writing for humans - Express Writers

Optimizing Web Copy (with Keywords): Why You Should Never Sacrifice Content Quality

November 29, 2022November 29, 2022 by Nicole Inge

When creating online content, optimizing web copy with keywords is an essential piece of the puzzle. But the question is, should that be your primary focus as a content creator? Although optimizing your content is essential for generating more website traffic, it’s also crucial that you’re getting that traffic to convert. When traffic converts, you know your content is doing the work to get people interested in your business and can make them customers. It can be easy to laser focus on weaving keywords into your copy, but that can distract from giving your readers a useful experience. That’s why it’s time to make creating quality content for your existing human reader your primary mission and use optimization as a secondary asset to attract more traffic. Prioritize Solutions Over Keywords With the Google Helpful Content Update’s launch, the tech giant encourages creators to focus on creating people-first content. This means offering your readers a satisfying experience while creating content that meets their expectations. Do this, and you stand a better chance of ranking high in the SERPs. Don’t do this, and you’ll find your content will generate less organic traffic. Creating and consistently posting content that offers solutions to your audience’s biggest pain points will allow you to achieve the pinnacle of helpful content. Even without Google’s update, you should craft content that positions you as knowledgeable and passionate. But since they encourage creators to write content that leaves the reader feeling like they’ve learned enough about a particular topic to achieve their goals, you might as well utilize this in search engines. Then you can be authoritative on a subject and market yourself in the SERPs. So, where does keyword optimization come into play? Can I still optimize web copy with keywords? Google suggests writing to your human reader first, then directing your attention to SEO best practices for keywords. You avoid the typical lackluster, robotic, and unsatisfying content that comes from focusing only on search engines – which won’t bring in the conversions you need anyway. 7 Ways to Create Quality Content for Your Reader Now that you know your human reader should always be your primary focus, how can you create quality content people enjoy reading and sharing with others? There are several things you can do to get started: 1. Focus on Their Unique Needs Your readers search for content that addresses their unique problems. That’s why you should get to know your target audience because then you can identify the topics that will offer answers for them. And connecting on this deeper level reveals more about their interests and pain points — you humanize your business and build trust with the people you want to reach. Once you know more about your readers, you can start doing research to determine what they search for on Google. A way to do this is by checking Google Analytics to see which search terms land people on your website. After finding those, take the successful topics from your site and reflect them on social media for further optimization. You can also use your content across multiple channels, saving time and effort. Take things to the next level by studying your competitors. See what topics they use for their content to see what’s generating interest from their audience. Use it as inspiration, then dig deeper into the topic and put your own spin on the information. 2. Write Captivating Content That’s Easy to Read All of your site content should be well-written and easy to consume. If it isn’t, your ideal reader could disappear from your pages. An easy way to start incorporating steps that will make your content captivating? Write a catchy, attention-grabbing headline. Headlines should be short and sweet and communicate the point of your article. Make sure this headline is relevant and avoid clickbait-y titles that can turn readers off. From there, write an introduction that will set the overall tone for the article and leave your audience wanting more. In your introduction, highlight the problem you’re addressing so readers know what to expect. Sharing statistics or fun facts is one way to increase interest here. But make sure your stats are well-researched. You may opt to introduce your article with a fascinating story instead. Experiment and see what fits your style and audience’s attention span the best. Make sure the body of your article is easy to read by checking for flow in the editing process. Formatting is another big step. Keep the post simple to follow through subheaders that break the blog post into sections. Additionally, numbered and bulleted lists help with readability because your audience can get the gist of a section without much effort. Basically, avoid big blocks of text that are visually hard to absorb and keep the blog dynamic. 3. Add Visual Interest Visuals are another powerful way to up-level your blog posts. By adding images to your blog posts, you appeal to those readers who are visual learners. By incorporating images, you can help them understand complex topics through customized infographics and other images. Additionally, stock photos are helpful because they help you break up text and include humans to help make connections. Source: NCN Technology Whenever possible, you can also consider adding videos to your blog posts. Videos can expand on the topic at hand and provide additional information for your reader to consume. And by sourcing images and videos to complement your posts, your readers will sew how much time goes into the incredible content you produce. 4. Create an Emotional Connection with Your Reader Content that evokes an emotional response and builds connection is memorable. It’s a great feeling when your content sticks in a reader’s mind. You can create these emotional connections in a number of ways. For one, you can opt to tell engaging and relatable personal stories. Think about the reasons and feelings that would bring someone to your content, then comment on those and offer empathy. Additionally, consider how you write. Your writing … Read more

