that one of the best ways for coming up with great content ideas people will actually want to read and link to is by thinking outside the box.
For example, if you find most construction-related topics have been written about a million times before, then what about creating content in a shoulder niche? Shoulder niches are simple other industries closely related to construction but not in direct competition. So, you could create an awesome piece of content in the DIY space about how to construct something yourself. Doing this will open your content up to a brand new audience and you can then reach out to the thousands of DIY blogs online to build links to your content. This will give you an advantage over your competitors and DIY blogs will like your unique spin coming from the construction industry.”
“The hardest part about writing content for the construction space is the lack of unique statistics or unused reference points online. As a content writer, you need to differentiate your article from the other pieces online but finding statistics or data that is different from the other results on Google’s first page can be a challenge. Statistics add credibility to your piece but using the same stats as the top 3 ranking articles won’t give your piece any organic exposure.
Many of the valid or up-to-date statistics come from one or two main resources such as OSHA but are referred to all over the web. In order to differentiate your piece of content you may need to dig deep to find stats or data to support your piece. In addition, many construction articles reference outdated statistics which gives an author much less credibility. If you want to rank, I recommend trying Brian Dean’s skyscraper technique.
This means, if the keyword you’re looking to rank for has an article on Google’s top result with 10 tips, you one-up that article in writing a more informative piece with 15-20 tips. Another trick, try making an infographic or something visually digestible, this can allow your written content to be easily sharable.”
“The biggest challenge when writing content for industries such as construction is to make the content interesting to read and worth the time of the audience. A lot of times, I find construction websites and blogs boring. Topics are dry, hard to read and lack interest, even for those who work in the construction field. Reason? Probably because people think there’s little or no room for creativity in such industries.
Sometimes, businesses are also hesitant to explore new ways to communicate their ideas, products and services. For me, content is wasted if it is not read or interesting enough to read. So, I struggle to find a ground where both, businesses and the target audience, are served the right message in a creative way. Being a digital content strategist, I have to work with the writers to help them find the right voice for a diverse construction community as well as work with clients to help them realize how different content strategies can help them stand out.
Following are some of the strategies I have used and found helpful:
- Visuals help. A lot. If you can use a graphic (infographic, video or a gif) instead of a huge chunk of content, do that.
- Pay attention to the UI. It is important that your readers are not distracted by the UI issues when reading/skimming through the content.
- Let people skim. Yes! Allow them to save time and just read the important bits. They’ll keep coming back to read more.
- Be holistic but brief. You’ll not find a lot of detailed insights into construction topics online. Fill that gap. Create content that addresses the topic succinctly but keep it short and link wherever needed.
- Keep it human. The reason we find so much boring content in construction is because writers are afraid to talk, I encourage them to be themselves and conversational when writing a topic, even if they are not the subject matter experts. Do research, lots of it, and present it the way you want.”
4. Striking the Right Voice
“What’s frustrating and challenging about producing content for the construction niche? To make it interesting, funny and/or appealing to users.
You need to create content that people want to link to, and that’s not easy in the construction niche. In order to tackle this, you have to think out of the box. Create pieces using humor would be a good approach. Providing useful videos about questions prospects are dealing with when it comes to reconstructing their homes, using DIY’s or even inspirational boards with construction and renovation images (before and after) are very effective.”
“Topics related to the construction industry are usually boring and technical to write about. On top of that, it’s also hard to promote these articles and get reputable websites to link to you.
There are several ways to solve this:
1. Look for interesting shoulder niches
A shoulder niche is a niche that’s closely related to your industry. In the case of construction, shoulder niches could be architecture or interior design.
Once you’ve chosen a suitable one, brainstorm with your team members and come up with a content topic that can be tied back to construction.
2. Think about who to reach out to for promotion
Even before coming up with a topic, you should think about who or what outlets you can easily promote to. For example, it could be a resource website that talks about all topics home-related.
After you’ve found a list of possible promotion outlets, think about what kind of content you can create such that these outlets would be interested in linking to you and promoting your content to their audience. In other words, start with the end in mind.”
Shawn Lim—Content Strategist at Omni Contractors, Singapore
Conclusion
Construction experts don’t spend a lot of time driving a desk. Instead, they’re out in the field doing what they do best: building the world around us all!
This, plus their lack of expertise in marketing, an oversaturated world of content, and the challenge of engaging readers, means that developing content isn’t just frustrating—it’s downright difficult. The solutions referenced above are a phenomenal start, depending on your situation.
Another option to consider is Verblio—we have an immense network of expert writers, all of whom understand content marketing and how to generate blog posts, web pages, and other collateral that sell. Your next construction content writer is just a few clicks away!
