How do you find appropriate content marketing topics? Whether you’re doing content marketing for clients or looking for exciting content for your own website: I’ll show you 5 methods that make your topic search easier.

My goal is to give you instructions on how to make your topic search successful for relevant marketing content. In addition to the classic keyword research, there are a few other promising methods to help you find topics.

Be aware of who you are writing the content for!

Regardless of whether you create content for your own website or for a customer, the most important question is and remains: who should the content reach?

At this point, I assume that you already know and have defined your target audience. If you are still unsure, watch for my next article on Buyer Personas. Fast forward: You should have at least one answer to the following questions:

  • Which socio-demographic characteristics does your target group have?
  • Which needs (related to your product, services) does your target group have?
  • Is your target group internet-user and makes purchase decisions online?
  • Does he/she use social networks and which ones?
  • Does your target group use the Internet for research purposes, for example for further information on products in which it is interested?

Someone who is looking for fashion blogging inspiration for his outfit, for example, or the latest fashion trends, at the time, will hardly be interested in topics around impact drills. The more you know your target group, the easier it is to find topics.

Content Audit: Which content already exists?

Before you enter the topic research, it makes sense to do an audit. This is also the first step in our topic search: Make a note of which aspects you are missing in the analysis of your content and which you can revise and expand. The following questions will be of great help to you:

  • Are you starting from scratch or have information-oriented content already been created?
  • How useful is the content?
  • Is the content up-to-date or can you do that better now?
  • Does the content address your target audience or buyer personas and solve their problems?
  • How can you better implement these topics?
  • Which content is especially popular?
  • What content is missing?
  • Can or need to delete outdated content?

Tip: You can do a site query for a quick audit. In that case, I checked whether there is something about topic-finding in content marketing on the level of secrets or what content. So you make sure that you do not treat a topic twice and get an overview of your articles. It is interesting, above all, which topic does not exist yet. And which topics need a new facelift.

It is recommended to review and maintain your content from time to time. The next point is the development of new topics.

A tip on the edge: Search operators can make life easier for you. The ones that exist and how you use them can be found at Google for web search optimization or in this article on Google search operators.

Strategic topic finding

After you have “reviewed” the existing content, you can start searching for new topics. There are several different approaches available to you. It is not always necessary to apply all. But I want to give you all the tools.

Use your “close group” as subject suppliers!

“Why to go wander into the distance, when the good is so close”, Goethe already knew. So put the proverb into action and get inspiration from colleagues, friends, customers and your competition for your topics.

Spanking the competition

Look around on your competitor’s websites. And also on related journals and magazines. Spitting is expressly allowed! However, here is also true: having a snack is ok, but eating at home is better. Be inspired by content for your collection of topics, but please do not just copy the entire contents!

customer surveys

Your content is aimed at your (potential) customers. Why not just ask them what they want to read and what information they want from you? Either in the context of a written customer survey or you simply call your trusted customer for an input.

Information from the sales and service team

Is there a customer support group? Hardly any other contact group knows so much about the problems, worries, and challenges of your customers as the customer service team. This is your chance to find topics that are directly related to your customers and that you can answer with your planned content.

Consult colleagues and friends

Often wrongly underestimated or simply forgotten: The opinions of colleagues and friends. If you do not (yet) have any customers or support – which I’m not expecting now – ask people who surround you. What content would your colleagues and friends like to read on the website? What needs are satisfied and which questions are answered?

Content Curation

Content Curation stands for collecting, organizing and reworking “foreign” information on specific topics. Also a kind of spitting on the competition. However, this approach is rather about presenting views and opinions of other experts on a topic – of course with a link to the original sources. The basic idea is to enrich your content with added value.

The challenge here is to enrich one’s own content by changing perspectives or by (critically) illuminating one’s own point of view, thus distinguishing one from the other.

Tools for finding topics

Probably the most classic method of topic search in online marketing is the search using various tools.

Google Suggest

Please use Google Suggest for your research. Ask Google a question, but WITHOUT pressing Enter.

Think about a specific question about a topic or topic that is relevant to you. The question should begin with a question word (also “W-word”) such as “who / how / what / when”. Then the topic follows as a keyword. The important thing is “Do not hit enter on Google”. Otherwise, you will not be able to see the topics suggested by Google Suggest.

 

google suggest search ideas

Take the W-word “which” and the topic “dog”. Already during the input search phrases are offered. If you run an online dog shop, you immediately found some good ideas for your content. The great thing about these suggestions is reflected in what users are actually looking for! So nothing like the suggestions in your topic collection.

Here’s an article with tips on finding ideas for your content marketing: Spark New Ideas with Keyword Research Tools /Tips.

exploringtopics.com

Exploringtopics.com offers you good help with a topic search. It shows you how and what users are looking for on the net, how your competition deals with the topic and which niche topics are available for you. Exploding Topics is a new tool that analyzes millions of data points around the web from sources like:

⚡Search
⚡Shopping
⚡Online communities
⚡Tech news

And it identifies new topics that are starting to explode. 💥That way, you can create content around these topics… before they get super competitive.

 

exploring content ideas and topics

SISTRIX

With Sistrix, you can identify unused keywords under “Keywords à Opportunities”. All you have to do is compare your domain with competing sites:

 

SEO Sistrix keywords finder

Sistrix will now show you a list of keywords for which your competition will be found in the top 100, but you will not. If you go through these search terms now and filter and sort them by relevance to you, you have again found new topic ideas.

Hypersuggest

Hypersuggest, for example, is a tool based on Google Suggest. Here you can find relevant search terms for all topics collected so far. Particularly interesting is the W-questions search. So you’ll find out how exactly users are looking for these topics. Use this potential by answering as many questions as possible to the topics that are relevant to you.

 

SEO Keyword search Hypersuggest

BuzzSumo

With BuzzSumo, for example, you’ll find not only influencers but also the most shared content on social media channels. Of course, it makes no sense to take over this 1: 1. Still, it’s interesting to see what type of content is especially popular. You can add these topics to your topic collection afterward.

Do you want to become fit in online marketing? With our newsletter, you will automatically receive the latest Seocrats contributions directly into your mailbox! Click here for the registration form.

 

buzzsumo tool for research

Search forums and portals

Forums are an old hat? They are still useful, online forums and portals such as Quora or Reddit have great potential to find out what motivates readers of each target group. The information from the tools and the network will help you find the right topics on these platforms. Here you can find individual questions from different users. For example, if a question is asked very frequently, it seems relevant. And especially interesting: apparently there is still no satisfactory answer. The search volume of questions asked in such portals often has great potential, even if they do not appear in keyword tools.

 

Quora content topic ideas

Social media

Another helper in the search for target group-specific topics is social media, such as Facebook. Based on the “likes” and “shares” you can read what the user employs. A big plus of social media channels is the interactivity. Sometimes a topic call on Facebook can be a good idea supplier. In an illustrated post  “What is important to you …?” You can get interesting and inspiring answers. Also, use Facebook groups to find out what your users are talking about and what they are working on.

Join topic-relevant groups and observe what people are talking about, what questions they have. And ask yourself questions to find out what the group members are doing.

content marketing facebook groups

Conclusion

To find the relevant content topics for your users, you need to know them and know who you are writing for. Before the topic search comes the target group analysis. Once this is done, you can start with my tips on finding a topic right away. Do not let the thought of completeness keep you away. Just start and try it out. But also take breaks to regain some distance and continue fresh. Focus yourself on these questions:

  • Are there any frequently asked sales or support questions that you can answer?
  • What challenges do your customers have and what are their problems?
  • Are there typical case studies from customer or business life?
  • Do your customers follow discussions in topic-related forums and social media groups?
  • What is your target group discussing in Internet forums or question platforms?
  • What is the most talked about topic in the media and social media?

