The New Year is almost here and while you might be writing down some personal resolutions, how much effort have you put into some website resolutions? Let’s face it; Google has practically demanded all website owners to beef up their quality and stop fooling around, so your #1 resolution this year should be to take your website’s content seriously. Well, if you want to rank high that is.
Content Strategies that Rank Websites
We’ve drilled this concept into your head time and time again: content is crucial. But for the sake of being consistent we’re going to do it again. If you don’t have high-quality content, Google won’t rank you period.
So if you’re ready to boost up your rank and (hopefully) increase your website’s earning potential, it’s time to take New Years to a whole new level with these critical steps for writing rankable (and bankable) content for 2014.
1. Create a Content Strategy…We’re Serious
How many times have you seen the words “content strategy” from us? Well it’s clear: you need one. Everyone needs one. Even if you’re the best writer there is and you have the juiciest topics and greatest content, you still need a strategy.
Think of it like you’re going to war. The search engine is the enemy, the competition is teaming up with the enemy, and now it’s time to find a way to take them both down. In a battle, would you just run full speed ahead and hope for the best (hopefully you don’t lose a leg…kind of like losing your search engine rank) or would you strategize so you keep your limbs (and your rank)?
We’re thinking a strategy might be a good idea. We personally like our limbs…and our ranking.
All right, so what’s a good strategy? A good content strategy is well thought out and it’s certainly not something you can write up in a day (if you did, you might want to review that one more time). Your website is unique, so we cannot give you the golden formula that tells you exactly what your strategy should say, but we can tell you what it should at least entail:
You need goals. If you don’t have purpose when you write your content, you’re not really going to get results. Think of what you want before you write.
Your unique selling point. Think about it. What makes your products sell? Why are you awesome? Only you know the answer to this and you had better use it to your advantage in your content.
A defined target audience. If you don’t know whom you’re writing to, you’re not really going to reach them on a personal level now are you? We know you, that’s why you’re still reading this.
These are the three critical things every content strategy needs. Audience Bloom has an article about how to write a
“Kickass Content Strategy” and we highly suggest you breeze through it.
2. Show Your Audience You Actually Care
Today’s audience is selfish and that’s OK. You should write to the audience and show them you actually care about your content. Be unique, fresh and actually give them something. When you dribble on and regurgitate the same old content out there already, you’re just telling your readers you’re too busy to show them you give a darn. It’s true.
Sit down and take some time to write out your content. Give your readers some valuable insight that no one else has. You’re the industry and business expert, right? You know your products and you know stuff that the Average Joe or Jane doesn’t. Share it! Internet users want to learn and walk away from their computer screen feeling savvy.
So, again, how do you show your audience you care?
By writing high-quality, unique content
By giving them something other than what they’ve already read 500 times
By offering some real insight and value
Think of the websites you follow. Do they teach you something? Do they give you something to walk away with and implement right away? You want your site to be just like that, so create content that gives to the reader and you will do just that.
3. Long-Winded is OK, If You Do It Right
By long-winded we aren’t talking going on and on about nothing. That’s not good. However, the length of your on-page content needs to get a little fatter. Not just in quality, but in length too.
Google wants more words on the page. While they’re not advertising how many words (keeping to their notorious reputation for being vague), the length seems to correlate with how Google ranks authority.
Now, before you go off and write a 2,000-word blog about nothing, stop.
Google feels a longer article or blog post showcases authority only if it has quality writing, value, and research. Filling a page with a wall of useless text is not authoritative and will not get you a high ranking with Google. According to WebDesignLedger.com, content with more than 1,000 words has a better chance for ranking higher.
We think this is because Google looks at time and effort. When you take the time to do in-depth research, analysis and write up something that offers a multitude of value to the reader, it shows Google you’ve gone the extra mile. Since Google is all about quality, quality, quality, that extra mile means a higher rank.
So, in 2014 try to sprinkle in a few longer posts — we’re thinking over 1,000 words will certainly do the trick. But, make sure each post is well researched, thorough and gives readers in-depth knowledge.
4. Stop Using Vanilla Headlines
You obviously cannot smell through the computer screen, so we’re not talking about vanilla extract. What we’re talking about is boring, usual headlines.
