Content creation for website owners. What you need to know.

For website owners or bloggers, one of the main tasks you need to do is content creation.

It isn’t enough to just create content, you need to create intriguing, captivating, inspiring content that visitors look forward to reading. Ideally, your content will leave a lasting impression with your audience and get them to return to your site again and again.

Now, I understand that the idea of content creation can sometimes be overwhelming,. But trust me, you’ve got what it takes! With the right mindset, a dash of creativity, and a sprinkle of perseverance, you’ll be well on your way to creating content that shines.

So, whether you’re new to digital content creation or simply looking to enhance your output, this article will explore content creation for bloggers and website owners.

Ready to unleash your creativity? Let’s do this!

Website content creator
Research Skills
Writing and Editing Skills
Determining What Type of Content to Create
SEO Skills
Analytical Skills
Endurance and Motivation
Flexibility
Final Thoughts

Website content creator

Why is it important to create content? Can’t you just create a few pages about your company and its services and then sit back and wait for internet users to find your site – somehow…

As you may have guessed, it doesn’t work that way. Most visitors will find your website via search or social media posts – unless you’re advertising. The more content you write the more likely they will find your website.

The catch – there’s always a catch – is that your content needs to rank highly. In fact, anything other than the first page of Google will mean only a tiny trickle of visitors will visit your site.

So, armed with the knowledge that you have to create not just content but really, really good content, let’s look at how to consistently achieve that.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the essential skills you will need to become a great content creator for websites.

Research Skills

You might feel tempted to just start writing once you have decided on a blog topic. To ensure your article is of the highest quality, you should consider doing research on the topic beforehand.

It’s up to you to define your research process. Here is an example process you can use to get you started.

Start with an Idea

Before you start researching, you need to have an idea of what you want to write about. Brainstorm topics that are relevant to your niche and audience. You can also use tools like Google Trends or SEMRush to find popular topics and keywords.

Collect Resources

Once you have an idea, collect resources that will help you write your blog post. Use a note keeping app to help you store these resources. I use notion app, it’s free and easy to use.

Merge resources into a blog outline

Coalesce the ideas and resources into a coherent article outline with the main sections you want to cover.

You can use AI to help you come up with an blog outline for any given topic. For instance, here is a ChatGPT prompt you can use for a blog article on the keto diet:

I am writing a blog article for people interested in the keto diet. The audience will be people wanting to improve their health and lose weight. Generate a blog outline for the topic "Introduction to the Keto Diet".

Chat GPT

Review the Competition

You likely have competition in your niche, so it’s always a good idea to see what content they have produced.

Using a reliable keyword research tool, you can analyze your competitors’ websites and individual pages to identify the keywords they rank for, estimate their monthly traffic and lots of other useful information.

Here’s a widget that provides a glimpse of what a competition report looks like. Simply enter the domain or an individual page of a competitor’s website to generate a live report:

Ask Your Audience

Ask your audience what they want to read about.

There are various ways you can ask for feedback, including:

social media
email newsletter
surveys
create a poll on your website
ask for comments on your articles

Expand on an existing topic with a new article

Look for opportunities to expand on existing blog posts. This article is an expansion of a previous piece I wrote on digital content creation.

For any given keyword, several related keywords exist that can be the basis for separate blog articles. Take, for example, the topic of the keto diet. Let’s brainstorm and consider various distinct yet interconnected articles you can create:

“A Beginner’s Guide to the Keto Diet: Getting Started on Your Health Journey”
“Keto-Friendly Recipes: Delicious and Nutritious Meals for Your Low-carb Lifestyle”
“The Science Behind Ketosis: Understanding How the Keto Diet Works”
“Navigating Keto on a Budget: Tips for Eating Healthy Without Breaking the Bank”
“Keto Diet and Exercise: Maximizing Fitness and Weight Loss Results”

And so on…

Writing about related keywords is a great way to comprehensively cover a topic. Additionally, remember to include links to your related articles. This provides readers with convenient navigation to delve deeper into the subject matter.

Create multiple articles for a given topic by using related keywords

Writing and Editing Skills

Don’t worry if you’re not naturally talented at writing. With consistent practice in writing, editing, and publishing your content, you can gradually improve your writing skills.

Let’s go over a few tips on writing and editing to help you produce high quality content for your blog or website.

Understand search intent

For informational content you need to do research on your topic. For transactional or commercial content you need to write persuasive content.

There are four types of search intent you should be aware of:

informational
navigational
commercial
transactional

Knowing the search intent for each keyword is crucial, as it allows you to accurately address the searcher’s query. Without understanding the search intent, you may not be able to provide the correct answer.

For instance, trying to sell your service for an informational query will not work.

Providing basic information when a user has already done the research and is just looking for the best price (transactional intent) is a waste of time.

Keep it simple

People are busy, don’t take all day to get to the point. Simple, concise content written in an easy-to-understand style is the best way to get your point across.

Avoid using jargon, technical terms or acronyms. Try to provide clear, precise explanations and meaning of terms and words you use.

If you are writing a more technical article link to a introductory article so visitors can educate themselves on the topic.

Practice, Practise, Practise

No-one starts out as an expert writer. You have to practise a lot. Start writing and learn as you go.

Set aside time each day and write, you don’t have to complete an article just make progress day-after-day. Once it’s good enough publish it.

Aim for perfection but publish when it’s good enough.

Determining What Type of Content to Create

You are not limited to only text articles. What is the best kind of content for your niche and target audience?

There are many different types of content formats to choose from:

blog posts
long-form articles
original research
video
infographics
images or image galleries
case studies
white papers or reports
podcasts
webinars
online courses
quizzes

The types of content you can produce are almost endless. Moreover, you have the freedom to mix and match these types, resulting in an infinite variety of potential content.

