by Kyrill Poelmans | May 18, 2015
Let’s be honest, most of us amateur copywriters think we write a lot of interesting and very good webcontent.
Of course, there are always possibilities of improvement, but we don’t really like people criticizing our content too much.
But what if we told you could improve your written webcontent, in just four simple steps? That’s a chance you should take!
Inspired by Inspired by Danny Rubin, we provide 4 simple steps to you that tell you exactly how to improve your content quickly!
Step 1 – Finish your text in the Textmetrics on-page SEO editor
The first step is to finish your text in the Textmetrics on-page SEO editor. The editor will provide some steps about headings, italic tags, keywords etc.
Textmetrics combines thousands of SEO rules to get the best results in the multiple search engines.
By using Textmetrics, you optimize your content for websites and web pages, so from now on you can call your normal content: ‘webcontent‘.
Step 2 – Check your webcontent for grammar mistakes
This next step might sound unnecessary for a lot of people, you might think, I can write a simple article without any mistakes.
But research tells us that even the best writers make a lot of grammar mistakes. Especially when you write articles in a language that you don’t natively speak.
Don’t underestimate the importance of grammar in your professional webcontent, a lot of people see grammar as a reflection of your professionalism.
Our personal favorite grammar checker is Grammarly. If you use the Textmetrics editor for your SEO friendly, you can check your webcontent immediately in your browser.
It’s pretty easy, so why would you skip it?
Step 3 – Copy to your favorite text editor and use Ctrl+F
You might think, why do I need to use Ctrl+F? Well, because we’re going to make some simple changes to your content that will improve the readability a lot.
Your webcontent is way better off without these commonly used words and sentences!
Make the following changes:
-Delete the words “very”, “just” and “really”
-Delete the words “in order” (as in “I did this in order to do that”)
-Delete the word “that” (as in “I believe that you are correct”)
-Delete the word “quite” (excess word)
-Replace the word “thing” (replace with specific word for the “thing”)
-Change the word “utilize” (switch to “use” or pick another verb)
-Change the words “get” or “got” (pick another, more descriptive verb)
-Change -ing verbs (I am writing becomes I write)
Don’t forget to check your content after making these changes, it’s possible that they don’t work out this one time!
Step 4 – Kill your darlings
Every writer has his own darlings. Words that you use way too much in your content. And the next step to improve your content is to kill your darlings.
Look for these words, expressions or sentences and change them in something else or delete them immediately.
Although it might feel like you’re totally changing your own writing style, but that’s a good thing.
By killing your darlings, you will see that your written content evolves in more valuable and professional webcontent.
Step 5 – Submit your work with confidence
Make sure that you fully support what you write. Make sure that you dare to bet your life on what you write.
Check your content and ask yourself if you like what you write, don’t just write what people want to read.
You are responsible for what you publish, so you should support your own work with the full 100%! If you don’t, then don’t publish!
We personally think that this last step is one of the most important steps to follow.
Although it isn’t specific at all, most of the people that read this tip know exactly what to change in their articles!
Follow these 5 little step and in just a few moments, your content will be optimized technically and you will get the best out yourself! Start improving your own talents! If you want to make sure that you don’t miss anything, use our free trial of Textmetrics to check your content on all the important stuff!
by Kyrill Poelmans | Apr 27, 2015
Excellent webcontent, that’s something we all want. Lots and lots of visitors and maybe even more new clients are the wishes of many business owners.
That’s why we’re here to help. Basically, you need to do two things to make excellent webcontent:
1. Writing creative content that your target audience wants to read
2. Optimizing your content in a technical way
Why are these two things so important for excellent webcontent?
Creative content for your target audience is the most important piece of the puzzle. You need to write content that they like and share with their friends.
That’s one of the ways to create more traffic to your site, just by writing excellent and creative content.
We wrote another article about this subject, so if you’re interested in “writing to reach your target audience”, you can read our article here!
But the other thing, optimizing your content, is just as important.
If you write good content, then you want your content to be found, also in the search engines.
