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How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do’s And Don’ts

by Pythagoras Matko
written by Pythagoras Matko

Creating website content is one of the essential steps in attracting potential clients and customers. Today’s content has to be engaging and compelling to draw in and connect new readers to your blog. Similarly, it must be industry-specific, relevant, and reflective of your brand’s products or services.

Successful website content has to be appealing and search-engine friendly with on-page SEO and strategic keywords. If you are unsure about what you should and should not be writing, we have compiled 20 do’s and don’ts that will make your content easy to scan and digest.

1. Avoid plagiarizing content from other sites

Plagiarism can lead to penalties and possible removal from Google and other leading search engines. No matter how tempting it may be, never copy content from other sites to increase your brand visibility or Google page rankings.

Always create original, fresh, organic content that speaks volumes about your company and its services. Your text must be streamlined, centralized, and answer questions or promote products to mass or targeted audiences. Make sure you run copy checks to ensure your content is not conflicting with existing content on the web. Also, use grammatical checkers to correct mistakes and present your writing in its best light to viewers.

person proofreading a document with red pencil 300x300 - How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do's And Don'ts2. Do not use run-on sentences

Keep your sentences short and direct. This is visually appealing to readers and search engines alike. Break up your content using smaller paragraphs, bullet/number lists, social/page links (inbound and outbound), keywords, and other scannable portions.

3. Keep your content simple

Simplicity is the key to success for quality content writing. When your new site goes live, your text has to be easy to understand and process. Avoid highly complex words and write with the average person in mind.

4. Stay away from lengthy paragraphs

Long gone are the days of lengthy website articles and long walls of text. Try to keep your paragraphs to 4-5 lines or 80 words at the most, if possible. This will keep readers on your pages longer while reducing bounce rates. As mentioned above, lists and visuals will break up your content and make it easy to skim.

5. Get to the point of your content

Repetition is a sure-fire way to turn off potential clients and customers. Remember, visitors are coming to your website and blog to learn something new. It is essential to design your website content with precision while making it a valuable resource for readers. Stay away from bombarding them with repeat concepts, keyword stuffing, or marketing your point over and over.

This will get your message across to readers – one time – and enable them to perform desired actions on your pages.

6. Do not oversell your products or services

Crafting high-quality content must have the right balance of promotional and non-promotional text. Unless product or service-specific, your blog posts should also be informative and educational. Keep the following in mind:

  • Promote your brands and services without blanketing readers with constant reminders to buy or sign up for something.
  • Give your readers valuable content and leave a call to action (CTA) for them to contact you with product or service related questions or concerns.

Man Writing Content for the web 300x300 - How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do's And Don'ts7. Keep your target audiences in mind

While it’s great to attract new visitors to your website, keep your target audiences in mind. Make sure to post content that your visitors will find useful and informative.

8. Use your own images for products

Do not use photos that are copyrighted or do not belong to you. This might result in infringement lawsuits and bring you unnecessary problems. Instead, take pictures of your products and post them as needed. If you must use existing imagery, make sure they are royalty-free and from certified stock photo collections.

9. Be creative with anchor text

“Click here” has been overused as CTAs for decades. While once a mainstay in getting visitors to perform actions on your website, this term is as saturated as ever. Be creative with your anchor text and make it descriptive and invitational. This will entice potential customers to click on links, increasing conversion rates and possible revenue.

10. Understand the goals for each page

Make sure the content for each page is reflective of that page’s goals. For example, your products page should feature detailed text and information about each product on sale. This might differ slightly from your about us or contact us pages. Keeping the goals of your pages in mind makes it easier to write relevant content.

11. Outline your website content

Structure your website content, so it’s easy to manage and put ideas into fruition. Create outlines for pages you’re writing about and see which trends might enhance their look and aesthetic appeal.

12. Humanize your website content

Most website visitors do not like content that appears to be copied or robotic. Add a human element to your writing by being down-to-earth and friendly. Let your creative juices flow and build personal connections with your readers and potential customers. This will more likely get your readers to perform calls-to-action organically.

