So you want to be a professional content writer. (Or maybe not, but your boss is making you do it anyway.) The only true way to become a decent writer is to practice, practice, practice. But you can't ask your boss, or team, or entire company to wait around while you do grammar exercises.
What can you do, starting now, to ensure your copy is up to snuff?
Here's the first secret to becoming an expert writer: not all professional content writers are expert wordsmiths. In fact, many who find themselves in a writing role haven't been trained in web writing best practices or grammar or composition. Training isn't necessarily a requirement for online professional content writers, but it sure makes it easier to get results.If you're in this boat, and you're struggling in this role that's been thrust upon you, never fear. We'll reveal some secrets about SEO copywriting that will help you create optimized content. Here are some tips from us and other SEO/copywriting professionals.
Understanding how to write professional content can be a challenge. Here are 6 SEO copywriting secrets from professional content writers:
1. Start by Identifying a Central Keyword for Your Page/Post
This will require some keyword research in Google's Keyword Tool, or whichever resource you're most familiar with. A great keyword will have these three qualities:
We advise choosing a long-tail keyword -- it will help you keep your writing focused and concise.
Who are you writing for -- your customers or yourself?
You aren't the person you need to appeal to in your writing. You're trying to appeal to your prospects and potential customers, and that means talking about them and their problems. Don't try to sell anything just yet, because they won't be interested.
Talk about their pain points and their frustrations. If you've built your buyer personas, you'll know exactly what hurts, what motivates them, and what makes them tick. Use this information to your advantage.
We all know the ultimate goal of your professional content writing efforts is to get more customers. We know it, you know it, and your customer knows it. However, content that does nothing but sell is a huge turn-off for Internet users.
As it turns out, when you stop talking about your company, potential customers will become much more interested in doing business with you. Talk about your customers' concerns, wants, and goals. People's favorite subject is themselves - make it clear you're trying to help them and watch how fast you gain an audience.
Remember that keyword you chose up in #1? That's the focus of your writing for the day. Every sentence should be helpful, either directly (telling them how something works) or indirectly (using an analogy to make your point clear).
Images should be relevant to the paragraph immediately before or after. Links should be relevant to your topic, the sentence in which they're placed, and their anchor text. Your CTAs should be directly related as well.
Everything should be relevant to the page or post. The less fluff in your website copy, the better.
Dancing around the main point is a great way to make a college essay meet page number requirements. It's not so great when your audience is actually trying to solve a problem with the information you're providing.
The average person's online attention span is approximately eight seconds (an entire second less than a goldfish). That means you have eight seconds to convey what your copy is about and how it will be useful for your visitor. After that, if they don't find what they're looking for, they're gone.
Above all, Internet readers want content that's scannable. They want to know immediately if your webpage has the information they need. If it does, they'll hang out longer and read it more closely. However, you absolutely NEED to hook them in those first eight seconds.
Rich, yet light. Dense, yet fluffy. It's like the most counter-intuitive cake recipe you've ever tried to follow. True professional content masters can balance these contradictions to craft information-dense copy that's easy to absorb, search engine optimized, and leaves you feeling like you can do your job just a little bit better than before.
A primary keyword should be used 2-5 times on a page. Each page or blog post should only have one associated targeted primary keyword. Secondary keywords should also be incorporated into the article for SEO purposes. However, keywords should be used naturally - don't force them into every other sentence just for the sake of it.
The more you practice writing with SEO in mind, the easier it will be to use your keywords as you go.
When you're just starting out, it's most important to get the information down. Don't even think about optimization - think about what information matters to your audience, and what will help them solve a problem that they're facing. Speak to the person behind the screen. Once you've done that, go back through and make sure you've got everything on this list:
This list ensures you're writing for people first, but also that your content is SEO-approved. Google rewards content that is unique, valuable, and written for humans (not search engines).
Some people have trouble stepping out of their company role and stepping into the shoes of the buyer. Professional content writers and other marketing professionals occupy a unique place in the business - we're almost like an advocate for the customers' interests. We create a bridge between the company's goals (revenue, growth, influence) and the needs of the buyer (affordable, high-quality solution).
After all, if a company loses sight of its customers in the name of profit, it will soon have neither.
Want more copywriting tips? Check out this article on What IS Content? Inbound Marketing 101.
For more information download our free e-book on 7 ways to master keyword research for SEO:
(Editor's Note: This article was originally published in June 2016, but was recently updated.)