High-quality content is often the main difference between successful and unsuccessful brands while also serving as a focal point of search engine optimization. In the end, there’s only so much you can do with flashy web design and paid ad campaigns.
As a result, when hiring marketing agencies, businesses usually start the selection process by taking a look at providers’ most successful web pages. While potential clients can also check marketing agencies’ track records, gaining an insight into content marketing strategies is the best way to assess SEO services.
Given all the scrutiny content writers go through, it’s vital that you continuously improve your game. Writing professionals have to learn about new technologies and software as soon as they become popular to provide great results for their clients. That being said, here are 20 website tips that will help you build an amazing content writing career.
Why are these tips so important?
When offering content writing services, you need to understand that clients are looking for more than just nice writing. They want articles and social media posts that can pass various plagiarism and AI checks. Furthermore, they need to be sure that you’ve used the best search engine optimization practices that would help them climb to the top of search results.
That being said, if you wish to become a respectable, professional content writer, you need to have excellent marketing skills and a good understanding of search engines. Your web content should be flexible enough for various online marketing strategies, helping companies drive more site visitors while simultaneously converting them into potential customers.
17 Amazing website content writing tips
Without further ado, here are the incredible tips that will help you create well-optimized, compelling content:
1. Learn about the topic
If you have worked as a company’s website content writer for a while, it’s your duty to have a high understanding of the industry. At one point, you should stop relying on simple rewriting to connect with the target audience. Instead, you should start providing unique, expert opinions that can help grow the client base.
In fact, industry knowledge and content research are the main things that separate two professional writers. You should always remember that people visit your website to get a different opinion or to read something interesting. If you can give them anything new, they will start visiting blogs that have a different perspective on things.
2. Use industry-specific style
Each industry has a specific tone and style. For example, writing medical pieces is very different from creating gaming content. While medical articles require stiff, professional language while avoiding misleading statements, writers have much more leeway when creating articles that revolve around video games.
Although you can tinker a bit with your writing tone, readers generally expect a certain type of article when they open a web page. Sticking to the tried and tested form is usually the best choice as it won’t feel awkward to the users.
3. Address the reader directly
Unless it goes against the industry norms and content requirements, you should always try to address the reader directly. Use phrasing “You” throughout the text so that a person can relate to the article they’re reading.
When doing so, try to stay consistent throughout the content. A common mistake writers make is switching between persons, and even between singular and plural, when addressing the audience. This can be extremely confusing and will definitely affect the article’s flow.
4. Eliminate fluff
Writers often take liberties when creating blog posts. In their attempt to make web posts more engaging, they often resort to over-the-top language that doesn’t provide actual value.
As painful as it might be, most website content writing revolves around timely, relevant information. While a good writing style can help readers engage with posts, using too much empty talk can become a nuisance. So, when writing a new sentence, consider whether a reader can benefit from that sentence.
5. Avoid plagiarism
Speaking of unique opinions, you should avoid plagiarism of any kind. When creating content, you should always give personal opinions on the subject. Check the website content of a few top-performing sites, learn from it, and try to summarize their opinions and information in your own words.
Professional writers can also use plagiarism detection tools to stay on the safe side. Most of these platforms are easy to use and can tell you if you have original content on your hands.
6. Avoid AI tools
The content creation process can be significantly faster with AI tools. Unfortunately, most brands are against the idea of machine-made blog writing. Furthermore, using these platforms is perceived as a similar type of infraction as copy-pasting articles from other sites. Not only will this cost you clients, but it can lead to negative Upwork and Freelancer reviews.
In the best-case scenario, you can use this software sporadically. Creating a paragraph here and there might go unnoticed, especially given the imperfection of the current AI checkers. Nevertheless, you might still get in trouble with certain clients looking for AI-free SEO content writing.
7. Add main keywords
Many companies nowadays aggressively pursue keywords for all types of website content writing. They might even give their content writers access to Surfer SEO and Frase, asking them to reach a specific score within these tools.
While you might not realize this, creating content rich in target keywords is vital for your professional success. Companies often assess the performance of a writer based on their ability to rank on top of search engine results.
In other words, even if the client doesn’t care about the keywords, you’ll still have to implement them. Otherwise, the client won’t get any value from your posts, which will likely lead to your termination.
8. Avoid content and keyword stuffing
While keywords are crucial for optimizing a specific web page, you shouldn’t be overzealous when using them. Being too repetitive during website content writing usually has a bad impact on search engines’ algorithms and also the readers.
If you used tools such as Market Muse or Frase.io, you probably know what we’re talking about. These platforms have scores that rank your optimization efforts. In many cases, they can reduce your score if you make excessive keyword repetitions or when you add unnecessary information.
