In today's digital landscape, where attention spans are fleeting, and competition for engagement is fierce, mastering the art of creating engaging content is essential for businesses striving to stand out. As a content creator or marketer, you're constantly challenged with the task of not just producing content but ensuring it captivates your audience, drives traffic, and ultimately converts leads into customers. So, how do you make content that achieves these goals? Let's explore the strategies and techniques that can elevate your content game and drive meaningful engagement.

The Power of Lists

Ever wondered why articles like "Top 10 Ways to Boost Your Productivity" or "5 Tips for a Healthier Lifestyle" are so popular? It's because they tap into the psychological phenomenon known as the 'top 10 effect.' According to research by Mathew S. Isaac and Robert M. Schindler, approximately 30% of blog posts use lists, and for good reason. Lists are not only easy to consume but also promise quick, actionable insights.

Tips for Creating Engaging Lists:

Meet Specific Needs: Tailor your list to address the specific pain points or interests of your target audience.

Experiment with Numbers: While "Top 10" lists are common, don't be afraid to experiment with different numbers to stand out.

Ensure Skimmability: Use clear headings, bullet points, and concise language to make your list easily scannable for quick consumption.

Storytelling: The Backbone of Engagement

At the heart of compelling content lies storytelling. Like in the movies, compelling storytelling in content follows a three-act structure: setup, confrontation, and resolution. By narrating stories that resonate with your audience, you can create a powerful emotional connection and drive engagement.

Your user, no matter what you are selling or trying to convey, will appreciate a well-told story. If you’re not sure how to do this, then study from those who have done it the best. A pro tip is to take stories that are well written or well told on video and see if you make notes and try to tell your own version of that story for practice. That kind of deliberate practice is something that will help you be better at your craft. 

Your ability to share stories and convey real emotion could differentiate between a casual website or social media visitors and loyal, long-term customers. 

We were working with a client once who was resistant to reviews. They knew they could help on Google Ads but weren't open to putting them on the website. They felt "hokey" they said to us. We convinced them to give them a shot. What we got in return was huge engagement. Just using good stories about our clients resulting in huge wins in revenue for the client. Needless to say they were converted.

Tips for Creating Engaging Stories:

Include Failures and Successes: Authentic storytelling involves showcasing both the highs and lows of the journey. This adds depth and relatability to your content.

Focus on the Customer Journey: Make your audience the protagonist of your stories. Highlight their challenges, aspirations, and how your product or service helps them overcome obstacles.

Use Case Studies: Real-life examples and case studies provide concrete evidence of your product or service's effectiveness. Share stories of satisfied customers to build credibility.

Utilizing How-To Guides

How-to guides are invaluable for providing practical solutions to your audience's problems. Structured step-by-step, these guides offer actionable insights and establish your authority in your niche.

This is, of course, important for specific niches, but for those ones it works for, it can be the ultimate value add. Go out with the mindset that you are going to lead by providing value for free, and you’ll be amazed at the response and positivity you get in return. 

Tips for Creating Engaging How-To Guides:

Address Specific Pain Points: Identify common challenges or questions your audience faces and tailor your guide to provide solutions.

Visual Appeal: Incorporate images, infographics, or videos to enhance the visual appeal and make your guide more engaging.

Simplify Complex Concepts: Break down complex processes into easy-to-follow steps. Use precise language and avoid jargon to ensure accessibility for all readers.

The Value of Testimonials

Testimonials serve as social proof, building trust and credibility and ultimately driving sales. Authentic testimonials from satisfied customers can significantly influence purchasing decisions.

This goes back to the storytelling aspect. There is something that is incredibly powerful about 

Tips for Collecting and Integrating Testimonials:

Seek Authenticity: Genuine testimonials resonate more with audiences. Encourage customers to share their honest feedback and experiences.

Relevance to Content: Choose relevant testimonials to the specific product or service you're promoting. Highlight how it addressed a particular need or pain point.

