Many creative agencies have in house copywriters who know how to create ‘good content’ for blog posts and mini blog sites like Twitter and Facebook. This added value content can have very significant effects on a company’s SEO scores, but what if you don’t have access to a professional wordsmith? We have six tips that can help you write good copy like a pro.

Make a plan

Plan out your year, working out what subjects fit with your marketing strategy. Also decide how you will track the stats, it will affect what platforms you use. Tools like smartsheet from excel can help with this.

Research your customers

It is pointless writing content your customer base would have no interest in reading. Try to make it relevant and useful by getting online and monitoring chatter on your social media feeds and forums. Also Google Analytics is a great way to see what’s being searched for. Find out what customers are talking about and then create content that enables you to join the conversation in a meaningful way – don’t just sell.

This is also where investment comes in. To create good content there has to be time for research. The content needs to be genuinely well-researched. Put that together with a hot topic and a suitable tone-of-voice and you’re onto a winner.

Link it back

Forget pay it forward, it’s all about the back links. Blogs can be linked to article directories and it’s also important to use links within your copy to other relevant sites. This also makes your content more substantial and increases your chances of repeat visits.

Choose wisely

Don’t post on Twitter if none of your customers use it. Similarly don’t invest thousands in photography if they don’t touch Instagram or Pinterest. The best way to get this information is to ask your customers in person, via email, or with a simple tool like Doodle poll.

SEO it

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is quite an in-depth subject, The Content Factory writes a good blog about it here. Some basic tips to follow are:

• Keep the title short but accurately descriptive.
• Repeat this information in your intro.
• Find your keywords (terms people might use in a web browser search for your article) and use them, sparingly, throughout. Be aware that keyword stuffing (repeating your keywords unnecessarily) will be penalised by Google.
• Although you’re not writing a book, you also don’t want to have little more than a Tweet. Give yourself a decent word-count, most advice would suggest search engines respond well to something in the region of 1000 words.

More, more, more!

At one time a well written blog entry would have been enough but now it seems that more is, well, more. If you are feeling creative self-produced content is increasingly acceptable, tools like moovly and reevio are helpful here. If you want something more professional there are many low cost specialist corporate video agencies around, or get your creative agency to produce imagery, video and infographics to illustrate your content. You can maximise the value of these by re-posting them on multiple platforms.

See how Incorporate Design helped client Kikkoman to develop their new site, including a fantastic blog section. And how drone footage was at the core of the new Sunley Heritage website.

If you would like help with creating added value on your website, drop us a line here at Incorporate and we’d be happy to talk through how we could work together to create a strong voice for your brand.