Tag Archives: optimized content

How to generate more leads with strategic content writing?

Strategic content writing to generate hot leads

Strategic content writing to generate hot leads.

You publish content to generate new leads.

Leads can manifest in multiple forms. There are hot leads and cold leads.

Hot leads are those people who contact you for the purpose of buying from you or hiring you.

For example, if someone submits my contact form for the purpose of hiring my content writing services, that person is a hot lead.

But if someone subscribes to my newsletter, he or she is a cold lead. Or if someone shows interest in my content writing services on a social media platform but right now doesn’t hire me, he or she is a cold lead.

When you are writing and publishing content to generate more leads, you need to be careful of what type of content you are publishing.

When I had a web design website – in my previous life – I ended up attracting the wrong traffic because although I was writing and publishing lots of content and consequently, generating lots of traffic, the traffic never converted. I was not generating the right leads.

Back then I was smitten by educational content. I didn’t put my energies into explaining my services as a web designer. All my content writing consisted of teaching people how to achieve things using HTML, ASP and JavaScript (back then I didn’t know PHP, which I know now).

How to strategize content writing to generate hot leads?

You need to find out why people are searching for you, when they are searching for you.

Obviously, people who are looking to buy something, or hire someone, or use a software service, are not looking for educational content, at least not knowingly.

For example, if you are looking for someone who can help you improve your search engine rankings and you are not aware that optimized content writing can help you improve your SEO, my blog post titled 5 reasons why content writing is important for SEO can reveal something that you  don’t know.

For that matter, even a blog post like 10 SEO content writing tips for your small business can be quite helpful.

You may ask, if all I am doing is teaching people why content writing is important for SEO or how you can write content for your small business to improve your SEO by yourself, how am I generating hot leads for my own business?

Even if your writing is seemingly instructional content, you need to write in such a manner that the central message – your open for business – shouldn’t be lost.

To generate hot leads, you need to create precise web pages, landing pages and blog posts. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity. You shouldn’t club multiple messages under the same web page. When you club multiple messages, the central objective of your content is diluted and people end up getting confused.

Seriously consider search intent to generate hot leads

Not all type of search intent gets you hot leads but writing and publishing content keeping search intent in mind can definitely improve the number of hot leads your content generates.

What is search intent? You may like to read What is search intent and how knowing it improves your SEO.

Most of the information about search intent that I have published on my website and blog is about improving your search engine rankings, but writing your content centered around the appropriate search intent can also help you generate more leads.

Writing content for searcher intent helps you be with your customers and clients throughout their buyer journey.

Again I will give you my own example.

Someone is researching for ways to improve search engine rankings and comes across my blog that talks about how content writing can help you improve your search engine rankings. The person has been informed.

The search intent here is informational. The person isn’t looking for someone to hire. He or she simply needs information that can help him or her improve his or her search engine rankings.

Once a person has read my blog post on how content writing can help improve search engine rankings, he or she finds out that I provide such content writing services, through another web page or blog post. The other web page or blog post has been written keeping “commercial intent” in mind.

These days I’m getting lots of traffic for “content writer for accounting services” or “content writer for life coaching services”. These searches are carried out with commercial intent.

Accountants or accounting companies are looking for a content writer. People providing life coaching services are looking for a content writer. The intent is clear. Search traffic generates hot leads for me

On a related note: do hot leads always convert?

Not necessarily. Hot leads are people who are ready to do business with you but they haven’t yet committed.

Maybe they won’t like my samples. Maybe they won’t find my rates acceptable. Maybe after contacting me, they come across someone else who they think is a better match. There are multiple reasons why even a hot lead may not convert, but that’s a different matter.

Content writing advice: Do not cram too many keywords when writing web pages and blog posts

I have observed that many clients want to incorporate as many keywords as possible when they are sending web page or blog post specs.

Even when I tell them that I will focus just on a couple of keywords and not more, they send me LSI keywords.

Using LSI keywords is not an excuse to use more keywords; LSI keywords are alternative keywords for the main keywords. But they think that LSI keywords can also be used to incorporate a greater number of keywords.

Although sometimes it is possible to use lots of keywords in a web page or a blog post contextually, in most of the cases, they end up diluting the main topic.

Want to improve your search engine rankings through strategic use of keywords?