Are you also doing this or do you have a completely different approach to finding relevant topics? What is your approach? I look forward to suggestions and opinions…

SEO techniques in 2019 are well-outlined activities that help you get the desired results. It’s not always enough to publish new articles for the blog, you know?

When it comes to SEO techniques, I always think that, after all, the most useful thing you can do for a project is the publication of good content. Isn’t this the essence of a good strategy for search engine optimization?

You have to find and use the SERP to give the public the best possible results. It applies to SEO and SEM, without distinction. But does this apply to everyone?

Is it enough to follow the hard-nosed road and publish without peace? Not always, sometimes, you have to think through the perspective of SEO techniques to get visibility on Google. What are the tips and strategies I used on my blog?

SEO techniques: what they are and what’s for

This term refers to all the activities that make it possible to increase site visits to obtain useful and concrete results. So it’s not just about getting more clicks on the results, but also about working to improve conversions.

As a result, to be complete and precise in defining the best SEO techniques we need to address the topic from a strategic point of view: you have to sell, generate qualified contacts, get leads and request for quotes. So how to improve the positioning of your website and maintaining this proper perspective?

Base with the leading SEO techniques

  • Each page must have title and meta description tags.
  • Add sitemap.xml in the search console.
  • Set up a linear and straightforward URL structure.
  • Use light and undemanding WordPress theme.
  • Compress each image to reduce weight.
  • Point each page to the placement of search intent.
  • Strictly abolish duplicate content.

Blogging: positioning with new posts

This is the basic rule of web marketing strategies that allows you to improve your web positioning: publish fresh content to gain essential positions for your business. Having an editorial plan is critical.

Because the blog works when you decide to place content to intercept a specific public need, that is to say, an audience that you can transform into a clientele that allows you to make money online with your service.

Do SEO

The rate of publication influences traffic.

So the keyword research is crucial to understand how to choose the keywords to be developed in the articles to intercept the right audience. Here you will find the keywords to use on the website, in the articles and the WordPress SEO fields by Yoast.

So, first, the SEO technique to be developed with strength: open a company blog , make proper keyword research, and start writing. Simple, isn’t it? The pace of publications can do a lot for the project, and not just for the increase in visits.

Improve the CTR of the most useful contents

An easy job that only needs the Search Console. With this SEO tool, you can do research analysis. In practice, you can view the contents that bring more traffic and evaluate the relationship between impressions and clicks.

Do SEO

That is, you can work on the CTR and find out if you can make it so that based on the placement, you need to work to convince more people to click. Maybe people see the snippet but decide not to visit your page.

At this point, you can use the meta description to add a call to action. And entice people to click. Remember that the SEO copywriter doesn’t have to write for search engines but use these tools to reach his audience.

SEO techniques for pages, tags, and categories

One of the significant problems of those who think they have reached the maximum limit: they have not optimized what they do not see. Think about publishing new articles and following essential SEO solutions. But forget that it has a lot of content on the website.

And often these texts only deserve to be improved. For example, the landing pages: they were designed to convert, that’s fine. But do they also have any chance of positioning themselves on Google? And the service pages – who are they, contacts, portfolio – have been treated? Do they have Google meta tags that can describe the content?

Let’s get to the point: tags and categories. Have you created taxonomies that overlap and cannibalize each other? Optimize these pages to eliminate those that are not needed and do not lead to visits, add useful text, and intercept research intent. Then I’ll show you that they start bringing in visits and everyone’s happier.

Work on the long tail keyword of your blog

One of the most apparent SEO errors when you do your keyword research: you decide to choose the keywords with the highest search volume, to increase the visits of the blog. Not forgetting that you don’t bring Google Analytics graphics to the table.

Where to put keywords on a site? The answer is quite simple, but it is the choice that makes the difference. I prefer to avoid keywords that carry more traffic than those that can intercept potential customers.

DO SEO

For this work on the long tail keyword. Have you no idea what it is? Take a look at the image below, explaining everything in detail.

The keywords that manage to create a higher conversion opportunity are those found in the final part. Therefore, those that have more terms and that describe a research intent with more attention and precision.

When you choose the titles to be included in the editorial calendar not against the keywords with more visits but intercepts the queries that bring customers, they are the longest and most detailed ones, perhaps with a not very high CPC but not negligible.

Update old posts with new content

You have published articles but do you think we can achieve something more by publishing less? It’s not an absurd idea; updating old articles is a good practice.

Especially if you want to work with what you already have online. Why think of being able to place new content when you already have something that tries to achieve this result? He’s just waiting for extra gear. Maybe optimizing:

  • Tag title
  • Meta description
  • Internal links
  • SEO friendly URL
  • SEO image optimization
  • Title H1
  • SEO Optimization PDF
  • Post subtitles (Heading)
  • Create an internal menu

content audit flow chart

I believe that it is necessary to work consistently on this point. The relationship between freshness and SEO should not be questioned, always offering the best possible content is indispensable. For this, I follow the scheme of Ahrefs.

What does this scheme say? If the article is recent, we leave it alone. Otherwise, it enters the review cycle. Does it carry traffic? We review it. Does it have any importance, but has it been poorly tackled? It is rewritten with 301 redirects. In short, among the best SEO techniques, reviewing old content can make a difference.

Find quality links for your domain

Do SEO techniques exist for making link building and finding quality mentions? I know a couple of them, I put them into practice on my blog, and I’ve always had good results. Most important rule: publish something incredible, unique, unrepeatable.

For example, an ebook or a list of resources. Perhaps a model to carry out a specific operation of your professional universe. In short, you have to create something that acts as bait. Then start your SEO / digital PR work. Or:

  • Identify people who might be interested.
  • Contact bloggers who have web pages dedicated to the topic.
  • Find out if they are willing to link your content.
  • Alternatively, propose a guest post to push it.

In other words, you have to do a blogger outreach job to find out useful contacts and start bargaining. Another new solution: use Screaming Frog to find the broken links of the blogs in question and propose a valid alternative.

SEO and SEM techniques: what do you do on Google?

Some realities cannot be questioned. Among these, I always mention the great activity of optimizing web pages. In this way, you can intercept the public but not only: increase the general quality of your project.

Is this enough to respect the SEO and SEM rules that give you good results in the SERP? Leave your opinion in the comments, let’s discuss this topic together.

Writing for the web is a full-fledged practice that has its own rules.

The first steps are sometimes hesitant as the areas and skills covered by the web editorial are broad: web marketing, SEO, mastering a foreign language, or storytelling … So many fields that can discourage the most neophytes. Here are ten tips for daring to take the step of web writing and boosting your SEO, to be well seen by Google, but also by your audience in search of quality content.

1) Think before acting

Writing for the web is taking care before thinking about the main keyword on which you want to position yourself. There are many tools available to help you choose your primary and secondary keywords. You’ll find easy-to-read lists of useful SEO-optimized content writing tools by browsing your favorite search engine. The key is to find the right balance so that your keywords are sufficiently typed by users to generate interest (and therefore visits to your page), but the competition is not too much fierce to give you a chance to reach the correct positions. A tool like Google Trends tells you, for example, the search frequency of a keyword, always interesting to know the priorities of Internet users or to find ideas of subjects! Do not forget to insert these keywords into your titles to facilitate better SEO.

2) Be natural!

You’ve probably learned that writing for the web is both writings for Internet users and search engine robots to position your page. Leave aside the machines and their algorithms during the drafting phase and think above all to the Internet users  ! A still common mistake is to want to seduce the robots at all costs and to think wrongly that for that it is enough to repeat the same keywords until indigestion — nothing better to drive away your audience readers and penalize your site. Indeed, the over-optimization of your content is a method that has not worked for ages and is therefore counterproductive for gaining visibility and popularity of your website. Search engine robots are becoming more efficient and now is taking into account the quality and originality of the content. So, be natural in your writing. If people think your text is relevant and useful, there is a good chance that robots will feel the same!

