001 Skill Builder S.E.O Keywords Resource Download

The
Web Content
Recipe Book
21 irresistible content ideas
to wow visitors and boost your
search engine optimization
Contents
Section 1: Web content and your business 5
Web content is important (by Ken McGaffin) 6
Never stop marketing (by Mark Nunney) 8
How to structure an article (by Ken McGaffin) 11
Write winning articles quickly (by Ken McGaffin) 14
How to optimize a page for search engines (by Mark Nunney) 15
How to make your articles sell (by Mark Nunney) 19
How to make your content linkworthy (by Ken McGaffin) 22
How to get sticky and go viral (by Mark Nunney) 24
Section 2: Recipes (by Rachelle Money) 28

No. 1: Answer your customers’ questions 29
No. 2: Reveal some of your secret tips and tricks 34
No. 3: Bust an urban myth 37
No. 4: Write a case study 39
No. 5: Write a blog 43
No. 6: Write your company’s history 47
No. 7: Start a debate 50
No. 8: Review of the year 54
No. 9: Report on an event 56
No. 10: Jargon buster 59
No. 11: Admit your mistakes 61
Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 2
Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

No. 12: Review a book 63
No. 13: Review a product 66
No. 14: Build a Top 10 list 69
No. 15: Interview an expert 72
No. 16: Write an A-Z 75
No. 17: Publish your own survey 77

No. 18: Observe 81
No. 19: Use an inspirational quotation 84
No. 20: Make a video 85
No. 21: Publish a press release 87

Also published by Wordtracker:
Writing Kick-Ass Website Sales Copy

Copywriting guru Nick Usborne reveals his secrets for
writing sales-exploding website copy.
Find out more at:

http://www.wordtracker.com/ebooks/
kick-ass-web-copy/
Business Blogging –
50 steps to building traffic and sales
A real world guide to creating, writing and promoting
a successful blog.
Find out more at:

http://www.wordtracker.com/ebooks/
business-blogging-book/
50 Kick-Ass Keyword Strategies

Learn 50 simple, smart and speedy ways to attract
more customers online.
Find out more at:

http://www.wordtracker.com/ebooks/kick-ass

Web content
and your business
Section 1
For any successful website, content is crucial. Just as
every good cook needs yeast for baking bread, every
website owner needs content - and lots of it. We’d like
to help your site rise to the top of the search engine
rankings, so this first section of the Web Content
Recipe book looks at online marketing. In particular,
how to structure your content so that it brings
traffic and sales to your site.

Web content is
important
Web content is crucial for any business that wants
to succeed online. Good content will engage your
customers, attract search traffic and help build
your business.
Why is web content so important? • Content brings you inbound links. Write
something new or useful or witty or controversial and
• Content engages your readers. It attracts their you’ll find that people start writing about you and linking
attention and builds their interest in your company. Give to your articles. You get extra links that bring new traffic
people useful, interesting information that helps them when people click, as well as boosting your search
solve their problems and they’ll be more likely to buy rankings.
from you.
• Content creates a buzz in social media. Have

• Content pulls your knowledge together a look at Twitter for example – many of the posts people
and makes it accessible to your customers. make link to content they’ve found on the web. By
Every business or website owner carries a wealth of publishing regularly, you’ll build your profile and your
information in their heads: but often that’s were it reputation in your industry.
stays and they only share it with people they talk to.
Taking your knowledge, turning it into web content and • Content is an investment in your site that
publishing it makes it tangible and available to your
keeps on bringing visitors month after month
prospects. An article or tip that you publish on the web
can be the start of a conversation with someone who will
and year after year. It is just amazing to see content
that is several years old still bring visitors to your site.
buy from your company.
• Content attracts search engines. Publish

But what do you write about?
regularly and you’ll ‘teach’ the search engine spiders
that there’s always something new on your site. As That’s a question many business owners ask. Despite the
a result, they’ll visit more often and you’ll find your obvious benefits of good content, writing doesn’t come
rankings start to outstrip your competitors. easily to an inexperienced writer. Often he has to force
himself to write and when he finally does so, the blank

Section 1: Web content and your business | Web content is important
screen offers no encouragement but instead triggers a torrent of reasons why ‘now’ is
not the right time to write. “Best to leave it to later, after I’ve dealt with…”.
The end result is that the content never gets finished. It never makes it to the
published web page, the search traffic never comes, no links arrive and the sales that
could have been are never made.
It doesn’t have to be like that. Experienced writers know that writing doesn’t happen
by accident. They help themselves to write by reading other people’s work and
asking “could I use that idea for my customers? And they help themselves to write by
listening carefully to customers and asking “if that customer has that problem many
others must have the same problem?”
Wordtracker can help by giving you the keywords that people use when they search.
That tells you what people are looking for. Now in The Web Content Recipe Book we
hope to inspire you to turn those keywords into content that will really work for your
business.
In this book, experienced journalist Rachelle Money gives you 21 different types of
content; she gives you the essential ingredients of each as well as real examples on
the web so that you can see what works.
The end result is a book which aims to inspire and ensure you’ll never be stuck for a
content idea again.

Never stop
marketing
Your content will get noticed, get read and get
customers if you use your headline and first
paragraph to let readers know what is in it for them.
Here we’ll introduce you to some techniques you
can use to make that happen.
Every page is a marketing page As well researched and expert as you are in your field,
it can be hard to put yourself in the position of those
Visitors may first enter your site through almost any page.
targeted visitors who, when they come, will spare just a
And for various reasons no matter what you do, many will
few seconds to find a reason to read the content.
not read more than one page. Therefore, to maximize
response you must treat every page as a marketing page.
When constructing an argument or presenting a product,
So we add adverts to where they will be seen, as covered
it’s logical to first present the building blocks of your
later in this book in ‘How to make your articles sell.’
case before giving the end result – something that will
make your readers’ lives better.
But only a small percentage of readers will respond when
first seeing even quality adverts. You’ll have to work a bit
harder for the rest of your readers. You’ll have to use your People buy benefits not features
pages’ content to make them consider a marketing offer
(perhaps another day). You must prove that you (and your If you want readers to read on you must spell out the
brand) are expert at delivering what’s wanted, and can be benefits before describing and explaining the features.
trusted. To do that, your page must first be read.
Features are the characteristics of what you’re selling.
Benefits are the things that those features will do for you.
Who is your site for …
For example, people don’t buy light bulbs for features
and what do they want?
like being long lasting, bright and cheap. People buy
When you’re busy creating content, it’s easy to forget light bulbs for their benefits, eg, they save money or the
that your website exists to sell your products and planet and help them do things in what would otherwise
services to particular groups of people. And even if you be darkness.
would never forget such a thing – can the same be said
for everyone who writes for you?

Section 1: Web content and your business | Never stop marketing
The headline is the most important part of your content

If your headline does not promise something of interest then your article won’t get
read and you’ll struggle to sell. This is because most visitors arrive at a page, read a
headline and then make a decision to stay or go.
Also, if a page is linked to from elsewhere on your own site or others, the chances are
that it is the headline that will be used. When reading headlines, potential readers
are looking for what a page might do for them. They are looking for benefits and if
your headline does not deliver, they are gone. Here are a few guidelines for headline
writing:
• Promise benefits - tell readers what the content will do for them.
• Don’t be clever or obscure and don’t make the reader think too much.
• Don’t be ironic because most readers won’t know you are being ironic.
• Don’t force readers to read the story in order to understand the

headline.
• Try asking a question about a problem and entice with the solution.
For example, this article’s headline could be: ‘Does your marketing stop when your
content starts?’
Its current headline - ‘Never stop marketing’ - is short, clear and gets straight to the
point – I’m going to tell you to never stop marketing. Hopefully the possibilities of that
prospect – more sales – will entice you to read on, and its mantra-like simplicity will
be remembered. It makes no difference that you’ve already bought this book – we (the
publishers) want you to be satisfied, tell others how good it is, realize we are experts
who can help you improve your website and perhaps buy our next book.
Your first paragraph is the second most important part

of your content
Make your first paragraph (aka the lede or the standfirst) as succinct, clear and
uncluttered as it can possibly be.
If a visitor has been interested enough in your headline to read on, the next thing they
will read is your opening paragraph where you have to give the same benefits with a
little more detail.

Section 1: Web content and your business | Never stop marketing
You can’t explain everything with your first paragraph. So find the most important idea
you want to put across, explain what it is and perhaps begin to elaborate on it.
For example, the lede of this article is:
“Your content will get noticed, get read and get customers if you use your headlines
and first paragraphs to let readers know what is in it for them. Here we’ll introduce you
to some techniques you can use to make that happen.”
It starts with a benefit:
“…get noticed, get read and get customers …”
… and then comes a summary of how to achieve that:
“…if you use your headline and first paragraph to tell readers what is in it for them”
Then the second sentence repeats the benefit with some detail about how this will be
achieved:
“…we’ll introduce you to some techniques you can use to make that happen”.
Hopefully we’ve achieved what this first paragraph set out to do and in the future no
visitors to your site will leave without you having done everything you can to get them
to read on and (sometimes) buy.

How to structure
an article
Many efforts at writing end in failure. Half finished articles
and discarded notes litter the desks of many would-be
writers. Why? Because our brains continually tell us, ‘it’s
not quite right’, and if we listen to that little voice, we’ll start
to scribble out and revise before we’ve properly begun.
Indecision and self doubt will inhibit our ability to write.
You’ve got to train your brain not to make these constant These are simply good marketing questions that you
interruptions. One of the best ways to do this is to have a should ask for any piece of content on your site. Answer
clear roadmap or structure that makes it easy for you to these questions well and you’re well on your way to
get to finish the article. providing content that will help your customers and your
business.
Map out the structure well and then it will be easy to fill
in the gaps – the individual paragraphs that will make 2. What are your primary and secondary
up your article. It took me about 30 minutes and four keywords?
attempts to work out a structure that I’m happy with for
this article. I’ve then filled out the gaps in the article Each article you write should focus on a primary and
you’re reading. a secondary keyword. These will be the keywords you
want your article to rank well for and you should decide
on them before you write any content.
The bonus that many people forget is that if an article
is well structured and logical, it will be easy to read and
3. What other ideas and keywords are
understand. For me the structure has two main parts –
important?
the questions I must answer, and the actions I advise my
readers to take. While you will concentrate your optimization efforts
on your primary and secondary keywords, there will
be many others that will also be relevant. You should
Questions a writer needs to ask be aware of what these are and allow them to appear
naturally throughout your copy.
1. Who is this article for? What value will it
give them? What do you want people to do as
4. What relevant articles have you already
a result?
published?

Section 1: Web content and your business | How to structure an article
Other articles and resources that you’re previously published will help your readers
to find out more and strengthen your case. So make it easy for them and link to other
relevant content. This also brings a search engine benefit through internal linking –
you’ll be directing bots to deeper content within your site.
5. What external resources (if any) should you link to?

Many people worry about publishing links that lead people away from their own site
and onto others. I don’t think this is a valid concern and have never been afraid to link
to great content on other sites. It adds to a complete experience for the reader and
that can only be a good thing.
Writing tasks step by step

1. Write the headline
Make sure your headline fulfils its most important job – getting people to read on: to
do that you need to ensure you have a benefit in the headline. It’s also important to
Include
includeyour
yourprimary
primarykeyword in your headline.
keyword.
2. Write the sub-headings

People find it hard to read long blocks of copy online, so use short paragraphs when
you’re writing and use keyword rich sub-headings to direct them to important points. I

Section 1: Web content and your business | How to structure an article
like to map out the sub-headings before I’ve written anything.
3. Write the summary

The first paragraph should summarize what the whole article is about and should also
include both primary and secondary keywords. A well written summary should have
the reader thinking, “I must read more of this...”.
Now review what you’ve written. From the headline, summary and sub-headings, it
should be possible for anyone to ‘read’ and understand exactly what the final article is
about.
4. Write each paragraph

Once I’ve completed these first three tasks it’s very easy to fill out the gaps with good
copy. Once I’ve reached this stage the article almost writes itself.
5. Write notes on the key points

Finally, when my article is complete I’ll put it aside for a few hours or overnight and
then come back to it fresh. I’ll read it out loud as this helps me uncover any pieces of
awkward grammar. My final job will be to write notes on the key points, making sure
to include keywords. I’ll publish the notes in a text box so that readers have another
opportunity to see that the article is worth reading.
Finally, I’ll give the article to a trusted colleague and ask for their honest reaction.
So that’s the structure I use with nearly every piece of writing I do. Have a look at the
structure I mapped out and see how it is reflected in the finished article. Follow this
approach and your failed attempts and unfinished articles will be a thing of the past.

Write winning
articles quickly
Many efforts at writing end in failure. Indecision and
self doubt inhibit the writing task. You’ve got to train
your brain to overcome this with a good structure. Map
out the structure and then fill in the bits. If the article in
well structured, it will be easy to read and understand.
Answer these questions: Take these actions:

1. Who is this article for? 1. Write the headline
What value will it give them?
What do you want people to do as a result? 2. Write the sub-headings
2. What are your primary and 3. Write the summary

secondary keywords?
4. Write each paragraph
3. What other ideas and keywords
are important? 5. Write notes on the key points
4. What other articles that you’ve

already published should you link to?
5. What external resources (if any)

should you link to?

