If I Write Blog Posts, Do I Need To Be A SEO Writer Too?
So you’ve been writing your blog posts faithfully for a few weeks now. You have a lot of content on your blog, but you’re still not getting any traffic, or having any results. Should you just keep writing? Will the traffic eventually come? Is there something else to concentrate on?
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of improving the volume of traffic delivered to your website or blog from the search engines from naturally placed search results.
Based on that, becoming a SEO writer means that you produce quality content in your blog posts that helps you generate that natural placement.
How do you do that?
1. Write what your readers want to hear.
First of all, write what your readers want to hear, and what they are searching for online. If you are a plumber, they probably don’t want to hear a sales pitch on why they should replace their water heaters. Instead, they are searching because they have a problem. A typical search may be:
What does the pinging noise in my water heater mean?
Or
What’s the most efficient water heater for my home?
Your writing isn’t about you. It’s about what your clients want to hear.
2. Create your subjects around what they search for.
Start with the average question someone uses when they call into your office. If you hear the same question again and again, that’s a great topic for a blog post.
Using that as your starting point, create your title around that idea. Then fill your blog post content with information to support your title.
Too often I see titles such as “testimonial” or “My Company gets a new client”. Have you ever had a prospect find you by looking up “testimonial” in the phone book, or typing “testimonial” into Google? It’s just not going to happen. So you need to think like your customer, and create content based on what your customer thinks.
3. Fill in with keyword and key phrase ideas.
I’ve also heard people say, “I just don’t have anything to talk about in my blog.” How many ways could you talk to a potential client?
Start with your FAQ, or frequently asked questions. What do people want to know about your business? Then find dozens of ways to talk about those questions. Because people will have dozens of ways of asking the same question, only in their own language.
People want understanding and solutions. If you provide them with both, and a person can see himself or herself in your blog post, you’re on track to a new customer.
What Does A Blog Writer Do?
More companies than ever are using a Blog Writer to keep their blogs filled with quality content. But how do you know if a blog writer is right for your business? What can a blog writer do for you?
1.Keep your blog up to date. Have you ever been out to a blog, only to find out it hasn’t been posted to in months? What’s your first reaction? If its like most people, you back out as quickly as possible. If they can’t stay up to date on the content on their blog, who knows how well they are doing at business.
Blogging is the best way to capture attention online. Yet it’s also the easiest way to lower your reputation. You have to stick with it and fill it with quality content. What’s your goal with your blog? Is it to build a persona around one member of the team? Or is it there to fill up with quality content to capture attention in the search engines? Either way, hiring a blog writer can guarantee you results on a regular basis.
2. Answer questions. What do people do when they head to the search engines? Usually it’s to find an answer to a question. A blog writer can provide the answers in your blog, capture attention in the search engines, and have people enter your site because of the answers you provide.
3. Develop a following. Millions of people blog every day. But only a small portion of those are doing it for business. Yes, the business portion is growing as more people learn of the advantages. But if you create a quality blog now, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition, and be developing a following of people from around the world – people that like what you do and will probably buy from you now or at some point in the future.
4. Share facts. Remember, your blog isn’t about selling, it’s about sharing. A blog post is meant to share helpful information around your product, service or industry – not attempting to sell it. If you sell a liquid drain cleaner, a post entitled, “How Do I Unclog a Drain?” or “Why Does My Drain Smell Bad?” will lead them to the conclusion your product can help them accomplish the job. If your product is green, you can incorporate facts that make green cleaners better than more traditional ones. The facts point to your product; your post confirms you are the expert and the one to trust in this field.
5. Build a persona. Different businesses have different personas. An estate lawyer will take on an entirely different persona than a stand up comedian. A bog writer understands this, and works to discover how you want to convey your message to your audience. You are still in control – you still have final say over your content. A blog writer simply gives you the time and freedom to do what you best, while reaping the benefits of having quality content added to your site on a regular basis.
Are You Writing For Your Clients Or Yourself?
We’re all guilty of it. We have so much information to share, we just put it out on our blog without thinking much about how our clients will actually find it.
Blogging is about sharing. It’s a way of giving out information in enough quantity that someone finds value in it, and is willing to take the next step. But as a part of the process of sharing your content, you also have to write it so your clients can find and understand it.
While you may be an expert in your field, have years of education and experience, and know all the lingo, your client doesn’t.
A plastic surgeon may have a desire to create a post on “Rhinoplasty and The Psychological Affects On A Teenager”. But a client would never search or find anything that’s written at that level of sophistication. Instead, she may search for “How old do I have to be before I can have a nose job?”
Start by thinking from your clients’ perspectives. What would they be asking? When they email or call you, what questions do they have for you? That’s a good place to start.
If you are an accountant and people always call asking, “How are you different from your competitors?” you can turn that into a blog post “What Should You Ask Before Hiring An Accountant?” Then fill your post with things you want your client and prospect to know. Things that separate you from your competition.
Social Copywriting – It’s More Than What You Had For Lunch
Every time I head out to speak to a group on social copywriting, or attend a networking function, the same question invariably comes up.
“Why would I want to spend my time telling people what I had for lunch?”
Social media is not about small talk. It’s not about what you’re having for lunch.
Instead it’s all about adding value to the community – with Twitter that happens to be in 140 characters or less, and with other sites, you may have a bit more room for “talking”.
Social copywriting means adding valuable copy to the community in which you are active. It’s about providing quality, not just quantity. In order to add quality, you may:
- Share links to valuable content. Become the online resource for your profession. Don’t link to your content on your blog or website all of the time – find resources all over the web that provide value on your topic.
- Comment on posts created by people you are following. How can you ask them a question, or provide a bit more information? The key is to start a quick online conversation.
- In Twitter, retweet posts your followers would find interesting. Retweeting shows your active in the community, and helps spread valuable resources to other members of the community.
- Provide the occasional link to your current blog post. Keep in mind you need to add more quality content than just your blog posts to build up a following.
When you sit down to write out a post for a social site, start with an idea. What you want to share with your community?
Write it up and start evaluating it. How long is it? How much value does it have? Will your followers find it interesting?
Edit your post as needed to create a dynamic post. While you shouldn’t be spending a ton of time on each post, especially if you are creating a lot of content in a day, you can spend a few seconds evaluating them. Just read them once or twice after you write just to make sure it’s the best it can be.
Then send.
TIP: In Twitter, keep in mind if you create a great post that people want to retweet, it will take several characters to add “RT @YourName”. Try to get your post down to 110-120 characters to leave room for multiple retweets.