3) Meet the expectations of Internet users

Try to anticipate the needs and questions of your target audience and answer them! Your web page must be the answer to their request. Your content must provide information that will adequately inform users. Obviously, it is wise to stay in your theme, but nothing prevents you from gravitating around it if your approach is consistent. If this can support your expert image in your industry, these are all points earned. In hoping to benefit from a leader in your field, it will be necessary to build an editorial strategy plan coherent to offer content in line with the concerns of your prospects. A long and tedious work that will get rewarded with time!

4) Go straight to the point

A surfer is a man in a hurry, and he has a habit of reading information diagonally. And without wanting to discourage you, it is quite rare that it reads the entire content of a web page. For these reasons, it is advisable to adopt a direct and concise style. Avoid extended sentences and put the essential information at the top of your page. You will then be able to return more specifically to the details. This method is called the inverted pyramid. First, start with essentials so that readers quickly understand what is being discussed and how is your content structured. Answer from the beginning your 5W page (What, Who, Where, When, Why) so that the reader can easily understand the subject. It is only during the reading that the information will be more secondary (and not redundant). Web writing has similarities with journalism, and you must also be particularly vigilant about the integrity of your information by checking your sources beforehand.

5) Structure your content

The user is easily distracted. That is why it is essential to know how to put forward your texts to optimize their impact. Use catchy titles with keywords that will catch the attention of your audience. Structure well your paragraphs by skipping lines, and use smart lists if it can improve the readability of your content. Support your strong ideas with bold text (sparingly) to make it easier for people to read. Finally, think of decorating your content with visual aids such as photos or videos. Well chosen, they will bring a real comfort of reading to your public.

6) Do not copy from other sites

A breakdown of inspiration? It can happen. However, for the proper endorsement of your site, we can only strongly advise you never to resume the content from another site, whether it is a paragraph or extracts of text. This practice called duplicate content remains common on the internet; a downgrading of your page can penalize it in the results of the search engines. Whether it’s a matter of ethics, for your visitors or robots, it is imperative to write only original content.

7) A page = a request

A page must answer the main keyword and secondary keywords. These are the latter who are part of what is called “the long tail.” These are the keywords less searched by Internet users, but which together will bring the bulk of traffic. In SEO, it is much more interesting to create different pages related to queries that are being searched by your audience. Avoid adding all your queries to a single page, by bringing them all together under various topics. The purpose of this operation? Deal with your topic at length to increase your chances of being the gateway for users interested in your industry. Logic is the best friend of natural referencing. The more quality pages you have about your topic, the more likely your prospects will fall on your site after a search.

8) Hunt for faults

You may have already come across a website containing several unwelcome shells. What did it feel like to you? The level of tolerance varies according to each person, but the first impression is decisive, and a misspelled word, a verb with a dubious conjugation or forgotten chords are as many deviations to avoid if you do not want you to discredit. Spelling mistakes can have adverse effects on your image and your ability to build trust. Print your texts if necessary, but read them twice more than once. Moreover, by dint of correcting, you will notice your faults, and you progress more quickly in spelling.

9) How many words?

In content writing, as in SEO, quality takes precedence over quantity. However, you will need to find a balance between the two. In general, it is advisable to reach at least 500 words for your page to position it properly. Indeed, robots need to identify what your web pages are talking about to be able to rank the results of the search engines. If they feel that other pages are more comprehensive and relevant to the subject, you can be sure that it is the competition that benefits. It is estimated that the best-positioned pages reach 1500 words, but if you think you have done the trick before, there is no point in adding superfluous elements (or worse, repetitions) that could make you lose the user.

10) Share your content!

Your article or web page is written and published on your site? It’s a good start. Now, why not share it on your social networks? It is a significant source of traffic, and it would be a shame to deprive yourself of such an audience. New visitors can be charmed by your pen or the quality of your content and share the article in turn. Some will even linger on your site to take a closer look at your business … Finally sharing is an effective way to attract attention to get quality links that point to your website, which is particularly favorable for SEO.

By following these ten points, you can take pleasure in writing while satisfying both users and search engine robots. The key is to dare to start, and with practice, you will realize that content writing is a captivating field that requires some knowledge of SEO, but can greatly improve the positioning of your pages through the pure pleasure of transmitting and communicating.

8 Fundamentals of Content Writing for the Web

 

Before you start your content writing for the web, discover the 8 fundamentals to know for an effective content marketing strategy!
Do you want to embark on a content marketing strategy? Are you ready to write your first articles for your professional blog?

the writing of content for the web meets specific rules, adapted to the specificity of the support. Here are the 8 basics of web writing to know to write 100% SEO friendly content.

 

1. Content writing that meets specific goals

A print reporter writes to disseminate information. A web editor also aims to inform; but he must also know how to convince his audience (to sell a product/service, to demonstrate his expertise or his customer, to encourage the reader to stay on the site, etc.) and organize his text according to the rules of SEO.

Content writing requires the mastery of multiple skills, as well as the ability to meet specific objectives, which differ according to the field of activity and the profile of the Internet users to be targeted. To entrust this mission to a web editor is not, therefore, a luxury.

2. Choose your subjects according to your targets

Content writing requires you to choose specific topics: you do not publish anything and everything on your blog! To do this, one must take into account both its area of activity and the typical profile of its potential readers.

What message (s) do you want to address to your audience? What are the topics that interest them? These questions are crucial. You will not publish cooking recipes on a real estate blog, nor offer legal advice on a platform dedicated to children. Good content is first and foremost a well-targeted topic that will likely to appeal to your readers and attract more qualified traffic.

Think about it: you write above all for the surfer!

3. Put the main information forward

Attract attention: this is the secret of writing content for the web. Not only to get the readers attention, and the desire to read based on your titles and introduction. But also the attention of search engine robots, offering titles which allow them to index the page easily.

A good structuring of its content aims to put the main information (include: keywords) forward in:

  • Titles Hn (H1 for the main title, H2 for the game titles, H3 for the subtitles …);
  • Tags (title, meta description, alt …);
  • The intro (about fifty words on average or 250 characters).

the main title and the meta description appear in Google’s results page. It is therefore essential to optimize them well!

4. Optimize the SEO of your content

Content writing aims to inform, convince … and refer to pages! SEO is an essential method for positioning your pages in the first results of search engines. Without this leverage, your content won’t be visible to users and you will not get traffic.

The on-page SEO goes through:

  • Optimization of tags(see above);
  • The keywords selection (popular but not too competitive, in line with the expectations of your target readers);
  • The placement of keywords in the content (you must reach an average density of 1 to 2% for the main keyword);
  • Optimization of the URL (containing the main keyword, and not too long).

Do not forget, too, to work the semantic field around your keyword. If your content relates to the Auto Showroom, for example, you will have to use terms like ‘car’, ‘automobile’, ‘vehicle’, ‘mechanical’, ‘four-wheel’, brand names, etc.

In any case, all these attributes are specific to the writing of content to impact the positioning of the page on the SERPs of the search engines.

5. Adapt the length of the texts to the subjects

This is a question that often comes up about content writing: do you have to write short or long content? Should we prefer the content of 300 to 400 words, quick to read, or offer expert articles that take the time necessary to explain things well, even if you know the 2000 words?

It is commonly thought that Internet users do not read, or little, the web content. However, according to a Backlinko study, the articles in first place in the results of Google are composed of an average of 1,890 words! And since Google does leave nothing to chance, it is because its users have to appreciate these long contents!

