Write for the Humans

An article recently posted on Mashable.com talked about “How to Optimize Your Content for Social Discovery”, or how to write content that people will actually seek out and read. A few of their pointers sat really well with me:

• SEO is not the be all and end all. Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are now more than ever, the real driving force of traffic to your website.
• We need to write better headlines. We need to feed people’s curiosity so they actually click on our article or website link.
• We need to make our articles visual and easy to read. You need to represent your story in an engaging way that is easy for users to follow. Use a thumbnail images and bullet lists.
• Hold on to the readers you already have. Don’t just focus on new traffic, but engage and connect with your current audience and followers.

For years, (and even still today!), it was thought that SEO was the only thing that would help drive traffic to your website and increase your rankings in search engines. Although, keywords, meta data, proper structure and hierarchy are important building blocks in every website, there are many other online platforms and tools that can help to market your business online.

Google AdWords, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are all great tools that allow you to engage and connect with your target audience, while driving traffic to your website. But remember, just because you have the proper tools put into place (including good SEO), doesn’t mean the traffic will automatically start flowing to your website.

You need to write good content, use effective headlines, keep things short, simple and visually appealing. And last, don’t fall into the trap of writing for search engines…write for your target audience, the humans.