Wait just a second – isn’t content for SEO purposes? What does my odd title mean? Well, yes, content is great for SEO, and SEO is just one of several reasons why you should be using content. Goodness knows we’ve talked about the importance of content for SEO multiple times. However, it isn’t the only reason. You need to craft content that reaches your audience both on and offline, and it needs to be high quality and engaging.
That said, how do you craft content that doesn’t primarily focus on SEO, while still putting out content that’s excellent enough for Google to #1 it? This blog is going to take a look at this, as well as help you craft excellent, engaging copy for your website and social media sites. Following these suggestions could help turn several of those clicks into excellent leads and long-term customers.
SEO is Just One of Many Reasons for Content
It might seem like the only reason most companies utilize content is for SEO, so why can’t you? It does look like it works, especially at the beginning. However, when you focus your content solely on SEO purposes, you can eventually lose your readership. There is nothing quite as boring as reading a piece written only to trigger the search engines and bring people to the site.
Yes, SEO is a great reason for a content campaign, but it is not the only one on the market. There are several other reasons that combine to create an incredible formula of success. Take a quick look at my blogs; I write them for you specifically without focusing too much on SEO. I do take it into consideration. I like ranking in Google searches (who doesn’t?). However, I also want you to find something of immense value and that is the true goal of content.
What Happens if You Only Focus on Content for SEO?
The main thing that can happen is you can lose your readership. This is something discussed in several blogs about SEO. “Don’t keyword stuff because readers won’t appreciate it,” “don’t write for the bots because of readers.” Your readership is vital to the success of your business. Another important reason is if you only focus on the SEO aspect of your content, you can eventually be penalized by Google. Do you see now why it is vital to your business to only use content for SEO as one reason?
How Else Can You Use Content?
Now that you’ve seen just how important it is to not focus solely on SEO, you might be wondering how else you can use your content. Let me look at two important ways to use content for your business:
- To Reach Your Followers Online. One of the reasons for writing web content is that it gives the ability to reach your followers easily through the Internet. The online world gives all companies the unique ability to meet customers where they are. This could be if the customer is on a train commuting to work, at Disney Land, or as they marathon House, M.D. on Netflix. No matter where you customer is, you can use your web content to reach them quickly. When you only focus on SEO, you still might reach them, but you won’t be able to retain them, which can be detrimental.
- Use it to Grow Your Business Both On and Offline. When using web content, not only can you reach people online, but you can grow your business offline. How can online web content grow your business off of the World Wide Web? Simple – word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth marketing gets your business to other people who may never have known about it at all.
What will happen is one customer likes a product or service, and they will tell their friends and family members who will then tell their friends or family members. The cycle continues until it grows into a great client base. This can also happen on social media, and, as the Forbes article I linked to says, it is one of the most important elements in your social media marketing campaign.
Tips on Creating Excellent Content That isn’t Just for SEO
Just how can you create killer content your audience will enjoy without solely focusing on SEO? Let’s take a quick refresher course on a few ways to help your company both on and offline.
- Know Your Audience. One of the most vital parts of creating content that doesn’t just focus on SEO is knowing who your audience is and what they want to read. This will take some researching, but it can be done. This will help you craft excellent content that will be shared on social media, helping with one aspect of word of mouth marketing. If you truly know your audience, they will feel comfortable with your company and will be willing to tell others about it. A few ways to research your audience are:
- Create specific questions to help you truly learn about them.
- Sending out customer surveys for your audience to fill out.
- Meeting with clients and hosting a sort of online town hall to get a feel for what they want.
- Research your audience on social media and what they are saying about you.
- Write for Your Readers. When you focus your content solely on SEO purposes, you miss the biggest mark for successful content – writing for your readers. You can write your content with SEO in mind, but readers are going to notice if you are trying to rank. The best way to write for them is to follow point one and research them, but to also write naturally. “Talk” to your audience by using pronouns and create a relationship. Write on topics they find interesting and give them valuable information that they don’t feel they can get elsewhere. A great way to write for your readers is to use their language or “voice” in your content. This will establish a great connection with them, but also make the content easier for them to read.
- Write on Interesting Topics. Your content provides you with a chance to write on relevant and interesting topics. It helps keep your website up-to-date and fresh, which is something your readership will greatly appreciate. Creating fresh content might sound a bit difficult to do, especially since you’re incredibly busy with other business tasks. However, it is possible. A few ways to ensure you are writing quality, fresh content for your readers are:
- Researching your audience as in point one.
- Writing on topics that you are passionate about. Writing from the heart is a great way to connect with your client base.
- Take inspiration from other great writers. This can be classic authors like Mary Shelley or modern authors like Neil Gaiman. You can also garner inspiration from films, television shows, and following trendy people online such as George Takei.
- Write news content pieces for your blogs.
- Write Content that is Engaging. A great way to write excellent content that doesn’t just focus on SEO is to write engaging pieces. Engaging content is a great way to attract more readers and convert visitors to leads. A few ways to write engaging content are to:
- Write strong headlines for your pieces to get clicks.
- Create unique pieces to retain the visitors you receive.
- Give people answers to their questions.
- Always source your material and do proper research before writing your content and hitting publish.
- Add other forms of content such as images, videos, and infographics. This can help break up all of your text while giving people something easy to share.
- Continually update your website and blog to keep people engaged. If your website stays the same for a long time, it will grow stale. If you don’t update your blog regularly, it too will go stale. You need to make sure to keep your content fresh.
- Create Content You Want to Promote. You can easily tell your content is excellent if you want to promote it, according to AuthorityLabs.com. If you are writing content you don’t enjoy, and that you don’t have the desire to show others, then it is obviously not a quality piece. When crafting content, make sure you are creating something you want to share and always make sure it is something you would find interesting if you happened across it on the web. This goes for your web content, as well as social media content. Make something interesting that will grab your followers’ attention!
As you can see, it is vital to create excellent content and not use it just for SEO purposes. You want to convert those clicks that come from your basic SEO practices into leads and the best way to do that is have great content. Take this into mind as you start creating your content campaign and make sure that you focus on your readers along with SEO as you start crafting future pieces. You will be quite pleased with the results!
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