Author Archives: Amrit Hallan

About Amrit Hallan

Amrit Hallan is a professional content writer who helps businesses improve their conversion rate through credible and compelling content writing. His main strength lies in writing search engine optimized content without compromizing quality and meaningfulness.

Relevant versus opportunistic content writing

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Relevant versus opportunistic content writing

You need to continuously write and publish content to remain visible on Google and other search engines.

This Hubsot report says that, according to a research, businesses that wrote and published 16 blog posts or more in a month received 3.5 times the traffic compared to the businesses that wrote and published less than 4 blog posts a month.

This is quite logical, actually. The more content you give Google to crawl, index and rank, the more content it has to show when people are looking for the related search terms.

As is the case with content marketing, only the content that is useful and relevant does you good. Useless content harms you in terms of search engine rankings and conversion rate.

This brings me to the main topic of this blog post: relevant versus opportunistic content writing.

What content do you write and publish during the coronavirus outbreak?

This is a vital question and I’ve been pondering over it for quite some time now.

In fact, recently I wrote What marketing rules to follow during a crisis like the Covod-19 outbreak, aside from other posts on writing and publishing content during a global tragedy.

One thing is clear. The crisis is going to get over, whether it takes a few months or a couple of years.

Even if things don’t improve much health-wise but most countries manage to flatten the curve, economic activities, in various altered forms, are going to resume.

If you don’t want to be left behind, you must focus on publishing content on your website to maintain the presence that you have created so far, or improve it.

The question is not whether you write and publish content or not, the question is, how to differentiate between relevant and opportunistic content?

The blog post from Skyword has some good insights on how to decide what is relevant and what is opportunistic when writing content for your website in the times of an international crisis like the Covid-19 outbreak.

It talks about 3 R’s to consider: Research; Refine & Reflect.

Research what most important is to your audience right now.

Think of how what you are writing and publishing solves their contemporary problems.

Make sure that what you are writing and publishing makes sense.

You don’t want to seem like a greedy jerk. You don’t want people think that even during a crisis of such scale, all you can think of is your business.

To be frank, everyone who is not dealing with the virus directly, is worried about his or her business, and there is nothing wrong in that.

We are all worried about the financial safety of our loved ones.

We know that once the world recovers its footing economic activities will resume and then people will be scrambling for all the opportunities they can get.

In terms of writing and publishing content, what are most of my clients concerned about right now?

Right now, they are mostly concerned about two things:

How to scrape the bottom of the barrel and get as much work as possible (or sell as many products as possible).
How to make sure that when things pick up again, their customers and clients can find them.

Many of my clients know that while people are unable to go to offices and take care of their normal activities, they are generating lots of targeted content to improve their SEO and expand their presence.

I’m not a healthcare expert. I’m not a doctor. I’m not even the news portal with the responsibility of keeping my visitors informed about the latest threats that coronavirus is posing or the new discoveries that are being made.

This information is already abundantly available, and one can easily find it.

When people come to my website, they’re looking for a good content writer who can help them publish quality content on their websites and blogs.

They are looking for a writer who can help them improve their search engine rankings.

They are looking for a copywriter who can help them improve the open rates of their email newsletters.

Basically, they want to improve the performance of their digital marketing efforts as much as possible.

They are also worried about the future.

Everything seems to be altered right now. People are being laid off. Old ways of doing business are being questioned. We are on completely uncharted waters.

Not just about their livelihoods, they are also worried about their own health and the health of their loved ones.

The over availability of news bombards them with all sorts of fears and worries.

Amidst all this, they are courageous enough to think about their business in terms of strategy and action.

So, although, mine is not a portal where they are looking for information on how coronavirus spreads and how it can be prevented, they are certainly looking for information on how to improve their SEO and overall conversion rate.

How to create a balance between relevance and opportunity?

For some, opportunities are always there. I recently read in a ZDNet update that since most of the people are working from home, cloud-based services are doing brisk business.

