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SEO
Content Development: How to Drive More Traffic to Your Website
In yesterday’s post, The 4 Fundamentals of Making Money Online, we laid out the big picture of how to make money online. The first of these fundamentals was content. Content is what drives traffic to websites. Sites without content don’t get found – even photo sites. The photos have descriptions, which is how you find the picture you’re looking for online. So, words, words, words … they are extremely important to your online business. But, there is a way to write the content so that you get found online. Here I will attempt to walk you through the basics of writing effective content (SEO articles) so that you drive more traffic to your website – which is what SEO is all about. First off, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. There are far better explanations on the web than I can give you here, so do a search for “what is SEO” and do some reading. I suggest this article at SEOmoz.com, a leading SEO company that “… provides companies around the world with consulting, Internet marketing and search engine optimization services.” Why You Must Know about SEO to Make Money Online FYI, the above-referenced article includes a link to a free 30-page ebook about SEO. I’d suggest downloading and reading it. It’s well worth the investment because once you fully understand Search Engine Optimization, you will be able to select the best ways of driving traffic to your site. And, more importantly, discard the ones that are full of crap.
There are tons of
people out there selling crap, especially in the SEO sector. So, take the time
to educate yourself – like a college degree, you’ll never regret it. [An no, I
have no affiliation with this company or its products]
The Basics of
Writing SEO Content in 4 Steps
Take this article
for example, the basics of writing SEO content. So, what words/phrases do you
think web surfers are likely to type in to find this article? Now, comes the tricky part. Everyone searches differently, and the key words you think surfers would type in to find your content may not be what they’re actually using. So, get in the habit of using keyword research tools. When I used Google’s keyword research tool for “SEO Content,” for example, some strong alternatives were web content, website content, seo copywriting, seo marketing, seo placement, seo keywords … and the list went on and on. The key here though is to choose strong, relevant alternatives, and build your article around that. This can be hard when there so many good options. I keep it simple though by using the KISS principle (keep it simple sweetie). Think of a two year old trying to relay a message to you. When they’re hungry, they don’t say, “I’m ready to eat.” They say, “Eat, eat,” or “hungry.” It all comes down to boiling your content down to the basics. Content Writing Tip: Most web surfers use two-word phrases when they search. According to a 2004 report by Onestat.com, “Of all the search phrases worldwide, about 33% of the surfers use 2-word phrases in search engines.” Three-word phrases came in second (almost 26%), followed by one-word phrases (19%), four-word phrases (almost 13%), and five-word phrases (almost 6%). So, when you run your keyword density report, check for the keyword density of your main two keyword combinations. What are Keyword Research Tools? Think of keyword research tools as “electronic synonym generators.” What do I mean? Do you ever use the thesaurus in your word processing program. It generates alternatives for words. This is what keyword research tools are. They generate alternate words/phrases for you. And, they go a few steps further. They tell you, for example, how popular a word/phrase is by showing you things like Search Volume and Advertiser Competition. Search Volume, as described by Google’s keyword search tool is “Statistics showing the relative number of users searching for that keyword on Google. The green bar represents a general low-to-high quantitative guide to help you determine how competitive ad placement is for a particular keyword.” Advertiser Competition as it relates to Google’s keyword search tool is Statistics showing the relative amount of advertisers bidding on that keyword.”
Try Google’s Keyword
Analyzer
here. Two others are
Overture or
Wordtracker. Try them all; you’ll eventually land on your favorite. They’re fun to play around with. Keyword Analyzer Writing Tip: Write articles around the most popular keyword phrases on a topic. You can slant one article/topic two or three different ways, using different, popular keyword phrases. This will make your site not only content rich, but heavily optimized (translate: easy to get found on the web!) 2. KEYWORD DENSITY: Keyword density is simply “The number of times a keyword is used on a webpage divided by the total number of words on the page.” [Source: TheSearchAgency.com] Now that you know how to find the keywords, it’s time to get down to writing the article. Remember, SEO content is repetitive and tightly focused. Many SEO articles are only 300-500 words long, but they can be any length you want them to be (eg, this content). The point is to make sure you repeat the keywords enough so that your content’s density is between 3-5% (recommended by most experts). Keyword density tip: Don’t overuse your keywords, or the text can look like English is a foreign language to you. You know those articles you see on the web that either don’t make sense or use one word/phrase so much that it’s just bad grammar. Well, these articles are more than likely written for the sole purpose of driving traffic to a site. These are bad examples of SEO writing – and should be avoided. Not to mention, the search engines are getting hip to this type of writing, and will penalize your site for it (eg, drop your site from its list of results).
If
you stay within the 3-4 or 5% range, you’ll be doing good. More than this, you
risk being penalized by the search engines; less than this, you risk not getting
found. The report is rather lengthy, but this good because it will allow you to become familiar with how to read them, and then, which categories to focus on (ie, the density of the two-word phrase frequency). 3. CREATE STRUCTURE: As alluded to above, SEO articles should be structured. This means coherent text. As a side point, this is why so many find it hard to write SEO articles. Without taking into account article structure, you can easily churn out SEO articles. BUT, they won’t be good and it’s doubtful you’ll have repeat visitors. Good SEO writers partner SEO tactics and with structured writing norms. Master this, and there’s a wealth of work on the web for you. Blogger Matt Cutts put it best when he wrote: “…the purpose of writing SEO articles is threefold not onefold: provide information, rank high when used on your site and increase link popularity. That means the practice must follow the purpose. … Whether you're writing content for a website, an article or any type of SEO copy, you must think of the reader first.” [Source: Writing Useful Articles That Readers Will Love] 4. KEEP THE END GOAL IN MIND: Finally, the last piece of writing good SEO content is writing with the end goal in mind. Let me explain. Most content on the web is written to sell (I’m talking about those trying ot make money on the web – not personal bloggers, or hobby website owners). The only difference is whether you want that person to buy something now – or later. Each tactic requires different language. When you want a direct immediate sale, you’re gong to use different language than when you’re going for a sale down the line (eg, subscribe to my newsletter). “But,” you may be thinking, “I just want to write an article to drive more traffic to my site.” I counter with, “Drive them to your site to do what?” There is always, always, always an end goal in mind. Figure this out before you sit down to write. In fact, your online buisness should have a business plan, as I discuss in the article, The 3 Most Common Mistakes Freelancers Make (& How to Remedy Them).
For
more on how to write SEO content, check out the following:
eHow.com,
Suite101.com,
WebUpon.com. NEW ISSUE of Inkwell Editorial's Newsletter: The new issue, which came out yesterday, features ghostwriter Amanda Evans. She gives some great info on how to start, how she gets clients, what this niche entails, etc. Subscribe to read this and all previous issues.
Sincerely,
Intro Post:
New Series - Freelance Writer's Technology Month
Previous Issue:
Sue Fagalde Lick,
author of Freelancing
for Newspapers.
Whether you are an experienced or inexperienced freelance writer, this is one
market that eagerly accepts freelancers, as Sue outlines in her book. Copyright Notice: May be reprinted with the following, in full: Yuwanda Black is the publisher of InkwellEditorial.com: THE business portal for and about the editorial and creative industries. Freelance success stories, e-courses, advice on the business of freelancing, and more! Get the e-report, How to Make $100/Day as a Freelance Writer -- free! Log on to http://www.freelancewritingwebsite.com/ for details. ************************************************** Originally posted on 11/8/07 Did you find this information helpful? We strive to bring concise, income-boosting information and opportunities to freelancers to help them maintain self-supporting careers. If you found this info helpful, consider donating. Any amount is appreciated.
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