How to optimize
a page for search
engines
By employing a few simple techniques you can make optimizing
your pages for search engines part of your process of content
creation. Follow this guide and each of your pages can bring you
search engine visits for thousands of different keywords.
Focus your page’s SEO on a primary Wordtracker can help you

and a secondary keyword. Before and during writing, search Wordtracker with your
target keywords and the results you see are keywords
Target each page’s SEO on a primary and secondary in your target keywords’ niches. Using our example of a
keyword. (Don’t make the common mistake of using page targeting ‘business strategy’, Wordtracker gives us
different pages to target the same keywords.) 157 keywords containing ‘business strategy’ – see the
first 14 in the following image:
Your choice of keywords will depend on your page
content and your SEO strategy. Find out more about
how to develop your site’s SEO strategy here.
Don’t be afraid to target quite ambitious keywords. You

don’t have to immediately succeed for your precise
main target keywords. Every keyword is used in many
thousands of other keywords, collectively called the
keyword niche or the long tail of search.
For example, a page might focus its SEO on the phrase

‘business strategy’ but get more results for searches
using those words without replicating the exact phrase,
such as ‘business development strategy’.
A search on ‘business strategy’ in Wordtracker’s Keywords tool.

Section 1: Web content and your business | How to optimize a page for search engines
Quickly study the results to see if there are any keywords that are appropriate for your
page’s content and that you can use naturally in your copy.
Use singular and plural versions of your keywords. Also add synonyms (words
with similar meaning). So our ‘business strategy’ page might also use ‘strategic’,
‘strategies’, ‘planning’, ‘plans’ and ‘strategy models’.
Use your target keywords in these specific places

Use your primary and secondary target keywords in the following positions on your
page:
• Page title tag

• Description tag
• Headlines, sub-headlines and body text
• Internal and external links (use text)
Now let’s look at each of those positions...
Page title tag

See the following grab from our example page, showing its page title tag – ‘Business
strategy | Types of business strategies’ at the top of the browser window:
Make sure to include keywords in your page’s title tag.
Make sure your content management system (CMS) allows you to control every page’s
page title tag.

Description tag
Many experts say that your description metatag (tag) won’t improve your Search
Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings as it’s not directly considered by search
engines. Perhaps, but you should use it carefully because a good description metatag
can increase clickthroughs to your site when it is seen on search engine results pages
(SERPs).
Also, there is some evidence that an increased clickthrough rate (the % of viewers who
click to visit your site) will in turn increase rankings.
Here’s a simple formula for your description tags: <primary & secondary keywords> +
<benefits your site offers>.
And (if you’re really clever) add a call to action. The following is an example from
ThinkingManagers.com:
“Business strategy & Business continuity strategy: Improve your business with advice
and free newsletter from leading gurus Edward de Bono and Robert Heller”
Headlines, sub-headlines and body text

Look again at the screen grab below from our example site and see how the headline,
sub-headline and the body text include the target keywords.
Include your primary keywords in your headline, sub-heading and body text.
On the next page is a screenshot of the start of the example page’s main body text,
with the primary target keyword highlighted:
Note we haven’t used the target keywords as much as we might have. Neither Google
nor users will like it if you cram your keywords in and make your copy hard to read.

Include keywords in your body text.
Internal and external links (use text)

The blue text in the above body copy links to other pages on the site. Notice how these
links use the target keywords (and variations of them). It’s also good practice to link to
other sites, preferably those that rank well for your target keywords.
That’s it. There are no secrets to optimizing pages for search engines and it shouldn’t
slow you down. Also, the ideas you get from Wordtracker can both help you optimize
your content and give you ideas to enhance it. After all …
… Wordtracker is only showing you what searchers are looking for – so why not give it
to them?

How to make
your articles sell
By adding irresistible marketing offers to
unmissable positions on (almost) every page,
business management website ‘Thinking
Managers’ more than doubled its response rate.
This dramatic improvement was primarily achieved by can act as marketing landing pages. That includes pages
placing marketing in the middle of the top of almost that weren’t written to directly promote your products,
every page (beneath the main banner) and also high category pages you never get time to work on and even
within body copy. Previously, there had been some pages that might not contain much copy.
marketing in its left-hand column and about 300 quality
articles that finished with a marketing offer. We’ll now have a quick look at why this works and how
you can use similar techniques to increase your own
You can see the new marketing positions outlined in red site’s response rate.
in the screen grab below:
Put your marketing where it will be

seen
For most of your visitors, you get just a few seconds
to give a reason for them to stay on your site. And no
matter what you do many will quickly leave, perhaps
forever. Therefore, to maximize response you must put
your marketing where it will be seen within the first few
seconds of a visit.
This means your marketing must be visible without the

need to scroll down the page (we call this being ‘above
the fold’, an old newspaper phrase). But whereabouts
Place marketing in your customers’ eyeline. above the fold is crucial and you can decide where by
first using the results of others tests and then starting
With these and similar simple techniques, all your pages your own.

Section 1: Web content and your business | How to make your articles sell
Eye-tracking research shows us where our marketing

will be seen
Research tracking site visitors’ eye movements and displaying the results as
‘heatmaps’ gives us our first clues about where to place marketing. Below are a three
heat maps for different types of sites:
Source: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html
The above heatmaps are from an About Us page, a product page on an e-commerce
site and a Google results page. We can see that users mostly look at the top of a
page’s main body of text and its headlines; users are less interested in banners and
separate left and right-hand columns.
Conclusion: place your marketing just above or below your main headline and within
body text as high up the page as possible.
Always be testing
‘Always be Testing’ is a mantra that should quickly follow ‘Always be Marketing’. Once
you have your new marketing positions in place you should never stop testing different
marketing content and positions. The rewards can sometimes be astounding.
For example, Sports Injury Bulletin recently trebled – yep that’s a 300% increase –
response by adding a marketing position below the page headline and offering free
reports with a sign-up to a free newsletter.
You can try your own simple tests like this or get sophisticated and scientific with tools
like Google’s Website Optimizer.

Section 1: Web content and your business | How to make your articles sell
Also, if eye-tracking heatmaps are too expensive for you then with Crazy Egg and Click
Heat you can create heatmaps that track users clicks for free.
Learning to place your marketing on the most looked-at positions on every page is the
first step on the road to maximizing your website’s conversion. For a more advanced
exploration of conversion, see Conversion Rate Experts and GrokDotCom.
What is your site for?

I regularly hear the objection that putting marketing where it will be seen will put
readers off the article, the site or the product. If you’re thinking that, ask yourself who
and what your site is for?
If your website exists to sell stuff then you are interested in what maximizes response,
not what minimizes fuss. The whole point of your website is to give you a chance to
present your marketing – so why back off from the obvious best way of doing it?
If your current response rate is 2% then that’s 2 out of every 100 visitors doing what
you want them to do, appealing to just 2 more people (per 100) will double response.
Is it a problem if, whilst doubling response, your new marketing does not appeal to
those other 96 people?
If your marketing appeals to potential buyers by genuinely offering real benefits then
the chances are that the only people that aren’t going to like it aren’t ever likely to be
your customers. It was nice of them to drop by and make your visitor numbers look
good but your website is not for them – it’s for potential buyers.
So convert all your pages to marketing pages by putting your marketing where it
will be seen by the most visitors and don’t let the sensibilities of someone else’s
customers stop you increasing yours.

How to make your
content linkworthy
If you really want to rank well on search engines, you
need to build inbound links from external, quality sites.
Google looks at two sets of factors when assessing a web
page – on the page factors, which is essentially what you
write on your own site – and off the page factors which is
essentially what other sites say about you.
Writing and publishing good articles is one of the most (ii) Direct benefit to your own business – it
effective ways to build inbound links. This happens in must help you generate leads or sell stuff.
two main ways:
• If you publish good quality articles on your (iii) Benefit to the website that will link to you
own site, then bloggers, information sites, – by linking to you they provide something
resource sites and industry experts may quote useful to their readers.
your article and link to it.
Here’s what you have to do:
• If you submit your articles for publication

1. Take part in the online community that
on external websites that carry editorial, then
exists around your product area. Identify news
you’ll get exposure to a new audience and you
and information sites, blogs, directories, social media
can publish a link to your site as a credit for sites and others that service your industry. Read them
writing. regularly and comment on articles and contribute - start
to build an online reputation for yourself.
You can be useful, topical or controversial – it doesn’t
really matter – but to get these inbound links your
2. Write and publish keyword rich articles or
content needs to be something special. You need to be
blog posts on your own site. These articles should
passionate about your industry and show your passion
be useful to your customers and members of your
with every word you write.
community. From the article you write, reference and
link to articles that you’ve written previously.
Your content needs to offer value in three ways:
(i) Direct benefit to the end user – it allows

them to do something.

Section 1: Web content and your business | How to make your content linkworthy
3. When you’re reading or commenting on external websites, mention

and link to articles you’ve published on your own site when you’re sure
that they’re appropriate and add value to any discussion.
4. Mention your articles on social media sites and encourage other

people to reference your articles by including icons at the bottom of
your article.
5. Publish articles you’ve written as a newsletter and encourage

people to sign up to a mailing list. Once you’ve established a list, you’ll find
that each edition of your newsletter will generate a number of links from people on
your list linking to your articles.
6. Provide your content as an RSS feed. This is relatively simple to do and

will again bring your content to the attention people

How to get sticky
and go viral
Jared Fogle was an obese student who lost over 200 pounds
in weight on a diet of Subway sandwiches, and his story was
covered in USA Today, on ABC News and on Oprah (the public
relations consultant’s holy grail). Jared’s simple and true tale
helped to significantly increase Subway’s sales figures.
In the 1960s a rumor started that razor blades were The ultimate goal for your website content is that it
being put in candy and fruit for trick or treaters on sticks and goes viral. Here’s how to make that happen…
Halloween night. This simple and untrue story made
60% of US parents scared for their children and caused
the states of California and New Jersey to enact new Your checklist for getting sticky
laws to deal with a problem that didn’t exist. and viral
These are both examples of ‘sticky’ stories that went Made to Stick gives the following six principles of
viral and they are given in Chip and Dan Heath’s stickiness. Use them as a checklist for making sticky viral
excellent book Made to Stick, the inspiration for this content:
chapter.
Whether they are true
1. Simplicity – concentrate on a single core issue
or urban legends, sticky
stories get remembered,
2. Unexpectedness – to get attention, be interesting
have an impact and can go
and remembered
viral, spreading beyond the
power of any promotion.
Sticky content on websites 3. Concreteness – use real things and people
gets visitors and quality
inbound links from other 4. Crediblity – you must be believed
websites, which can lead to
yet more visits via search 5. Emotions – to make people care
engines. Remember,
search engines love links.
Made to Stick 6. Stories – people communicate with stories

Section 1: Web content and your business | How to get sticky and go viral
Let’s look in a little more detail at the separate parts of that acronym for Success.
Simplicity – concentrate on a single core issue

‘If you say three things, you don’t say anything’.
Your readers will respond better when given just one message to think about. Only
one core point in your story can be remembered and passed on to other people. So
you must make sure you find the heart of your story and lead with it in your headline
and your first paragraph.
When you find that core, present it as simply as possible. For example, during Bill
Clinton’s 1992 Presidential campaign, his message was focused and simple (and is
still remembered):
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
Unexpectedness – get attention, be interesting and remembered

The familiar and the expected will not even be noticed.
If you want your content to be noticed, remembered and passed on then it must come
with a headline that is unexpected, surprising, seemingly illogical and perhaps even
shocking.
Oscar Wilde was a master of witticisms that grab the reader’s attention by reversing a
piece of generally accepted wisdom. A century later they still work:
“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.”
“The only thing (in the world) worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”
Another favorite (not Oscar’s) is: “Boy Eats Own Head”. That got your attention, didn’t
it?
Concreteness – use real things and people

To be quickly understood and remembered, your content must be about real people,
objects and events.
For example, proverbs last thousands of years, cross language barriers and the best
use real (concrete) things to explain abstract ideas. “A leopard cannot change its
spots” can be pictured, easily understood and remembered. “People’s innate nature

doesn’t change” requires the reader to understand what “innate” and “nature” mean
and there is nothing to picture.
Abstract language is the enemy of clear communication. If a reader doesn’t already

understand your abstract idea then it takes them time to follow explanations that
are usually ambiguous. With the amount of effort required they would struggle to
remember it and have difficulty explaining it to anyone else.
Credibility – be believed
A story has to be taken seriously and believed to be passed on with zeal.
Small touches of real-life detail can give the required credibility. This is why urban
legends always happened to ‘a friend of mine’ and in a well known nearby location.
Emotions – make people care

People connect with emotional stories. So you need to know what makes people
emotional. For example, if you want to raise money for hungry children in Africa you
will get more response by telling the story of one living child than talking about a
million dead. People are emotional about real children they can see and picture.
Almost universally emotional topics you can use include money, sex, success, humor,
family, children, hometowns and mother countries.
However, your website will likely be targeting a niche audience with its own prejudices,
tastes and emotional triggers. Define your audience and identify their tastes and
prejudices. For quick help ask yourself what newspaper and websites your audience
reads and then look at what is written about in those media.
Stories – people communicate with them

To go viral your content needs to be used in real conversations. And real people use
stories to talk to each other so you must give them a story.
Picture yourself around the water cooler in an office. Will your fellow workers want to
hear about your content using your headline and lead paragraph? Imagine you sell
something dull like photocopiers…
If your photocopier story has a feature-led headline that says, for example, a machine
can copy “up to 70 pages per minute” then who even knows if that is good or not?
Nobody will talk about that.