One of the best ways of learning how Google interprets semantics is by tinkering with these SaaS and tracking the impact of your changes.
9. Break up your content
One of the biggest content writing crimes is creating pieces that no one can read. Not only should you create copies suitable for a specific target market and content strategy, but they also should be easy to digest. Going through large blocks of text becomes a choir, forcing the audience to quickly bounce from the page.
When creating articles, make sure they can be scanned quickly. Add numerous bullet points, calls to action, and headings that would make life easier for the website visitors. The general rule is to stick with 60-word paragraphs, 25-word sentences, and 250-word headings.
10. Use images
Images carry two important functions. They make the reading experience much more enjoyable, and they can provide additional, visually-appealing information. One of the best examples of quality images are charts, stat tables, and infographics. However, they can also be valuable for How-To, cooking, travel, and fashion content.
Although visuals are a fantastic way to create a content-rich website, you still need to be careful as to how you’re implementing them. Ideally, you should create your own imagery or buy third-party pics online. Otherwise, your pieces might come off as cheap and generic.
11. Use videos
Web content writers can also use videos to enrich their pieces. This type of content is fantastic for certain posts, such as How-To articles. Video content is especially beneficial for complex topics that you can’t fully describe with words.
Unlike images, you won’t have to worry about repurposing online videos. Most of them are made by independent creators who welcome additional clicks they get through external websites. Still, make sure that the post wasn’t made by a commercial entity, as they might pursue you for copyright infringement.
12. Push pain points
Nowadays, search engines put a lot of emphasis on user experience. They track all behavior on the site, including time spent on a page, recurring visits, bounce rate, pages per session, and so on. That being said, the success of your website content often hinges on their “feedback.”
One of the best ways of keeping a person engaged is by researching and using pain points. Keep in mind there’s always a reason why a person might read your articles. In most cases, they have a problem that requires solving, something we refer to as pain point.
It’s vital that you drive that point home. At the beginning of the article, emphasize how your post can help solve their issues. Throughout the piece, provide them with a set of tips and solutions that will tackle every aspect of the issue.
13. Add CTAs
Adding CTA or call-to-action won’t improve the writing quality, but it’s still vital for the client. Basically, these are sentences that urge readers to take action. CTA might suggest your company as a potential provider or reseller while also introducing a link that points to a landing page.
Sprinkling CTAs throughout your content isn’t a necessity. Nevertheless, it can help increase the website’s sales, while managers see it as a sign of professionalism and a necessary ingredient of high-quality content.
14. Create internal links
Similar to CTAs, internal links aren’t always a point of emphasis. Smaller blogs don’t know much about their importance, which is why they don’t force writers to add them to their posts.
Internal links play a vital role in conversion and optimization. In terms of conversion, they lead users from lower-priority to high-priority landing pages, helping you create marketing funnels. Internal links can also serve to create content clusters, where lower-priority pages point to pillar pages.
15. Using meta tags
Metadata provides additional information to users browsing search engines. Title tags serve as shorter versions of the real blog titles, while meta descriptions explain the content on the page. If you wish to become a reputable content writer, you need to learn about the best meta tag practices.
Due to the limited amount of space on search engine pages, you need to be careful when creating these elements. Title tags and meta descriptions shouldn’t exceed a certain length; otherwise, users will only see broken sentences. Furthermore, metas should be intriguing and actionable, forcing users to click on your link.
16. Adding FAQs
In the last few years, adding FAQs at the bottom of blog posts has become a common practice. These sections improve search engine optimization and user experience, making them a usual feature of great content.
Creating an FAQ section helps you slip in keywords that would otherwise sound awkward within the blog post. For example, it allows you to add related questions that are frequently asked within Google. Besides that, having FAQs can also increase the chance of scoring a valuable featured snippet.
The best way to address FAQs is by using tools such as Also Asked. Here, you can get suggestions as to what people commonly ask in relation to a certain topic.
17. Check the expressions and information
Traditional expressions are a good way to add some liveliness to your pieces, making them an incredible tool for articles with a casual tone.
Unfortunately, as we don’t use them often, there’s a good chance for writers to mess up the article or the preposition. Not only does this come off as sloppy, but it also leaves an impression that the writer is a foreigner (which might be a problem for some readers).
A similar thing goes for critical information. Unless you’re directly copy-pasting data from other sources, make sure your claims are on the spot. This rule is vital when working with medical blogs, given that small mistakes can lead to massive lawsuits.
If you want to learn more about the best blogging practices, contact MiroMind today!