5 Simple Ways You Can Get Your Target Audience To Read Your Content

You create a masterpiece that you think will undoubtedly be the next social media miracle.  

You post it to your website but, alas, you get nothing in return.  You sit pondering where you’ve gone wrong and how you can fix it, but you don’t want to mar what you consider an obvious masterpiece…

Be Concise: Make Your Content User-Friendly

While we may have been taught to compose in paragraph format, beginning in elementary school, writing for an Internet audience is a whole different craft than doing so for your intimidating English teacher.

In order for your content to garner attention, your important points should be addressed immediately; further, they should be easily identifiable as well as clear & concise.  For Internet audiences, there is generally no need for you to fluff up your composition as this more often than not results in lost or dissatisfied consumers.

How You Can Give Your Content The Best Opportunity To Hit The Social Media Circuit

Many online marketers consistently post content because they read and believe that it’s one of the most effective ways to help increase their rankings for certain keywords.  However, while this notion may hold some truth, the most important factor is to ensure that the content posted is actually read, digested, shared and appreciated by those you’re targeting.  

Here are a few tips to help entice your target audience to read and share your content:

1. Use line breaks: Line breaks enable readers to skim and scan content, to look for points that apply specifically to what they’re seeking.  Shorter paragraphs & shorter sentences will help them to get there faster.
2. Include sub-heads: Sub-heads can go a long way in regard to directing web users where they want to focus their attention.  If you create catchy, compelling and concise sub-heads throughout your content, then you’ll be effectively demonstrating the organization of your copy and your main messages.
3. Don’t be afraid of bulleted & numbered lists: Simply put, most people do not have more than a minute or two to spare to read through something.  If your content or even email, for that matter, is only in paragraph format, then it likely won’t get read. The human eye is attracted to lists; they’re easier to scan & digest and they exude importance as they clearly delineate primary points.
4. Leverage the power of formatting: While your main goal is to easily and effectively convey your message, leverage the use of bolding and italicizing where necessary.  These are additional formatting techniques that you can employ to ensure that the meat & potatoes of your post are highlighted.
5. Links, links, links: Consider the use of both internal and external links.  Including internal links to relevant pages on your site will further demonstrate your concern for the consumer, while embedding external links to high quality content affords you the opportunity of showing respect to experts in your industry/field.  Additionally, this tactic reveals your own research methods to both consumers & competitors, which can function to increase your own credibility within the industry.

Have you been fortunate enough to receive comments on your postings, shares on Facebook or Tweets?  If so, what have you found to be the most effective tactics in terms of showcasing your content?

Can you afford to miss the boat?

Picture this...you are 3-6 months into an online marketing campaign and you are starting to rank for your keywords, but for some reason, the phones are not ringing and the lead form is not being filled out. You decide to keep going because you are already committed, but still nothing earth shattering seems to be happening.  That’s when it hits you: you do some digging and realize that you missed the boat on a bunch of keywords that command a higher search volume. Any successful online campaign needs to start with the right blueprint; otherwise you run the risk of wasting time & energy that you can’t get back. While there are many factors that combine to create a successful SEO campaign, thorough keyword research ranks highly on the list.

Here are a few quick tips to help you ensure that you’re utilizing proper keyword research tactics:

Be realistic & logical: Vying for prominent search engine placement and positioning with general/broad keywords &phrases in an already saturated marketplace can be an uphill battle.  For example, if you operate an eCommerce site that focuses on selling area rugs, then naturally, your goal would be to rank highly for the phrase “rugs” or “area rugs”.  Individuals searching these terms are likely just beginning the purchasing process for the respective items.  However, if you leverage the data from your analytics to see which terms are actually driving the most traffic to your site, then you’ll likely find longer-tail, or more specific, terms are your highest converting keywords.  If your site is effectively organized, then you will probably have several primary categories showcasing your selection and designated by these more specific terms (i.e. ‘shag rugs’ or ‘kids rugs’).  This is why your conversion rate for such terms may be higher than the broader phrases you’re optimizing for.  Focusing your efforts on terms that are viewed as less competitive can help you to gain an edge in your industry.  In August 2011, almost one in five search queries in the US consisted of five or more words (figure 1.1) according to data by Experian Hitwise . One and two word queries are still the most common but the increase in long tail searches validates the importance of these keywords in a campaign.

 

Target the proper version of a keyword or phrase: Of course, search volume is an important element to consider as you initiate your optimization efforts.  After all, why optimize for a term that generates little to no traffic or that will result in no value for you or your business?  One issue that many marketers fall victim to, especially eCommerce businesses, is optimizing for the plural version of a word/phrase versus the singular version.  In most cases, you’ll find that the singular version of a word generates a higher search volume than the plural version; in order to see statistics, you can use a tool like Google Trends. Again, though, be sure to review your analytics to help you determine which version of a keyword is actually driving traffic to your site, and then use this data to help you achieve higher click through and conversion rates. 

Ensure that your target keywords are relevant to your site’s offerings: To a search engine, the explicit meaning of a keyword can be ambiguous.  It’s important to conduct your own Google searches of keywords that you want to optimize for to ensure that they’re contextually relevant to your business and to your site’s offerings.  Time, and effort, is of the essence when it comes to SEO so be sure that you’re spending time optimizing your site and your content for keywords that show the most promise for increasing conversion rates. 

While these are just a few quick tips, they should prove to be quite helpful as you design your SEO campaign. What other tactics have you employed to ensure that your keyword research efforts are as focused and fruitful as they can be?

