Content Development

5 Features of Results-Driven, Creative Content

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We all know we need to develop quality, creative content. It creates traffic, conversions and ultimately, sales. However, knowing content is necessary and understanding the type of content that drives results are very different. As the owner of an SEO company, I get that results-driven content creation isn’t always instinctive. By integrating a few basic features, you can produce the kind of content that will help your business grow and thrive.

1. Strong, Compelling Headlines

The adage “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” rings true with content as much as it does with face-to-face meetings. What is your first impression? Your headline, of course. This is your one and only chance to let your audience know what you have to say and why they need to listen.

power of words web design

A few simple principles will help you create attention-grabbing headlines. First, keep it short and sweet. Today’s attention span is even shorter than it was when that adage was first coined. Second, make it catchy with power words that invoke the reader’s curiosity. This can be formatted in many ways, some examples include:

  • Posing a question remains one of the best ways to engage a reader
  • Adding benefits to your headlines – make an emotional appeal
  • Eliciting feelings that help prompt decisions
  • Quotes from a speech or interview that provides a great introduction to good content

Finally, avoid sensationalism at all costs – the age of yellow journalism is over, and readers are looking for authentic, honest content stuffed with usable information.

2. Readable, Shareable Content

Quality content is easy to read. It is straightforward, interesting and even humorous when appropriate. Your reader should get to the end of your article without putting forth an exorbitant amount of effort to understand what is written. The best content has a personality that allows the reader to engage directly – as if they were enjoying a conversation in a local coffee shop with an expert on a topic.

Readable content performs well. Even better – readable content is more likely to get shared. Shared content expands its reach, gets seen and earns results.

creative content analysis

3. Unique, Useful Information

The digital age has brought a myriad of information to our fingertips. Some content is helpful – other content, not so much. If you want to stand out from all the online noise, you need to provide information that is both unique and useful. Hook readers in the first paragraph by stating what your content is about and why they should care. This is no time for fluff, so keep your content relevant, interesting and valuable.

One of the best ways to help your content stand out from the crowd is to become a master storyteller. Gone are the days where an audience just wants to absorb facts. Today, the reader is looking for a way to engage with everything they read. Open with a problem your reader can relate to and then lay out your solution. This formula for creative content is simple but highly effective.

4. Visually Appealing Imagery

No matter how good your content might be, if your audience sees nothing more than words on a page, it is unlikely to get read. In a world where GIFs and infographics rein, content’s kingdom has expanded considerably. Stop thinking of content as just text and expand your horizons to visuals designed to get and keep attention.

Visuals are a proven way to improve the performance of your content. When images are inserted about every 75-100 words, content is twice as likely to get shared. Videos are another valuable resource, increasing organic traffic, shares and time spent on a website.

5. Targeted to the Right Audience

Good content won’t get you results until it gets to the right audience. Think about what the purpose of your searches should be:

  • Navigational: Searchers are on the hunt for a specific site to get information about the company. This is a website a user and wants to visit directly.
    navigtional search query
  • Informational: Searchers are looking for websites that offer specific information around a certain subject matter. For example, step-by-step instructions to complete a task or basic facts about a medical condition.
    informational search queries
  • Transactional: Searchers want to perform some type of function, such as to receive rates or purchase an item.
    transactional search query

Knowing the intent of your audience will help you pinpoint your content to your precise target. Not only will you attract those that are interested in your business, but you will also find the audience most likely to take the appropriate action.

Great content development does more than showcase your business – it gets results. Whether you are crafting blogs, e-commerce or social media posts, when your content drives traffic and increases your conversions, it is worth every word.

Content and UX Web Design Go Hand-in-Hand with SEO

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Marketers today put a heavy emphasis on search engine optimization (SEO). While it is a vital piece of any marketing strategy, many inexperienced marketers believe that proper SEO only applies to content.

While that’s not wrong, it isn’t entirely accurate either. Marketers place a substantial influence on SEO essentials such as keywords and meta information because their end goal is to rank high on Google. These teams are always looking for ways to outsmart Google algorithms.