Couple reading off a tablet in the park 300x200 - How To Write Website Content: Top 20 Do's And Don'ts13. Convert visitors to consumers

The ultimate goal of any company’s website is to convert visitors to consumers. Always have a call-to-action (button, link, images, graphic, etc.) for each page but do not force visitors to buy products or sign up for services. Give them the information they seek and let them make their own informed decisions.

14. Use headers and sub-headers

These are effective in breaking up your content (like lists) for better readability. Headers and sub-headers make your content more attractive as well as properly structured.

15. Give your readers the answers they want

Your website content should be much more than just promoting products and services. It should serve as a valuable resource for your existing and new customers. Therefore, answer the questions your readers ask with relevant information and links. These inquiries may come from e-mails, social media posts, or even within CTAs and contact page forms.

16. Organize your website’s paragraphs

Use only one idea per paragraph and stick to it. Make sure each section has a subject and avoid writing irrelevant, unnecessary information. Organizing your ideas is as important as organizing the visual presentation of your content.

17. Capture your visitors’ attention right away

You only get one chance to make a lasting impression on clients or customers. Therefore, use catchy slogans or messages that get your points across expeditiously. Display your most important information first and build content around that. Remember, most website visitors only take a few seconds to scan content before leaving a page. Give them what you feel they might want to see and read prominently.

18. Consider a writing service or local SEO agency

If you are pressed for time or simply lack the skills to put pen to paper, consider hiring a professional SEO agency with copywriting services. A local writing service can create the content you need while ensuring it is organized for SEO optimization and mobile readiness.

19. Review your content before going live

Check your content for any missing information you want to add. Read all your pages out loud and see if they make sense to you. This allows you to assess the text and enhance any sections before going live. Whether hiring a local writing team or going the DIY route, this is a vital step in the website content process.

20. Keep your website content fresh and current

Once your website content goes live, keep it fresh and current by periodically checking links and making necessary adjustments. You can rewrite any sections if needed or add evergreen text to keep your content relevant year-round.

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Blog PostsBrandingContent MarketingConversionsEngagementGoogleLocal SEOPay Per ClickSEOSEO NewsSERPSite OptimizationSocial MediaVoice SearchWebsite TrafficWriting

Winning SEO Content Strategies for the Remainder of 2019

by Pythagoras Matko
written by Pythagoras Matko

2019 has been a banner year for search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns. In fact, many webmasters and brands adopted best-practices to produce measurable results this year. While SEO trends continue to evolve, the emphasis on streamlined content remains pivotal in achieving higher visibility across Google. Similarly, many companies are investing in digital campaigns geared towards positive user experiences. With six months left to go, there are still ways to attract and engage new clients to your products and services.

Here are the most important facets of SEO so far this year:

  • Great user experiences across multiple platforms and networks.
  • High-quality content that is centralized, thought-provoking, and gives folks something to take away with.
  • Mobile optimized websites, blogs, and online stores with faster page/download speeds.
  • Acquiring natural – organic links that accentuate any pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns.
  • Not rely on social media to build brand visibility and awareness. Instead, many brands are churning out content that is industry-specific, relevant, and insightful for their readers and users.

Google Marketing in 2019

While Google remains the most popular search engine in the world, it continues to update its algorithms to correlate with the current trends. With this in mind, Google has called on all brands to produce in-depth content that answers questions and serves the needs of your users. No longer is creating content for the sake of content acceptable across Google’s SEO services. Instead, your content must now meet the following in order to remain or become competitively viable:

  • Create pages for users and not search engines. Remember, reader engagements drive web traffic, lead generation, and potential revenue for your brands.
  • Don’t deceive your clients, customers, and new users. Always provide precise, concise, and truthful content that meets the needs of your bases across the web.
  • Always abide by Google’s White Hat criteria to secure higher page rankings and visibility on Google. Avoid tricks of Black Hat techniques (misleading titles and click-bait) to improve search engine rankings – this can get your site and pages permanently banned from Google and other search engines.
  • Use your own photos of products and brands within the content. Try to avoid common stock imagery which may be in use by competitors and other brands.
  • Develop content that is unique, enticing, and engaging across the board. Make your website stand out from others within your field, sector, or niche.