In reality, everything depends on the subject treated … and the purpose of the page. Sometimes, 400 words are enough to go around a question (if it is a page dedicated to optimization). At other times, offering content of 1,500 or 2,000 words helps to demonstrate its expertise on a given topic.

6. Make internal Linking

Once you have started writing content, you will quickly have several articles in stock on the blog. Take the opportunity to start working on your internal Links: this consists of inserting into your content links to other pages of your blog (or your website).

The internal linking has two advantages:

  • It encourages your readers to click on the links to access other pages of the site;
  • It contributes to the good indexing of your pages by the search engine robots (which, during the crawl, circulate on the site through hypertext links).

7. Set up an editorial schedule

At first, running a blog is pretty simple: you pick a topic to write an article every week, and you’re done.

But very quickly, the machine can get carried away. the Increase in traffic to your site gives you more responsibility because your readers are waiting for recent posts. In addition to the 5 weekly articles on the blog, you need to write white papers, guides, client cases, comments for your videos, etc. Topics become more and more expert, and you must manage multiple contributors internally and externally. Result: you are on the edge of implosion!

The solution? Set up an editorial planning for content writing. You will be able to organize your publications on a long-term: topics to deal with dates of publication determined in advance, topics already exploited (practice to organize the internal linking), ideas for future articles, and of course, the entity of the editor in charge of every content.

8. Share your content

Last fundamental point: a good article is a shared article. What’s the point of spending time on content writing if it is to wait for people to find you a little by chance on the search engines?

Go get your readers: distribute your content to your prospects and customers via all channels available to you (website, emailing, SMS). And do not forget to adopt a communication strategy on social networks to share your content … and push your audiences to share them in their turn!

Writing an SEO article perfectly optimized is now essential to approach the top 3 positions of the search engine results. You will see that SEO is not just the keywords that do the job.  It is a unique set of rules to follow that we are going to present here:

Writing an SEO article for Google is certainly a good point, but optimizing it is something else. In order to help it rank well on Google, it is absolutely necessary to take the time to properly write your article and make every effort to make it perfectly optimized.

Perfect optimization of your content will allow you to appear in the first results of Google searches. In this article, we invite you to discover some rules and tips on writing an SEO article and thus optimize it for Google.

What is SEO?

SEO also is known as search engine optimization, it is a technique that will allow you to optimize your articles to make your page be positioned better in search engine results and more particularly Google. The top positions on Google being awarded are the Top 3.

What Is SEO

You should, however, know that SEO is not an exact science because it involves many factors. It is not always possible to gather them all together, but respecting the rules to put all the odds on one’s side is already more simple. A legitimate website for 10 years on a subject, cannot be overtaken overnight if it follows SEO rules to position its content.

By implementing an SEO strategy, this will allow you to gain visibility while ahead at the same time with some of your competitors (as far as possible). You will have more chances to increase traffic to your website and at the same time your sales if you have an e-commerce site.

To put in place a good SEO, it is necessary to follow Google’s guidelines, that is to say, the rules that will allow you to better optimize your content at the SEO level, the loading time of your web pages, as well as several points to apply at the level of your website structure.

We will focus on the rules for writing an SEO article that is relevant to our site.

Write an SEO article

Writing an SEO article means that you write your content following rules that will allow it to be positioned at best on search engines … especially Google.

The first rule to follow in SEO is to be natural in your content writing while seeking to offer the most relevant content possible to your audience.

None of the rules applied should alter the essence of your article if you respect them. There is no question of repeating a keyword 50 times, but knowing how to use its lexical field by addressing synonyms, words related to the main treated keyword. The goal is that Google can correctly interpret your content as being directly related to the word of your target main keyword.

You could write the definition of a word without notifying it and Google could then guess it (interpret it) because it is not a human but a smart bot that will know what you are talking about.

So writing an SEO article aims to offer the maximum of elements related to a word so that Google can correctly interpret it. In the end for a web editor, this is to be relevant and provide added value to the content.

Now let’s look at these different SEO rules to follow:

1. The use of keywords for a good SEO

Like many people, you have probably heard about keywords without actually knowing what it means or what it is for. You should know that optimizing your content starts with choosing your keywords, including finding the right ones.

Writing an SEO article already revolves around the main keyword or keyword phrase.

If you choose a keyword too ‘classic’, the latter may be too competitive, and you will have very little chance of being well referenced. For that, it will be more judicious to opt for keywords with a long tail which will allow you to be better (more easily) positioned. The long tail is a key phrase revolving around your main keyword.

Example:

  • Main keyword: Marketing
  • Key phrase (long tail): marketing strategy – marketing techniques – search marketing etc …

Be aware that some tools allow you to find the keywords to be naturally visible on Google. We can mention ‘Google Keyword Planners’ that will allow you to find these keywords for free.

Other tools are available, but they are generally paid. Once you’ve completed your long-tail keywords research, you can then start writing your article.

2. The title of your SEO article

The title of your article must contain a keyword and usually at the beginning according to the topic. This title should also be attractive and not too long because it is partly through it that your article will be read and/or shared. Numbers are often used in titles and it really works.

write your seo article title

For example, instead of saying ‘clothing trends’, write instead ‘3 outfits trends’.

The SEO title and the meta description that will be seen below, are the 2 elements to treat to increase your Click Through Rate (CTR) in order to gain traffic and raise your content to the nearest of the top 3 Google.

Writing an SEO article with an expressive title will increase your chances to be read, but be careful not to over-sell your article by putting a title too catchy! Find the right balance.

3. Writing the introduction of your SEO article

The introduction is often sloppy by the editor, but it has its importance. Indeed, this introduction will allow you to introduce once again your keyword for your SEO. Be aware that this keyword should appear preferably once in the first 100 words of your article.

Writing the introduction of your SEO article

Thus, the Google robot will be able to quickly find this keyword and index your content based on the keyword if all of your content is well optimized.

Humanly speaking, your content article introduction represents the first lines of reading through which you will have to capture your audience. It may, from time to time, be repeated as a meta description tag if it is relevant and not too long.

4. The number of words

As the years’ pass, it becomes more difficult to position oneself on competitive queries. Furthermore, it is also difficult to maintain the first position on Google if SEO articles are not sometimes reviewed and updated.

Today it is easier to position oneself on long articles than on short articles. Writing an SEO article, therefore, requires time if you want to position yourself effectively in the top position on Google. For the length, we will aim at an average 2000 words.

It’s a lot of words to get up to 2000! Yes, but it is better to take the lead where the field is still virgin or try to take the places of your competitors if they opted for short content. It does not mean that you will take their place overnight, but if you work to promote your posts on your social networks and if you do link building, it will pay off faster.

Think about the different angles of a subject to bring material to your content and do not think that you need to make an unnecessary filling.

5. Segment SEO content with H1, H2 … H6 tags

Writing an SEO article in one go will not make people want to read it, especially if it is close to or more than 1500/2000 words. To do so, you will need to cut it into sections (headings and subheadings) like this article and treat your content point by point.

The H1 tag is reserved for the SEO title of your article. It should be used only once within the content. WordPress theme normally interprets the SEO title as an H1 tag. It will, therefore, start with the H2 tags (or title 2 in the WordPress drop-down menu)

writing an seo article

Define a central frame and the different topics and subtopics that you will have to deal with. Each of these headings will be the subject of a title linked to an H2 tag. Use then H3 tag for the sub-headings. Beyond that, we can have H4 tags which would align points under the subheadings. H5 and H6 tags are rare.

Topics and sub-topics have the advantage of being able to slip in your keywords but especially to streamline the reading of your SEO article. Writing an optimized SEO article using the H tags to segment it, also allows you to drag photos within topics to illustrate the points addressed.

