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Bad Content (And How to Fix It)
6 Plays1 year ago
Content isn't just king: it's the whole court and castle. If you've invested in SEO for your small business, one of the core elements of the strategy is, or at least should be, content creation. Unfortunately, too many agencies either outsource to the cheapest freelancers or expect their SEOs to write it themselves. Writing, however, is a craft that requires a high degree of skill built from years of (you guessed it!) writing.
From quick tips on effective writing to proper structure, language, and intent of your content to the right messaging for both B2C and B2B businesses, listeners will get several actionable tips that can be applied to either writing their own content or reviewing content submitted by their agency partner.
In addition, as part of the More Than You Can Chew tradition, Dane shares two spots you must check out: Dante in Cleveland, Ohio, and The Daniel in New York City.
For both restaurants, select the tasting menu.
As always, if you like what you've heard, please follow the podcast on your favorite platform and share it with your network on social media!
If you're looking for SEO or PPC services, or you'd like an audit of your website or content, please reach out to Dane Saville at dane.saville@searchlabdigital.com.
Thanks to the leadership at SearchLab Digital for making this podcast possible.
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Transcript
Introduction to SEO Content Development
00:00:11
Speaker
ah Oh, welcome back to More Than You Can Chew. I'm your host, Dane Seville, the Director of Brand Experience at Search Lab Digital.
00:00:23
Speaker
And today, we're going to take a bite out of SEO content development. See, I feel inspired to take this route.
00:00:35
Speaker
I want this episode to focus on something that I feel like I can... expertly cover and I'm passionate about it.
00:00:45
Speaker
You know, after talking to some recent prospects, I've discovered a lot of really bad content. Bad content is pervasive in small business SEO and small business marketing.
00:01:00
Speaker
In fact, i already wrote a reason blog for Search Labs website on this very topic. However, while there will be some shared information, and I'll link to that blog, I went a bit further to provide some more guidance.
Challenges in Content Production
00:01:15
Speaker
Because I said, gotta be honest, there's a lot of really bad content produced for small businesses by their agencies, sometimes their internal teams.
00:01:29
Speaker
But more often than not, it's the agencies. It's those working with agencies who wanna provide this service. Now, part of the problem isn't even the agency's fault because most smaller agencies' writers and many companies they contract with or freelancers they use, they actually don't understand good writing.
00:01:52
Speaker
And most small businesses can't afford the Ogilvy and Mathers of the world to get more of those folks who understand the nuances of copywriting.
00:02:04
Speaker
to get that level of insight and expertise.
Quick Writing Tips
00:02:10
Speaker
Now, if you're in a position to vet potential SEO or content writing agencies, you'll probably get pitched about how they can write eight, no, actually 10, no, maybe 20 pieces of content per month.
00:02:24
Speaker
And some will use AI and some will pay the cheapest rates for the cheapest writers and it shows. Well, you're in the right place to get some insights and good writing for your marketing efforts.
00:02:39
Speaker
Maybe you're in a position that requires you to write on behalf of your company, but you don't have a background in writing. in writing That's okay, you're also in the right place. So let's talk about a few quick writing tips, right? Let's get some insights right out of the way up front here.
00:02:58
Speaker
Number one, write the way you talk. This is not a college essay. You're not trying to you know have a peer-reviewed article published in the scientific.
00:03:13
Speaker
You're writing for people. Looking for information, looking for things that they want to buy whether they're trying to consider it, um which you know which of their options or whether they're ready buy now or they're asking questions around it.
00:03:27
Speaker
You want your content to read easily and naturally. If you read it out loud and it sounds off, it's because it's off.
Developing Content Ideas
00:03:36
Speaker
to write the way you talk.
00:03:38
Speaker
Two, use short words, use short sentences, use short paragraphs. There's nothing people more averse to than huge blocks of text, especially on a mobile phone.
00:03:51
Speaker
Never publish or send, such as an email, anything the same day you've written it. Save it for the next morning, read it aloud, make changes, and yes, you will make changes, sometimes two or three times.
