Are you struggling to build a solid SEO strategy for your business? Or perhaps are about to take the SEO plunge but do not know where to begin? As more consumers rely heavily on the internet, it comes to reason that small businesses should consider using SEO. SEO helps your brand rank on Page 1 of Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Unfortunately, more than half of small businesses in the United States still do not understand SEO.
When we talk about SEO, we cannot avoid talking about content. If you don’t have a sound SEO content strategy, your entire SEO initiative will likely fail.
Continue reading below as we tackle the keys to a proper SEO content formula.
SEO Content Strategy: Key Elements for Writing for Websites
When it comes to effective SEO, content is king. Sure, you need to pay attention to your website design, but without top-notch content, it will all go to waste. To present effective content, you need to work on some key elements. Let’s look at the essentials that will serve as the foundation for your content strategy for writing for websites.
Start with the Keywords
The first step is to focus on your keywords. Conduct research and find out the keywords and phrases that your target market often uses in their Google searches. List them down on a spreadsheet. Your goal is to keep track of how many times you use these keywords and phrases in your content. But don’t simply put those keywords in random parts of your content. Neither should you flood your content with as many keywords as you want. You have to be tactical in your keyword placements.
To optimize your content with keywords, you need to use the latter in the title of your article. The primary keyword must appear in the first 300 words. Your keywords should occur naturally in the article. Forcing them where they don’t belong will make the text stilted and awkward. You need to ensure a natural flow. Furthermore, you should include the primary keyword once in your meta description and title tag.
Your Headline Matters
Even the most relevant content can suffer if you lack an attractive headline. Your headline is one of the first things people see. It is your hypothetical weapon that prompts them to click and continue reading your post. According to studies, an attractive headline should convey a specific idea.
If possible, you should include numbers in your headlines. Interestingly, websites like Mashable and BusinessWeek, among others, use numbers in most of their headlines. You can incorporate numbers when writing listicles. You can also use them when writing about a “Top 10 list.”
The Need for Speed
Site speed also contributes to the success of your SEO content strategy. Studies revealed that readers exit your site if your website doesn’t load within 3 seconds. Keep in mind that people have a short attention span. They want quick results. They want an immediate resolution to their issues. You can use online tools like Pingdom to test your site speed. The standard load time is 2 seconds. If your website loads in 2 seconds or under, then you’re in good shape.
What Makes Your Content?
We always hear the phrase “content is king.” And this remains true to this very day. So you need to ask yourself what is in your content? People are always searching for relevant content. If they find one of your posts useful, they will likely look into your other articles. The key to making your content visible on Google’s Page 1 is to avoid over-optimization, so avoid putting too many keywords in your content. To churn up quality content, you must first understand your target market.
What are the most common problems that hound them? What are the things that they are looking for that you can offer them? After determining these, you need to write a compelling introduction. As your title and headline, your introduction should also feature your primary keyword.
Make your content “sticky”. Sticky content means placing something unique within the article. You can put a link to your latest study. Or you can invite your readers to check your latest e-book. Sticky content makes readers ask for more. Stick to 1,000 words maximum. Spread out your primary and secondary keywords to ensure optimization. At the tail end of your article, make sure to put a call to action. For more helpful tips, checkout PresentationGeeks’ article on “12 Digital Content Strategies To Elevate Any Brand”.
Do Some Linking
To make SEO even more effective, you need to practice linking. First, you need to start linking to other pages on your website. You can do this by using the anchor text. An anchor text is a word or phrase that contains a link to another page. Basically, you will embed a link into the anchor text instead of typing the URL itself. Furthermore, you need to make other websites link to yours.
To pull this off, you need to come up with solid content and a request for a link. You can request along the lines of “if you find this post helpful, you may consider linking this article from your website if it’s not too much to ask.” When other websites link to your page, it will generate backlinks. Backlinks make your website improves your website’s reputation in the eyes of Google.
Mind Your Analytics
Lastly, you need to mind your analytics. This means following through and covering all bases after publishing your content. You need to stay on top of factors such as bounce rates and pages per session, to name a few. Bounce rate refers to the single-engagement visits to your website.
This means the number of visitors who check your website without clicking your other pages before leaving. Meanwhile, pages per session refer to the average number of pages users view whenever they visit your website. The more the number of pages is, the higher the engagements are for your website.
Topnotch SEO that You Need
Coming up with a strong SEO content strategy is doable. But since you have other important matters to cover, you may not achieve the results that you want. But with a little help from our team of Spring, TX, SEO experts, we can provide the quality SEO services that you need. Send us a message or give us a call. Tell us your requirements and we’ll come up with a plan that aligns with your goals.
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Let’s start optimizing your website, today!