6. Internal links and outbound links

Whether it’s internal links or outbound links, they all matter when writing an SEO article. Internal links connect your articles to each other. The outgoing links allow them to bring additional information to your content.

writing an seo article with links

Internal links: These links will allow you to refer to other pages within your site. They allow for different links from your website, to do what is called an internal linking.

This will increase the SEO of all your pages. In addition, be aware that internal links are a great idea to encourage the bounce rate (by lowering it) and make the reader want to read other pages (articles) of your website. The lower your bounce rate, the more your audience will browse your articles, instead of going out directly after reading or browsing the article your reader has arrived at.

Outgoing links: They will redirect the reader to another website or page. This will allow the reader to discover more about the subject, and this will add additional value to your content. Google Search engines highly value outbound links.

Internal and external links are therefore of great importance so that you can easily improve your SEO.

7. Backlinks

We remain in relationship with backlinks, which unlike your outgoing link is a link from your website but shared from another site. For the site that shares it is, therefore, an outgoing link and for you, it is a backlink, a link that ensures a return to your site. In this case, it is you who benefit from the traffic generated from a website to yours.

Backlinks are highly sought after by website owners and bloggers. They significantly contribute to the popularity of a site and its positioning on search engines like Google. When it comes to SEO, SEO agencies or experts are usually used to work on a link building strategy to gain positions and authority.

Agencies and SEO experts usually have a portfolio of bloggers and important media. Some of them manage the link building part by buying links. They get sites with a higher DA to ensure a better positioning of the content or site in itself.

The backlink has a real importance to go up in google position rankings. To earn them, it is better to outreach for an influencer high authority blog site with an optimized SEO article that can sometimes accept to post it according to your content topic.

8. The images weight and alt tag

As a web editor, you often tend to overlook images, but know that they are very important for optimizing your article. Indeed, it is necessary to optimize your images so that they do not slow down your website.

This is one of the first things to do in order to meet the requirements of Google. It is an important ranking factor, especially for Mobile-friendly sites.  It is a priority if you want to have a site and pages that load quickly on mobile devices. Google appreciates sites that are fast and it will tend to favor them.

Finally, know that you can (must) add an alternative text or alt tag on your images, so you can place your keyword again by indirectly associating your images to your content and therefore your website. This is a good strategy because Google’s robot will be able to reference your image based on this alternative text. You should include in it the keyword that you are interested in.

Do not neglect to reduce the size of your images and filling the alt tag. There are plenty of plugins to help you do it. Find a software that can also help you do it manually. Start by looking for a small software that compresses images for the web, if you do not have Photoshop.

For the filling of the alt tag, look at the screen below. You will fill your alt tag when uploading your image to one (you can return to it if necessary) For the images within your article, click on the image and select the small pencil to edit the information.

writing an seo article

 

9. The meta-description

The meta-description is essential for your SEO. It is an integral part of your article writing, so do not make it a dilemma. This meta-description is a kind of a summary of your content article. Focus your strategy to attract the reader’s attention to want to read your content.

When a reader types a query on Google search and your content appears, he will read the meta description and click if it is relevant. This principle helps to increase your CTR (click through rate) or rate of clicks and participates in the SEO of your article. When your article appears as a result of a query and the user doesn’t click on your article, it lowers your CTR. If your CTR is low on one or more of your articles, you will have to rework your articles.

writing an seo article

It will notably be visible on the search engines and therefore on google results. Automatically, it will contain the first 140 characters of your article, but this is not the goal. You must write it in a strategic way and of course include, again, your keyword.

 

10. Measure and analyze your content with Google Analytics

Finally, consider installing Google Analytics to measure the results of your work and analyze all the information about your related content. The number of readings, the CTR, the origin of your audience etc …

writing an seo article
You will have a code to place on your website (within the theme) to activate it. It is essential to monitor the evolution of your traffic and your website as a whole.

Also consider other paid tools that will help you as SEMRush, Majestic SEO, Moz explorer etc …

 

11. Consider SEO voice search 

One of the strong trends considered in 2017 is voice search. It is probably one of the next challenges in SEO. The use of voice search is growing day by day. In a study commissioned by Google,  41% of adult Americans are using this feature. Also, the rise of more than half of teens is using this feature on a daily basis. Seeing this heavy trend, optimization for voice search will now be a major key for companies specializing in SEO.

It will be wise to quickly get up to date with all the voice assistants who arrive in homes, in addition to those who equip our mobile devices such as Google Assistant, Siri or Cortana.

voice search

You do not type a Google query on your computer or mobile as you speak. When speaking to a voice assistant, we build more explicit sentences such as: ‘How do you write an SEO article? Instead of ‘SEO Article’ usually typed on Google.

Writing an SEO article should not be done for the sole purpose of responding to a direct keyword. You should focus on answering one or more questions about a key topic. You do not need to put a question as an article title. The Google bots are now smart enough to detect content that meets a problem or a question.

Simply think about it when writing your article.  You will get better success when answering as best you can to one or more questions about a topic.

The conclusion on writing an SEO article

The process of writing an SEO article for Google may seem complicated at first glance. However, with practice, it will grow over the months and becomes almost a game for you. Learn these steps and follow the progress of your site.

 

 

 

 

The 5 pillars of an effective content strategy


What is a content strategy?

They say that Content is King and Content quality is Queen…You say nothing new under the Sun.

It is nevertheless your best ally for any web marketing plan! To get there, nothing is easier. Just put in place an effective content strategy, otherwise called brand content for the most hype of us. Yes, but what exactly is it? It’s about creating content that’s right for your target audience, highlighting your strengths, products, and services.

These content broadcast on the web are imperative in terms of SEO! You can position yourself on certain keywords or improve your long tail. The whole thing is to gain positions in SEO. It is also the best way to control your brand since it is you who speak by carefully choosing your elements. By distributing it in the right places you will be able to develop your image, boost your fame, demonstrate your expertise and gain legitimacy.

A little fuzzy? Do not panic, I suggest you follow a simple methodology with 5 essential pillars to create an effective content strategy!

Pillar 01: Challenges and positioning, the basics of your content strategy

Determine specific goals

This is the first key step in your content strategy! You cannot (should not) neglect it! To ask the right questions in advance is to know why you write. Identifying the right goals is the best way to initiate a good strategy! (By the way, it is also valid for any type of strategy).

I propose a list of objectives, which is obviously not exhaustive:

  • Develop your reputation
  • prospect;
  • loyalty;
  • Create services for your customers;
  • Increase sales ;
  • legitimize your positioning;
  • Improve your traffic from search engines;
  • Etc.

You can define one or more goals, and then prioritize them with a primary goal and secondary ones. The key issue of your strategy is to convert and sell!

Know who you are

Writing and talking about yourself provoke sometimes anxiety. We’ve often been told that we have nothing to say or say…! We all have something to tell!

Companies, brands, people, each entity has an experience, a history, assets. You just have to find the art and how to tell it well. And to talk about oneself, one must know oneself well. The idea is to define who we are, it’s positioning, what differentiates us from our competitors, which is our strength, our values, our mission.

To finish this step, it is obviously necessary to have a global vision of all the offers, products, and services that we sell.

Define your targets

The challenge of an effective brand content strategy is to know who is talking so that our content is read. The more you know about your audience, the more relevant you will be, the more you will interest your targets and the more your content will be read. Who do we target (general public, BtoB, …), what are their needs, their purchasing process, …? To go further and be closer to expectations, do not hesitate to think about your personas! (imaginary characters representing each of your targets).

Unique, tailor-made content and adapted to your targets can strengthen your brand image and add value to your business. It is also the best way to interest your customers and your prospects since you will stick close to their expectations.

