Just a Spoonful of Keyword Phrases Makes SEO Go Up

/0 Comments/in , /by

White sugar

“To maximize the traffic that comes to your blog via search engines, focus on optimizating each of your blog posts for just one or two keyword phrases.  Too many keyword phrases dilutes the content of your post for readers and can look like spam to both readers and search engines,” Susan Gunelius cautions in abouttech.com.

What, exactly, are keyword phrases? “These are words that you enter into your meta tags that describe your page so that when someone goes to a search engine and types in one or more of those words your page will be added to the list of pages they are given,” Linda Roeder explains. How long are keyword phrases? Statistics show that nearly 60% of keyword searches include phrases consisting of 2-3 words, according to Gunelius..

Gunelius’ tips for effective keyword use include:

  • Choose just one or two keyword phrases for each blog post
  • Use them in the title (however, don’t sacrifice the title’s ability to motivate people to click through)
  • Use keywords multiple times in the post, first within the first 200 characters, several times throughout, and near the end.
  • Use keywords in and around links
  • Use keywords in image alt-tags

While using keywords in links is a great way to boost search engine optimization, Gunelius warns, too many links can be viewed as a spam technique. The accepted link-to-text ratio is one link per 125 words. (For this very Say It For You post, for example, the two to three links I’ve used are just about right.

So how do you know which keywords deserve your focus? One of the easiest ways to get a basic idea of what people are looking for online, Gunelius says, is to check the popularity of keyword searches on websites that deal with keyword popularity, such as:

  • Wordtracker   (http://www.wordtracker.com/)
  • GoogleAdWords (http://www.google.com/adwords/)
  • Google Trends  (http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends)
  • Yahoo! Buzz Index  (https://www.yahoo.com/)

Like Mary Poppins’ recipe for making the medicine go down, incorporating keywords into blog posts – but only by the single spoonful – can be the secret for getting found on search engines.

 

 

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Going for Words that Sell in Business Blog Writing

/0 Comments/in , /by

Words That Sell book

 

I like calling attention to books I’ve come across that are must-reads for business blog content writers, and Words That Sell, by Richard Bayan certainly falls in the must-read category. Words, after all, are our basic tools in conveying our business message to online readers.

After all, as I remember social media consultant Jason Falls commenting way back in 2009, when he discussed with business owners why they wanted to use social media, the answers came down to one thing – selling more stuff.

On the other hand, as business coach Jack Klemeyer pointed out, going directly to the selling stage without first satisfying all the prerequisites such as establishing rapport and gaining a complete and mutual understanding of the client’s needs is probably going to mean failure. Plus,
“Online marketing is about help, not hype,” Mitch Meyerson writes in the book I highlighted earlier this week in my blog.

It’s important, then, to find word that do some of the selling for us, and that’s where Bayan’s tips and categories can be so useful to us content creators.

Open with a challenge:

  • Prepare yourself for…..
  • Beware of….
  • Join the…..
  • Recapture the…..
  • Take a deep breath and…..
  • For once in your life…..

Appeal to their sense of belonging:

  • You’ll stay in the loop….
  • You’ll be privy to….
  • You’ll join the ranks of…..
  • You’ll feel the warmth of….
  • You’ll build strategic alliances….
  • Take part in….

Avoid wordiness:

  • Instead of “at the present time”, say “now”
  • Instead of “on the grounds that”, say “because”
  • Instead of “be in receipt of”, say “get”
  • Instead of “during the time that”, say “while”
  • Instead of “make use of”, say “use”
  • Use provocative question openers:

Use provocative question openers:

  • Have you thought about….
  • Are you drowning in a sea of…..
  • What’s the most effective way to…..
  • Did you ever ask yourself…

Go for words that sell in your business blog writing!

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Striving for Online Marketing Stardom

/0 Comments/in , /by

success secrets

 

“You need writers even if your content is primarily video or audio,” asserts Mitch Meyerson in Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars. Why? Even what looks like free form content, he explains, needs a solid, well-crafted structure of words.

What does Meyerson define as effective content structure?