We cannot resent them for that. People have more reason now to use cloud-based services. G Suite is doing better. Microsoft 365 (previously called Office 365) and Microsoft Azure are raking in great profits.

Despite various controversies, Zoom is suddenly in great demand.

Technologies that can deliver food and other services with minimum or even zero human interaction are being developed with great speed.

So, yes, in every challenge, even if it is a global catastrophe, people are going to find opportunities, or they are going to be present where they can make use of the situation profitably.

There is no harm in explaining to your prospective customers and clients how your business can help them.

I can help people improve their search engine rankings, engagement and conversion rate through quality content.

People may not be directly looking for solutions from you. But they need you to empathize. They want to know that we are all in the same boat.

Right now, when you are writing and publishing content for your website and blog, write according to the current context.

Consider the problems they are facing and despite that, promote your products and services in such a manner that they seem appropriate under the circumstances.

For example, instead of saying “I’m great at content writing so hire me”, you can try something like “I can understand the problems you’re going through and I too am going through more or less the same set of problems. Maybe we can work out an arrangement where I can provide you my services and help you in whichever way I can using my content writing abilities.”

As someone who knows what the power of content writing is, through constant publishing, I try to educate my visitors on how important it is, especially now, to focus on publishing high-quality content so that their messaging can adjust to the new realities of our time, and despite these realities, they can leverage whatever opportunities are available.

Is your content writing sabotaging your SEO?

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Is your content writing sabotaging your SEO

Content writing isn’t all SEO.

Although 99% of my clients approach me to write content for them so that they can improve their SEO, sometimes, search engine optimization is their least concern.

In fact, they even feel awkward about talking about writing content for improving their rankings. Recently I worked on a landing page copy that explains visitors why it is important to focus on keywords. But that’s a different issue.

The connection between content writing and SEO

To understand how your content writing has a direct impact on your search engine rankings, you must think from the perspective of search engine algorithms.

What is the purpose of a search engine algorithm?

It wants to find the best possible information for the user.

Now, a typical user isn’t concerned about how a search engine like Google manages that.

If she doesn’t find the right information, she is going to assume that Google isn’t good at it, even if she herself is not using the right search terms.

For example, there is a big difference between searching for “content writer” and “I need a content writer”.

When you search for “content writer” what do you mean?

Do you want to become a content writer?

Do you want to know how a content writer works?

Do you want to know what the term means?

How does Google know what you want?

Although it shows you the results, these results are not going to be precise because the search term may carry different meanings for different people (intention).

On the other hand, if you search for “I need a content writer” or “looking for a content writer for my business”, or “SEO content writer for real estate website”, Google knows what you’re looking for and accordingly, shows you the results.

Hence, as a professional service providing content writing, although “content writer” is a search term that represents what I do, it doesn’t exactly help my clients find me when they need me.

What I write and publish on my website, consequently, has a direct bearing on my SEO.

How your content writing may be sabotaging your SEO

You harm your SEO when you are constantly writing and publishing content your customers and clients are not trying to find.

As explained above, for my own website, I’m not interested in optimizing for “content writer” because one never knows what the searcher is searching for.

I’m not saying that people searching for “content writer” are definitely not looking for a content writer for their business, but it is such a high-competition keyword that it is not worth my time.

One of the biggest mistakes people commit is that they don’t do the needed research when preparing a list of their keywords.

The bulk of your traffic doesn’t come from your primary keywords such as “content writer” or “web designing” or “mobile app development” or “running shoes”.

I’m not saying these terms are not good. It would be excellent if you could rank on the first page for these terms.

But bigger companies, or individuals and organizations who have already built a considerable quantity of high-quality content around these keywords, are way ahead of you.

Even if you try to catch up with them, since they have already had a head start, you will be spending all your resources on these keywords, with little success.

This is one reason: focusing on primary keywords.

The other reason is, assuming that your target customers and clients are going to find you anyway, no matter what you publish.

