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5 ways to prevent SEO blogging boredom

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Rory

Writing SEO articles is a great way to boost your site’s profile, but things can swiftly become dull. If you’re struggling to keep your content ideas fresh, here are five handy tips to keep your readers reading.

1. Talk about yourself. The things that happen to you every day in your business provide great material. Working in a story or two personalises your content.

2. Throw a popular reference in. Most businesses post serious advice in their blog content writing. This can weigh the blog down. A classic website copywriting method to break up the seriousness is to make popular references and analogies.

3. Reach. The SEO advice in terms of content is generally to stick as closely as you can to your keywords for relevance. This doesn’t mean, however, that you can only talk about things directly related to your business. Consider throwing in some loosely connected topics now and then. News about your local area, industry gossip or even history still satisfies the SEO criteria.

4. Use comments. Comments are a great starting-point for new ideas. Better yet, they engage your readers even more with your site.

5. Get a professional involved. Of course, if you’re really struggling to provide quality content for your website, the best thing to do is consult a website content writing service like the one we provide at Content.co.uk. Article writing services ensure a constant stream of professionally written content, and can be a good idea even if you only want to supplement your existing content schedule.

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Is your content boring?

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Rory

There’s so much content online, and a lot of it is deadly dull. Dull for internet users who are looking for interesting and engaging answers, and deadly for the sites hosting such boring content. The worst of it is, it’s all too easy to lose readers because you’ve slipped into some bad writing habits. When you’re writing web copy or blog content on a regular basis, there are some bad habits that you need to watch out for.

Most content writers will advise you that a good web article will be consistent, will stick to the topic and will be emphasise key points over and over. The killers of readable content are remarkably similar.

*Consistency. Consistency makes for boredom when it applies to a whole site. For example, breaking up text with subheadings is a great way to diversify the page. However, if a reader clicks on to your blog and sees nothing but paragraph, subheading, paragraph, subheading, they’ll soon become bored. Vary your tricks.

*Sticking to the topic. Sticking to your topic is admirable, but readers only want to read information once. Diversify your subjects and don’t repeat.

*Laziness. Repetition is tiring for writers, too, and that’s where laziness can creep in. If you’re sourcing your content writing in-house, make sure you have procedures in place for editing and proofreading. You can also access writing services such as those we provide at Content.co.uk.

There is more than one way to bore your readers. Make sure you change things up every now and then to keep your content fresh.

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Why you need to think about off-site content

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Rory

Does your web content plan include content outside your site? While many businesses consult content writing services to keep up with the needs of their website, many underestimate the amount of content they will need for their off-site plans. If you really want your business to succeed on the net, it’s wise to think about your all-round content needs when talking to a website content writing service.

Content is vital when you’re trying to make an impact online. There are a number of areas that require well-thought-out content:

*Social media – social interactions can be snippets of conversation, but they can also involve larger chunks of text. For businesses really trying to engage social media audiences, it’s a good idea to plan out a few announcements, press releases and reposted blog entries. At Content.co.uk we can provide you with advice about off-site blogging for SEO.

*Guest posting – posting an article on someone else’s site is a great way to tap into someone else’s traffic flow, obtain links for your SEO plan and boost your internet image. This tactic only works, however, if the content reads well, so it’s worth investing in some professional writing services.

*Article promotion – another avenue to consider pursuing is article promotion. Similar to guest posting, this involves sending out articles to various article hosting sites to obtain links and exposure. Look at popular online publications for opportunities in this area.

Online content isn’t only an issue for your website. It’s something that has an effect on your whole online campaign. Plan accordingly.

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Content in 2012 needs more flexibility

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Rory

Have you mapped out your content plan for 2012? If you haven’t got around to that part of your online marketing plan yet, you’re probably not in as much trouble as in previous years. Why? Because the demands of online marketing, social media and SEO are making it harder and harder to plan ahead with content.

It’s becoming ever more important to have some flexibility in your content plan. This is partly due to changes put in place by Google this year, and partly due to a growing trend toward fresh content that has been happening for several years. It’s no longer enough to be writing web copy months in advance. These days, when most of your competitors are likely to be blogging for SEO, your website content writing service needs to be able to react to current events and provide timely pieces.

Why be timely?

Most of the push for timely content comes from competition. Google has been changing its algorithm over the last year or so to provide better results for time-relevant searches. The other search engines have followed suit. These days, it’s not so much what you say as when you say it, and if you want your web content to count you need to launch it at the right time.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a content plan. On the contrary, it is more important than ever to have well-thought-out content sketched out for your website and social media activities, and you can discuss this with us at Content.co.uk.

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Why original content is your only option

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Rory

Want to get your pages noticed in the search engines? Original content is the only way to go. While investing in original website copywriting may seem like a big step to take, it really is your only option in terms of SEO. Here’s why.

There once was a time when sites could get away with republished content. In fact, it was an industry that thrived. Writers would sketch up a decent article, then sell it through the many content sites that once proliferated the net. Site owners would pay a lower price for non-original content, and everyone was happy.

Well, not everyone. First of all, internet users become a little sick of all the duplicated content out there. Then the search engines started to notice, and changed their algorithms to start weeding it out, gradually limiting the results so that only two versions of any piece were shown in the search engine results. SEO companies began to notice, and smart site owners who began to put more original content on their pages felt the benefits.

Now, things are looking even worse for non-original content. Google has recently changed its algorithm to track down original versions of duplicated content as a way of countering the ‘scraper’ sites that feature stolen content. This means that if you want to be listed, you have to be original, and you can discuss this further with us at Content.co.uk.

Whether you’re blogging for SEO or just looking to add some SEO to your copywriting, remember that originality is the key to success.

