Co-written with Cassandra Le
“I know I need to write content, but how can I create content that converts?”
I get asked this quite a bit! You’ve probably heard from me or other SEO experts that you need to be writing content because it can really help reach new audiences and grow your business. I’ve already covered why content matters so much, and this post is going to go over the “how.” You don’t want to write content just for the sake of writing content because that likely isn’t going to help you beyond just getting some traffic to your site.
You want to write the RIGHT content to get traffic AND clients, and we’re going to show you how!
Tips for writing content that converts
The “we” in the post is myself and Cassandra from The Quirky Pineapple Studio, who has been my business partner in crime many times before. She is a content expert, and we created an SEO and content course together! I’m going to be giving tips on the SEO part of this post, and Cassandra will be taking over the writing part since she’s a content expert. So let’s get started!
Read Cassandra’s guest post on 5 easy steps to plan content!
Do your keyword research
Before you even begin to write a post, do your keyword research to make sure it’s worth writing about. Are people even interested in the topic? Is there crazy competition with bigger websites for that topic? And more specifically, are your ideal clients interested searching those keywords?
If you’re a luxury interior designer writing about budget window treatments, you’re not going to be reaching the right people who will pay you for your services. If you’re not sure where to even begin with researching topics and keywords, you can just ask your audience! I recently polled my audience on Instagram, and someone gave me the idea for this very blog post. So you won’t know what your audience is looking for if you don’t ask.
If you don’t know how to get started with researching keywords, I cover all the tips and tools on my Tips for Keyword Research post!
Check your Google Search Console keywords
One of my favorite tools for keywords is your Google Search Console account because it tells you what keywords are already bringing people to your site! (If you don’t have Google Search Console set up yet, do that ASAP because it gives you so much valuable information)
To use GSC for content ideas, look at the “queries” under Performance. It will show you the exact keywords that people are searching to find your site and click through or find your site and NOT click through (called “impressions”). You’ll probably find that people are clicking through to your site for keywords like your business name or topics that you’ve written about on your site, and you’ll probably also find clicks or impressions for related topics that you haven’t written about.
For example, I am getting traffic to my site for “SEO tips for Squarespace” because I have a guest post on that exact topic. But I am also getting traffic for “Squarespace SEO plugin” because of that guest post, but I don’t have any posts specifically about plugins. So since there is obviously interest in SEO plugins, I can use this information to write a post about that specific topic and give people the solutions they’re looking for.
So use GSC to see what topics you haven’t written about yet because it’s showing you the topics you’re already ranking for that people are interested in!
Show that you’re an expert
Not only will someone be more likely to hire you if your content shows that you know what you’re talking about, but it will also help your rankings in Google! If you show Google time and time again that you’re an expert in your field, they’re going to rank you higher for those topics. So by writing content that shows you’re an expert, you’re going to help both your business AND your rankings in Google – win win!
Format your post and make it easy to read
If I come across a post that doesn’t have headers to break up topics and the paragraphs are huge chunks of text, I’m probably not going to stick around. Headers both reinforce the main topics of your post to Google, and they help break up your post for your audience to easily read and get more information on the specific topics they’re interested in.
If your post isn’t formatted well, your potential clients probably aren’t going to stick around and read to the bottom where you can tell them how to work with you. So make your post easy to read and digest!
Now let’s move onto content tips with Cassandra.
Once you’ve done your research, it’s time to write engaging content! But not just engaging content, it needs to be strategic.
What does strategic content that converts mean? A strategic piece of content either strengthens your brand, positions you as an expert, or generates leads and interest in your services. All strategic content needs to have:
- A clear goal
- A call-to-action
- To fulfill a need
Let’s breakdown how you can use Julia’s SEO tips with my writing tips to make sure your content converts into clients!
Set a clear goal
Before writing your content (any content!) it’s important to have a clear goal in mind. This could mean your content is:
- Inspirational
- Educational
- Motivational
- Entertaining
After you’ve decided which category it falls under, decide the overall goal for the content. For example, this blog post is educational. Our goal for it is to teach you, the small-business owner, how to rank and reach clients with content that converts! The goal of your content should align with the type of keyword research you’ve already done, so you know what people are looking for.
By deciding the goal of the content before we started writing, it makes it so much easier to create! We won’t get distracted and we won’t ramble!
Have a Call-To-Action (CTA)
Content that converts needs to have an actionable step! A conversion is taking someone who is “lurking” or reading your content to take action to get to know your business further. This could mean after they read your content, they follow you on social media, subscribe to your newsletter, or look at your service page, and book a service!
A CTA can be strategically placed in different areas of your content that make the most sense, to guide your audience to the next step.
Like Julia’s tip to show Google that you’re an expert, you also want to show your audience you’re an expert by inviting them to get to know you more and your services. The only way to do that is to “ask” or “guide” them to take action, exactly what a strong and strategically placed CTA will do.
Your content fulfills a need
The big question to content that converts is… does it fulfill a need for your potential clients?
Similar to setting a clear goal, your content needs to answer a question! In Julia’s section, she talks about doing your keyword research, but also going into your Google Search Console (GSC) to see what other keywords (“impressions”) people are also searching for related to the topics you’ve already written about.
This list is helpful to see what your clients and audience are already looking for (and how you’re being found), but you now know how to fulfill additional needs they are looking for! Not only that, you’re anticipating their needs by creating content for it and capturing potential clients in various stages of their client journey with your business. Huge win!
Now get to work!
The only way you’re going to see what content converts the best for you is to start testing things out, so use our tips and start writing! And if you’re really struggling to write SEO optimized content that converts, contact Cassandra or send me a message and see how we can help you grow your business with content!
Cassandra is the founder and creator of The Quirky Pineapple Studio (TQP Studio), a boutique communication and content strategy agency, for impact-driven business owners. She works as the lead brand strategist and copywriter to help businesses own their voice to share their message and story, so they’re able to increase their impact and grow their communities. She’s originally from the United States but now lives in Madrid, Spain! When she’s not working, you can catch her traveling with her partner, exploring her new hometown, or watching silly YouTube videos on her couch. Connect with Cassandra on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!
These sound like great tips! Thanks so much for sharing! I’ll be sure to keep you and Cassandra in mind if I have questions 🙂
I hope this helps! 🙂
So glad you found this useful, Francesca! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
As always, I love reading your blog and appreciate all you do to help small businesses understand websites and SEO!
Thank you so much! 🙂
Very helpful! I have some changes to make haha
Whoo! Let us know if you have any questions!