How To Write Content That Ranks Higher & Attracts Visitors

19
May 2014

Posted by: Category:Web Content Writing

 

How To Write Content That Ranks Higher & Attracts Visitors

Attractive content works magnetically for SEO | img: wallpapersus.com


Content is speedily becoming the core SEO factor in a post-panda & post-penguin world. It is the only strong SEO factor you can blindly depend upon. But to manifest the full potential of your content, you need to know some DO HOWs that makes it profitable.

If you have your own website or your own blog, you must first learn to write in a way that ranks higher and attracts more users otherwise it will prove totally worthless. Without the charming content, your site would cease to get noticed. However, as an experienced SEO executive, I know it very well that with a proper approach, it is not hard to get ranked on Google & drive enormous traffic on your blog or website. 

I have boiled down our content creation strategy at smartinfosys.net into few simple steps here to guide you on how to create the content that ranks higher & attracts more users on your website. But before you start, harshly carve following four suggestions in your mind:

1- Always take your content too seriously. It is your sole representative for your business online.

2- Always write clear, in-depth & thorough content. If you value your users, you must learn first to make them feel valued & valuable content is your conformance to that.

3- Always prefer quality over quantity. Content is something people are not going to consume until it looks tasty & digestive as well!

4- Don’t publish your content in a hurry. Always take time & ruthlessly edit the clutter before publishing your content.

So, with these four points in your mind, let’s start.

 

1- Choose the topic empathically.
For most of the writers, especially for me, this is the most toughest decision you have to make before creating a pitching content. To make this scenario better understandable, I will proceed with an example. Suppose you are writing on behalf of an agency that produces and sells gym equipment.

Empathic content for SEO

Empathic content is more favored by audience | img: acumen.org

As we all know, getting trapped into promoting position is quite easy when you’re writing for the business. However, keep in mind that you should not always be selling your products but also be selling solutions to your customers’ routine problems. As an empathic business, you should choose a topic that helps your audience stay fit rather than a topic that teaches them how to use trademill!

Also the topic you choose should be the one for which, you can write in-depth & useful content. Taking all these things in to account, let’s assume the chosen topic is “10 exercises to get your waist into shape”.

 

2- Demystify your ideal audience.
To create the conversational tone while writing your topic, make your ideal audience as specific as it can be. Get a little deep into your audience and make it clearer so you can have a single ideal reader that you can suppose to be talking with.

Demystify audience before you write content

You must first know your audience before you write the content | img: thing2thing.com

In our example, your target audience can be adults and matures who are past 21 & overweight/fat but health conscious. Suppose you have chosen fat women who have been facing obesity after pregnancy. So you have to create a topic that allures the pregnant woman to read your content.

Another specific aspect of your target audience can be its age. In this case, your target woman will be somewhere between the age of 30 to 40 when most of the women get a child. There are many more demographic aspects you can take into account while identifying your audience and the more you know your reader, the more impulsive your content will be.

Thus, specific user details will help you write the psychologically targeting content. 

 

3- Do keyword research to know what is really searched for.
As you have known your topic and readers in-depth, now you have to figure out what is being searched related to your topic i.e. the keywords that real users are searching on your topic.

Keyword research for SEO content

Keyword research is inevitable for SEO friendly content | img: incomediary.com

To do the perfect keyword research, first prepare a list of seed keywords you assume to be the core 3-5 representative of your article. Here, those keywords can be “Obesity due to pregnancy”, “Pregnancy fitness tips”, “Exercises for woman” etc. With these keywords being your core keywords, perform a keyword research.

Here is Moz’s guide to keyword research you can refer for complete details on how to research keywords for your content. Or if you want no clutter and a simple tool to research keywords instantly, Soovle is my favorite tool online.

Keep in mind that keywords are meant to be core idea of your post, however, you shouldn’t fill your content with them as search engines are now smarter and will be able to easily identify it and penalize it too. Instead of such spammy tactics, try using synonyms and relevant terms that make your content look naturally more relevant and search engine friendly.

 

4- Perform in-depth research to polish & distinguish your content.
All things ready & set, now it’s time to go! As the topic is chosen, now you have to research on the subject in-depth and find out whatever is relevant and interesting about your chosen topic that can be helpful to your audience and in-context with the subject matters.

comprehensive research for content

Do research to make your content more comprehensive | img: nhs.uk

Apart from your own knowledge, read expert blogs and books and collect the information that is hard to find elsewhere. Make a list of short points you can write upon and create a definitive layout around it that will guide you throughout the content.

 

5- Write the content smartly.
To write the content for your website is not much different than writing down in your book, however, as you are writing for the web, you can undoubtedly optimize key aspects of your website that can help you getting ranked higher in search engines. Below are those key aspects:

Creating compelling content

Embrace elements of your website to write compellingly | img: creatingcompellingcontent.com

#1- Provide original & comprehensive content:
Search engines prefer the content that is unique & in-depth. However, it doesn’t mean you have to write 2000 words of senseless content. Depending upon the topic, 250-500 words could also be enough.

#2- Use synonyms and relevant words:
Instead of repeating the same keyword again and again, use different versions of keyword i.e. synonyms in your content so it doesn’t look spammy.

#3- Use descriptive title & meta tags:
Place keywords and its synonyms in meta tags wherever it looks relevant. It will add great chances of better search rankings for your content.

#4- Format content read-ably with Header tags:
Use H1 to H6 header tags to give your content a readable format. Make sure to include keywords in your header tags wherever it looks relevant as header tags are also factor in search engine rankings.

#5- Use links to increase user engagement
Provide your users with reference links and internal links related to the content topic to increase their engagement with your content.

#6- Use multiple formats of content to increase user interest
Sometimes, text only can be BORING. So use informative and interesting videos, images and GIFs to grab their attention and keep them attached to your content.

#7- Provide comment section & sharing options for content
At the end of your content, provide sharing options and a comment section & write few lines of encouragement that prompts users to leave comments. It will increase the user engagement and it is one of the vital factor especially for blogs. And last but not the least is,

#8- Edit & Rectify the grammar & spellings
After everything is done, ruthlessly edit the content and correct the usage of words and grammar. Most preferably, choose a third person for this.

Thus a proper preparation & in-depth research can add your content lots of possibilities to rank well in search engines and generate user engagement that will help your website gain visibility and rip the profits of user loyalty for your business.

Do you think there are any particular improvements that can be made to make your content more engaging and rank-able? Share your views, I would love to know all them, be it minor or major.

Leave a Reply