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By John Alexander
The reason why people come to our SEO Mastery Workshops, is to gain visibility and build genuine SEO skills in the shortest time possible as opposed to studying out of a courses or out of a book. People want the skills in as quick of time as possible and so that's what we've managed to deliver with our one on one, hands-on training.
But one of the things people always want to know about is
how to build useful content that their buying audience is really
searching for. How do you know what type of content is really going to
attract the right searchers? In this article I wanted to cover a few
quick tips to keep in mind when building high performance strategies.
1. Write customer focused content that appeals to your
audience.
Remember that your Web site should be focused on your
audience first and appeal specifically to a niche interest. When
writing your Web copy, you need to dialogue in an appropriate tone and
format for the right audience. Some of the most interesting content
will have more appeal if it speaks to your audience in terms like: you
can, you might, you will, yours, your and you’re INSTEAD of we,
ours, we’re, we will, we can, etc. This is extremely important
when working on sales related copy.
--------------------------------------------------------
Bad Example: ( 8 self
focused words in red)
Please read our mission statement. Our team as prepared 8 benefits which all our customers enjoy. We are proud to have served over 15,000
companies and stand behind our iron
clad guarantee. We have the key to
financial freedom and our customers
are important to us.
Try reading the copy above.... OUT LOUD. Then try reading the copy below OUT LOUD. You can see the impact of simple changes to how your copy reads with a focus on the reader instead of a focus on yourself.
Better Example: (Compare to how it reads with a "Customer focus" copy in blue)
You can
possess the key to your own
financial freedom and enjoy all 8 benefits, which are built into a
solid future guarantee. You’ll
enjoy quick response and have all your
questions answered promptly. Your
concerns are most important to us.
One exceptionally skilled writer of Web copy is Michael Campbell who recently stated the following in his weekly newsletter:
---------- Quote from Michael Campbell's Internet Marketing Secrets ---------------------
"There are no such things as B to B
(business to business), or B to C (business to consumer), there are
only P to P (person to person) transactions."
"Even if you think it's one faceless corporation dealing with another,
it's really one person, the decision maker with purchasing power,
having a personal relationship with another person who is a supplier
capable of expediting the goods. In other words, two people that like
dealing with each other."
-------------- End of Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael's weekly publication is loaded with tips and expert advice on
creating effective Web content.
He never fails to put logic into simple words and Michael is one of the
only people I know who actually has a feel for what a sales letter's
success ratio will be, as he writes it.
If you are not currently reading Michael Campbell's, you can read the full editions here at Internet Marketing Secrets.
Also, here is an example of a well-crafted sales letter
for you to study:
http://www.tnt-guide.com
--------------------------------------------------------
2. If performing SEO - Focus on writing for the human
reader first and search engines second.
While search engine optimization is important to your
visibility, try writing your content first.
Most people don’t write their best content when trying to
optimize AND create content at the same time.
Yet we continually see people trying to do this. We teach our students
in class, to spend time wisely creating useful content that will be a
genuine benefit to your visitors. Then, once you have written something
of genuine value that stands on it’s own merit, you can go back
over the article as a second step and apply some mild optimization.
This is much easier than trying to optimize while creating your content
at the same time. Following this simple rule of taking it in 2 phases
will help you enormously.
3. Find out what your target audience’s are
really searching for.
One of the most powerful skills you can build is based on behavioral research. In other words you want to study the marketplace first to see what your ideal target buying audience is interested in, before creating content. Have you tried using Wordtracker in this fashion?
In this fashion yet? Most people focus on researching
keywords rather than researching behaviors. There is a wealth of
information laying about Wordtracker’s member
data and it don’t take very long to tap into it with a little
practice. The idea is to offer up Information
based on what your audience really wants, instead of what you "think"
they want. Why guess at it when you can know.
Visit www.wordtracker-magic.com for an e-book or else listen to a series of free audio tips which
Explain step by step how it’s done!
http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/audiomagic.html
4. Tips for triggering idea generation
If you get tired or feel like you are running out of ideas searching in Wordtracker for your audience’s interest then you must not be thinking laterally enough. I never get tired of exploring Wordtracker. I don’t just think about “keywords” but think laterally about behavior.
