you are in digital marketing, you surely know the importance of the term content marketing. Also, you may have heard of the term SEO content a couple of times. But, SEO content writers need to understand completely what the term SEO content exactly means.
Now, the first thing you must understand is what the term SEO involves. SEO or search engine optimization is the term whereby you optimize your website for search engines. In other words, you design it so that the search engine provides greater visibility to it. It also helps the visitors to like your website more. It is the art of applying scientific techniques and tactics to make the search engine love your website. An SEO Company can help you handle the various aspects of a website’s SEO and increase your organic traffic, leads, and revenues.
Web content writing or SEO content writing is all about writing blogs, articles, or reviews designed to draw the attention of a certain audience and make them visit your website. It was quite easy to take care of the search engine algorithm. Earlier, people used to pack their articles with keywords. And overburdening the content with the only keywords sometimes rendered them unreadable. However, in the past some time, the practice of SEO writing has changed quite a lot, and the search engines only want to focus on readability alongside optimization.
The methods used earlier led the readers to many spammy sites. Therefore, the search engines started looking at various factors for determining if a site is relevant. The search engines are focusing on quality rather than quality.
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Content marketing in present times
It’s no secret that blogs and articles are the most popular and most significant content marketing tools these days. Therefore, it is essential to create the content of these articles with SEO in mind. The various factors one needs to consider include s the length, titles, and voice of these articles. As you know what factors will influence your ability to create articles and blogs, you will create content that helps you rank in the top search results. Practice and consistently being aware of what you want to design the content for are important things you need to use for content marketing.
Here’s a checklist of how you should get started with your web content writing.
1. Write content keeping users in mind first.
Though you will have to optimize your content for the search engines, you have to write content that takes care of the users’ requirements. You need to keep in mind a few essential questions before you start producing the content for your audience. Understanding the user persona is of utmost importance.
- Who will be your audience (in terms of gender, education, and age)?
- The things you want my audience to know on reading the piece.
- Get an insight into how they want to be spoken to.
- What do the audience care for the most (what do they want to read about?)?
- Additionally, you also need to understand what they may be already knowing about.
- The reasons why the audience will like to read your content.
Understanding your audience, better still forming a user persona, will help you create content that sounds engaging and useful.
Moreover, you also have to create content that will take care of these different stages of the purchase journey. For example,
- First, you have to increase awareness about your brand, products, and services.
- Secondly, you have to generate interest in the users to buy your products,
- Thirdly, you need to answer questions about who just wants to buy the product.
- And so on (Refer to content marketing stages in the graphic below).
It is clear that an attractive CTA will significantly help in generating desired user action.
Catering to audience needs in the different parts of the marketing funnel will help you attract new customers and generate customer loyalty. It increases your brand’s authority in your niche.
You can use user-generated content such as customer reviews to increase the brands’ value in the market in several ways.
Also, your content should focus on allowing the readers to put their questions forth or ask their queries.
Overall, it has a great positive impact on your site’s ranking and trustworthiness.
2. Structuring your content
Though most readers just want to scan your content for important information they are looking for, they will trust long-form content more. This means if you write longer content with valuable information divided into relevant sections, it will increase your viewership. Structuring long-form content is very crucial so that readers can straightaway find what they are looking for. Here are a few pointers:
Divide the content into chapters, subheadings and also offering bulleted lists wherever they prove more useful.
Packing in information at the right entry points will help you get as much information as possible.
Do not make too long bulleted points as it might get boring for the readers. The key lies in making your content user-friendly and increasing its readability value.
You need to use high-quality and relevant videos and images at the right junctions to act as a window in text walls in your content. Otherwise, things can get very dull, bland, and uninteresting for the readers.
Pro Tip 1: Content that is between 800 and 1800 words will go well with the audience. This content can hold people’s attention and is also long enough to have some valuable information. Also, there are standard formats available for writing varied types of content used in digital marketing, such as blog posts, articles, white papers, eBooks, case studies, presentations, checklists, Q&As/FAQs, AMAs, Social Media. Research and make use of them. And, of course, a little innovation is always good!
Pro Tip 2: It is useful to generate long-form content for your website, weblogs, and for high DA websites where you want to post guest posts for offering experts’ advice. But, you also need to come up with smaller content, though in attractive forms (such as having more visuals or graphic representations) so that more audience may reach it.
3. Organizing your content post from SEO parameters
Your blogs’ structure is most important, just like its content. The different structural elements of a blog include:
- Page title
- Meta description
- URL
- Headers
- Content titles
Also, your content heading and subheadings in H2 and H3 tags should include different keywords. The H1 heading must have the focus keywords.
The titles of your content are significant to help the readers understand the context of your write-up. Also, including the right keywords will help the search engine find out a place in the top ranks. Check that you have only one H1 piece and for subheading use, H2s and H3s. Include the target keyword throughout the content.
Ensure that you add the right alt text and descriptions for your blog’s images and video. They will act as additional bait for search engine bots looking for relevant content and answers for search queries.
4. Use active voice with a simple vocabulary
Using too much passive voice in your content can seem rude and uninteresting to the readers. It is best to write your content in an active voice, giving a clearer picture of the things you want to explain.
For example,
Organic marketing is carried out by SEO professionals (passive voice)
SEO professionals carry out organic marketing. (Active voice)
Which is more appealing?
It is the second one, of course.
When creating content that makes your audience feel connected, you need to use simple and easy-to-understand language. You need to convey the right message to the audience without repetitive words and phrases.
5. Use shorter sentences and paragraphs
Make the content more simple by using shorter sentences. Moreover, your content must have short paragraphs that help the readers skim the main points.
This is an example from plainlanguage.gov.
Also, make sure that you can maximize internal and external links in your content to make it more available for your users and build its authority as you give credit to experts.
To know what it takes to create smart content that appeals to your audience and get it published at the right places, you will need to talk to the SEO experts at Backlink Monks. Get more insight into how you can make the most of your content marketing strategy with a consultation with the experts.
