5 Things to Know About Writing For SEO

Writing for SEO – It’s all about search engine optimization these days – writers are explicitly asked to use certain keywords in the title of their articles (to be used on web pages) and also sprinkle them liberally in the body so that search engines will pick up them when they trawl the web and display them on the front page of the results. In short, everyone who writes content for the web wants their pages to earn a high rank. But before you start to shove words into your article and assume that’s what SEO is all about, read these essential tips you need to know about optimizing your writing for search engines:

  • You must attract audiences: The first thing to do is to get people to visit your website. You do this by focusing on the placement of your keywords and choosing your website’s content based on your niche and what people want from that niche subject. You must also come up with catchy titles that make people want to click on your link and take a look at what’s inside – remember though, that the title should not be misleading and should stay true to the kind of content people associate with your website.
  • You need to get people to come back: Now this is the really tricky part – most writers find that they can get people to visit once, but when it comes to getting them back, they fall short of expectations. This is because their articles flatter to deceive more often than not – the titles are great and the site is displayed on the first page of the search engine results, but the content is just pure rubbish or bordering on it. If you want to get people to come back, write articles of good quality, articles that do not repeat the same things over and over again and which use SEO keywords intelligently (it’s not obvious that they’re keywords) to rather than randomly.
  • You need to get your facts right: Just because you’re on the web, it’s not right that you don’t pay attention to quality. You often see writers churning out articles that adhere to word limits and SEO rules but which are sadly lacking in accuracy or quality. When this happens once too often, you end up losing your audience.
  • You need to be grammatically correct: No one likes to read bad writing; so even if your ideas are good and you have the facts down correctly, even if you’ve achieved top SEO status, when your writing is grammatically incorrect, it makes for a discomfiting and uneasy ready experience. If grammar is not your forte, then get a qualified editor to clean up your work before you publish it.
  • You must provide content that’s needed: And finally, although it may be your website and your prerogative to decide what to put on it, unless you cater to the needs of your audience, you’re going to be left with no readers at all. So write content that you know people want to read, and watch your popularity soar.

How to make your content more informative

There can be various purposes for publishing content on your website or blog but when you want to generate business from your content, you need to impart the right information as clearly as possible. What’s right information depends on how your customers and clients perceive your content, not you, unless there is a parity.

Whenever you are writing content (or working with a content writing service) for your business you should step into your customers’ shoes. This means not only presenting the greatest benefits of your product or service, but also addressing their concerns before they raise them themselves. This means highlighting even the negative aspects of your product or service. But this doesn’t mean you’re conveying something negative about your business: you are simply informing your visitor so that he or she can make the right decision. Here are a few things you can consider to make your content writing process informative:

  • List all the benefits: What do your customers gain when they purchase your product or service? Don’t go on a boasting binge. For instance, if you want to avail my content writing services it doesn’t matter much to you if I’ve done my higher studies in linguistics or if I read abstract literary classics in my spare time. You are interested in knowing whether I can consistently provide you quality content or not, and if yes, what system I have in place to ensure it. Additionally, what benefit you get by working with me and not by working with another content provider?
  • Who might benefit the most: Don’t try to sell your product to everybody under the sun (although this seems very desirable). When you are selling, you’re not selling a product or a service, you’re selling a benefit, a usage, a value. So whereas selling combs to bald men may seem quite smart, you are simply cheating people and when they realize it they’re going to have a really bad feeling about your conduct. Help people make a better purchase decision.
  • Clearly mention if there are any drawbacks: You may think, what am I talking about? Am I trying to help you increase your sales or lose your prospects. The truth is, if you think there are too many drawbacks then may be you should reconsider your offer, and if you think their are more benefits then drawbacks then your customers are going to thank you for informing them. Don’t let your customers find out what your product doesn’t do — tell them on your own and also tell them when a particular feature will be available in case it is currently missing.

So what exactly is content strategy?

