When you create content, you don’t just follow guidelines without telling decent stories. If you do that, you might as well get a robot to write for you! Although you represent a brand or institution, you still have to give it a human touch! You’ve got to get more people to read your content. So, Content Marketing Specialists have to prioritize creating content for them. Digital Marketing Copywriting is more than just writing a few paragraphs for one topic or other. Thus, you need to know some strategies for Content Creation.
SEO-friendly Content Creation: Why is it so important?
Creating SEO-friendly content isn’t as easy as typing out strings of letters and words. Attracting readers means having excellent content that calls people to action. Not only that, but you also have to incorporate SEO tactics so that the search engines can index your content. However, doing this requires a balancing act. Therefore, your main Content Creation Tactic is striking a balance between writing engaging content that shows the human element of your business and optimizing for search engines.
Some helpful Content Creation strategies
1. Don’t just have keywords — have well-researched keywords.
Keywords can help your SEO efforts, but most times, people only choose basic or unresearched keywords. Content Creation strategies will include Keyword strategies too! So, you need to find things like:
- Target keywords for optimizing pages;
- Keyword trends of the day; and
- Keyword search volume.
Find the above, and you’ll be able to map out an effective Content Creation strategy that can boost your Digital Marketing efforts!
2. Have a list of related keywords.
To achieve SEO, you need to ensure that you have keywords that support your main ones. Furthermore, if you weave your chosen and related keywords together, they can strengthen your Content Marketing tactics. So, related keywords support both search engine users’ efforts and your Digital Marketing efforts!
3. Optimize title tags!
Also, you have to ensure that your main keyword is right at the very beginning. Then, keep the title tag to 60 characters or less! Additionally, it’s essential to make title tags engaging enough to draw in audiences. You can do this by:
- Making people curious;
- Explaining something, such as your brand;
- Establishing your brand’s credibility; or
- Engaging the reader.
(An extra Content Creation tip: incorporating brackets or parentheses boost Click-Through Rates!)
4. Don’t forget about searchers’ intent!
Search intent “looks at the ‘why’ behind a user’s search.” This so-called ‘why’ falls into one of three camps:
- Transactional: wants products or services.
- Informational: wants to learn.
- Navigational: wants locations or sites.
So before you write the content, figure out the intent you’re playing to and the aim of the copy. If you can hone in on what the people want, you can tailor the copy better to lure them in.
5. Get on the content proper, ft. keywords for SEO.
Compared to title tags, creating content affords more breathing room. So keywords are sort of like touchpoints that you have to thread through. The title is either a summary or a lead into the copy. Thus, it’s crucial to keep the keywords and objectives of your content in mind while writing! Remember to sprinkle in keywords while focusing on the copy’s message.
6. Don’t stop writing!
There are plenty of practices to help you become better at writing. One of those is: just write. Even if you don’t have any ideas, write. The ideas can come to you later. If you need the concepts now, then here are a few more pro tips:
- Try rewriting the title to be as long as a paragraph.
- Create sentences using your keywords.
- Craft a list of ideas you want to express.
7. Work on your meta description.
Once you’ve got the keywords and search intent, you can start on the meta description. Generally, the meta description isn’t that long. However, since you have a limited number of characters, you need to make them count. Therefore, keywords are crucial for filling in the meta description and further explaining the copy!
8. Structure and optimize the page layout.
It’s not enough to have SEO-friendly copy, but it also has to be well-structured. It’s not just about having the content split into paragraphs that don’t hurt the eyes (and your will to read)! You also need to have headings to help readers navigate the copy. So, it’s best to optimize all elements of the page with the help of your keywords, such as:
- Your URL’s structure;
- The title tag;
- All subheadings and header tags (ex. H2 and H3); and
- Descriptive alt text, titles, etc.
9. Internal linking counts for a lot!
Link Building helps string together your internal pages and helps readers find your content, thus building goodwill. However, you can’t discount external links, as they’re also crucial! If you have only internal links on your page, that just makes it an echo chamber. Having all external links won’t help your domains, either! Having natural internal and external links goes a long way.
Reel in your audience with fantastic copy!
Writing is easy, you might think. Just put one letter in front of the other until you create a whole string of words! Well, it’s not as easy as that. To bring in readers, one should write content that ignites action. Plus, one has to create SEO-friendly copy! Thus, creating well-written SEO-friendly content involves catering to consumer intent, the right keywords, and SEO tactics.