Headlines are in bold, but if the text isn’t as equally eye-catching, it won’t do your site much justice.
Now, you’re probably asking what a headline has to do with your rank. Headlines influence traffic. In fact, according to SocialMediaToday.com, only 20 percent of the people who see your headlines will actually read much further than that — that means 80 percent of Internet users glance and move on.
However, if you can grasp the attention of a reader with that single one-liner, you’re in.
When your website shows up on a search engine result page, the headline, and your brief description is what a reader sees. Therefore, it’s rather important. Whether a headline influences your rank or not (it does, but we’ll deal with that in a minute), it’s important that the reader actually wants to click on your page when it shows up on their results page.
The research is clear on what attracts readers to click and what doesn’t. For your 2014 content strategy, don’t forget that the headlines do matter and include some of these ideas:
Lists and Numbers – You’re reading this blog, aren’t you? Lists tell readers exactly what they’re getting. For example, “10 of the Best Vacation Spots” tells you you’re about to find out the ten spots you’ll have the best time at.
Defining Headlines – You need to explicitly tell the reader what he or she is getting. Instead of saying “Writing Compelling Content” you should say “10 Ways to Write Compelling Content” — see the difference?
Add a “You” In There – When you call out to the audience, you instantly spike a little interest. For example, instead of saying “10 Ways to Earn More Money” you could say “10 Ways You Can Earn More Money Now”
Optimized Headlines – A headline still needs to be optimized. Adding a keyword, naturally, will help with that. For example, your keyword or target phrase is “Increasing Rank” so a good, catchy title might be “10 Ways For Increasing Your Rank”
5. Don’t Be a Keyword Diva
Yes, keywords still have their place, but they’re not as important as they once were. It’s time to quit being a keyword diva and drop the act. Having perfectly optimized content that targets every keywords interferes with your ability to meet Google’s other expectations — quality, natural flow, etc. So, you need to go about your keywords right.
Utilize page titles.
Page titles are a great place to drop a targeted keyword. The closer you get it to the start of the page title the better.
Use it in your headline.
If you can naturally put a keyword into your headline, then do it. Don’t force it! Now, if you’re going to use a keyword in your headline, make sure the content under that headline is relevant. There is no bigger error you can commit than using keywords and irrelevant content on the same page.
Use it in your content.
Primary, secondary, and other keywords can be used in your content a lot more naturally than they can in headlines and page titles. There’s no real density recommendation that we can give you, but we can tell you what not to do: cram every keyword in there. If it doesn’t read naturally or sound right, take it out. Keywords should be used in a natural-flowing manner. If it doesn’t flow, it goes.
Add it to your images.
Using keywords with images is a good idea. While you’ll not see a significant spike in traffic from image search, it’s still good to use keywords on the image’s title, surrounding text and in the attribute if you can.
Put it in the Meta description.
Before you gasp and say that’s wrong, listen.
Your page’s Meta description doesn’t influence your rank, but it can influence whether or a user clicks on your link. When a user enters a search term, they’re looking for something. They read the descriptions and headlines on a results page to see if a website is giving them what they’re looking for. Therefore, by adding in the keyword you might increase your visibility with the user.
6. Remember Changes Are Coming…
In HBO’s Game of Thrones all you hear every season and every episode is “winter is coming.” The same goes for search engine updates. Changes are coming and will continue to come. When they rear their ugly head, you must be prepared to adapt and stay up-to-date.
2014 is going to be the year of SEO for mobile. It has been said that Hummingbird was just the tip of the iceberg (the small snow flurries of winter that mean bigger storms to come). Google plans on adapting to the rapidly growing trend of mobile use.
Your site’s performance in the mobile sector could greatly impact your SEO rank. Therefore, start preparing your site’s content for mobile just as much as you prepare it for PC.
So What Have We Learned?
2014 is certainly going to spark some changes for everyone and it’s better to be prepared than be that guy (or gal) stuck in the past.
To recap what we’ve gone over, for 2014, your content needs to include these six steps:
Create a Content Strategy – Without a strategy you’ll be that website that looks cool, but really doesn’t have any direction.
