BRAND-CENTERED CONTENT CREATION

BRAND-CENTERED CONTENT CREATION

Writing Writeing for the Web Prepared By: Britton Marketing & Design Group For: Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership Date: 10/15/15

What s Inside 1. Quote 2. Two Audiences 3. Why Writing for the Web Is Different 4. The Importance of Creating Original Content 5. Elements of Writing for the Web 6. Writing for the Human Visitor 7. What Is Readability? 8. Readability by the Numbers 9. Writing for Search Engines 10. Ranking Factors 11. Top 10 Ranking Factors 12. Content 13. Technology 14. Social Signals 15. User Signals 16. Backlinks 17. What s Missing? 18. Writing for the Search Engines 19. Website Examples 20. PDFs Are UX Enemy No.1 21. Writing Tools To Use 22. Content Mantra 23. Why Content Marketing? brittonmdg.com

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration Er nest Hemingway brittonmdg.com

Writing for Human and Bot Web Visitor Search Engine Engaging Storytelling { aka Human } { aka Google } Technical Writing brittonmdg.com

On the average Web page, users have time to read, at most, 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely. It s harder to read a computer screen than a piece of paper; people read up to 25% slower on computers. 78% of Web readers scan digital. 70% of readers will jump ship after they finish the third paragraph of a Web page or email. Users spend 69% of their time looking at the left half of the Web page and 30% viewing the Why Writing for the Web Is Different right half. They pay close attention to images that deliver messages, such as photos of a product or of a real person (as opposed to a stock photo of a model). 75% of Americans admit to bringing their phone to the bathroom. Google says more searches now occur on mobile than on desktop. 92% of executives use a smartphone for business. 77% of executives use their smartphone to research a product or service for their business. 93% of executives will purchase that product via the Internet using a laptop or desktop. 86% of executives use their tablet and 72% use their smartphone to conduct research for products or services for their business. Resources: Nielsen Norman Group, Masterworks, ParentCenterHub.org, Searchengineland.com, Searchenginewatch.com and Convinceandconvert.com brittonmdg.com

Elements of Writing for the Web For Humans For Bots Images Engaging Storytelling Quotes Summary copy Heading (H1) H1 and H2 ( H6) Links Subheading (H2) Meta description Alternate headings (H3 H6) Page title/title tag URL Technical Writing Introductory paragraph Alternate descriptions/tags Paragraphs and sentence structure Attribution brittonmdg.com

Use the words your visitors use. Writing for the HUMAN Visitor Break your into manageable sections, or chunks, to make it more scannable. Start with the that is most important to your audience, and then provide additional details (inverted pyramid). Adopt an approachable tone by using pronouns like you (the visitor) and we (us/the organization). Use active voice whenever possible. Use short sentences and paragraphs. Use dashes instead of semi-colons. Use bullets and numbered lists. Use clear headlines and subheads. Use images, diagrams, infographics, video or multimedia to visually represent and enhance ideas in the. Use white space, as it allows you to reduce noise by visually separating information. brittonmdg.com

Writing Use subheadings to clarify the subject of various sections. Users want to skim and scan for information; headings help with this. Use descriptive action words on navigation and page titles. for the HUMAN Use bold and italics sparingly; bold should be used sparingly, and only for subheadings. Too much bold makes text harder, not easier, to read and differentiate. Italics should also be used sparingly; italics on the Web, especially in a long paragraph, are hard to read. Do not underline text; on the Web an underline means a link. Use ALL CAPS never; all caps is harder to read than mixed case. Visitor Avoid exclamation points! Get to the point people are coming to your website for a reason; make it easy for them to find what they re looking for. Based on data from Google Analytics compar brittonmdg.com

What Is Readability? { } Just because something is legible doesn t mean it s readable. Legibility means that text can be interpreted, but that s like saying tree bark is edible. Readability combines the emotional impact of a design with the amount of effort it presumably takes to read. You ve heard of TL;DR (too long; didn t read)? Length isn t the only detractor to reading; poor typography is one too. To paraphrase writer and typographer Stephen Coles, the term readability doesn t simply ask, Can you read it? but Do you want to read it? From On Web Typography, A Book Apart Series, Jason Santa Maria

Readability by the Numbers Average words per sentence: fewer than 15 to 20 < Optimal / > Readability Average sentences per paragraph: one to three Flesch Reading Ease Formula score: 60, which is considered plain English Passive sentences: fewer than 15 percent Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Readability score: 5 to 9 for general readers; 7 to 12 for industry or technical readers brittonmdg.com

Writing for Search Engines (aka Appeasing the ROBOTS) brittonmdg.com

Search Engine Ranking Factors Content User Signals Technology Backlinks Social Signals

} Content Technology Backlinks Social Signals User Signals Top10 Ranking Factors 1. Keyword in the beginning of your title tag 2. Content length 3. Page loading speed 4. Keyword prominence and positioning 5. Page authority / PageRank 6. Domain authority 7. Link relevance 8. Dwell time 9. Responsive design 10.Thin or duplicate Based on data from Backlinko.com

Content } Ranking Factors High-quality, relevant ranks higher, on average, and is identifiable by properties such as comprehensive wording in regard to the co-occurrence of related terms in the context, a higher word count and media enrichment. The importance of all the on-page features has increased for every position in the search results, not only for the first one or two rankings. This means that websites need to produce more in order to remain competitive in searches. More is not the same as better. Text may be subject to several quality criteria, but usability and relevance are always the main goals. To rank higher, sites must produce not just more, but also more relevant, holistic. SearchMetrics.com 2014 Search Ranking Factor Report

