I believe I had read something similar on content writing before, but Mr. Arif's guide was definitely a brilliant introduction to content writing. Here's what I learnt and this could just be the guide you need to jumpstart your career as a content writer.
Feel free to connect with Mr. Arif here.
Without further ado, let's jump straight in to what was covered in the video.
Strategically speaking, a content writer resorts to the following best practices:
Avoiding Plagiarism: As content writers, the objective is to refrain from plagiarism,copy-pasting or duplicating other people's literary works.
Type of article writing: Different types of articles require different types of mindsets, different strategies to be implemented. Hence, it is of utmost importance that the type of article that the writer seeks to write be predetermined. Seasoned article writers follow specific structures when writing different articles.
Inverted pyramid guide to article writing: This idea is a lot like what my Grade 6 english teacher taught me. But, the name felt new. The strategy was nice.
Inverted pyramid guide to article writing follows a structure similar to this
\
Main facts
More detail
Quote
More detail
Quote
Additional comment
Optional bio
Error free written pieces: The article should be free from spelling mistakes and/or grammatical erros. (helps you rank better in google)
Research Phase: A good content writer does not merely start writing, but rather researches the subject matter really well. A rule of thumb to be followed is to spend 40% of the time researching the topic, 20% of the time actually writing and 40% of the remaining time to edit and correct the written work.
Creating a list and building article structure: Once adequate research has been conducted,the writer should sit down and think about what exactly he wants to cover in his article.
Similar topics are to be bundled together. Basically involves classifying things and building a hierarchy/order.
Topics can be ordered in the following way:
Text structure: How does an article writer actually craft his work? The answer lies hidden in his text structure.
A compelling article involves the following text structure:
Readability analysis metrics: The idea is to get a high score
SEO structure:
Article length: Article length is dependent upon the quality required. Depending on the topic we are writing about, the article length will vary accordingly. The idea is to rank our site high in google's search results.
Mr. Arif then goes on to make a few good suggestions.
We are to go to google and scan through the first 20 results.Then analyze the length of the content on each website.In doing so we will have determined the optimum length for the written piece. Our aim should be to cross the word count of the written piece having the maximum length. (This would be make our content more informative thereby allowing us to generate more traffic with our written piece.)
Article Title: A catchy title is required to grab the reader's attention. The headline is supposed to stimulate the reader's attention span and make him want to read more. Additionally, each word in the article should be in capital letters. Article title is a vital SEO factor and special care is to be paid to it.
Article introduction: Article introductions are to offer clarity. It is suggested that the introduction give a clear idea on the main themes that are to be discussed in the later stages of the article.
Article subheadings: The first word in each article subheading is to be capitulated. A short description of 100-200 words is to follow that. A written piece is to contain multiple subheadings.
Moreover, each subheading should attempt to capture one or more Main Keywords, LSI keywords. Mutiple keywords or related keywords. Best practices involve the use of putting a colon : at the end of a subheading. (No other punctuation should be used after a subheading.)
Main keyword/Target Keyword: To write stellar written pieces for the web, we need to have an idea about the target keywords. (Please note that some people refer to the main keyword with synonymous names such as Main keyword, Exact keyword, Primary keyword, Targeted keyword, Focus Keyword and Head keyword and these are all semantically correct usage of the same terms.)
Further note that main keywords represent instances/cases/results offering an exact match capable of satisfying the user's query.
Broad match/Phrase match/Modifier keywords correspond to synonym keyword, LSI keyword, Long tail keyword, Multiple keyword and/or related keyword.
Phrase match: This is the case when the main keyword is present in a phrase.
Broad match: This is the case when the keyword is present under different permutations
Modifier keyword: This is the case when individual keywords are separated by modifiers.( other terms that may be relevant to the subject under investigation)
So, on to the important parts:
Content writing is supposed to involve a fair bit of keyword research.