Set aside some funds to invest in a sound and effective SEO campaign. This can help your brand grow and flourish – especially if you are pressed for time. Your local advertising agency has the tools and expertise to help your company catch up in 2019. It’s as simple as reaching out to them to discuss your online marketing and brand expansion goals.

Best Practices for Content in 2019

If your brands are struggling this year, you may want to rethink your existing strategies. Again, the valuable context within the content is everything in 2019. No truer is this than when it comes to meeting Google’s quality standards. In order to build better user engagements and experiences, here are some content essentials that continue to soar in popularity:

Long-Form Content

Long-form content is once again the norm in the world of SEO marketing. You should aim to produce 1,500-2000 word posts that are engaging and full of substance. Add relevant social media links as well as strategic keywords to boost site traffic and increase conversion rates. Your content needs to establish your brands as helpful resources in the industries they serve. Similarly, it must evoke emotions while inspiring thoughts and questions. This can only lead to longer stays on your pages which help reduce bounce rates and increase visibility. Here are a few more things to keep in mind when developing brand content:

  • Provide solid recommendations for your readers. Give them helpful links, resources, and links back to your products and services.
  • Make sure your content is unique and different with each post. This will set you apart from competitors and help users cut through the clutter.
  • Stay abreast of all the current SEO trends and developments. This will give you and your brands the edge on promoting content to core, niche, geo-specific or mass audiences.
  • Scale your content plan if targeting smaller audiences. However, you can increase promotions via paid ads, e-mail automation, and especially social – mobile media platforms.
  • Make sure to match your content to user intent. This gives validity to keywords while ensuring your information is valuable to those that demand and need it to the most.

Snippet Content Optimization

Featured snippets are now what most SEO plans strive to achieve. This, of course, is rank #0 or enhanced results on top of organic results. In the past, most brands fought to reach the number one spot in the SERPs. This is no longer the case due to snippets providing detailed information like titles, descriptions, bullet lists, and content that differs or aligns with brand intent.

Snippets are essentially teasers that entice users to click through the content. This lets them access information without ever leaving Google. The best part is that snippets appear in voice search results as well. This gives users substantial information and timely answers to their queries and concerns. Therefore, it is important to optimize your content with snippets in mind to increase user engagements. Here are some ways to try and secure the coveted zero ranking spot on Google:

Be Direct in your Content

High bounce rates occur when your content is too lengthy or does not entail valuable information. While long-form content is important these days, you still have to get to the point. In fact, avoid writing long, wordy introductions before you address the topics in the titles of your posts. Give your readers precise information right away – this will keep them on your pages longer and may increase conversion rates and clicks.

Always perform keyword research to see which words your competitors are not using. With keyword optimization, you can stay ahead of the pack and get featured snippets. It’s also important to break down your content with bullet lists for better accuracy and flow. Google loves including lists within featured snippets; makes it easier for users to scan and digest content. You can even use FAQs to provide answers to stock or common questions. Featured snippets tend to pick up FAQs if they are in an easy form and able to capture within the boxes.

These are some of the ways to enhance your SEO content for the remainder of 2019. Again, let a professional agency take care of these content enhancements if you simply do not have the time.

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Content MarketingSEOSocial MediaWriting

Adding More Context to Your Social Media Content

by Pythagoras Matko
written by Pythagoras Matko

For the first time in a long time, social media engagement is hovering below 0.1%. In fact, organic social visibility continues to decline at rapid rates across multiple platforms. Despite these networks showcasing more business ads than ever before – it appears that social media marketing is no longer as lucrative as it once was. This is primarily due to saturated and dull content that is turning clicks and views into digital passing lanes.

Still, many customers are using social media to interact with new and established brands. Similarly, these social pages are influencing their purchasing interests and decisions.

What Does this Mean?

