Optimization means making better use of something. However, if you have nothing precious to work on, what would you optimize? Before you start search engine optimization process for your blog, you need to have good content. Only fretting over keywords, without providing quality posts and useful links would be worthless.

Besides, only knowing optimization techniques doesn’t mean your blog will get enough exposure. You have to inform search engines the material you provide is exactly what people are looking for. SEO is this simple.

Before you start with on page optimization, here are few things that need to be in place.

Accessibility

If the content on your blog cannot be accessed by search engine due to erroneous codes, your page wouldn’t be indexed. Thus, it would never be ranked high with search engines regardless of how much you try to optimize.

Content

After having codes in place, focus on what people really want: content. Write outstanding content and share knowledge with your visitors. Links will automatically follow.

Enhance User Experience

Keep your site simple and easily navigable. Most people don’t want to visit a site that create barriers, is cluttered, and looks pathetic.

Marketing

There are several ways to promote your website online and offline. The more your market your website, the more traffic you will attract.

When these things are in place, you need to focus of five significant elements of SEO copywriting. Here they are.

1.    Title

Based on the niche area you are targeting, gather few keywords that are highly searched on the web. Use these keywords in title of your posts to increase it exposure. Also, it’s more effective if your title starts with the keyword.

Let’s consider an example here. Say you own a blog that helps people with making money online, and the keyword that you are targeting is ‘Make Money Online’. Instead of writing the title as ‘5 Remarkable ways to make money online’, you can write ‘Make Money Online Using these 5 Remarkable Ways’. Although it may not be as attractive as the former, it’s very effective from SEO’s perspective.

2.    Meta Description

Meta Description is a small description of your article that’s visible in search engine results just below the title. Whether or not you will get a click depends on how well you have written this description. Again, you need to infuse targeted keyword in your meta description, but make sure it’s not stuffed with it. Simple summarize your article in around 165 characters, and make it as attractive as possible.

3.    Content

If you want to impress most search engines out there, create unique content and update your blog frequently. For better optimization results (and reader friendliness), make sure you generate content that talks only about the topic, and circles around the keyword.

Very short articles make it difficult for search engines to rank your page. Try to generate post with more than 300 words.

4.    Keyword Frequency

Keyword frequency is the count of targeted keywords in your post. If you have used ‘Make money online’ 3 times in your article, the keyword density is 3. Keyword density, on the other hand, is the ratio of umber of times keywords used to rest of the words. It should be around 2% of the total number of words. If it exceeds 5.5% of the total words, you may be penalized by Google for over-stuffing keywords in your article.

Keyword frequency affects your search engine optimization process significantly. Using keywords 3 times in an article is much better than using just once or twice.

5.    Page Links

In order to get your blog optimized effectively, you need to link your web pages with others on the web. Here are some effective tips to get SEO-friendly links on your page:

• Link your page to relevant web pages early in your post
• Approximately after every 120-150 words link your page to other relevant web pages.
• Paste links to your internal pages as well.
• Link with relevant anchor text

There are many other things you can do to make your content search engine friendly. This includes like using keywords in images, categories, tags, and so on. However, if you perform the above mentioned five points effectively, you would cover basic and highly efficient ways of optimizing your content.

There are some things in life that are guaranteed, especially if you are a writer and use ‘The law of 24 hours’.

It really doesn’t matter what your background is, who you write for, what you write, and how many times you try to prove this law wrong.

It’s as simple as this: If you apply the law of 24 hours to your writing, you will be better every time you write a post. Period. No exceptions.

This is because, most of the times, complex problems have simple solutions.

If you want to lose weight, simply reduce the amount of calorie you intake.

If you want to get more subscribers on your blog, simply write exceptional content, give them enough reasons to join, and be more effective.

If you want to become rich, simply word harder, work smarter, improve your negotiation skills, and generate several sources of passive income.

Solutions are simple. But being persistent is not easy. If you want a quick fix, these solutions wouldn’t work at all. You need to put real effort and stick to your plan unless you achieve your goals.

The law of 24 hours is comparatively easier than losing weight. You don’t have to give up your favorite dish, or slog every minute to become a better writer. Nor do you have to become a genius at what you do.

“Simply spend 24 hours with what you think is your final draft.”

That’s it.

Simple, isn’t it?

It doesn’t really matter what you are writing – A blog post, a novel, a newsletter, a screen play, or an autobiography. You can do better only be going through your final copy on the next day.

This is probably the best piece of advice you will ever get on writing. And, trust me, I could have made a killing out of it by selling this secret:

Pay $29.99 now, and become a better writer overnight. It really works. Guaranteed results, or 100% money back.

I admit it sounds really simple. And it is really simple to implement. Most of the writers, however, miss this point, and keep themselves from becoming a better writer.

What should you work on the other day?

It may be a simple grammatical mistake or a typo you didn’t notice, which you can correct now. You can select better and more effective words. Or you can change the entire outlook of the post.

But, for sure, you will change something in your post.

And the re-edited copy would be better than the earlier one.

What if you can’t come up with any better ideas, or there are no mistakes in your post?

Is it nothing that you can change in your post? Nothing can make your copy a bit more compelling, a bit punchier, or a bit better than before?

If this is the case, congratulate yourself because you are the best writer on this planet.

Unfortunately, you are not perfect. No one is. That’s, however, not the point.

Our real aim is to make our post better, and improve your writing every time you write some thing.

