Whether you run a business or operate a blog, content is important. Writing great content is how you pull people in and get them interested in what it is your business or blog has to offer. So making sure that your content is both appealing and noticeable is very important. Quality is definitely more important than quantity. As previously mentioned, I’m on a mission to recover from a traffic drought that I feel I’ve been in for most of the year. An important part of that is beefing up my content game.
Having a constant stream of useful content is one thing that can help increase your traffic, increase your followers, and sell your product. It can be hard to keep it up (trust me, I know), However, it is very important. Here are some essential tips that will allow you to create content that gets read and noticed.
Keep Things Short and Simple
This is definitely easier said than done. I’m very guilty of writing very long-winded posts sometimes. Most blogger opps require blog posts to be at least 250 words in length. Some ask for 500+ words, which is what I prefer. However, it’s a known fact that most people have very short attention spans. Your content will probably get read more if you are able to keep it short and simple. People are often less likely to read posts that are too long, so don’t let them drag on for thousands of words. They are very guilty of skimming. While a few long posts here and there are ok, it will be easier for you if you plan to write a few short posts as well. That way you can write more content in a short period of time. If you must write a long post, break it up with H2 headers. This way the skimmers can skip ahead to the part that they really want to read.
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Write Useful Content
People and search engines love relevant content. Writing posts that tell people how to do something encourages them to share. Useful content also does well in search engines. The more posts that you write that people may be searching for, the more traffic your site will get. Some webmasters make the mistake of simply stuffing their sites with keywords, hoping to attract the attention of the search engines. This method doesn’t work. Don’t write your articles, blog postings and product descriptions for the search engines. Create content that gives your readers useful info. Most searchers use Google to gather information. I have posts that were written years ago that still rank well in Google searches because people are still searching for those topics.
Use a good keyword tool to find out what search terms are bringing people to your site. Also, write about hot topics that you know people are searching for. Of course, only include these if it is relevant to your niche.
Include Great Graphics
People are visual creatures. Breaking up the monotony of text on text is important. Include great original or royalty free photos, or Pinterest ready images in every post. Not sure where to get started? Check out my posts below for some helpful info:
5 Free Tools to Help You Create Great Pinterest Images
Creating Pinterest Worthy Blog Content
You can also consider creating Infographics for your blog posts.
Be Aware of Google Algorithm Changes
We should all care about our stats, and what they mean for our sites. Google is the most important of all the search engines out there, so it’s natural to focus on it. We need to be aware of any changes that Google makes to its algorithm. Unfortunately for us, Google makes changes on a regular basis. For example, the Google Possum update was released recently. We need to understand what these updates mean so that we know how they affect our site rankings.
Don’t Go Crazy with External Links
Putting too many external links in your posts will not help them to get noticed. Many amateur bloggers and writers often fall into the trap of inserting lots of links into their posts. But if this is done incorrectly, it can actually have the opposite of the desired effect. You don’t want to let that happen to you. So, take a controlled approach to linking before you post. You should also add some internal links to help your old content get read too. This is something that I’ve been getting better about. Also, it is very important to remember to abide by Google’s rules for marking sponsored links as nofollow. If you don’t, you can get penalized. Just a few months ago several bloggers got *pinged* by Google for having too many dofollow links throughout their blogs. I was one of them. Luckily, I was able to work out the problem and get the ping removed.
These are just a few of the things that need to be taking into account when bettering your content to bring in more traffic. It’s a constant learning process!
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