A Complete Strategy to Write Valuable Content
Every online presence has as a main purpose to be visited by an increased number of visitors or clients. The most important traffic source is represented by the search engines; there is a huge difference, in terms of potential surfers, between a position on the first page and a position on the second page. It is more than obvious that a product, a company or a website that is situated on a top position when someone performs a search is more reliable and fits better to your requirements.
The great players of the World Wide Web have noticed this fact and they have started the fight for a better position when it comes to search engine results. The invaluable tool that helps any “warrior” in this cold war is SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization.
SEO is a set of measures that could (but nobody can guarantee it) bring your website to a higher ranking; the most interesting thing about search engines is that their algorithm of ranking pages is in a perpetual improvement process. As a result of this process, nobody can say that his/her website is optimized and the whole process is over; you could be first today, on the first page and tomorrow, be on the tenth page because you have done something that was right at the moment, but at the present time it’s spam for all crawlers.
Crawlers are search engine instruments that are sent to verify any new online presence that has to be ranked. The way you, as SEO specialist, make them “happy” is proportional with your success of achieving better ranking. The SEO process is divided according to the activity of each participant in the creation of a website: the designer should try to meet high standards which make the future project friendlier for search engines spies, the developer should write a clean code that can be easily understood, but a great role is played by the content writer. It seems that the entire family of spies, crawlers and robots is very happy when it finds fresh and relevant content.
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A Complete Strategy for Writing Valuable Content
Nowadays any content writer has as a number one priority the writing of texts that are search engine friendly, this being a necessary step in achieving higher ranking. It is logical why blogs are increasing in number and importance; any company that wants higher ranking launches blogs in order to present any news about them or their field of the activity, but at the same time it ensures that the website is liked by crawlers. The search engine algorithms play a major role for the content writer; the big question is how to handle this situation. Here you will find presented a complete strategy for writing a good content that works in the present, but honestly I (and nobody, maybe except the Google heads) can’t say that after few months or years these will be still valuable.
1. It’s Great to be a Content Writer Who Knows SEO Techniques Perfectly, But Doesn’t Write for SEO.
Any content writer should start his work with the idea that quality content is good for both search engines and users. As I said, the algorithms for calculating the position of a website are very complex and some of the factors that are contributing to it are unknown; this is the reason why the status of SEO is uncertain – a little science, a little art and much time spent on research. In spite of the fact that the crawlers, spiders or robots are very clever, in the great majority of cases they perfectly delimitate good and poor quality; I don’t know how, but they do it.
Provided you approve this statement, all the work of a content writer is simplified: you should try to write at the highest standards, keeping both clients and search engines happy. Always and everywhere, the power of example is great: let’s take titles. Any potential reader of your content is interested in some information and surely he/she wants to find it quickly with the lowest possible effort. A relevant title or subtitle will let him/her know what the text below is all about and, if he/she is interested, that person will start reading it. Pretty normal, isn’t it? Here is what I like the most: all spiders enjoy content that has relevant titles and subtitles, moreover they read the content as the human being, from the beginning to the final point. It really doesn’t matter how such a spy is created, but I compare them to being the most exigent readers of my works. So the conclusion is: write the content for people and let crawlers judge you; if people like you, surely they will act the same.
2. Understand Perfectly the Expectations of the Public Target
Not even Shakespeare could have written high-quality content if he didn’t know the expectations of his readers. Before starting to write, it’s a must to know as much as possible about the final purpose of the content; the style adopted when somebody writes a piece for a website that presents the problem of the children in Africa is very different from the one created to present the latest hits of the best DJ’s in the world. A strong challenge is when the client requires a bilingual website: first of all, it is more difficult to optimize, and second, problems can always appear when it comes to the translation. Today, information is delivered with the speed of the light and this is a great advantage for those who provide only the best solutions and services. This makes everything simpler: it is sufficient to provide good content, and this means that the clients and people who benefit from your services are happy with it, that somebody notices you and maybe he will hire you with a payment better system. I must repeat but it is too important not to emphasize this necessary condition: to be successful in writing good content, the first real step is to speak the same language as the readers, or else everything can go badly for both you and the readers.
