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You're a brilliant writer.
The clients line up to work with you.
You're top of the journalist class.
Staffing firms are all over you.
You've got the shinny trophies.
Ad agencies want to speak to you.
You understand Search Engine Optimization.
Every one of your words is found on the web.
You follow all the great bloggers and find fault in their work.
You have conversations online with all the players in your industry.
You're words are read my millions.
And they keep coming back for more.
You're so great your actually an ingenious salesperson, too.
Your content brings in leads and drives revenue.
But hang on. Something's wrong here.
Quality content does not grow on trees.
Problem 1: You do brilliant work. Sometimes.
Hey, nobody's perfect. You can't hit the nail on the head every time.
And there's a new judge out there. The toughest of judges.
It's the reader. The reader is in control.
The brilliant work does not always motivate the reader.
And that damn testing technology can really be a buzz kill.
Problem 2: Great work is had to sell.
Your words may sell readers if they get to readers.
But the great work stands for something.
It says something. It stands out. It sticks it's neck out.
And to many clients, all those things are scary. Really scary.
Doing great work and selling great work don't always go hand in hand.
Problem 3: You don't sell your own products as well as you sell your clients.
Your words romance readers.
Your words speak to their unique attributes.
Your words are relevant and hit the heart.
Do you as much about your clients as you know about their customers?
So how does a great writer create great content these days?
Try following these simple steps to create the content that appeals to readers, search engines AND your clients:
1.) Get to know your clients and their wants and needs. Build relationships with clients to earn trust.
2.) Get to know the target audience and their wants and needs. Deliver it to them in a compelling way.
3.) Before the pen hits the pad, put in the extra hours to get to know
the competition, site analytics, conversion metrics, keyword
popularity, optimization strategy, social conversation, motivators and
other data points necessary for review.
4.) Tests and experiment with your ideas and content using AB testing and multavriate testing technology and testing methods.
Follow these rules, your great work will make it's way to readers and help make the world and the web a better place, one word at a time.
