Introduction

Now that you have your content marketing strategy in place, it’s time to start thinking about what kind of content you want to create and how it will support your overall goals. One of our core tenets of writing at the Content Optimization Institute is that content should be written for human audiences, not search engines. While SEO is important (more on that later), the first thing we need to do is understand the needs, interests, and goals of our audience—because, without a clear understanding of them, our content will miss the mark.

Designing for the user

When you’re designing content for your website, you need to understand a few things about the people who visit it.

They’re called users, and they are the people who will be reading your content. They could also be the people converting on or off of your site, sharing it with their friends, or commenting on what they read—but first and foremost: they are all users!

Creating user personas

Personas are characters that represent your customers. They are based on real customer data, including their demographics and behavioral patterns. By creating personas, you can focus on the needs and interests of your customers rather than those of your company. Personas help you design for the user, which will result in better content for your readers.

Designing for your customer's goals

Know your audience
Design for the customer's goals
Create content that is helpful, entertaining, and relevant

Writing content for the customer's needs and interests

You should write copy that is relevant to the user’s needs and interests. This means that it must be written in plain language, rather than jargon or overly technical terms.

It also means writing with a conversational tone, not in cold or formal language. If you are writing for a product catalog, avoid using phrases such as “this item is perfect for anyone who wants to…” or “the best way to do something is by…” Your audience will be more likely to engage with content if they feel like they are having a conversation with someone they know personally rather than being lectured by an expert on the subject matter at hand.

The voice of your entire site should reflect these same qualities: use friendly language (not passive voice), use active verbs instead of nouns when possible, keep sentences short and simple, and avoid jargon at all costs! The more conversational and approachable your copy sounds, the more likely people are going to read it – and hopefully, act on what they find there!

What kind of language is appropriate for your site?

Use simple, conversational language. Your content should be easy to read and understand. Avoid jargon and buzzwords that only make sense to a certain group of specialists—your audience is bigger than that!
Write in the active voice. When you write in the active voice, you’re using verbs that show action (like “we created” instead of “it was created”). This creates a more engaging tone for your readers and makes it easier for them to follow along with what you have written.
Use contractions in dialogue where appropriate (e.g., “I am not sure about this decision” becomes “I am not sure about this decision”). It sounds more natural when people speak this way!
Avoid formal language when possible; use informal language instead (e.g., “can we meet at 2 pm on Monday?” becomes "How about Tuesday?"). Using more casual terms helps make your writing feel more natural, like an exchange between friends rather than something out of a corporate guideline manual or legal document!

Conducting keyword research

To get started, you'll need to do some keyword research. There are lots of different tools you can use for this purpose, but here are a few that we recommend:

Google Keyword Planner
Google Trends
Google Correlate
Search Console (for more detailed information on keywords)

Choosing target keywords

When starting with content marketing, it’s important to understand how search engines work and the differences between them. It’s also important to know how keywords work and how they help you rank in search results. Your target keyword should be relevant to your business, but it also must be competitive enough that there is a need for your product or service. In addition, it should not be too broad (i.e., “web hosting reviews”) or too specific (i.e., “SEO web design services Austin tx”). You may have seen this kind of variation in other areas of life before: think about dating apps where users can choose whether they want someone who is looking for casual sex or marriage; those two categories are not mutually exclusive—there will always be some overlap between them—but one serves as a good example for why choosing the right keywords matters so much when doing content marketing well!

Writing with keywords in mind

When you're writing, it's important to think about the keywords your content will be associated with. The words and phrases you use in your content should relate directly to those keywords.

This is especially true for the title and meta description of a page—these are often used by search engines as part of their ranking algorithms, so they must include the target keyword(s). Here are some ways you can use these fields:

Title: Include a single primary target keyword (or phrase) in this field along with other relevant information that describes what people can expect when visiting that page or article.
Meta description: This short description will appear beneath the title on search engine results pages (SERPs), so make sure it includes one or two main target keywords (or phrases) while also briefly summarizing what users will find on this page/article if they click through from a SERP result.
URL structure: It's also helpful to make sure your URLs include relevant terms; this makes it easier for search engines to understand which pages/articles exist on your site as well as makes individual pieces easier for visitors to identify if sharing links via social media etc. since there are fewer characters available than with just using plain text variations like "www" followed by file names that could change over time depending here which site visitor comes across them."

Creating keyword-rich content ideas

There are many ways to create keyword-rich content ideas. The most effective way to do so is by conducting proper keyword research, which will help you understand what your target audience is searching for in the search engines.

After analyzing the data and coming up with a list of keywords that represent your products or services, look at these terms and think about how they relate to the goals of various types of users. This will help you determine whether or not these words fit their needs, interests, and language.

If a certain term doesn't match any of those criteria, then it's probably not worth using as an SEO keyword because it won't drive much traffic (or sales) if it's not relevant to anyone looking for something specific on Google/Bing/Yahoo!

Your customers want information that addresses their needs and interests.

They want to find information that is relevant to them.

They want to find information that is easy to understand.

They also want it to be easy for them to use, as well.

Conclusion

Experimenting with content, adjusting your design, and planning out what you want to say can take some time. It’s important to think about your audience, their needs, and how they might interact with your website. You should still consider what the most effective way is for you to communicate this information through writing and design so that it’s accessible for all users on whatever device or browser they choose.

Infinite Business

Content Creation