The Secret to Writing Killer, High-Ranking Articles Online
Want to improve your article’s SEO ranking? But feeling overwhelmed with the sheer volume of information out there available about writing?
Here’s your complete, no-bs rundown on how to specifically target your research, writing, and editing approach to attract more readers.
I’ve spent the last 6 months reading 20+ books, websites, and interviewing experts about marketing, copywriting, and content writing. This is the method I’ve developed taking the best from every source I’ve researched.
When it’s done with skill, good content writing connects businesses to customers and improves the overall quality of information online. But to do it well, you need to know some things in advance.
Let me save you some time researching and show you what I’ve learned.
Phase One: Customer Research
In the past, I would begin to write by thinking about what I wanted to read and consume. Or worse yet, I would use the internet as a diary, spewing and blathering nonsense at large wildly irrespective of audience.
This is not the way, to put it mildly.
The more specific you can be with who you are writing for and for what purpose, the better.
In his book “The Ultimate Sales Letter” by Dan Kennedy, he poses the following questions to ask about the person you are writing to:
What keeps them up at night, indigestion boiling up their esophagus, eyes open, staring at the ceiling?
What are they afraid of?
What are they angry about?
Who are they angry at?
What do they secretly, ardently desire the most?
Every single marketing and business book out there talks about empathy. Empathy for your customer is the foundation of sales and article writing.
So how do you get to know who you’re writing for? What are their pain points and their struggles?
The good news is there’s really a dizzying, almost baffling amount of information online about people and what they think.
Research Method One: Twitter & Reddit
In the first phase of our research, we’ll gather some general information about our audience.
Let’s say we’re writing an article or copy about pianos. To get inside the mind of your reader and how they’re thinking about the product, you could type “Casio complaints” into Twitter. This pulls up the following thread:
This gives you a quick snapshot into how the people who purchase your product think and write about it online. When writing your article or copy, you can emphasize the “weighted keys” and “convincing grand piano voice.”
(Quick caveat: If I were actually writing this article, I’d do more than one search, of course.)
You can also do customer research on Reddit, which has a subreddit for every topic imaginable. For example, if you’re writing about skincare products, try r/skincareaddiction. Here’s the first post:
If you’re writing about concealers, you can emphasize their ability to “lighten dark circles” “even for genetically dark undereyes”.
This is just a quick example, of course – there’s countless market research tactics and there are a thousand different ways to get inside the head of the person you’re writing to. Here’s another method.
Research Method Two: Customer Interviews
The tried and true method of just asking people what they want and what they’re thinking.
If you’re a freelance writer, your client should (hopefully) have some of this information already available, including a detailed customer profile. If not, now is the time to collect that information. (Better late than never!)
It should be emphasized here: I don’t really think there’s a thing as doing too much research, particularly when you’re breaking into a new niche.
The importance of voice
When you’re researching your target audience, you should be noting how they speak. What words they use. What phrases come up again and again. Writing for the web is a different world than writing academically or privately, and you need to speak the language.
Try and match the sophistication level of the person you’re writing for. It’s equally as bad to explain something basic to a pro as it is to use language that’s too flowery for your audience.
Again, try and empathize. You don’t have to be a method actor, but if you are, it wouldn’t hurt.
Phase Two: Targeting your Article
So now you’ve thoroughly done your research, you have an in-depth understanding of your topic and readers and you’re on a caffeinated warpath to your laptop, ready to type with the fury of a thousand suns.
Hold on just a minute.
If you really want your article to have a chance of ranking, you need to know about your competition. And narrow your topic.
Enter: SEMRush + Answerthepublic.
Let’s say that we’re writing an article about psychedelics. (Pianos, psychedelics and makeup — you can tell I live in Berlin!)
Instead of choosing an article headline and topic that we think people might want to read, we can find out exactly what they want to read.
Using SEMRush, you can track what questions people are asking about psychedelics specifically, and how difficult it is to rank for that question.
Answerthepublic is another great resource for understanding what questions people are asking. Check out this content web for “psychedelics”:
This should give you a whole bunch of content ideas.
If you want to rank, targeting a long-tail result is your best bet.
There’s stiff, stiff competition online these days. Keyword-stuffing BS doesn’t cut it, particularly in popular categories. The best way to rank is to research a category and what articles are out there, and then to write something that’s the best in that category.
What makes an article the best? Being well-researched, informative, and/or funny. In a word, quality.
Phase Three: Headlines & SEO
Now comes the actual craft part of your writing. There’s a host of great books out there on zinging up your prose and organizing ideas. Read them. My personal favorites are Stephen King’s and Writing Tools. (Do you know a great book on writing I didn’t mention? Let me know in the comments!)
If you’re writing an article that’s intended to drive sales — as most are in one respect or another — you should know what part of the sales funnel you’re at.
Is this content for the top of the funnel, meant to drive customer awareness and answer questions? (Otherwise known as TOFU Content for you vegans out there.) Or is it at the bottom of the funnel, meant to facilitate decision making?
The more specific you are with your intentions, the better.
How to Write Magnetic Headlines is a great resource for article naming.
Good writing is specific, sharp, snappy, and provides value. No filler. The web is stuffed to bursting with incompetently written, poorly researched articles. Aim higher.
It’s standard when writing for web to break up your paragraphs so they’re not longer than three lines. No one enjoys reading the dreaded Wall of Text.
Phase 4: Polishing and Editing your Draft
Now at last you’ve delivered your baby draft, mewling, wide-eyed and blinking into the world.
It’s not quite ready to publish yet, though — not until you polish it up a bit.
Step 1: Run your draft through grammar.ly. Grammatical errors dramatically undermine your credibility, and there’s no excuse when there are so many easy to use tools online.
Step 2: Run your draft through the Hemingway editor.
Some resources will tell you to tone down your vocabulary if it’s higher than a sixth grade reading level. I disagree. It depends on your audience.
If you’re writing for a sophisticated luxury brand, your tactics will be different than if you’re writing for the local sports bar. Consider your audience, who they are and how they prefer to be spoken to.
If you’ve followed all of these steps above, then congrats — you should have a gorgeous, polished, shiny article that will draw your readers in and leave them better for having read it.
Here are further resources I’ve found helpful: Moz’s course on SEO; The Copywriter’s Handbook; DotComSecretsIgnite; r/freelancewriting; Hey Whipple! Squeeze This
Have other ideas? Disagree entirely with my approach? Let me know in the comments!