Pillar 02: A precise editorial line as a guideline

Create an editorial line

Editorial line, an expression that can be scary! Still, if you followed the previous steps it should be a child’s play. To put these few lines is to define a course, a guideline for your content taking into account your objectives, who you are and your targets.

The idea is that in one or two sentences, you recall the previous points: your positioning, the main mission of your product/ service/brand. It’s kinda your signature, brand content version!

This editorial line must always be present in mind because it will allow you to remain consistent during your various speaking engagements and differentiate yourself from your competitors. Then, you just have to pull the string by defining your tone, your style, the image you want to convey: a pedagogical or playful tone? Humor or rather institutional?

Define and segment topics

You must choose the key messages you want to share. This may be transparency, quality, a wide range, innovation, benefits, etc.

You now have to list all the topics that allow passing these messages. Gather them into categories to see if the package is well articulated and meets your original goals. Grouping your content is organizing information and facilitating its understanding with your target audience.

To help you create this segmentation of content and find complementary ideas, there are several solutions:

Conduct a keyword audit! Thanks to this semantic analysis carried out on your site and those of your competitors, you will be able to refine your topics;
Think imperatively about the structure of the site to make this content strategy a true ally of SEO;
Do monitoring on social networks: look at what is said, how, etc. ;
Use this site which allows you to properly map your content and find unique topics to treat.
After these 3 sources of ideas, the hard part will be to segment your content so that it is easily understandable for your targets!

Pillar 03: Quality, varied and optimized content

Vary the types of content

Today there is a lot of possibilities to create content! Editorial, visual, video, you find what is best for your target. A small list of non-exhaustive ideas once again:

  • Articles, interviews;
  • White paper, webinar, ebook, polls;
  • Photos, charts, graphics, visual gifs;
  • Customer cases;
  • Contests Etc.

Above all, vary the formats so as not to bore your audience! But keep in mind your editorial line to stay consistent. You will also have to create a graphic chart for your visuals in order to be quickly recognized and remain consistent in your different speeches. If you do not master publishing software, do not panic! There are now practical online tools to realize your visuals. For this article, I realized, for example, the visuals with Canva.

VARIED TYPE OF CONTENT

Vary the types of contents, it is also adapting to the ways of consuming information today! The practices have evolved significantly, so we must create brand content that adapts to different contexts of the web ecosystem! Keep in mind that the smartphone is the first screen in our way of consuming the web today.

Optimize content

Writing for the web is also to ensure your content is well optimized. Whether your texts, your visuals, your videos, on your blog as on Youtube, Facebook or Pinterest, … Each type of content, streaming media requires optimization. However, be careful about finding the right balance between the quality of your content and optimization.

The idea is to work on your keyword strategy to position your site on the desired queries, it is using the right keywords on networks to allow as many people as possible to discover content in line with their interests. You must rely on the keyword audit previously performed. This is the best way for you to meet the needs of Internet users!

Pillar 04: A web ecosystem to make a soundboard

Broadcast your content

The more your content is shared, the better will be your reputation and your visibility. Yes, but where? Your main tool must belong to you, so I would say that your website and/or blog is the cornerstone of your device!

Then you will push your content on different social media, you determine in advance which network to publish first according to your objectives, your targets and your content!

Facebook ;
Twitter;
Linkedin;
Youtube ;
Instagram;
Pinterest;
Etc.

Warning! Each chosen social channel requires a different speaking tone. The same content can obviously be shared on several networks, but you must adapt it to each one, to each target. (a public tone for Facebook, a professional angle for Twitter and Linkedin, …). You will also need to adapt to the most relevant broadcast days and schedules that vary by network.

Challenging, in parallel or practical, do not hesitate to amplify the diffusion! Here are some ideas to go after:

Buying space ;
Blog guests;
Relations with influencers
Press releases ;
Etc.

Plan!

At this stage, you now know what to say, how to say it and where!

You still have to plan to gain peace of mind in your daily life. The principle is to speak regularly to stay in the minds of your customers, your prospects. But you should not fall too in speaking too regularly at the risk of boring your targets or even to address all your topics too quickly and lose your momentum.

Create an editorial schedule where you will spread your words by varying your topics. All you have to do is animate your presence. However, anticipation and planning do not mean a lack of responsiveness! Keep in mind that you must be present on your various media to moderate and respond if necessary, as well as when it’s relevant, react to the news!

Pillar 05: KPIs to track your performance

Measure your actions

Test and learn, I’m sure you know this expression! This is one of the foundations of the digital worldwide web. Seen as this one evolves quickly, just like its users, which was true yesterday, it is not anymore today. So, test! But most importantly, measure every time!

From the objectives that you have defined, choose relevant KPIs of the order of quantity (Number of views, shares, …) or qualitative (traffic sources, typology of the fans, …). Besides, do not forget to carry out a marking plan for your website, to allow you to place in the right places the markers which will then go back to your analytical tool.

By analyzing the successes or failures of your strategy, you will adapt to the needs of your audience to offer them a better user experience closer to their needs/desires. You will be aware of the content that works best on your site, those on Facebook, what time it is better to publish, etc … A good way to refine your content strategy!

An effective content strategy in 5 points

5 pillars of an effective content strategy

With these 5 pillars, you should now be able to create quality content, designed for your target audience and optimized for search engines. And what better than a video to explain how this content methodology is important?

A strategy of contents thought in advance and adapted to the different channels is your best online marketing ally in the service of commitment and performance!

SEO content is essential for a good SEO of your website. What is SEO content and why should it be produced?
SEO content is a very important factor for your website. Good SEO content will make your site visible in the search engine results, including those of Google. It will allow you to increase the organic traffic of your site and boost your visibility.

Definition of SEO content

SEO content is content optimized for search engines. All the texts and visuals of your website can be optimized SEO.

Search Engine Optimization is known or called (SEO). SEO is defined as the art of optimizing the positioning of a web page, the objective being is to appear in the first page positions of search engine results and especially on Google.

Why create SEO content?

Why create SEO content and why for Google in particular? With these few figures on the market share of Google in the search on the web, you will find the first answer. This will help you understand better why it is important to create SEO optimized content for your website:

In Canada, 90.8% market share for Google (Bing 5.61% and Yahoo 2.48%),
In North America, 88.66% market share for Google (Bing 6.77% and Yahoo 3.62%),

Source: gs.statcounter.com for the month of June 2018

These numbers alone illustrate why you need to meet Google’s content requirements. To get good visibility on Google, SEO content is king.

SEO optimized text content

To make your website visible on the search engines and especially on Google, it must contain optimized SEO content.

Optimized SEO content must be:

  • Original, interesting and quality,
  • Adapted to the web and the requirements of Google,
  • Concise and quickly understandable,
  • Interactive.

To this short list are added the Google’s quality guidelines:

  • Design content by thinking first of your visitors rather than the search engines,
  • Do not mislead your visitors,
  • Avoid using SEO techniques that are contrary to Google’s guidelines to help you rank,
  • Make your site unique, attractive and stand out from your competition.

SEO optimized visual content

Depending on your field of activity, visual content may be as important as text content. Since 2001 (corresponding to the birth of Google Image), the search for images is constantly increasing on Google. By using quality images related to your business activity, you can acquire quality traffic to your website. This is the case for example for communication agencies, e-commerce sites, portfolios of artists such as photographers and graphic artists, image banks, etc.

To optimize your images for SEO, it is essential to:

  • Use ‘ALT’ tags with targeted keywords to describe your image,
  • Take care of their size and weight to optimize loading time,
  • Enter the title of the image.

To learn more about SEO optimization of images:

And do not forget that Google Images has evolved. The advantage of this update allows a more quality image search.

How to value your SEO content?

