Protected: Lesson 3 – Content Writing – The How-To

Now that we have SEO under our belt, it is time to talk about writing an article or a post. We will write again in module #4, but here we will talk more about preparation and proper post settings.

Anyone can write with the right tools and knowledge, which means you can too. By the time we finish, you will have the skill set necessary to write valuable keyword-rich content that will rank right up there with the big guys.

You will produce the kind of content that is engaging and pulls in free traffic because after all, free traffic is the answer to making an income online.

What Will You Know By The End Of Lesson 3?

Goal Setting For Success

I want to stop for a bit and talk about setting goals for your business. You are now working from home. Some have had experience working from home during the pandemic, yet some have not.

For a person to become successful, it does take some work, as you know from the previous lessons. But how do you accomplish this with so many other demands in your life? Which is why we will help you understand and set realistic goals.

Ground Rules

Set some ground rules for yourself and your family. There are many scenarios when working from home, like, children of all ages, full-time work away from home, retired so you can work anytime, and many more.

So, set these rules according to your scenario. When you set your ground rules, write them down and post them where you can see them, like in your office or workspace.

• Determine what hours you will work – A set time is a good deal but that is not always possible. You may want to set a certain amount of hours per day, or per weekend you will work on your business rather than a set time frame.
• Communicate with family – When your family understands what you are doing it is easier to limit distractions. Let them know that concentration is important, and interruptions break your train of thought, just as a suggestion. Also, let them know when you will be available and only interrupt you in case of an emergency. Take breaks often, so you are accessible to their needs.
• Set limits on outside distractions – turn off your phone and any social media. It is way too easy to get caught up in a social media platform when your phone dings a notification, and before you know it, an hour has passed without any production.
• Designate a work space – attempt to set up a workspace that you will work from each day. It will allow for consistency and organization, not to mention a distraction barrier. It doesn’t need to be fancy with all the office equipment; just make it your designated area.

Now you have ground rules, it is time to set goals. I will write down what I need to do for a month, break it down to a week, and break it down further for each day.

I also make it a point to do the tasks in order. If I allow myself to choose what I do first, then the hard tasks or the ones that scare me a bit get put off and often do not get done. As an example:

Month – How many posts do you want to produce in a month, 4 or 30. Decide on the number and put it in your monthly calendar. How many times a month do you want to check your analytics for ranking? Do you have scheduled appointments for your personal life? Put those down also.

Week – What are your keywords and posts for one week, and what days do you want to post an article. Does your website need some improvement work? Are you using social media platforms, and how much time will you need to set aside for that.

Daily – Each day, I write in my calendar what I need to do for that day. Some days the list exceeds the hours of my day, and others are small lists. After you write it down, work through it in order, and when your hours are complete, if you have not marked off your list, move them to the next day. Keep your boundaries in place and only work the hours you decide.

There are a few ways to organize and set goals and a work schedule. If you are familiar with the Google calendar app for personal use, you can use it to keep things in order. I do not use this, although it is free. When your business expands, Google does have a shareable business calendar app.

I prefer a paper calendar book. I found a small one that meets my needs on Amazon and have purchased the same one each year for many years now. We all organize differently, so you may prefer a different calendar type. Here are 3 different styles from Amazon. You can click on any of these and browse until you find what suits you best.

A work and home balance is essential for a productive business. Working past your hours will cause a feeling of defeat and a desire to quit.

With your ground rules in place and your goals set it is time to put the wheels in motion to start writing.

Research

After setting your keyword rich title the next step is research. It will be the longest step to accomplish your final goal, of writing a blog post with keyword rich content. The subject of your post is found in the keyword title.

According to your readers, you are an authority, so you want to have excellent knowledge about what you are writing.

Areas To Research

• Google
• YouTube
• Amazon

How To Research

Google

Take your keywords and plug them into the Google search engine. Look at your competitors’ posts for information. You only want information from them. Never, Ever copy the writing of another person on or off the internet. 

I open 5-10 windows on my computer and compare the information. 

Let’s use a title that we talked about in the last module ” Flower Gardening Tools – What Are The 5 Best Tools?” In the images below I put in the keywords “Flower Gardening Tools” and came up with what is known as a rich snippet. An article that Google finds very valuable.

You can look at posts like this to find ideas only.

As I continue to scroll I found questions. Read the questions for ideas also.

With more scrolling, I came across posts from the competitors that you can also look at for valuable information and ideas only.

As you research, you may think it takes too long, but the rest goes smooth once you have knowledge under your belt.

YouTube

YouTube has unlimited resources for research. Put your keywords into the search bar. I used “Flower Garden Tools”

Amazon

Also use your keyword in amazon search bar. choose an item and scroll to the bottom. then read the questions and reviews for ideas. You can also use the reviews to determine which garden tools to promote.