00:04:06
Speaker
Before you publish or send the message, be for be sure that you're crystal clear about what you want the recipient to do.
00:04:15
Speaker
Fifth, verbs. Can a verb be turned into one? Do it. Is it active? If not, make it active. is Does it doesn't give out energy?
00:04:27
Speaker
If not, change it. Verbs are a a crux of getting people interested in what the sentence, what the content and context is about.
00:04:43
Speaker
Here's a number six, an easy tip that I think would be helpful for everyone Create a word bank. Do you use purchase or buy, start or begin, frequently or often? Have a word bank to choose from to diversify the way that you actually write that language, but that is still true to the naturally way that you natural way that you talk.
00:05:04
Speaker
And seventh, don't detract from a perfect image with words. Every element you use in a piece of content should be purposeful and should have room to breathe. That includes your imagery.
Creating Relevant Content
00:05:17
Speaker
So one, write the way you talk. Two, be brief, use short words, use short sentences, use short paragraphs. Three, never ah send out anything or publish anything the same day you write it.
00:05:30
Speaker
Four, before you send it, make sure it's crystal clear about what you want the person to do. Five, verbs, verbs, verbs, verbs verbs active verbs. Six, create a word bank. Seven, don't detract from images with unnecessary verbiage.
00:05:46
Speaker
Now, a quick suggestion for how to come up with content ideas. So we'll pivot here real quick, right? Let's get another quick tip out of the way. After you've done your due diligence, such as keyword research, market analysis, don't stop at the first or second round of thoughts about what content you create, right? When you're when you're the ideation phase, don't just accept, oh, you know, i came up with two ideas, i'm gonna run with one of them. No, get into a third, hell, even a fourth round of just free range thinking about what you've discovered and how you can develop some great topical pieces.
00:06:25
Speaker
You'll find that some of your craziest ideas can often then be shaped into something truly compelling.
00:06:36
Speaker
So I open up this episode by talking about ah some of the, you know, that small businesses get a lot of bad content, right? The small businesses get a lot of generic, very poorly conceived, poorly written, poorly structured content.
00:06:54
Speaker
So that's, let's segue into that, right? Let's talk about where content for small businesses goes off the rails, right?
Clarity in Content Creation
00:07:04
Speaker
And it's largely in two spots in the development process.
00:07:10
Speaker
Content can go off the rails because it's what I refer to as fluff garbage. Because it's content the writers fill with a bunch of messaging unrelated to the topic at hand because their topic either A, doesn't merit being a standalone piece or B, that has literally nobody searching for it. I've seen this many times.
00:07:34
Speaker
I see dealerships paying for content like 2024 Chevy Silverado towing capacity. That can be answered in a few words, but agencies will charge the small business hundreds of dollars for a thousand word piece for something that can be answered in a few words, that can be part of a more substantial valuable piece of content.
00:08:02
Speaker
I've seen ah law firms pay for stuff like why Seville personal injury law firm is the best law firm in Pensacola.
00:08:14
Speaker
Nobody's searching for that. You know how you prove you're the best? By having the best content out there that actually addresses consumer questions, concerns, needs.
00:08:24
Speaker
Every piece of content that your agency or internal writing team creates should be one, assessed if it should be a piece of content or part of a piece of content or not at all.
00:08:37
Speaker
And two, based on actual consumer searches. The goal is to make you the best answer in your market for the right for the variety of questions that consumers have about your products and services.
00:08:58
Speaker
Content development can also go off the rails because the writing itself is poorly done. As digital marketers contend with a changing landscape with generative search results and the potential of search GPT, the one thing that matters most is how well your content is crafted.
00:09:16
Speaker
And there's one basic necessity that's true because people won't use any of these platforms if the answers aren't compiled from and sourced from good, well-written information.
00:09:29
Speaker
And that one basic necessity is clarity. Yes, clarity. Clarity in the language that you use in your content.
Layers of Messaging
00:09:39
Speaker
So how well aligned are your words with the what and the how?