Creating optimized SEO content will be beneficial for your visibility, provided you meet certain criteria on the web page that will host your content. A web page containing SEO content must include:

Title

It should contain the title of your web page and its content that will be displayed in Google’s results. It must, of course, contain the targeted main keyword.

Title tag

The title tag or H1 tag is the ‘editorial title’ of your content, it is visible on your page and must contain the keyword you are targeting.

A Meta Description

It informs Internet users of the content of the web page in the form of a short description. It is visible in the results of the search engines and must attract the user’s curiosity and encourage them to click on the link of your web page.

How to promote your SEO content?

When SEO content is added to other actions, you put the odds on your side to optimize the SEO and positioning of your web page. The SME, does it speak to you? Need a little reminder?

When you combine SEO, SEA, and SMO, the three complement each other and allow a good SEO of your website on Google.

The three main levers for promoting your content:

  • SEO, natural optimization,
  • SEA paid optimization,
  • SMO, optimization on social networks.

Indeed, a unique and quality SEO content must be relayed on social networks. Promoting quality SEO content is the best way to naturally get backlinks to increase awareness and visibility of your web page.

Who to call for SEO content?

To produce SEO content, you have several options:

  • Write content from A to Z alone by following the instructions of Google,
  • Write a first draft that will then be optimized for a web search agency,
  • Use an SEO agency or web editor.

In short,

Writing SEO content with high added value is essential to improve your positioning on Google. If despite all your efforts and following these tips the positioning of your website is not up to your expectations, do not hesitate to use the services of a web agency to conduct an audit of your website. This audit will allow you to identify and correct the weaknesses of your site to improve its performance.

How can cookies help you design an effective website?

Since the entry into force of the GDPR (General data protection regulation) on May 25, the corporate world, and more particularly the BtoC, seems to be experiencing a real data psychosis. This new European regulation worries many companies, who do not know what process to put in place to protect the personal data of their customers on the Web. Suddenly, for fear of possible retaliation, some might have a false good idea to remove the use of cookies and other systems for recording personal data on their website (such as Pixel Facebook and contact forms).

However, the GDPR does not mean the end of the personal data. On the contrary, the aim of this new regulation is not to prohibit their registration but rather to protect them, in particular by allowing the person concerned to manage them more easily. In fact, the motto for companies that collect personal data is that they must be able to justify the source of the data they hold and confirm that they have received the consent of the data subject to process the data. Attention, also, that it is always necessary to let this person the possibility of asking that his data be erased.

But for the rest, the data and their recording techniques remain essential for companies, who should not be afraid to use them. Their benefits are numerous, both from the point of view of the customer’s browsing experience and digital marketing. Why? Because the resulting statistics allow you to optimize your web presence. But an effective website can bring more customers and therefore more money. That’s why, at Mestar Digital Marketing Agency, we think as a little reminder of the many benefits of cookies, Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics, and contact forms is much needed.

What are cookies and other data recording techniques?

Cookies, Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics … All these techniques for recording personal data may have different reasons for being. Now let’s look at each one.

Cookies:

Cookies are mainly used to improve the browsing experience of the user (and god knows how important it is!). These files are deposited by your website on the computer of the user who consults. Cookies consist only of text and contain all the personal information that the user has encoded on your website: his name, surname, username, address, age, identifier, etc. They are therefore completely harmless and can in no way access the contents of the computer to obtain information that the user has not provided.

  • Allow you to memorize certain information such as username, password, and user preferences, in order to avoid the person returning to your website from having to encode them again.
  • They also memorize for a certain period of time a product that you have placed in your virtual basket but that you do not buy. That way, if you finally decide to crack, you can find it easily without having to do a new search.

Facebook Pixel:

The Pixel Facebook is a small piece of code placed on your website. It is triggered when an action that you have previously marked as important is performed (for example, a purchase).

  • The goal is to develop highly qualified audiences for your Facebook ads, by analyzing the behavior of your customers on your website. Let’s take an example: if you indicate that your important action is a purchase on your site and that you then launch an advertising campaign on Facebook, the Facebook Pixel will let you know which people your advertising must touch (for example, those who came on your site but have not made a purchase) and those that should not be (such as those that have just made a purchase, and therefore have less chance to start again).
  • It allows for satisfying both the user who is not automatically retargeted after a purchase and your business, which can target much more easily the right people.

Google Analytics:

Google Analytics is a tool that allows you to collect a set of anonymous statistics on the traffic of your website (audience, origin, pages viewed …). The goal is to help you better understand your traffic and behavior and then improve the performance of your website. Thus, Google Analytics allows you, for example:

  • Measure the effectiveness of an AdWords campaign or the effectiveness of your SEO, to optimize them.
  • Determine the most effective channels, social networks, AdWords ads, Google searches …, to further target them and thus increase your chances of achieving your goals.
  • Monitor the conversion rate you get, that is to say, to verify that the goals you have set for yourself are being achieved and to improve what should be if they are not.
  • Check that the bounce rate (ie the number of sessions where the user has viewed a single page, without interacting with its content) is not too high.
  • Determine if your content strategy is effective. For example, if you want to check the success of an article you can see how many people viewed it, how long they spent on the page, and so on. This way, you can better understand the topics that most interest your audience and write more about them, to their delight.

You see it with this non-exhaustive list, the benefits of Google Analytics are really numerous. This tool is very valuable for companies that want to make sure that their website is efficient and that it earns them money. It also allows them to offer a much better web-based customer experience and therefore to get the satisfaction of their customers.

The case of contact forms:

You do not need to delete contact forms from your website. When you think about it, even if you only indicate an email address to which the customer can reach you, you would still be a database because you would have to answer it and use your personal email address. As a result, the GDPR would apply anyway.

It is, therefore, more interesting to keep contact forms, the benefits of which are numerous. Thanks to them :

  • You limit the risk of being relegated to unwanted email (spam)
  • You increase your chances of being contacted in an ‘impulsive’ way: Internet users who have direct access to a means of contact are more likely to fill out your form. If they had to go to their personal mailbox, transcribe your email address, think about the information they have to provide … They have a much better chance to get discouraged and give up.
  • You automate your email processing: all your emails have the same structure and allow you to obtain qualified and targeted information.

Conclusion:

Of course, being compliant with the GDPR is important. Companies that process personal data (which is the case for almost all companies since a simple email address is a personal data) must imperatively learn about the new rules established by Europe. But do not panic, though! GDPR does not mean the death of data, either. You can always register them, as long as you can justify their provenance, you have the consent of the person concerned and you respect his right to be forgotten.

So rather than delete all the ways to save data via your website (cookies, Facebook Pixel, contact form, Google Analytics …), just make sure they comply with the new rules. Thanks to them, you will be able to improve your performances on the Web, those of your site, your social networks, your contacts, but also improve the browsing experience of your customers.

Cookies and analytics are the foundation of an effective website and help you deliver quality content and customer experience. Because this is the challenge of the Web: to combine a website that brings you money, which fulfills the objectives that you have set, but also offers a good browsing experience and is interesting for your customers and your prospects. Without these tools, the Web would lose its interest, while, thanks to them, it gains in efficiency.

 What defines high-quality content to Google

The key to success for your website: create the best possible user experience with original and high-quality content!
Producing quality content is essential if you want to stand out in Google’s search results (more than 95% of the search market). Original and quality content will make your site useful and unique, it is possible that your visitors come back and even refer your content on their own website. Engaging high-quality content is essential to attract as many Internet users as possible over time. Read more

When writing content for the web, this means that users are reading our text will across a screen. However, this interface induces very particular and different constraints of the paper reading:

  • Longer reading time
  • Less fluid reading
  • Less reading comfort
  • A more difficult understanding

Web editors must, therefore, adapt their writing to these specificities to capture the interest of Internet users. Here are a few tips to help you achieve this goal.

