Every website needs good content to draw in traffic, and it needs a lot of it. The best way to get new content on your site regularly is to keep a blog, but you should also refresh web content and copy on other pages of your website, too.
Of course, good content takes time and effort to craft. You need a solid hook to get readers engaged. Make your content easy to read and prioritize search engine optimization (SEO). Keep your tone light and informal, include plenty of links, and make sure you’re taking the time to refresh your content constantly.
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You Need a Solid Hook
A hook is an intro that grabs your reader’s attention, fascinates them, and makes them want to read more. They’re just as useful when writing web content as they are when writing a novel. After all, while SEO keywords in your content might draw in website traffic, you also want those visitors to stick around long enough to subscribe to newsletters or make purchases or contribute to discussions on your boards. The right hook can make it happen.
Content Should Be Easy to Read
Lots of people struggle to read, at least enough that they’re not going to be interested in wading through long paragraphs and pages of text. Heck, even people who don’t struggle to read don’t want to read long paragraphs online.
Break your content up into smaller, more digestible units. Make your paragraphs short. Use short, snappy sentences and lots of action verbs. Keep your language simple. Use visual elements, like videos, images, or even graphs or infographics. Present information in bulleted lists when you can. Use accurate headings and subheadings that stand on their own, independent of the rest of the content. Make content generally easier to skim, because that’s what most readers are going to do.
SEO Optimization Is Paramount
All of your content needs to be optimized for search. The benefit of writing a blog on your website is that it presents lots of new opportunities to load your page with relevant keywords, without resorting to keyword stuffing or other black hat practices.
Use SEO keywords in your titles and subheadings, and in the body of your content, but sparingly. Use your primary keyword once in the introduction, once in the conclusion, and a few times in the rest of the content. If you’re struggling with keyword research, metadata optimization, or even inserting keywords naturally into your text, you may be able to get help from a local marketing firm offering SEO services on a white label basis.
Your Tone Should Be Upbeat and Informal
No one wants to read stilted, formal web content. It’s not a medium that lends itself to too much formality. Keep your tone light, friendly, upbeat, and informal. Use the active voice instead of the passive voice. Write directly and straightforwardly. Eliminate jargon and write in first or second person.
You Should Include Plenty of Links
Each new piece of content that you publish on your website blog presents a new opportunity to link to other pages and blog posts on your site. That can keep people engaged with your site longer, which increases the chance of a conversion, and improves your SEO.
You can also boost your authority by linking out to resources whenever necessary. Use links to cite sources for the information you present. If you draw on a statistic or use a scientific study to back up your assertions, link out to it. If you’re interviewing someone, link out to their personal website or professional profile – for example, if you’re interviewing a professor, link to their bio page on their university’s website. Make sure links are contextual. Choose four or five words in a sentence and place your link there.
You Need to Refresh Content Constantly
Content does become old and outdated, especially informational content when circumstances change or new information emerges. Old, outdated content harms your search rankings because it makes it seem, to users and search engines alike, that you don’t care about the accuracy or quality of your content. So make sure you regularly review and refresh your old content, as well as producing new content regularly.
When it comes to writing website content, there’s a lot to consider. Make sure you’re producing the highest quality content you can for your website – quality of content is one of the most important factors search engines use to rank sites. Great content will get you more traffic, especially when you’re producing it regularly.
