Writing Relevant Website Content

Few things are as important to business messaging success as is writing relevant website content. There was a time, many years ago, when relevancy of blog posts and articles didn’t weigh as heavily on overall search rankings. In those days, marketers would target high volume keywords for use as post titles and perhaps, were smart enough to include those same keywords in the opening sentence of a post which propelled it quickly to top search rankings. What came after that first keyword rich sentence was not important as long as a few key phrases were sprinkled ‘in the beginning’. Those days are long gone and the importance of creating relevant articles (content) is now, more than ever before, crucial to achieving high search results.

For instance, let’s take this very blog post to highlight the reality. It is no secret we write articles for both ‘indexing bots’ as well as human readership. Creating this consistency has helped our online marketing and brand building tremendously! Further, our content strategy calls for writing three to four posts per week but volume is less critical than quality. Most, when thinking about quality, immediately think of producing spelling error free articles without understanding quality boils down to ‘theme’. Let’s dig more into theme and how it impacts overall quality. First, we aren’t speaking, necessarily, of website design templates rather a consistent topic of focus.

Here are items to pay attention to when preparing content creation and deployment campaigns;

• Content means much more than articles and blog posts. Search engines as well as readers who locate your website will arrive through, in addition to posts, alt tag images, pdf document uploads, shared videos as well as social media optimized profiles. It is best to view anything hosted onsite as content and establish keyword and phrase consistency throughout.
• Establish specific, industry focused keyword and phrase categories for all content. In lieu of explaining, step by step, what we mean, take a look at the last 20 blog posts on this website. In particular, take note of the fact every topic is business related in some form or fashion.  Categories are typically industry specific so we encourage all to choose them carefully and align all content within them.
• More than anything, keyword research must be priority! Wherever and however readers come across this post, it is a sure bet there was interest in the topic which we indicated by keyword(s).
• Whether content is effective or not is measured in only one way; website visits. To realize this outcome, three things are crucial; research, research and then, more research!
• The more content created for your website, the more online authority you gain. Nothing is better than establishing oneself as the ‘go to’ person on topics of industry interest. In the old days, writers established authority through aligning themselves with print media periodicals such as newspapers and magazines but today all that is required is a great keyword and phrase strategy sprinkled with a bit of tenacity.

Next, do you have the necessary writing skills? Becoming a professional (whatever that means these days) is about nothing more than, in addition to industry or topic authority, practice. Let us be clear to those who believe success is assured by AVOIDING tasks they hate – there are, above every other, three ways to become a leading industry voice on the Internet;

• Access to large amounts of investment capital
• Going ‘viral’ through social media
• Creating engaging content in large amounts and consistently

What benefits, beyond those already presented, does effective content management create for entrepreneurs and small business?

• Establishes your voice as an industry leader
• Creates ‘buzz’ around your company, message or venture
• Builds social media followings on key industry websites
• Establishes trust with website visitors
• Opens sales funnel creation opportunities

There are, as in any industry, those who believe they can ‘cheat’ the process through participating in content creation scams such as the now infamous ‘article spinning’. For those who may not know, article spinning software allows content creators to write, for instance, one blog post and the software ‘spins’ (rewrites) it into hundreds of articles, all saying the same thing in different ways. Not only is this lazy, dishonest as well as stupid, search engines are not as dumb as those who participate in this mockery of ethical business. Hundreds of thousands of websites have been ‘black-listed’ by Google, Yahoo and Bing for trying to cheat and to them we say GOOD RIDDINS.

However, there is a way, as our more than 9,000 online learners well-know, to ‘multiply’ relevant content without cheating and with very little effort. As was indicated before, every asset hosted on your website, available to the general public, should be considered as content. Knowing this, the question you must first ask and then answer is simple; what other websites can I share my content with to generate interest around the topic?

Let’s say, for instance, you wrote an article on ‘how to change car engine oil’. First, post the article on your website and next;

• Locate content sharing websites such as Scribd.com, DocStoc.com or others. Once a free account is created, save blog posts and articles as PDF documents with link backs to your website and upload as many as possible.
• Share documents on Powerpoint business presentation websites such as Slideshare, Slideboom and others
• Locate industry specific online forums and repost topics of interest
• Package multiple posts together and create short eBooks. Once finished, upload them to eBook websites and either sell them or provide them for free download!

Should we go on? The point is relevant content, once created, has the ability to extend your company message, no hyperbole intended, to every corner of the Internet so accept a sound piece of advice; BEGIN NOW!

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