Content Strategy

The dictionary defines strategy as “a series of maneuvers or executions performed in order to obtain a specific result or goal.” This pretty much explains what content strategy is, nonetheless, lets define it in the context of achieving your business goals.

Strategy basically involves:

  • Where you’re coming from
  • Where you’re going
  • How you’re going

Most of us know (I’m talking about averagely intelligent and intelligent individuals) where we are coming from and where we want to go. How we are going to go is the tricky part, the core of your strategy.

Assessing the need for strategic content writing

Why do you need to publish content in the first place?

  • To create buzz
  • To build a community
  • To inform

Both are very important. Buzz doesn’t just mean creating noise. It means generating traffic that eventually earns you revenue. Then, your content needs to convert and for this you need to impart the right information. If you want to hire my content writing and online copywriting services, I must inform you why it’s profitable to associate with me. With my content writing and copywriting skills I must be able to inform you and enable you to make an educated decision (in my favor, preferably).

What do you want to achieve through your content?

As mentioned above, you need content to generate traffic that converts. You can get this traffic directly through referrals and social networking websites or from search engines. Ideally, your content should

  • Increase referral traffic to your website or blog
  • Improve your search engine rankings
  • Convert your visitors into business partners, customers, clients or subscribers
  • Increase your brand awareness

Hence, content strategy means publishing and promoting your content in such a manner that it achieves the intended result for you. This may involve brainstorming on

  • What sort of content you should publish?
  • What medium must be used to publish the content?
  • What keywords and key phrases you should focus on?
  • What should be the publishing frequency?
  • How should the visitors be engaged?
  • How the content should be promoted?
  • How to increase your conversion rate?

Conveying your ideas better through story-telling

Does your content or copy tell a story? Story-telling engages your readers. When you’re reading a story, there is something in it that grips you, that exhorts you to read further. You want to know what’s going to happen next. Whether you can relate to the narrative or not (mostly you can) reading a story is always more than reading uninspiring, drab text

Smashing Magazine has an interesting post on creating a better use experience with story-telling.

A good story is like a journey, and when you start reading it, you join that journey. There is a beginning, there are various ups and downs, joys and conflicts, and finally there is an end that changes something inside you. The beauty of every story is that it brings about a change: significant or infinitesimal.

Although the post mentioned above mostly talks about design, you can apply the art of story telling better on content writing. I’ll soon write about this to further elucidate my point.

Overcoming the “So What?” problem while writing content

Thumbsdown for published content
Image source: Global Girl

Don’t know what’s “So what?” problem? It’s when you write something seemingly great and your reader thinks, “So what, big deal!” Alright, there are some readers who have an insatiable penchant for being critical and they will criticize you no matter what, but you can drastically decrease the number of such reactions by devoting enough thought to what you are writing/publishing.

Why do readers reject outright what you have written?

  • The information you have provided is of no real use
  • The same information is available on hundreds of other websites and blogs
  • People have been sharing the same “secret” since 1998, or may be since 1500 BC
  • You are drawing wrong visitors to your website or blog (you are not creating optimized, seo-focused content)

What sort of content creates the “now this is something really great” effect?

  • Your content reaches the target audience (or vice versa)
  • You pack lots of information that can be used in the real world
  • You are providing valuable information that is not easily available
  • You are offering easily available information with an interesting twist

Is it always about informing and educating your readers?

Not always, but most of the times. You have to make sure your content solves your readers’ problem, that it provides a solution, that it delivers what your readers want. So what about content writing for businesses and corporate websites?

The same thing applies. If you are providing online copywriting services then you must (ideally) be attracting visitors that are looking for (or may need in the future) a competent copywriter. So if you say you’re a great online copywriter it’s not going to make much of an impact because there are thousands of “great” online copywriters on the Internet; in fact these days anybody who can type starts calling himself or herself a content writer or an online copywriter. Rather, you should immediately address your visitor’s problem (that’s why it’s advised you should have targeted pages) and offer the most apt solution.

Here’s a good blog post by Chris I cam across that talks about solving the “so what?” problem while publishing your content.