Why You Shouldn’t Make Your Copywriting About You

December 31, 2020October 18, 2013 by Adam Oakley

A successful website is one with compelling content. It showcases the brand, adds personality, and makes the reader want to stay on the site and see more. Most businesses use content as a way to fluff their own ego and talk about their products and services with buzz words in a way that brags to the world why’re they’re the best. Naturally you want to be the best, but when it comes to copywriting it’s not about you — it’s about the reader. My Copywriting Is ALL About Me! No. Copywriting services can take content about your company, products and/or services and spin them in a way that is about the reader, even though it’s really about your company. This effective method is what drives conversion rates and makes customers stay on your site. After all, why would they stay on a site that doesn’t benefit them? So how does a copywriting service turn your content into something that isn’t about your company? By answering three important questions: What problem do you solve? Why should the reader pick your solution over competitor solutions? Does the content really solve the problem? These questions are crucial to conversion rates and it takes skill to answer them. It requires your content to interact with the world, understand what the consumer’s issues are and offer a solution that they cannot pass up. Creativity is important. You need to captivate your readers and inform them while entertaining them in the same piece of content. Copywriters are skilled at being sociable and informative. They get to know your products from an outsider’s perspective and write to the customer about you, while making the customer feel as though it’s all about him. What’s the Problem? How Do You Solve It? Your company solves something — if it didn’t, you wouldn’t have a company. Before you can sell your product or service, you need to decide what problem you’re solving. Do you offer financial advice for struggling consumers? Are you a fitness guru helping people lose weight? Define the problem and solution based on your company and the products/services you offer first. A copywriting service can take the “problem” and help connect to readers who are suffering from that problem. They write content that is geared toward your ideal customer and make the reader feel as though you “get it.” Then, the copywriter packs in the solution — all bundled up pretty and ready to buy. This solution comes at the perfect time within the content — usually after the writer has developed a rapport with the reader. By the time the reader sees the solution, they’re already amped and ready to purchase. How Do You Solve It Better? Just because your company has a solution doesn’t mean the customer will think your solution is the better one. It is up to your content to sell the customer on your solution and a copywriting service can help with that. Copywriters can highlight how your products benefit the customer and how it improves the customer’s life. Instead of telling the customer a long list of features, copywriters can spin the features of your products and answer the customer’s question of “Will this help me?” Does Your Content Really Solve the Problem? Just because you have a problem and a solution doesn’t mean your content conveys that to the reader. Readers need to walk away from your content thinking that your solution is for-sure and will solve their particular issues. Copywriting services identify what your readers are struggling with and provide empathy, support and write content that makes the reader truly believe your solution is the only solution out there. A Balance Between You and the Customer Copywriting services can strike an equal balance between talking about you and talking about the customer. Copywriters do this by giving insight into the company, so that readers have a sense about who is behind the products or services they’re buying. But, copywriters don’t write about you directly, because you don’t solve the problem — your product or service does. Copywriting services can also help build your authority and reputation with the readers. They can integrate your expertise and help build trust with customers, but in a way that benefits the customer — not your ego. Don’t Forget the Search Engines! While it’s all about the customer when it comes to your “solution,” your website must also be about the search engines. It is hard to find a balance between content and SEO, but search engines do consider a website’s content when ranking a page (see more about how search engines rank on Search Engine Watch). According to Search Engine Land’s “Local Consumer Review Survey,” only 15% of consumers don’t use the Internet to find potential products, services or business. That means potential customers see your website first, before they contact you or visit you in person. You’ll need SEO to attract the search engines and get traffic, but from there you need high-quality content to keep the customer on your site and interested in what you have to offer. Copywriting services can help you do both by integrating targeted keywords into your content, but still marketing the benefits of your services to human readers. If you want more traffic or higher conversions, copywriting services is a valuable investment that can do just that. Copywriters know how to make content about the target customer — making them crave your products/services. And, copywriters know how to attract search engines so that you can take advantage of the potential 85% of customers out there trying to find a solution just like yours for their current problem.