Visual Enhancement: Where possible, incorporate visuals such as photos or videos of satisfied customers alongside their testimonials to add credibility and authenticity.

Listing Tools

In the age of AI and automation, comprehensive resource lists of tools are highly valuable to your audience.

Tips for Creating Comprehensive Resource Lists:

Curate Carefully: Research and select tools that are genuinely useful and relevant to your audience's needs.

Provide Descriptions: Briefly describe each tool and its key features to help readers understand its utility.

Update Regularly: Keep your resource list up to date with the latest tools and technologies to maintain its relevance and usefulness.

In conclusion, creating engaging content is not just about producing flashy visuals or catchy headlines; it's about understanding your audience, addressing their needs, and telling stories that resonate. By incorporating strategies like lists, storytelling, how-to guides, testimonials, and resource lists into your content marketing efforts, you can effectively engage your customers and drive more traffic to your business. Remember, the key lies in creating content that adds value, sparks emotions, and fosters meaningful connections with your audience.

Ready to boost your content strategy and drive meaningful engagement? Contact us now to explore how our expertise can boost your online presence!

There is no shortage of blog posts and videos talking about Google ranking signals. Backlinks, internal linking keyword placement, and more. All identified factors matter when it comes to seeing results in search. These are all true, by the way. What you do well in the aggregate matters more than any one signal…except for quality. 

We often overlook the idea of quality when it comes to SEO. People care about primary and secondary keywords. They focus on internal linking or old-school tactics to get high placement. People will guest post on blogs or spend a fortune on backlink companies. They often fail to ask themselves the most important and fundamental question for SEO: is it good? 

It’s the most critical metric when it comes to SEO. We'll show you why and how to use it when creating content. 

SHIFTING FROM KEYWORD-FOCUSED to USER-FOCUSED STRATEGIES 

There was a time when it didn’t matter what you said as long as you said it within the right keyword context. Keywords were the password to open doors to higher rankings. Want to rank for “Best Running Shoes?” You better have that in the title. 

Those days are long gone and while keywords matter to some extent, they aren’t what matters most. Google has gone from relying on keywords to surface the best content to focusing on quality. 

In 2014, Google introduced E-A-T. Expertise. Authority. Trust. This was to combat years of black hat SEO tactics. EAT is the cornerstone of any good piece of content. You’re reading this blog because you think I have some credibility to write about SEO and marketing. You wouldn’t read an article from me on cancer prevention or managing diabetes. Even if I thought I knew something about that, I’m not an expert. I have no expertise authority and shouldn't be trusted by anyone as a source worth consulting. 

Since 2014, Google has only doubled down on those metrics as a cornerstone of their algorithm. Look at the Quality Rater Guidelines (actually released in 2013). It's filled with instructions for spotting quality. Everything from verifying the author to spotting things like misspellings and punctuation problems. There are mentions of things like links, but for the most part, it’s all couched in the conversation of quality. 

Future algorithm updates have furthered the quest for quality. They send SEOs like me into a panic, but their intent is good. 

In 2018, Google released the Medic Update. This meant to address pages in the Your Money, Your Life(YMYL) section. This meant financial and health information would be further scrutinized.

This helped address a few things: 

Sites that claimed to be safe were selling products that could compromise safety. 

Sites that have a negative reputation. 

Sites that had negative reviews or no reviews compared to their competitors. 

Fast forward to 2023, and the “helpful content update” went live. This was another significant impact on the world of quality. The aim was at sites that were writing content to rank in Google. They weren’t addressing users' questions. They weren’t providing an experience on-page that left users satisfied. It’s the kind of site we’ve all seen. You type a question into Google, get a page in return that repeats the question or answers it vaguely. 

The goal was to try and aim users toward sites that put thought and care into their answers. Sites that were credible. Sites that provide you with the right information.

With all updates results are hit or miss on the helpful content. SEO experts continue to see some low-quality sites get high-quality rankings. Google is always progressing. Sometimes that progress is not linear.