Write for the People – No, not politically. We just mean write with the intention of helping your readers. Go the extra mile, do some research and really write like you give a darn about it. If you can’t do it yourself, hire someone.
Write Longer, Researched Posts – You don’t have to make every post a 10,000-word book, but you need to add some real in-depth value to your site for your followers.
Write Compelling Headlines – Not just for the search engines, but also for the benefit of the people you need to click on your site.
Use Keywords Naturally – If it doesn’t flow, it goes. Enough said.
Be On the Lookout for Changes – Stay up to date on the latest algorithm changes and make sure you’re always adapting.
Ranking high with search engines should actually be easier these days. Google is no longer rewarding the people who know how to trick their algorithms. Instead, they’re rewarding the people who take time, put in a little effort, and really work to create awesome content. By just doing that, you’re a step ahead and on your way to better rankings.
So here we are, seasoned SEO experts and newbie writers that aren’t even sure of SEO’s meaning. What do we know about SEO writing and what do we think we know?
What Do We Know About SEO Writing?
Below, I will share four facts and four myths that are believed, in some cases, more than the facts are. You can see which ones resonate with you in particular.
A Successful Blogger Posts Twice a Week Writing More Than 300 Words Per Blog
Fact. The longer the blog post, the more valuable the content is considered to be. Likewise, the more often the blog posts are made the more current the blog is viewed to be. With these factors in mind, success is only a thousand words and two blog posts away.
Blogs should draw in the readership and develop a working relationship with them. People should feel camaraderie with the writer, or at least be able to understand your viewpoint and respect it so they want to read more of what you write. The fact that bloggers who write more in each post and write more often are successful supports the idea that people are developing a connection with that writer, even if it is a virtual one.
Providing Less Information Draws In The Reader
Fiction. Some companies are under the impression that sharing limited information will get interested parties to call for more. This can actually have the opposite effect. If the person is a potential customer that wants a better idea of services offered or prices charged, and they can’t get that from a company website, they will turn to a competitor who does share this information before they will make a call to gather the info. This is why it is important to answer the pertinent questions regarding services or prices instead of creating a website that only leaves the visitor hanging.
Three-Quarters Of Users Don’t Go To The Second Page of Search Results
Fact. Here is where SEO writing comes into play in a big way. For most people, they type a term or phrase into the Google search bar and start looking through results. The ones that catch their interest or seem most likely to hold the answer to their query are the ones that get clicked on. If the answer isn’t found on the first page, over 75% of the search engine visitors do not go beyond page one of the search results, no matter how many or few pages there are total. Also, users tend to choose the natural results more than the sponsored results, although this is only by a narrow margin.
Search Drives More Traffic To Sites Than Social Media By 100%
Fiction. It is more than that; it is actually by 300%. Sorry, that one was a bit tricky.
Search is the number one driver for web site traffic. Does that surprise you? According to Search Engine Journal, this is true and is one of many statistics that people don’t expect when it comes to SEO importance to traffic driven to the average website.
Social Media is a method of research and demographic information. However, that does not mean it is also going to be THE answer to creating more traffic for a website. Some people take the information on social media at face value and never track back to the professional website of the business in question.
Search And Email Are The Most Popular Internet Activities
Fact. This explains, obviously, the importance of that spam email you are always battling with and the quality copy to draw readers to the website of a particular business. These areas are the big draw. Therefore, the chance of a potential customer just happening onto your site among the millions on the Internet is slim to none. SEO writers understand this is why we have our jobs and are (hopefully) good at them.
Titles Aren’t Important When It Comes To Search Or Content
Fiction. A blog at Wordstream notes the exact opposite. Taking time and effort to create a clickable title that is informative for the reader goes a long way in making successful, quality copy that reaches the intended audience and keeps them interested.
The title in a news article is meant to gain attention. The title in an online article can lead to further information or new and unexpected data. Use these possibilities for your—the writer’s—benefit. Make the title work for you and for the reader.
The Search Engine Industry Is Estimated To Be Worth $16 Billion
Fact. This industry is money in spades. Understanding the importance of the search engine industry and working to determine the best way to use that to your advantage is a huge step on the way to your own success. Don’t ignore search engines as secondary or unimportant. Recognize them for the impact they have on daily Internet use. In fact, throughout the world each month, there are over 100 billion searches done. That means millions of searches Per Day. Those numbers are nothing to scoff at, if you ask me.
