Many SEO experts have gotten their professions down to a science (or maybe more of an art-form). You should not give up trying to compete with the major players. SEO can be achieved through the use of well-written and compelling content.

On the web, content is king. I know that you’ve heard it many times before, but it’s the truest expression for getting visitors to your website, and converting those visitors into buyers. Many businesses decide to redesign their websites without considering the fact that their content is old and dated.

When redesigning your website, take the opportunity to evaluate every single piece of content on your site. Here are some steps toward making your content stronger, thus improving the rank of your site in search engines.

1. Keyword Research

Do you know what keywords your competitors are getting found on? Do you know how your site ranks on the keywords that want to be found on?

Google has a really nice tool that gives you very valuable insight into how Google sees your website. If you’re not using Google Webmaster Tools, get started now.

Start making a list of the keywords that you want to (or should) be found on. Take your time and make sure that you have a very precise and specific list. It’s easier to get found on specific terms than trying to blanket all possible terms.

2. Outline before Writing

Writing a document for the web is like writing a document for anything else. Create an outline of the major points that you want to make then fill in the details. For example, when writing this article I made a very simple outline of the tips that I wanted to make before I filled in the descriptions. Your outline can be as simple as this:

• 5 Simple Steps toward Search Engine Optimization through Better Copy Writing
  1. Keyword Research
  2. Outline Before Writing
  3. Be Concise and Consistent
  4. Make Your Hyperlinks Descriptive
  5. Proof-read and Ask Your Friends

This will ensure that you hit all of your major points. It’s easy to forget what you planned on writing in the future while focusing on the topic that you are currently working on.

Make sure to reference your list of keywords while writing the titles for the each section in your outline. Titles are very important in SEO, making them a great place to include keywords.

3. Be Concise and Consistent

Make sure that your language is simple. While you may have a lot to say about a particular subject, don’t repeat yourself or reiterate your message. It may seem like a good idea to write a lengthy passage because you can insert more keywords, but no body is going to read it. This is just the nature of the web.

On the opposing end, make sure that you have enough content that your visitors receive all of the information that they are looking for. If you don’t provide enough information your visitors may arrive at your site, not find what they’re looking for, and simply leave.

Make your message clear, and make sure that you convey that message across all pages.

Pick a voice and stick with it. If you feel that your message is best said in a formal tone then make sure that you carry that tone through to every page. We choose to use a more formal voice for our website’s content, and a less formal tone for our blog. As long as we make that distinction, and don’t stray, our visitors shouldn’t be confused when reading our site.

4. Make Your Hyperlinks Descriptive

Hyperlinks are also a very important aspect of SEO. When writing text for your hyperlinks, make sure to use keywords that are relevant to the page that you’re sending the user to. Avoid generic terminology like “click here”.

Bad:

“To learn more about SEO click here.”

Good:

“Learn more about our Search Engine Optimization Services”.

It’s common sense. “click here” says nothing about the page that we’re linking to, while “Search Engine Optimization Services” says exactly what the user should expect when clicking that link.

5. Proof-Read and Ask Your Friends

We can’t all be professional writers. It’s very important that you read over your writing the next day to make sure that it makes sense. Try reading your content out loud. If you fumble over words, you should consider rewriting that portion of your content. It may also just plain not make sense when you read it out loud. Your brain could be compensating for the written words because you know what you intend to say.

Take it a step further, and send your content around to your friends for them to proof-read. The more eyes that you have on a piece, the more mistakes you’ll catch, and the better your content will be. We normally get at least two pairs of eyes on every piece of content that we put on our website.

Give your friends your list of keywords when you send them your content. They may have some ideas for integrating keywords that you haven’t thought of. If you don’t agree with their suggestions, you can ask some one else.

You’re on Your Way to a Search Engine Friendly Website

Take these tips and run with them. You don’t have to wait for a website redesign to start rewriting your content. Change your content out as you finish writing it. Search Engines love gradual progression. The more often that you make changes to your site, the more often that Search Engines are going to index your site.

As a bonus tip, remember the micro content. Micro content is the little pieces of content that are part of your interface like navigation, buttons, blurbs, image captions, meta tags, and title tags.

Have fun with it, work on it when you have spare time here and there, and watch your traffic pick-up.