Nicole's Blog

It was your average trip to the grocery store… that is, until I saw a squirrel standing in the middle of the road not far from my house.  Amazingly, the squirrel was standing on his two hind legs, staring me down!  I couldn’t believe it!  Here I was in a 2,000-pound Volkswagen, and there’s a squirrel trying to intimidate me.  I got closer and closer, when I realized, “he’s not going to move.”

So, off the road I went, brakes screeching.  I swear the squirrel was laughing at me by this point…

For those of you keeping score at home:

Squirrel – 1

Nicole – 0

So, what in the world could this possibly teach me about SEO content writing?

Plenty!

After all, this squirrel had some serious moxie – to the point where I stopped what I was doing to notice it.  Sure, there are hundreds – if not thousands – of squirrels that probably call my neighborhood home.  God only knows how many I’ve seen on a morning run or on a trip to the grocery store.  Yet, none of them really ever made me stop what I was doing to take notice until this bold squirrel came along.

He wasn’t very big.  He wasn’t very strong.  However, he left a lasting impression on me.  He stood out from the crowd.  And, in the end, he had my attention.

Handle it the right way, and your SEO content can be just like that squirrel.  Sure, there are thousands – if not millions – of websites out there that directly compete with yours.  Your target audience has probably seen – and forgotten about – countless other websites.

However, when you do something to set yourself apart, you can make people take notice.  The only way to do it in the online world is by publishing SEO content that compels people to keep reading and to keep looking out for what else you have to offer.

You may not have a very big business.  You may not have a very strong bottom line yet.  However, with the right SEO content writing plan, you can leave a lasting impression on your visitors.  You can stand out from the crowd.  And, in the end, you’ll have people’s attention.

There are plenty of things in life where, the fluffier they are, the better… like kittens, marshmallows, clouds, and pancakes.  However, your SEO content is not one of those things!

When used in the SEO content writing world, “fluffy” is the worst thing you can be.  It means you have a lack of substance, that you’re just trying to pad your word count, and that you don’t haven’t done any real research.

Case in point… I was doing some research about a specific type of chair on Friday afternoon, when I came across an article (and that’s using the term in its very loosest sense) that said, in part:

“The chair has quite a few capabilities, amongst that is currently being sat unto.”

Well isn’t that a pearl of wisdom!  Who knew that, among other things, chairs could be sat in?  Thank goodness I stumbled upon this before I wanted to sit down and couldn’t figure out where to do it!  And, let me tell you, the rest of this “article” was just as “informative” (and, coincidentally, just as grammatically-incorrect).

It was a fluffy explosion!

Who is going to read something like that, and (assuming they actually make it to the end) say, “I’m glad I read that.  I learned something new.  Let’s click on the author’s link to see what else he has to offer, or if he has any products that can help me”?

No one!  That’s who!

Unfortunately, too much of the SEO content out there is exactly the same.  There’s no real information, and there’s no real service to readers.  All you have is a bunch of keywords sitting on the page, taking up space.

The next time you go to publish a new SEO article, blog post, or video script, ask yourself if you (or your SEO content writer) have really provided important, helpful, expert information – or if you’re providing your own fluffy explosion.

The answer will also tell you how many sales you can expect to make!

If you’ve followed “Nicole’s Blog” long enough, you know how much I hate garbage SEO content.  Unfortunately, tons of marketers flood the world wide web with junk every day, just by clicking a button – a button that’s attached to an article spinner.

While Premier Content Source never uses spinners on any of our work, there are still times when I have to deal with the mess they leave behind.  You wouldn’t believe how many clients have paid us to rewrite poorly-spun content – or have paid us to simply start over from scratch.  While I love helping our clients get out of a jam, it makes me sad to see that they’ve wasted their time and money on article spinners.

It’s a lesson they had to learn the hard way – if you want to make the most out of your time, your hard-earned money, and your reputation, you’ve got to get your SEO content off the “spin cycle”.

For just a minute, don’t think about it from your point of view.  Instead, think of it from your target audience’s point of view…

…Would you be willing to do business with a company that said in their sales copy, “We ship to anywhere in the U.S., including Canada”? (and, yes, that is a real sentence that a client of ours got from some two-bit “writer” somewhere!)  If a company can’t figure out that Canada hasn’t been taken over by the U.S., can you really trust them with your money?!

Remember, your SEO content isn’t just about filling up pages.  It’s about establishing trust and showcasing your expertise.  You simply can’t do that when you have a machine jumble up a bunch of synonyms that may or may not make sense in the context of your article, blog post, or sales copy.  You’re not going to get quality links from spun content, and you’re certainly not going to earn anyone’s respect from it.

So, do yourself (and the rest of the web) a favor, and keep the “spin cycle” where it belongs – in your washing machine!

As the owner of Premier Content Source, I see it all…  I see folks who think that posting barely-coherent, $2 content is perfectly fine – and can’t understand what makes our services different from the quasi-English-speaking crowd.   Luckily, I also see great clients who truly understand the impact that great SEO content can have on a business.

Working with those great clients has shown me one very important lesson – that it doesn’t matter who you are or what niche you’re in, you need awesome SEO content.  We’re lucky enough to have large corporate clients who handle webmaster and SEO duties for big companies – and rely on us for their content.  We’re also lucky enough to have small mom-and-pop clients who are looking to us for guidance and advice as they create a name for themselves on the world wide web.