Some websites that are good for this research are:
wordtracker.com
neilpatel.com
answerthepublic.com (best tool according to senpai)
semrush
keywordrevealer
Googletrends is pretty useful here too.
app.kwfinder.com
ads.google.com/kwfinder.com
It is advised to use main keywords in article heading, article sub-heading,introduction, meta description and conclusion. In fact, if the article writer wants he/ she can resort to the usage of the keywords in the paragraphs as well.
LSI keyword(latent semantic indexing)
Related keyword and mutliple keyword benefits: Related keywords and multiple keywords help establish internal links to another posts. (Idea of backlinks I guess?)
Keyword distribution and density:
Strategically use the keywords through out your written piece.
Keyword density: Keyword density should be be 0.5-2.5% of the total words. So, this means that the keyword ought to be present about 5 to 25 times per 1000 words.
Conclusion: A person might have written a really good piece but without a proper conclusion the work goes to waste. An ideal conclusion should use the main keyword at least once and then finish off within the next 2-4 sentences.
Meta description: Content writers should write meta descriptions for their work. The meta description should be between 120-180 character. Anyways, the meta description should seek to make use of the target keyword at least once and be unique and informative.(this reminds me a lot of the abstract section that people use in their thesis papers)
Content reference: We should pay our tributes to the people who have taken painstaking measures to disseminate information. In the content reference section the idea is to link back to the sites from where you have collected your ideas.
Other notes I took
[Keyword density checker tools: zippy.co.uk/keyworddensity
thehoth.com/keyworddensity
visiopark.com/keyworddensitychecker
So, to not make the content boring, we are to use synonym keyword ever so often. STRATEGICALLY]
Feel free to connect with Mr. Arif here.
Without further ado, let's jump straight in to what was covered in the video.
Strategically speaking, a content writer resorts to the following best practices:
Avoiding Plagiarism: As content writers, the objective is to refrain from plagiarism,copy-pasting or duplicating other people's literary works.
Type of article writing: Different types of articles require different types of mindsets, different strategies to be implemented. Hence, it is of utmost importance that the type of article that the writer seeks to write be predetermined. Seasoned article writers follow specific structures when writing different articles.
Inverted pyramid guide to article writing: This idea is a lot like what my Grade 6 english teacher taught me. But, the name felt new. The strategy was nice.
Inverted pyramid guide to article writing follows a structure similar to this
\
Main facts
More detail
Quote
More detail
Quote
Additional comment
Optional bio
Error free written pieces: The article should be free from spelling mistakes and/or grammatical erros. (helps you rank better in google)
Research Phase: A good content writer does not merely start writing, but rather researches the subject matter really well. A rule of thumb to be followed is to spend 40% of the time researching the topic, 20% of the time actually writing and 40% of the remaining time to edit and correct the written work.
Creating a list and building article structure: Once adequate research has been conducted,the writer should sit down and think about what exactly he wants to cover in his article.
Similar topics are to be bundled together. Basically involves classifying things and building a hierarchy/order.
Topics can be ordered in the following way:
- On a thematic basis
- On a chronological basis
- On a problem to solution basis
- On a didactic basis(easy to hard)
Text structure: How does an article writer actually craft his work? The answer lies hidden in his text structure.
A compelling article involves the following text structure:
- Description
- Sequence
- Compare and contrast
- Cause and effect
- Problem and solution
Readability analysis metrics: The idea is to get a high score
- Sentence length ( Short sentences are preferred, preferably less than 20 words)
- Paragraph length
- Use of header/subheading distribution(subheadings make the paragraphs easier to scan)
- Use of standard quotation, bold, italic, underline: It is advised to not use underline or italic in title and subtitles, but rather it is advised to use bold letters only.
- Paragraph's relevant proper image: A relevant image corresponding to what we are writing about should be utilized.
- Transition word(less than 30%) (Connectives basically)
- Active vs passive voice. (less than 10% of the content should be in passive voice.)
- Vocabulary level: Common words are to be used to make it easier for readers to read.
- Consecutive sentence
- Sentences are said to be less than 20 words.
- Flesch reading ease- 60-70 score is good. It's even better if we can rank higher. A score of 80-90 is excellent.
