Website Design & SEO Blog | Tips for Online Success

The definition of quality content is not black and white. The term “quality” is as varied as the number of copywriters, clients, and information-seekers walking this planet. If I had a penny for every description I’ve heard or read, I’d be living a life of ease on a tropical beach somewhere and surfing every day.

What is Quality Content?

Google’s idea about quality content focuses on the reader only once. But mostly Google advises how to get the website found and what the search engine wants so you’ll end up on the front page. Search engine optimization is important to getting traffic (visitors), but Google generally doesn’t buy your products.

Clients and your audience are not search engine spider algorithms.

Getting found is crucial, but keeping an audience is decisive.

Client’s Quality Content

Most of the time Houston clients aren’t helpful at all in developing content. They don’t lay out their expectations in black and write. Write it, we’ll review. If we like it, we’ll approve it. If not, well …

Never lose sight that to a client, it’s all business, and quality is defined in terms of

• Brand elevation and awareness
• Why you’re better than your competitor
• Sales and repeat sales (customer loyalty)

If the client’s phone starts ringing, if the online sales go up, you have quality content.

Reader’s Quality Content

Your client’s phone or cash register won’t start ringing until you keep your visitor. People look at websites for information. They are usually in a decision-making mode, or close to it.

Convince me.

Or they have a problem they need help with.

Solve it.

Maybe they may be casually browsing.

I’m bored, entertain me.

One thing for sure, your audience is not looking for a research paper, chock full of jargon that they can’t understand. They don’t need to be talked down to, or talked up to. They don’t need sales pitch after sales pitch, touting feature after feature. They don’t like text and grammatical errors.

And they certainly don’t want to take a nap.

From a reader’s view, quality content is black and white. The visitor demands exceptional writing that is

• Relevant,
• easy to read, and
• informative

that helps them

• make a decision
• solve a problem
• stimulate an idea

The copywriter must “make it happen” for both the viewer on a mission and the casual surfer. The reader must be convinced through text that he or she really needs the product because it will make life easier.

Copywriter’s Quality Content

It’s not enough to write appealing, informative, objective and precise webpages, articles, and blogs.

Houston, we have a problem.

SEO copywriters must find a way to combine what search engines, clients, and readers want simultaneously.

Therefore, copywriters’ definition of quality content is writing that

• Is search engine bait
• Reinforces the clients brand and
• Increases client sales that is
• Interesting to the reader,
• Enticing him or her to buy the product or service and
• Share the discovery with family, friends, and co-workers

Quality content is very tall order for a relatively short copy piece. Search engine marketing is undoubtedly a cruel mistress.

Are you sold?

What’s your quality content definition?

If people only read the headline and move on, you’re sunk. If people don’t read and buy what you’re selling, your reputation is compromised. Your clients will probably fire you.

Some facts

• Ordinary titles don’t get click throughs
• Cutesy headlines don’t tell readers what’s in it for them
• Great headlines sell your content

There are some copywriters that write great headlines, day after day, time after time. Those are the folks that you follow, always read when you get up in the morning, or check their tweets on an hourly basis. Have you ever wondered why they’re so good?

Exceptional copywriters work hard at their profession. They are originals, not copycats. They study headlines that work and have a razor-sharp grasp of why and how certain titles work. Not to mention they have a keen understanding of their audience’s needs.

Great headlines adroitly tap into what people want. You can count on people wanting to know something that will give them some kind of advantage. It doesn’t matter whether it’s knowledge for solving a problem or being let in on a great secret very few people know about.

If you count on the similarities of human nature, writing compelling headlines and titles is relatively easy. Just remember SHAPE UP. SHAPE UP is your 7 steps to writing great headlines.

1. S imple. Simplicity is a must. Concisely communicate a circumstance, fact, or effect. Keeping a title or headline short and sweet carries 2 major benefits. First, you only have 60 characters or less for the entire headline to show up in the search engine results page. Secondly, it will look better on your Twitter or Facebook feed.
2. H ow to. People surf the net for information. They either want to know how to do something or are searching for the best price on a product. Using short words like “how”, “why”, “new”, and “your” cash in on your audience’s need to know.
3. A dvantage. You must give your audience a distinct advantage. It’s the “what I will get out of acting on this”.
4. P romise. Your promise must be intriguing and irresistible. Your title must convey what’s in it for the reader, but make sure that the content will deliver. Don’t mislead your audience with the title. Nothing destroys your credibility like deluding your reader.
5. E xciting. Your headline or title must be eye catching and head turning. Something that is “novel”, “new”, a “secret”. Antonyms such as “worst” and “don’t” also work well in headlines.
6. U seful. Convey something that a reader will find useful in the headline, then deliver on your promise by giving information that can be put into practical application.
7. P roclaim. This is your call to action. Your “read me”, “buy me”. I want you to do this because it’s the best.