While social media’s impact may be declining, global user bases are still growing. This is a strong signal that many customers still rely on social platforms to connect with businesses and find information. With this in mind, it is time to reach customers across social landscapes in different ways. One of the top methods continues to be the context within the content.

How can we add more relevance to content that grabs audience interest levels? Similarly, is there a way to engage users with high-quality information that gives them something to take away? Here are some of the answers to these growing questions in the world of social media uncertainty.

Go Beyond the Headlines

Sharing post headlines is no longer sufficient enough to drive interest and clicks. While copying post titles and throwing them into social updates is easy, are they effectively selling your posts? According to industry experts, you need to beef up your posts with relevant and industry-specific content. Consider the following for adding true context to your content:

Cite Statistics within Posts

Nothing speaks volumes more than actual statistics that reinforce ideas. Statistics attract and entice users with intriguing information and numbers. Consider adding some statistics to your social updates for content relevance and possible lead generation.

Add Quotes for Relevance

Adding quotes that reassert your ideas is a great way to capture user attention. Try adding shared quotes within sentences or posts to grab viewers or credit sources for stronger context.

Give Solutions to Problems

Google Updates consistently call for high-quality; relevant content that answers questions and solves problems. Use this formula to promote your content as resources for audiences facing similar challenges. Give them solutions to their problems – even if it’s based on your ideas or the current trends. This is a great way to generate leads, responses, and especially clicks and interaction.

Give Takeaways for Readers

Give your followers and readers something they can walk away with. In fact, calling out important points is a great way to generate thought and responses. This content tactic is ideal for long-form content since you have more room to discuss the essentials of your piece. When it comes to social updates, always keep your readers in mind and what they will get out of your posts.

Use Better Images for Attention

Image optimization continues to be all the rage with new SEO efforts. However, using crisp and attractive images in social is equally as important. Most users tend to remember images over words – especially those with vibrant and visually-aesthetic colors. As a result, you need to put some time in your image selection for social updates. Here are some ways to enhance this technique:

  • Try avoiding stock images and use your own photos if possible. Amazon states that over 48% of customers rely on images from other customers for product, brand and service reviews.
  • Use color images instead of black and white photos. Again, colored imagery tends to stand out and grab more attention.
  • Use your words or shared quotes in images. It’s not hard to add some text to photos for catching people’s attention.
  • Motion creates emotion. Think about this when choosing the right images that trigger actionable responses. Photos with motion are more eye-catching than just standard, flat images.

These are some crucial steps in adding more contexts to your social media content. Remember, quality over quantity still plays a pivotal role in brand visibility, awareness, and especially user engagements.

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Content MarketingWriting

3 Easy Tips to Simplify Complex Content For Your Audience

by Tom Bowen
written by Tom Bowen

How do you create digital content that’s easy for your readers to understand, despite the subject matter?

The plan is simple.

You need to break down your content in simple terms, but without boring your audience into leaving your website to find something else to read.

Sure, this sounds easy but executing on it hardly is. Think about it. If you ran an automobile repair company and would like to educate your audience through a blog post, could you write a post about “how automobile traction” works that’s engaging and simple to understand?

Most businesses struggle to break down complex topics, and their blogs are suffering as a result. If you are one of those businesses, read on to learn more about how you can write easy-to-read content and increase your website’s conversion rate.

1. Avoid Using Jargon/Complex Words

“I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.”

-Albert Einstein

One of the most prevalent issues that exist in online content across the web is the presence of jargon and complex words. In high school and college, using big words may have been a great way to sound smart and impress your teacher.

However, when you’re writing digital content, you’re writing to aid an online reader’s understanding, not to impress them. For example, if I were running a web design company, this would be a great example of a sentence that contains too much jargon and complex words.

“Acme Web Design Company is a full-service B2B web design agency that combines exemplary interaction with a picturesque website design.”

After reading that, just ask yourself one thing. If you needed a website, would you call your nearest web design company on the phone and ask to speak to a “full-service B2B web design agency that combines exemplary interaction with a picturesque website design”

Of course not, but many people believe that it’s okay writing like this. Eliminate jargon and complex words in your writing to get your point across with more clarity, like so.