So, here it is. The secret is now available to every one, without any cost. Absolutely FREE.

You don’t believe me?

Do this. Write a comment criticizing this article. But don’t post it until you go through it the next day. I am sure you will come up with something better.

No you don’t, simply because you are busy performing the same routine of searching new ideas, working on it, developing content, and optimizing your blog. This happens with all bloggers. They are too zoomed-in into the posts, and so deep into the words that they don’t know how their entire copy looks like.

Besides, most bloggers are emotionally attached to their work. Even if the content is not appealing, they simply love their post, and admire their blog. However, this is not how your readers might perceive your work.

Here are few ways that will help you zoom back and look at the big picture:

1.    Give Some Time

As soon as your finish your first draft of an article, leave it alone for some time, at least 24 hours. For some, it would be irresistible to stay away from written content, ready to be posted. But wait for a while before you return to the copy.

When you grab it again, after few hours, you will have new ideas to infuse, and surely you will spot many errors in the article. You might even fall off laughing at some errors. This is the magic of ‘leaving it alone’ for some time. You are out of your writer role, and enter the casual reader mode, which you help you gain different perspective about your blog post.

How long should you leave your copy alone? If you are a blogger, leave your post alone for 12 hours or a day. However, if you have just finished with an ebook, wait for at least 3 weeks or a month before you start proofreading the content.

2.    Become a Reader

When you grab your copy after a day’s break, try to enter a reader’s mind, and read it from their perspective. Check the article out as if it’s the first time you are reading it.

Don’t make any corrections. Simply read it. You can do this by getting a printed version of your post, or converting it into PDF file so editing is not possible.

While reading the post, check for:

Vague Ideas

Extra, Unnecessary Content

Redundant, Obsolete information

3.    Seek Feedback

Instead of assuming your blog is superb, seek for real feedback. You can get actual feed back from your commenters, forum participants, and writing circles. However, don’t ask you family, or friends, especially your mom about your blog. No matter how stinky or irritating your post is, they would always appreciate it.

While asking for feedback, make sure you are clear on what you want. Don’t simply ask them to check your article. Instead, ask them specification on whether you want them to check for typos, unnecessary information, clunky sentences, or other errors.

4.    Proofread Your Article

Typos or grammatical mistakes are common in blog posts. But, to make sure you don’t make any major ones, proofread your articles well. I find it really helpful to proofread on paper. We generally tend to skip mistakes that aren’t picked by spell checker or grammar checker. So, doing it on paper would be very effective.

Most bloggers have their own viewpoint about any given topic, but not many are able to convince their readers to act on it.

Persuasion is an act of creating a win-win situation. You make a point that’s agreeable to most of your readers. You put forth your proposal which cannot be refused by them, but not in the compulsive Godfather way.

If you aren’t good at it, there are many techniques you can adopt to make your point more persuasive and compelling. Here are few of them that works well.

Repetition

If you don’t know the importance and power of repetition on people’s mind, ask someone well-versed in human psychology. We don’t really know anything about a product, but when we watch the advertisement on TV over and over again, we believe it’s good, and purchase the product.

Repetition, however, can be both good and bad. But you can stay on the good side by making your point in many ways like providing examples, simply stating it directly, mentioning it in your summary, using similar stories, and so on.

Reasons

Your word is certainly not the Word of God. People might not believe you if you simply state your point without providing any reason. Hence, give them many reasons to support your point, even if most of them don’t really have much value. Remember the power of ‘because’.

Consistency

People will start believing in your thoughts only if you are consistent. Even if you have a weird point, your character will be associated with rationality and integrity. You can be consistent by stating your reasons upfront (most people find hard doing this), support it with enough reasons, and keep repeating your point.

Compare Your Words

Comparison in form of metaphors, analogies, and similes makes you point more persuasive and attractive. When you compare your point with something that reader has already experienced, they are more likely to believe you. However, make sure your comparisons are rational and real.

Agitate to Resolve Efficiently

This is a persuasive method that works well with most bloggers. You need to identify your target readers, identify their problem, and agitate them about it. Thus, they would desperately wait for the solution that solves their problem.

However, make sure you problem is not sadistic or abusive in nature. It should be empathetic, and soft. Explain your readers that you understand their situation as you have already dealt with similar problems. The creditability of your answer goes up significantly if you choose this method.

Prediction

Provide your readers a glimpse into the future. However, if you have poor credibility, and inaccurate predictions, you might end up looking idiotic. Try to grab attention by predicting what may happen in near future, and provide proper reasons. Even if you go wrong later, you may not be doomed.

Involve Everyone

Ask people to participate in your discussion. You must not write only for people to read. You must write to discuss, and come to a common conclusion. Ask people about their experiences, their stories, their viewpoints, and they will certainly hop on the boat you are sailing.

Give Them Enough

You might have a strong point, but if the reader is left thinking ‘that’s right, but…’, you have failed. This is probably the only reason why most marketers (successful ones) present a long copy. They don’t want you to read it all, buy have enough reasons why you are buying it.

Besides, if there are any objections, address all of them. This is possible only if you are well-versed with the subject. Encourage people to raise objections, solve them, and share it with other people.

Use Stories

People love reading stories, especially interesting ones. You must use this technique with any of the above nine ones. However, make sure the story is in sync with the point you are trying to explain. If you use the right one, you post will be terribly persuasive.

I am sure there are many other ways to create persuasive content. What other things have worked for you or might work for every one of us?