SO WHAT IS QUALITY? 

This isn’t an easy answer. Quality can vary from topic to topic. The realm of pro wrestling might be a well-put-together slideshow with some rock-solid opinions. Medical information would need citations, studies, and an author or reviewer with a medical background to check the content. With everything else in SEO, the answer is always: it depends.

Simply put, quality is subject-dependent but not completely unique to each subject. While users can differ on which article they like, most users can spot a low-quality article.

Take an article from a financial institution. It contains solid opinions, an understanding of market trends, and case studies. You wouldn’t go to them for information on cancer screenings and treatment. If the institution attempted to do that, it would be substandard.

THE TRIAD OF GOOD CONTENT 

There are three things to consider when we think about quality. 

1. Relevance. Is the content you are writing relevant for the time you are writing it in? An article that focuses on strategies for overcoming the Panda algorithm change would be outdated. A real estate article touting the interest rates of 2016 would be irrelevant as well. 

Good content contains information that applies to the time and place you're reading it in. This is why updating content is essential, especially for a blog that deals with a topic where information is ever-changing. 

2. Depth. How much information can you supply on a given topic? People misunderstand the idea of depth in content. It’s not about how many words you can write; it’s about answering someone’s query to the fullest. Did you provide a complete and thorough answer to the question? Did you explain everything? If not, then it lacks depth. 

Say you are a real estate professional writing a blog on applying for a loan. You’d expect that article to have some information about credit scores, factors that affect your credit score, job stability, bank statements, and more. They might also include how interest rates affect loan applications, and how job loss or change can affect your ability to get a mortgage. Then, steps you might need to take to ensure that job loss or change doesn’t impact your ability to get approved.

3. Uniqueness. There’s no sense in spending any amount of time pumping out the same exact article that is already at the top of Google. Unless your expertise is world-renowned, it won’t make a difference in the rankings. Your job is to create something that conveys similar information but feels different. 

If you’re walking through a loan application or mortgage underwriting process, there will be similar information. 

But there are things you can do. Pull added information from interviews or other relevant articles. Add a timeline or a checklist that a user might find helpful. Add a glossary or an FAQ. There are a lot of ways to differentiate your content, but it should be better or different to stand out. 

FACTORS THAT AFFECT QUALITY 

There is a litany of factors that affect the quality of your content. We’re going to touch on a few things here. You should keep these in mind when you are putting together content for a page on your website.

GRAMMAR and SPELLING

This seems pretty obvious, but we’ve all been to a page where it’s clear the person did not edit it. The spelling is substandard. The grammar is bad. It’s not hard to use a service like Grammarly Premium. This service costs around $90 a year and will help you fix a lot of the mistakes you might encounter. 

We would also recommend the Hemingway Editor. The editor costs $10 a month, and you might be able to buy it outright. It helps deal with long, confusing sentences and lets you know the grade level you are writing at. Your goal is to say less with more and make it simple for any audience to understand.

Editing can be time-consuming. What’s the point of writing content that won’t surface in search because you failed to edit it? 

Feel free to experiment with AI as an editing tool but be mindful. Sometimes A.I. doesn’t understand the nuance and style of human language. Make sure you reread what it edited and save an original version so you can return to it.

STRUCTURE 

Layout is so important. It’s not about subsections and making sure you have H2’s labeled. It’s about the organization of information. If you’ve ever read content that meanders, then you know that it’s so important how we organize information. 

Don’t be afraid to create an outline. Also, this is where AI can be helpful. They can take some context from you and rework it to something that makes more sense for your audience. Some tools help make every aspect of creating compelling content easier. They are all either free or low-cost.

TIPS FOR CREATING HIGH-QUALITY CONTENT

Comprehensive Keyword Research And Analysis- 

This is essential because you have to know who you are talking to. Are you talking to someone on the higher end of your funnel? Are you talking to a person at the lowest point in your funnel? 

