Blog
Quick Start Guide to Successful SEO Content Writing
Guest Post by Jaime A. Heidel.
SEO Content Writing Quick Start Guide
If you’re looking to break into SEO content writing, I have good news and bad news. The good news is there’s plenty of work out there for quality writers who know their stuff. The bad news is most people won’t hire writers who have no experience with SEO.
So what’s an aspiring SEO content writer to do?
Learn a few SEO tactics that will help you increase blog traffic and look like a pro in a short amount of time.
Read on to learn how you too can write effective SEO copy with our quick start guide which outlines 5 tips for SEO copy writing success.
1. Do Your Research
One of the best SEO tactics you can use is research. No matter the topic you’re writing about, be sure to visit at least 3 expert websites about the topic before writing. This can help you get a broad overview of the topic so your content has a more natural flow. Otherwise, you’ll be switching from writing to researching every few minutes to learn more and it will make your piece look disjointed and sloppy.
2. Use Free SEO Tools
For beginners, free SEO tools are a real life-saver. They give you a little bit of information about titles and SEO keywords before you get started. The title of your article or blog is your hook and it has to be eye-catching. Visit the Advanced Marketing Institute Free Headline Analysis and play around with your topic title. The higher your EMV (Emotional Marketing Value) score, the better!
Another way to increase blog traffic and get a feel for proper SEO keyword placement is to use Google AdWords Tools and Analysis. Say your topic is about “neck pain”. Enter the words “neck pain” into the ‘Word or Phrase’ box and check the keyword ideas Google suggests for you.
To increase blog traffic, you’ll want to choose 1-4 keywords that have high Global Monthly Searches and low Competition. This means a lot of people are searching for this topic but not many websites are covering it. Click on the word ‘Competition’ to toggle between low and high competition ratings.
3. Start With an Outline
Now that you have your title and keywords ready, you can begin and outline. One of the most important pieces of information you can learn about SEO writing is that people skim. They don’t have time to read the entire article so they scan the article, looking for relevant information. This is why you need eye-catching, provocative subtitles that keep readers interested. Think about how you want to convey the information in the article and choose appropriate subtitles. Let’s continue with the “neck pain” example.
Your outline might look something like this:
Top 10 Ways to Get Rid of Neck Pain
Opening
What Causes Neck Pain?
1. Trauma/Injury to the Neck
2. Arthritis
3. Pinched Nerve
4. Herniated Disc
Cheap Natural Remedies for Neck Pain
1. Epsom salt
2. Boswellia
3. Massage Therapy
4. Acupuncture
Easy Neck-Strengthening Exercises
Ending
This gives your article a nice, streamlined look which readers can skim through to find the information they’ve been looking for. The opening tells them what they’re about to read and the ending wraps up the information they’ve just read. Remember, most readers have short attention spans. Repetition is key. Just don’t overdo it.
4. Avoid Keyword Stuffing
“If you have neck pain, you want to get rid of your neck pain because your neck pain is a pain in the neck.”
Yeah, you don’t want to do this.
Not only will this make your article look ridiculous to readers, it will actually decrease blog traffic. When Google notices a website that’s keyword stuffed, it considers it a “black-hat” SEO technique. Black hat SEO techniques use keyword stuffed websites with lots of irrelevant, grammatically-incorrect content overloaded with advertisements. Too many keyword stuffed articles can get your website (or your client’s website) “Google slapped”, meaning knocked down to the bottom of search results.
5. Use Relevant Links
One of the most tried-and-true SEO tactics is good linking. This means linking to relevant sources several times within the body of your content. If you’re writing an article or blog that lends itself to scientific research, you can’t go wrong looking for confirmation on Google Scholar. Links to case studies and clinical research give your article more credibility and improve your ranking in the search engines.
When linking to websites similar to your topic, be sure to take a quick look at the website’s PageRank using your favourite SEO tool, PR Checker or your Google Toolbar. If a website has a PR rank of 3 or more, it generally means that it’s been around for a while and is generally regarded as credible. You don’t want to link to any websites using black hat SEO techniques or your own rankings can suffer. And remember, as with keywords, don’t overuse links. Two outbound links (links to other relevant websites) and two inbound links (links to your own relevant content) per 500-700 word piece is enough.
You don’t have to go out and buy a SEO book to become a successful SEO content writer. There’s plenty of information for SEO newbies out there. You just have to know where to look. Continue reading our Downtown Ecommerce online marketing blog for more SEO tips or visit Copyblogger for awesome content marketing resources. Marketing through effective SEO content writing is easy once you know the basics.
Eventually, the rest just falls into place!
About the Author
Jaime is a professional freelance writer with a passion for helping others. She’s produced content on nearly every subject from Belgium travel to men’s sexual health. Her SEO techniques draw quality organic traffic while her conversational tone keeps readers interested, engaged, and telling friends. To learn more or request a private writing job, visit: http://jaimeaheidel.com/
Categorised in: Content
This post was written by downtownecommerce_admin
