A pillar page, however, is a longer piece of content that’s designed to keep the reader on the page. It contains a lot of related content in one place and will often have a table of contents right at the top of the page to help with navigation.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s something incredible happening right now. Among all the chaos, layoffs, and struggles, people and businesses are coming together and truly doing amazing things.
They’re sharing amazing content to help their audiences
Bamidele Onibalusi of Writers in Charge wrote this post to help freelance writers. He talks about what writers can do to survive and thrive during this time.
In my local community, I see people donating to nonprofits that provide food to the poor, going out into communities to deliver food, volunteering, sharing information on how we can all stay safe, and even doing shopping for the elderly.
They’re doing things they don’t normally do
I see a friend in my neighborhood playing tennis for the first time. I see our married friends down the road, eating out on the porch. Another friend is offering online pilates.
They’re finally doing things they’ve been talking about for so long but have been delaying
My friend, a yoga instructor, is now finally offering videos on YouTube and remote recordings to help her set up her online business.
And I’m finally offering writing consultations, something I’ve been wanting to do for so long, to help me start my coaching business.
(You can view the full details of my FREE consultations here. Please will you share it with anyone you believe may be interested or needs help? I have also included the full details of my offer in the footer of this post so you can easily share it with anyone.)
Disclaimer: My offer was not born out of a desire to start a coaching business, but rather out of wanting to help aspiring and new writers. Since then I have discovered that it is the perfect stepping stone to starting my coaching business.
Isn’t it funny how we end up helping ourselves when really our only intention was to help others?
Together, We Can Get Through This
These are but a few examples of how people are making a difference.
I wanted to share them with you to not only demonstrate how generous people can be, especially when the chips are down, but also to focus on the positives instead of the many negatives that are out there right now.
We can, and will, all get through this together!
Stay Safe,
P.S. Here’s the writing consultation offer I posted on Facebook: I’ve been writing for a living since mid-2016 and have managed to build a thriving writing business that gives me the freedom to work from home and follow a passion while consistently generating 3,000 -$5,000/mo—often more.
I work with top international tech companies, including Jobber, FreshBooks, TouchBistro and DocuWare. I’m fortunate enough to be comfortable financially right now, even though several clients have paused their contracts with me.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to offer free writing consultations to anyone who wants to start freelance writing or needs help growing their writing business.
The calls will be 30 min, and people can come prepared with any questions they may have. I will also point them to free resources on our platform, WriteWorldwide.
If you’re interested, please contact me at nick@nickdarlington.com or share this message with someone who may be. Calls will happen over Google Hangout.
“Where is the best place to start when learning about SEO keyword research? Any good free resources online?”
I recently came across this question in a Slack channel, and I plan to answer it in today’s post by sharing three of the best keyword research resources for beginners.
But first, here’s a quick primer on keyword research for those of you who want a quick overview (if you don’t, simply scroll down to the end of this email for those resources).
What Is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is the process of finding those words, terms, or phrases people use in search engines. Your goal is to select relevant keywords you want to rank for and create content that’s optimized for those keywords so that you can drive traffic to your site.
Why Is Keyword Research Important?
Two of the most important reasons to do keyword research are that it helps you learn more about your audience and informs your content marketing strategy.
Learn more about your audience
Keyword research reveals what your target audience is searching for so that you can learn more about their problems, fears, and dreams.
I like how Brian Dean of Backlinko puts it: “Keyword research is market research for the 21st century.”
Inform your content strategy
The research reveals the types of keywords you should target and create content for. The sweet spot is finding those keywords that capture specific customer problems that your product can also solve.
In that way, you can write content that solves their problem while also positioning your business as the solution to drive a conversion.
For example, let’s say you run or work for a technology company that provides an all-in-one software platform to help service businesses organize their operations. Features your software offers may include the ability to quote and invoice clients, schedule employees, and even track time.
Let’s also say that you want to target a specific demographic: Landscaping businesses. So, you use Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or some other keyword tool to do your keyword research and discover the keyword “How to Quote Landscaping Jobs.”
This is an ideal keyword to target because you can write a blog post that solves their problem (shows them how to quote landscaping jobs), while also putting up your hand at the end of the post and saying, “O, by the way, if you need help quoting specific jobs and running your business then when not try out our software—it helps you do precisely that.”