Remember the idea is not just to create content based on your own objectives (to sell a product or a service) but to write content based on your audience’s interests. There are plenty of ways to attract that perfect audience to a page if you can get your mind set free from focusing on only your own objectives.
What is your audience looking for? People are using the
Internet everyday for the purpose of
research. They’re looking for articles, interviews, product
reviews instructional tutorials, statistical data, internet based
tools, software reviews, movie reviews,
stock quote information, medical articles, photos and graphics not to mention online price comparisons and shopping
interests for retail and wholesale type
services.
If you get tired exploring some of these niches (still
only scratching the surface) Why not try
creating your own original content pages and write from a perspective
which allows you to be creative based on your own
experiences.
For example:
A)
If you have a favorite hobby, which you are knowledgeable about,
you can be sure there are others will be interested in the same hobby.
B) Why not buy a product and write your own reviews of that product?
C) Could you create a travel related site by writing about your own travels?
D) Do you go to movies? Could you write movie reviews?
E)
Could you take your information related sites and join a program
like
www.cj.com which would enable you to
build affiliate links into your
quality information sites?
Think about the world of behaviors and interests that occur everyday.
Remember
that you can use Wordtracker
Magic research techniques to explore a whole world of behaviors.
Explore peoples hobbies by name
Explore emotionally related topics
Explore people's "health" related interests
Explore people's security related interests
Explore people's "common challenges" as opposed to thinking only of
keywords that relate to the solution.
Explore people's "opinions"
Explore people's "political views"
Explore people's "religious beliefs"
Explore things historical interests
Explore people's interest in specific statistics
Explore people's favorite "tools"
This is still only scratching the surface but it should be enough to set your creativity in motion. Wordtracker used properly is a tool that opens a window on the "world of activities" that are happening right in the now.
5. Creating content that speaks to a specific audience
Write your dialogue for your specific audience. In other
words, how your content reads to a grandmother (if that’s your
target audience) may be quite different than how your content reads on
a page written to be of interest to firefighters, for example.
It’s important to relate to your specific readers in a way so
they can relate to you. You might want to talk about a common challenge that your
entire audience will be able to relate to and feel for, before you
start introducing your solution. It's very important to create content
that speaks to a specific audience.
6. Remember to include strong calls to action
What do you want the reader to do once they finish
reading your content. You need to clearly build these options into each
page and leave nothing to guess work.
Describe what action you would like them to take and never assume
that they will just know, because they won’t
act unless you spell it out.
Example:
Why don’t you fill in the form below right now to
get a free quote from us instantly delivered
by e-mail. Once you fill in your name and press submit – your
quote will arrive in 90 seconds. It’s FREE!
7. Search engine optimization the stress free approach
If you need to get your search engine placement skills up
to speed quickly, there is no faster way than to attend a live SEO
hands-on Workshop where you will get direct,
personalized, step-by-step instruction from SEO industry leaders Robin
Nobles and John Alexander. You can attend a live workshop and take your
search engine placement skills to whole new
level in just a matter of a few hours of direct hands-on study.
These personalized workshops show you a step-by-step process for building truly relevant content in a stress free manner. Grab your laptop and come join Robin Nobles and John Alexander in person, for a live, hands-on workshop for 2-Days, 3-Days or 5-Days PLUS you get a free 6-month mentoring program.
You'll
come away with genuine SEO skills that will gain you top rankings that
can stand the test of time.
Remember that our workshops are NOT conferences or seminars. They are
hands-on workshops where you learn "by actually doing". We don't teach
you tricks or cheats, but we will teach you solid skills that won't
leave you reliant on others.
Details: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com
Here are a few recent
student's comments.
We hope to see you at one of our next workshops real soon.
Highest Regards,
John Alexander
john@searchengineworkshops.com
About John Alexander
John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops
offering live, SEO Workshops with partner Robin Nobles as well as
online search engine marketing courses through Online Web Training. John
is author of an e-book called Wordtracker
Magic and co-author of the Totally Non-Technical Guide for A
Successful Web Site. John is also an
official member of the customer support team at Wordtracker.com.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.