Getting the Most From Your SEO Writer

January 5, 2012

No doubt, content marketing should be on the mind of anyone with a website. It’s what builds links and reputability, but as any small business should know, it takes time. Fortunately there are content writers who can do this tedious task for you. The only investment you need to make is the one that ensures they’re doing a great job. To save you even more time, I’m going to show you how that’s done.

1. Know and teach them the difference between traditional vs. SEO writing

Observe your writer’s style. If the person is not a trained SEO, it is likely they’ll need some help learning SEO style. One difference between traditional writing and SEO writing is that it should be short and concise. Important information should be placed at the beginning of the article so that readers can get the details fast, without having to scroll down. Another good way of getting to the point quick is by creating lists. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from blogs, it’s that people love lists because they’re easy to skim and choose the select information they care about.

2. Find a keyword method

There are several ways to have content writers plug keywords into a piece. You can give them a list of keywords, ask them to write on a particular topic or create guidelines. Though it’s done, keyword lists can be pretty daunting. Instead, a list of topics may be more natural for your writer to follow. Keywords will naturally flow if the topic is specific and concentrated. You can also create guidelines that specify recommended terms. For example, if the writer is to include the word soap, he should only use the branded phrase “Dove soap” instead. These guidelines provide the right amount of limitations without stifling creativity.

3. Make sure they know more about SEO than how to write about it

SEO is confusing for beginners to understand and nothing is more frustrating than doing a task and not knowing why you’re doing it. If your content writer is new to SEO writing, explain the basics. You can mention that SEO writing is made to build incoming links from other websites. The more links you have, the more reputable your site, the higher you appear on search engines. Also stress that while keywords are important, quality content is what drives people to link to a site.

4. Include them on your analytics reports

A traffic report is like a performance review for an SEO writer. Important metrics you’ll want to point out are referral traffic, referral keywords and frequently searched terms. By doing this, your writer will understand what is and isn’t working for them and adjust accordingly.