Comments on: Intelligently Crafting Content

By: Ruud Hein

Ruud Hein — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:14:13 +0000

@Michael I like that idea. Should get me a whiteboard; still doing everything virtual here 🙂

By: Jeet

Jeet — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:32:39 +0000

@Donna: Good tips, I was hoping to see effective use of images in content. I also prefer to prepare an outline with different sections before I start writing anything more.

Will try out the freemindmap tool you have suggested, so far I had been using paper pen or sometimes simple notes to create outline for articles.

By: Donna Fontenot

Donna Fontenot — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:15:17 +0000

I agree that the tool is less important than the action itself. Someone’s preferred method might be a few hundred sticky notes. That’s ok too. Whatever works. 🙂

By: Andy C

Andy C — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:35:50 +0000

Well said Donna
I believe that it really doesn’t matter what kind of tools that you use but it has alot more to do with the fact that you have put some thought into what your site is all about and what benefit you could bring to those that visit your site.
That being said i have been using http://prezi.com lately for the basic setup and flow of a site.

Andy

By: Larry Kim

Larry Kim — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:58:14 +0000

Hi Donna: I agree that the usual “content is king” platitudes don’t specifically address how to actually write good content for SEO. Specifically, as you say, “how to plan it out, and effectively create a flow throughout the site.” I actually created wordstream for this purpose. It lets you aggregate keyword data from various sources (like log files, web analytics, keyword tools, etc.) It then lets you segment your keyword taxonomy into groupings and any number of sub-groupings. The SEO strategy then becomes to turn the different keyword segmentations into themed web pages. Each keyword segmentation has a slightly different orientation – question/informational orientation, product orientation, comparison orientation, etc. The strategy is to try to figure out what the user was actually looking for, and to create content that responds to the user’s search query. Anyway, for what it’s worth, there’s a video demo of the program here: http://www.wordstream.com/keyword-grouping-tool

By: Michael D

Michael D — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:58:39 +0000

I like the use of mind mapping too but I have to admit I still rely on an old fashioned 8 foot whiteboard to mark up my content ideas. Something satisfying about stepping away from the computer to think things out.

By: Gazz

Gazz — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:38:06 +0000

Donna,
I like the idea of the related articles at the bottom of the page, my personal reading habits often lead me to read these, and whilst our somewhat eclectic articles are not often related at this stage over time it is definitely something we will be including. Many thanks for a well written, informative article

Gazz

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:25:44 +0000

Great that you have taken this subject beyond the ususal “how to get visitors to your site” and onot how to satisfy their need. This is the key to retaining visitors and incrementally building your readership over time.

By: Anelly

Anelly — Tue, 12 May 2009 06:50:59 +0000

I love the idea of mind-mapping. it’s simple and it’s great to create a clear view of things. Regarding the research indeed Q&A sites and forums can provide you useful details.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:01:33 +0000

In my opinion the research phase is the most important aspect to creating great content. I agree with you regarding the addition of related posts. I just installed the plugin and I noticed that that it has increased the time spent on site 3 fold.