How are you reaching them? Are you using a query like “best tips for mortgage” or “mortgage application tips?” 

It might seem so similar that it doesn’t matter. It does. The related keywords, and the type of content that ranks near the top can matter. All these things will play a part in how the content is constructed. So be smart and do in-depth keyword research. We go in-depth on this in another post, so please make sure you check that out. There’s a stiff penalty to pay for not getting the keywords right.

Crafting Engaging and Informative Headlines

Think of this as the packaging when you’re walking through a store. It doesn’t matter if the product is great if the packaging is so bad you become disinterested or don’t notice it at all. 

The headline is your opportunity to grab the attention of your target audience. You can sell them on why a click matters here. You don’t have to resort to insane hyperbole and clickbait, but a vanilla headline isn’t the answer either. Be enticing and honest. Give the reader what they expect but with the most style possible. It’s a difficult needle to thread, but with practice, you will get there.

Update As Needed 

Even the best piece of content can feel outdated after some time. Do yourself a favor and update your articles on a regular basis. The key to providing high-quality content is to make sure you are auditing the information. 

Back to the real estate scenario. Interest rates change. Markets change—the standards for a loan application change. Everything changes. Make sure that content reflects the latest and best information for your audience. 

Is the information changing? 

Are your solutions to help people change? 

Is there more context and information you can add that would improve the experience? 

Are there ways to make the information more digestible? 

Are there new tools available to make your content better?

Our recommendation is to revisit your content every six to twelve months. Give it a read and see if it makes sense to you. Does it hold up? 

Don’t update for the sake of updating. You might take a great piece of content and turn it into a substandard piece of content all in the name of updating. When you feel like your piece can be better, make it better.

HOW TO USE SEO TOOLS AND GOOGLE TO MEASURE QUALITY 

Quality is subjective, but we can use tools to improve our content. SEO tools, search console, and analytics help us understand elements we can improve.

1. Use Google Search Console to check on queries and search traffic over time. Here’s a screenshot. In the “search results” tab on GSC, you can filter by page:
   

Paste the URL of the article you have written after a few weeks and see what it’s ranking for. That should inform changes you can make to your content.

1. Is it ranking for the intended queries? 
2. What query is getting the most clicks? 
3. What is the universal position of those queries? 

If something doesn’t fit then ask yourself why. If your intended query isn’t in there, then ask yourself if you optimized for that keyword. The article you wrote might not meet the intent of the user. 

2. Use Google Analytics to Give You Key Article Metrics. If GA4 you can use the “Engagement” and then  “Landing Page” sections to isolate your URL. Again, give GA4 time to process and gather data on your content. But in time, you can see key metrics such as: 

1. Average engagement time per session. This tells you how long people are engaging with your content. 
2. Conversions. If your page aims to drive signups or purchases, was it successful at doing that? 
3. Bounce rate. What percentage of users bounced off the page? 

Make sure that use the date range to look at these over time. Because there’s definitely data and insights to learn as you look at trends over time. 

• If your engagement rate has fallen in the last three months, why? Did you make changes to your website or the page itself? Was there an algorithm update? Has your site traffic fallen? Is this single-page part of a more significant trend? 

3. Use SEO tools on your website to help you determine if other changes need to be made. Companies like Yoast have all-in-one SEO tools. These tools are good at showing you if you are hitting certain SEO metrics. 

1. They might tell you if you have included your focus keyword enough. 
2. They can tell you if your headline is the right length for search. 
3. It will help you with the right meta-description length as well. 
4. It can tell you if you’ve included your focus keyword in the introduction.

There’s a host of information out there that these plugins can provide. 

Stop asking yourself if you have the right keywords. Or you’re asking yourself if the H2’s are optimized then take a step back and ask “Is it good?” Because that is what makes good marketing. That is what makes good content for SEO. While there are some very helpful tools to give you a leg up in the details, don’t ignore the heart of the matter. 

If you have questions or just need a quick conversation about your marketing strategy you can book a free 15-minute consultation. We’re always here to help.