That’s why it’s important to focus on the right keywords and optimize your content in the right way.
But to be honest, SEO is not the most fun thing to do.
That’s why we created Textmetrics:
To make sure that you won’t spend too much time on optimizing your content!
Simple webcontent optimization with Textmetrics
The most simple way to optimize your webcontent is to follow our new infographic:
“4 steps to excellent webcontent”
SEO doesn’t have to be hard to do, and that’s why we tried to keep it simple. It’s just like we always say:
With Textmetrics, everyone can be a seo expert.
Don’t wait any longer and just read and learn from our new infographic!
Don’t forget to share it with your friends if you like this post!
Get your free account here!
by Kyrill Poelmans | Apr 17, 2015
Basic tips & tricks
Of course, SEO copywriting is really important. But in the end, the main goal of your webcontent is probably to reach your target audience. To make sure they like, understand, share, feel your content. That’s why you should write for your target audience. Don’t just write what you like to write, but write what they want to read. That’s how you reach your future customers! But that may be easier said than done. That’s why we made a little list of the basic tips and tricks for target oriented writing!
Tip #1: Know yourself
It may sound a bit stupid, because of course you know your business. You know exactly what you do. But lots of businesses forget to tell why they do what they do. What their motivations are. And let this last thing be the most important thing.
People mostly don’t buy Coca Cola or Apple because they think the physical product is better than their opponents, they buy it because they like the motivation of the companies. ‘Think different’ (Apple): We’re not for everyone, just the ones that understand our status. ‘Make it happy’ (Coca Cola): We will help you to enjoy your life, Coca Cola makes everyone happy.
You have to keep your motivation in mind at all times. Don’t (let someone) write a word before they know your business from the inside and the outside. You will write the best content if you truly know yourself.
Tip #2: Know your target audience
The next tip is to know your target. A good way to make sure that you know your target, is to describe them by using a persona. Just make a little list of personal characteristics of someone in your target audience. It could be something like this:
John Sparks, 26 years old, lives in London but grew up in the countryside. He love to play soccer with his friends in the weekend but he also likes to grab a beer in his favorite Irish Pub in the neighborhood. He lives with his girlfriend in the middle of the city, but in the summer he likes to go on a holiday, back to his roots. John is a professional marketer.
The next step is to write your article or content for this John Sparks. By using this technique you make sure that you will see your target audience as people that you can communicate with, not just as customers. An important aspect to consider is the education level of your audience and making sure that you write your content at the right reading level – not too complex, not too easy.
Tip #3: Speak the same language
If you write your content for John, then you have to make sure that John wants to read your content. You reach John in a different way than you reach Janet, a fifty year old lady from France. But to reach them the best way you can, you should think about a few things.
Are you talking to professionals? Then you can talk with more technical terms as when you talk with amateurs. Does your audience read your content for fun, or to learn something? That are some of the many questions that you could ask yourself. Every target audience speaks their own language and it’s your job to be the interpreter of your business.
Tip #4: Think like your audience
The next step is to think like your audience, not like a business that tries to sell your product. People like John are looking for a lot more than just a product. They’re looking for a solution or an experience, and that’s something that you should provide. You should focus on what your audience is looking for, and not on what your company is trying to sell.
Tip #5: Know where to lead or find your audience
Sometimes it’s just important to be visible for your audience. When you rule an organization like the government or something like that, then it’s just important that they know where to find what they are looking for.
But a lot of companies have to find their target audience themselves. Than you have to find out where to find your audience. You have to find out on what social media or forums they are. If you know where to find them, then you will be a lot closer to knowing how to reach them.
With the tips that we gave you today, you must be able to become quite a good targeted writer. Do you have some tips of your own, about how to write for your target or about anything else? Feel free to leave them through the support form! If you want to know how to reach your target audience in the search engines, you should check out the free trial of Textmetrics. In this tool you’ll be able to find numerous tips to technically optimize your texts for your target audience.
Create your free Textmetrics account below and start optimizing your web content!