While the algorithms may change frequently, our web design team in Austin knows that two things will always remain constant:

1. Good, quality content
2. Designing for user experience

Tips from an Austin SEO Firm: How Content & UX Design Work Together

 Good SEO work only gets better over time. It’s only search engine tricks that need to keep changing when the ranking algorithms change.” – Jill Whalen

Marketing teams today know that Google changes its algorithms hundreds, if not thousands of times throughout the year. In fact, in 2018 alone, Moz reported that Google made 3,234 “improvements” to its algorithms.

Therefore, keeping on top of your SEO game is crucial, meaning every aspect of SEO, not just to your content creation. Believe it or not, user experience plays a massive part in your ranking. This means designing for SEO, a task our web design team in Austin is prepared to help you with.

Good Content for SEO

When it comes to SEO basics, content is what most marketers tend to gravitate towards. Yes, when it comes to ranking on search engines, content is vital.

As of April 2019, nearly 56% of the world’s population is online and using search engines to find solutions to their everyday needs. With over 1.6 billion websites currently online, getting consumers to your website is no easy feat.

This is where proper search engine optimization comes into play. If your marketing team is creating top-quality content and applying SEO best practices such as optimized keywords and other meta information, then you are sure to see increases in your website’s overall traffic.

To help you better stand out from the crowd, here are a few pointers on creating good content and implementing SEO best practices:

  1. Good content = unique content
  2. Make use of enticing, keyword-rich headings
  3. Make your content actionable
  4. Make your content relevant to readers and address their pain points
  5. Engage readers by asking them for feedback, questions, and encouraging them to share the content with their fellow consumers. This also requires having an informative yet engaging tone and personality so that readers can relate.
  6. Good SEO = optimized for a specific keyword
  7. Build authority by linking to top-quality, expert sources
  8. Use optimized media, such as images and videos with appropriate ALT titles and descriptions.

UX Design for SEO

While having a high traffic rate to your website is essential, that only gets consumers to your page. The next step is getting them to spend enough time on the page to encourage conversion. Good content is one way to approach this. However, our web designers in Austin highly encourage utilizing UX design for SEO.

UX design is web design created for the user experience, not for the aesthetic pleasure of your company. While having an aesthetically pleasing site is essential to UX design, it is vital to remember, your site is a tool, and it needs to be user-friendly to encourage visitors to make the conversion from consumer to customer.

This leaves many marketers wondering exactly how they can combine UX design with SEO best practices. It’s not as complicated as your web design team may think, and, in fact, many web designs already incorporate some of the most vital pieces of the puzzle.

Some essential pieces of this puzzle include:

  • Your Site ID/Logo – This needs to be prominently placed at the top of your page and not surrounded by unnecessary clutter.
  • Navigation – Users need simple and easy navigation options to find what they need on your site. An overly complicated navigation system will instantly put off users and send them somewhere else.
  • Content Structure – Prioritizing important information takes more than applying chronological order or a cause and effect structure to your text. Making use of subheadings and breaking up your content into various sections help guide readers to the information that is most important to them and their needs. While flow is still vital, properly formatted subheadings can make finding the right information easy for skimmers.
  • Optimized Images – Just like content, images can be appropriately optimized for SEO using title tags, ALT titles, and image descriptions.
  • Calls to Action – Having excellent content is great, but you need to have prominent calls to action that direct your readers to the information they want. These CTAs should be creatively placed and stand out against the rest of your page. This ensures that users don’t need to guess if this button will take them to your download or purchasing options.
  • Page Speed – Unfortunately, this is often an afterthought for many web designers because they are so focused on the design and usability of the site. Page and overall website speed need to be considered as part of the overall usability because if the site is too slow to load, users will get impatient and turn elsewhere to have their needs fulfilled in a timelier manner.

Good Content & UX Design Will Always Thrive Together

With search engine algorithms continuously changing, marketers often find themselves stressed out over having to alter their marketing strategy to suit the new changes. What most neglect to remember is the fact that having quality content and good UX design will always trump changing algorithms.

Need help getting your SEO strategy in line with current marketing standards? Let us help!

Our professional SEO strategy includes not only website analysis and content research, but also speed testing, mobile website optimization, and more! Reach out today to learn more about our SEO and web design in Austin.

Want SEO? Create Quality Web Design and Content

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Former SEO guru Jill Whalen said, “Good SEO work only gets better over time. It’s only search engine tricks that need to keep changing when the ranking algorithms change.”