3 of the Best Resources to Get Started with Keyword Research
With that short primer out the way, here are three of the best free online resources to help you get started with keyword research.
I’ve kept this list short because I know how easy it is to get overwhelmed when learning about a new topic.
With the year drawing to a close and this being the 15th newsletter, I thought it only fitting to share five of my favorite newsletters of 2019 (yes I do repurpose each one into blog posts, which is convenient if you’ve missed an edition).
Learn about the exact steps I use to create long-form content to drive traffic and boost conversions. Thanks must go to Jane Flanagan, the Content Director of FreshBooks, for providing me with this framework/process.
Just because outlines are crucial doesn’t mean you need to spend hours creating them. This post answers the question of how long you should spend outlining posts by getting input from other content managers.
This is a list of the most common questions I’ve received from content managers over the years. Have a look to see if there’s an answer to a burning question you may have.
And that’s a wrap!
May you have a wonderful time with family and friends this festive and come back rested and ready to tackle 2020!
There’s this client I’ve been working with since early June, tackling shorter blog posts.
A few months ago, they briefed me on a short blog post they wanted me to create to steal traffic from the competition for a specific keyword.
It seemed like the perfect opportunity to pitch an idea that would turn a good blog post into something great.
Something longer and more media-rich that would rank for several keywords and capture more traffic to drive conversions.
So, I suggested the following six-step process for writing a long-form blog post (I’d like to thank Jane Flanagan, the Content Director at FreshBooks, for providing me with the below framework, which I’ve adapted to my own business):
Pull the top 10 results on Google for that keyword. Use a tool like Ahrefs because the results you get from Google will only be location-specific.
Check the word counts on these posts to get an idea of the content length, and then plan to write more. All things held equal, longer posts rank better in Google because they provide an opportunity to cover the topic in more detail and include related keywords throughout.
Reverse engineer (outline) each of those competitors’ posts to get an idea of what content their posts include. You’re basically deconstructing the post structure, writing down headings and subheadings.
Look at elements that make these posts pop and highlight them. These may include video, images, industry-specific examples, and so on. The idea is to see how you can incorporate these elements into your post. Perhaps you can add an infographic. Or maybe you can take screenshots to illustrate an example.
Make sure your post is better by:
Including the best parts of all the posts, so you’re covering the topic in-depth
Bringing your own unique spin to it and incorporating new insights and thoughts
Writing more and including plenty of detail and examples
Adding other forms of media: video and audio
Adding information from experts and influencers, if possible
Including keywords semantically related to your chosen topic (LSI keywords). Use a tool like LSIGraph to find these keywords. Or simply type your primary keyword into Google and scroll down to the bottom of the page to view any keywords related to this term.
Package your post so it looks professional. This means having a quality feature image and branding. You want prospects to land on the page and think to themselves, “Wow, this looks awesome. This looks professional. This company means business!” Something like this, for example.
This process cannot guarantee a certain number of traffic or conversions—especially as there are loads of ingredients that go into the content mix and ultimately influence rankings, from research, production, and promotion to optimization, distribution, and measurement.
However, it can significantly improve your chances of ranking and getting more conversions over time— particularly when you combine proper keyword research, SEO optimization, and funnel-thinking, AND use the right writer.
A writer who’s happy to jump on a FREE no-strings-attached call to learn more about your business. And yes, here it comes….
As you know, long-form content is my thing (if you didn’t, now you know). And so, if you’re struggling with your content plans or simply don’t have the time to invest in creating something that will knock your audience’s socks off, then you know what to do.
Schedule a quick call with myself and remember, it’s just a chat. There’s no obligation to hire me, and even if we don’t end up working together, at the very least you’ll get some solid advice and a chance to hear my sweet South African accent 🙂
The long answer: Link out to your competitors’ content if it’s relevant to your topic and benefits the reader. By linking out, you build brand loyalty because your readers begin to trust you more.
You also boost your SEO ranking because Google better understands what topics are relevant to your website or, as Neil Patel says, “Helps Google understand your website neighborhood.”
Speaking of Neil Patel…
Here’s a video he produced on the topic of linking out to competitors. Have a watch and please do share your thoughts by responding to this email.
![Should You Link out to Your Competitors’ Content? [Video Included]](https://i0.wp.com/www.nickdarlington.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Linking-out-to-the-competition-1-min.jpg?resize=1080%2C675&ssl=1)