Do not use highly competitive keywords – use longtail keywords comprising at least 3-4 words.

Use keywords such that they help you write about the main chosen topic with greater clarity and focus.

The more divergent keywords you use, the more you dilute the SEO power of your content. This adversely affects your search engine rankings.

 

The importance of content writing and copywriting in the times of Covid-19

Importance of content writing and copywriting in the times of Covid-19 outbreak

Importance of content writing and copywriting in the times of Covid-19 outbreak.

The world is gradually settling down to the reality of living amidst the Covid-19 outbreak. How can content writing and copywriting help you get through these difficult times?

The lockdowns came and economies all over the world are opening up with great caution. There have been heated debates on what is more important – preventing oneself from getting infected or restarting the wheels of the economy.

Millions of jobs have been lost. Thousands of businesses have been closed and many are on the verge of bankruptcy.

In the meantime, Jeff Bezos is almost worth $ 200 billion. A lot of credit goes to the spike in the online retail market because people don’t want to go out and shop.

As someone who provides professional content writing and copywriting services, I see an increased demand from my clients in the online retail sector. Many on-demand mobile apps are coming up that allow people to buy products from home.

Cloud services is another sector that has experienced phenomenal growth during the Covid-19 outbreak, as a greater number of companies prefer their employees to work from home.

Even Google and Microsoft declared recently that they are encouraging their employees to work from home at least for a year.

Companies like Intel are changing their work culture on a permanent basis so that more of their employees can take care of their responsibilities from home using cloud services.

How can efficient content writing and copywriting help you during the Covid-19 outbreak?

Coming to the main topic of the post…

Whenever a calamity hits, some businesses are affected more, and some businesses are affected less.

There are many businesses, due to their positioning and targeting, who even profit.

Businesses providing digital services are profiting during the times of Covid-19.

Netflix is profiting. Of course, Amazon. Microsoft and Google. Gaming companies. Online video conferencing companies. On-demand food, groceries and commodity delivering services.

Hence, if you are providing services that can be delivered online, you need to enhance your presence.

I’m not saying that suddenly you’re going to give Amazon and Google a run for their money, there are thousands of small businesses that are doing great during the outbreak.

This also means that you need to maintain your visibility.

Almost everyone searches online these days whenever one is looking for a service or are product to buy.

The first thing they do is, go to Google or launch the Google app on their mobile phone, and search for the thing they need.

It’s very important that they are able to find you if you want to sell to them.

No matter how great your product or service is, if they are not able to find you, how are they going to become your paying customers and clients?

You need to improve your search engine rankings. You need to improve your conversion rate.

Targeted content writing helps you increase your organic search engine rankings.

Efficient copywriting helps you improve the conversion rate on your website or landing page.

During uncertain times, you may feel that you can ill-afford to spend money on professional content writing and copywriting.

This is understandable.

But, if you are spending money on advertising (something like PPC campaigns), then SEO content writing is, though, I don’t like using this expression, way cheaper compared to advertising.

When you run PPC campaigns, you pay for every click. And this every click is for every keyword. If you get 10 clicks, you pay for them. If you get 100 clicks, you pay for them.

But when you invest in quality content, your search engine rankings improve organically.

So, whether you get 10 clicks, 100 clicks, 1000 clicks, or even 1 million clicks, the only money that you spend is on the quality content that you are getting from a professional content writer.

The same goes with professional copywriting. Even if you don’t want to improve your SEO and you would rather spend money on a PPC campaign, how much of that paid traffic is actually converting?

If your PPC campaign sends all the traffic to your homepage, let me be frank with you: you are wasting money.

Traffic from a PPC campaign must always go to a landing page that has been specifically created for a set of keywords. Landing pages are specifically used for PPC campaigns.

A landing page needs professional copywriting.

Once people come to your landing page through your PPC campaign, they need to be convinced by your copy.

Every headline, every sentence and every bulleted list point contribute towards your overall conversion rate.

Hence, if you ever thought of making strategic investments in content writing and copywriting for your website, now is the best time.

You need all the visibility you can get during the Covid-19 outbreak which, the WHO has predicted, is going to last for a couple of years, at least.

How to hire the best SEO content writer to improve your rankings

How to hire an SEO content writer to improve your rankings

How to hire an SEO content writer to improve your rankings

Here is an interesting and informative post on Moz.com titled “How to screen and recruit the best SEO content writers“.

