Once upon a time, website and blog owners created content because it was the “in” thing to do.
SEO experts became SEO content writers. They told business owners that content marketing was the way to hit high up in Google, and you could do that by writing short little articles that used the keyword over and over again.
It worked. For a while.
But of course, Google eventually caught on. And in their quest to give the best user experience possible, they started knocking that type of content out of its rankings.
It’s a game SEO strategists play. What can they do to get their clients in number one position? And they start all over again when Google changes focus.
Does SEO still work?
I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that Google is top of the search engine providers. With just over 90 percent market share, there is little any other company can do to compete. It’s a “do what they do” approach at best.
As a marketer, if your goal is to gain clients through Google, you have to play by their rules. Google receives over 63,000 searches every second of the day. And on average, every single person will conduct 3 or 4 searches per day. Per day!
If you want to come up in those search engine results, you have to play the game. The SEO game. But even that is changing.
Google’s goal is to provide the best results possible for its searchers. To do that, it refines the search algorithms all the time. And lately, part of their strategy even means holding people right there in the rankings rather than releasing them to other sites.
Have you ever asked a question and had the answer pop up as the top result? No clicking; you can read right there.
Or maybe you’re in the market for a new appliance – a toaster. With a quick search, up pops the results. You can see pictures, see pricing, even look at ratings to start narrowing down your decision – without leaving Google.
Yes, once again, Google is changing the way the world searches. And it will only continue to change, thanks to our move as a society to mobile.
So, how do you maximize what you do and get into the search results?
How do you write SEO content?
There’s a difference between someone who writes content and someone who is an SEO content writer.
Have you ever visited a website, and their blog posts are titled something like this:
What I Did Today
Celebrating Spring
I Just Got Back From a Convention in Vegas
How is that going to help them capture any Google attention – especially when their business is plumbing?
Or maybe they try a little harder. They’ve written a few blog posts that have a little more to do with the industry. They add a couple of paragraphs to each, and talk about things a little more important to their potential client base:
How To Stay Warm This Winter
Where’s Your Water Going?
Help, I Hate Cold Water
Yep, those are better. But once you move to each individual post, how well do they sit according to Google?
They have a couple hundred words of content talking about the problem. The photo they’ve used hasn’t been meta-tagged properly. (Or they have no graphics at all.)
This is the half-try space. It may have worked in the past. They may even have a writer creating some of their content.
But they haven’t stayed up with Google. And they’re no longer creating the content Google wants.
How do I create good SEO content?
Here’s where SEO content writers excel.
An SEO content writer doesn’t just write, she keeps up with the latest technological rules, and understands how Google is changing. She watches what Google is looking for with search, and she makes changes to how she approaches each piece of content she writes.
The first step in and SEO process is to nail down what keywords are good for your target market. Keywords and key phrases are needed to describe the topic and to reach out to searchers and help them get where they’re going.
Finding keywords isn’t difficult. There are all kinds of tools online that can help you discover keywords for your industry. Login to your Google account – the AdWords function has one of the best keyword tools to start with.
But even this is changing. Think about how you search when you’re sitting at a desk. You type out on your keyboard a few words or even phrases.
From above, if you’re looking for a new toaster, the search “best toasters 2019” is a probably something you’d type in.
Now pick up your phone. Or better yet, give your digital personal assistant a go at finding what you want. You might say out loud something like:
Hey Siri, what toaster should I buy? Or
Hey Alexa, what’s the best toaster?
Keywords are changing because our approach to search is changing. If you want to become an SEO content writer, you have to understand those nuances, and put it all into play correctly.
Why have a content strategy?
You can’t have great content if you don’t have a plan in play. The way you create great content is if you understand its purpose. What are you trying to do with each post? What are you trying to do with your website?
Do you want to sell a product or service?
Do you want to get names onto a list?
Are you trying for brand awareness?
Are you attracting past customers as well as prospects?
How are you converting visitors into something more?
All of this takes clearly defined goals. And until you do that, you’ll never understand the best way to create content that will get results.
In essence, there are three levels of content, and each needs to be developed with specific ideas in mind.
Awareness – this is where you first make a connection with a prospect. This is where you’re introducing them to your product, service, and to who you are as a company.
Evaluation – this is where they consider doing business with you. They dive deeper, they learn more. This is where you open up and provide them with whatever they need to know.
Purchase – this is the finalization of the process. This is how they pay you, how they sign up, how they are treated throughout the process.
However, this isn’t the end of your connection with a customer. Instead, it’s only the beginning – if you do it right. An SEO content writer can keep creating more content – the right content – for your business to keep this process going.
Even after a purchase, a customer might remain a prospect. You can keep bringing awareness to them about other products and services, or how they can refer you to their friends.
As long as you’re in business, your goal should be to tighten up your marketing process. And if you use the right SEO content writer, your collateral can be multi purposed.
Why not bump up how your online presence is working today. Why not give me a call – and make all of your future content something that works – and you’re proud to display.