Is Your Website Holding You Back? Use These Optimization Tips

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For most startups, the content writing side of things is usually tossed in the too hard basket, but the truth of the matter is optimization is an essential part of publishing your website, and if your audience can’t find you online you’re basically doomed.

As a startup you’re probably not going to be spending big bucks on SEO or paid advertising, so you should be focused on optimizing all the content on your website to ensure you are ranking on web searches.

Optimizing content is far more than just keyword density and word counts, it’s about creating well-written content that is relevant and optimized in the right way for your target audience.

Understanding the metrics behind website optimization can be mind boggling, however, if you’re up to speed with the important points you can get the most out of your website content and hit some home runs for your website on Google.

In this article, we explore some tips for optimizing website content for your startup and simple ways to ensure you’re relevant enough to rank on the search engines.

WHAT YOU’RE DOING WRONG WITH YOUR WEBSITE CONTENT

The biggest mistake you can make is thinking that content is content whether it’s on a printed flyer or a website, online content is unique and it should be written in a certain way to meet the criteria for website content search engines and Google algorithms. In short, writing for your website and writing for offline marketing is a whole different kettle of fish.

Things you could be doing wrong with your website content:

Too many keywords - it’s highly likely you’re going out like a bull at a gate and putting in too many high-volume keywords into your website content. Believe it or not, this is a bad thing, and it’s better to focus on long tail keywords or words that have three or more words in them rather than putting in one keyword dozens of times.

Keyword stuffing - trying to over-do it in the keyword density side of things is another no-no for your website content and these days it’s frowned upon by Google so be careful not to only focus on this as a rule and instead just add in keywords where it makes sense.

Poor quality content - it’s obvious when you’re strapped for time and churn out a poor quality blog so if it’s not evergreen content that is focused on engagement and reach just skip it rather than publishing inferior content on your website that is mediocre.

Overstuffing your meta descriptions and title tags - the same applies for overstuffing your meta descriptions and title tags, it’s not going to help you online so stop with the over-optimisation as it won’t get you good results.

Poor backlinks - if you don’t care so much about your backlinking you’re probably not going to get the right optimisation for your website. Avoid spammy type backlinks and focus on quality over quantity.

You’re not engaging with your audience - it’s one thing to create content for your website or your social media pages but if it’s automated and you’re not engaging with your audience and responding to their comments you’re pretty much just wasting your time. Avoid the temptation to set and forget content across multiple channels and then not engage or interact with followers. Engagement is a big part of content optimization, and it helps to spread the love so get amongst it.

HOW CAN I OPTIMIZE MY WEBSITE CONTENT?

Now that we’ve outlined what you should avoid doing, now it’s time to start focusing on what you should be doing to make sure your website content is optimized.

It’s important to realize when we’re talking about website content this includes not just the page content but SEO-friendly titles, links, tags, categories, meta descriptions, title tags - the works!

Have a content plan

First of all, it’s a great idea to have a content plan if you are going to be creating content on an ongoing basis. Focus on outlining all the important dates you need to be aware of such as holidays, milestones, end of year events, or anything specifically that your target audience will want to be aware of. This will also provide some insight into how often you need to update your website and so you can plan if you need some freelance or admin support to roll out your content strategy.

Write with quality in mind

It’s important to put aside the algorithm side of things and write for your audience. Focus on quality content, not keyword stuffed content, and ensure everything you write whether it is a static page or a blog is focused on relevance and quality. Search engines focus on a range of factors such as bounce rate, time on page, engagement and much more, it’s far better to have quality if you’re going to skyrocket up the Google rankings.

Include keywords where it makes sense

Sometimes we can all get carried away with keywords and want to pop them in content left, right and center however it is important to only include keywords where is appropriate. As well as this, you should always make sure your sentence structure, grammar, and spelling are on point to ensure the content is easy to read for your audience.

Focus on content with value

Evergreen content or content that is always fresh for readers is ideal for websites as well as content that is useful and unique. If you have something other websites aren’t offering you will have a point of difference whether it is entertaining or educational, and this often will increase the time on page and boost your engagement.

Make sure your title tags and meta descriptions are on point

The meta description and title tag are there for a reason so don’t ignore it when in your content writing. These little boxes of content goodness provide extra options for optimizing content and while you shouldn’t be stuffing them with keywords it is important to add in some relevant information so when people are searching your site offers plenty of valuable content.

Do some SEO audits

Don’t be afraid to do an SEO audit to find out if there are any errors or room for improvement - things such as duplicate content, broken links and poorly optimised areas of your website should be fixed and an independent SEO audit is a great way to get a better understanding of any glaring areas that are letting your website down.

Create quality backlinks

The key word here is quality, and it is important for you to gain backlinks by incorporating high-quality guest posts or blogs and marketing your content via influencers and bloggers. Don’t go all out trying to get as many backlinks as you can, get the good ones and you’ll see some good results.

Understand metrics

If you don’t understand the metrics behind your website, you should engage a freelancer or expert that does. Understanding SEO can be a challenge and don’t bury your head in the sand if you don’t understand the ins and outs of the metrics as at the end of the day this information will affect your bottom line.

Understand and test your readability

Your readability score is a computer-calculated number that tells you how much education someone will need to read the text you have written. While it is all based on algorithms, it can be an important rule of thumb to note when optimizing your content. If you are writing content and want to ensure it is optimized, running your content through a plugin for readability is important and will provide you some insight into whether your content is too technical or not technical enough based on the sentence length, syllable count and a range of other factors.

HOW DO I FIND FREELANCE CONTENT WRITERS FOR MY STARTUP?

Ready to get your website content firing on all cylinders and need the help of a freelancer - you’re going to need to create a detailed brief to get across your project needs.

Here’s what you need for the perfect project brief for freelance content writing talent:

  • Describe your startup and who you are looking for in a content writer

  • Outline exact what needs to be done - provide examples if you can

  • Clearly outline any keywords for your content

  • Add in a time frame for the job

  • Outline your budget

If you haven’t engaged a freelance content writer before you should ask for examples and at the very least ask them to do a small paid project for you to get an idea if their style suits your startup. Try to avoid asking them to work for free or do tests, providing examples and checking out their feedback should give you a fairly good insight into their style and their level of professionalism.

HIRE A FREELANCE CONTENT WRITER AND GET YOUR WEBSITE CONTENT OPTIMISED TODAY!

Freelancer.com makes hiring the best talent for your startup easy.

If you’re in need of a brilliant freelance content writerapp developerbusiness development expert or graphic designer, Freelancer.com has thousands of freelancers ready and waiting to work on your project.

Whatever freelancer you’re looking for to work on your startup, you’ll find the perfect match for your business needs.

Post a project today, and receive bids within seconds.

Ametuma 30 Januari, 2017

Ginger Ninjas

Copywriting + Business Plans + Marketing Strategy

Are you looking for talented marketing & business development support from people who understand marketing, sales and BDM? Ginger Ninjas is an Australian marketing agency that works with clients from all over the world with their marketing, strategy, business plans, design, copywriting, content, SEO, websites and communications. We have over 15 years experience in copywriting, developing marke...

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