Focus on writing content for real people, not robots

I have been in the digital marketing space for many years and often I get this brief: “I need you to write me a 1 500 word article or blog post with loads of keywords in it so that I can get the attention of Google and get great rankings.”

Now bear in mind that my aim with any online marketing campaign is to get results, nothing else. But if you think or believe that a 1 500 word article with “loads” of keywords will get you to the top of the search results on Google, think again. The only way you’ll get the attention you’re after is with magnetic content.

The days are long gone where you would simply build it and they will come. The web is overcrowded with noise and the only way to get good rankings on Google especially for SEO is to have high trust & engagement factors around your business and your website. Read that again. How do you do this? One sure way is with good quality content that your target audience wants to engage with and share along with their own social circles.

The age old saying of “content is king” is still true, but not just any content. Your content needs to be written for your target audience and it should be magnetic. With this I mean that your readers should find the content helpful and interesting. In other words; you should provide them with value. This is a powerful digital marketing method as it allows your content to travel and it has the ability to go viral.

Let’s look at the statement above more closely.

Write content for real people

1. If you can say what you need to say to get your message out in just 250 words, then why on earth should the rest of the article be filled with nonsense content? I don’t know about you, but I hate reading senseless babble online. Explain the core message of the article that you want to be seen and be done with it. Don’t write purely to fill the article.

2. If you are only interested in filling your article with keywords, how on earth are you supposed to write a quality article or blog post that is meant to help people and that they will find interesting?

3. If no one is reading your article or blog post, it really doesn’t care how many keywords you have placed in your content. If you would like to get people to read your content, build a community with your target audience that consists of real people.

Google is not human. Of course there are people searching on Google for specific keywords to find answers to their questions, don’t focus on writing for the search engines. Always, always, always focus on writing content for your audience.

When we are talking about writing great magnetic content, we don’t just mean for your blog or website, but also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or where you happen to be online. Forget about focusing on keywords.

Write content that your audience will find interesting. There is no maximum and minimum word count. If you can get your message across in a couple of sentences, post it.