Remember that search engine algorithms don’t have feelings.

They depend on artificial intelligence. They depend on machine learning. They analyze your words. Hence, if you don’t use the right words, they’re not going to pay attention to you.

So, even if your messaging is correct, if you are not using the right keywords, you are going to sabotage your SEO.

When does content writing improve your SEO?

When you are writing content for your website, you must focus only on those keywords and search terms that are going to fetch business for you, directly or indirectly.

I have used the caveat “directly or indirectly” because you also need content for brand building.

Not all traffic converts.

For example, if more people know about the fact that I’m a content writer, it is better for me.

When they need a content writer, they will know how to find me.

If they like what I constantly publish, when someone they know needs a professional content writer, they may recommend my website.

Hence, when you are writing content for your website, focus on two possibilities:

Content writing for brand awareness.
Content writing to get customers and clients.

Make a list of topics that will help you raise brand awareness. Then write content on those topics.

Make a list of topics that can fetch you customers and clients. Then write content on those topics.

Easier said than done, I know.

This is where you will need to spend time on research.

You cannot simply assume that people are going to use certain keywords and search terms because you feel that they should be using those keywords and search terms.

Pay close attention to Google suggestions.

Use Google Analytics to know what keywords and search terms convert better compared to the others.

Use your own logic.

What is the intention of people searching for content on your website?

Although you are writing and publishing content to improve your SEO, you also want to inform people, to educate them, so that they can make a better decision.

Hence, if I create a web page or a blog post on a topic like “looking for an SEO content writer”, I may be writing something like How to hire the best SEO content writer to improve your rankings, but my purpose is not to educate you and then send you somewhere else.

No, I tell you how to hire the best SEO content writer and then also tell you why I am your best SEO content writer.

This is brand awareness as well as selling your business.

Focus on precise keywords as much as possible. It may mean generating more content, but it also means reducing advertising costs. And of course, improving your conversion rate.

The importance of quality content during the Coronavirus outbreak

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importance of quality content during the coronavirus outbreak

Quality content has always been about being informative and helpful.

Whether you are writing content for your website or blog, or you are publishing videos and images, your content must be relevant and purposeful.

Quality content is supposed to solve problems, and what could be the greater problem of our times than the Coronavirus outbreak.

The Coronavirus outbreak is turning out to be one of the greatest human and economic tragedies of our times.

Millions are falling victim to it. Thousands are dying on daily basis.

By early April 2020, 16 million people are known to have lost their jobs just in the US.

The overall economic growth worldwide is projected to be -3%.

Two major fears during the Coronavirus outbreak are:

How safe me and my family are and what can I do to keep my loved ones safe?
How do I take care of my livelihood, my business or my employment?

Businesses are reorienting themselves with great speed. Old privileges of being lost. New opportunities are being found.

Outbreaks like the Coronavirus aren’t new to the world.

In one way or another, our world has constantly been besieged by different catastrophes.

The world has seen great wars, colonialism and imperialism, large-scale slavery, atomic explosions, epidemics and famines, environmental disasters, and crusades and jihads.

As a global civilization, we have survived. As individuals, some do, some don’t.

The better informed, the better educated, are in a better situation to cope with a calamitous situation compared to those who are too smug or too busy panicking and complaining about the state of affairs.

Nothing informs and educates better than content, especially in the times of the Internet.

As a business, how can you inform and educate your customers and clients?
If you have an online presence, if you have some degree of traffic on your website or blog, you already have a platform.

Don’t worry about how many people come to your website. Even if you can help a couple of people by publishing informative web pages and blog posts, you will be making a positive impact.

What about a newsletter?

Everyone can use timely information.

In normal days, you use a newsletter to promote your products or services or to engage your subscribers on an ongoing basis.

You can achieve the same even during the Coronavirus outbreak. People already know what business you are in, so you don’t need to mention that.

Whenever you come across something useful, something you feel that your subscribers can benefit from, you can publish it in your newsletter.