Writing For A Particular Audience Or Researching Keywords Are Time Wasted
Fiction. Both of these are methods to success that are forgotten or delayed in such a way their benefits are lost. The audience should be your first thought when writing anything. They are the ones you are trying to reach, and as such you always need to be thinking of them. Likewise, the audience is looking for a particular phrase or a certain product or service that can be found by searching for a particular keyword or keyword set. If the keyword is not researched to make sure it will have the desired effect, it may fall very short of its intended goals.
For SEO writers, separating fact from fiction may not be vital but it is helpful. Understanding the business is important, and knowing the aspects that are more important than they are portrayed is a big step toward improving your hold in this career field.
Whatever name you call it, this type of marketing is all you need to get noticed online.
Paid search and advertising can only take you so far – you need to keep funneling money into these channels to keep them alive and working. You’re paying for a top spot on Google.
The investment in organic content marketing, on the other hand, is up-front. You put money into content creation and SEO, publish your stuff, promote it, and then sit back. After a few months, with the right attention to quality and optimization, your content starts climbing the SERPs.
That’s the major difference between paid, outbound marketing and organic, inbound marketing: One keeps building momentum as it nurtures leads. The other halts and drops dead the second the dollars and cents do.
Okay, so paid search has its benefits (immediate visibility on Google’s first page), but it only lasts as long as you keep paying.
So what about traditional advertising? Where does that get you?
Well…
Paid Ads and Cold Sells Do Not Nurture the Customer – Holistic Marketing Does
Traditional ads are one-and-done.
They’re the cold sell to end all cold sells.
They appear in front of a target pretty randomly – when they’re driving by a billboard, when they flip to a live TV show, or when they read a magazine at the doctor’s office.
Seeing an ad once is not enough to nurture a connection with a customer. That’s why you’ll see the same ads over and over – the companies want you to remember them, whether you want to or not.
These days, that type of approach feels irrelevant, intrusive, and, mostly, annoying.
Marketing as Holistic Relationship-Building
Of course, the way a holistic marketing strategy works is to draw people to your brand who are likely to buy from you. HubSpot calls this crucial first step the “Attract” stage:
You attract the right people with relevant, high-quality content that’s targeted for your potential leads’ state of mind. The value of the content you provide builds a relationship with your readers, one that stands on a foundation of trust.
Ultimately, that relationship and trust are what lead to a sale.
Newsflash: This Is Not a Novel Concept
This idea isn’t new…
In fact, it’s older than you may think.
Let’s turn back the clock and take a peek at how content marketing blossomed during the early days of advertising.
These old marketing campaigns from household brand names provided value that nurtured relationships with potential customers.
More than that, they may just inspire you anew with your own content ideation and creation.
Turn away from paying out your ears for ads or top SERP spots and follow me to…
5 Old Marketing Campaigns That Demonstrate the Awesomeness of Holistic Inbound Marketing
Before the internet, there was print content marketing. Here are four outstanding examples.
1. John Deere’s News Magazine
John Deere is a tractor and farm equipment manufacturer in the U.S.
The company’s most famous marketing campaign might serve as one of the earliest examples of organic content marketing.
John Deere has been around since 1837, but it wasn’t until 1895 that they launched their farming news magazine, The Furrow.
Volume VI of The Furrow, published in 1901
This publication is a fantastic example of long-form content marketing. It’s still published monthly, in fact, because it is:
Comprehensive
Targeted for John Deere’s customers
Informative/entertaining
A relationship builder between the company and their audience
Authoritative – it puts the emphasis on the company’s clout and know-how in the industry
The 1976 Bicentennial Issue
Today, the magazine still has an audience of about 2 million worldwide subscribers and is printed in 14 languages. Back issues are digitized on the magazine’s website:
Readers and farmers can check out articles that address topics like land conservation, the food system, sustainable farming and best practices, and the importance of plant diversity for crops.
This incredible content marketing initiative is undoubtedly part of the reason why John Deere is still a household name today.
2. American Express’ Travel Guides
American Express is a world-renowned financial services company.