But if you create a story it might attract attention, be remembered and passed on. You
might talk about the photocopier as “Your most valuable player”: always first in, last
home, works throughout the night, no holidays, never stops, most fun at office parties.
Or take a photo of a copier with a sumo wrester sitting on it and copying his butt.
Headline: “Will it copy?” Show the answer.
Stories also help create action from your readers. If you tell a great story in which a
character uses your product, readers can picture themselves doing the same. That
puts them one step closer to buying what you’re selling. Always a good thing.

Recipes
Section 2
Serving up well written, well planned content will help you
attract traffic to your site. In the second half of the book
Rachelle Money outlines 21 content ideas - a mixture of
real-life examples, successful case studies, and hot tips that
will help you cook up attractive fare for your site’s visitors.

Answer your 1
customers’
questions
People have a ton of questions about all sorts of
things. They want answers and often go to a search
engine to find them.
By answering their questions, you’ll create Wordtracker’s Keywords tool

interesting copy and attract relevant traffic to The Keywords tool from Wordtracker gives you access to
your site. a database of search terms; it is a great tool for finding
the questions your customers are asking.
Find the right questions
When people enter a question into a search engine,
Come up with the right questions, provide clear answers they’ll normally enter long queries – made up of several
and you have some very useful content. That’s why words. So if you optimize for specific questions, you’ll
pages with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are pick up traffic for some of those keywords. For example,
so popular. iPod manufacturer Apple uses questions when you publish an article on ‘How To Write A Business
and answers to create content. It’s a means of helping Plan’, not only would you pick up traffic for that popular
customers find answers for themselves and saves on question, but also for ‘write a business plan’ or even
support costs. Apple’s Podcasts page addresses each ‘business plan’.
question in just a few sentences and, for those fans
of podcasting who need detailed information, links to
Apple.com’s podcasting tips page. Keyword Questions tool
If you don’t have a full subscription to the Keywords
Providing FAQs is a good start, but they don’t help
tool, don’t despair, there is another option. You can
people who have never heard of you. To reach new
enter questions, one at a time, into Wordtracker’s free
customers, you need to know what questions they are
Keyword Questions tool. It gives you access to a sample
asking the search engines.
database of the questions that people use in their
searches. Or you can take a free 7-day trial of the full
Keywords tool.

Section 2: Recipe No. 1 | Answer your customers’ questions
Hot Tip
A real question usually

contains more than
one keyword. Use
your question as the
headline. Optimize
the rest of the page
for the same keyword
phrase that appears in
the question and you’ll
improve your search
engine rankings.
Wordtracker’s free Keyword Questions tool
Questions in action
Let’s put this tool into action. If I owned a jewelry business it would be a good idea to
type in ‘jewelry’ into the Keyword Questions tool. Here are the top five questions out
of a listed 100.
1. How to make jewelry
2. How to make beaded jewelry
3. Where can I sell my gold jewelry
4. How to clean silver jewelry
5. How to make spoon jewelry
It’s clear that potential customers are asking questions about making jewelry (even
from spoons). So, you could use these kinds of keywords in your article. A category
page called ‘How Do I Make Jewelry?’ would be great along with specific pages on
how to make beaded jewelry/clean jewelry/spoon jewelry.

For many people, writing a 1,000 to 2,000 word article is time-consuming and difficult.
Providing short answers to several questions about your products or industry is much
easier.
Using longer keywords

Now let’s go a little deeper and use more than one keyword. I typed ‘silver jewelry’
into the Keyword Questions tool. Here are a few of the more interesting questions:
1. How to clean silver jewelry
2. How to make silver jewelry
3. Is my sterling silver jewelry worth anything
4. How to make silver spoon jewelry
5. How to buy silver elephant jewelry wholesale
Create content using questions

Once you have a list of questions, sift through them to find the most relevant. Then
decide how you are going to answer the question.
If I were running an online jewelry store, I’d take the first question ‘How to clean silver
jewelry’ and give step-by-step instructions on how to do just that. You could publish a
photograph of a piece of tarnished silver jewelry to show the before and after effects,
or make a video showing customers your techniques and the products you use, and
then provide a link to related products or content.
There are a number of ways to present your answer. You can:
• Create one web page or blog post per question
• Group similar questions together on one page
Wordtracker’s Keyword Questions tool can become addictive — just think of the
content you could be writing that would benefit your site and its customers.

Use open questions

Using Wordtracker’s Keyword Questions tool isn’t the only way to find the questions
that people are searching for. You can also do some keyword research using
Wordtracker’s database, using open questions. The inspiration for this methodology
comes from the British author and poet Rudyard Kipling, who wrote:
I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
What? Why? When? How? Where? and Who? are known as open questions, because
they usually require answers that contain more than one word. Memorizing Kipling’s
lines of poetry is one way to remember the six open questions any writer should ask
about a potential story.
Creating content
Let’s take those open questions and see what we can find out. Using Wordtracker’s
Keywords tool, there are two steps to the process:
1. Choose a popular keyword for your market. Start with a single word. I
chose ‘business.’ Then pair it with each of the question words — don’t worry if the
resulting pairing doesn’t make grammatical sense:
• What business
• Why business
• When business
• How business
• Where business
• Who business

2. Now enter all six pairings into the search box. In the search options,
choose ‘broad match,’ which will then look for your keyword pairings in any order. A
search for ‘what business’ will generate questions such as ‘what is a business plan?’,
‘what are current business problems?’ and ‘what are the most successful home-based
businesses?’. For the best results, make sure you select ‘include plurals’.
Here’s a screenshot of the settings:
Questions create great content ideas.
Each of these questions represents searches made every day by real people. Use
them as inspiration for articles and you’ll optimize your web page for the specific
question as well as for other related keywords. What’s more, your article will address
a specific question, so it is more likely to attract keyword-rich inbound links. And
inbound links will help boost your search engine rankings.

Reveal some of 2
your secret tips
and tricks
Articles that reveal secret tips and tricks are a great
way of helping customers to learn something new
and get real benefits from your site and your wisdom.
Everyone loves a secret

Many business owners feel they don’t have enough to
write about, or time to crystallize their ideas. The fact
is, if you’re in business or operate your own site, you
probably have a wealth of knowledge, experience and
insight that many of your customers and prospects will
find interesting.
Break down the writing into manageable chunks. Pick 10

tips or tricks and write 100 words on each.
Read other sites for inspiration

Let’s look at some examples of tips pages that work well.
Kodak’s site includes tips on how to take better photographs.

Kodak, a world leader in developing cameras and
photography accessories, has tips on its site about how
The tips are short, so they are easy to follow, and use
to take better photographs. The site helps readers
plenty of images to illustrate the points made. The
understand the dos and don’ts of different types of
website engages with customers and encourages them
photo — whether that’s sunsets, nature shots, weddings
to make the most of Kodak’s products – exactly what a
or fireworks. The article describes what angles you
tips section should do. It enhances the customer’s use
should try to achieve, the settings you should be
and enjoyment of the product.
shooting in, and how to stop images from blurring in
certain lights.

Section 2: Recipe No. 2 | Reveal some of your secret tips and tricks
Gain links from authority sites
Hot Tip
Tips and tricks are not only useful to your customers but also to external publishers
and authority sites. So, they can provide valuable inbound links and click throughs.
Have a look at this article: job interviews, Tips and Tricks written by Jeremy McCarthy,
Ask your website chief executive of VentureLoop, a company that helps create long-term relationships
visitors to submit their between venture capital firms and entrepreneurial individuals. McCarthy has 15 years
own tips and tricks and experience in recruitment, as VentureLoop also provides job advertisements on its
you’ll unearth valuable site. He uses his recruitment expertise to outline interview tips. He advises how to:
content ideas.
• research prospective employers
• prepare for behavioral questions (when interviewers ask you to give

examples of how you would deal with problems and scenarios
• deal with questions like, “where do you see yourself in five years
time?”
This is useful content – which is what people want. A good tips and tricks page can
present you with an opportunity of reaching out to potential customers who don’t yet
use your services or products. There’s a good chance your customers will email the
web page to their friends or Tweet the article.
Think about your own industry. What kinds of insight can you provide that would be
interesting and helpful to your audience?
How to collect tips and tricks

Here’s a simple method for collating and writing short tips for your potential
customers.
1. Get yourself a method for keeping simple notes either your cell phone,
organizer, or a good quality paper notebook. It should be the right size to put in a
pocket or purse and keep with you throughout your working week.
2. Pay particular attention to the ‘content’ of your work — the problems

you face, the solutions you come up with, the ideas and shortcuts you develop, the
tips and advice that you give or receive from colleagues. Jot down a short sentence on
each as they happen.

Section 2: Recipe No. 2 | Reveal some of your secret tips and tricks
3. At the end of the week review your notes. If you face these problems, then
so do your customers, colleagues and others working in your industry. Pick the best of
your content and develop the notes into sentences and paragraphs. Keep your writing
simple and focused on solving a practical problem or idea.
4. Don’t over-elaborate. You don’t always need to justify your position — just give
people the nitty-gritty of what they need to do to solve the problem.
5. Now, get someone you trust to read and edit your material. You will
end up with some well-written, practical tips that people in your industry will value.
Repeat the exercise until you’ve got 50-100 tips.
6. Now you can take the best and turn them into a useful collection of
published content.

Bust an 3
urban myth
The web is a great source of information, but sadly
you can’t believe everything you read online — rumor,
conjecture and inaccuracies pollute the world wide web.
A good myth busting article can both help your customers,
earn their trust, and attract search engine traffic.
Successful myth-busting Myths and realities

If you are going to use a myth busting article to attract Some myths develop out of a news story. Think of the
web traffic, make sure you lead with interesting global hysteria about swine flu — blogs, news articles
content, not a sales pitch. UnBiased.co.uk is a UK- and Twitter spread conflicting messages about how
based company that specializes in helping people find harmful the virus was. This led to a number of websites
mortgage advice. In July 2009 it produced a media writing a myths and realities article on the subject,
release titled ‘Myth-busting the Mortgage Market’. including the National Geographic’s news article on
UnBiased commissioned research to gauge how Swine Flu Facts, Swine Flu Myths
British people felt about getting a mortgage during the
recession. The research found that 33% of those polled Each point is written as a question such as ‘How safe
believed lenders would only get a home loan of up to is eating pork?’ which is how someone searching for
2.5 times their annual income, when in reality lenders information might write it.
are offering four times annual income. So that’s the first
myth busted. UnBiased does a good job of producing a
myth buster which is related to its business (mortgage Add helpful links and contact details
advice). It creates and uses up-to-date information (the
In each case it’s important to show that you are helping
research poll), promotes the article (through a press
your customer reach an answer. Include links to other
release) and publishes it online.
articles and add your contact details at the end of
the piece. Ask people to email any further questions,
Not every company can commission research, but this
or provide them with the opportunity to arrange a
example shows how statistics and analysis can debunk
consultation if they want to discuss their situation further.
myths and misconceptions. It’s a good idea to keep an
eye out for industry-related polls or statistics that you
feel offer up an alternative view, or reveal something
interesting about your business community.

Section 2: Recipe No. 3 | Bust an urban myth
Search out new material
Hot Tip
Myths don’t all arise from news stories. Look through your emails and on-site searches
for queries that refer to myths in your industry. The reason for writing these types of
articles is to put your customers’ minds at ease and give them the facts.
Most urban myths are Do your own research when busting myths. Keep an open mind and ask questions:
borne from confusion
over what to believe. • Is there bias in the information you are reading?
So, give your customers
some straight facts:
you’ll dispel an • How can you validate the data, or test any claims made?
unhelpful fiction and
generate trust amongst • What facts would prove the claims wrong?
potential customers.
• Give real life examples from your professional life that lead you to
consider these statements as myths.
• If you are linking to research, a survey or news story, consider the

source and make sure you trust it.
Expose poor advice

Another way of approaching a myth buster is to expose the bad advice given in your
industry. PC World did this with its article, Busting the Biggest PC Myths. It exposed
poor PC advice that wasted customers’ time and money. Subjects included ‘Magnets
zap your data’, ‘Cookies track everything you do on the Internet’ and other common
misconceptions. The article appears on PC World.com and on About.com; it ranks No.1
on Google for the query ‘What are the Biggest PC Myths?’