00:09:46
Speaker
People search for things. Are you writing those short, punchy sentences that have active verbs and get to the point, get to the answer?
00:09:56
Speaker
clarity in structure of your content. Is the content structured logically from the title tag to the H1 to the other headings? Do your headlines make sense in both in terms of context and order?
00:10:10
Speaker
No matter what you use, H1, H2, H3, right? Let's just get down to the brass tacks of it. Does it make sense with the context of what that headline is and the order of those headlines? And then does the content that follows each of the headlines fully support it?
00:10:28
Speaker
Are they succinct and focused on delivering the insights that the headline had promised, had previewed?
00:10:39
Speaker
Clarity in the intent of your content. Does the content truly and sufficiently address the intent that the searcher had? Did they get to accomplish what they set out to achieve, whether that's having a concern being addressed or finding a product to buy?
00:10:58
Speaker
In all of these cases, get to the core of the problem and how you solve it. Too much exposition will drive prospects away. Your average consumer is not interested in you waxing poetic. They want to get the answer that they are seeking based on the query they entered.
00:11:17
Speaker
So they should get relevant results to go land on to satisfy that.
00:11:26
Speaker
Now, to understand that clarity, to understand how to get to the core of the problem and how you solve it, you need to number one, understand who the audience is Number two, what is their intent?
00:11:38
Speaker
Number three, so what will be the core message of your content? Typically derived from like that head term, and then you would cluster in other semantically related, contextually related searches to that head term.
00:11:50
Speaker
And then lastly, why is this interesting to them? why like why How is this going to be valuable or interesting to the consumer?
00:12:00
Speaker
Again, the touchstone in all of this, the touchstone of clarity. in structure, in intent, in language. How do you get to the core problem and solve it? That touchstone of clarity is brevity and control.
00:12:15
Speaker
And that takes a lot of planning, of strategizing, critical thinking, creativity. You can't do this in five to 10 minutes. You need ample time to really sit down and think through how to develop this stuff.
00:12:33
Speaker
So we understand the importance of clarity. Let's talk about context. The context of your message within the content matters.
00:12:43
Speaker
And there's a few different layers of messaging. Directional, front of mind, back of mind. So what does it all mean? The content needs to be directional. There needs to be directional messaging.
00:12:57
Speaker
It directs the consumer to the right piece of content that best satisfies their search.
00:13:04
Speaker
The content needs to have front of mind messaging where you put the benefits of the product or service front and center. You prove its value.
00:13:14
Speaker
And the content, in nearly all cases, needs to have back-of-mind messaging, which is where you build the trust in your brand. Why are the best options to provide that value of product or service?
00:13:25
Speaker
It can be something as simple as having ample choices, variety of the product or service. Or it may be more complex, it you as so such as awards you've won or other value proposition propositions unique to your company.
00:13:39
Speaker
So it needs to be directional, direct consumers to the right page of content that best satisfies their search, front of mind messaging to put out the value props and features, the benefits, more importantly, the benefits of that product or service and back of mind messaging, why they should choose you.
Structuring Content Effectively
00:14:01
Speaker
So as you build this all out, there's other structure to be concerned about, right?
00:14:09
Speaker
there's structure to align with how to format these this messaging. Remember, your headline is the hook. Your first paragraph provides clarity and promises discovery.
00:14:22
Speaker
Your body copy delivers on the promises. And the final paragraph reminds of those promises, how it was fulfilled, who the who the the consumer benefited and what to do next.
00:14:38
Speaker
So you work in that messaging within those appropriate spots, right? Directional, your headline and your first paragraph. Body copy, your front of mind messaging.
00:14:52
Speaker
Your final ah paragraph, the back of mind messaging. How did you how did you provide how did you provide the value? Not just sameim anybody, how did you provide the value to the consumer?
00:15:04
Speaker
And what do you want them to do next?
00:15:11
Speaker
Now, as you write all of this, there's also another layer to the context of a piece of content. So beyond just the core that core messaging, directional front of mind, back mind, there's another layer.