Let’s paint a picture for you. You’re trying to build your websites SEO. You know that if you can bring customers in the door organically you’ll supercharge sales and lower your customer acquisition cost. This is exactly the right idea. 

You only have one problem? You don’t know how to do that right. You aren’t sure how to pick the right keywords. You aren’t sure how to figure out which keyword is the right keyword to use. 

Please don’t dispair. This happens all the time. Everyone who tells you “SEO is easy” has never had to actually map out an SEO strategy. You make one wrong move and it’s hours of time and money out of your pocket all for a venture with on return on investment. 

We’re going to help you out. Here are strategies you can use to find the right keywords for your business. 

1. Understand Your Buyers Journey - It doesn’t matter if you sell shoes or lifecoaching services. Every customer has a journey. They have something that they google when  they aren’t sure what they need. They have something to google when the need becomes clearer. They have something to google when the choice becomes obvious to them. It’s your job to figure it out and lay it out there.

1. What does someone search for when they want to find your business without knowing who you are? This can be something simple like “life coach New York City” or “Mens running shoes under $100 dollars.” It’s your job to know what those keywords look like. 
2. What does someone search for when they are close to making a decision? What do they search for right before directly searching for your business?  Is it something like “how does a life coach help you?” or “Can a life coach help with my marriage?” It could be “best running shoes that aren’t expensive” or “how much should good running shoes cost?” 
3. What does someone search for when they first start their buying journey? How about when they are beginning the sales cycle? Do they search for “how to find a mentor to help with my career” or “how to recharge your mindset?” Could also be “when do you know you need new running shoes?” or “How to improve your mile time for a 5k?”

The goal here is to understand how to figure out the funnel. That’s what you’re supposed to be doing. That will be the most important part of building a keyword funnel that matters.

1. Understand how your target page fits into the buyers journey. "the value of replacing running shoes" or "the advantages of a life coach" are the middle part of the funnel. So loading it up with keywords like “life coach near me” or “running shoes under $100 dollars” might seem out of place.

Where your page sits tells you the kinds of keywords and the mindset of the user you are targeting. It can also help you do other things such as set goals. A page targeted to the bottom funnel user should convert well. Pages for top-funnel users convert poorly. They might do well for a newsletter or PDF that they can download.

2. Understand how your target page fits into the buyers journey. "the value of replacing running shoes" or "the advantages of a life coach" are the middle part of the funnel. So loading it up with keywords like “life coach near me” or “running shoes under $100 dollars” might seem out of place.

1. If you have a competitor in mind then you can start with their best page that would be like yours. Keep in mind because you like a competitor doesn’t mean they are doing well in search. You should consult a software like SEMRush or Ahrefs before proceeding.
2. The other option is to google the keyword or phrase you think is most relevant and see the results that come up. From there you can take that exact page and run it through the search software to see the relevant keywords.
3. You’ll likely see a lot of keywords. If the page has a large amount of traffic it’s not uncommon to see thousands of keywords. Don't get caught up in every keyword. Instead isolate the 3-5 keywords that would make the most sense to copy and reuse.

3. Use the Keyword gap analysis - This is something that is exclusive to Ahrefs. Rather than walk through step-by-step we can let Ahrefs walk you through it themselves.