While breaking the secret Google code can boost your ranking, nothing can replace quality when it comes to engaging visitors. SEO is more than just a few tricks to beat the latest algorithm. It is a commitment to quality that is reflected throughout your website.

Follow along to learn how to improve your web design in Austin with optimized content and design.

Integrating SEO into the Web Design Process

Because SEO and web design are closely intertwined, it makes sense to incorporate best SEO practices into the design process. A flashy website won’t mean much if people can’t find you in the search engines.

To make your site search engine friendly, include the following elements in your design:

  • Consider speed: Users aren’t the only ones who don’t want to wait for your content to load. Search engines also rank according to navigation. If your site can’t be crawled quickly, it won’t show up as high in the rankings and every second of delay will result in lost customers.
  • Implement SEO basics: Get your site up with the basics in place. No site can thrive without effective keywords, title tags, and content. When you incorporate these elements from the start, your site starts working for you from the minute it goes live.
  • Don’t limit content to words: Quality content is about more than brilliant writing. Supplement your message with video and images that are loved by search engines and boost user experience.

How to Kill SEO with Your Website Design

At the same time you are adding search engine friendly elements to your design, avoid features that can turn off potential users before they start to explore your site:

1. Not Mobile-Friendly

It’s hard to believe that in today’s digital age there are still websites that do not integrate well with mobile devices. Since most users today consider their phones their primary source for information, your ability to adapt to mobile is essential.

2. Unreadable Text

What your words look like on the page is just as important as what they say. If you use a font that is uncomfortably small or otherwise difficult to read, users will be likely to give up and move on without putting forth the extra effort to understand your business.

3. Too Many Pop-Ups

When a pop-up is the first thing a user is greeted with when they click on your website, it can be a major turn-off. Use pop-ups wisely to encourage action without detracting from your message. Your first goal should be to establish a trusting relationship with a potential customer before going in for the sale.

4. Auto-Play Video or Audio

Loud sounds when a user clicks on your website can be even more irritating than a pop-up. If you are going to play a video automatically when someone clicks on your site, mute the sound to prevent users from exiting your site as soon as they find you.

Let’s Talk High-Quality Content

Once you have scored with both the search engines and the user experience, keep your visitors wanting more with high-quality content. You can produce the content potential customers want by focusing on these three key elements:

  • Know your audience: Content isn’t just about educating your customers – it’s about connecting with them. In order to make those valuable connections, you need to know who your customers are. Beyond basic demographics, focus on the problems your customers have that your product or service can address.
  • Relate to your audience: Don’t rely on Google to direct your customers to you. Know the questions they ask and the solutions they are seeking. Form your content around the language they use to make the connections more readily available.
  • Focus on your customer: It’s easy to look at your content as a selling tool, but this is not where high-quality content starts. Instead, think about creating a relationship with your customer that builds trust and loyalty. When you do this successfully, the sales will follow.

JS-Interactive offers Austin SEO and web design services. Contact us today to find out how we can help you build a site that works for you.

What the heck is a writing style guide? (And why do I need one?)

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I’ve fielded several questions from clients recently about writing style decisions – when to capitalize job titles, the number of spaces after a period, when to use numerals vs. spelling out numbers, whether to use an Oxford comma, things like that.

Questions like these are especially common when a piece of writing goes through numerous individuals during the approval process. When it comes to writing, everyone has an opinion on what’s right and what’s wrong.

In many cases, the comments shared aren’t necessarily wrong – they are just different viewpoints based on the individual’s education and experience. This is because there are many different writing styles – Chicago Manual of Style for general publishing, AP Stylebook for journalism, and APA Style for social sciences, to name a few.

The problem arises when a company or organization has not adopted a writing style guide.

So … what’s a writing style guide?

A style guide is a set of standards a company or organization adopts for their written communications. In other words, a style guide lays down the rules of the road for everyone involved in written communications for your company. Capitalization, punctuation, tense, spelling and word choice are some of the common areas a writing style guide can address.

And why do I need a writing style guide?

The lack of a writing style guide can easily open the door to a never-ending, circular debate about commas, capitalization and so forth. It can cause confusion and frustration for your writing contributors. And, ultimately, it results in inconsistencies in your communications materials.

Inconsistencies are likely the worst consequence, as readers will see these as mistakes or just plain sloppiness. This can be very damaging to your company’s reputation, as well as to the brand image you are working to build.