New trends are emerging. New patterns are being found. Curves are being flattened.

Thousands of scientists are toiling in their labs to discover the vaccine. There are stories of human triumph all around.

You can publish such information on your website along with how it is going to impact your audience.

Keep publishing helpful content on your website, blog and newsletter.
Remain in touch with people, irrespective of whether they intend to do business with you. Just as you help someone, someone will help you. This is how one civilization after another has survived.

5 SEO improvements you can make through content writing

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5 SEO improvements with content writing

Over the years I have developed some insights into the workings of SEO. I’m not an SEO expert but when people contact me for my content writing services, they mostly want to improve their search engine rankings.

Since I’m constantly trying to improve my rankings, whenever I have to implement non-content writing SEO features into my website, I do some reading, I develop an understanding, and then I implement the changes.

Nonetheless, on this blog, whenever I talk about SEO improvements and search engine optimization in general, I talk in terms of content writing – how to write and publish your content in such a manner that it improves your search engine rankings.

It gets you targeted traffic.

Why targeted traffic from search engines is very important

Targeted content writing

You don’t want traffic from search engines. You want targeted traffic. Traffic that converts.

I have seen entrepreneurs and individual businesspersons trying to generate traffic no matter what. This doesn’t help.

I often like to cite my own example.

I had a web design business website in the early 2000’s. I built most of its traffic through content writing for my own website and for other websites (which then linked back to my website).

The problem was that I filled my website with “tutorials”. Instead of attracting businesses who wanted someone to design their websites, I was attracting aspiring web designers who were looking for some good tutorials.

I was good at writing tutorials. They were educational and funny at the same time. People enjoyed my tutorials. But they didn’t give me work.

Initially I was happy that I was getting lots of traffic. But then, with every passing month, the number of assignments kept coming down.

Personally, for me, it was a blessing in disguise. Although web design, both design and programming, came easy to me, my soul was into writing. That was the reason why people enjoyed reading my tutorials.

Hence, in 2004, I wrapped up my web design business and started providing professional content writing and online copywriting services.

This time I didn’t commit the same mistake. Although I routinely published content on my website and blog, I focused on getting clients, B2B clients, rather than people who wanted to learn content writing and copywriting.

This entails knowing what your customers and clients are looking for and then writing and publishing content based on your findings.

With this out of the way, below I list 5 SEO improvements that you can implement through your content.

1. Write content catering to the searcher’s intent

Write content for searcher intent

I have written about searchers intent multiple times on my blog.

Whenever you use Google, whenever you search for something, we always have an intention. You don’t search for time pass.

When something is wrong with your mobile phone, you try to find out if someone else faced the similar problem, talked about it and found a solution, so that you can solve your problem.

When you’re working on a school assignment, you want to research about your topic. You are looking for information.

When you want to buy an appliance, you want to know which model or which brand is the best choice for you.

In the times of the Coronavirus outbreak, you want to know how fast it is spreading, where it has slowed down, what are the latest dos and don’ts during social distancing, and how to make sure that you and your loved ones don’t get infected. You search accordingly.

When you need quality content for your website or blog, you search for something like “content writer for my business” or “content writing service for my business”, or something similar.

Hence, there is always an intent.

Intent can be of the following nature:

Navigational intent: Someone searching for “credible content” to find the URL of the website.
Commercial intent: Something like “need a content writer for SEO”.
Informational intent: Something like “can I improve my rankings with SEO content writing?”.
Transactional intent: Something like “how much does quality content writing cost?”

You can write and publish content based on different intents.

Searcher’s intent for your industry may be different.

Do you need to target every intent? It depends.

Even if people are not buying from you right now, you need to increase your brand visibility. So, it is always better to target all intents: navigational, commercial, informational and transactional.

But, maintain a balance.

As I have explained above, when I was promoting my web design services, I was mostly targeting people – unintentionally – who themselves wanted to become web designers.