1- Take into account the peculiarities of reading on the screen

In web content writing, it is essential to keep in mind that between your text and the reader is a screen.

You have to adapt because; the ways to read a text on a screen are different compared to reading in a magazine.

An eye-tracking study led by Jakob Nielsen is used to define essential reading areas on the screen. It is, therefore, necessary to consider these strategic areas to include relevant information or the links on which you want to direct the user.

Reading behaviours on the web is entirely different from reading on paper. The user is a reader with his characteristics, often less attentive; he seeks accurate and targeted information.

Here are some ways to help you better understand the behaviour of readers on the web, and allow you to adapt your web writing.

These hot areas are located mainly on the left of the screen, and we see that the user sweeps the web page from left to right by forming an F.
These are the strategic locations on the screen, to give priority to highlight essential elements of your content.

Even if the scroll is no longer a brake to the user, used to scroller on social networks, in particular, the location of hot spots is at the waterline. So remember to include the critical information and call-to-action at this level, and the relevance of your content will urge the reader to want to scroll down to find out more.

Adapt your content to all screens

Web browsing is also performed on different media devices with different screen sizes:

  • Tablets
  • Smartphones
  • Computers

To make your content readable regardless of the terminal device used by the reader, it is essential to adopt a responsive design for your site. The display of your web page will fit the screen size and will maintain a good quality of reading. It is also essential to consider the smaller size of mobile screens, so sentences and short paragraphs will be more natural to read rather than a thick pad that will discourage the reader.

When writing your content, it is, therefore, necessary to take into account all these specificities in order to strategically position the information in the right places on your page.

2 – The Internet user is an impatient reader

And yes, generally the user is an eager reader who scans the screen more than he reads its content. In fact, only 10 to 20% of Internet users read an entire article on the web.

The challenge is to capture the attention of the user to make him want to read your content. Now that you know the hot areas of reading on the screen take the opportunity to put relevant and impactful information in these strategic places.

The user gives only a little time to read; he wants to access the information he seeks quickly. You can, therefore, facilitate his reading by highlighting the critical information on your page, in bold, for example.

Also, take care of the paragraphs’ titles so that the reader can see the elements present in each of them and can organize his reading according to his needs.

You will understand with the web reader; the length of an article is not a guarantee of success. This reader seeks above all relevant information, concise that provides him a real added value; he favors the quality of content.

3 – How to improve your web’s reading rate

How to improve your web's reading rate

In web writing, one of the secrets to capturing the attention of your reader from the first lines is to adopt a text structure in an inverted pyramid.

The principle is simple; it is to write your text starting with the most crucial information and then go into the details and secondary information.
This writing principle allows you to hook the reader quickly by delivering the information he was seeking, and by encouraging them to further to learn more about the subject.
This technique completely corresponds to the behavior of the readers on the web, who expect concise texts that go straight to the point.

To avoid anything, this reverse pyramid structure allows you to back up your most important keywords at the top of the page, where they are most visible for search engines.

The technique of the inverted pyramid is the golden rule in web copywriting. Let’s go back to the basic principles of this method.

The basics of the technique of the inverted pyramid,

Let’s take a quick step backward: remember, at school, we were taught well for our essays on respecting the following plan: introduction, development, and conclusion. In journalism and web copywriting, it’s just the opposite: we directly announced the conclusion (= the essential message) from the first lines. In other words, the primary information must be condensed in the title and Cap (or “Chapo”).

To support the ideas in the different paragraphs, it will always be based on this principle: the web editor should highlight the key concepts in the headings and develop them in the first lines of each part of the text. Developing one idea per paragraph, being captured by subheadings.

Likewise, keywords, which reflect the subject and topic, must appear at the beginning of the text in the title in this case (“title”), in the first part and in the opening lines of the article. The inverted pyramid is, therefore, at the heart of web copywriting techniques.

The rule of the inverted pyramid: Interests and benefits

Let’s now make a brief comparison web press/clipboard. With magazines and traditional newspapers, the reader enjoys a comfortable reading: well wedged in his sofa, he takes the time to read, flip through the pages of his favorite mag, browse through the texts and images.
On the Internet, it is rather fishing for information, as the information ‘overflows,’ so is the competition between news sites, both the info goes quickly, always faster.

Why am I doing this aside? Because this is the whole point of articles written with the technique of the inverted pyramid. The reader in a hurry and ultra solicited from the outset at the heart of the information. And to be even more effective, the inverted pyramid rule must go hand in hand with quality writing: simple words, short sentences, a well-structured article, and soon.

The essential thing to remember about the inverted pyramid technique:

The reverse pyramid technique offers many advantages. Mainly, this method allows us to hold the reader’s attention and satisfy him in his search for information.
Furthermore, a well-written text with the keywords and relevant information at the beginning of the text makes it possible to reference the page better.
Also, following the reverse pyramid rule allows you not only to be read but also to be better referenced.

It is also essential to prioritize the readability of your content. This may sound basic, but a bad-chosen font or a size of character too small and uncomfortable to read can slow down the end-user as soon as he landed on your page. Structuring your text is also good readability, avoid too dense texts that will again drive away your readers.

Also, you could select a fluid writing style and easy to read with short sentences.

Use precise vocabulary and do not knock out your readers with a too technical vocabulary that they will have difficulty understanding, except for a professional audience.

The web reader enjoys a concise and direct style that goes to the basics.

4 – A clear structure

In order to facilitate the user’s reading, it is vital to set up a clear text structure, with easily identifiable paragraphs and titles, which will help make the content reading more comfortable.

In addition to structured text, an open layout is also preferred to improve reading comfort but also encourage the user to read your writing.

It is especially important to avoid the impression of a very dense text, which will seem confusing for the user to read.

5 – Make the information standout

 

Make your Content Information Standout

In copywriting, it is essential to highlight some points on your web page, in order to facilitate the reading of the user but also to bring it quickly to the critical information of your content.
In fact, on a web page, the user scans the content more than he reads, so do not hesitate to highlight key phrases in your text by visual elements, for example by putting them in bold. This will attract his attention and make him want to read the rest.

6 – Go straight to the point

Clarity is one of the keywords of web writing, so keep it in mind when writing for your website or blog.

Get to the point

A concise text with a simple vocabulary will facilitate the reading again to the user. This will maintain his attention without losing it in the middle of a sentence too complex.

Short sentences and paragraphs, with only one information explained at a time, are therefore recommended.

You also pay attention to the length of the text; a long text may discourage the reader even before he has started to read it.

7 – Provide additional information to the reader

Unlike paper, web content writing allows you to provide further information to the reader through the addition of links to your content.

It is therefore advisable to use these internal and external links to provide additional information relevant to the reader, for example:

  • The explanation of a notion mentioned in an article
  • Support a cited statistic in a text
  • To discover a complimentary product in a product description

In addition to providing additional and useful information to the reader, this practice is also indicated for your SEO optimization, so you kill two birds with one stone.

8 – The importance of illustration

cornea illustration

Inserting images within your web content also allows you to lighten your text, to bring the comfort of reading, and to facilitate the understanding of the reader by illustrating the points discussed.

As the saying sometimes goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” this can also be applied to web content writing, yet we must select them well.

It is essential to pay attention to the choice of images, and they must be in correlation with the content and provide a value-added in terms of quality.

Conversely, a poorly chosen image might draw the quality of your content (article, product…) down.

You will understand, when writing for the web, you must first and foremost think about the user and organize your content to ensure optimal readability and thus turn it into a player.

If you need assistance with your web writing, you can ask our web editors who will produce content for your site that guarantees quality legibility for your users.

You also have our agency share your tips and tricks in web writing, by leaving a small comment at the bottom of this article.