Is your editor-web writer publishing content optimized for Google and users?
To stand out of the crowd (billions of content web pages) you need a check list to ensure every piece of content you create is unique, relevant, offer some advantage/benefit to the reader, is SEO friendly and that readers will share it or link to it.
From top Google Engineers (Matt Cutts) to Social Media experts; everyone talks about the importance of unique great and optimized content.
There is no doubt that content is king when prioritizing your efforts, time and budget allocated to improve your website and generate extra new visits and more repeat visits.
Below is a checklist I have curated after more than 10 years helping companies create content for the web. This unique check list will help you ensure every piece of content you publish is unique, relevant, SEO optimized and fundamentally that your readers will be very likely to share it and link to it.
WEB CONTENT CHECK LIST - CREATION AND PROMOTION OF YOUR CONTENT
- Niche. I have selected selected a niche topic and know the top three search queries I want my article/content page to optimize for.
- SEO. I have added these two/three search combinations on my page title, page description and H1 tag. I have added ALT tags to all my photos in my article.
- Internal linking. I have created an intro paragraph that links to parent section pages and other relevant internal pages.
- External linking. My article links to relevant external websites with better Page rank and popularity than my website.
- Comprehensiveness. I have added compelling photos/video to offer readers visual clues to “hard to understand” concepts. My article language that my average visitor will understand and relate to.
- Tangible examples. My article do not just tell but “show”. My article uses case studies, industry trends, videos, photos and other content to make it extremely unique and compelling.
- Quick scanning. My article makes use of bullet points-tables so my readers can easily scan key information. Remember some people do not read online, they quickly scan for key information.
- Highlighting. I have used bold words to highlight keywords within the article.
- Re-create. My article has re-created content from a podcast, white paper, manual, even from instructions or insights I have sent to many clients.
- Take advantage. My article take advantage of popular national celebration, events allowing more chances to be picked up by search engines. ie: “Top tips for this year New York Marathon” this article might work if you sell energy drink, sporting apparel, etc…
- Call to actions. I have added clear call to actions (What you would like people to do once the complete reading the page) including key website goals: ie: link to registration form, to contact us form, link to my business Facebook page, Youtube Channel, Flickr, Twitter,etc.
- Publishing, crawling and ranking. I have checked my article has actually been published (Yes, sometimes articles get finalised but noone press the “publish” button), that Google has crawled and ranked my article.
- Article promotion - Free channels. Once my article has been published, I have promoted my new page on all e-newsletters I have access to (partners, providers, customers, employees), promoted the article on Google Plus, Facebook page, relevant Youtube videos, Twitter account, Local/National Media; linked on popular blog posts.
- External promotion - Paid. I have updated my Google Adwords account to start bidding for related terms and drive traffic to my new article page.
- Internal promotion - Free. I have linked to this new page page from other similar pages on the site.
- Review. I have created an alert to review my article content in 6 months/ 1 year time as there might be new information available that might make my article even more compelling. (Google loves fresh content!
Contact us, we can help you audit and improve your website content.
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Your website is getting visitation but users are not buying?
Mauricio Escobar, Consultant at eDigital shares key area to review in order to decrease Shopping Cart abandonment rates…
Key areas to review are:
- Content and Usability issues,
- Technical issues,
- Privacy and opt-in practices,
- Traffic acquisition strategies (getting the right people who actually buy).
Most popular reasons for shopping cart abandonment and advice/tips on how to improve them tips, advice, recommendations) are below:
- Page download time: Ask your hosting company to give you a Pages download time report or do it yourself (specially when most of the traffic is happening). Pages (and images) might be taking too long to download for users to be able to read and complete transactions. Tip: test the complete shopping cart from selecting a product to complete credit cards details payment. When testing use a) the most popular sold product b) the most complicated product for users to buy c) multi purchases ( more than one product on the shopping cart). Perform this test on key popular browsers (IE, Safari, Firefox and Chrome). Take note of any page download delays per browser and product and pass the info to your web developers so they can either fix or find alternative ways for pages to download quicker.
- Confusion: Your users do not understand how to make a purchase. From experience consulting for popular websites issues might be: a) call to actions “buy now” are not clear, the process of buying different products on one single transaction might not be that intuitive.
- Extra unexpected cost/fees: I am not a fan of websites that add extra fees just before i am about to finalise a transaction and i am sure i am not the only one. Try to review your pricing strategy to include any fees on the Total Price (if possible). If not, disclose clearly to your users what extra fees they need to pay and if they are compulsory or optional. You might be promoting an “optional” service that users might be thinking is a “compulsory fee”. If you are charging for shipping/postage/insurance, be transparent and upfront the the costs are. Talk to your web designer on ways this can be promoted effectively without taking too much real estate on your shopping cart.
- Caution (fear) to provide credit card details: With so much Internet fraud, it is not common your users might find products on your website but buy them somewhere else where there is no fear of fraud. Best ways to combat this is: a) Add well known encryption support logos b) Add your legal details - Business number, official addresses, phone numbers, customer reviews, etc.
- Indecision: Not every visitor might be in a shopping mood…they might come later. What you can do to combat this is to offer “today only” deals so you create “urgency”. You need to test different “today only” deals and for different products. There might be products that you are already selling quite effective that do not need “today only” deals.
- Many steps to purchase: make the process short and easy. Benchmark your website with the best industry players and competitors ( i love Amazon) and see how many steps your website does compare with others. Anything that distract people to complete transaction, please REMOVE!.
- Registration: Do you really need users to register in order to buy? that’s fine but you also need to consider people who might buy once and do not want to register. In this case you need to offer what we call: guest buyer path, with no need of registration.
- Incentives to buy online: Your visitors might find easier to buy your products somewhere else. Create value added services that your users will love and promote. Some benefits can be: phone number they can call and get assistance when buying online, free returns, free shipping, access to exclusive events or promotions. Access to exclusive partners offers.
- Not payment methods: offer different payment methods such as money order, credit card, cash, customer service support ( purchases over the phone- free number)
- Offer support: Offer a easy to use Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Extremely customised products and services will need to be strong on this point.
- Purchase Time duration: Let your users know how far they have gone (use visual clues- purchase bar i.e.: You have completed 60% of your purchase process).
- No way to save selections: Allow users to save their selections.
- Distraction: Keep their attention focus do not distract them with other products.
- Not sure where to click and move in the process: Make the next and check out buttons visible, place them in the right place, prominent.
- Not sure where to find key buttons: be Consistent with buttons placement.
- Uncertainty about personal details: is your business offering best opt-in practices and privacy statements. People care about their personal information handling and they might not buy if they do not feel ok giving you personal information.
- The wrong people visiting your shopping cart: Find out what channels bring conversions and optimize your budget to these ones.
Reviewing and improving shopping carts is a never ending on-going process. If you do not have the time, cannot be bother or do not understand, let us know, we are here to support.
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- CALL US ON +61431324899
- Check Mauricio Escobar (eDigital Director) experience and recommendations on his LinkedIn profile.
