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SEO Writing and Creativity: How to Capture Your Audience With Engaging SEO Optimized Pages

by Brian Rideout • January 31, 2023

Whether you own a small business and you are writing your first homepage, or you are a Fortune 500 giant, it’s no secret that a steady stream of content keeps your audience (prospective customers) engaged and your brand relevant. Podcasts, Instagram Stories, TikTok videos, and Blogs updated on a regular basis are all helpful ways to keep your readers and viewers interested.

SEO Writing Creatively On Laptop

Be that as it may, there are 4.4 billion new blog posts published daily, across all platforms, and that number doesn’t seem to be dropping anytime soon! That is just blogging alone, if you include all the other channels of content out there, there are about 2.5 quintillion bytes of data being posted in every form every day. So, how do you push through the oversaturated market and really capture an audience?
 
Dont worry. We've got you covered!
 
We have prepared a definitive guide on how to capture your intended audience in 2022! Let’s dive into the basics of SEO writing and other important ranking factors!
 

Who Is Your Target Audience?

Your target audience is a distinct group of consumers that are most likely to purchase your product or service. Your brand's audience may be determined by age, gender, interests, geography, and many other characteristics.
 
Understanding your target market and audience will not only help you increase your ROI (Return on Investment), but it will help create a better relationship with the consumer.
 

How Do I Determine My Target Audience?

With the proper research and evaluation, defining your audience is a breeze! Here are some methods the professionals use to decide their target market:

SEO: Target Audience Selection
 
  • Analyze what your competitor(s) is/are doing
     
  • Conduct market research
     
  • Use Google Analytics 
     
  • Pay attention to industry trends
     
  • A helpful method could be first deciding who your target audience isn't 
     
 
As you collect more data and create a better understanding of your customer, you can constantly revise your market plan to reach the perfect audience.
 

What Makes SEO Important?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization - The easiest way to explain what it does is, great SEO optimizes your brand's visibility online. By researching how your customers search for your products or services, including trending keywords, and applying them to your content, your position in Google's search results improves. This of course means more potential customers visit your site and more viewers for your content!

SEO Components

Most SEO copywriters try to incorporate popular keywords into their writing style without overusing them (keyword stuffing) during the entire process of writing content.
 
Best practices include using the primary keyword phrase at least once; in the intro, in a header, and in the conclusion. Ultimately, the primary keyword phrases are the main keywords you want to incorporate into your pages so you can rank on the first page of search engines for the desired list of terms or related words.
 
There are also a number of ways to increase the organic traffic of one's web page on search engine results. For example, here are some additional SEO strategies to help you rank higher:
 
  • Optimizing title tags and meta descriptions
     
  • Using internal links to point to important pages on your site
     
  • Doing quick research to find the number of clicks and impressions for relevant keywords within any given time
     
  • Researching Long-tail keywords to come up with future blog topics. For more information on long-tail vs short-tail keywords, check out our blog article for the details not covered here.
     
  • Using related keywords in the best way possible to keep the content informational and with your unique voice, and without fluff writing
     
  • Cleaning up technical SEO; 404 errors, duplicate h1 tags or h2 tags, broken links, etc. 
     
  • Hire SEO professionals with a proven track record of SEO campaign success
     
 

Creative Topics Shape Creative Content

Creating a headline or topic for your content isn't a simple walk in the park. You have to craft it using analytics (latent semantic indexing) and trending subjects while being original at the same time. Here are some tips for picking the perfect topic:
 
  1. Stay conscious of social media comments and the voice of the people online
     
  2. Borrow topics from a competitor but spin them in your own way keeping the content authentic
     
  3. Create a feedback form and catalog your current audience's thoughts and comments
     
  4. The internet loves listicles and so does google when ranking your content

     
What's a listicle you say? Writing composed at least in part as a list such as the list above.
 
Oh, and remember when we brought up SEO keyword research earlier? This is where you put those keywords to good use! Not only should your content include trending keywords, but your title and meta description should use them as well! Google will reward you when you do.
 
 

How to Write Stellar Blog Headlines

A blog’s headline is clearly one of the single most vital parts of a post and it’s truly what inspires people to follow through with a click. It’s honestly what drives traffic (and, ultimately, the conversion of sales).
 
80% of users will read the headline and 20% will actually go on to read the content posted. Let’s dive a little deeper into how to write headlines that capture readers instantly.
 