“Acme Web Design Company is a web design agency that provides state-of-the-art websites for small businesses to receive more online customers and increase their digital sales.

2. Write for a Sixth Grader

In its best form, writing is simplistic. The art of writing great content is to simply say what you mean and mean what you say. Just check out this excerpt from internet marketing guru Neil Patel.

If you read any of my blogs, you’ll know that I write a lot about writing

Why? What’s the big deal? Why am I obsessed with this topic?

On the personal side, I write about writing because, well, I really enjoy the topic.

Neil Patel has millions of subscribers to his blog, and after reading this, it isn’t hard to see why. His style is fairly simplistic to the point where anyone can read his writing and understand his thesis instantly.

I pulled this excerpt from Patel’s blog where he talked about how you can improve your online writing. This is a really complicated topic, especially for those who don’t have much writing skills. However, Patel made this excerpt easy to understand by simply writing for an imaginary sixth-grade audience.

3. Use Visuals

If you’re attempting to write research-driven content on a complicated topic, you better be ready to dilute your content by adding engaging visuals. Facts and data are much more likely to be absorbed if they’re displayed through a table or infographic.

In fact, readers will only read 20% of your content, according to a recent study. For this reason, make sure you include images, infographics, graphs, tables, and any other visual item that can reinforce what you’re trying to say. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Final Words:

Writing digital content isn’t easy, but you can make it simpler by using these tips to create digestible content for your target audience. If you don’t have the time to devote to your blog, get in touch with us today to learn more about how we can increase your website traffic and engagements today!

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Content MarketingWriting

Avoiding Mispellings and Grammer Issues in Google Docs with Grammarly

by Pythagoras Matko
written by Pythagoras Matko

Google Docs has long been used as storage portals for all users. From uploading photos and documents to important correspondence, this platform offers optimal protection for all types of spreadsheets and files. However, users are free to import, create, edit and update their document as desired. With powerful tools for formulates, lists, tables, and images, Google Docs is perfect for presentations and fully compatible with word processor application.

Users can also control who has access to their documents. With this in mind, the last thing you need is a spelling, grammar or punctuation error within your files. This can render a presentation questionable while undermining your educational and business accolades.

Grammarly to the Rescue

Grammarly is a popular online spellchecker that is used by millions of people and leading SEO agencies. This 4 ½ star tool ensures your content is clear, effective and mistake – free. This includes website content, along with Facebook posts, Tweets and all type of marketing and advertising collateral. Grammarly is even available as an extension for Chrome and Firefox users and now supports Google Docs as well. Here are some benefits of incorporating this powerful spell, punctuation and grammar checker for all your SEO needs:

  • Seamless integration with literally every major online tool and social media platform.
  • Real-time collaboration features that ensure your Google Docs are mistake-free and professional at all times.
  • Machine-learning technologies that secure memory retention for the most used, accessed and recurring documents.
  • User-friendly features and no restrictions on content – text size for spell checks, grammar corrections and punctuation suggestions.

Grammarly vs. Google Docs Spellchecker

Grammarly is one of – if not – the best grammar and spelling checkers on the market today. However, the Grammarly team has had to burn the midnight oil to effectively correlate its services with Google Docs. While a beta version has been available for premium users for a while now, everybody can now try out the application for free.

With Grammarly’s recent announcement about Google Docs compatibility, Google stated that they too are bringing a grammar checker to their platform. However, Google’s version will not be much different than Grammarly – especially when it comes to a machine-learning technique for a powerful translation app and software. With this in mind, it will ultimately be up to you to decide which checker works best for your daily needs. Here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Industry experts and monitors believe Grammarly has more comprehensive tools that check for errors in your documents.
  • Grammarly also offers punctuation help, which prevents you from embarrassing yourself with bad grammar.
  • Google’s grammar – spell – punctuation checker remains in the private beta realm. As a result, no one is able to give it a try yet.
  • Grammarly premium plans start at $29.95 per month. However, you can get a discount if you pre-pay for three months or a full year.

