Content Pitfalls

Watch out for these pitfalls when you are publishing content. Your presence on the web is only as good as the content associated with you and your site, so you must be sure to create and post only content that puts your best face front-side, and show the world that you are a valuable resource – not a keyword stuffing, fluff filled hack.

Article writing, website content writing and blog article writing are excellent opportunities to provide valuable information to your readers. You have to be skilled to pull off content that attracts human visitors and keeps them absorbed while still following basic SEO tenets. You’ll need to learn keyword research, take a step further into niche research, and become skilled at any number of marketing techniques. As content writers (or editors, if we hire our content needs out), we often overlook pitfalls that can destroy our relationship with our readership.

Quality article directories want quality content, that is directly relevant to the title and gives real information. An informative article informs – it doesn’t simply confound. Don’t be tempted to simply write six paragraphs of keyword optimized fluff and have done – that’s sheer waste of opportunity. Sure, you might get a back link, but you could optimize your article for traffic to your site as well, if you give the reader something worth having. Remember, an article that does not deliver is a wasted opportunity to connect with the reader.

Do Your Research

Any facts you publish should be readily verified, and you should steer clear of dogmatic opinion – in fact, stay away from first person, and use second person sparingly. Deliver the information you promised in the title. Make sure it is accurate. Include references if possible, and give credit to sources – no-one like a scraper.

Organize Your Material

If your article jumps erratically from one topic to another without rhyme or reason, your readers will become confused and frustrated. Either create a written outline, or lay out the idea for each paragraph and then use bullets to form smaller subcategories. Read it back and ask yourself if you are presenting points in logical order.

Use Proper Sentence Structure

Spelling is important. Grammar is important. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t capitalize words that aren’t supposed to be capitalized, make sure your nouns and verbs match when you are using singulars or plurals, and don’t forget to make your action descriptors agree – if you use one form twice in a sentnce with three examples, and change for the third, it is confusing – Such as “Bobby like hunting, fishing, and to boat.” This should be “Bobby likes hunting, fishing and boating.”

Don’t Show Off

Using difficult words that will require the average reader to reference a dictionary doesn’t make you seem smarter – it simply intimidates your readers and makes them feel talked down to. Keep your web content for the most part on an eighth grade level, and your readership will find you easy to understand and comprehend.

One last thing – don’t use cliches. They are called cliches for a reason.

admin