Amazon has strict rules, no copying the reviews and no copying the descriptions or images. You can however use the link provided when you are an affiliate of Amazon.

Set Your Post Title

So, set your title with your keywords. You can set the rest of it later but have those keywords in place. Now it is time to open many windows and begin research. As you do this, produce an outline in your WordPress post. Research and the outline go hand in hand.

Example:

If I am writing a post on Best Garden Tools For Flower Gardening. It will be a product review post, but I want to give information about garden tools and flower gardening. If I just put the garden tools on my post without some preparation, my readers will not trust me.

I searched in Jaaxy and found “Flower Gardening Tools” is an excellent long-tail keyword. So I will use this in my title. I can set my title as “Flower Gardening Tools” and add to it later, or set the complete title as “Flower Gardening Tools – 5 Best Tools Compared.” Or “Flower Gardening Tools – What Are The 5 Best Tools? The first one has 47 characters, and the second one has 52 characters.

Also Google recently released a new update stating they will not rank a post that has only products and has copied descriptions. Again Google wants valuable information conveyed to their readers.

The first thing I want to do is look at everything on flower gardening from many different references. So, I begin by asking Google questions like:

• What are the best garden tools for small flower beds?
• Why do I need a garden tool?
• What is the history of Garden tools?
• And on and on until I find the information I need to review the products I chose.

With the information you find, plug it into a template, which you can access with the blue tabs tabs under the templates lesson, or write an outline. Set your H2 and H3 headers. Be sure to put your keyword title in one of your H2 headers.

We will talk about templates in a minute.

YouTube is also a great research tool. There are videos on everything from A to Z.

Again just about the time you think the research is taking so long it is finished and you have completed 60% of your post with the groundwork.

The Dos and Do Not’s Of Writing

Keep this lesson handy so you can refer back to it while you write.

Do’s

• Write naturally like you are talking to your best friend
• Think of questions your reader may ask and answer them in your post (you can find questions in your research, Google will list them under “People also ask”)
• Only add valuable information that is relevant to your article
• Use sentences under 20 characters
• Short paragraphs of 2 – 3 sentences
• If you are giving facts link them to the source
• Use a spelling app to check your work like Grammarly

Do Not’s

• Do not mention other reviews or articles unless you are linking to them as a reference
• Do not write filler sentences to add to your word count

Template

The purpose of a Template is to have a guideline to use over and over. It will help with organization and time efficiency.

I designed a couple of templates for you, and you can revamp them to fit your needs once you become more proficient in writing and organizing. These are more like teaching templates with an outline and suggestions. You can use these guidelines to set up your own templates.

If you use GenerateBlocks, you can set up each template as a local template and pull them into your post in the form of a local block. If you don’t have a page builder, you can set them up as a page and copy and paste them into a new post each time you need one.

How To Write A Post

I will briefly go into styles of writing and how to write to catch interest of your reader and Google.

There are different styles of writing depending on what your niche is; for instance, are you writing, authoritative, informational, storytelling, etc.

First, Second, And Third Person.

Right now, you may be thinking this is way too much. But all you need is a bit of refresher and just proofread your work. If the I’s, you, we, and so on are inconsistent, you know to change them. When all else fails use Grammarly spell checker for grammatical errors. The Grammarly app has saved my life.

Give Valuable Information

As I have said before when I need to deeply understand something I look up the definition.

Valuable is something of value and information is something that ids fact or knowledge obtained by research.

In other words, the words you put on paper need to have meaning, facts backed by evidence, and knowledge backed by research. Today’s readers want to know about the products you review in depth. They can see right through stuffy words. Or words that just fill the page without any information

Engage Your Audience

When you begin your writing/blogging journey, it may seem difficult to write and engage at the same time. So here are just a few suggestions to begin. These skills will improve as time progresses, but for now, the suggestions I have are also SEO friendly.

Suggestions:

• Ask questions such as: What do you think about the Thin Q feature on this LG Washer?
• After you ask the question immediately give an answer, talk about how user friendly the Thin Q feature is.
• Build trust with:
  valuable information they will appreciate
  honest reviews
  transparency, talk about who you are
• Use transition words to pull in the reader so they want to move forward
• Use power words when appropriate to build confidence in your review

That’s enough for now for now and we will pull it all together later.

Write Like You Are Talking To Your Best Friend

We have talked about this a couple of times before, but I cannot stress how important this point is. Think about a conversation you have had with your best friend. It was easy and relaxed. No stress, just you and another person.

Focus on how that conversation went, minus the slang or any curse words this is how you want your post to read.

If we try to write for the masses or think about all the people on the internet, then the writing will end up all over the place, and much of it will not follow through.

We have completed lesson #3, and it’s time to move on to writing and writing some more.