Loading ...There’s a fair amount of advice around on how to write effective SEO content. Very little of it warns how easily you can go astray.
Mistakes are made all over the internet with content. If you want your site to attract and retain internet users, the content on your pages has to do a lot of work. It’s like having effective customer service staff in high-end retail. If your staff look overworked, uninformed or unfriendly, customers are going to go to another store.
It’s all too easy to overstep the invisible line with content writing. Many sites try too hard for a certain tone, and end up with content that falls into one of the following categories:
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Too stiff and formal: The majority of business owners, used to writing in the business style, feature content that reads like a formal report. This is off-putting on a website. The internet is generally a casual place, and the average reader expects text to stand in for a conversation.
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Concise to the point of patronising: A lot of the advice on internet writing centres on the need for concise sentences. This advice is mainly aimed at people whose habit is to ramble when writing. A lot of people don’t.
Every writer needs to be aware of their existing writing style, and take all advice with a grain of salt. It’s possible to alienate your reader if your sentences are too short, making them feel as if you expect them to have the limited understanding of a toddler.
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Over-friendly: It is possible to be too friendly, or friendly in the wrong place. An internet user who is new to your site may be put off by sudden friendliness if they’re not expecting it. The effect is much like a salesperson bouncing up to a customer and chatting about their personal life. The level of friendliness in your content needs to match that of your industry.
When unsure, go for a conversational tone
The best thing you can do when writing is relax. The tone that almost any writer can easily fall into is a conversational one. This tone comes easily for most people if they imagine they are writing to a friend. It’s also easy to read, drawing the reader closer to the writer and ultimately making your site seem a friendly one.
To achieve a conversational tone, it can help to read your work out loud. This will also give you warning of sentences that are too long and areas that don’t make sense. Reading text aloud is one of the easier ways to test for grammatical errors if your writing skills are uncertain.
If you’re unsure about writing content for your site, it’s a good idea to get the help of a professional. Quite apart from the role it plays in search engine optimisation, content can attract or turn away visitors, making the difference between a profitable site and a black hole for your budget. Talk to our consultants at SEO Consult Australia about content provision services.
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Tags: Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Consult, SEO content
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