Sharon Flaherty

Hi. I’m the editor of Confused.com. I’m responsible for all of Confused.com content. I also play a large role in linking up content and SEO and basically generating as much of a buzz as possible around the content we offer.

In terms of background, I’m a journalist by trade. I’ve worked and written for both B2B and B2C online and print publications and done a bit for TV and radio too.

You can contact me at: sharon.flaherty@confused.com.

The hard slog of brand journalism

Producing content for a non-traditional publisher is hard. For a start, consumers still don’t trust content produced by non-traditional publishers. They see it as advertising and this is one huge hurdle in itself.

Having taken the jump from working in online journalism for traditional publishing houses two years ago, to working for a non-traditional publisher (Confused.com), it has been, at times, a challenge, though I do like a challenge.

Want quality content? Produce it in-house

For me, it simply comes down to the fact that agencies overcharge and under deliver.

Maybe I’m too fussy, but I’ve proved from experience that having someone in-house producing editorial content produces better quality results.

Ignore SEO, just produce good content

Producing content just to satisfy SEO targets and pressures is dangerous because that’s when you get into the realms of publishing content for content’s sake and clearly, Google doesn’t like that given its recent Farmer Update.

More importantly, your website users don’t like that. While SEO clearly has its place, it shouldn't get in the way of producing great content...