Write a case 4
study
For Judy Kingsbury her journey to becoming a
healthy vegetarian was a rocky one. Growing up
in the small town of Manitoba, 200 miles north
of Winnipeg, she says the term ‘vegetarian’
wasn’t even part of her vocabulary.
In the late 1960s, Judy took her first tentative steps

towards vegetarianism. But, a lack of nutritional
education, along with the fact that there were so
few other people she could turn to, meant Judy
faced periods of ill health. She threw herself into a
macrobiotic diet of low fat and high fiber foods, grew
thin, and became dehydrated. Malnourished, she
sought help to restore her health and discovered more
nutritious ways of living a vegetarian lifestyle.
40 years on, Judy says that starting up an educational

website dedicated to vegetarianism and vegan lifestyles
was a natural decision. In 2003 www.savvyvegetarian.
com was born — a website that has taken on its own
personality and continues to grow in popularity.
Judy has spent years building up the site’s content, it

offers a plethora of information and tips on vegetarian
Savvy Vegetarian uses Wordtracker’s Keywords tool
living, and now receives 60,000 visits a month. So how for content ideas.
has she been able to generate this level of traffic?.
life, ourselves and others. Judy’s story was the first case
study I wrote for Wordtracker. I wanted to capture Judy’s
Good story-telling sells personal journey to help draw in readers and humanize
Many of us have an innate love of stories. They can some abstract concepts — such as keyword research and
create a magical sense of wonder, and teach us about search engine optimization (SEO).

Section 2: Recipe No. 4 | Write a case study
Wordtracker’s case study

The term ‘case study’ can sound clinical, but a well-written story about a successful
client can be a wonderfully informative way of introducing yourself to prospective
customers. It’s an opportunity for people to see the services you provide, and will help
them gauge what kind of solutions you apply to specific problems.
For instance, I asked Judy to:
• explain in practical terms how she used our product in her business;
• outline the kinds of benefits that brought
• give me some real examples that I could write about
I was also able to include eye-catching headlines, like ‘Keyword Research Triples
Sales’, without appearing to be selling the company’s products.
Another example: Spotty Gifts
In a more recent case study involving a company called SpottyGiftBoxes.com, we gave
the article the headline ‘How Keyword Research and SEO Increased Traffic to Spotty
Gift Boxes by 228%’. Again, this makes clear to our customers that there are real life
success stories out there whose businesses are benefiting as a direct result of using
Wordtracker’s Keywords tool.
I identified that Caroline Blatchford who owns SpottyGiftBoxes.com, had a problem

with competitive keywords. This led me to ask how she resolved this issue using
keyword research. This kind of question is great for your readers, because it helps
them identify problems that they might also be facing, and gives them an idea of
how to tackle them. Caroline’s response was useful too: she outlined a five-step SEO
process that readers could follow.
Customers who face similar challenges can share their experiences by adding
comments, and will hopefully find inspiration and resolutions to their own problems.
As one Wordtracker reader, Stephen Craine, commented, ‘Great article, really useful
to see a real life example of how to use keywords. With the investment of time that it
takes to build links and optimize pages to best effect, it’s motivational to hear what
others are doing and the results they are achieving.’

Write an overview of the case study’s business
Hot Tip
Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing case studies. First, write an overview of the
company/client you are basing the case study on.
• What is their background? Which industry are they from? Describe the kind of
Preparation is essential. products and services they provide and the size of their business.
If you’re interviewing a
customer, decide what • Next, outline the challenge the client faced. Write from the client’s
questions you want to
perspective: what problems were they experiencing? How had they tried to overcome
ask in advance.
them? Why had previous efforts proved unsuccessful? What were they looking for?
The bigger the problem, the more appealing your solution will appear.
• Contact your case study and explain to them that you would like to
write about them. Outline how they might benefit from the attention. Will you link
to them from your site, offer a discount on their next purchase, or give them a free
white paper you wrote?
Preparation
Preparation is essential — here are some questions you should consider:
• How the client learned about your company
• What problems they were having
• What services they were looking for
• Which products or services they chose and why
• How quickly was this service provided? How was it provided?
• How has their business changed since you provided this service? Has
it saved them money, time or space? Has it improved the way in which they provide
services? Has it increased the volume of customers they have? Do they now have
more unique visitors coming to their website?
• Would they recommend you to other businesses?
• Ask for a photograph of the person you are basing the case study on.
Failing that, ask if you can use their logo on your page with a link to their website.

Choose your voice

Decide whether you’d like to write the entire article in the first person, from the
viewpoint of the case study, or from your own perspective. The easiest way may be to
introduce the article yourself and include direct quotes when you have a particular
point you want to illustrate.
For example, you could state, ‘we helped our client find a more cost-effective way of
collecting customer data by installing our new widget technology, which… (describe
the tool you provided for the case study).’
Then, you can drop in a direct quote from your case study that illustrates both the
savings they made and what they plan to do with their improved customer data.

Write a blog 5
Content attracts prospects, engages them in
conversation, and converts them into customers
by building their trust in your ability to deliver.
One of the easiest and most direct ways to do
this is by blogging.
Anything you want Library, based in Springfield, New Jersey and grew it
from a profitable $4 million a year business to $50m
A blog is a ‘personal online journal’ and millions of
a year. He channeled his enthusiasm and passion into
people are already publishing them. In 2008, blog
communicating a love of wine through writing and
search engine Technorati claimed to have indexed 133
making videos online. He now has more than 90,000
million blogs. Blogs can be about anything you want — a
visitors a day to his website. Vaynerchuk’s success led
parent might write about the health of his kids, a student
to television appearances and he has his own wine
might share her experiences of traveling abroad and a
club, reviews wines, and of course, sells wine and spirits
teenager might write about the everyday difficulties he
through his website.
encounters. There is no end to the possibilities.
Woot, an online electronic good store, was launched in
2004 and sold its 1,000,000th item, a 4 gigabyte (GB)
Build a profile hard drive, on February 5, 2007. It sells one type of
For the business or website owner, publishing a blog is product a day through its daily blog. The day’s product
a terrific way to raise your profile, get inbound links and, is advertised in a fun, quirky style. Customers stampede
above all, interact with your customers and marketplace. to buy its products and the company does hardly any
A blog allows you to give customers an insight into the advertising.
type of person you are — as a result, your customers may
be more interested in buying your products.
Other successful bloggers
Those who blog or participate by posting comments,
Other companies that blog successfully include
generate debate and comments from other readers.
Dell, about its products, services and customers.
So, a blog provides an excellent way for businesses to
Amazon publishes Omnivoracious. Small businesses
understand and interact with their customers.
are blogging, too – have a look at the Lincoln Sign
Company, which showcases the best in custom signs.
Gary Vaynerchuk took his family’s wine business, Wine

Section 2: Recipe No. 5 | Write a blog
Hot Tip
Keep your readers

coming back to your
blog with frequent
updates.
Woot: one day, one deal.
There is nothing mysterious about a blog — it simply lets you create and publish
content very easily.
If you decide to publish a blog, you may want to incorporate it into your existing
domain (something Lincoln Sign Company didn’t do). By setting up the blog page
as www.yourbusiness.com/blog, rather than something like http://yourbusiness.
blogspot.com so that all the traffic it generates comes into one site. This can help you
to rise up the Google rankings.
You do need to make a commitment to update your blog regularly – aim for a couple
of postings a week to build up a readership. Unfortunately, for many would-be
bloggers this is a tough commitment to follow – some 95% of new blogs quickly
become inactive http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/fashion/07blogs.html.
Blog posts don’t have to be long, but they must be useful. Making regular postings of
one or two paragraphs, together with an occasional longer article, is a good starting
point. Here are some ground rules:
• Adopt an editorial position – what type of voice will your blog have? It is worth
giving this some thought.
• Be brief and direct in what you say. Puffy or pompous language reads
dreadfully on a blog so keep your writing simple.

• Use Wordtracker’s research tools to incorporate popular keywords

into your posts. The headline is particularly important. So, if you’re writing about
small business, you might want to rewrite the headline ‘A time for change?’ as ‘A time
for change for small business’. That way, you’re more likely to attract visitors who are
searching for the term ‘small business.’
• Use Wordtracker’s SEO Blogger tool to make keyword research easier when
publishing posts. You can find the most sought-after keywords for your subject
without ever leaving your blog-editing screen. The tool sits alongside whatever blog
publishing software you’re using so you can do keyword research and optimize your
posts as you write.
• Include keyword-rich linking text — the people you link to will love you for it
and it will help Google decide what your blog is all about.
Content
So what should you write about?
(i) Comment on an external news story – there is a ton of material out there,
no matter what business you are in. Sign up to important newsletters and RSS feeds
in your industry, as well as general business publications. One of your first tasks in the
morning might be to review these publications and pick out interesting items that you
can point people to or comment upon.
(ii) Tell people about a useful report or resource that you’ve come
across in your day-to-day work. As you browse the web, you’ll come across stuff
that you find particularly interesting or enlightening. You can help your readers by
telling them about the resource and linking to it. Even better, you reward the author or
publisher of the article by giving them a live link and you’re making connections with
other influencers in your industry.
(iii) Point to an article or resource on your own site. People, who might
otherwise have missed it, find it.
(iv) Post an answer or comment on a query you received from a

customer. Many writers make the mistake of thinking that their comments or posts
should always be leading-edge – aimed at setting opinion in the industry. But many
readers are just looking for straightforward information – giving it to them in simple
plain English may well be all they want.

(v) Write an announcement about a new feature or service you’ve

added. It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, just a useful addition. Always write from
the customers’ point of view: don’t assume they will understand your in-house jargon.
Don’t use the blog for the hard sell, a blog should be informative and useful, not just
another means for you to market your products.
(vi) Write a seasonal statement. How do seasons influence demand for your
products? What about holidays such as Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or
Ramadan?
(i) Invite opinion or comment. Develop a dialog with your audience by asking for
their opinion on an important issue, research in your industry, competitive activity or
publicity.
Writing tip
Here’s a tip I got from Craig Garber. Get one of those small kitchen timers, or
something similar and once you’ve scanned the day’s news, set it for 30 minutes and
write without interruption. Once the timer goes off, you should have written a few
hundred words or more. Do a quick edit, or ask a colleague to review it, and you should
have a pretty good blog post.
Little but often

Write a little every day, but don’t be over-ambitious. You don’t need to write perfect
English and you don’t need to agonize over every point you make. Blogging is not an
academic exercise, so don’t be afraid of being wrong — but if you are, make sure you
acknowledge it.
More information and resources

For more information and free blogging advice, visit the Wordtracker Academy.
Or buy Chris Garrett’s book on Business Blogging, which is packed with useful advice.

Write your 6
company’s
history
Often, someone arriving at your homepage will click
on the ‘History of Company’ link because they want
to gain a flavor of what your business is all about.
This is your opportunity to put the help focus your writing and show your readers what your
business is all about.
corporate voice on mute and tell your
story in a personable way.
An informal tone often works best
Let us see your passion Writing a history allows you to state your core values.
As with most stories, starting at the beginning is best. This is your opportunity to build an identity. Ensure your
Tell us why you started the business. What did you tone is relaxed and conversational. The fact that people
want to create? It doesn’t matter if you set up a cookery have selected to read your ‘History’ page means that
school, sell second-hand cars, or make wedding favors they are interested in knowing more about you.
from home — you are passionate about what you do —
so let us see that. You could be informal and write something like “Hi,
my name is John Doe and welcome to my site, www.
Describing the birth of your business can be johndoe.com. For nearly 20 years I worked as a head
inspirational, especially if you had to take substantial chef in some of New York’s top restaurants and hotels.
risks. When did the “Eureka!” moment hit you? Were you I decided to start my own cookery school in 2001 when
standing in your kitchen, or on the daily commute, or did blah blah blah happened…”
someone inspire you to start a business of your own?
Tell us about it.
Amber Jewelry
Here are a couple of examples. Amber Jewelry has a
Identify important keywords personal story on why its owner was attracted to the
Keep your keywords in mind for when you are writing jewelry business, and amber in particular. It gives an
this article for your website. Having them to hand will account of the owner’s journey in a way that is engaging
and interesting for its customers.

Section 2: Recipe No. 6 | Write your company’s history
Hot Tip
The story is king. When

writing your company’s
history, emphasize the
narrative. Personalize
the story when you can
and remember: the
journey can be more
interesting than the
arrival.
Amber Jewelry’s About Us page.
It makes great use of links to expert articles, as well as links that go deeper into the
Amber site. It includes photographs and examples of the company’s jewelry, which
make it clear to visitors what kinds of products the business sells.
Innocent Drinks
Another example of how businesses can use a story to good effect comes from
Innocent Drinks. The article aims to reflect the nature of the company, which claims to
put truth and openness in its products.
The company matches the tone to its brand message — fun, quirky and honest. It
never becomes corporate. Instead, the article provides a link to an interview, on the
BBC’s HardTalk show, given by the company’s co-founder, Richard Reed.
The page also includes an email address for people wanting to know more about how
the founders started the company, which suggests that they are open and accessible
to their customers.