How did it get there? With a little help from its comprehensive and user-focused content marketing through the decades.
When the company opened in 1850, it was initially a courier service in New York state. Then, by 1915, it added traveler’s checks and travel agency services to its roster. (Additional banking services came later.)
When it moved its focus to travel in the early 20th century, American Express decided it wanted to be the travel company of the United States.
How would they do it? With some really great holistic inbound marketing.
The company started publishing travel guides that became go-to resources for any traveler. They were informative, useful, colorful, interesting, and appealed to the average American Express customers – travelers, jet-setters, and professionals.
Here’s an early example of a guide to the French Riviera from 1917:
Check out this guide to Alaska tours from 1931:
And this guide for Americans traveling to Europe, circa 1948:
Later, the company moved from small guides to big publishing ventures. They bought the magazine Camera and Travel in 1968, which they later renamed Travel + Leisure. It went on to become a best-selling magazine.
Today, American Express is one of the biggest companies in the world. Their travel/financial services have grown and expanded to include exclusive airport lounges, travel insurance, business credit cards geared for traveling professionals, and more.
And, their content marketing has moved onto the digital sphere, of course, where they still offer travel guides and tips:
3. Sunkist’s Early “Infographics”
If you want an early example of using infographics in marketing, look to Sunkist, the fruit-grower, and their early ad content.
Sunkist started in 1893 when citrus growers in California banded together to better market their sweet crops. Back then, oranges and lemons were viewed as luxuries that people only ate on holidays or received as Christmas gifts.
By 1908, Sunkist launched their first campaign to make citrus fruits daily necessities in the minds of Americans.
A few of these early ads bear a surprising resemblance to the infographics of today, using a combination of text and imagery to inform or enlighten readers.
In particular, the ad below (“Every-Hour Uses for Good Lemons”) gives us eight practical ways to use lemons, then advises us to “send for a free book containing many others.”
If you took them up on the offer, the company would mail you a mini guide showcasing all kinds of ways to use lemons in everyday life, including cooking, baking, beauty rituals, and cleaning.
(If you’re curious, you can browse through the whole book digitally thanks to Duke Digital Repository. A few of the suggestions include using lemons to clean brass, remove stains on clothing, help cure a cold, and “invigorate the heart and muscles.”)
Here’s another Sunkist ad that resembles a blog post/infographic hybrid. It instructs us how to correctly serve tea with lemon:
Wait… There’s an incorrect way? (Along with the content, Sunkist also displays their headline prowess here.)
The result from Sunkist’s marketing efforts: The orange was the first branded and advertised fruit. Eventually, lemons and oranges became synonymous with the Sunkist name and still are to this day.
4. Fleischmann’s Recipes and How-Tos
If you’re a baker, you may be familiar with Fleischmann’s Yeast in the yellow and red packaging.
Since the 1870s, this company has been producing yeast for home bakers who want consistently fluffy and well-risen bread or baked goods. They even innovated Active Dry Yeast, which can be stored in the cupboard or pantry and activated with warm water, during World War II.
In the early days, Fleischmann’s used holistic content marketing to help their customers bake the best bread possible using their yeast products.
In 1920, they published small recipe booklets with tips, tricks, and methods for delicious homemade bread, called “Fleischmann’s Recipes.”
Similar to Sunkist’s “infographic” ads, Fleischmann’s also used a similar method to promote their “High Vitamin Yeast” in 1939:
Of course, like the other names on this list, Fleischmann’s is a common brand, one you’ll find in most modern bakers’ kitchens.
Meanwhile, their modern content marketing continues a long-standing tradition of providing useful information for their customers and guiding them on their baking journeys:
Holistic Inbound Marketing: A Time-Honored Strategy for Better Leads
Old marketing campaigns are full of inspiration ready for the taking. If you turn back the clock, you can quickly see that it was pretty common.
As it turns out, content marketing isn’t all that modern – lots of big brands were doing it as far back as the late 19th century.
Here’s why it keeps getting reinvigorated throughout the decades, and why it’s having a major renaissance right this second:
Search engines have a simple purpose: to help users find the information they need. Google, known as the king of search with over 60% of the market share, aims to give users the best experience when searching the web. To make this happen, Google is always looking for good website content. Thus, business owners are always looking for good writing services!