Ranking Factors A Web page s well-optimized technical performance contributes to a good ranking. Key factors are robust site architecture, with an optimal internal linking structure, short loading times and the presence of meta tags. {Technology SearchMetrics.com 2014 Search Ranking Factor Report

Ranking Factors The correlation values regarding coefficients out of the social sector have slightly decreased. The growth of the average total number of signals per position was rather small. Social signals are factors that correlate strongly to better rankings. In terms of correlation values and absolute averages, Facebook is ahead of Google, followed by Twitter and Pinterest. Social Signals Social signals definitely play a role in direct traffic, brand awareness, and the overall online performance of a domain. {SearchMetrics.com 2014 Search Ranking Factor Report

Signals} User Ranking Factors For the first time in 2014, user signals were measured, and as expected, there was a correlation between rankings and higher click-through rates, lower bounce rates and a high time on the site. SearchMetrics.com 2014 Search Ranking Factor Report

Backlinks} Ranking Factors The quantity and quality of backlinks remain crucial, as there are many new features introduced this year that have been revised to improve the quality of the results. Backlink quality factors are probably the most important SEO metric on the off-page side. Google s success is strongly based on PageRank, which has always been oriented toward backlinks, and remains so to this day. Links from other sites belong to search engines and form a detailed picture of the evidence of relevance based upon the subject matter linked to. Opportunities to manipulate the system are constantly being minimized with targeted algorithm changes from search engine companies. SearchMetrics.com 2014 Search Ranking Factor Report

What s Missing? Helmet Shoulder Pads Jersey Thigh Pads Knee Pads Cleats Talent Training Coaches Injuries Opportunity Luck

Writing for Search Engines Optimizing Your Content URL-naming Title tag / page title Meta description Heading hierarchy Content length Keyword prominence and positioning Thin or duplicate Back-End Ranking Factors (Things to Tell Your Web Geek) Page load speed Page authority / PageRank Domain authority Link relevance Dwell time Responsive design Images and alternate descriptions brittonmdg.com

Search Engine Results Page Example Page Title / Title Tag Front-load keywords. Write it for human searches. Use words from headings (H1 and H2) from the page copy. The ideal length of a title tag is 55 characters, with a maximum of 70. URL / Web Address Front-load keywords. Use hyphens. Write it for human searches. Meta Description Aim for between 140 and 160 characters. Write a keyword-rich synopsis of the page. Based on data from Google Analytics compar brittonmdg.com

Landing Page Example Page Title / Title Tag Front-load keywords. Write it for human searches. Use words from headings (H1 and H2) from the page copy. The ideal length of a title tag is 55 characters, with a maximum of 70. URL / Web Address Front-load keywords. Use hyphens. Write it for human searches. Based on data from Google Analytics compar brittonmdg.com

Content Page Example Page Title / Title Tag Front-load keywords. Write it for human searches. Use words from headings (H1 and H2) from the page copy. The ideal length of a title tag is 55 characters, with a maximum of 70. URL / Web Address Front-load keywords. Use hyphens. Write it for human searches. Headings (H1 and H2) Base the naming of headings on the page title and URL names, and structure headings (ascending order H1>H6) to separate paragraphs for readability. Body Content Sentences should average fewer than 15 to 20 words each, and paragraphs should have three sentences. Use bullets and lists. Use easyto-understand language. Based on data from Google Analytics compar brittonmdg.com

Content Page Example Page Title / Title Tag Front-load keywords. Write it for human searches. Use words from headings (H1 and H2) from the page copy. The ideal length of a title tag is 55 characters, with a maximum of 70. URL / Web Address Front-load keywords. Use hyphens. Write it for human searches. Headings (H1 and H2) Base the naming of headings on the page title and URL names, and structure headings (ascending order H1>H6) to separate paragraphs for readability. Body Content Sentences should average fewer than 15 to 20 words each, and paragraphs should have three sentences. Use bullets and lists. Use easyto-understand language. Based on data from Google Analytics compar brittonmdg.com

Content Page Example Page Title / Title Tag Front-load keywords. Write it for human searches. Use words from headings (H1 and H2) from the page copy. The ideal length of a title tag is 55 characters, with a maximum of 70. URL / Web Address Front-load keywords. Use hyphens. Write it for human searches. Body Content Sentences should average fewer than 20 words each, and paragraphs should have three sentences. Use bullets and lists. Use easy-to-understand language. Headings (H1 and H2) Base the naming of headings on the page title and URL names, and structure headings (ascending order H1>H6) to separate paragraphs for readability. Images and Alternate Descriptions Don t label image photo or image. Instead describe what the image depicts and add the page title or other version of metadata for specific page. Paragraphs and Sentences Sentences should average fewer than 20 words each, and paragraphs should have three sentences. Based on data from Google Analytics compar brittonmdg.com

PDFs Are No.1 Enemy Of UX Users need software that will open a PDF file, which some don t have. Users don t want to download and install more software. PDFs often make the Back button nonfunctional. PDFs are hard to read online, especially on a mobile device. But there are certainly times when a PDF is both useful and necessary. For instance, PDFs are handy when collecting data from a website into a easy-to-print document, like a custom report builder. brittonmdg.com

Writing Tools to Use GatherContent { Content creation and project management } ExpressionsEngine { The CMS and back end } Grammarly { Your personal editor for Web copy } Hemingway { Readability measurement tool } brittonmdg.com

Why Content Marketing? We create online because we want to be found. That s why. Oh, and we also love writing.

Storytelling and branding can be hard. We make it seem easy. Let us help. www.brittonmdg.com social@brittonmdg.com Telephone: 866.357.6687 Twitter: @brittonmdg 30