Content writers and bloggers have much in common, despite the differences. Content writers are more on the side of writing compelling copies for different niches and purposes, while bloggers write in a specific niche, with the purpose of informing visitors and thus popularizing the blog itself.
The similarities can be found in writing copies themselves. The purpose and topic may be different, but some principles remain the same. Here’s how I see it.
1. How do you choose keywords for your copies?
The starting points both for content writing and blogging are keywords. You may or may not like digging into this data, but your preference doesn’t make it any less necessary. You can look at it from two different viewpoints though, depending on the purpose of your writing.
- You can think of a topic first, and then conduct the keyword research (for both).
- You can research the keywords which are most prominent in your niche in order to find the topic and then narrow the list down by focusing on those tightly related to your chosen topic (again more suitable for bloggers).
The combined approach works best for me, and here are my top 5 free tools which you can consider using for any of these approaches.
- Google Insights for Search
This is a tool which can be used for almost any topic, for looking into different trends and ways the audience interacts with the Internet.
- Google AdWords Keyword Tool
It is great for looking into the search volume for keywords in different languages and in different countries. It can also provide you with a bit of insight into the competition for the given keyword.
- Merge Words
This tool is useful for long tail suggestions; you can later look into these words more carefully.
- Soovle
This tool is good for checking the competition for the keywords you choose. Your direct competitors are the articles and websites with the exact match.
- Keyword Tools by Wordtracker
Again, with these tools, you get to know how people search for your keywords.
These are all free or free trial tools since I have in mind that many bloggers cannot afford anything paid.
Once you have generated the list of keywords and decided on the topic, it is time to do a bit of prioritizing.
2. Do you know how to prioritize keywords?
Choose the most convenient keywords which are most likely to bring a fair number of visitors and achieve good rankings. Those are usually the keywords with the highest search volume among those with medium competition.
However, it is essential to include the long tail keywords as well, and these do not always have enough search volume to be shown in a tool. They are, nevertheless, important for determining the relevance of your content.
For narrowing down the keyword list, the experience is often essential.
Once you have narrowed your list down to several keywords, you should assign priority to them. There should only be 1-3 top priority keywords. The rest have lower priority. The top priority keywords are usually those which are the most difficult to rank for.
3. How about structuring the copy?
Your copy needs to be well structured in order to attract the attention of the potential readers. Which of these two articles looks better?
The second looks better, at least in my book. Here is what you need to pay attention to:
- Titles
- Subtitles
- Headings
- Paragraphs
- Bolds and Italics
Use them wisely, and insert keywords in them wisely. Keep the copy divided into what seems to be logical paragraphs and name each accordingly. You do not need to use all of this, but let this entire article serve as an example.
4. Ever considered the words you use?
What I had to learn when I enrolled in the faculty was to write in a proper manner. They hadn’t taught us that in school, so my entire generation had problems adapting. What we were supposed to do was being creative, but sticking to a pattern which would allow readers to see the essay clearly. We complained and resisted. Many of them still do. I learned to walk through that forest unharmed and learned from every text I wrote.
So, don’t get all upset when I say there are certain words you should and you shouldn’t use. The ones you should use are power words which reveal you as an authority on the field. So, may, might, perhaps and similar words should be ousted.
Try to be convincing and compelling. Writing is all about teaching your audience to react to what you have to say.
5. How do you finish off when writing a copy?
Your technique is maybe different, but what I would recommend is to write a draft not thinking much about the keywords. I know this sounds as a paradox, but trust me, it will take much more effort if you constantly think about it. The fact that you did your research means those words are still in your brain and you are very likely to use it. Only after you have finished the draft should you start really thinking about it.
Go over everything once again. See how many times you have used what. Try to put as many top priority keywords as you can in the title, headings, meta description tag, alt tags of the images, etc. Place them where appropriate in the copy. If you are using long-tails, break them into chunks sometimes and see where you can use the chunks and not just the exact phrase.
However, keep in mind that keyword stuffing is absolutely wrong and can get you penalized. The most important thing is to have a copy which sounds natural and is natural. Write for your readers primarily.
