A growing website needs quality content.
If you are interested in growing your business through your website, you need to understand that people are researching to make a buying decision. When you create the quality content people want to see, you are helping these people make that decision. This is winning over your customer with the information they want.
Quality content is in-depth researched and written content to help search engines connect your content with people who want it.
Creating content people are searching for is a simple concept. But many of the clients I work with have had a hard time understanding this concept. They make a brochure style format used for print for their site; this style does not work for a website. Web page content has much more detail with links to other related quality pages. To and from the web pages, these links make a big difference and give more credibility to your web page.
Don't Ever Assume.
Don't ever assume people understand what your content is about. Spell the details out. Link to other information to help prove your point. These people are researching a subject to find an answer to a problem they want to solve. When you do the research necessary to convey the topic, you make your consumers happy because they see you as an expert.
Another thing to consider, don't ever assume people will contact you for the details. Please provide the details in your content—that way, and they don't need to search any further. Consumers make a buying decision before they contact the seller. They will contact you when they are ready after they finish their research.
What Research Should You Do?
1. Research People
Who are the people in your niche? Create custom content for the people in your niche and write in the slang they use. People's research is ongoing because it changes over time. Meaning you will need to update your content often to stay relevant to the evolving demographics.
2. Answer Questions for People
People are looking for answers to their questions. If you supply those answers in your well-organized researched content, you're in good shape. Anything less than QUALITY answers will get you ignored.
3. Research Keyword Phrases
Using keyword phrases that people are using will get you found. Search engines can make the contention and send them to your content when you use the same keyword phrases as your potential customers.
4. Buyer Personas
The above three, research people, answer questions, and research keyword phrases, should be in a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a file that contains information about the different potential people who will visit your website. Writing these personas will influence the decision you make about what type of content you should provide. Using the insight from your research will help you make a winning website with content people want to find.
What do Search Engines Want?
A web copywriter should understand search engines and how they work.
Copywriters should focus on these three things:
Write for people first.
Write for search engines second.
Finally, aim for the highest quality possible.
Creating content that people want to read that is researched, compelling, credible, and optimized for search engines will make for a great end-user experience.
Following these Search Engine Optimization (SEO) recommendations will help you create the content you need:
1. Search engines want your content to be high QUALITY and relevant to the subject on the web page. Search engines analyze your content using artificial intelligence and keyword phrases, among many other factors. Choose your topic for each web page carefully. When conducting your keyword research, pay attention to search volume and the keyword efficiency index (KEI), and you will find the subjects people are searching for in your niche.
2. According to Neil Patel in his article SEO Copywriting: How to Write Content for People and Optimize for Google, the number one ranking factor in Google is QUALITY.
3. Search engines will measure how many QUALITY links point to your web page (backlink) from other high-quality web pages. The backlink is also a ranking factor on search engines.
4. Content for SEO is about understanding your audience than writing content for your audience. Choosing keywords and phrases that support your webpages' subjects encourages search engines to send your audience to your QUALITY webpage.
Where do You Use the Keyword Phrases?
1. Headline: You should have a keyword phrase in your headline. There should be only one main headline (h1) for each web page.
2. Sub-Headline: You should have several subheads (h2) announcing the different sections throughout the page. Try to include your keyword phrase in a few subheads. People skim copy and sometimes only read the subheads.
3. Introduction: Your introduction should be compelling, with your target keyword phrase included. Tell your audience what they are about to read. Then, get them interested in reading the entire article.
4. Body-Copy: Use the keyword phrases a few times near the bringing of the article. Once or twice in the middle should do it as I told one client, "sprinkle" keywords throughout your body copy. Use different related forms of the keyword phrase, so you are not repeating the same words everywhere. Doing this will help prevent keyword stuffing.
5. Conclusion: You should have a roundup or take-away summing up the article and include keywords.
6. Call-to-Action: You should have a call-to-action above the fold, in the middle, and at the end of the article. Write something intriguing that will get the reader to take action. The word "contact" in a button will not do the trick. Get creative. Include a keyword if relevant.
7. Photo Naming: You need to make sure you name your photos to help search engines understand the picture. Don't just leave the numbers from the camera or the title for the name's stock photo. Instead, rewrite those numbers and stock photo names to describe the image. For example, if the picture is for a Puppy Sitting in a Cup and the name it came with is 12345.jpg, change it to Puppy-In-A-Cup.jpg.
8. Photo Alt Text: These serve two purposes, 1. Photo alt text tells the search engine what the photo is about and how it is related to the article, and 2. People with voice readers can understand what the picture is. Write a short description with a keyword that supports the purpose of the page.
Follow these guidelines for Search Engine Results Pages (SERP)
1. Meta Title: should be less than 72 characters to avoid the cut-off. Place keywords and phrases near the beginning of the meta title.
2. Meta Descriptions: give more details about the page to entice the searcher to click. Meta descriptions should be 150 to 160 characters, including spaces, for desktop and 113 characters, including spaces, for mobile.
People are researching and want helpful information to make better buying decisions.
Give them what they want. Understanding your customer is vital. Please focus on the problems they are trying to solve and write detailed answers to their questions.
A buyer persona will help you understand your customers.
Using researched keyword phrases throughout your content will help search engines connect your audience to your web pages.
QUALITY content is vital to connecting people and search engines.
Proofread, cite your sources, and don't plagiarize.
The most important thing to take away from this article is QUALITY MATTERS.
Setting Your Website Up for Success is what you are doing!
Wendy Danko
SEO Professional at WenKo LLC
Wendy Danko
Setting Your Website Up For Success!
About the Author
Wendy Danko is an SEO Consultant and Web Designer at WenKo LLC. A design background has its perks, especially regarding SEO and website design. Wendy is determined to help all her clients understand and improve their SEO and website design. As a result, her clients have uncovered new leads to grow their client base with website improvements.