- Advocates the use of short,simple, concise paragraphs.
- Each of the paragraphs should be 100-200 words or between 6 to 8 sentences.
- Use of appropriate images alongside paragraphs
- Refrain from using the passive voice frequently.
SEO structure:
Article length: Article length is dependent upon the quality required. Depending on the topic we are writing about, the article length will vary accordingly. The idea is to rank our site high in google's search results.
Mr. Arif then goes on to make a few good suggestions.
We are to go to google and scan through the first 20 results.Then analyze the length of the content on each website.In doing so we will have determined the optimum length for the written piece. Our aim should be to cross the word count of the written piece having the maximum length. (This would be make our content more informative thereby allowing us to generate more traffic with our written piece.)
Article Title: A catchy title is required to grab the reader's attention. The headline is supposed to stimulate the reader's attention span and make him want to read more. Additionally, each word in the article should be in capital letters. Article title is a vital SEO factor and special care is to be paid to it.
Article introduction: Article introductions are to offer clarity. It is suggested that the introduction give a clear idea on the main themes that are to be discussed in the later stages of the article.
Article subheadings: The first word in each article subheading is to be capitulated. A short description of 100-200 words is to follow that. A written piece is to contain multiple subheadings.
Moreover, each subheading should attempt to capture one or more Main Keywords, LSI keywords. Mutiple keywords or related keywords. Best practices involve the use of putting a colon : at the end of a subheading. (No other punctuation should be used after a subheading.)
Main keyword/Target Keyword: To write stellar written pieces for the web, we need to have an idea about the target keywords. (Please note that some people refer to the main keyword with synonymous names such as Main keyword, Exact keyword, Primary keyword, Targeted keyword, Focus Keyword and Head keyword and these are all semantically correct usage of the same terms.)
Further note that main keywords represent instances/cases/results offering an exact match capable of satisfying the user's query.
Broad match/Phrase match/Modifier keywords correspond to synonym keyword, LSI keyword, Long tail keyword, Multiple keyword and/or related keyword.
Phrase match: This is the case when the main keyword is present in a phrase.
Broad match: This is the case when the keyword is present under different permutations
Modifier keyword: This is the case when individual keywords are separated by modifiers.( other terms that may be relevant to the subject under investigation)
So, on to the important parts:
Content writing is supposed to involve a fair bit of keyword research.
Some websites that are good for this research are:
wordtracker.com
neilpatel.com
answerthepublic.com (best tool according to senpai)
semrush
keywordrevealer
Googletrends is pretty useful here too.
app.kwfinder.com
ads.google.com/kwfinder.com
It is advised to use main keywords in article heading, article sub-heading,introduction, meta description and conclusion. In fact, if the article writer wants he/ she can resort to the usage of the keywords in the paragraphs as well.
LSI keyword(latent semantic indexing)
Related keyword and mutliple keyword benefits: Related keywords and multiple keywords help establish internal links to another posts. (Idea of backlinks I guess?)
Keyword distribution and density:
Strategically use the keywords through out your written piece.
Keyword density: Keyword density should be be 0.5-2.5% of the total words. So, this means that the keyword ought to be present about 5 to 25 times per 1000 words.
Conclusion: A person might have written a really good piece but without a proper conclusion the work goes to waste. An ideal conclusion should use the main keyword at least once and then finish off within the next 2-4 sentences.
Meta description: Content writers should write meta descriptions for their work. The meta description should be between 120-180 character. Anyways, the meta description should seek to make use of the target keyword at least once and be unique and informative.(this reminds me a lot of the abstract section that people use in their thesis papers)
Content reference: We should pay our tributes to the people who have taken painstaking measures to disseminate information. In the content reference section the idea is to link back to the sites from where you have collected your ideas.
Other notes I took
[Keyword density checker tools: zippy.co.uk/keyworddensity
thehoth.com/keyworddensity
visiopark.com/keyworddensitychecker
So, to not make the content boring, we are to use synonym keyword ever so often. STRATEGICALLY]
Comments
Post a Comment