Do you write articles loved by Machines (search engines) and enjoyed
by humans. It is now established that, by targeting low competition and
low searched keywords, you can easily rank well for the keyword you are
targeting. But ranking well in Google is enough to meet your whole
purpose of blogging? It’s not. Because, ranking well in Google is just
an opportunity to you to showcase what you have in store.
You definitely have something valuable to share with rest of the
world (may be in exchange of money, email address or in most cases free)
and unless readers respond to your offer, any amount of traffic is useless. If there one factor that is as important as traffic, then it’s called Conversion.
You can measure the conversion simply by asking these questions to yourself.
- How well the new audience is able to connect with what you have written?
- Is your writing provides value to readers?
- Are you able to make someone laugh or smile through your writing? Ask your friends and relatives.
- Is your content shared by re-tweets and likes?
- Are readers commenting on your posts?
- Are your readers taking actions based upon your advice?
- Are people buying the stuff from your blog post?
If people come to your site and leave within seconds (bounce rate is high), then it is same as they didn’t come to your site.
During my experience with blogging, I have learned some really useful
stuff about creating a content that is ranked well in Google and
enjoyed by readers. Believe me; it took me quite a long time to
understand how things like SEO work? Sometimes, I analyzed my own
articles which were ranking high and found valuable inputs. Here are
those discoveries which I am going to share with you right now.
Note that when I say ranking well, it’s not always hitting the first
page of Google; it’s getting maximum visibility on Google. Not every
article of yours can rank in page 1 of Google. If they start ranking
like that, then you are certainly writing for machines, not for humans.
What are the steps to create such lovable content?
Step 1: Write at least 500 words of enjoyable, scannable, lovable content
Research: Depending on your niche, first you need to understand what people are looking / searching
for. At the same time, how much expertise/knowledge you have in those
areas. I hope, you got it. It’s marriage of demand and supply. People
often look for some solution, proven methods, interesting debates and
statistics. Your article must contain at least one of above ingredients in it.
Presentation: You need to present your article in
the most interesting way possible. This is where you can really make a
difference to bounce rates. Even though you could be presenting some
facts, don’t write as if you are writing for a press release. Write as
if you are giving a presentation at a prestigious event using the
maximum tools and creativity. Include bullet points, sub headings,
pictures, infographics wherever possible.
Editing: Once you are done with article writing,
it’s time for some serious editing. Check and rectify spell mistakes and
grammatical errors.
Step 2: Help the article rank well in Google
Pick the right keywords: It’s time to tweak the
article for SEO purpose. It’s important, because Google won’t rank you
well even if your article is awesome, if it doesn’t fare well the test
of 200 signals that Google considers while ranking a page. Keywords are
one of the major signals related to ranking. You don’t need to worry
about 200 signals. You just need to address just few of them.
Research the keywords that could rank well based upon the article you
have just written. I know I am reverse engineering. Use Google keyword
tool and based on your topic of the article, pickup few keywords which
have monthly searches between 8000 – 12000 and have low
competition. Pick up 4 or 5 secondary different keywords. Now you have
one primary keyword and few secondary keywords.
Edit the article for SEO: Go through the article and tweak various portions of the article. Start with title of the article. Include the primary keyword
while keeping the title still interesting and inviting. Include the
primary keyword just 1 or 2 times within the body of article and just
few times the secondary keywords.
Note that, I am not suggesting you to overload the articles with
keywords. You need to integrate the keywords seamlessly. Now, include
the same keywords in tags. This is very important. Tags will surely help
you to rank well. Write a custom excerpt and description for your
article (handcrafted) and include the primary keyword in both of
them. Supply the required attributes for images such as title, caption.
Images can also help your article rank well.
That’s it. Hit the publish button now and be ready to reap the
benefits of your efforts and receive the much deserved love from Google
and your readers.
This article is written by guest author Naveen
Kulkarni, a personal development blogger who writes about productivity,
self-help and minimalism on his blog planetnaveen.com. Image Credits to Pdro at Flickr. Read more guest articles by Naveen.
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