Section 2: Recipe No. 6 | Write your company’s history
Content ideas
Key points you may wish to make in your opening paragraph are:
• When the company was established?
• The number of employees you have?
• Where in the world your company is based?
• Which industries your serve?
• What makes you different from your competitors?
What do you do if your company has been around for many years? You may have
inherited your business and this is the first time you have branched out onto the web.
One way to tackle this is to break the history down into decades, allowing people to
see how your business has grown and developed over time.
Show that you make a difference

Use the history to reflect on how you have contributed to your clients’ success. Show
that you are an authority on your industry and illustrate the presence you have. List
your best clients and show how you developed long-term relationships with them.
This information will be useful for journalists and for those who want to research your
company.
By writing a history of your company, you are building trust. Post photos of the real
people that work with you, so visitors can put a face to a name. Make sure the history is
up-to-date and finish your article by including links to other areas of your site.

Start a debate 7
Courting controversy and conflict can be a great
way of attracting attention. Publishing an article
that starts a debate is likely to generate traffic,
comments and links.
Start with some research Choose your topic carefully

Contributing to an industry debate isn’t difficult, but if If you’re in business, you won’t want to offend your
you want to come across as thoughtful and lucid, start customer base. So, choose your topic carefully. You
with some research. might want to write about:
Every debate has at least two sides, so you should do • Incoming legislation that affects your
some digging to find out what the main arguments industry
are. Arm yourself with as much information as you can.
The best way to do this is to set up Google Alerts with
• New software or a cool gadget. You could
keywords that relate to your industry. This means that
all articles containing those keywords will be emailed gather differing opinions on whether it’s any
to you, on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. You can also better than its competitors or predecessors.
sign up to NewsGator, a news aggregator that delivers
really simple syndication (RSS) feeds. Keeping abreast • A recent piece of research
of industry news will put you in an informed position,
one that will enable you to illuminate an argument.
• A hot topic, such as climate change, which is
likely to place new demands on your business.
Before you write an article, you should be asking
yourself : where does the friction lie? By teasing out the
You may want to look at more general debates, such as
points of conflict, you will have a better understanding
whether it’s beneficial for companies to have employees
of the debate and be more likely to write a really
work from home.
interesting article.

Section 2: Recipe No. 7 | Start a debate
TechCrunch
Hot Tip
TechCrunch is a group-edited blog that focuses on technology. In July 2009, MG
Siegler’s article compared Apple Mac computers with PCs. Siegler published it
in response to Apple’s quarterly results. The author’s writing style is authoritative
but accessible. And the piece is well-researched — the author makes comparisons
Talking to yourself between the computer market and the car industry. By August 2009, the article had
is said to be the first generated more than 360 comments and been Tweeted 589 times.
sign of madness. But
it can be helpful to
say your thoughts out New York Times – room for debate
loud. It’s amazing
how a sentence you Newspaper columnists provide some of the best examples of the use of topical news
have been laboring stories to generate debates. The New York Times has a section on its website called
over suddenly starts ‘Room For Debate’. Writers post articles on a wide range of issues, such as:
to flow once you talk it
through.
• How air travel can be made less annoying
• Do women make better bosses?
• What do school tests measure?
• Are deer the culprit in Lyme disease?
As you can see, most of the articles are headlined as questions. This suggests to
readers that the author is starting a discussion.
Create a plan
Publishing an unjustified rant will probably damage your reputation. So, plan a clear,
methodical structure. Your readers are more likely to respect you if you can show that
you’ve considered the arguments carefully. Exploring the debate thoroughly means
being fair to both sides:
• Begin with a paragraph on why you have chosen to tackle the subject.
• The simplest way to structure your contribution is to outline two sides

to the argument. Make a list of bullet points — as many as you can — so that you
fully understand the merits of each view. You can edit them down later.

• Add substance by researching and quoting independent reports or

surveys, and provide a link to these reports too. Elicit opinions from industry blogs,
or email your peers for their opinions.
• To what extent has the media picked up on the debate? It’s perfectly
acceptable to quote articles from magazines or newspapers, but you should cite the
title and the journalist — copying large chunks of text counts as plagiarism. Again, link
to the news article.
• Look at publications online and read the comments they generate.

The views you read can provide a useful insight into how the debate is shaping up.
• Why not Tweet your debate question to test the opinion of your peers?
Inviting others to give their thoughts may help with the writing of your article.
Provide two points of view

Another way to approach the article is to ask a colleague to write from one point of
view, while you provide a conflicting opinion. Taking this approach will mean you can
focus on one side — and really let rip — in the knowledge that your organization will
appear fair-minded. This is how a local politician and a scientist took opposing sides
over plans for a new runway at Heathrow’s airport in London. http://www.guardian.
co.uk/environment/2008/jan/27/travelandtransport.carbonemissions1
Choose an appropriate tone

1. Look on this article as a conversation you’re having with a colleague.
It doesn’t need a complex structure, or a particularly corporate tone.
2. Remember, this is your website, your discussion, and it’s your voice
you should be using. Some people find that recording out loud to a dictaphone,
and transcribing the results produces more natural text. This is especially useful if you
aren’t used to writing.
3. Once you are happy that you have all the arguments covered, it’s time
to summarize. This is the best time to describe your own feelings and experiences.
4. When you have completed the article, let colleagues read it. Make
amendments and add in extra points, and edit stringently. Check for grammar and
spelling.

5. Now the article’s published, invite others to take part in the debate.
Generating discussion not only widens the topic, but also generates valuable content.
You should participate too. If someone leaves a comment asking a question or seeking
clarification on a point you make then make sure you give reply.
Encourage discussion amongst your visitors by adding a piece of software, such as the
‘Subscribe to Comments’ plugin from Wordpress, to your site. It allows commenters
to choose to receive an email notification when someone responds to one of their
comments.

Review of 8
the year
A review of the year is a great way of creating

keyword rich content.
Resist the temptation to write about What can you write about?
your company and its achievements. There are many topics you could cover. If you were
selling digital cameras you could look at:
As always, write from your customers’ perspective. How
has the year affected your customers’ businesses?
• The way the technologies and industry
standards have changed
Organize a brainstorming session with colleagues to
pinpoint the year’s important events. You may want
to flick through industry publications to help jog your • How prices have varied
memory.
• How changing customer attitudes are
There are several useful websites that will throw up affecting the market for photography
ideas. Check out the The Way Back Machine, a digital equipment — are more customers using cameras on
library that contains website archives. You’ll be able their phones?
to track how the internet has changed over the past 12
months.
• The equipment reviews that have been
published
Another great resource for casting your mind back is
the Economist’s forecast, which will help you work out
whether last year’s economic forecasts matched reality. • Changing market share figures
• Projections of future sales
• Major industry events

The Economist provides forecasts for the year ahead.

Section 2: Recipe No. 8 | Review of the year
• Product launches and models that have been discontinued
Hot Tip • The results of industry awards
• News from related sectors — how have changes on the internet affected digital
Save any industry photography?
publications you
receive. They are likely Alternatively, let’s pretend you are an organic vegetable grower. If sales of organic
to be a useful source of vegetables have gone up, describe why and let readers know what vegetables are
information and ideas now more popular. How have health issues affected interest in your products? And
when you write your
what about your relationships with the major supermarkets — are they stocking more
review.
organic vegetables?
Other factors to consider:

• The effect of different media: Which television programs have been
successful and how have they affected your business? Which are the articles and
newspaper reports that have brought extra customers and inquiries to your market?
• Governmental changes: Your industry may have been affected by regulatory

changes or international events. Most have. Has the government released grants, tax
breaks, or new health and safety measures? Always be thinking and writing about how
your customers have been affected.
• At the end of the article, Take the time to look to the future. If you’re due to
launch a new product, you can speculate about how it might improve your customers’
lives.
Do you talk about yourself more than your customers?

Always write from your customers’ perspective. Internet consultancy, Future Now,
provides a ‘We-We Monitor’ on it site, a free tool that evaluates the text on a web page
and calculates how customer-centric it is.

Report on 9
an event
Every year, companies spend thousands of
marketing dollars sending their employees to
exhibitions, seminars, and training courses. Make
the most of your marketing spend by turning an
event experience into interesting web copy.
Whether you are delivering a speech, • Did any of the speakers make
attending an exhibition, or taking a announcements. A new advertising campaign,
course, there are great opportunities product launch, or sales figures?
for creating keyword rich content for Answer any of these questions and you could have an
your website. article or a good short piece for your blog.
Do your research beforehand and if possible, find
When I have been asked to report on international out what the keynote speakers look like. Usually
conferences, I’ve usually had only a little knowledge of conferences have networking sessions, so use this as an
the subjects being discussed. Yet, by asking questions opportunity to strike up conversation.
— lots of good, open questions — and fitting in as much
research and preparation as I could, it was usually
possible to write good, informative stories. What should you publish?
Think twice about what you publish. If someone gives
Always take notes you new information in a one-to-one conversation, check
that they’re happy for you to publish it before doing so.
During the event, keep a daily diary or Twitter updates. There’s a difference between making an announcement
• Who did you talk to? What kinds of people on-stage to a packed audience and exchanging gossip at
attended the event? the buffet or in the bar.
If there’s a presentation you particularly enjoyed, you

• Was there anything interesting said?
may be able to get permission to reproduce it on your
blog. But the presenter owns the copyright, so only
• Which elements of the discussion irritated republish with permission.
or excited you?

Section 2: Recipe No. 9 | Report on an event
Exhibitions
Hot Tip
Exhibitions are another source of content:
• Could you write an interesting article about your company’s

preparation for the exhibition?
Ask open questions
of the people you meet.
• What products are you exhibiting?
Questions starting with
the words why, what
or how will get people • What do you hope to get from the exhibition?
talking.
• How many people are you expecting to see?
• What should visitors to your stand be expecting?
After the event

• How many sales did you get?
• What was the customer feedback?
• Were you able to network with other companies?
• Who was the best speaker at the event? What made you like them? What did
they say that was so enlightening?
• Would you recommend the event to other companies?
• What tips would you give on surviving an exhibition day?
More adventurous work

At larger events, you might want to ask a member of your team to act as a roving
reporter, responsible for interviewing other attendees, Twittering, blogging, and
producing a review of the event. Take your notepad around the event and speak to the
leading figures:
• What do they feel about the event?

Section 2: Recipe No. 9 | Report on an event
• How does it compare with previous years?
• What products are they promoting?
• Who are their competitors? Compare their presence at the event.
And remember, when name-checking people and businesses, make sure they are
aware that you intend to publish.
And you don’t just have to report on the event itself. Some of the speakers may throw
up article ideas that you can follow up. I went to the 2009 Guardian newspaper summit
in the UK, where industry leaders discussed the future of media. It included a series
of presentations on how newspapers and television production companies will make
money in the future. This sparked an idea for an article I wrote called ‘Would You Pay
to Read Newspapers Online?’
When writing any kind of content, engagement with your audience is the main goal. By
posing different questions and getting your readers involved you will build up a solid
reputation within your industry’s community and become an attractive site to link to.

Jargon buster 10
The Penguin English dictionary defines jargon as:
“language peculiar to one art, trade or branch of
learning.” If an expression is mainly used within
your industry and not outside, it’s jargon.
Using obscure or little-known language Decide your strategy

runs the risk of leaving your customers When you set up your own jargon buster, make sure to
feeling confused and frustrated. provide links to any of your related products. Order your
list alphabetically or with some of the most queried
It’s important to speak in a language your readers words near the top of the list. If you want your jargon
understand. Writing a jargon busting article forces you to buster to be more sophisticated than a list of definitions,
consider the language you use more carefully, helping then check out Ask Oxford, the online Oxford Dictionary,
you to engage with your customers on their level. This which contains clear definitions. If the language in your
can be just a glossary of terms where you mix industry industry doesn’t change very often your glossary of
language with keyword rich phrases. terms should have a long shelf-life.
It can be a good idea to invite people to add to your list

A jargon busting crusade or to offer a comments tool, because as your industry
evolves so too will the language. Or add in the buzz
There are many examples of jargon busters, for
words we love to hate.
accountancy firms, attorney offices, financial advisers,
charities, and marketing consultants. London-based
Digital Strategy Consultancy claims to be on a “jargon-
busting crusade” because jargon is “unnecessary,
Epicurious.com
confusing and a barrier to everyone‘s understanding”. Imagine you run a cookery school website — you could
The firm has developed a booklet that explains have a glossary with links to pages containing definitions
terminology used within its industry. It is 15 pages for carbohydrates, proteins, free range, organic,
long and is fully searchable. Each term is explained E-numbers, trans fats and so on. You could also link
in plain English. Other companies are free to post to recipes that are rich in fiber or low in fat. Check out
it to their own sites. Epicurious.com. It’s a food dictionary that has a list of

Section 2: Recipe No. 10 | Jargon Buster
cookery terms and descriptions of food. Each page links to other relevant pages on
the site.
Hot Tip Business in the Community, an organization which helps businesses make a positive
impact on the communities around them, has a jargon buster too, which may be
useful to have a look at. It gives its members one sentence definitions of business
Get someone terminology, terms such as, ‘cause-related marketing’, ‘green electricity’ and ‘venture
from outside your philanthropy’. Business in the Community has placed its jargon buster in the resource
company — it could section of its website and organized it alphabetically.
be a professional
proofreader, a willing
student, or even your
mom to read through
your site and pick out
the jargon.
Explaning jargon makes great keyword rich content.
Don’t alienate your customers by talking gibberish; educate them and help them join
in with the conversation. All industry is built on dialogue. Jargon or unnecessarily
complex language should never be a barrier to that.