What type of content does your audience find engaging?

Check your analytics to find what kind of content is engaging for your audience. Check metrics such as time on site, average session duration and other metrics related to how long a visitor stays on your site.

Experiment with different content formats and measure the results.

SEO Skills

To produce the highest quality content and have it rank highly in Google you will need to learn some SEO skills.

Here is what you need to learn:

Keyword research: There is no point writing an awesome blog post on a topic no-one is searching for. That’s why you need to do keyword research, to find out content people are looking for.
Persuasive writing: Your content should be engaging and appealing to your target audience. Research your niche and your target audience before you start producing content.
Site structure: Optimizing your content to help readers, and search engines, easily understand and navigate your site.
Use of images: Images improve engagement and make your content visually appealing. Images will also increase the likelihood your content is shared on social media and other platforms. Just don’t forget to compress your images.
Social media promotion: After publishing your content you need to promote it on social media. Building a social media following will help drive more traffic to your website.
Technical skills: It’s not essential to have technical skills but it does help. A basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and other technical skills can help you to optimize your content for search engines. Alternatively, ensure you use a fast loading WordPress theme.
Search engine optimization (SEO): Having some understanding of SEO is essential to rank highly in Google and other search engines.

Using an SEO tool to help your routinely audit your website for SEO issues is recommended. I use SE Ranking because it’s reasonably priced and easy to use.

Other SEO tools are:

Analytical Skills

You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

Start by using Google Search Console to track your search impressions. It’s free and has a simple interface that’s easy to use.

It has the following benefits:

track your impressions by keyword, by page or by date
track what keywords you are ranking for and your current position
see what pages are indexed
submit a page to be indexed
check mobile usability issues
check security issues

and more…

Google Search Console

Once you have some content it’s worth investing in keyword tracking tool that can monitor hundreds of keywords for you and track your progress in Google for multiple countries.

Endurance and Motivation

Consistency plays an important role in content creation. You will likely have to write hundreds of articles to start ranking well with search engines.

Now, let’s discuss a few ways to stay motivated and help you get work done even when you don’t feel like doing it.

Establish a work routine. Choose a specific time when you start working on your content and make it a habit.

Use an office or separate area dedicated to your work. Make sure to eliminate distractions by turning off your phone and muting notifications.

Lastly, develop a process for your content generation. For example:

research a topic
do keyword research on the topic, find suitable keywords
generate a blog outline for the topic
fill in each segment of the blog article
add images
add internal and external links
proofread article
publish and promote article

This is just an example. Having an established routine around your content creation makes it easier for you to understand what you need to do next.

Leverage AI tools for content creation.

I don’t recommend publishing AI generated articles – they are usually bland and generic and unlikely to rank on the first page of Google.

However, AI can be invaluable in the following tasks:

generating blog ideas
creating a blog outline for a topic
generate good blog titles and meta descriptions
proofreading
researching and summarizing content
even generating images (check out Midjourney)

If you’re comfortable writing prompts for AI then I recommend using Chat GPT. Here is an article to get your started: How do you chat with GPT 3 online?

If you prefer a more intuitive interface for AI then check out Copy.ai or Article Forge.

Focus on the process not the outcome

It can be frustrating if you keep looking at your ranking day-after-day or week-after-week and don’t see any progress.

A more useful mindset is to focus on the process, the system you use to generate content.

By consistently producing content, to the highest quality you can manage, day-after-day you will gradually improve your content creation skills.

You will eventually see success if you are relentless in your determination to improve your content creation skills. Just be patient, it will take time before you see the results.

Use tools to help you with content creation

The most important tools, as I’ve mentioned already, is AI. AI, if used effectively, can massively boost your productivity.

Some books to help you with motivation

“Atomic Habits” by James Clear

Small habits, when consistently practiced, have a compounding effect and can lead to remarkable personal and professional transformations.
The 4-step framework of “cue, craving, response, reward” helps in understanding and reshaping our habits. By identifying the cues that trigger our behaviors, we can intentionally create new, positive habits.
To build effective habits, it is crucial to make them obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. Clear provides practical strategies to design your environment and routines to support positive habit formation.
Breaking bad habits involves making the cues invisible, unattractive, difficult, and unsatisfying. Clear emphasizes the importance of understanding the underlying reasons for our habits and finding healthier alternatives.
Continuous improvement is key. By focusing on tiny, incremental changes and embracing the process of gradual improvement, individuals can achieve remarkable long-term results.

“The Mountain Is You” by Brianna Wiest

“The Mountain Is You” by Brianna West is a powerful guide to overcoming self-sabotage and achieving self-mastery.
The book explores the concept of personal transformation and delves into the reasons behind self-sabotaging behaviors.
It offers practical strategies and techniques to break free from self-destructive patterns and create a positive, fulfilling life.
Through insightful storytelling and actionable advice, the author empowers readers to take responsibility for their own growth and change.
“The Mountain Is You” serves as a roadmap for personal development, helping individuals harness their inner strength to conquer challenges and reach their full potential.

Flexibility

Be flexible in your approach to content generation. If an approach isn’t working, change it.

Experiment with different types of content (text, video, podcasts, infographics) to see what works for your audience and you.

Look at your metrics (impressions, clicks, conversions) and do more of what works and change what isn’t working.

Experiment with your content to find what works.

Final Thoughts

I hope you found this article information.

Here is a quick recap:

Write for your audience’s needs and interests
Focus on the process not the outcome
Improve your writing skills by practising daily
Learn essential skills such as SEO and Keyword Research
Experiment with content types (text, video, audio, infographics)
Use tools to help you (AI, grammar checkers, SEO and keyword research tools)

SE Ranking

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