How to Write Content for SEO

Part of my job is to help my clients with writing their content for the website they are either creating or updating during a redesign. During this process we have what is called a "content coaching" meeting. Now, this is not a meeting for me to tell you what you should say about the products/services that you sell but rather a discussion on how the words that you choose to put on the page will affect how well your search engine optimization efforts may perform.

Here are a couple of things that I will tell you:

1. All that work we did with the keyword research, keyword mapping and navigation adjustments have led up to this point.
2. If  you want to be found for the keyword phrases that we chose as priorities, you will have to write them in the content of that page.
3. Be sure to follow the search engine "best practices" advice. For example, keyword stuffing is bad. Writing great compelling content for your end users is good.
4. On the same note as #3, I will continues to talk about how the better your content is for the end user, the better we will do in the search engine results. The googlebots are pretty smart these days, so write for your end user first and they will reward you.
5. Make sure you are clearly communicating what you want your users to do next.  Does your content compel them to take another step? Do you have a clear "call to action" on every page?
6. Remember that this is a 24 hour salesperson for your company, make sure you have all the answers that your customer would want (or at least a clear way for them to get any question answered).

Of course, this is not all the information that you would get in a meeting with me. I know that writing content for your website is the last thing that you really want to do, but you will get out of it what you put into it. If you find this process overwhelming, there are lots of talented copy writers out there (including the ones on our staff at Ecreative) that can help you with this as well. Happy writing!