Admit your 11
mistakes
Making mistakes is an inevitable part of owning

and running a business. It is human nature to make
them, and imperative that we learn from them.
It takes an honest and bold person to discuss their mistakes,

poor choices or foolish decisions.
Hot Tip
Even the big guns get it wrong. Remember Sir Richard Branson’s failed Virgin Cola
venture, Donald Trump’s bankrupt businesses, or the PR disaster of Walmart’s fake
blog? Sir Alan Sugar, who’s reputedly worth $1.16bn, once told reporters, “You haven’t
As entrepreneur and
got enough time to listen to my mistakes…In the rest of your life you will not earn 10%
billionaire Donald
Trump said, “If you of the money I’ve lost.” Most successful entrepreneurs and business owners will tell
don’t learn from your you that making mistakes is inescapable when running a business.
mistakes, that’s the
biggest mistake.”
Discuss your mistakes
Cleveland, Ohio has a great online newspaper which has a section called My Biggest
Mistake where small business owners talk about their experiences and, more
importantly, how they overcame them.
Some of the titles include:
‘Our Biggest Mistake Was Not Having a Backup Business Plan’;
‘Broken Machines Put A Wrench In Business Growth’, and
‘New Business In Web Development Tried To Do Too Many Other Things.’
The Chicago Tribune business section used to run a similar series, again called My
Biggest Mistake.

Section 2: Recipe No. 11 | Admit your mistakes
Both newspaper sections tell the stories of business people who sold out too quickly;
hung on too long; failed to manage staff well enough; didn’t communicate with
their customers; ignored their instinct; or paid the price for underestimating their
competition. If you’re brave, you could write about your mistakes. Or there are other
options.
Mistakes other people make

You could offer advice. If you own a web design company do you look at other people’s
websites and cringe? Why? What are they doing that’s so wrong? If you are in PR,
marketing or advertising, I’m sure you can think of a blunder or two to talk about,
either specific industry examples, or general pointers.
Frugal Marketing
Take a look at Frugal Marketing where Keith Price, author of the ‘Copywriter’s
Dirty Little Secret’ e-book writes an article about ‘The Apprentice’, Donald Trump’s
television show. Each week, he highlights contestants’ mistakes and offers marketing
advice. This is a great way of piggybacking a popular television show that attract
millions of viewers and press attention.
Frugal marketing creates content based on the popular television series, ‘The Apprentice’.
How can you use your knowledge and experience to show people how to avoid the
oversights and failures made by others?

Review a book 12
Writing a book review is a great opportunity to
create a keyword rich webpage. And a chance to
give an honest reaction to someone else’s work.
But how do you make sure your critique is both
fair and valuable for your readers?
Question everything and argument I found. Have your notebook open as

you read and note page numbers when you find an
A good review will contain information about the book’s
interesting point or idea. You may want to place ‘post-it’
content and a judgment about how successful the book
notes on important pages. This process makes writing
is. To judge success, you need to know what the author’s
the review easier.
aims are. Research is essential. Find out as much as you
can about the author’s viewpoint and purpose.
Don’t judge a book by its title

I’m going to show how I constructed a review of Mark J
Penn’s ‘Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Today’s When I saw the title, I thought ‘Microtrends’ would be
Big Changes’. Many of the points I make can be applied a dry piece of writing, all technical language and no
to fiction reviews, but I’m primarily concerned with non- color. Let’s be honest, ‘Microtrends’ is hardly a sexy title,
fiction reviews. is it? In reality, I found the book to be interesting and
informative. The fact that the book surprised me formed
I started by reading the blurb on the back, the the basis of my critique, so I chose to lead on that point
introduction and the writer’s biography. The cover of in my introduction.
Penn’s book includes endorsements from Bill Clinton,
the former US President, and Bill Gates, chairman of
Microsoft. Both men were Penn’s former employers, and Good structure is essential
I was able to mention this pertinent fact in the review. Critiquing someone else’s work is a real responsibility.
So, you should think carefully about what you want to
say. Your review should combine analysis of the book’s
Make notes as you read content with a personal response to the subject matter.
My next step was to read the book. However, I did Reviewers will want to know:
so in a particular way, questioning every assumption

Section 2: Recipe No. 12 | Review a book
• What the book is about
• So what – why should they read it?
When writing a review, you should describe the content, analyze how the book tried to
achieve its aims, and express your own reaction to it.

Microtrends
After reading ‘Microtrends’, I scribbled down a rough structure. It’s a great way of
deciding which points you want to cover. Here’s what I wrote:
• Introduction. You should include the title of the book in the opening paragraph.
• Look at the book’s introduction. If it is well written, it will set the tone and
context. Is there anything you can pull out of it that helps you analyze its content in a
wider context?
• A description of the author. Who is he/she? What other books have they
written? Are they an expert in this field?
• What promises does the book make? What are the most appropriate criteria
for judging it?
• What questions or debates does the book raise? How topical or important
is it?
• Are there any problems or difficulties?
• What does the writer say that you disagree with? What has the author left
out?
• Why would anyone read it? Think about your target audience — what are they
likely to think about the book?
• Does it belong to a particular genre? Does it fit into a type - mystery,

romance, or business?
• How does it compare to other books that look at a similar issue? Does
it contain any new opinions? What are they?

Section 2: Recipe No. 12 | Review a book
• Has it changed your mind about anything?
Hot Tip • Conclusion. This is where you should make a clear recommendation to your
readers.
Use this outline to create a basic structure. It’s up to you to fill in the gaps, while
Try to mention the maintaining logical thought and flow. Pick three or four examples from the book that
name of the author back up the points you make.
and the book title in

your introduction — it
is frustrating to read a Hints on writing
review of a book but not
know who wrote it and As a guideline you might want to dedicate the first two-thirds of the review to the
what the title is. author’s main ideas. The remainder of your copy should evaluate the book.
When writing, make sure any quotes you lift from the book are put in quotation marks
(“”). This avoids confusion. When you re-read your drafts, always go back to the page
you have taken the quotes from and double-check for accuracy. The concluding
paragraph should sum up your central argument and judgment. Never introduce a
new idea at this stage.

Pros and cons

If it helps, you can make a list of pros and cons before writing. The most positive point
I made about Penn’s work was that he personalized Microtrends by using his own
experiences in business. I was frustrated, however, by being bombarded with statistics.
I wanted more analysis and included this comment in my review.
Being critical of someone else’s work doesn’t sit comfortably with many people. But,
as a writer you are providing a service. So if you disagree with the author, tell your
readers how you feel. You’ll be providing great material for a debate.
Try to include a few short quotes from the book to illustrate your points. It is a way of
giving your readers a sense of the author’s style.
Once you’ve written a review, take a break. Don’t publish straight away. Have a day or
two away from it. A fresh perspective will help you edit the piece more thoroughly.
Revisit your notes, re-read key chapters of the text, and hone your copy, so that it’s
easy to read, clear and accessible.

Review a 13
product
How do you choose which products you buy?
Do you believe every word the salesman tells
you? Or, do you ask your friends’ and colleagues’
opinions and try to get an independent
assessment before you buy?
Savvy consumers will be looking for magazine that provides news and reviews of Mac
products, gives his thoughts on Leopard.
product reviews. Provide them on your
site and you are likely to attract traffic. In his introduction he sets out the promises Apple
makes in relation to the product, such as improved
security. Snell discusses the major features, using
Decide which product you are going to review. It should headings to break up the review.
be relevant to your market and appeal to a section of
your target audience. In places his language is technical and the article is
long by internet standards (nearly 3,000 words). These
You could look at a new software package, a piece of factors matter less if his readers are technically minded
equipment such as a cell phone, or an experience and already familiar with Mac products. He splits the
such as a museum trip — as long as that’s appropriate review into chunks to make it easier to digest.
for your audience. In his closing paragraph, “Macworld’s buying advice”,
Snell poses the question: are the new features worth
Here’s an example of a product that two writers reviewed $129? His answer is clear. Yes, the features justify
very differently. In October 2007 Apple launched the price.
an updated operating system, Mac 0S X, dubbed

‘Leopard‘, to a worldwide audience. Apple sold over 2
million copies in the first weekend, and this created a Techcrunch
flurry of online activity with people eager to share their
A review by Duncan Riley for Techcrunch.com on Mac’s
experiences.
Leopard takes a less technical approach. He writes in the
first person, making his a much more personal review. At
740 words, the review is much shorter than Snell’s.
Macworld.com
Riley’s approach is more practical. First, he describes
Jason Snell of Macworld.com, an independent online
the installation of the software, “The first thing that

Section 2: Recipe No. 13 | Review a product
threw me was the ‘DVD check’ — a process that took around 20 minutes.” He goes
on to talk about new features like the Finder, Space, and the Time Machine. The
Hot Tip review’s quality is enhanced by the addition of photographs taken from his desktop
that illustrate exactly what he’s talking about. In his summary, he concludes that the
system is well worth the money.
There are two types of

product reviews - stand- Two approaches, two audiences
alone or comparative.
The first focuses on Riley and Snell approach the same product in different ways. They have been written
a single product. The with different audiences in mind.
second evaluates
similar items and helps
readers to choose the Your readers
product that best suits
their needs. Who are my readers? This is the question you should be asking yourself repeatedly
throughout this process. If you are largely talking to an audience of corporate
managers their problems are going to be different from the guy who runs a small
business from home. Your readers are key to the product review, because they will
make a judgment call on whether to purchase the product based on your review.

Content
You can write a review on anything — it doesn’t have to be the latest piece of
technology. You could write about a nearby restaurant, a coffee shop that sells the
best muffins you have ever tasted, or a household appliance you have recently
invested in.
Detailed research is essential. You have to know your subject matter, so that you’re
being fair to the manufacturer, and to yourself. It’s your credibility that is at stake.
Once you have decided on your product, researched it and know the style you want to
adopt, decide on your structure. I have provided some points to consider:
• Headline should include the full product name and version you are
reviewing.
• Introduction should be a short summary of your product review. Give

your readers a taste of what to expect by telling them whether this is going to be a
positive or negative review.

Section 2: Recipe No. 13 | Review a product
• You should set out the claims the manufacturer makes about what
the product does by reading all the material supplied. These provide a
basis for measuring the product’s success.
• Why will your readers be interested in this particular product? What

could they gain from using it? What are their needs and wants? What problems do
they face?
• How does it work? Think about giving a step-by-step description and include
photographs, like Riley did with the Mac Leopard. If you are reviewing software
don’t get too technical. Your readers won’t want to know every cough and spit of an
installation process but they may appreciate a screenshot.
• Show your appreciation or disapproval of the product. You should go

back to the promises the manufacturer makes and express how it lives up to those
promises, or how it doesn’t. A list of pros and cons is a great way to show your readers
exactly what they can expect from the product.
• Make comparisons. Is the product an upgrade of a former model? Is it

better than its predecessors? How does it compare with competitive products — so in
the Mac example, you might want to consider how its operating system compares with
a similarly-priced PC?
• Summarize your opinion in the final paragraph. Is it worth the price tag?
Do this with certainty and conviction, or you will leave your reader confused. Would you
buy it? You should also include a link to the company who makes the product and the
recommended retail price.
Now that you have shared your views with the world, invite others to participate and
get a debate going.

Build a 14
Top 10 list
Readers respond well to Top 10 lists and they are

some of the quickest, easiest articles you can write.
There is a lot of competition out there, so you need to quantity, and more likely to be searched on than other
be able to present your article in an easily accessible numbers. But, you can include any number of points –
way. A list that contains lots of text will be off-putting whatever suits the content.
to many readers. A Top 10 should have short sentences

and shouldn’t be repetitive. You can list top tips, worst
mistakes, or simple bullet points. Keyword research ideas
If you aren’t sure what kind of Top 10 article you
The www.toptenz.net site is dedicated to Top 10 lists.
should be writing, start with some keyword research.
Use either Wordtracker’s paid Keywords tool, or its
free keywords tool.
I typed ‘top ten’ into the Keywords tool and it produced

a list of potential articles. The most popular was Top 10
search engins, but others caught my eye, too. You could
write about the Top 10:
• travel destinations
• supermarkets
• viral emails
• movies
• toys
Toptenz provides great ideas for your own content.
• books to read
It may provide ideas for your business. 10 is a popular

Section 2: Recipe No. 14 | Build a top-10 list
BBC Top 10 list
Hot Tip
In February 2007, ING Direct bank commissioned some research about social signals
that are key indicators of a neighborhood that is “on the up,” with potential for rising
house prices. The BBC carried a news article on what the Top 10 indicators are:
Almost any topic http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6389467.stm

provides plenty of
opportunities for 1. Ethnic cuisine
creating a Top 10 list.
Find the right keywords
and search engine 2. Thicker telephone directories
traffic will flow to your
site. Include the terms
3. Crowded public transport
‘top’ and ‘best’ in your
headlines and title tags.
4. Better school results
5. Neighborhood watch schemes
6. More burglar alarms
7. More skips and scaffolding
8. Graffiti disappearing
9. Planning notices appear
10. More traffic wardens
ING’s timing, not long before house prices started to fall, wasn’t great. But the example
shows how straightforward it is to attract good media coverage for Top 10 lists.
Top 10 things you should know before you blog

In her article, The Top 10 Things You Should Know Before You Blog, Carole Matthews
takes a more in-depth approach to a Top 10 article. Matthews writes 1,400 words, with
each of the 10 headlines in bold, and around 120 to 150 words on each point.
The piece works well because she has done her homework and is able to include a
variety of attributable quotes and links to organizations within the body text.

