Top SEO Specialists Create Content That MATTERS: Part I

Content marketing is a relatively fresh concept in the world of SEO specialists, and a lot of us are getting it wrong. We top SEO types are really good at making sure that people see our content — but a lot of us are stopping there, assuming that whatever conversion rates we manage to get are what we’re stuck with, and we’re better off creating new content rather than improving the quality of the content we’re creating.

This is silly.

Anyone in marketing can tell you that the call-to-action is the most important thing in any piece of marketing copy. But somehow, when we start writing content, we lose all perspective about action. We stop paying attention to tracking subscriptions, shares, leads, clicks, and above all sales. We start working on content that rocks, but not on content that sells while it rocks.

If your content isn’t improving your bottom line with every publish button you press, you need to start asking yourself a few simple question while you create:

• What do you want your readers to do when they’re done reading?
• Of your past pieces of content, which one lead to the most people performing that action?
• What about that content can you replicate here to drive similar success?

According to SEOMoz, there are 8 elements of high-impact content. We’ll cover the two most challenging here today, and the next six in a few days:

Provocation: Does your content make people think? We’re not just talking about shaking the tree, but about content that genuinely provides information that makes people reconsider their assumptions about your industry. In order to do this, you have to actually understand the industry you’re talking about, where is where a lot of content creators go wrong: you can’t be provocative if all you do is spin EZineArticles to get your content. Take the time to fully understand your client’s scenario, and then use your outside perspective to ask some questions that no one else is asking.

Realization: Does your content put words to something that people have always wanted to say? This is a really hard thing to do, because quite obviously if most people don’t know how to say something, you have to be pretty unique in order to say it yourself. But again, a top SEO specialist can use his outsider status to obtain a unique perspective on the industry he or she is writing about and talk about something without getting lost in the jargon associated with the industry. That makes it a lot easier to say things that insiders have a tough time putting words to.