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Saturday, November 14, 2009

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lofoten archipelago

Intuition is a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life - paulo coelho

How to write website content

Generally, website owners are overly concentrated on getting the best graphical layout for their site at all costs, but few go further to work on SEO and usability and even fewer focus on creating website content. How can you create a content that will convert? Read on.

There are a couple of things to consider before writing your site content:

* your customers' interests and needs - why do they buy your product/service?
* targeted keywords - which keywords drive the most sales/profit/sign-ups?
* the intent of the content: is it to inform your visitors or to sell?

Let's see why those aspects are important.
Focus on the customers' needs

Obviously, to make your site content efficient you'll need to provide value to your visitors. To provide value to your customers, you need to know their needs to tell them how your product or service can make their life better. This means that you'll need to focus on the benefits of your product or service, not on the features. The more benefits you describe, the more you connect your content to the needs, interests and reasons people buy from you, the more efficient your website content will be.

Another moment here is to focus on your customers, not you. You need to write about the customers, their needs, thoughts and emotions, not your product or your company. No matter how well you may write, you need to focus on your customers in your content.
Target the right keywords

Another aspect of talking the same language with your customers is the words you use. To know that, you'll need to do some keyword research to understand how your customers think and how they relate to your product. When writing website content, you'll be aware what keywords to use.
Pick the right tone

And yet another important factor to remember is the tone of your content. The content tone depends on how well you know your customers, how you want to position yourself and the purpose the content servces: whether you need to prompt your customers to do something or you simply need to inform them of something.

Developing a fitting tone will make your content more compelling and more pleasant to read.
How to write?

Now that we know what to think about before writing the content, let's actually see how to do it.

First of all, you need to focus on the benefits of your product or service that make your customer buy from you. To do this, you'll need to empathise with your clients and think like them. Write how they can improve their lives with your help.

Secondly, you need to write naturally, just as you would talk to your friend who suddenly started considering your product or service. Then, after the copy (content) is written, you may add relevant keywords in it by replacing pronouns, such as 'it, he, she' with a more descriptive word as well as using synomyms. The point here is to still sound naturally (with readable content) and use keywords as well.

Of course, you'd rather stick to two or thre (at most) synonyms throughout the piece, because you need to target the least possible amount of keyword phrases in it (that's another SEO story, though).

Thirdly, the tone of your content can make a huge difference. If your aim is to inform your site visitors, you may as well pick a less formal tone, add sparks of humour here and there, etc. If your site presents formal information, you may as well be more reserved.

Usually, an informative tone, with a bit of personality and humour may be best for most sites, as it represents the tone people are familiar with in the real life and they can relate to the content author more closely.

In essence, the most important thing you can think of when writing your content is the value you provide to your site visitors. Your content is the highway that you can do that so it is in your best interest so create the most pleasant experience for your site visitors with.
source: improvetheweb.com
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T oday, the web has over 110 million sites! As CNN’s Marsha Walton aptly said: “Websites have become a way to bond and belong”, Internet originating as a US defence project called ARPANET has percolated in the lives of civilians in a fascinating way and the onset of Dot com bubble in 1990s revolutionised the way we live, thereafter.

The changing communication and data transfer technologies of the internet are effecting the way many companies do business. Information distribution, value added service, easy location of data, utilising existing networks, project and work sharing, scripting dynamic content, these and more requisites have propelled the businesses to depend on the services of content writers to effectively structure, and optimise their content. Deccan Post met Sanjay Nannaparaju, and the city’s reputed and No. 1 content writer who was ranked at Google, AOL etc. His client list is endless and in diverse fields like software, telecom, constructions. In a compendious talk, he gave valuable information beginning with his own journey as a content writer and his views on content writing as a career option.

As you are Hyderabad’s top content writer and India’s top SEO writer, how did you develop interest in content writing?

I used to write since my school and college days for annual brochures. I am also a student of English literature. I have appeared for IAS mains four times which demands a lot of writing. Later, I started, way back in 1993, as a copy writer writing advertising copies for reputed ad agencies. Since 2000, I started writing for Internet. It has been hours and hours of slogging with the clients, meeting their demands, and producing a compelling copy.

What are the most challenging writing assignments that a content writer takes in his career? Any cases from your own career?

Almost all technology based websites are very challenging. For me, Mars Telecom was a challenging project. Understanding technology and puttting it in everyday English for anyone’s understanding is what is expected of a good content writer.

Where can aspiring content writers learn the technique, say online, as you say there are no academies offering courses?

My background helped me a lot. But, there is one website that really changed my perception of writing business content. “Make Your Words Sell”, I can say, must be read by any aspiring content writer. The authors of the website teach step by step nitty gritties of writing a business copy. The writing techniques mentioned apply to online and offline writing.

Your views on content writing as a career option.

Content writers are paid very well, but my experience tells me that you can earn ten times more as a freelance content writer than by joining a firm on a full-time basis. The average salary ranges from Rs 6000 to 12,000 per month at entry level, but seniors (with 3-5 years of experience) can earn anywhere from Rs 20,000 to 30,000 (monthly).

How does one start?

Initially, it is always better to work full time as a content writer. Later through online classifieds, you can sell your content writing services.

What are the basic skills that one needs to possess to become a successful content writer?

What is required is good writing and comprehension skills. Basic knowledge of MS -Office, and a sense of Internet will do. And, you need to be a good negotiater at job, to cope up with pressure and deadlines.

Lastly, what is next to content writing?

Writing Search Engine Optimised content. All businesses want visibility online for specific key words that reflect their products and services. Search engines index websites basing on the text and key words used in the text. A good SEO writer can guarantee top ranking for websites by writing SEO supported content. DP Contact Sanjay at sanjay8899@contentwriterhyderabad.com or or visit the website http://www.contentwriterhyderabad.com
source: deccanpost
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Five lessons from Ganesh
http://specials.rediff.com/getahead/2008/sep/02sl1.htm
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Inspiring stories of two Indians who made it big in the US

http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/sep/02slide1.htm
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“The pursuit of truth is not important. What is important is the pursuit of that truth which helps you in reaching your goal” this line from Ayan Rand’s “The Romantic Manifesto”

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