Writing content seems easy for some people. The words seem to naturally flow forth like a wellspring of ideas and information. However, it can be quite the opposite for others. I was one of those who had trouble coming up with new ideas for content. And when I did, it was very difficult to write it in a unique and engaging way.

I learned over time to use different methods for original content and learned how to create content for a website with ease. You see, it’s not just about coming up with something to write about, it’s putting yourself into your reader’s shoes and looking at things from their perspective. I addition, there are different types of content that need to be addressed within your website.

Who is your content for?

Who is reading your content? What type of person are they, and what are they looking for? What makes them tick. If you haven’t done so, you should create a customer persona or an avatar.

A customer avatar is your ideal customer, the person you are selling to. Give it a name. Let’s use Sandy in our example. We want to answer specific questions about Sandy.

• What are her goals?
• What values does she hold?
• How old is she?
• Is she married?
• Does she have children?
• Does she have a college degree?
• Where does she live?
• What problems does she have?
• What challenges does she face?
• What are her fears?

These are just some basic questions you would want to ask Sandy. You can further dive into this avatar’s persona and answer other questions unique to your business.

Once you have a good handle on who you are selling to, it becomes much easier to identify the type of content you should be providing them. You may need to build multiple avatars for the different types of people you are selling to.

Your value proposition.

What is your unique value proposition? It should be the overall theme behind your website, and the most important element of your marketing. For example, if you were selling natural weight loss supplements it might be something like “Losing weight naturally and improving health”. It should be consistent throughout your website and your content.

Your value proposition should meaningful. Why should your reader buy your product over the competition?

Writing useful content.

What do I mean by useful content? Go back to your avatar. What questions could you answer that would be helpful to them? What problems do they have that you could provide information on? Useful content comes in many forms. You can write product reviews, how-to articles, product-specific information, and much more.

If you can get inside your reader’s head using the avatar approach, you will begin to see what their burning desires are. And remember, human nature always wants the easiest way out or the easiest approach. If you can give your reader tips on how to solve their problems faster, easier, better, and cheaper, they will love you. Especially today in the instant gratification generation. We all want things now. Not tomorrow, not next week, or next month. We want it now!

You can also gain useful insight and ideas from looking at your competition. See what the competition is doing, and do it better on your website. I’m NOT saying copy their work, that would be plagiarism, but rather see what they are talking about, what they are doing, and do it better.

Creating an outline for your articles makes writing much easier. Break out your article into 4 or 5 different headings or sections, and then decide what your topic will be for each section. Use this outline for all your articles. You can create outlines for regular content, product reviews, or where ever you have a recurring theme.

The most effective approach for general content is:

1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them
2. Tell them
3. Tell them what you told them

The last suggestion I will leave you with on writing content is to use the keyword research “Alphabet Soup” method to come up with ideas. See my article on keyword research and the “Alphabet Soup” method here. This is a very effective way to come with new ideas, approaches, and related topics.

Keywords.

There a couple of different approaches to keywords. You can identify your article keyword first, and write your content around that keyword. Or you can write the content and find the keyword later. Personally, I like to find the keyword first.

Your content keywords are what Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. use to find your article. You should try to find keywords that are low competition or the low hanging fruit. Your articles will have a much easier time showing up on the first page of Google for a keyword that only gets 50 searches a month and very little competition vs keywords that have 1,000’s of searches a month and high competition.

Please see my article on how to use keywords for a more in-depth discussion. You can find it here.

Essential content for your website.

Every website has content that is essential. Learning how to create content for a website involves creating the following types of pages/posts as well.

• About me: A page that describes who you are, what’s unique about you. It should help the reader see that you are a real person with a vested interest.
• Affiliate Disclosure: If you sell affiliate products you will want to include this page. This means if you promote Amazon, Shareasale, Commission Junction, Clickbank, or any other product you get a commission on, you need to have this page.
• Privacy Policy: A statement that explains how you use, disclose, and manage a customers’ data on your website.
• Terms of Use: Terms that your customer must agree to in order to use our website. I’m sure you’ve seen many of these on various websites.
• FAQ’s about your website
• Galleries: Depending on the type of website you have.
• BLOG: These are your content posts.
• Reviews: We’ve already mentioned reviews as a source of content.

Think about your business and what your reader would find useful. Some of this is legal mumbo jumbo, but others are areas your content will fall under.

Note: This is not intended to be all-inclusive, a substitute for, or actual legal advice.

Your overall strategy.

Your strategy should include all the things we’ve discussed above. Keyword research, use of Avatars, Reviews, etc. And it also should include a content publishing schedule. How many posts will you publish each week? It is crucial that your site be active with new content, as well as user comments. Once you start to receive comments on your posts, it is important to respond and answer any questions and create a dialog with your readers. When a reader can see there are active conversations taking place on your website, you will be more likely to gain their trust.

In conclusion.

How to create content for a website requires that you understand who your readers are By doing this you will have much better success in identifying the type of content you should be writing. Remember to be consistent with your value proposition throughout your website, and always provide your readers with useful information. Create your content strategy, and stick to a consistent content publishing schedule.

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To Your Immense Success,

Michael

AffiliateCash101.com

PS. Please leave any comments or questions below and I will be happy to answer them.