How to Use SEO and Content Marketing to Keep Your Visitors

Posted on January 13, 2016 at 10:01 AM Comments comments (2)

Will it play in Peoria?

This phrase is synonymous with questioning the success of, well, just about anything.  You can see the principle behind it in use throughout the world, whether it is science or business strategy, marketing or product placement.  But what does it mean for something to play in Peoria?  Why is that so important?
Delving behind the metaphorical question, you’ll find that it is all about testing.  Small scale tests that measure the success of an idea within certain limits.  You might even think of it in terms of a “staging-ground” for content marketing.
Nobody wants to work hard and put a lot of money into launching content that immediately flops, but if you don’t launch it, how are you going to get that feedback?  With small scale content testing, companies not only can get an accurate feed of how popular and well received their material is, but in this technological day and age, they can accrue feedback on how to make it better if it does fail.  Content marketing isn’t just about watching what happens anymore, it’s about listening to your customers and your clients for their valuable feedback, making the changes that are necessary to ensure a localized delivery platform on which your business venture succeeds.

The nature of the internet is that of information overload, and if you don't grab the attention of your visitor it will not be long before they click off your website and go elsewhere.  This is all about content.  It has been said that "Content Is King."  However, understanding the behavior of website users can have a huge impact in how you present your content.  Long and drawn out dissertations are probably not a good idea to grab a user’s attention.

Users Will Scan First.
A user coming to your website will first scan your page.  This is natural behavior. The human eye will take in a huge amount of information in only a second, like pictures, layout; the brain will ask whether the content looks difficult or easy to read.  Guess which one wins there!  They will often read the introduction before deciding if this is relevant to what they want.  So, make sure the introduction is great to grab their attention.  Most of the time users will just scan down the page looking for anything to grab more attention.  You can do this by using sub headings throughout the post to draw them in to read more.  Lists and bullet points work great too.  So in a list with bullet points this is what you can do:
1. Write a great headline.
2. Write a short to the point introduction.
3. Use sub headings to grab their attention.
4. Vary the content with lists and bullet points.


What about SEO?

Search Engine Optimization is always on the mind of the writer or creator of content.  Keywords need to be included for search engines to find your content.
Use Long Tail Keywords.
Using short keywords like, as always, 'Dog Training', might not be worth much to you as there are probably millions of others using them.  Try and find something more unique using long tail keywords.  You might want to try 'The Best Dog Training Courses in Arizona.'
Ranking Much Higher with Unique Keyword Phrases.
There will be less competition and you will rank much higher using long tail keywords, such as the one quoted above.  Get creative and use Google Keyword Tool to test and find new keywords to use.

Search in Google.
A great idea is to just type your keyword phrase into Google and see what the results are.  If there are millions of results then your chances of getting ranked are pretty dismal.  In conclusion about content, the best advice I can give you is to keep it simple and the language simple too.  Short paragraphs with a good layout and sub headings, will hold the reader's attention.  Try and use long tail keywords for better rankings in Google and other search engines.  Be creative and check the results on Google by typing them into the search engine.