SEO Content Creation: What It Is and Why You Need It
November 20, 2008
SEO content creation is the house specialty here at Blue Duck Copy. It’s no secret that I write for other companies, many of them strictly dealing with SEO. Content creation and SEO marketing has changed over the years. I’ve seen the industry go from 1200 word, high keyword density articles, to 400-500 word, topic-specific siloed posts, as SEO companies adapt to search engine algorithms.
SEO Content Creation: What it Is
So, what exactly is SEO content creation?
It is content with a dual purpose. The goal of SEO content creation is not purely to entertain, persuade, or inform the reader, it is to help the client’s website rank higher for a given set of planned out keywords.
This is not merely slapping up a bunch of loosely related words, bridged by boring or rambling sentences and concepts, with a dash of sales copy thrown in for good measure. It is a lot like composing a song, solving a puzzle, or constructing a model.
I Love Legos
Many times, SEO content creation is not straight-forward writing. In order to meet special requests of clients, work in awkward keyword phrases, or construct a silo of related search terms, the SEO writer must look at the whole picture, as well as the individual parts, and find a way to make them interesting with a nice flow throughout.
Once the key pieces are in place, I can work on the whole, paragraph by paragraph, and work in captivating sales copy, benefits to the reader, bullet points, subheadings, and other important aspects that give SEO content creation its MoJo. Not everyone is cut out for SEO writing, even if they excel in other areas of writing because of this complexity.
Why You Need SEO Content Creation
If you make money from a form of online advertising, or offer online goods or services, you need SEO content creation to succeed. Search engine traffic directly affects your conversion rates. If consumers can’t find your website, you aren’t going to sell anything, even if you offer the best product or service in your niche.
Search engine algorithms change constantly. Search engines like Google are getting better and better at determining the purpose of website content, and having a high keyword density is no longer enough to rank well for a given keyword.
Learning the Dance
SEO for a website can be extremely complicated. Content with a too-high keyword density is penalized. You may also be docked for broken links, irrelevant content, linking to a BlackHat website, or any number of other Google No-No’s. Too many penalties, and your website could be lost in cyberspace for eternity.
Search engines provide the roadsigns and billboards for online consumers to find your website and SEO determines where your website is on the World Wide Map. If you are serious about making money from your website, you need to understand SEO.
*If you think you might be a crafty SEO content creation writer, send me an email. We’re hiring talented, reliable, and honest freelance SEO writers.* (And you don’t have to be a Christian to work for Blue Duck Copy, in case you’re wondering.) 
The Lobby or the Lounge
November 19, 2008
“Right this way, please. You may wait in the lounge. May I get something refreshing for you while you wait?”
“I am so glad you came! Come in, put your feet up by the fire and have some coffee. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve been up to!”
“The lobby’s that way. We’ll call you when it’s your turn. There’s a vending machine down the hall.”
All three of these interactions occur everyday in businesses all around the world. They could even describe the same situation, such as waiting for car repairs, interviewing for a job, or buying your first home. However, there are distinct differences between these environments.
They each create a distinct expectation.
Setting the Stage
Creating the right environment is crucial for any business. Consumers seek out goods and services that meet a particular need. Often, that need is purely emotional. They want to feel good about themselves, they want to purchase a product without feeling guilty, they want to feel important, popular, loved, or beautiful.
Figuring It Out
What motivates consumers to buy? What impression do your customers receive when they first visit your website or office? What are your customers looking for? If you don’t know these answers, you are hurting your business.
Creating the Right Environment
Why should you bother with creating an ideal environment for your customers?
- If your customers receive what they are looking for emotionally, they are more likely to return, and will recommend your business to others.
- You can charge more for the same products or services because of the implied value created by the right environment. Don’t believe me? Go read about Lance and his dentist.
- Creating the right environment can significantly increase your ROI.
- Customers are more at ease in the perfect environment, placing them in an optimal position for buying.
