Ten Tips for Better Website Content Writing
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
I see this everyday: websites that provide great information, are updated regularly, and designed with the utmost of care but are lacking the essential: search engine optimized content! Just putting up a website and crossing your fingers that it’s done the job to get indexed by search engines, found by prospects, and shared for the world to see isn’t going to get you far. And thinking you shouldn’t have to rely on search engines to get you traffic means you aren’t willing to become truly successful. While some have found success only using social media for traffic, more have found greater success by getting found on search engines. So let’s get you ranked!
You’ve likely been inundated with information on how to get you ranked, but in the end it all starts with great website content because content is king. So how do you write good content?
1.) Conduct thorough keyword research. If you need help watch our video: SEO Tutorial Video: Choose the Best Keywords.
2.) Start writing: be as clear as possible, get to the point quickly so users can scan if need be (this can be done by limiting each paragraph to just one idea), answer the readers questions at the beginning of each paragraph, break up your content with lists, and use your keywords sporadically and naturally throughout the content.
3.) Now go back and read everything with a fresh pair of eyes, adding in flavorful subheadings that are descriptive in nature. Make sure your content is helpful and user friendly for the keywords you’ve chosen to utilize. Put yourself in the readers position, if you were them and found your page would you get your questions answered and find what you are looking for? If not, then rewrite the content.
A few tips (and don’t forget to avoid the deadly sins of SEO copywriting):
1.) Good rule of thumb: Utilize 1 priority keyword, and 1-2 secondary keywords.
2.) K.I.S.S: Keep It Simple Stupid! Don’t overcomplicate your pages, unless you know that your site viewers are coming to you for a long drawn out message. Use shorter sentences, paragraphs, and pages.
3.) Avoid words that convey exaggeration like "absolutely the best", "amazing", etc. Just keep it simple!
4.) Stay consistent with your keyword usage: make sure the keywords you are focusing on are reflected not only in the body of your document, but in your meta tags, on images, in H1-3 tags, etc. Equally as important is your landing page’s URL. Don’t muddy it up with extra dashes, numbers, and other characters. The goal here is to limit confusion as much as possible!
5.) Don’t automatically assume your first draft is the best.
6.) Come back to your content with a fresh set of eyes or have someone else proofread it to make sure you keep a consistent and focused theme throughout.
7.) Re-evaluate your content throughout the year. Make changes as applicable, but remember: if your pages have already been indexed and cached there is a chance you may see a drop in rankings when changes are initially made. Ask yourself: will this change really make a difference to the overall usability of my site? If yes, then make the change: it’s worth it in the end.
8.) Make your content unique: NEVER ever copy content. Duplicate content is the devil, and won’t prove effective in the long run anyways so why try to cut corners? Build your site on a sturdy foundation with effective action based copywriting.
9.) Research what your competition is doing. How? Do a simple search for your priority and secondary keywords. See what’s out there, and keep on top of it.
10.) Consider hiring someone to do your website content writing for you.
What are some additional tips we missed? Share with a comment below!
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