There is nothing wrong in targeting those people, but I shouldn’t have focused mainly on those people.

2. Compile a list of keywords for creating content writing titles

Importance of keywords in SEO content writing

Keywords are very important.

Although there are many SEO experts who discount the role of keywords in your search engine rankings, I’m pretty sure even they secretly use keywords when producing content for their clients.

In terms of writing content, keywords are the search terms, or the search phrases people use trying to find information about your business.

There is no use targeting keywords with high competition. For example, if I want to optimize my website for “SEO content writer” it may be difficult because there are thousands of other people and businesses who are aiming for the same search term.

Instead, I may try to optimize for “SEO content writer for my web design agency” or “SEO content writing service for my dental implants clinic”, and such.

These are also called long-tail keywords. They are very precise. They may generate less traffic and they may be less competitive, but the traffic that they generate is more targeted and converts better.

Create a list of such keywords and come up with interesting and engaging (also informative) content topics.

You can use a service like Ubersuggest and Answer the Public to find the search terms you should be targeting through your content writing. For a very long time I have also used services like Serpstat and LongtailPro.

A good thing about a service like Ubersuggest is that it also shows you what topics the other websites are covering using the same keywords as yours.

Whatever service you use, the basic idea is to compile a list of topics based on your targeted traffic and then routinely start writing web pages and blog posts centered around those topics.

3. Use headings, subheadings and bulleted lists at every opportunity

Use headings and subheadings when writing content

On web pages, headings and subheadings means using HTML tags such as <h1>, <h2>… and so on. When you use your primary keywords within these tags, Google takes them very seriously. It assumes that since you have used your keywords or search terms within heading tags, they must be very important to you and for your content.

Just because Google takes text within these headings very seriously, it doesn’t mean you should overuse them.

On a web page or on a blog post, the <h1> tag should only be used once, preferably as the page header. If you use it multiple times, its importance begins to diminish.

What about the <h2> tag? Although you can use this tag multiple times on a web page, if you repeatedly use your keywords within this tag, even then it can send wrong signals to Google.

Remember that headline tags are for organizing your content under appropriate sections so that your content becomes scannable.

When working in MS Word you must have observed that you can expand and contract your sections under headings. This is so that it becomes easier for you to read long documents.

The same logic is applied when organizing content on long web pages and blog posts. The heading tags are for organizing ideas. If they happen to use your keywords, it’s icing on the cake, but don’t use them just for the sake of using them.

Bullet lists is another great place where you can use your keywords. When trying to make sense of your content, aside from the title and the headings, the Google algorithm also looks for important pieces of information in your bullets list section.

4. Don’t just use your primary keywords when writing content for your website or your blog

Use a diversity of keywords when writing content

When you are writing content for your website or your blog, whom are you writing the content for? You are writing for people.

Hence, you should focus on delivering value.

It is understandable that to improve your search engine rankings you want to use your keywords and search terms, but if you are creating content just to use your keywords, it doesn’t solve purpose.

The artificial intelligence used by Google’s ranking algorithms takes into account the way people interact with your content while deciding your rankings.

If people don’t positively interact with your content, your rankings begin to deteriorate.

Google takes notes of how much time people spend on your website (inferior quality content doesn’t hook people).

If people carry on the same search for which they found your link it means they didn’t find the information they were looking for on your web page or blog post and hence, your link shouldn’t have the rankings it currently has.

Therefore, it is very important that your focus remains on providing value and then within that focus, you adjust your primary, secondary and long-tail keywords.

5. Write content in mobile friendly format

Write mobile friendly content

By 2019, 42% people in the world used voice search in one way or another. By 2025 72.6% people will be accessing the Internet just on the mobile phone.

This means most of your customers and clients will be accessing your website from their mobile phones. They should be able to consume your content easily on their mobile phones.

What does writing content in mobile friendly format mean?

Write shorter sentences.
Use simple yet professional language.
Avoid using multiple sentences in a single paragraph.
Avoid using compound sentences.
Make your content as scannable as possible.

