When you think of citing your research do you get flashbacks of your high school or university days, and the frustration you felt when having to properly cite sources in your academic papers? 

Well, I’m sorry to break it to you but unfortunately, if you’re creating content for your company, those days aren’t quite behind you (though the explosion of the internet has made things a lot easier). 

Even for content on sales pages or blogs, citing sources is incredibly beneficial for you and your brand -- and will likely result in more sales down the road. 

“Humans naturally fear the unknown. This helped us from not getting eaten by a range of scary, sharp-toothed animals when we were still hunters and gatherers....Today, our chances of being devoured by a lion have greatly decreased, but our odds of being screwed over by a vendor have not. Hence, buyers are wary to trust salespeople whose credibility hasn't been proven.”

Written by Emma Brudner for HubSpot 

Why you need to cite research (even in blog posts)

One of the biggest conversations in the marketing space is the concept of taking your potential clients from knowing you to liking you to trusting you enough to make a purchase. 

There are few ways around this customer journey these days, with the number of options, content, and information available for consumers online. 

It’s why we’ve written on topics like brand activism, being conscious of the language you use, and showing up consistently.

And so, in order to develop that sense of connection and rapport with your readers, it’s important to ensure they trust what you’re writing. 

Take a moment to consider your own habits in the online space. 

If you start reading stats on a website without accompanying studies or see something that doesn’t sit quite right with you without links to back it up, how long are you staying on that website? Are you readying your credit card to purchase whatever it is they have to offer? 

Probably not. 

And potential customers are likely also navigating away from your site if you aren’t providing them with the reassurance and credibility they desire. 

Your job as a content creator is to give your readers accurate information (we do not need any more misinformation floating around out here, thank you very much). And so, ensuring you properly reference where you’re pulling information from is incredibly important for validating what you’re writing. 

Beyond that initial trust, linking back to your source also offers benefits in that: 

• It improves the reader's experience. When you properly link accompanying articles or studies, readers know where to go if they want to read more on the topic and can easily click through to satisfy that desire. This also means they’re more likely to come back to your site in the future because they know you’re posting proven information.

• It can help improve your SEO (search engine optimization). Outbound links can be valuable for boosting your SEO, as well as the SEO of the site you’re sending traffic to -- as long as you’re linking a credible source. 

• You’re giving credit to the original author and/or researcher. Plagiarism is still very real and very common and you do not want to be caught on the wrong end of it! Proper sourcing allows you to thank the original creator. 

• You’re protected if you ever need to make a retraction. If something changes, you have an out in that you can simply point to your source as having incorrect information, and update the link(s) where required. 

• It’s easy for you to find the information in the future. Whether you’re writing another blog post on the same topic and want to pull more information from the same source or want to share the article with someone, properly citing your sources will save you time and energy in the future. 

Have I convinced you? Here’s how to start citing your sources.

Determine what to link 

Think about which of the points you're making might have statistical data or accompanying quotes to back it up.

Here are some examples of pieces of information to cite:  

• When you want to pull a quote from a person or another article. 

• When you introduce facts or statistics that you didn’t research yourself. 

• When you summarize ideas from another source (even if you put them into your own words). 

• When you share information that isn’t common knowledge.

• When you pull an image or infographic from another source. 

Now let me be clear, you don’t need to find additional sources for everything. 

Especially for items like personal experiences or knowledge that is common sense, it may be better to leave it as is. You don’t want to overload your readers with so many links it becomes overwhelming for them! 

Use your own discernment here and write with your readers in mind. 

Use the original source

Always try to link to the original source rather than articles that cite the source.

Have you ever clicked on a link to learn more about a study, only to be taken to another blog, and then another? 

How many clicks does it take you before you end up giving up and leaving the initial site out of frustration? 

Ensure you’re keeping user experience in mind whenever you use links. 

That means linking to the original source (even if it takes you a little longer to find it), to make it as easy as possible for your readers to learn more about the study or research. 

Confirm the validity of the source and information

Whenever possible, check the original source to confirm that it truly supports your points, rather than going by someone else’s interpretation.

Do your due diligence by clicking through to find the original source of the stats or facts you’re using. 

From there you can determine if the source itself, as well as the information, appears to be authentic. 

• Do you recognize the name of the company sharing this information? If not, can you do a quick Google search to determine their relevance? 

• Who was the study funded by? Who was it conducted by? 

• When was the article or study published? 

• For studies, how many trials did they do? Is the sample size sufficient?

• Is the article or study peer-reviewed? 

This process doesn’t have to take too long (and the amount of time you invest in it likely depends on the topic you’re sharing on), but you should do enough research to ensure that you feel comfortable relaying this information to your audience and potential customers. 

Again, keep your reader’s best interests in mind. You are responsible for the information you’re sharing because as a marketer and brand, your words hold power.

Your posts likely influence readers and may even encourage them to change their life in some way.

So, ensure you're sharing information that truly represents your brand and that is factual.

Ensure the information is relevant and easy to understand 

Double-check that what you’re sharing is relevant to what you're saying and easily understandable for your audience. 

I’ve written about this before but essentially, if you aren’t talking to your audience in ways they understand and resonate with, you’re likely just talking at them. And no one likes that.

Instead, if you use words that they also use and examples they can relate to, readers are going to feel seen, and will want to continue coming back to you to hear what you have to say because they feel you understand them. 

Don't let the data override the message

It’s okay to instill your own beliefs and opinions into blog posts, particularly when you’re speaking about something generally, or when you’re speaking about topics you’ve had personal experience with. 

After all, your audience is coming to you for your perspective and message, because they likely haven’t had luck previously finding a solution to their pain points. 

And you likely started your business to solve a pain point you’re passionate about and have history with. 

So, don’t dilute your message by using too many outside sources. Use stats and quotes when they support your points and to develop trust, but also ensure you’re not overwhelming your readers with study after study. 

The best way to find this balance is to look at your content through the eyes of your ideal customer.

Where would you poke holes in the content you’re sharing? Where would you want to learn more? Where are personal experiences and anecdotes enough to drive the point home? 

When you keep your reader in mind it’s a lot easier to write content that will connect with them. 

Final thoughts

You don’t need to become a professional journalist to create content for your brand, but there is a lot of value in pulling some of the key principles of journalism and applying them on your blog and in your content. 

If you focus on keeping your readers in mind as you write, and on citing your sources, you’ll have more content that converts, and customers that stick around for a lot longer.