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3 things that will kill your online press release

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Rory

Online press releases can be a great addition to an online campaign, whether you’re trying to boost your SEO campaign or you’re just after some general market exposure. They can, however, easily go wrong. With so much competition for attention on the internet, it’s important to avoid the following three press release killers:

*Bad timing. After spending hours crafting a perfectly phrased press release, there’s nothing so disappointing as finding you’ve posted it at the wrong time. Timing is one aspect of online press releases that can be easily forgotten. Pay attention to when your target readers are active online, and only post during those specific windows of time.

*Boredom. Newsworthiness is a key factor in any press release, but what a lot of business owners forget is that newsworthiness is a matter of perspective. Almost anything can be turned into a piece of news, but the right angle has to be found. A better way to look at it is to do anything to stop your readers from being bored. Boredom is the real killer in press release writing, and you can discuss this aspect of content writing services with us at Content.co.uk.

*Mis-pitching. A final killer for online press releases is misplacing your pitch. It’s vital to tune your press release writing to your audience. With a traditional press release, the audience is the press. Online, the audience is anyone who wants to read. Plan out the places you wish to post your press release and research the kind of content that appeals to those audiences.

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3 fresh content ideas to boost time relevance

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Rory

If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas for fresh content, one of Google’s more recent changes will not be a welcome one. The search engine announced an alteration to the algorithm that gives more weight to the most recently updated pages for certain searches. In simple terms, if you want to rank, you need to be on the ball.

Coming up with timely content seems like a hard task, but there are some content types that naturally work in that area. Some of them are things that are probably already on your content plan.

1. Online press releases. Press release writing is all about creating timely content. Make use of your online press releases within your site as well as outside of it. You can talk to our team at Content.co.uk about online press release writing.

2. Social media content. Snippets from your social media profile activities may not seem like standard web content, but they are highly valuable in terms of fresh content.

3. User-generated content. This can be a gold mine from a fresh content point of view. If you get your site’s users into the habit of submitting comments, questions and even reviews or articles, you not only have a constant flow of fresh content for your pages but also a way to build community.

These changes don’t affect every search, and Google even suggested that most time-relevant searches won’t exhibit a noticeable difference. However, if you want to stay ahead of your competition, the rule should still be ‘the fresher, the better’.

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Quality Content Can Create Loyal Readers

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Rory

It is vital that a company creates a website that is viewed as a valuable source of information to their readers. However, writing fresh and informative articles to a website can often prove to be slightly challenging, and unless a company has a team of writers on staff then it can be near impossible to provide relevant and engaging content to keep readers hooked. Web-pages quickly age online and will soon become old content that will not be of use to a website’s readers. However, there are ways to keep readers engaged and provide relevant content.

Readable Content
When writing content, the writer should ensure they tailor their style to the website’s readers, as website content is very different to book or magazine content; therefore, their reading habits will be very different. It is important a company takes the time to understand their reader’s habits and buying behaviour to target their content more effectively to their audience. A company should immerse themselves in their reader’s world and ensure their writing is appealing and relates to their services or products.

Get a Personality
If a company finds interesting topics to write about then they will quickly engage with their audience. This, alongside an effective SEO link building strategy, will help to create loyal customers that will constantly return to their website. Blog posts allow a website to quickly engage with their audience as they can regularly show a little of the company’s personality. Readers tend to follow posts when they like the style of writing, or where there is a good sense of community. Therefore, blog posts will allow companies to be creative on their site and allow them to focus on certain products.

High quality website content can provide a company’s readers with additional information on their products or services, any sales or offers available on the website or informative industry news.

Content.co.uk can offer a range of copywriting services, such as article writing, blog writing, press release writing and more.

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Are online PRs a good content addition?

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Rory

If you’re looking into SEO content writing services, chances are you’ve come across suggestions that you should be sending out online press releases. Online PRs can be useful devices for a business’ marketing plan and for your site’s search engine optimisation, but they’re not necessarily for everyone. It’s important to know the potential advantages before engaging a PR writing service.

*They can seed links. One of the main attractions of online PR writing for SEO is that press releases are a great way to seed links.

*They can reach broad audiences. Another advantage of online press releases is that they act as articles as well as marketing material. If written well, they become news stories by themselves. This is quite unlike traditional press releases, which are only designed to prompt the journalist audience to create news stories from the information provided.

*They can build reputation. A secondary effect of posting press releases is that they get your business name out and about on the net. Particularly if you’ve got a social media element to your press release plans, this can have a run-on effect for other aspects of your online campaign.

Of course, it should go without saying that these advantages apply only when the press release has been handled with skill and care, and you can talk to us about this kind of web content at Content.co.uk. It’s important to remember that the placement of the press release is just as important as the words it contains, if you want it to succeed.

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2 steps to killer online press releases

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Rory

There is an art to press release writing, whether online or offline. A good press release takes a certain amount of experience to craft. With your online press release, it’s important to be aware of the particular restrictions the net imposes, and the areas in which to stick to tradition.

There are two key areas to a killer online press release: the headline, and the opening. Your headline is the main tool you can use to draw readers in. Your opening paragraph is what you need to use to keep them.

1. Go for the jugular in your headline. Headlines for online press releases are as limited as any other form of web content. Some businesses make the mistake of assuming that the press release form offers more freedom in this area. Just like any article, though, online press releases only have 80 characters to attract attention. Spend sufficient time to make your headline tempting.

Keywords are another thing to remember in your headline, and you can discuss this with us at Content.co.uk.

2. Pack a punch with the opening paragraph. While the headline of an online press release has to conform to the restrictions of the net, the strategy for your opening sentence and paragraph should remain traditional. Traditionally, press releases conform to the news style of writing, stating all of the important information in the first sentence. Concentrate on the ‘who, what, where and when’, and devote time to packing the important information into this small space.

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