Grammarly for Business

Businesses only get once chance to make a positive and lasting impression. While on-page SEO is important for building brand awareness and generating links, their content must be professional and up-to-date at all times. With this in mind, Grammarly has team plans for businesses at only $10 per month. However, your business will need a minimum of three subscribers, which should not be hard if you have an in-house or remote marketing team.

In this day and age, even the slightest spelling mistake can be a full-blown embarrassment. Similarly, it can increase bounce rates for your sites and blogs – resulting in lower business engagements and customer patronage across the board. Cover all your bases with Grammarly, and experience the difference it makes to your e-mails, presentations, and social – mobile media content.

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Email MarketingMarketingWriting

Turn Your Bland Email Subject Lines Into Something Delicious

by Justin Davin
written by Justin Davin

If your email campaign stats are looking malnourished, one way to bulk them up is by implementing a creative email subject strategy.

We have broken down some of the most effective email subject strategies complete with examples.

1.) Pain Point Highlighters

The purpose of these subject lines is to resonate with a particular pain point your recipient is experiencing.

Such subject lines make the recipient’s feel like their problems are understood, motivating them to open the email and consider the offered solution.

Here are some examples:

“Stop wasting money on clothes” – This particular email might offer cost-effective clothing store alternatives or a guide on how to make specific clothes.

“We think you’re beautiful, don’t listen to your negative thoughts” – This email may include self-love motivations or an advertisement for a counseling service.

“Your cooking isn’t THAT bad is it?” – This email could include some free recipes and links to cookbooks

2.) Curiosity Triggers.

These subject lines stir up a sense of curiosity that beckons recipients to open the email in pursuit of closure.

Just be sure to use these types of email subject lines wisely, you don’t want your emails seeming too ‘spammy’ and ending up in the junk mail folder.

Here are some examples:

“Eat this often to lose weight.”

“Help me if you can (I know you can)”

“You’ve been using Excel incorrectly.”

BuzzFeed utilizes a similar curiosity triggering strategy for its articles titles.

3.) Humorous Subject Lines

People are usually busy and stressed as they struggle to fulfill their demanding list of daily tasks. A funny email subject line could be the cheering up your recipient needs to brighten their day.

Recipients will reciprocate this gift of positivity by opening your email and giving it serious consideration.

Here are a couple of examples:

“What Did One Snowman Say To The Other Snowman?” – Your email could start with the punch line of this joke – ‘Do you smell carrots?’

“Deals That Make Us Proud (Unlike Our Nephew, Steve)” – This active email subject line was used by Groupon.

4.) A Sense Of Urgency

Creating a sense of urgency in your email subject line will encourage your recipients to take action to avoid the possibility of missing out.

Urgent subject lines usually include time-sensitive words such as:

Expiring, Soon, Important, Breaking, Too Late, Limited Time

Here are examples of some of these words within a subject line:

“[URGENT] You’ve got ONE DAY to watch this…” – An email by Digital Marketer.

“Free E-Book Download Expires Tonight!”

“Social Media Package Free For A Limited Time!” – How do you add desirability to a free item? Make it free for a limited time!

5.) Use Numbers

To increase the open rate of your emails, consider using numbers in your subject lines,

Numbers disturb the monotony of text in an email browser and will make your email stand out.

Numbers can be incorporated in any of the email subject categories mentioned above.

Here are a couple of examples:

“10 Jaw-Dropping Drift Videos on YouTube” – An email sent by YouTube

“3 Ways To Improve Your Pins” – An email sent by Pinterest

With so many emails being received each day, there is a very high competition for open and click-through rates.

Use our email subject strategies to ensure your emails are noticed AND opened.

Sources

  • https://optinmonster.com/101-email-subject-lines-your-subscribers-cant-resist/
  • https://www.clickz.com/14-email-subject-line-hacks/46143/
  • https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/03/31/email-subject-lines
  • https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/funny-email-subject-lines
  • https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/subject-line-stats-open-rates-slideshare\
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