The first job is to speak directly to your audience, and the second job is to speak to the search engines. Doing both of these jobs will maximize your website’s potential. Your website will be more search engine friendly, and it will enhance your efforts and chances of getting to the top of the search engines, as well as turn more prospects into leads and paying customers. Let’s take a look at the two jobs you must accomplish when writing your website content.
Job #1
Speak to your audience. What message would you like to get across to your website visitors? What is your business’s unique selling point? What action do you want them to take when they get to your website? Your content should speak directly to your audience. These are the questions you should be asking yourself when writing your website content. Your words should make an impression yet be simple and easy to grasp. You want your website to sell your product or service, while at the same time having a human tone that’s easy to read.
Job #2
Be attractive to search engines. Your website content is one of the main ways the search engines, like Google and Yahoo, find your website. If your business sells SEO Services in New York City, that should be clear to the search engines by using keyword-rich web content. Yes, search engines read title tags and meta tags, but they also look at what’s inside.
So, how can you develop a website that does both jobs, speaks to your audience, and attracts the search engines while maintaining a delicate balance between the two? Here’s how:
1. Write for your audience
Don’t try to plug in keywords right; just write for your audience. Speak to them directly, and tell them, as clearly as you can, what they should know.
2. Think about your keywords
Imagine someone were searching the internet for what your business does. What words would they search for? Make a list of what comes to mind.
3. Get some insight
Use the Google Keyword Tool to get other keyword ideas and determine their popularity. This will give you other keywords that might be relevant, and it will also show you how many searches there are for each word or phrase.
4. Refine the list
You might have a giant list of keywords by now. The goal isn’t to use all of them on your website. Just the keywords that are really related to your business. Come up with a list of 20 keywords or less, and try to use them throughout the website. Short keywords are easier to use than long phrases, so you might be able to use them more frequently.
5. Be specific
Keep in mind that specific keywords are better than general ones. Maybe you are a Web Designer in New York. The term website designer is very general, but the phrase, affordable website design in New York, is more specific and will have a better chance of getting your website listed when someone searches for it. Google will likely rank hundreds of other sites above yours for the term website designer, so by thinking in specifics, you have a better shot at showing up.
6. Add keywords accordingly
Chances are-some keywords have already slipped into what you’ve written. That’s great! Now, it’s time to enhance what you have written. Take a look at your content from a search engine point of view. Where can you use a keyword instead of a general word? Where can you replace a keyword that’s already there with a better or more specific one?
7. Re-read your website content from your prospect’s point of view
Remember, your potential customers are your main audience. The keywords should be integrated seamlessly and should get across information rather than be repetitive or obvious. Try not to be too redundant because you want to keep your website visitor in mind from a sales perspective.
Having keyword-rich content throughout your website is one of the many important ways to get attention from search engines and ultimately get you the results you’re looking for.
If you keep in mind that you have two audiences, the prospects who are visiting and reading your website and the search engines who are searching for it, you’re sure to build a website that gets the most results possible.