 

Try to Incorporate Numbers and Data

Blog posts with numbers in the title get over 70% more engagement from potential customers and that's why you see listicles everywhere! And internet/mobile users love lists because listicle articles help a piece of copy appear more digestible. A little more on that below:
 
  • A number usually attracts readers more efficiently than a word (so, instead of the word Nine" use the character 9" in your title)
     
  • Small numbers usually rank better than large ones, especially on social media. No one wants to read a novel on the subject, they want their information in easy-to-read, mobile-friendly pieces (don’t go higher than 10)
     
  • Odd numbers are known to get a better click-through rate on average (which almost sounds superstitious and unbelievable, but it’s true!)
 

Demonstrating True Value to the Reader: Give them a Real Reason to Click

 
You want the visitor to be certain this article will, somehow, improve their lives, their business, or inform them about something useful. Here is a list of what's known as "value words" that will give the reader a reason to click:
 
  • Tips and Tricks
     
  • Reasons from the Professionals
     
  • Lessons from the Pros
     
  • Clever Ideas
     
  • Common Ways
     
  • Undeniable Facts
     
  • Trade Secrets
     
  • Useful Strategies
     
  • Industry Hacks
     
 

Use Emotional/Power Words

Power words, which are also known as "emotional words" are used in popular headlines to make them stand out from the crowd. Here are some examples or power words that will assist you in ranking higher on search engines:
 
  • Amazing
     
  • Blissful
     
  • Brave
     
  • Breathtaking
     
  • Cheerful
     
  • Daring
     
  • Eye-opening
     
  • Faithful
     
  • Fearless
     
  • Grateful
     
  • Gritty
     
  • Happy
     
  • Hopeful
     
  • Incredible
     
  • Miracle
     
  • Sensational
     
  • Spectacular
     
  • Staggering
     
  • Stellar
     
  • Stunning
     
  • Surprising
     
  • Uplifting

     

Don't Forget to Keep Things Simple (K.I.S.S.)

Is there anything worse than someone trying to sound smart? Don't use hard-to-understand industry jargon or colorful words that throw off the point of the headline. Simple headlines are powerful headlines and they get directly to the point.

 

Other Useful Tools to Keep In Mind 

There are so many valuable tools out there that will allow you to capture an audience quickly and efficiently. Some have a learning curve and some are super user-friendly!
 
  • SEMrush - it makes keyword research easy as cake
     
  • Ahrefs - another awesome SEO tool 
     
  • Google Search Console - Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site's presence in Google Search results. You don't have to sign up for Search Console to be included in Google Search results, but Search Console helps you understand and improve how Google sees your site.

    Add a client's site to Google Search console is one of the first things we do after a new site launches!
     
  • Capitalize My Title - this tool takes one second to use and keeps your headers and titles formatted accurately
     
  • Hemingway Editor - The free version of this application lets you check for passive voice, hard-to-read sentences, and excessive adverb usage, and grades the article's readability level 
     
  • CopyScape - keeps all of your content plagiarism-free
     
  • Google Docs - a fun user-friendly way to write, edit, and share documents with clients or fellow co-workers. This is especially useful if you already use apps within the Google Eco-System.
     
 
Surely, the list doesn't stop here, and there is an infinite wealth of useful tools at your disposal. Not all of them cost a pretty penny either. You can find a ton of free tools that will get the job done right!
 
 

Capturing Your Audience Made Easy 

Well, there you have it. You are a content master, and now you can capture your target audience using the tips and tricks from the pros! If you would like to leave it to the professionals though, give us a call! We provide excellent SEO and web design services for all types of clients, even on a tight budget!
 
 
If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out our blog for more marketing hacks and a lot of information on SEO we've learned since we ranked our first clients on Yahoo in 1997.
 

About the Author


Brian Rideout, Chief Pixel Pusher of BANG! Web Site Design is an industry veteran (sounds better than old guy right?) who started building websites in 1996 when dial-up, modems, Netscape, and 640 x 480 resolution monitors with 256 colors were state of the art.

We stumbled into SEO by "accident" when we got a client ranked #2 on Yahoo (remember, this was the 90's) for an extremely competitive keyword phrase, and they sold out of all the products they had. With a little reverse engineering, we learned what Yahoo was looking for and applied our SEO experience to other clients and then to Google when they became the dominant search engine.

We continued to build websites for small business's in the Phoenix market as well as companies across the country. Our approach of "SEO 1st Website Design" has resulted in many businesses, particularly in the building trades such as contractors and plumbers, as well as law firms, to rank at the top of Google's results which keeps our clients supplied with a constant stream of new customers.

We continue to provide website design, website development, hosting, SEO services, and digital marketing for Phoenix companies. More information about the company can be found on our About Us page. Click the following link for examples of our award-winning website design work.