Do customers pay more for the right environment? You bet they do. Ask any Web designer.
The Lobby or the Lounge
Do your customers want to spend time in a lobby or a lounge? Does your website present this optimal environment? Who is your target audience, anyway?
If you don’t know, ask. Men With Pens offers Drive by Shooting Sundays, where they provide a professional evaluation of your website, complete with recommended changes, for a small fee.
Read up on marketing and sales. “But I’m not a salesperson! I hate sales.” Well, if you are in business to make money, you are a salesperson. Even if you are writing your first novel, you are peddling your words to an agent or potential readers, even as you put those first words on paper.
Go read Graham Strong‘s post on the Art of Perception. He has some great tips and insight into what helps create that optimal environment.
Be smart about crafting your business. Your competitors are.
Protected: Overcoming Defeat
November 18, 2008
Online Business School Tips: Improving Recall
November 17, 2008
Naomi Dunford’s Online Busines School has now officially been open for a week. If you are a student, you most liekly have listened to at least one section thus far.
To help you succeed, we’ll be gathering here to share tips, ask questions, and just gab about the courses. I think Naomi is planning a forum section at some time, so if that opens, we’ll move the party to Itty Biz.
The first tip I have for OBS students has to do with tried and true study tactics. If you can’t recall the information from OBS when it comes time to put it into practice, well, what’s the point?
Study Tactics to Improve Your Recall
I’ve been in school a long, long time. I have two degrees and am working on my third. I’ve picked up a few habits along the way that cut down on my study time and greatly improved my recall, and am willing to share my brain and my cookies. (Chocoalate chip is the flavor of the day, we’ll have ones with sprinkles next week for Dave.)
These habits can help you succeed with OBS if you apply them. They do you no good if you read them and leave them looking pretty on the screen. Give it a try, you’ll be amazed.
- Know your learning style. Most people are visual learners. This means you retain more information by reading or watching a video. Fewer people are auditory learners. They learn best by hearing the spoken word. Most of us have adapted enough to use a combination of styles, but knowing your strengths will help you get the most from the course. Naomi and Jamie provide recordings, PDF transcripts for reading, and tutorial videos to meet everyone’s learning needs. Focus the majority of your time on the media that suits your individual learning style.
- If you have an iPod, put it to use. The audio files are in MP3 format so they will transfer with a sync. Listen to the files in the car, while you exercise, while you sleep. Listen over and over until you can hear Naomi’s voice telling you, “You can do this. I’m handing you the freakin’ tools, go build your dreams.”
- Read, rinse, repeat. The next tip for improving recall comes from John MacArthur. (You don’t have to be a Bible scholar, a MacArthur fan, or even a Christian to use this one. No worries.) Mr. MacArther tells his students to read one book of the Bible from begining to end, in one sitting, everyday for 30 days. This creates a visual imprint of the written words on your brain. At the end of 30 days, you will know that material forward and backward, inside and out because you can picture the words in your head. Do this with the Online Business School transcripts.
Give these a try and stop back or email me if you you find something that works for you that you want to share.
Next up is a tip for all current and potential business owners that comes from one of the greatest building projects ever undertaken.
Meet Lily
November 16, 2008
Meet Tiger Lily. She’s my birthday present this year and I think she’s adorable. Since it’s Sunday, I thought I’d ramble about my little darling. For you cat-haters, we’ll be back to business tomorrow with tips for Online Business School.
The Cat Story
I mentioned to my husband that I would like to have a Pixie Bob. When he found out the price tag that goes with a Pixie, he laughed and said, “You’re kidding, right? A cat’s only worth about two cents. That’s how much it costs me to put a bullet in its head.” Boo. Hiss. Throw rotten vegetables at violent cat haters.
My son found little Lily at school, along with 2 other kittens. He was already enamored by the time I came to pick him up and said with those big beautiful blue eyes, “Can we keep her mama? She doesn’t have a home.” Now, how can you say no to that logic?
