Beginners Writing for Search Engines and Real People

Want to effectively write for your website? Focus on writing content that addresses your services and be specific within reason… after all you only have so much time.  This is an effective approach for both your visitors and the search engines.  People come to your site to discover if what you do is what they are looking for and search engines need that information to connect you with those people.  So write about what you do, be relevant and follow good SEO practices. There are no magic short cuts – good content and good practices.

I admit, I am not a search engine optimizer.  There is value in hiring a reputable SEO company, but DO YOUR HOMEWORK!  Getting phone calls and email guaranteeing they can rank you #1?  If you have money to burn, go for it.  If not, ask around and find a company doing good solid work for others. In the meantime, start with good content!

Do your Content Research

Look around and find some examples of sites in your field writing good website content.  If the approach and structure appeals to you, then make a list of how they are reaching their clients and how you can apply that to your industry.

• What is their approach?
• How did they engage their readers?
• What about the article made you click on the link to learn more?
• What angles of topics did they use?
• Go deep in your blog posts topics to reach your audience.

Topics

Think of the clients you are looking for, specific age groups, common concerns they have, common problems, services.  Think of your clients – is there a case that had a specific angle that you could write a case study about?

• Make a list of the services/ideal clients you are looking for.
• Make a list of the clients that bring in your current steady income.
• A list of issues that interest you.
• Think about what information is useful to your targeted audiences?

Make sure to write about a combination of these to keep it interesting, bring in the visitors you are looking for and continue to bring in the people that keep you in business.

Write pages for your website with narrow topics!

Write with narrow services in mind.  If you can avoid the page title “Services” all the better.

Help focus the search engines in on the specific search results you want.  You may not reach page one with a one keyword strategy: “search engine optimization”, but maybe you will get some good traffic — “Beginners Writing for Search Engines and Real People”.  Yes, fewer people are going to type that in, but the few that do are more likely to see me.

If you search for sleep you will get everything out there that relates to sleep: tips & tricks, disorders, mattress, supplements, pillows, and one and on. But if you narrow the topic, you help the search engines help you get the more specific traffic you are looking for: “Dangers of sleep deprivation on high school students”. These titles also capture more interest when you share these articles in your social media.  Just make sure you are communicating some information of value to them.  If they feel you are a resource, they are more likely to come back.  If they feel like you were just trying to get traffic and provided bad information… they will avoid you in the future.

Other writing recommendations

• Organize Content in a logical order – tell a story
• Use good grammar, punctuation and sentence structures, please!
• Proof read. Proof read. Proof read!
• Get Reviews: Develop a thick skin. Some of your writing will work and some just won’t.  Be open to constructive feedback and a different viewpoint to develop content that answers questions your customer base has and ‘why you?’.
• Let it Go! Writing is a work of art and Art is never finished it is only abandoned. When it has been proofread and reviewed let it go.

Now go write something brilliant and helpful to someone!

Let me know if I can help you with a project. Just send me an email to elise@liseydreams.com.