Section 2: Recipe No. 14 | Build a top-10 list
Use the Top 10 to showcase your talents

Think of your audience when writing. What kind of thing would they like to know? How
can you use your expertise to provide useful tips or share your strategic thinking?
E-consultancy.com, an online marketing and e-commerce site, has published a

series of articles analyzing major UK retailers’ websites. See 10 things Tesco can do
better online. Or 10 things Boots can do better online. Each article is a critique of the
retailer’s site, with tips on how users’ experience could be improved.
You could write a similar article to showcase your skills or products. If you run a yoga
class, explain the Top 10 benefits of yoga. If you run a cookery school, cover the Top 10
meals made with chicken. Or if, like Guy Kawasaki, you are a successful blogger and
venture capitalist, you could write about 10 ways to use LinkedIn to find a job.
Five more ways of benefiting from Top 10 lists

Here are five more ways of benefiting from Top 10 lists
• Invite readers to add to your list – this gives you greater engagement and
interactivity with your audience, and creates additional keyword rich copy.
• Create seasonal lists – for Christmas, Halloween, or Valentines. End of year

round-ups are always popular.
• Include both ‘Top ten’ and ‘Top 10’ in your headline and body copy –
as people will use both terms when searching.
• If you sell advertising, you may want to split the list over more
than one page. You can benefit from optimizing each page separately, but more
importantly, generate page impressions to impress potential advertisers.
• Finally, halve your workload – write a Top 5 list.

Interview an 15
expert
Secure an interview with a respected personality

in your industry and the resulting article is likely
to attract great traffic and links to your site.
How to ask for an interview my dictaphone has run out of battery power or my cell
phone is about to die, so make sure you don’t fall into
Phone or email the person in question with a polite
the same trap.
invitation. Explain your website or blog so they can
judge whether to grant the interview. You should briefly
Where are you doing the interview? Choose a quiet spot
explain who your audience is and why you want the
with as little noise and interference as possible.
interview.
I always like to give the person an indication of the angle The kinds of questions you could ask
the article is going to take. You can offer to email the
interviewee a list of questions. This keeps you focused I interviewed Chris Garrett, an expert blogger, for
on what you want from the interview and puts the Wordtracker’s Academy in July 2008 and here are some
interviewee at ease, because they can prepare for the of the questions I put to him.
interview and research answers in advance.
• On your own blog www.Chrisg.com you have
said that there’s no money in blogging, yet
Before the interview your blog title claims that there’s a six figure
Plan the interview and like any good journalist, do your income to be had. What’s the truth?
research in advance. Read previous interviews the person
has given. Look up the companies they have worked for • How do you blog for dollars?
and the projects they have been involved with.
• What are your blogging tips for someone

Make sure you have a pen, notepad and a dictaphone
to record the interview. There have been a few times starting out?
where I’ve been half-way through an interview and found

Section 2: Recipe No. 15 | Interview an expert
• With millions of blogs out there how can I make sure mine is unique?
Hot Tip • What keyword research do you do before you write your blog entries?
• Is business blogging a waste of time?

Conduct your interview
over the phone rather • How do you manage comments?
than email. A face-to-
face interview works
even better. • On your blog you said the “Build it and they will come” theory is
flawed. Why?
• How do you get other bloggers to link to you?
My research helped me pick up on things that he’s written or said in the past.
In the article I link to Chris Garrett’s own blog. It’s a good practice and will be
appreciated by the interviewee.
The interview
You’ll probably find that the first question is the trickiest. So, get the interview going by
asking about easy questions about the person’s background – how they got into their
profession, or what companies they worked for.
Get to the specific questions you emailed to the expert and make sure you are
listening and taking notes at the same time. Listen carefully! Your interviewee may
give a surprising answer or make a controversial statement, so you need to be ready to
react to that and ask for more detail. Follow up with probing questions: ask why they
feel this way. Or get them to give specific examples.
Structure
You can write up your interview in a question and answer article, like the one I wrote
on Chris Garrett; or you can write it in a structured narrative, such as the article I wrote
on Seth Godin, author of best selling book, Permission Marketing, Turning Strangers
Into Friends And Friends Into Customers.
Use the questions you wrote down as the start of a structure. The introduction should
be a summary of who the interviewee is and why your readers will be interested in
what they have to say.

Section 2: Recipe No. 15 | Interview an expert
At the end of the interview check that the interviewee is happy for you to email them with
any follow-up questions. That gives you a second chance to clarify what they’ve said.
Before publishing
Check your facts before you hit the ‘publish’ button. If your interviewee gives you a
bunch of statistics or mentions a piece of research, check the source to make sure it’s
truthfully and accurately represented.
Once the article’s published, send a polite email to the interviewee notifying them.
Encourage them to link to or Tweet the article, and respond to any comments or
questions it generates.

Write an A-Z 16
This idea is simplicity itself. You can write an A-Z
on almost anything: great products you have used
over the years; tourist attractions in your state;
songs and musicians you admire; or tasty food
and recipes.
Entertain your readers list, so plan your writing before you begin. Have a
brainstorming session with your colleagues and pick a
Many websites have A-Zs in the form of an index, which
broad subject area, so you can fill most of the 26 letters.
makes the site easier to navigate. This can make useful
content, but go one better: aim to create something fun.
Campaigning A-Zs
An A-Z of well designed products A-Zs can be used to promote a variety of causes.
Friends of the Earth, the environmental campaign
I got the A-Z idea from Fast Company magazine, which
group, has an A-Z of different types of wood, the
in October 2007 published an A-Z of well designed
amount used in the UK each year, and whether the
products. The magazine presented each letter alongside
species of tree is under threat.
a product, with its photograph, the product blurb, and
how much it cost. For example:
Sales A-Zs
“M — Method Floor Mop. From the ergonomic pole to
the compostable corn-based cloths, Method is, well Here’s another A-Z, geared towards generating sales.
methodical about smart, sustainable design. It’s non- It lists gift ideas for men who can’t think of what to buy
toxic and naturally derived to protect your home sweet their girlfriends or wives.
home (and everyone in it.) $24.99.”
Note the way that each page is optimized with links to
and from each gift idea.
Plan your list before you begin writing
This is a fairly simple process, as long as you have the
full A-Z. There’s nothing worse than an incomplete

Section 2: Recipe No. 16 | Write an A-Z
Hot Tip
Choose a broad-
ranging topic. You
don’t want to get to the
middle of the alphabet
and realize you have
nothing left to say.
Toptenz provides great ideas for your own content.
A-Z dangers
The main danger in writing an A-Z is that you can labor over it too much. It should be a
quick guide, not a weighty dossier. Try not to get sucked into writing reams of material
— keep to a few sentences for each letter.

Publish your 17
own survey
We all love to read survey results. At least,

journalists often write news stories about them,
which is one indicator of our interest in them.
Do a search on Google News for ‘survey’ and you’ll find What is the real story?
tens of thousands of results. I got 91,000 results just
from the last month: I repeated the search on the New
How might the story and survey results have
York Times and found over 77 stories in that newspaper
benefited their business?
alone from the last seven days.
This hunger for survey results is well known in public
How can you conduct research of the same
relations (PR), and its practitioners regularly feed survey
value?
stories to newspapers and other media. Do a survey
story well and you can create excellent content for
your website, get great coverage, and generate lots of How might others use the information you
inbound links. provide in your results?
You must be careful that your survey is objective and

unbiased. Example 1: Compete survey of
Smartphone users
There are two approaches you can consider. First, you
In March 2009 Compete, a web analytics company,
can comment on other peoples’ surveys. This saves you
published findings on how people use their
all the work of conducting your own. Or, you can conduct
Smartphones such as Blackberries and iPhones. They
your own survey. Let’s have a look at some surveys
found iPhone users spend over three quarters of their
that have created press coverage for the companies
time using their cell phone for personal rather than
that commissioned the research. As you look at these
business use. These findings were picked up by the
examples, ask yourself a number of questions:
New York Times, TechCrunch and Geek.com.
What did the sponsors of the survey want to

achieve?

Section 2: Recipe No. 17 | Publish your own survey
Example 2: Mom Central survey, back to school clothes
Hot Tip
Mom Central (an online parenting community) conducted a survey in August 2009
asking 1400 parents if they were likely to reduce spending on their children’s school
clothes in fall 2009. The results showed only 17% anticipated spending less, but 92%
said they would use special offers or take advantage of discounts. This survey was
Be very clear about picked up by Fox Business and Reuters.
how you’re going to
conduct the survey and
analyze the results. Example 3: Curious Wines blog, wine for wedding day
SurveyMonkey.com is
a simple, inexpensive In September 2009, the Curious wines blog published findings of a wedding survey in
tool to help you carry which it looked into what kinds of wine couples would like for their wedding day. They
out surveys. found that one in four respondents bought wine from online retail shops rather than
from the hotel venue where they were getting married.
Curious Wines’ blog post was picked up and used on other blogs.
These results were picked up by the Wedding Dates blog, which used the survey
results to include a post on five top tips on how to choose wine for your wedding day.

Using survey results

These are just three examples from the many thousands of surveys published every
year. There are bound to be interesting surveys in your area of business, and here’s
how you can use them to create content for your website.
1. If you’re looking to create keyword rich content, you can simply

publish the news release that accompanies the survey. However, many
other sites will do the same - so it is much better to add your own original thoughts
to the news release. (To have news releases emailed to you, sign up to sites such as
www.prweb.com).
2. If the survey confirms the need for the sort of product or service
you’re providing, you can write an article that draws on its results to
highlight the problems you solve and why people should buy from you.
3. You could create an article summarizing the survey results and

adding your own opinions. Disagreeing with survey results or pointing out
weaknesses in a survey can bring attention.
4. You could write a summary of the survey and include it on an

industry resources page.
5. You could use the survey results to give you article ideas. You could
write an opinion piece on one its conclusions.
Researching and publishing your own

market research survey
Commissioning your own survey can be a rich source of content and publicity.
However, it does demand a lot of work to get it right. Here are important questions to
consider:
1. Do you really need to do an original piece of research? Consider whether

you could use surveys that have already been published.
2. Have a clear objective. What do you want to research? What will you do with
the results?
3. Be very clear about how you’re going to conduct the survey and how
you’re going to analyze the results. SurveyMonkey.com, an inexpensive online
research tool, has a handy pdf guide - Smart Survey Design.

4. One of your most important objectives is to remove bias. Many

amateurs ask leading questions such as, “Do you like the friendly attitude of our
customer service staff ?” This question assumes the friendly attitude. It would be
much better to ask, “Do you think our customer service staff are: friendly, average or
unfriendly?”
5. Make sure that you:
• Publish the full results on your own website or blog.
• Write and distribute an accompanying press release, linking to the

results on your site.
• Send copies of the results to key influencers and bloggers in your

industry.
• Use the survey results as inspiration for further articles.

Finally, if your survey is successful, consider turning it into a regular event, as
LonelyPlanet.com does with its Annual Travellers’ Pulse Survey.

Observe 18
Active observational skills can enhance the quality

of your website content.
Godin: A master in observation cares, you’ve got trouble. Goal one is getting people to
care. Goal two is listening to them.”
Marketing guru Seth Godin is a prolific writer. His
Typepad blog is consistently in Technorati’s list of most
popular blogs. Why is this? I’ll stick my neck out and say Brain training
it’s not because he’s the world’s greatest writer: that’s
not what makes him a success. It’s his acute attention In the past Godin has written about a local restaurant
to detail and observational skills that have made him a closing down, poorly designed branding he’s noticed on
‘guy in the know’. He’s seen as someone who is keenly the street, queues outside a car rental shop, and even
aware of his industry and understands the trends and the way a bought sandwich was prepared. Godin’s secret
challenges for marketers. He doesn’t just ignore what’s to success…he asks why?
going on around him, he actively observes and analyzes
it. Godin doesn’t go to a baseball game, a restaurant, or Too many of us observe passively. Rarely do we
get into a taxi without thinking about the ways in which question why something is the way it is. In a world
his choices have been marketed to him. His brain is where we are bombarded with images, slogans and
never ‘off’. advertising, the general hubbub of life whizzes past us
in a blur. To harness these experiences for your website
One of Godin’s blog posts focuses on a trip he made you have to train your brain to put ordinary experiences
to the Apple store in New York. He writes about his into sharp focus.
experience of walking through the door - nothing about
the software, the gadgets on the shelves, or even the
store layout. Godin dedicates a post to the fact that From observation to search engine
the door didn’t automatically shut behind him. This is optimization
Godin’s opportunity to talk about customer care in its Take a single word or phrase from your observation and
truest sense. He says: “It’s the customers that care who enter it into Wordtracker’s Keywords tool.
actually have a huge impact on your business. If no one

Section 2: Recipe No.18 | Observe
Hot Tip
For a master class

in the power of
observation check
out Seth Godin. This
self-made marketing
expert uses everyday
experiences to
comment on sales and
marketing.
A search on the term ‘mini motos’ in Wordtracker’s Keywords tool.
The tool’s Related Keywords search will find hundreds of topics you could write about.
Here is an example:
1. Your business sells a mini-size motorbike, known as a ‘mini moto’.
2. Type ‘mini moto’ into the Related Keywords tool and you will find
related words such as pit bike, mini bike, and pocket bike.

