Sales Renewal has a team of very skilled – and clever – writers who produce top-quality content for our clients’ company blogs. The fact that we have these great writers is critical in today’s online marketing world, because, as has been said repeatedly, “content is king.” But it’s not enough to rely only on “clever” to get your blog posts read.

Because while content may be king, it’s only half the story. If your great content doesn’t come up in an online search, it will most likely only be read by the friends and family who know about your blog. The other half of the story? SEO.

SEO is Half the Story

We used to see SEO as a separate beast that had to be understood and tamed. Keywords in a query had to exactly match keywords on a page, and they had to be repeated multiple times to be sure Google knew what your keyword was (remember keyword stuffing?) Submitting your site and content to hundreds of directories and sites to get inbound links was part of the game, too.

But the changes Google recently made to its ranking algorithm mean that SEO is now much more closely aligned with solid writing practices that any good writer would typically follow anyway. Google can now handle more natural language associations (score one for anyone who refused to fall into the keyword-stuffing trap). The number of sites that link to your site is not as important as what sites they are (gone are the days of linkbaiting and link exchanges).

So how do we incorporate today’s SEO into our editorial content? It begins before we put pen to paper (or keystrokes on a blank doc) and is easily incorporated into the basic steps of any piece of content creation. By answering the following questions, our writers can be sure their posts are written for readers and search.

1. What are you writing about (blog post topic)? In SEO terms, this is your keyword, or search term. As long as the post is focused on a specific topic, you can consider the post optimized. We have one caveat: Be sure to use the keyword in the headline. For example this headline – The Difficulties and Pleasures of Working in Wood – although clever, does not clearly define the keyword/topic of the actual article. A simple change to: Custom Signage Supports Corporate Identity: the Difficulties and Pleasures of Working in Wood, is a more clear indication of what the post for our business sign manufacturing client is about.

2. Who are you writing for (blog post audience)? In SEO terms, this is your customer persona. Once you understand who you are writing for, what they already know, what they need to know, and where they go on the web for information, you can target your post content and its distribution.

3. What do you want the reader to take away from your post (blog post goal)? Unlike traditional publication vehicles, publishing on the web comes with invaluable tracking capabilities, so whether you’re targeting sales, lead generation, or demand generation, you can write your post with the most appropriate call to action, whether it be contact us, download a tip sheet, or some other result.

Have you embraced the “new” SEO in your content creation process? If not, and you’re interested in finding out how it can benefit your business, Sales Renewal can help.