Lily Faces the Executioner
So Lily rode home and to my surprise, she won the heart of my husband. The first night, I caught him petting her. The second night, I saw him looking for her under the rocker before he sat down, and the third night he actually picked her up and declared she was “cute for a cat”. Tonight, he spent 20 minutes playing with her and told her she wasn’t tough enough to beat him, but she might be cute enough to live. Now that’s progress.
Getting to Know Lily
Lily isn’t a Pixie Bob, but she sure does look like one. I like to think of her as my designer knock-off cat. She is polydactyl and has fur of pure silk.
She likes to root around in my hair and occasionally latches onto my earring with a vengeance. I think she misses her mama yet.
She has spunk, and likes to swat me in the nose when I talk to her. My kids adore her. She’s already figured out that the four-year-old hangs out in the kitchen a lot, and if she goes too, she might get a bite of something tasty.
She likes to chase my fingers as I type and sits on the keyboard in Soup Nazi style and says, “No work for you!”
Right now, she’s a warm purring little ball of goodness curled at the small of my back. In five minutes she’ll be maniacally chasing her tail, or a catnip ball, or my eyelashes. So if you follow me on Twitter and get one of these messages, “kmkmadklmkikkm”, that’s from Lily.
(Maybe I should introduce her to Selma…do cats and ducks get along?)
Blog Nirvana: Ninjas, Snakes, and World Domination
November 15, 2008
This was an awesome week to be a blogger! I found so many helpful and entertaining posts this week that I entered three pages of quotes into my journal! Here’s a spattering of a few of my favorites.
I would say that I enjoy the feeling of my pen scratching at the surface, but mine breaks straight through it, digging all the way down to the core of the issues that I’m not afraid to expose.” Matthew Dryden http://www.matthewdryden.ca/2008/11/10/who-the-eff-is-matthew-dryden/
“They have choices. They have leverage. They have freedom. All because Jerry and his wife decided to turn off the CSI reruns and look into diversifying their income streams.” Naomi Dunford http://ittybiz.com/why-were-broke/
“ Just recognizing that I’m not — and don’t have to be — self-sufficient all the time is feeling really weird and vulnerable. So I’m practicing the art of the ask.” Havi Brooks http://www.fluentself.com/blog/update/sigh-of-relief-edition/
“The key is to focus on mistakes, or what not to do, instead of focusing only on what to do.” Brian Clark http://www.copyblogger.com/what-not-to-wear/
“Ninjas are like cockroaches. For every one you see there are a thousand you don’t see. “ Jenny the Bloggess http://thebloggess.com/?p=688
“There are no accidents” Ugway from Kung Fu Panda (I know it’s not from a blog, but it found it’s way into my journal this week.)
“What really prompted me to join Men with Pens were dreams of World Domination. A team that works well together can get far more done than any individual and can do far more than another team that doesn’t work well.” Charlie Pabst http://menwithpens.ca/interview-with-pen-man-3-charlie-pabst-goes-naked
“At the exact moment I achieve internet domination, all of the bad ex-boyfriends are going to show up with the baskets of dirty laundry and the skeletons and everything that I’ve worked so hard for will be snatched from my grip and I’ll be left huddled in the corner of my shower, alone and naked and crying into a bottle of Jack Daniels – and I don’t even like Jack Daniels.” Jessica http://www.loveheylola.com/2008/11/it-could-really-be-any-member-of.html
“So I’m tossing nickels at it but they’re all bouncing off and rolling away and that’s when I realized that I’m standing in the street throwing change at a dead snake like it’s some sort of performing monkey with an accordion. “ Jenny the Blogess http://thebloggess.com/?p=534
And because Matthew Dryden rocked my world with a post that echoes of my favorite writer’s deepest thoughts, go check out The Writers Are Ultra-Violent. But be forewarned, it’s a little graphic and definitely not G Rated. http://www.matthewdryden.ca/2008/11/13/the-writers-are-ultra-violent/