00:15:25
Speaker
let's talk about it. Number one, if it's product specific, focus on the overriding benefits. Keep to as few benefits as possible to keep it simple.
00:15:37
Speaker
But again, what is the core message and why is it interesting? And I want to underscore this because so many writers missed this element. I said, prevent present benefits, not just features, right?
00:15:49
Speaker
Home security is not just an alarm. It's peace of mind. A cleaning service is not just a clean house. It's time given back to you.
00:16:01
Speaker
So product specific content focus on the overriding benefits. Service specific content, outline the problem it solves, be clear who provides the service and how it's accessed and why you are the best value for that service.
00:16:21
Speaker
So for example, in law firm, you might have specific people who handle specific types of cases. Refer to those people in the content. They are the experts, right? Leverage that name equity because their name is probably mentioned in different court dockets, things like that.
00:16:36
Speaker
So again, you have that sort of entity built up around their name. So be clear who provides the service. For auto dealerships, let's say it's service-based. You have, let's say, Mopar certified technicians.
00:16:50
Speaker
Be sure, let's be clear who's providing the service.
00:16:55
Speaker
And lastly, business to business. You need to reassure that quality,
00:17:03
Speaker
service, and delivery are top-notch. So the quality of what you're offering, your service, and how you like can service the customer, and the delivery of what you're going to do are all top-notch, but focus on professionalism and trust.
00:17:26
Speaker
Now, to close out today's
Avoiding Negative Priming
00:17:29
Speaker
episode, I do want to hit on one last thing. And I've kind of written about this at my previous agency in the past. I've talked about it at conference sessions.
00:17:40
Speaker
you know I've talked about many times, yet I still see it used for small businesses. And it's not a good thing. right It's being used pervasively, and it's not a good thing.
00:17:52
Speaker
Negative priming. Now, probably haven't heard of it, even though it's a basic you know primary marketing tactic, but again, most businesses, small small businesses can afford agencies like Ogilvy.
00:18:04
Speaker
want to say the more nuanced concepts in copyright. Negative priming is when you prime consumers with the language you use, and you can positivelyry positively prime consumers or negatively prime consumers.
00:18:21
Speaker
Positive priming, Again, generates a good feeling for ah consumers. So typically it's active language, ah you know, with a connotation of positivity.
00:18:36
Speaker
And then there's negative priming, which primes people to have a negative feeling.
00:18:42
Speaker
Typically, this comes from historical interactions with the type of business. So for example, in dentistry, you'll see a lot of dentist collateral that says pain-free dentistry.
00:18:57
Speaker
Now, that seems good on the surface, but you're negatively priming them because out of the two words pain-free, what do consumers focus on? Pain. You're negatively priming them. In car dealerships, it's hassle-free.
00:19:08
Speaker
And I see this in legal too with with law firms. Hassle-free. They're focusing on the hassle. Don't negatively prime. So find different ways to phrase language that will positively prime consumers when they engage with your content.
00:19:29
Speaker
Now, A lot was covered.
Further Learning and Resources
00:19:32
Speaker
Naturally, if you have questions, you can always reach out to me at dane.seville at searchlabdigital.com. I'm happy to talk more specifically, ah provide more examples.
00:19:43
Speaker
I'm happy to do a content audit for you if you find that to be of value. But to give you some more perspective from even more accomplished folks, ah there are a few books here in which, number one,
00:19:58
Speaker
There's a book by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson called Writing That Works, How to Communicate Effectively in Business. It is a fantastic guide that I think anyone ah in writing would um recommend right It gives you insights and how to actionable takeaways about emails and memos and letters, proposals, recommendations, presentations, plans, and reports. Well, that's a good thing, right?
00:20:25
Speaker
How to understand how to how to craft up a summary of a report is good for marketing folks because, well, you probably do monthly reports with your clients. Or if you're an internal team, you do monthly reports with your higher-ups.
00:20:38
Speaker
um You know, speeches, resumes, letters, so much more. It's a really great piece of content. Really great book, I should say, not just a piece of content. Then there's also um all it's called All About Them by Bruce Turkel.