Now, it has become even more important to make sure that you have good quality content on your website. Otherwise, you will be penalized by Google.
How Google Rankings Relate to Good Writing Services
Poorly-written and over-optimized content is your ticket to the bottom of the last page of search results, which is essentially equivalent to not having a website at all. Quality writing services can help prevent your site from being banished to obscurity by making sure you have great content that Google’s algorithms and, most importantly, your customers will love.
Why Should You Care About Google Algorithms?
First of all, you may be asking, what in the world is a Google algorithm? Simply put, this is a mathematical formula or steps of instructions that tell the search engine how to sift through millions and millions of web pages to find information that is most relevant to a search query.
Google has several algorithms such as Google’s Farmer/Panda, which was implemented in 2011 to lower the rankings of content farms and overly-optimized sites and to push up sites with better content. Content farms are websites that publish massive amounts of generally low-quality content to get traffic to their site for the purpose of generating quick advertising revenues.
Then, there’s Google’s Penguin algorithm, which was designed to punish websites that engage in web spamming or black hat search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to manipulate the search engine index on purpose. Some of these rogue techniques include keyword stuffing, content duplication and participating in low-quality link exchanges.
All these algorithms will work in your favor if you have fresh and quality content on your site and that’s where good writing services can be of great value to your business. Otherwise, you’ll have no chance to increase your online visibility and Google is keen on making sure of that. That’s why you need to care about their ever-changing algorithms if you are looking to build your online presence.
How Can You Please Google?
You can please Google by not trying so hard to please them, and pleasing your customers instead. Many Internet marketers and website owners have become obsessed about optimizing their content for search engines. While it’s clear from the previous section that Google’s search algorithms are very important, don’t kill yourself figuring them out. Instead, focus on pleasing your customers and giving them information that is relevant to your offering and relevant to their present and future needs.
Remember, Google wants to help their users. Just like your customers, Google is looking for relevant content that is accurate and contains helpful information. The only legitimate way to improve your search engine rankings is to have informative content on your site that will compel new readers and keep existing readers coming back. So, if you constantly deliver content on your site that is useful to your customers, there’s no way Google will not locate your site and rank it high on their natural search results for your prospect customers to find.
Keeping in Line with Google
When it comes to improving your search engine ranking, however, great website content goes beyond good grammar and interesting topics, although these are very important aspects. It’s not just a matter of how much time you have in your hands or whether or not you can write. Making your content search-engine friendly requires the use of certain techniques that must be done according to good website practices or, in other words, Google’s guidelines.
Google has put in place several guidelines that will ensure the search engine will index and rank your website so that it will be ultimately found by your target audience. One of the advantages of hiring writing services is that you’ll have someone who knows and understands these guidelines and all its details and can implement them effectively.
Good writing services with SEO capabilities will know exactly how to optimize a website without overdoing it. For instance, it is important to use the right keywords but there are rules as to how you should use them. Even if you’re not stuffing keywords into an article, there is still a right way of incorporating keywords to ensure readability. In the same way, including links on your web pages have an impact on your ranking too but, again, your site must follow certain rules on linking relationships to avoid being penalized.
Investing in Good Writing Services
As you may understand now, for Google, it’s all about delivering better search results. Hiring good writing services is the easiest and most efficient way to produce high quality content that will translate to better search engine ranking. Publishing quality material on a regular basis gives you a great chance to improve your online visibility.
However, you have to ask yourself, is this something that you can accomplish on your own? If you can delegate the task to someone in your staff, do they have the right knowledge and skill set to do the job effectively? Unless you or your staff has a solid talent for writing, an excellent grasp of SEO techniques and Google’s guidelines, and enough time to develop content on a regular basis, you will need professional writing services.
Having quality content on your site and earning a top spot on Google search results doesn’t just happen. It takes considerable experience and knowledge, along with a real talent in writing, to capture the message of your business and transform it into content that will be relevant to your target audience and compelling enough for them to start a conversation about it, and even share it to others.
By investing in good writing services, a professional writer can easily take your message and ideas and come up with content that is useful, flows naturally and will effectively push your website up Google’s search rankings.
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