The good news is that it can be avoided. And perhaps more significant than avoiding unwanted consequences, your writing style guide can help build and support the brand image you want to portray.

Get started on your writing style guide with these five simple steps:

  • Step 1. The first step is to adopt an overall writing style. With my journalism background, AP Style has been my go-to resource. (And it’s easier than ever to double check myself or get questions answered with their online style guide!)Your chosen style guide will be the foundation of your writing. It does not mean that you are 100 percent tied to this style, or that you have no flexibility. But when a question arises, this is the guide you will refer to.
  • Step 2. The second step is to develop an organization-specific writing style guide. This guide will include common style questions that come up within your company. It will also include any organization-specific deviations from your primary style guide, or provide rules for any writing needs not addressed in your primary style guide.There are online resources and templates that can help you develop a style guide for your organization. A professional copywriter or marketing consultant can also help you create and consistently utilize your style guide.
  • Step 3. The third step is to introduce your primary and company-specific style guide to your organization as a whole, as well as to your writing contributors. To get buy-in, it will likely be important to share some background on why a style guide is important and the process you went through to develop it.
  • Step 4. The fourth step is to use your style guide consistently. Make the guides easily accessible to everyone who will be writing for your organization.It is also extremely helpful to have a final set of eyes – a person tasked with doing a final review of the articles, with an emphasis on ensuring all the pieces use a consistent writing style. Many clients find it helpful to have an outside person – a copywriter or other consultant – complete this final review.
  • Step 5. Combine your style guide with your company’s fresh, relevant, easy-to-read content and you are well on your way to building deeper relationships with your existing audience and developing valuable new leads to grow your business!

Rachel Grenier has been happily having conversations with clients about capitalization, commas and content as an independent copywriter and marketing consultant for 11+ years.

5 Reasons You Need a Professional Copywriter

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When my colleague Justin Staples asked me to write an article on why professional copywriting is important, I was at a loss for words.

It’s not that I’m unfamiliar with the topic. I’ve been writing my entire life. From the time I could hold a pencil, I was creating stories. That eventually led to my career today as an independent copywriter and marketing consultant.

The question offered an excellent opportunity for some introspection. Why IS writing important? What do I offer that my clients value enough to invest their time and marketing dollars?

So here you go … the top five reasons I believe professional copywriting is an important part of any successful businesses’ marketing toolkit:

  1. It all starts with words. You might not think you’re doing a “writing” project, but more than likely, you are. A TV spot needs a script. A presentation needs talking points. Even social media depends on good writing. Think about it – on Twitter, you have just 140 characters to capture your audience’s attention. Every word, every letter, every comma, every space matters. Your copywriter can help you tell your story regardless of the project, length or medium.
  2. You have too much to say or don’t know where to start. A good copywriter isn’t just a good writer … he or she is also a good listener. You know your business inside and out, and it’s your job to tell us all about it. Then, it’s our job to help you hone in on what your audience needs to hear, pare down the clutter to most important points, and craft an effective message that resonates with your target audience.
  3. You don’t want to sound dumb. Not to be harsh, but as they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Your words – whether written, spoken or recorded – are the first impression you have on your target audience. A mis-placed, mis-spelled or mis-used word can make or break your credibility, and damage or enhance your reputation.
  4. It builds your brand personality. Think of your business like a person – how would you describe it? Friendly and casual? Professional and highbrow? Humorous and maybe even a bit cheeky? The words you choose and the tone you use in your marketing is a critical part of building and supporting your brand personality. A professional copywriter can help you develop this personality, and use it consistently across your communications.
  5. You want people to feel something. When’s the last time an instruction manual made you feel something (other than maybe frustration)? Compare that to an article that brought tears to your eyes, a radio spot that made you laugh, or that TV show you binge-watched for a week. The difference is your marketing objective and the style you choose to achieve that objective. Your words have the power to not only inform and educate, but also to create emotion and inspire action. 

So, despite my initial loss of words, I was able to find nearly 600 of them to describe why I believe professional copywriting is an invaluable tool. I hope you find them helpful.

rachel-grenier-copywriter-content-marketingRachel Grenier has been helping clients “find their words” as an independent copywriter and marketing consultant for 11+ years. She, her husband and son are living their dream of working and residing between Alaska and Hawaii. More on Rachel »