Maximize Traffic and Visitor Response with 10 Easy Power Tips
By John Alexander












One of the questions that often comes
up when we are teaching students
at our live hands-on workshops,
is about how to create truly valuable content for your Web site.

The reason most people attend our workshops is because they want to learn top
ranking skills and sharply increase their Web visibility and exposure on the major
search engines. That’s why people come to class initially, to gain that visibility and
build genuine SEO skills in the shortest time possible.

However as they begin to build their skills and get their content ranked, one of the
things that becomes very apparent is the need to know how to build useful content
that their buying audience is really searching for.

How do you know what type of content is really going to attract the right searchers?

In this article I wanted to cover a few very basic tips that you can keep in mind when
building high-performance strategies. Remember that good search engine marketing
is not about trying to manipulate or "fool the search engines." Good SEO skills are
more about creating genuine relevancy for well-written content that deserves to be
found because it is truly the most relevant and useful to your audience of readers.

What students quickly discover in the 5-day classes is that the optimization skills are
not nearly as hard as many people make them out to be (even for the most
competitive phrases,) once you've been trained and understand the full scope of
influences that are at work. The biggest advantage that we have had is all about the
"accuracy of information."

1. Write content that your audience is already looking for within the last 90 days.

True keyword research is not about “guessing at keywords” but its all about
researching actual data. How are your SEO research skills using Wordtracker or
Keyword Discovery? At the SEO Workshops we teach much more than the
traditional "keyword research" methods. We help students learn "Keyword
Forensics" and how to quickly tap into the hidden niche trends that 99% of most
Webmasters never even notice.

2. Does your Web copy speak to the reader or does it speak about yourself?

Remember that your Web site should be focused on your audience first and appeal
specifically to a niche interest. When writing your Web copy, you need to dialogue
in an appropriate tone and format for the right audience. Some of the most
interesting content will have more appeal if it speaks to your audience in terms of
"you." You can, you might, you will, yours, your and you’re INSTEAD of we, ours,
we’re, we will, we can, etc.

3. Focus on writing for the human audience first and search engines second.

While search engine optimization is important to your visibility, try writing your
content first. Most people don’t write their best when trying to optimize and create
content at the same time. Focus on creating highly useful content that is extremely
focused on one topic per page. Once you have completed your writing so that you
are pleased with it, then go in to do a mild re-write for the search engines.

4. Tips for triggering idea generation and giving your strategies a unique twist.

While many people seem to spend time exploring their competitor's Web sites, we
encourage you to lead the way with new ideas. Try not to be obsessed with what the
competition is doing, but be creative and start your own new trends. Spend just a
little more time working on your projects this week than you did last week. Setting
yourself apart from the competition is easier than you might think and gives you a
huge advantage over others.






5. Creating your content so that it "speaks" to a specific audience of visitors.

Think of how your Web copy reads and ensure the dialogue flows smoothly. Read
your work out loud and see if you can improve the tone of your message with
natural expression. Keep your specific audience in mind. How you write for senior
citizen (in tone and in format) may differ considerably from writing for an audience
of for example "new parents." Always ask yourself "what is important to these
readers?" Rely on researching accurate data to eliminate guess work.

6. Remember strong calls to action

Without a firm call to action, don’t expect the reader to naturally guess at what you
want them to do next. Plain ordinary dialogue that asks the reader to take the next
action will usually work best. Dialogue that is written for voice (similar to the way a
broadcaster writes to project their personality.)

7. Build your search engine optimization skills in the beginning with the "stress
free" approach.

If you are new to SEO, you may want to focus on the long tailed niche phrases since
most searchers are doing fairly descriptive and intelligent searches these days.
Ideally you want to attract those who already know what they are looking for and
just need to find your pages more easily. With practice and the right training you can
go after highly competitive phrases too but you’ll find that the best conversions
nearly always come from the niches. Also remember that it is the basic SEO skills
that carry you through and must come before any of the advanced strategies. The
result will be stable top rankings that stand the test of time with minimal fuss.

8. Give your readers a non-threatening reason to respond right now.

What is the objective for your page and does your Web copy work effectively at
fulfilling that objective? It may not always be about trying to sell a product or a
service. It should not be about fulfilling your needs first but it should be about
meeting the needs of why that searcher first conducted a search. Meet their needs
and deliver up something that satisfies their search first and then give the visitor a
non-threatening reason why they might respond to you. Do you want their e-mail
address? Or do you just want them to pick up the phone and call? Never lose sight
of the fact that the Web is a marvelous two way interactive experience, if you want it
to be. Make your Web site a vehicle for relationship building and remember that
many readers may actually have the desire to interact and participate through Blogs
or other "User Generated activity." Give your visitors something that involves their
participation.

9. Remember that your readers always want to feel like they are in control of their
Web experience.

People often use the Web for researching topics of interest or doing preliminary
price comparisons or for looking up information. While most people explore the
Web for their own purposes, the more that you put them in control of their
experience the better. If appropriate, you may want to consider adding addition
tools or functionality to your Web site in order to enhance its usability for your
specific audience.    

10. Did you know that if you write your content so that it naturally "reads very
well..."

...You will naturally gain some bonus for having created content of quality. By this, I
mean content...that reads well to a human being. Don't stuff keywords all over the
place. Instead, use moderation in everything you do. One of the things you need to
understand is that "theme based" search engines like Google, are actually using a
measure of artificial intelligence (AI) to measure how well your article "reads" based
on all of the overall context of your body text (other than the keywords) based on
data that a search engine has gathered concerning a specific topic. This is great news
for writers because if you are making a transition to writing for the web, you'll find
some search engines are literally rewarding pages that are "well written."






About the author: John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops
offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very
first comprehensive
online search engine marketing courses. John is author of an e-book called
Wordtracker Magic and has taught SEO skills to people from 87 different countries world wide.
John's articles can be read in publications like REALTOR Magazine, Search Engine Guide,
WEBpro News and many others.  
 
Home Office Weekly...click here for your FREE subscription!
Home Office Weekly
Your guide to successfully living & working under one roof!
Subscribe Today! Click Here!

Home Office Weekly
is a BackPorch Publishing site

Click Here to Get Your FREE SUBSCRIPTION Today!

Marcia Passos Duffy, Publisher & Editor
Author of
Be Your Own Boss

301 Moved Permanently

301 Moved Permanently


nginx-rc/1.25.3.1
Contact