00:20:53
Speaker
um It's really talking about how to make your messaging about the consumer and not your business. And again, that goes back to some of these touchstones, these core things that we talked about ah today in terms of, again, going back to that search intent. What is the person wanting to do?
Food Recommendations in Cleveland and NYC
00:21:11
Speaker
Make it about them. Solve the problem.
00:21:14
Speaker
All right, enough about content. let's ah Let's actually move on to my favorite part, I think, of what's going to be more than you can chew. Talking about food. Talking about places to go check out. If you checked out last episode with Grant Weiss, he gave a recommendation for a place in Toronto, his hometown, as well as New Orleans.
00:21:33
Speaker
um So for me, I want to talk about a place in Cleveland, Ohio. That's right, Cleveland. um My wife and I lived there for four years, moved there during the pandemic, right at the height of COVID.
00:21:44
Speaker
And so it took a while till we actually were able to go out to restaurants. And I'll tell you what, if you've never been to Cleveland, you've probably heard a lot of bad stuff. if you've never been to Cleveland, you should go to Cleveland.
00:21:57
Speaker
it's not It's not what people say. it's actually i actually I live now in Pensacola, Florida. I miss the food scene in Cleveland. Cleveland has awesome food. They have a Little Italy, which in future episodes, I could definitely talk at length about Little Italy in Cleveland.
00:22:12
Speaker
They have a Ukrainian village, Asia town. I mean, they have all sorts of cool places. But I'm going to talk about a place in a part of Cleveland called Tremont. And Tremont's sort of ah a, don't want call like posh, but it's sort of a cool, trendy part of town. Lots of really cool bars, restaurants. It's a great part of Cleveland.
00:22:35
Speaker
And in fact, one of the restaurants there has a Michelin-starred chef, Dante Boccosi. And his eponymous restaurant that I'm going to talk about, Dante.
00:22:46
Speaker
So if you ever go to Cleveland, you should check out Dante in Tremont. It is just incredible food. It's in an old ah bank building. So the setup is cool. The atmosphere is great.
00:23:00
Speaker
There's a little private table inside like the vault that you can still sit at. You can have a chef's table where you sit back in the kitchen with all the chefs. And they have, ah in of course, true taste of a Michelin-starred chef, a five-course tasting menu that you can do, and you can pair it with wine.
00:23:19
Speaker
I highly, highly recommend doing that. The food is top-notch. Again, you're talking Michelin-starred type food, smaller portions, five courses, but I mean, it's things like, I can't remember all the dishes we've had, but they're, you know, I don't i don't like lentils.
00:23:37
Speaker
I'll tell you what. There was a dish that they served. It was like the second course. It was a bowl of lentils, and I ate every last bit of it. So, again, head up to Cleveland.
00:23:48
Speaker
Check out Dante. Think of Michelin starred. If you know, quick pivot to since Brent kicked things off by recommending two places, I will also do two.
00:24:00
Speaker
And since we're talking about Michelin stars, makes me think of um my wife and I went to New York City a few years back and we went to the Danielle, which I think is two or three starred Michelin restaurant.
00:24:12
Speaker
Same thing, smaller portions, food's incredible. um In fact, funny little anecdote. We received at the end of the meal this little like sort of to-go package. And it was like a to-go Negroni and this little little brown candle.
00:24:30
Speaker
And it smelled good. smelled like chocolate almost. It was really, really cool little to-go thing. So we we go to Central Park. We're getting one of those horse-drawn carriages to check it out. And, you know, wondering about this candle that turned out to be a brownie wasn't a candle at all. So there you go. There you have it. So you can get at some to-go stuff at the Danielle in New York City.
00:24:52
Speaker
Again, check that out. I think you have to make reservations a few months in advance. But if you're planning on going and you like to, you know, you're a foodie, ah definitely a place to check out.
00:25:04
Speaker
in nyc well that's it for today's more than you can chew i hope i provided some value talking about content and i hope i provide some insights for hey some places to go when you check out these other cities so everyone have a great rest of your day and check you out and the next more than you can chew