Writing SEO copy can pose an interesting challenge. You want your articles to be visible on Google, but you also want them to be fun to read. So, how do you find that balance between creativity and SEO in content writing?
Below are three tips on how to create effective marketing copy. Keep reading to gain insight on how to keep both people and search engines happy.
1. Research Your Audience.
You might have a great topic in mind, but it needs to be relevant to your audience. To determine that, you’ll need to do a bit of research.
First, you can look into buyer personas. These write-ups represent your readers and show how you can effectively guide them through a decision-making process. Plus, it gives you key insight into your marketing initiatives, so you can keep on creating high-quality, pertinent content.
Next, take your topic and use related keywords to see if people are talking about it. Social media pages like Facebook and Twitter are great for this. Or, a simple Google search will show which keyword phrases people are looking up the most.
Once you know your audience and what they’re looking for, you can begin to build your copy.
2. Include the Optimum Number of Keywords.
Because you’re writing on a specific topic, you want to make sure to include appropriate keywords. However, it’s important for your piece to contain the right number of them.
If you don’t have enough, then you risk not having your content show up on the first page of Google, or at all.
It may not come as much of a surprise to learn that most people don’t look past page 1 on Google. In fact, one study shows that about 90% of people click on organic links on the first page, while less than 10% go on to page 2. So, by having those relevant keywords, you have a better chance of ranking higher on search engines.
However, you don’t want an overflow of keywords. It may not be readable nor add anything new or helpful. Plus, Google may treat your copy as spam, which would make your goal of reaching a wider audience backfire.
Get that ideal number of keywords, and you’ll rank higher on search engines while still engaging readers.
3. Write for Humans.
While you want to keep up with SEO best practices, it’s crucial to remember that, at the end of the day, you’re writing for people.
As we mentioned before, folks are constantly researching topics to help answer a question or solve a problem. When they find an article, they want it to pertain to their request, but they also want it to be interesting.
This is where the creativity comes in. You want a strong introduction to captivate your audience, and to show how your copy will help solve their problem. You also want to connect each new section to the previous one, to get people reading to the very end.
Have a nice mix of H2 headers that both draw the reader in and include those SEO keywords. Make your copy scannable by including subheads, bullet points, or italics. And within each section, put the most important information first, so your audience can quickly get the answers they need.
Find That Ideal Balance in Your Content
By following the right SEO methods, you’ll get people to find your content easily. Then, by creating winning copy, you’ll hook readers in, which will eventually have them reach out to use your business.
If you want creative copy that extends to a broader audience, let us help! Contact Stream Companies today, and we’ll connect readers to your content in no time.