As someone who provides professional content writing services, SEO content writing and online copywriting, on daily basis I am dealing with clients who are looking for a writer for their website or for their blog.

I’m sure you may say that I’m targeting the wrong audience and hence I’m attracting wrong clients, but most of the clients first want to know how much my SEO content writing services are going to cost.

Hence, cost is a major worry for them.

Do they want quality?

They claim that they do, but I can understand by the way they talk they think that writers are available “a dime a dozen”, and I don’t blame them.

Nonetheless, when you are hiring a content writer seriously, and by seriously, I mean that you know that you will have to pay money to a good SEO content writer, the suggestions listed in the above link are good.

I am rehashing some of them below.

Why do you need an SEO content writer?

SEO-friendly content writing

SEO-friendly content writing

Personally, I believe you need a good content writer or a good writer who understands your topic and understands what your readers are looking for.

If your writer can take care of these two aspects, he or she is a good SEO content writer.

Anyway, you need an experienced writer to improve your search engine rankings because ranking these days is not as easy as it used to be.

There are many reasons.

Millions of pieces of content are being added to the web on daily basis.

In the beginning of the Internet there weren’t many people vying for the top positions.

To add to the difficulty, Google is also constantly improving its ranking algorithm.

In the past decade, three major algorithm updates done by Google are Panda, RankBrain and “Fred”.

There was also a Penguin update which the article hasn’t mentioned.

A long time back I wrote a blog post on it for Content Marketing Institute, titled, “How to survive the Google Penguin update with effective content writing“.

Panda was a major reshuffle in the early parts of the previous decade and it annihilated the rankings of many websites.

RankBrain uses searchers’ intent to decide your rankings.

A related blog post: Do you know how Google actually ranks your content? ()

Fred weeds out content pieces that don’t add any value.

So, basically, Google is trying its best to keep your content away from top rankings if your content is not of good quality and doesn’t provide any value.

This is why you need an SEO content writer.

An SEO content writer can take care of three things simultaneously:

  1. Write high-quality content.
  2. Write content according to your keywords and key phrases.
  3. Write content that is relevant to your readers.

What to look for in an SEO content writer when you are hiring one?

This is, what is explained in the above Moz.com link.

Here are a few things to consider when hiring an SEO content writer:

Knowledge of on-page SEO and writing optimized content

Although I have written above that it basically takes a good writer to help you improve your rankings, certain on-page SEO factors are important when writing content.

Can your SEO content writer

  • Write content based on your keywords and key phrases?
  • Come up with optimized titles knowing that your title plays a crucial role in deciding your rankings?
  • Utilise internal linking?
  • Write longform content of 2000+ words, if need be?
  • Write web friendly and mobile friendly content?
  • Show a good track record of ranking content for important keywords?

On my website you can find all this information even before having to contact me.

There is a great chance that you have come on this blog post through Google or another search engine.

You can also see plenty of interlinks on my blog and on my website.

All my blog post and web page titles are completely optimized.

Although I use important keywords to write my content, I don’t needlessly stuff them.

Knowledge of user experience and authoritative content

Your SEO content writer must know the importance of writing and publishing authoritative content.

Authoritative content is very crucial for your search engine rankings because it tells Google that your content can be trusted and valued.

Also, the SEO content writer that you hire must be able to write search friendly content.

It means, the content must be arranged under appropriate headings, subheadings, bullet points, and sentences and paragraphs.

Learn to value a good and experienced SEO content writer

Improving your SEO is a two-pronged process: just as an SEO content writer is supposed to understand your needs and the needs of your customers and clients, you must also understand the value of a good and experienced SEO content writer.

It’s true, you can find content writers a dime a dozen, but it is very difficult to find SEO content writers who can really deliver.

The fault lies on both the ends of the spectrum: content writers started offering their services dirt cheap and now most of the clients expect them to deliver their services dirt cheap, heavily compromising the quality in the process.

Hence, the first step towards hiring a capable SEO content writer is recognizing the fact that just like any other service, you will have to pay for high-quality content.

Is there a definitive way of ranking in Google’s featured snippets

Ranking in Google’s featured snippets is one of the best ways of getting a ton of traffic to your website, provided you get ranked for the right keywords and there is another link of yours appearing somewhere on the same page.