4. There’s no shortage of SEO software that does keyword research for you. So let’s dive into what that looks like.

1. You have to know what your general idea is for a keyword. All these software solutions provide very good keyword options. They can’t, however, tell you what keyword is right for your customer. Only you can.
2. You can use the keyword research tool on any SEO software and it’s going to give you key information. Some platforms may differ but look for signs such as:
   1. Keyword difficulty. This might be the most important. If you have a new website or are beginning to craft SEO then look for keywords that have a low difficulty score. You can win on harder keywords in time but the lift to do so will be enormous. Focus on keywords that rank as “easy” by the software metrics.
   2. Keyword volume. Of course the more volume the harder it is to rank. On the flip side the easiest keywords usually have the least amount of volume. You’re looking for something that is easy with a reasonable amount of traffic. Small traffic on bottom-funnel pages could mean sales for your business. 
   3. SERP results. Most keyword programs will show you SERPs. Be weary of keywords that claim decent traffic and “easy” difficulty. Sometimes, the SERPS suggest otherwise. A few things to keep in mind when looking at the SERPs:
      1. Are there lots of ads? If so then even cracking the top 3 search results might not pay off as you would hope. 
      2. Are the domains that rank highest well known? If a keyword is “easy” but your top results are WebMD and Mayo Clinic, for example, good luck. 
      3. Do the high ranking articles have lots of backlinks? Backlinks aren’t a 1:1 correlation of SEO success. What that should tell you,  though, is these articles are widely circulated and that takes time and/or money.
3. Look for "related keywords" and “questions.” These are valuable places to see both the keyword you want and keywords that are often related. Make note of everything. Questions are also good. Sometimes a question is what your page should be about. In any regard write down anything you see that looks interesting.
4. Don't go down the rabbit hole. When you search for a query like “men’s shoes” you’ll get thousands of keywords. Stick to what you know your customer will want. Stick to keywords that sound like something you would use. Stick to keywords you know you can create great content around. You can waste hours, resources and money chasing bad keywords. Kept your interests limited and you’ll be great.

5. Consider Using AI. If AI is the future of marketing then why not put it to work now. We use AI to aid in our keyword research. We find it especially helpful with more complicated search projects. Here’s a quick example we encountered recently.

1. We were working for a Global Publisher in need of SEO help. They wanted to create search articles around topics that mattered to specific regions. So we asked ChatGPT to give us the top 5-10 issues that the country is struggling with right now. We gut checked the issues (sometimes GPT can be wrong) and then we went to work. We asked ChatGPT to give us 10-20 keywords related to each issue. Then 10-20 questions related to those issues. This gave us a treasure trove of interesting content that we could pass along to the client. 
2. You might not be dealing with global issues and in that case AI is even easier to use. Here’s how you should think about it:
   1. Ask ChatGPT to create a list of X related keywords to your primary topic 
   2. Ask ChatGPT to create a list of X topics related to your primary keyword (or each keyword depending on how expansive you want to get)
   3. Ask ChatGPT to put them into a table and write the search intent next to each one.

A word of caution on number 3. ChatGPT will sometimes tell you it can’t give you search volume. It can but you might have to ask it a few times and in a few different ways. Be patient. The functionality exists. You might just need to feel it out.

6. Use SEO tools for on-page analyzer.

1. Tools such as SEOlyze, SEMRush and Ahrefs are helpful aides. They allow you to input a landing page and seeing missing SEO elements. Let’s talk about SEMRush and their “On-Page SEO Checker”
   1. Here you can put in your domain. They add your landing page. For each one they will offer ideas. 
   2. Might be structured data that you need to improve.
   3. Could be keyword cannibalization 
   4. It could tell you when it believes you’ve used a target keyword too often.
   5. It will also let you know when you have keywords you could add the page. 

For instance I put in an article on pool shock and it tells me the following keywords could be added:

1. Ph levels
2. Pool chemical 
3. Chlorine levels
4. Pool surfaces
5. Pool parties 
6. Shocking treatment
7. Heavy pool
8. Chlorine free
9. Organic contaminants 
10. Pool usage

b. One thing to keep in mind on semantic keywords. Just because they are recommended doesn’t always mean they are right for your page. You have to consider everything in the context of your page, your site and then your customer. But at the very least this should give you an opportunity to see what else you can be doing.

These are some of the proven ways that you can pick great keywords for your content. There’s no completely fool proof way to do it. You have to decide and determine what is right for you.

If you need help on an expert level, please let us know. You can fill out this contact form or email me at michael@loupeandblade.com to schedule a free consultation to discuss what strategies might be right for you.