3. Read a Hundred Contents Before Writing One
Writing only quality content, suitable for readers, is the appanage of the best in this niche, but no one is perfect and it takes a strong will and hard work to succeed. Being experienced is a colossal advantage and, usually, a content writer spends a lot of time reading the contents of the competitor’s websites to determine the strong and weak points. This fact is mandatory: only by studying his/her “enemies”, a writer can create an original text, but at the same time this step is needed to understand the particularities of the domain.
The advantage of an experienced person is that he is able to skip this step and the time saved can be used to create a more original or/and more useful content. Maybe a hundred websites is an exaggeration, but surely it can’t be a negative influence to do this.
4. Don’t Write for You!
Any writer tries to express his/her thoughts and feelings with the special purpose to impress the readers. The way a writer creates content has many common elements but there are also several differences to take into consideration.
The most important advice to keep in mind is that writing the text of a website is not a way to prove your talent; it is written to give users what they want, meaning the proper information. Another vital fact that should be known by any writer is that visitors rarely read, they just scan. Everything around us is happening faster and faster and it is obvious that nobody wants to spend his time reading something that is useless. This is the reason of why people scan and not read and the key of success is putting what is required (and not what is the best) in the most evident place. Be clear, concise and sometimes commercial!
5. A Clear and Clean Structure is Appreciated by Both Readers and Crawlers
The best method of keeping all the participants in your business happy is creating a very clean, nice and usable structure of the website and, as content writer, to create a well elaborated text. You, as the writer, have a simpler task if you arrange the content in a clear structure (the research task is easier and it helps very much with the scheduling of the entire writing process) and the reader is pleased that everything is at his hand and all the information is in the proper place.
The interesting thing is that spiders like the cleanliness and a well delimited structure! To be more appreciated by the search engines it is highly recommended to respect some rules regarding the content structure:
- titles should be very concise and should reflect the text of the paragraph;
- the subtitles should also be relevant with the text, as crawlers really hate to read a title that doesn’t fit to the message of the content;
- use hyperlinks or quotation marks normally, without creating a super ambiguous network of links to gain a higher rank;
- never use incorrect SEO methods (writing hyperlinks, keywords or simply words that have the same color as the one of the background), it is only a matter of time before you are discovered by spiders and all your work to that moment could be in vain.
6. Use the Services of Social Media
The fastest growing entity in the online medium, social media, can bring anyone great chances, chances that one wouldn’t have hoped for. The power of social media consists of the speed of spreading information; take this example: someone who has a lot of followers on Twitter can retweet your post and, due to this, it is possible to have more visitors. At the same time having good ranking on Reddit or Digg ensures you a higher attention and it has the potential of turning into a better traffic. Another revolutionary fact about social media is that a website can obtain good traffic without great SEO politics (organic or not). It could be only a hidden project or false news (if someone knows better, please let me know the truth) but in the future the algorithms of search engines could take into account the distribution of a website in social networks in the overall ranking of a website.
7. Pay Attention to Keywords Density, but Don’t Alter the Message
Content created only with the purpose of helping the website to occupy a higher position in the search engines is totally malefic; sooner or later the spiders will determine it. Usually, in a text there are some words that are very important, these revolve around the subject, having a specific number of repetitions in the entire amount of the words used. The spiders take this circumstance into account and place in the top positions the websites in question, when somebody searches for a certain word. This is very well, but to occupy a higher place among the search results, some SEO consultants and writers purely abuse and create texts that are only a repetition of some words; the quality of such a website is doubtful. From this point of view, it is recommended to respect the specific keyword density, but don’t overuse it.