Section 2: Recipe No.18 | Observe
3. Use each of these phrases as seed keywords in the Find Keywords

tool and you’ll discover a whole world of possible content - enough for
thousands of pages of writing.
Back your observation up with research

Let’s go back to Godin. He is excellent at pinpointing problems and providing
interesting solutions in an informative, chatty tone. In some blog posts he quotes
experts, finds statistics to support his arguments, gives examples and links to sources.
Yet the depth of his lateral thinking rarely ventures beyond 300 words.
Get inspired
As Yogi Berra, former New York Yankees baseball player, said: “You can observe a lot
just by watching.” Develop the habit of active observation. Practice it.

Use an 19
inspirational
quotation
“…what is the use of a book” thought Alice,
“without pictures or conversations?”
This quotation is taken from ‘Alice In Wonderland’ by asks me include plenty of color in an article, they are
Lewis Carroll. A quotation can be a great basis for an asking for descriptive, emotional language. So, I use
article. This quotation tells us a lot about why and how plenty of adjectives, or describing words.
we write.
Think of Alice’s Wonderland. It is filled with fantastic
The literal meaning suggests that we should include color and imaginative description. And is so much more
pictures such as photographs, graphics, or illustrations. interesting than most business writing.
You should also think about creating visual images with
the words you use. Try to write as though you’re having a
conversation with a friend. Conversations
Many business writers could benefit from making their
writing more conversational, and less formal. Pose
Building pictures questions. Engage. Ask your readers to think.
When you read a novel it’s often possible to visualize
the story. This is because the author will have chosen A good way of doing this is through an opinion piece
their words carefully. The same concept applies to good based around a quotation.
business writing. So, how do you translate what you see
into words on a page for someone else to read?
Comment is free
A good quotation isn’t dependent on the person who
A splash of color said it. It doesn’t matter if it comes from a football
In journalistic terms many editors will talk about color. pundit, a politician or a pop star – it is your interpretation
They don’t mean white, green and brown , but a vivid that will interest readers. Here are some quotations you
description that brings the story to life. When an editor could use in your writing:

Section 2: Recipe No. 19 | Use an inspirational quotation
“You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side.” W. E. Gladstone, British
Liberal politician and Prime Minister.
Hot Tip “Things are seldom what they seem. Skim milk masquerades as cream.” W. S. Gilbert,
English writer of satirical verse.
‘Learn to write well, or “The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.” Tony Blair,
not to write at all.’ John British Labour politician and Prime Minister.
Sheffield, 1st Duke
of Buckingham and
Normanby. “The thing with high-tech is that you always end up using scissors.” David Hockney,
English artist.
“I always say, keep a diary, and some day it’ll keep you.” Mae West, American film
actress.
“Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” Gore Vidal, American

novelist and critic.
“Three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write.” Anthony Trollope,
English novelist.
“A hungry man is not a free man.” Adlai E. Stevenson, American Democratic politician.
“The chief business of the American people is business.” Calvin Coolidge, 30th
President of the USA.
And, of course, no list of quotations would be complete without reference to the

playwright Oscar Wilde:
“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”
“I can resist everything except temptation.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written,
or badly written.”
There is a useful list of business quotations at Woopidoo.

Make a video 20
Videos make great content for your website. Use

them to show your customers the full potential of the
products you sell, or showcase your own expertise.
Show customers how to use products Show what products can do

You can’t underestimate the power of video. Lauren The champions of video are Blendtec with their Will It
Luke’s career is based on uploading great content. In Blend? videos. I’ve mentioned them elsewhere, but it’s
2007 she began uploading tutorials to YouTube, the free worth noting how often they choose to blend items that
video site, on how to apply makeup. Luke now has more are popular and frequently searched. They blended the
than 295,000 subscribers and her channel has been iPhone when it was first launched; they blend computer
viewed more than 8 million times. Such success led her games and the latest cameras. They do this to capture
to launch her own cosmetic line in April 2009. If you work the online traffic that is generated by people searching
in an industry where people need to be shown how to for these sought-after items. They also take requests
use your products, video could offer a great opportunity. from their viewers, which means there’s another layer of
interaction. Ask your customers what they want to see.
Similarly, National Web Design shows people how to
improve their web design skills. This is helpful, not
only to customers, but also as a way of educating and Video interviews
engendering trust in prospective customers. The site
You may want to be more adventurous and use videos to
includes a six part series on web design through a
interview people. EConsultancy.com does this well. The
content management system that has attracted many
digital marketing and e-commerce site has a YouTube
thousands of views. Note how the company responds
channel, which is mainly made up of videos with its
to comments, which further engages customers. The
own experts or relevant guests. Next time you attend a
videos are kept to under 10 minutes. If you have a
conference or discussion, you may want to create a video.
complicated or in-depth video, you might want to split
it into more manageable chunks.

Publish a 21
press release
Every day journalists receive press releases from
companies and organizations that will never be used,
because the author has failed to understand the basic
principles of communicating with the press.
By adhering to a few basic tenets, If you are directing the journalist to other areas of your
site, remember never to use ‘click here’ as the text
and by using keywords to optimize
in your link. You are wasting a valuable opportunity
the content, you can gain the press for optimization - use a keyword instead. For more
attention your company deserves. information about how to optimize your pages, see
day four of Wordtracker’s ‘Profit from Keywords’ video
Headline series.
Never use puns in an online headline. Google works

literally – it doesn’t understand puns, can’t pick up a play Structuring your press release
on words, and is confused by poor English. So, be literal,
The lead (lede or standfirst) is the first paragraph. It
direct and punchy.
should be a summary of the story you are about to tell.
News writing is structured around an ‘inverted pyramid’
Optimize your press releases which means the most important elements of the story
should be at the top, and as you move down the copy
with keywords
the information becomes less important.
Carry out some keyword research to make your release
search engine friendly. Find out what phrases are best Let’s look at VisitScotland - Scotland’s tourist board - to
used with the product or service your press release see how it does press releases. A copy of its release is
refers to. If you’ve already done some keyword research here. From a search perspective, there are a couple of
for your website, you should have an idea of what works. points I would amend. The headline reads:
It’s a good idea to use these keyword phrases where ‘Scotland gets the big screen treatment in major
they work best - in headlines, subtitles, tags and links. campaign to attract English visitors.’

Section 2: Recipe No. 21 | Publish a press release
The headline could be clearer. What does ‘big screen treatment’ mean? Look at it
from the viewpoint of the search engine; Google doesn’t know how to interpret this. An
Hot Tip alternative might be: ‘Cinema advert set to attract English visitors to Scotland.’ It’s not
the most striking headline ever written, but a search engine will ‘understand’ it.
Spend as much time I would rewrite the lead paragraph, too

writing your headline
as your main copy. It Hollywood director Peter Webber has filmed a new advert set in Barra which was
is the headline that premiered in UK cinemas as part of a major campaign to attract English tourists.
determines whether
you get the reader’s I have written it to satisfy the search engine’s need for clarity and a basic rule in news
attention. writing: the five Ws that I’ve mentioned before, which are often accompanied by
‘how?’.
• Who? Hollywood director Peter Webber
• What? A new cinema advert
• Where? UK cinemas
• Why? To attract more English tourists
• When? Friday
After the introduction

Look back at the five W’s and ‘how?’, and use them to flesh out the rest of the press
release. Remember, the body of the copy should be the interesting detail. The
background stuff comes towards the end.
Avoid technical language

You shouldn’t assume the journalist is someone who knows a lot about your industry,
so don‘t use jargon. Journalists hate having to translate awkward or complicated copy,
so don’t make their jobs any harder.
Quotes
Using quotes is sometimes the best way of explaining why a product is so good, why
a new report is beneficial, or why an acquisition is exciting. I would say that the quote

should contain between 50 and 75 words. It should add something to the story, and
not merely repeat what you have already stated. Remember, this isn’t an opportunity
to make a sales pitch - so no corporate speak.
Vital content
There are some things you should always have in your press release.
• Your company brand should be highly visible.
• Date the press release in a universally understood way - Monday 10

November 2008 - not 11/10/08, as it will be understood differently in different
countries.
• Be clear and specific. Instead of writing “Today we launched our new product”
write in “Today (Monday 10 November) we launched …” so that there’s no confusion.
• Embargo? An embargo means that the journalist cannot print the story before a
certain date and time.
• It’s a good idea to have the company name as the sender, rather than,
say, John Doe.
• The subject heading is crucial as it will give the journalist a clear

indication of what the press release is about, so this is where you should
choose your keywords carefully.
• Contacts. It is imperative to put contact details at the bottom of your press release,
and don’t forget about out-of-hours contacts – for example, a cell phone number.
• Make yourself available. It’s very frustrating for a journalist who wants to
expand on a good press release when the person they need to quote is out of the
office or held up in meetings all day.
• Notes to Editors. This section comes at the close of your press release. It is
background information on your business. It can include things like your aims, the
size of your company, the number of awards your company has won, or indeed some
background on you if you are a small business owner. It is a good idea to provide links
to other areas of your site which may be useful - ‘FAQs’, and ‘About Us’.

• Photographs. Be prepared for a journalist to ask you for a photograph. Have a

high resolution picture available to email.
More top tips

• You are more likely to get coverage if you offer your story exclusively
to one publication. If you give an exclusive, think of follow-up stories that
maximize coverage.
• Know the publication. If you have embargoed a story for Tuesday, why are you
sending it to Sunday newspapers?
• Double-check all statistics and spelling of names. Mistakes make

journalists think you are sloppy and likely to get things wrong.
• If you think you have a great story on your hands and it doesn’t get
picked up, phone the journalist and ask why. Maintain a friendly tone and ask
why your story wasn’t used. You should get great feedback for next time you have a
story to promote and you’ll start to build a relationship with the journalist.

The Wordtracker Academy
Free articles, case studies, tips and tricks to help you grow your online business
through effective keyword research and search engine optimization.
Gain a clear advantage over your competitors by becoming an expert at search engine
optimization and keyword research. We’ve commissioned some of the world’s best
online marketing and SEO professionals to be your guides.
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Publication details
Written by Rachelle Money, Mark Nunney and Ken McGaffin
Produced and published in November 2009
ISBN number: 978-0-9561475-3-0
© Wordtracker LLP
Unit 11-12 Apollo Studios, Charlton Kings Road,
London NW5 2SB United Kingdom
CEO: Andy Mindel
Design/production: Shilpa Patel and Neil Gardiner
Sub-editors: Julie McNamee
Chief marketing officer: Ken McGaffin
Marketing manager: Justin Deaville

001 Skill Builder S.E.O Keywords Resource Download

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The

Section 2: Recipes (by Rachelle Money)  28

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 2

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

No. 17: Publish your own survey 77

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 3

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Writing Kick-Ass Website Sales Copy

Find out more at:

Find out more at:

50 Kick-Ass Keyword Strategies

Find out more at:

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 4

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

• Content creates a buzz in social media. Have

• Content attracts search engines. Publish

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 6

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 7

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 8

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

The headline is the most important part of your content

• Don’t force readers to read the story in order to understand the

Your first paragraph is the second most important part

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 9

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

For example, the lede of this article is:

It starts with a benefit:

“…get noticed, get read and get customers …”

… and then comes a summary of how to achieve that:

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 10

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 11

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

5. What external resources (if any) should you link to?

Writing tasks step by step

2. Write the sub-headings

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 12

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

like to map out the sub-headings before I’ve written anything.

3. Write the summary

4. Write each paragraph

5. Write notes on the key points

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 13

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Answer these questions: Take these actions:

2. What are your primary and 3. Write the summary

4. What other articles that you’ve

5. What external resources (if any)

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 14

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Focus your page’s SEO on a primary Wordtracker can help you

Don’t be afraid to target quite ambitious keywords. You

For example, a page might focus its SEO on the phrase

A search on ‘business strategy’ in Wordtracker’s Keywords tool.

Wordtracker.com The Web Content Recipe Book | 15

Prepared exclusively for Louise Taylor

Use your target keywords in these specific places

• Page title tag

Now let’s look at each of those positions...

Page title tag

Make sure to include keywords in your page’s title tag.

Section 2: Recipes (by Rachelle Money) 28

No. 17: Publish your own survey 77