The funny thing is that the end result for both of them isn’t that much different! 

OK, so if you’re a small start-up, you don’t have the same budget that a giant corporate client does.  But whether you buy 100 SEO articles, just 1 blog post, or 10 video scripts, the final product needs to be the same – content that’s optimized to give you maximum exposure, that’s chock full of facts and research, that’s interesting, that has some personality in it, and that’s going to make readers remember you.

SEO content like that needs to be crafted – not churned out.  It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously.  I hope you do, too!

It makes me mad to see that, for many people, SEO content writing has simply turned into a competition of who can publish the most hyped-up promises.  Just today, I got an email from a so-called “guru” saying that I could make $512,678.91 without doing ANY work… Zero, zilch, nada, nothing!

Who believes this stuff?  Who’s writing it?  And why do they think I’m dumb enough to believe it?

SEO content that spews stuff like this makes it hard for the legitimate people in this industry to thrive.  It makes people believe that anyone who works online is “one of them” – you know, dishonest, arrogant, and just out for a quick buck.

I got news for ya – and, feel free to post this in your next blog or the next newsletter you send out to your subscribers -creating a successful business takes work.  Yup… work… the word that makes some people run screaming in the opposite direction.  It’s a 4-letter word that’s more vulgar to some people than all of those other 4-letter words you can’t use on network TV.

And, no matter what industry you’re in, that work starts with publishing great SEO content.  From your sales copy, to your free ebook giveaway, to your newsletters, to your article marketing strategy, to your blog – if you don’t have great SEO content, you’re giving people the wrong impression about you.

Remember, on this great invention we call the world wide web, we can’t actually talk to each other.  Instead, our words have to speak for us.

Want to let everyone know that you’re a true expert who stands head and shoulders above the competition?  Your SEO content is going to have to prove it!  Want to prove that you really know your stuff?  An SEO article that’s written in semi-English and chock full of grammar mistakes isn’t going to cut it!  Want to show that you’re more than just a talking head?  Blog posts that don’t have any energy or personality aren’t going to work!

That’s an awful lot to chew on the next time you sit down and stare at a blank Word document or pay $2 for an SEO content writer…

Your target audience is listening.  What are you saying to them?

All too often, I see articles, blogs, and newsletters that are just way too formal.  Instead of flowing nicely, they read more like a research paper.

How many research papers do you actually enjoy reading? 

What makes you think your readers are any different?

In the world of SEO content writing, being conversational is incredibly important.  Yes, you need to make sure that all of the relevant facts and figures are included in your content, but there’s a fine line between refreshingly educational and research-paper-boring.

Your readers should feel like you’re sitting down and having a one-on-one conversation with them.  If they feel like they’re just getting a bunch of “corporate speak” or a list of boring facts and figures, they’re never going to be compelled to follow your call to action.

So, when it comes to your SEO content, are you and your audience speaking the same language?  Or do you come off sounding like some sort of alien life form?

The only way to know for sure is to know your audience!

Anytime Premier Content Source gets a new order, I’ll ask the client for their URL, so that we can see who they’re targeting and what kind of style they have.  Sometimes, clients will take it one step further and tell me something like, “The funnier you can make this, the better,” or “I’m gearing this towards 20-year-old women.”  That way, I know exactly how our content needs to “speak” to them.

For example, the article that’s talking to 30-something guys about the newest tablet has a totally different tone than the article that’s talking to single moms about ways to manage their time better.  If their SEO content had the same tone to it, one group might feel like we’re speaking their language – but the other group would think we were off our rockers!

Who’s in your target audience?  How old are they?  What kind of education do they have?  Do they love the latest trends, or are they more traditional?

Until you answer those questions, you’ll never publish SEO content that your target audience can relate to.  And, if your target audience doesn’t relate to you, they won’t do business with you!

I told you that 2012 had a lot in store!

Just a few days after we launched our online video script services, I’m excited to announce that Premier Content Source has just unveiled its newest service…

…Professional press release writing services!

To me, writing press releases was the perfect next step for Premier Content Source.  After all, our team certainly has the credentials to write kick-butt press releases!  We’ve all spent years in TV newsrooms – on the other side of the fence, so to speak – reading press releases and determining which ones merited a spot in the newscast.  We know what news professionals are looking for when they read press releases, so we know how to structure them.

Sadly, most of the press releases that I saw back then – and that I see floating around now – are complete junk!

That’s why we’re going to do things a little differently.

Instead of trying to disguise a sales pitch as news (which the majority of press releases do), our press releases are going to focus on legitimate newsworthy “hooks” (as they say in the news biz).

Got a new product or service to unveil?  That’s perfect for a press release!  Just completed important research in your niche?  That’s definitely newsworthy!  Offering a temporary discount for new customers?  That’s news that people need!

And, just like all of our other SEO content writing services, we’re going to write press releases that target your keywords.  That way, you can get the ultimate SEO boost.

I’ve seen firsthand the kind of success that legitimate press releases can bring.  If you want to see what our new press release services can do for you, check out our Press Release Writing page, or contact me directly at Nicole@premiercontentsource.com

And, just in case you want to see one of our press releases in action, take a look at the one I published this morning.