If you’re a small business owner starting out your website, then search engine optimization is a must for potential, online customers to find you. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is a strategy that websites use to gain traffic. One of the most important of these strategies is the use of content.

Content

Probably the most important part of a website, especially blogs, is its content. The content is the main reason why people want to visit a website. Perhaps they are doing research on a topic or are looking for a business with particular products and services. Whichever the reason, keep these factors in mind when creating content for your website:

1. Quality
2. Research
3. Words
4. Fresh
5. Vertical
6. Answers
7. Thin
8. HTML

Some of these may sound confusing or like they don’t make any sense, but each of these will be explained in detail.

1 – Quality

From About Us pages to articles on technology, the quality of the content is needed for mutual understanding between the writer and the reader. One important factor to this is readability, which basically sums up to:

  • the length of sentences
  • number of words with many syllables or letters
  • grammar and spelling

Depending on your audience, like everyday readers or college-level students, readability is definitely something to consider.

2 & 3 – Research and Words

It’s important to use keywords in your articles. These keywords must be common, but don’t place too many of them at once in a single page. Your website could actually lose traffic for that. Once you’ve discovered which keywords you’re going to use and strategically placed them on your website, research those keywords. Use a range of different search engines, like Google, Bing, and Yahoo, to get as many results as possible.

Keywords don’t have to be a single word; they could be an entire phrase, as well. Single keywords can be more difficult to get traffic on because so many other websites might be competing for the same audience. Phrases help individuals narrow down their search and, therefore, help them find you more easily.

4 – Fresh Content

The newest, trendiest content is what attract many audiences nowadays. Keep up with the latest in news and entertainment and post about them often. It can be a challenge keeping up with any and all things new, so try to focus on a specific topic that centers on your business. If you sell technology, for example, then you can talk about the latest innovations in touch screen technology.

5 – Vertical Content

Vertical content focuses on specific topics. It could be a section of politics, certain types of technology, fashion in a certain country, and much more. It doesn’t have to be the freshest content, but it can be something that people commonly research. Included in vertical content are videos and images, so try to add them to your content if you can.

6 – 7 Answers and Thin Content

Many people do research to answer their questions. What questions are your content supposed to answer? Once you figure out what those questions are, make sure that your website answers them clearly and directly. If you are centering your content on those questions, then the content must have sustenance. Do not have short, non-engaging content that only answers a question, else the viewer wouldn’t have any reason to stay on your website any longer.

8 – HTML

HTML coding helps your website become more recognizable to search engines. It can also make an article easier to read and skim through. Some coding includes:

  • headers
  • hyperlinks
  • bullet lists

Because headers are larger and bolder than the rest of the text, search engines can pick them up more easily. Hyperlinks can help drive traffic to your website as well as increase your credibility to other users. Bullet lists can break up the large blocks of text and makes finding certain pieces of information more convenient for the user. Nowadays most content management systems like WordPress takes the hassle out of coding.

As a small business owner, you may not understand SEO thoroughly but it is imperative you understand the basics of creating good quality content so you can get a slice of the vast search engine traffic.