Table of Contents
To become a good web editor, it is essential to respect several criteria specific to organic seo. This is also the case for companies wishing to build their internal content production team, using the best practices explained on this page . They must indeed rely on professionals who know how to write without making these 10 mistakes in content writing. Because these failings become fatal for the organic seo of web pages and blog articles. Know them to know how to avoid them!
Why have a content strategy?
Define a strategy, the base.
When we talk about content, whether on a website or in a brochure, the problem is the same. Having a content strategy that makes sense means prioritising content over form.
In industry, public works, we always make a plan before building. In content writing it’s the same thing: the plan is an editorial strategy. Interview with Caroline Benoist, founder of the Faire Sens agency.
The substance before the form
The Faire Sens agency was born in 2011, taking the turn of the web:
- The way to write for the web is different from traditional media
- The format is different
- Google favors quality over quantity.
The editorial line is clear: substance before form. Faire Sens offers a service intended to support companies on the entire content strategy. Because we have things to say or to show but it may be useful to be accompanied.
What is web content?
Content is a message, whatever its format. The first step is to define with your client the messages to convey. The second is to establish the format that will have the most impact:
- Writing text according to Google standards
- Choice of photos
- Video and sound recording
- other
When to define the content strategy?
The content strategy always intervenes upstream of a website project.
It helps the customer to formulate his request:
- Define which is the 1 st start of the interlocutor
- Work in parallel on the graphic identity.
We sell a service, so we send messages, not just aesthetic or practical for the realization. This allows the brakes to be identified and lifted. Example:
- How to work on the testimonial of the end customer (the customer’s customer) so that it brings truthfulness?
- By making a video: it humanises the message, and makes it possible to identify the right person, who has something important to say.
Even for testimonials, we do not choose people at random, but according to the message we want to convey.
The content before the form is the scripting of customer interviews.
What is the particularity of content writing profession?
Making content, writing, creating supports, is a difficult profession to define
- Online, it is google that valued it by prioritising the quality of the content. Google friendly means that we respect our standards: “We are friends”.
- On paper, with a diagonal reading, we must be able to know what it is about and identify the right keywords.
Concretely, this involves establishing a content strategy, and web writing (online presence), and or print (internal and external paper communication).
What building blocks for a content strategy?
- The story telling : what do we want to tell about the company where it is today and where we want to take him. What slogan is attached to this story.
- the tools
- The content strategy : what format, what support for any type of strategy
- Web: Text, photo, video, computer graphics, sound
- Print: Text, photo, illustration
- The editorial charter (linked to the support)
- The editorial calendar
The production must take place in accordance with the deadlines and the established editorial charter.
Having a service provider such as Faire Sens allows him to intervene as a conductor on the different points of the strategy:
- Text production
- Video scripting
- Interviews for testimonials
- Photographer’s brief
- Brief graphic designer.
The editorial calendar keeps the site alive, it is fundamental in the content strategy.
For the success of the project, it is necessary to create an internal membership, to convince the management so that it is held over time, and to bring a realistic organisation for a lasting performance.
10 mistakes in content writing
Following are 10 mistakes in content writing that undermine the effectiveness of your content.
1. Not knowing who you’re writing for
Writing a text for a surfer or a project manager has nothing to do. If the editor does not know who he is talking to, he cannot adapt his speech.
It must be briefed with a persona file, i.e. a document which details the profile of the target customer.
To write for everyone is to ignore your reader, their expectations, their needs, their preferences and aspirations. Without precise knowledge of the target audience, the content will have little or no success.
The content provided must be specific to a specific type of reader. Nothing better to trigger the interest and loyalty of its audience. Without forgetting the marketing objective of a website: converting visitors into prospects and customers!
2. Disregard the content the reader expects
content writing optimised for organic seo means targeting a keyword, in order to position your web page in the results of a search engine such as Google.
The prospect types a keyword into Google with a specific expectation. He asks the engine a question. The writer must therefore provide the response expected by the reader.
To laugh at the type of response the reader expects is to neglect the type of content expected.
In reasoning thus, the reader is totally ignored. The web page will not rank in the search results because of the irrelevance of the text.
3. Ignore the meta title and meta description tags
These tags are the first elements that the Internet user encounters when performing their search on Google.
Here is a picture of the result when I type “sales techniques” on Google:
You can see the crucial importance of content writing these two tags well:
- each tag includes the key expression “sales techniques”,
- the title tag promises content that provides real use value,
- the meta description tag continues to entice the reader to click.
4. Duplicate its content
If you duplicate your text (or a large part) on two different pages of your website, Google favors one of the two pages in its results, while serving the other.
This is also the case if you publish the same text on a page of your site and on a page of another site (case of a guest article).
The rules to follow:
- no copy and paste on two pages of its website (blog articles included),
- the meta description tag continues to entice the reader to click.
You can Use Free Article Rewriter Seo Tool to avoid duplication of content.
5. Omit the long tail Keywords
Long tail keywords are hardly typed in an engine, and correspond to a very precise search by the Internet user. You can read our previous article on how to choose Keywords for your Website?
Example of a general keyword: “shoes”
Example of a long tail keyword: “women’s fishing shoe”
These long tail keywords are very important for two reasons:
- they generally represent nearly 80% of the traffic of a theme,
- by considering them, the editor enriches his text and can position his page on several keywords.
6. Create internal links without any logic
Professional jargon designates the fact of creating links between the pages of its site by the terms “internal linking“.
The links inserted on a page which point to other pages of its site must take into account the logic in terms of meaning.
We must reason in terms of storage, that is to say in terms of semantic tree structure, based on the principle of mother page and child pages.
Example in picture:
Imagine your website as an encyclopedia in which everything is tidy.
No need to create links galore in all directions on a page or a blog post!
7. Make fun of the subheadings that structure your text
Not structuring your text with subheadings is equivalent to:
- throwing a large block of text at the reader’s face,
- ignore html headings that send information to Google
These famous headings or intertitles structure the text, both for the Internet user and for the search engines.
They must therefore be well written and correctly integrated: they allow smooth reading and participate in the organic seo of a page.
8. Integrate image files that are too large
The size of an image file is essential. If the weight is too heavy, it slows down the display of the web page.
The loading speed of a page is a vital criterion taken into account by Google. The engine favors pages that take too long to load.
It is therefore essential to optimize the weight of your images by using a tool such as compressor.io for example.
In addition, don’t forget to fill in the “title” and “alt” attributes of each image with your keyword …
9. Write long sentences
Google prefers short sentences.
The reader is easily lost in a very long sentence, he no longer knows where he is.
If you want to express several ideas within the same sentence, break your ideas down.
Write and include a bulleted list for:
- smoother reading,
- a clear understanding.
Remember that reading on screen is much more difficult and tiring than reading on paper! (Source: La Tribune )
10. Forgetting to cite your sources
Highlighting figures helps support your speech. Your arguments have much more weight if you cite your sources, especially if they are renowned, so trust!
If you don’t, you cause the reader to distrust. Imagine what he can think: “Here are some more numbers out of the hat, pipeau! “
Personally, I like to put the numbers in quotation format when I include my text.
Casually, the profession of web editor has many constraints to integrate. Content is one of the pillars of SEO. SEO optimised web content writing is therefore a lever for customer acquisition that should not be taken lightly. To get results and attract traffic to your site, it is crucial to understand all of the SEO factors that affect the relevance and effectiveness of content.