8. Fresh Content is Food for Crawlers
It is almost impossible or unfair for the content writers to perform a high quality job and in few weeks be asked for another job, only for the sake of SEO consultant(s). Unfortunately the job of content providers isn’t quite appreciated by the spiders because they get bored quickly, but there could be a great advantage: the job of writing only one website content may be changed to a long term relationship and this means a higher amount of money for the service provider. Between writing website contents and writing blogger posts there is a huge difference, but due to this fact a serious writing freelancer must be able to do both of these tasks, which are different, but also have many common elements. As I previously said, a blog is of real help in the process of getting a good position on search engines.
On the other hand, changing the content frequently or bringing new posts periodically represents good basic material for the specialist that should make the website friendlier for the search engines. Mostly, changing the keywords could be the equivalent of a higher position so, for a better result, it is better to maintain a strong relationship between the content writer and the SEO specialist.
9. Try to be Original, But Respect the Rules of Good Writing
The author of the content should find some good answers to the following question before starting to write: “What makes me different from others?”. It is simple and it has a perfect logic: only by being different from others and always delivering quality someone becomes a brand in a niche, else it is almost impossible. The same principle is applied here: will someone have the patience to read your content without any interest? Honestly, I don’t believe it.
A small element or something innovative could draw the attention of the readers or visitors and it becomes a great victory for the author. It is better to place what you believe is original or have something very interesting in the most common pages, so all the visitors have a chance to notice your strong points. As a comparison with the design, you should consider the value of the most interesting or attractive text (or a play of words) as being a logo. As a logo represents the entire design, the slogan, title or subtitle is the essence of the content.
10. An Image Stands for 1000 Words!
It is true that selecting the proper images for the design of a website is the task of the designers, but the strong relationship between image and text is very important, increasing the idea of collaboration and perfect team harmony and these are the elements who offer visitors the dependability so often invoke; what you can’t say with words, you can suggest with an image. Another considerable advantage of a good match between image and text is the feeling of unity, this being demonstrated on the website and this is extraordinary for both specialists and ordinary people. I will hire a company that proves its quality to me and not one who claims that their services are the best in the world.
11. There is no Web Designer, Developer, Content Writer or SEO Specialist, They are All a Team
It sounds as a paradox: I exposed a complete strategy to you for becoming a content writer and, in the end, I told you that this person has no identity. This is wrong! A good website with a high position in the search ranking can be obtained only by a team effort; the work of the designer should be completed by the developer; working independently could produce an interesting website, but the efforts of both produce better results than working individually. In this partnership, a great role is played by the SEO specialist and all the design should be integrated with the perpetual effort of obtaining a higher position.
Unfortunately the entire process of writing content and the content itself are two notions which are very subjective and in conclusion it is almost impossible for all the readers to be pleased with your work. Anyway try to do your best and the results will come!
Image Credits
nice going dude!!!you are the best!!!
You have an very interesting article. Congratulation
nice and well done! good job!
Nice article ! ( vine din partea unui Brailean de-al meu! )
The best example of this article is instantshift.com :) (valuable content)
Nice interesting article. Really helpful for write fresh contents.
thanks
Valueable content always counts
Great article thanks for the tips.
nice article, it helps a lot.
A really insightful article, its so difficult when you are a content manager as there are so many aspects to your job and management which you need to know. .Indeed great picture can make your article more eye catching. I worked as a content manager so we prefer to use some stock photos – bigstock, depositphotos , istock and etc cause consistency is very important when you need something really special for your article
it is an interesting article. It helps a lot. Thanx
Great writeup, this is the one of the most complete strategies I have ever read, it really left me asking for more!..
These are great tips! I love how SEO keywords play an important role for search engines recognition for the article.
Thanks a lot to all the readers…your comments and positive reactions are the fuel of my creativity so thanks again.
very in depth article and I believe it is a complete exposure.writing quality isn’t a easy task and this article make me understand better the problems of content writers.
These are really helpful tips! Thank you for sharing.