If you remember SHAPE UP, you will be well on your way to writing great headlines and titles that sell. After all, if you made it this far, you read this entire blog post. And if you’re still stumped, give Directory One a call. Their expert copywriters will be glad to help out.

The primary purpose of having a website is to engage current and would-be clients. You want them to buy from you and you must close the sale for your business to thrive.

So what in the blue blazes am I talking about?

I have just written content for my website. Consider

I am extremely well-educated. I have a post-graduate degree in underwater basket weaving.  I have written great website content for hundreds of sites on topics from toilet bowl cleaners to astrophysics and rocket science. The companies I’ve written for love me. My dogs, horses, and even stable flies adore me. My education and experience makes me a pro. Hire me! Let me write your website content. I’m the best there is.

Big deal. So what does that have to do with anything?

You didn’t start reading “Tips for Writing Great Website Content” to hear all about Sherry Lynne and how great she is, right? You want tips for writing website content, so you’re feeling a little bit ripped-off, shortchanged, stiffed, to be exact.

How many times did I use “I”, “me”, “I’ve”? Did my web content focus on You or describe advantages You get from using my product?

I broke the number 1 rule of great content writing. I put myself first.

“The consumer, so it is said, is the king… each is a voter who uses his money as votes to get the things done that he wants done.”
— Paul A. Samuelson (1915-2009), American Economist

Customers are always a business’ first priority. I’ve read a lot of company mission statements. Not one statement I’ve read has said “Our mission is to make money – lots of it”. No, 99.9% of mission statements are customer-centric.

The consumer is forking over their hard-earned cash to buy a product or service. They are entitled to believe they can walk on water. Or walk on water at least in your eyes. Your website’s content must convey that you can fulfill their every need. Great website content bridges the gap from text to a vivid picture of the advantage a consumer gets from contacting you or clicking on “Buy Now”.

Tips for Writing Great Website Content that Converts Clicks to Sales

1. Read and understand the company’s mission statement and make sure that your written content reflects the company.
2. Know the demographics of the readers. What age range, location, education level, etc. Knowing the demographics will determine your writing style – formal, informal, or somewhere in-between. Knowing the demographics of your readers will also influence which keywords you will use.
3. Determine what the visitor might already know about the industry, topic, and product/service. Next, put yourself in the reader’s shoes. What made them visit the site? What are they interested in reading, and what do they expect to learn? What are their specific, immediate needs? Is there something that you can get them to want either now or in the near future?
4. Solve the consumer’s problem. Focus on all the wonderful benefits the consumer will get from using the product or service. It’s not good enough to tell consumers that they will get great customer service — show them why you’re exceptional and outside the norm.
5. Keep the “we’re great because” stuff to a minimum except on pages like “About”. Frankly, consumers don’t care about your history. They want you to satisfy an immediate or future need. If you can’t convince them that you are the genie that grants every wish, they click over to a competitor’s website.
6. Write directly to the decision maker. The decision-maker is the person who ultimately pays for the product or service. The ten-year old that is surfing the web and looking at the latest and greatest smart phone is definitely not person handing over the cash.
7. Keep content short, concise, and easy to read. Don’t go under or over your intended reader’s head. Get the message across, simply and without extra words.
8. And lastly, don’t forget to optimize what you’ve written for search engines.

Writing great website content is really that simple if you never forget the rule “The consumer… is the king”.

Don’t shortchange your site’s visitors with writing poor website content. Don’t lose that new customer. Call Directory One in Houston, Texas at 713-465-0051 to talk with an experienced, professional website content writer today.

You may be new to content writing, or maybe not. You may be skilled in writing business plans, procedural manuals, grant proposals, white and/or other technical papers, so you thought writing for websites would be more or less a walk in the park. You dive right in, not realizing that the backward triple twist you are planning to execute takes practice.

Website Content Writing & Search Engines

Writing content for websites has another detail to contemplate.

What will make you persona non grata in the search engines?

Your reputation is on line, and you certainly don’t want to have your website, or worse, your client’s website, banished to the cyberspace black hole.

As the internet became popular, people putting up websites realized that there were tricks that increased their visibility in search results. A user would click on a link and land on a site that was completely different from the topic they were searching. If you remember the 1990s, you recall your frustration.

Search engines have gotten very sophisticated since then. They are making sure that users land on pages relevant to their searches. It all comes back to the search engine’s credibility. Google is very explicit, telling you how to write content for websites and providing content quality guidelines.

Website Content Writing – 3 Major Things to Avoid

If you don’t want your website blacklisted from the search engines for life, you should avoid using

1. 1. Plagiarized content (also called duplicate copy) – copying previously published either verbatim or with small word changes from another website.
   2. Keyword stuffing – overabundance of 1 or more keywords in your copy.
   3. Cloaking – you see a different link result (file) than the search engine sees.

Website content writing is different from any other form of writing. It takes skill and experience to get your pages ranked high enough so potential visitors can easily find you. If you feel like you have bitten off more than you can chew, contact Directory One in Houston. They have expert content writers ready to assist you.

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