Do You Have What It Takes To Write Optimized Content?

Producing content is an integral part of today’s online marketing efforts; however, writing optimized content is an art that takes time to perfect.  Creating captivating copy that meets the needs of both humans and machines can certainly be done, but it is undoubtedly a craft that requires constant care and cultivation.  

It can be equated to putting together a puzzle.  While you may have all of the tools, or pieces, that you need, it’s imperative that you take the time to analyze and digest how they fit together so that your result is exactly as it should be.

Here are a few quick tips to help you get on track for writing search engine optimized content:

1. Know & understand your target audience.  If you don’t know who your audience is or what they’re looking for, then you can’t operate an effective content strategy. Understanding the psyche of your consumers is paramount to producing and providing valuable, optimized content.
2. Ensure that you’re writing for your target audience.  Sure, optimizing pieces of content for your target keywords is a part of successful SEO; however, write an honest & informative piece and you’ll see that you can naturally and relevantly incorporate your specified phrases.
3. Perform extensive keyword research. Free tools like Google Analytics can help you to see which search terms are driving traffic to your site as well as which terms visitors are searching in order to arrive to your site.  Once you can analyze this data, then you can section your website and produce your content as relevantly as possible.
4. Use keywords as optimally as possible. While relevantly incorporating your keywords into content displayed on your site is a given, it’s as important to target these phrases in your Meta data and header tags so that you can properly inform the search engines of the goals of each page.
5. Outline your content before jumbling together incoherent thoughts & phrases that simply include your target keywords.  It’s critical that the content you share with your users and with search engine spiders is clear and cohesive.  If neither can decipher what your goals or messages are, then how well do you think the piece is going to rank?
6. Make sure that your content is presented in an easy-to-read format. In order to keep potential consumers returning to your site, make your content as easily readable as possible.  Formatting tactics like bullet points, numbered lists and shorter paragraphs help to not only convey your messages more concisely & easily, but also to retain readership for longer periods of time.
7. Edit your content.  Don’t simply regurgitate facts that you’ve found from around the web. Elaborate on existing thoughts and provide a fresh perspective so that your content attracts potential links from other sites. Always ensure that your content is grammatically and factually accurate so that you can maintain and increase your credibility in the marketplace.

What types of tactics have you found to be most helpful in your pursuit to provide consumers with useful optimized content?

A Gentle Giant or A Force To Be Reckoned With?

Ever since Google released its Panda update, we’ve kept you informed of the “hows” and “whys”. It is our mission as a content creation service to ensure that you not only understand why yours or your clients site may have been penalized, but also to show you how you can keep your site safely moving forward.  Although this resounding message from Google has loudly and clearly reverberated throughout the Internet marketplace, not all of those affected have taken the steps necessary to repair their reputations and rankings.

If your idea of generating leads, converting sales and branding your business stems from designing and deploying a cookie-cutter website as swiftly as possible, then think again.  While you may be able to out-smart your competitors, remember that you’ll likely never have the upper-hand when it comes to deceiving Google.  And that strong hand of Google can wipe out your identity almost as quickly as it appeared.

Don’t fall any further behind the pack; here are 5 tips on how to beat Panda:

1. Use Original Templates: Many businesses opt to use boilerplate templates; especially if they’re trying to launch a website or virtual storefront as quickly as possible. While using boilerplate templates in and of itself may not be detrimental, failing to load these pages with original content is a sure-fire sign of code duplication in the eyes of Google.  Make sure to differentiate your pages and to make sure that they’re valuable to your visitors; if you fail to meet these criteria, then you may not only be providing a disservice to your customers, but you may also be sabotaging your own business.
2. Use Each Site Page To Your Advantage: While the number of pages on your site can prove to be an influential factor in search engine visits, ensure that the pages you do have feature quality content throughout.  Many sites will host pages that feature only links to other pages within the site. Without posting verifiably quality content on such pages, you run the risk of being viewed as a spam site by Google.
3. File Articles with Similar Topics on the Same Page: Many companies and self-proclaimed SEOs follow the practice of producing a different article/page on their site for slightly modified keyword phrases.  For example, if one of your primary keyword targets is “soccer ball”, then you don’t necessarily need separate pages for all similar terms; i.e. “black soccer ball”, “white soccer ball”, etc.  Google views the creation of multiple pages that pertain to similar terms as spam and may instantly sandbox your site for using such tactics.  Instead, generate a strong, relevant and qualified page that highlights a primary keyword target and several long-tail variations in a natural and logical manner.
4. Avoid Overt Advertising Efforts: While advertising on your site isn’t necessarily forbidden, doing so in abundance can certainly compromise your credibility.  The primary goal of your site should be to deliver quality content; sure, optimizing for search engines is a necessity to compete, but it’s equally, if not more, important to produce content that your consumers are seeking. Littering your site with ads may not only push consumers away, but it may also leave you starting at square one when it comes to getting “in” with Google.
5. Original Content is STILL King: As far as Google is concerned, if you can continue to produce unique, quality content on a frequent basis, then you’ll most likely find your site rising in the rankings over time.  Taking an honest, original and useful approach toward content can only benefit your business.  In doing so, you’re demonstrating the following: your commitment to enhancing the user-experience, your value to your consumers, your credibility to Google and an ethical approach to your business goals.

What have you found to be particularly helpful in terms of optimization efforts in regard to the Panda update?