Basically, people should be able to easily read your web pages and blog posts on their mobile phones.

Google has developed a technology to find whether your web pages and blog posts are mobile friendly or not and if they are not, it negatively impacts your search engine rankings.

SEO has majorly shifted towards your content these days. How you format your content and what value you deliver leave a big impact on your search engine rankings.

In fact, once you have taken the basic steps to optimize the structure of your website including, including correct information in the meta tags, all you have to do is, make sure that your content solves its true purpose.

When writing and publishing content, follow these guidelines and watch improving your search engine rankings right in front of your eyes.

Tackle the Coronavirus outbreak with strategic SEO

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Work on your SEO during the coronavirus outbreak

At the cost of sounding opportunistic, I’m getting multiple updates in my email and all over the web that digital marketing may get a boost during the coronavirus/covid-19 outbreak.

I know, marketing budgets are being slashed. Businesses are still recovering after the initial shock.

Everybody is adapting to the new reality that is going to manifest for a long time.

Social distancing has magnified the importance of the digital environment.

Although, no longer a novelty, the world had resisted fully adopting the digital and had been existing in an avoidably physical environment with people needlessly rushing to their offices and contributing to vehicular pollution.

No matter how worse the situation gets, people will need to get on their feet, even if mostly digitally.

This is going to throw up a new marketing opportunity.

The way people search is changing fast. People are looking for new ways of earning a livelihood and even carrying on their lives.

SEO can play an important role in this. This blog post titled Marketers find SEO vital to facing coronavirus challenges refers to an SEO research that has thrown up the following highlights:

64% respondents say that there are going to be drastic cuts in the marketing budgets.
86% say that meeting annual goals due to the coronavirus outbreak seem like a distant dream.
63% say that search engine optimization (SEO) is more important than ever.

The last point is important from the perspective of what I am writing.

Why SEO is very important in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak?

One, everyone is scrambling for whatever is left of the business opportunities.

Two, it is often very difficult for bigger organizations to adapt and adopt. This is an opportunity for smaller businesses.

Also, bigger businesses are less courageous and agile than smaller entrepreneurs.

Bigger businesses are cutting short their marketing budgets and this is also having an adverse effect on their search engine rankings.

You can use this opportunity to work on your SEO and improve your search engine rankings vis-à-vis other big and small businesses.

You can also write and publish content according to change in the paradigms.

Find out what people are looking for in the altered reality and then write and publish content accordingly.

The above-linked blog post rightly says:

Most media investments are fleeting. You buy an impression, you get an impression. You buy a click, you get a click. Your content and SEO are like bonds. You invest today. You begin to get yield today, and if you execute well, you continue to drive value for many years – without making any more investments. This is like a high-yield bond fund, not a lot of risk, and it just grows and grows and grows.

SEO, underpinned by targeted content writing, is a long-term investment that, once it starts paying, pays for a very long time.

You may like to read 10 SEO content writing tips for your small business.

I will share my own observation of the recent coronavirus-ridden times.

My traffic hasn’t reduced. In fact, there have been very small spikes.

It means, people are either exploring content writing and content marketing opportunities for themselves, or they are aware of publishing high-quality content for SEO.

Going by the effort that I put in, I would also like to go to the extent of saying that even the number of queries hasn’t gone down although, the conversion rate isn’t as good as it used to be.

It means people are realizing the importance of quality content writing vis-à-vis SEO, but they are finding it hard to make financial decisions. Which is understandable.

Anyway, this is a good time for you to work on your SEO. Multiple factors are in your favor:

Bigger businesses are spending less on marketing and SEO.
Many small businesses are still coming to terms with the new reality.
Many businesses think that the situation is going to pass quickly (which is not the case) and by the time the reality dawns upon them, you can get a head start.

These are difficult times. Many businesses are being closed down. Many have already closed. People have lost their livelihoods. Lap-up every opportunity you get.