Nobody knows exactly why Google decides to rank your link. I have had some success getting some of my links ranked in this section; for example, look at this:

credible-content-showing-up-in-Google-snippets

This blog post contains lots of statistics and graphs to show how many more links Google has started including in the featured snippets section and how much more traffic these featured links draw from Google compared to those links that are not featured.

What are  upchart showing how many links are included in the featured snippets of Google

Google’s featured snippets

Just like any other content-based platform, Google is constantly coming up with ways to present relevant content attractively as well as purposefully.

Since more than 99% of the times people are asking questions and looking for useful information on Google, it makes sense that when Google feels that a particular answer satisfies a particular question, that answer is featured as a snippet.

As you can see in the above image (from my website), the featured snippet stands out compared to other links on the search results page.

You don’t get snippets all the time. Snippets are usually triggered by queries that contain, “what is”, “how is” or “how much”.

A relevant part of the text is picked from your link and featured in the snippets section. It is like, while analyzing the question asked by the search engine user, Google finds the traces of the right answer on your link, picks up the relevant portion, and then puts it in the featured snippets section.

Many webmasters believe that being featured in Google’s featured snippets can be counter-productive because then the search engine users have no reason to visit the link.

It depends. It can also increase the chances of the search engine users visiting your website more if they like the answer presented in the snippet. A big part of your answer appearing in the snippet also makes a strong impression on search engine users because they think that if Google is highlighting your answer then your link must have relevant information.

Is there a way you can get your links ranked and featured in the Google featured snippets section?

Over the years since Google started featuring links in this section various SEO experts and content marketers have been trying to figure out how to pinpoint the qualities or attributes that get your link featured in the section.

Ahref has done a comprehensive study on how many links are being featured in the snippets section on exactly what are the benefits of getting featured there.

The Ahref study has found that there is a decline in the number of clicks when your link is featured in the snippets section.

image chart showing that the CTR declines for the snippet-featured links

You can see in the above graphic that when a link is featured in the snippets section it gets approximately only 8.6% of clicks but when it is not featured it gets 19.6%.

It proves the apprehension of some webmasters that if your link is listed in the snippets section then people have less motivation to click it because they have already found the information they are looking for.

If I can remember my own search pattern I think I agree with this conclusion. Sometimes when I’m looking for an answer and when I find the answer in the featured snippets section, there is no reason for me to visit the actual link or, it prompts me to visit another link because I don’t seem to be able to find the right answer within the snippet.

But there is another finding in the same above Ahref link: the overall clicks on the remaining links appearing below the featured snippets link tend to fall down.

This might be because Google has become so efficient in digging out the appropriate answer and featuring it on the snippets section that after having viewed the snippet, users have no reason to check the other links.

On the other hand, detailed analysis of Google’s featured snippets on this link shows that if the link that appears in the featured section is followed by another link from your website, the CTR increases tremendously, sometimes by a whopping 516%.

How to make your content appear in the Google’s featured snippets section

Most of the SEO websites suggest that there is no definitive way of ranking in Google’s featured snippets section, but still, there is a pattern that emerges as more and more people study it.

which words in the query make it easier to rank in Google featured snippets section

Personally, I wouldn’t advise you to go crazy about getting your content featured in the snippets section. What matters the most is, what benefit you derive out of the various positions you get on the search engine result page.

Anyway, if you want to get featured there, you should take some clue from the way people ask questions on Quora.

You can follow the same pattern while writing content for your own website.

Create your blog posts, articles and web pages in QA form: ask a question in the title of your link and then provide an answer in the body text.

Remember that Google should be able to find a complete answer to the query submitted by the search engine user. The answer to this query can manifest in the form of

  • A small paragraph that can fit into a snippet
  • A bullet list of different parts of the answer
  • Data presented in a tabular format

As you can see in the featured snippet from my own website, it is a paragraph.

The text taken for the Google’s featured snippet can appear anywhere in your body text. Just make sure that the words contained within the question also appear within the text that you would like to present as a snippet candidate.

Of course, the usual conditions need to exist, such as, you should already be enjoying good or comparatively better search engine rankings. Your links should already be ranking for you to appear in Google’s featured snippets section.

So, if you want to publish content specifically for the featured snippets section, first focus on improving your general SEO