10 Tips from a Web Design Professional for Writing Web Content
Article by Jim Hay
As the owner of a Portland Oregon Web Design company specializing in SEO one of the hardest things to learn is the ability to write compelling content. When I say compelling I mean interesting not only for the web visitors but for the search engines as well. Many a terrific web design has been ruined by having content with in the website that does none of the above.
Content written for the web needs to be interesting for your visitors, but from an Internet marketing perspective it must also gain the favor of the search engines. Most SEO professionals will tell you with tongue in cheek you write for your visitors first. As a 10 year veteran of the Internet wars, being a SEO professional let me be honest and tell you your web content must be written for the search engines as well.
Content Writing Tips from A Web Design Professional
1. Your content matters-You must keep in mind that the content you write and publish on the Internet no matter where it is published is important to your website. When writing content for blogs, web, social media or article publishing venues needs to be written with the thought in mind that is up there for the world to view. Your content needs to be compelling for your visitors. You never know where it may end up on the Internet.
2. Staying on topic-When writing content for the web keep in mind to stay on topic. Before starting your content writing determine what subject matter this content is about. The subject should be keyword phrase focused. For instance if you were writing content on the subject of web design, do not go on tangents and end up writing about apples!
3. Write interesting headings-The titles of articles are the first thing that a reader sees. The title or header must immediately grab your reader’s attention. Develop titles or headers that make your readers want to delve into the subject matter.
4. Keyword density and length-Copy written for the Internet should be 300 to 1000 words in length. The length of your copy will determine how many times you use your keywords or keyword phrases. A good rule of thumb is to have your keywords limited to one per 50 to 100 words. Another way of putting it is your keyword density should be around 2-4% of your copy.
5. Be sure to include keywords in your bio-I like to make sure I use keywords in the last portion of the content. Including them in your bio is a good way of accomplishing that.
6. Keyword spamming-Stacking or cramming keywords in your content can hurt your rankings for that page. It also looks unprofessional to keyword spam content.
7. Use those meta descriptions-Meta descriptions should not run over 150 characters or so, this includes spaces and styling. Make sure you use your keywords or keyword phrases that are the subject of your copy. Meta description should be written for your readers, but including keywords in the meta description polishes off the “theme” of the page.
8. Original content-Under no circumstance should you ever cut and paste content off the Internet. Every page of content that is live on the Internet is indexed by the search engines. Duplicate content is a major no-no. Always write fresh and relevant content. There is nothing wrong with using the Internet for a resource, I do as well. It is a great way of developing ideas for articles. I repeat do not copy content from other published content.
Mastering the art of writing optimized content for the Internet is a talent and skill that often defines how good a web design professional is.
About the Author
Jim Hay owns and operates a Portland Oregon based web design and SEO firm. His web design company specializes in developing Joomla websites that need to rank well in the organic search engines.