  • A headline that instantly commands audience attention
  • An introductory few sentences that pull the audience in, making it tough to turn away
  • Useful information that solves a problem the audience genuinely cares about
  • A single, focused point or “moral”
  • Stories, metaphors, and examples to teach that point
  • A  Call To Action that rouses the audience to take the next step

As a blog content writing trainer, I loved this question/response in Meyerson’s  book:

                                                                          “How long should your content be? Like a skirt, short enough
                                                                               to maintain attention, long enough to cover the subject.’

It’s important to understand, really understand, the difference between features and benefits, the book stresses.

  • Features tell us two things:  What it does and what goes into it.
  • Benefits tell us two different things: what it does for the customer and what they get out of it.

A point that I’ve long emphasized to newbie blog content writers is well-stated in the book:

“Content that attracts attention also tends to have a strong, well-defined point of view.  This is no place for wimpy, wishy-washy musings.” Your readers will want to hear a clear “voice” in your blog posts.  Allow your passion – and your (or your business owner client’s) point of view – to shine through, making it very clear how problems can be solved using these services and products and what principles and beliefs drive this business or practice.

Striving for online marketing stardom? Tap dancing around the issues is a no-no.

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Blogging From a Top-Floor Hotel Room

/0 Comments/in , , /by

???????????????????????????????????????????????????
People often assume he shoots his beautiful images with a drone or that he creates them on a computer, but that’s not it at all, says Virtuoso travel photog Gray Malin. What you see in the magazine is the result of him going up in a helicopter and leaning out the side to find timeless imagery. The idea of shooting from above came to Malin, he says, when he was somewhere in a hotel with a birdseye view of a giant swimming pool filled with people and realized he could create tableaus of beachgoers and beaches from a new and different perspective.

Perspective is everything when it comes to business blog content. Whether a business owner is composing his/her own blog posts or collaborating with a professional content writer, it’s simply not enough to provide even very potentially valuable information to online searchers.  Think of the facts – about the business, the services, and the products offered  – as raw ingredients which must be “translated”. For every fact about the company or about one of its products or services, a blog post addresses unspoken questions such as “So, is that different?”, “So, is that good for me?”  

Many business owners and practitioners make use of statistics in their blog posts, and that’s a good thing for a couple of reasons:

  • Numbers help debunk myths and dispel false impressions relating to your field or product.
  • Numbers help demonstrate the extent of the problem your business or practice helps solve.

But statistics, too, need to be put into perspective for readers. Before a reader even has time to ask “So what?” we need to be ready with an answer that makes sense in terms with which readers are familiar. I call it blogging new knowledge on things readers already know.

Photographer Gray Malin understood that content (in his case pictorial) offered to readers must “own” a unique perspective. There’s certainly no lack of content in either print or online media, and no lack of experts (at least purported experts) in the travel field or any other. Malin understood that he needed to go beyond presenting photos and offer a unique perspective.

In fact, what Gray Malin says of his top-floor style of travelogues is a great example for business blog content writing: “It all goes into creating something that’s unique to that location, but still universally appealing.”

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail

Your Blog Has Three Jobs: Solve. Excite. Speak

/0 Comments/in , /by

 

Frong Prince lipstick

“Things aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince!” Those rather unoriginal observations are attributed to Poppy King, founder of Lipstick Queen, the company that gets heads turning with Frog Prince, “a remarkable lilypad green lipstick that transforms lips into a pretty rosebud pink”.

I’m not exactly into the green lipstick thing, but I do absolutely love the statement I heard Poppy make during an Evine TV promotion:

“Every company,“ Poppy said, “has three jobs to do:

  • Solve the problem.
  • Excite the imagination.
  • Speak the truth.”

As profound a statement as I believe I’ve ever heard in a sales pitch, Poppy’s words certainly apply to the work we do as business blog content writers.

Solve the problem.
People are online searching for answers to their problems and solutions for dilemmas they’re facing.  If your business consistently posts content offering valuable information and advice, those people are going to find you and  at least some will want to become your customers..

Excite the imagination.
Readers came online searching for information, products, or services, and they are not going to take the time to read the full text of your blog post without assurance that they’ve come to the right place and that this will be a short, fast, exciting read. Use the title to establish a “hook” to excite visitors’ imagination.

Speak the truth.
Myth debunking is a great use for corporate blog content. That’s because in the natural course of doing business, misunderstandings about a product or service often surface in the form of customer questions and comments.

Your blog has three jobs:  Solve. Excite. Speak.

 

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail