Website SEO, simple content marketing: regular updates of quality articles

After the completion of the layout of the links, the site has the external attraction and weight to enhance the foundation, but to achieve long-term steady growth in traffic, the core also lies in the "content marketing" - through the regular release of high-quality articles of value to the user, not only to continue to attract search engine crawling included, but also to retain visitors and promote their conversion. For newcomers, content marketing does not require a complex planning program, the key is to master the core logic of "precise selection, efficient creation, optimization in place", so that each article becomes a vehicle for attracting traffic and building trust. In this section, we will teach you how to do simple and efficient content marketing from content positioning, topic selection skills, creation methods to publishing and maintenance.

First, why is content marketing the "foundation" of a new station?

Many newbies mistakenly think that "a good website and good promotion is enough", but ignore the content is the "soul" of the site. For new sites, the value of regularly updating quality articles is far beyond imagination:

• Continuously attracting search engine listings: Search engines like "active websites", regularly updated content will allow search engines to crawl your site frequently, not only can quickly include new articles, but also to enhance the weight of the old page. Data shows that the website that updates 2-3 quality articles per week, the inclusion speed is 4 times faster than the website that does not update, and the probability of keyword ranking is 60%.
• Generate free long-tail traffic: A high-quality article can cover multiple "long-tail keywords" (such as "WordPress website building tutorial" can cover "how to use WordPress to build a website for newbies" "WordPress website building step by step", etc.), these keywords, although the individual traffic is not high, but the combination of a stable pool of free traffic can be formed, and the conversion rate is very high (users search for long-tailed words more accurate demand).
• Build user trust and stickiness: When users enter your website through search or sharing, if they can find quality articles that solve their problems, they will recognize your professionalism and then pay attention to the website, repeat visits or even conversion (e.g., purchase of products, consulting services). Research has shown that after users read more than 3 consecutive quality articles, their trust in the website will increase by 75%.
• Empowering other promotional channels: Social media sharing, link exchange and other promotional methods, all need quality content as a carrier. Without good articles, social media sharing lack of attraction, link exchange is also difficult to obtain each other's recognition (peers are more willing to link valuable content site).

Core Cognition: The essence of content marketing is not 'talking about yourself' but 'solving problems for users'. Beginners do not need to pursue gorgeous writing, just make sure that each article can provide users with specific value (e.g., knowledge, tips, information), which is successful content marketing.

Second, the newbie must know: the 3 core principles of content marketing

Newbie to do content marketing is most likely to fall into the "blind creation" of the misunderstanding, in advance to clarify the following 3 principles, can let you take less 90% detours:

1. Precise positioning: focusing on the needs of target users: The content must be around the theme of your site and the needs of the target user to develop (such as photography blogs only write photography skills, equipment reviews, the official website of the enterprise only write industry knowledge, product solutions), to avoid the release of content unrelated to the theme (such as building a tutorial site to write the food practices), otherwise it will lead to user turnover and search engine determined that the content of the clutter.
2. Prioritizing value: giving users something to 'take away': Each post should give the user something to take away - it could be "learn a trick" (e.g. "3 steps to optimize WordPress site speed"), "get a piece of information" (e.g. "2024 WordPress premium theme recommendations"), "solve a problem" (e.g. "WordPress backend What to do if you can't log in"). Avoid posting "watermarks" with no substance (e.g. "10 benefits of building a WordPress website").
3. Frequency stabilization: building user and search engine expectations: Newbies do not need to pursue day-to-day, but to maintain a stable update frequency (such as 1-2 articles per week), which allows users to form the habit of "regular visits", but also allows the search engine that the site "continues to be valuable". It is recommended to fix the update time (such as every Wednesday, Sunday release), and in the home page of the website labeled "update calendar", to enhance user expectations.

III. Step-by-step teaching: the whole process of operation from topic selection to publication

The core process of content marketing is "topic selection → creation → optimization → publication → maintenance", each link has a newbie can directly apply the skills, the whole process does not require professional marketing knowledge:

Stage 1: Accurate Topic Selection - Make the article self-traffic (the most critical part for newbies)

Selection of the topic determines the article's traffic potential, newcomers do not need to imagine out of thin air, with the following 3 methods will be able to find users are willing to look at, the search engine is willing to include the selection of the topic:

Method 1: Start with user pain points (highest converting selections)

The most common keywords that users enter when searching are "problem solving" keywords, and by choosing topics around these pain points, the article comes with a high conversion rate.

1. Channels for finding pain points: Industry communities / forums: in the peer WeChat group, QQ group, Zhihu topic, to see what users often ask questions (such as WordPress group common "plugin conflict how to do" "how to restore the site has been hacked").
2. Search Engine Dropdown Box/Related Searches: In Baidu and Bing search for industry core keywords (e.g. "WordPress website builder"), the dropdown box and the "related searches" at the bottom of the page are the questions often asked by the users (e.g. "How much money do you need to build a website with WordPress" "WordPress website building tutorials for novices").
3. Competitor article comment section: look at similar quality website article comment section, user questions and feedback are ready-made selection (such as a station-building blog article under a user asked "how to add a message function to the site", you can write a tutorial around this issue).
4. Selection formula (direct application): Tips category: "Learn XX in XX steps" (e.g. "Add social sharing buttons to your WordPress site in 3 steps").
5. Problem solving category: "What to do about XX problems" (e.g., "What to do if WordPress website images don't show up").
6. Recommendation category: "XX Recommendations for 2024" (e.g. "Recommendations for Must-Have WordPress Plugins for Newbies in 2024").
7. Comparison category: "XX vs XX: which one is more suitable for newbies" (e.g. "Astra theme vs GeneratePress theme: which one is more suitable for newbies to build a website").

Method 2: Keeping up with industry hotspots (short-term traffic bursts)

Combined with the industry hot topic selection, can quickly get high exposure, suitable for boosting short-term website traffic.

• Channels to find hot spots: Industry public numbers, Weibo industry topics, official WordPress blogs (focus on version updates, new feature releases).
• operating skill: Publish relevant articles within 24 hours after the hotspot occurs, and add hotspot keywords in the title (e.g., after WordPress releases version 6.5, you can write "Detailed explanation of the new features of WordPress version 6.5: is it worth upgrading for newbies").

Method 3: Create a 'series of articles' (to increase user stickiness)

Splitting a core topic into a series of multiple articles enables users to visit consecutively, increasing stickiness and revisit rates.

• give an example: The website builder blog can be a "WordPress Beginner's Series", including "domain name registration tutorials" "server purchase guide" "WordPress installation steps" "theme setup skills" and other articles, and at the end of each article to guide the user to read the next one.

Stage 2: Efficient Creative Writing - even a novice can write a quality article in 1 hour

Newbies don't need to worry about writing, use the 'Structured Creative Writing Method' and fill in the content according to the framework of 'Beginning→Body→End' to write quality articles quickly:

1. Opening: 3 seconds to grab the user's attention

The beginning needs to directly point out the value of the article, so that users will want to continue to read, recommended 3 kinds of newbie-friendly beginning:

• Pain point introduction: Directly state the user's problem (e.g. "Many newbies will encounter the problem of slow loading images when building a website, which not only affects the user experience, but also reduces the search engine rankings - today's article teaches you 3 simple techniques to solve the problem of slow loading images in 5 minutes").
• Results front-loading: Tell the user what they can get from reading it (e.g. "Today's tutorial, newbies can learn to add a contact form to their WordPress site by following along, no code required throughout, 10 minutes to get it done").
• Data support: Enhance persuasive power with data (e.g., "Statistically, 70% of new sites have lost a large number of users because they didn't optimize their images, resulting in site loading speeds of more than 5 seconds - this article teaches you how to optimize your site for 60% through image optimization").

2. Main body: structured presentation for users to understand and use

The main section is the core of the essay and needs to be logical and step-by-step to avoid clutter:

• point by point commentary: Use subheadings to split the content into multiple parts (e.g., tutorial articles are divided into "Step 1: XXX" and "Step 2: XXX"), each part focuses on a core content, and the paragraphs should not be too long (no more than 3 lines per paragraph for mobile reading).
• combine graphics and text: Each step of the operation with a screenshot (with WeChat screenshots, Snipaste and other tools), so that users can follow the operation (such as talking about theme settings, screenshot a theme settings interface diagram, labeled with the buttons that need to be clicked).
• easy understand the language: Avoid jargon, if you must use it, give an explanation (e.g., instead of saying "SSL certificate", say "letting the website address show the security certificate of https can improve trust and ranking").

3. Closing: leading users to action (increasing interaction and conversion)

The end needs to guide the user to interact or take further action to enhance the site's stickiness, recommending 3 types of guidance:

• Question and Answer Interaction：引导用户留言（如「你在优化网站图片时遇到过什么问题？欢迎在评论区留言，我会一一回复」）。
• content guide: Recommended related articles (e.g., "In addition to image optimization, cache settings can also significantly improve site speed, you can read this "WordPress Cache Plugin Settings Tutorial" if you want to learn more about it").
• Conversion guidance: Guide users to follow or get resources (e.g. "If you find this tutorial useful, welcome to follow my website, which will be updated with 3 website building tips every week; reply with the keyword "Plugin Packs" to get 5 essential WordPress plugins for newbies for free").

Stage 3: Content Optimization - Making Articles More Search Engine Friendly

After creation, simple SEO optimization can make the article rank higher in search engines and get more free traffic, newbies focus on doing the following 3 points:

1. Keyword layout (core optimization points): Determine 1 core keywords (e.g. "WordPress image optimization skills"), in the article title, the first paragraph of the beginning, the end of the article appears 1 time each, the main part of the natural interspersed 2-3 times (to avoid hard stacking).
2. Match 2-3 long-tail keywords (e.g. "WordPress image compression methods" "What to do with slow loading website images") that appear naturally in the main subheading or paragraph.
3. Image optimization (to improve speed and inclusion): Add "alt tags" to each image (with Yoast SEO plugin, fill in when the image is uploaded, the content contains core keywords, such as "WordPress image compression step by step screenshot") to help search engines understand the content of the image.
4. Compress image sizes (use free tools like TinyPNG to compress them to avoid oversized images slowing down the site).
5. Internal link building (boosting page weight): Add 2-3 links to other related articles in the article (e.g., link to "Cache Setting Tutorial" when talking about image optimization), so that the search engine can crawl the content of the website more comprehensively.

Stage 4: Publishing and Promoting - Getting more people to see your posts

It doesn't end when the article is published, you can double your traffic by simply promoting it, newbies focus on doing the following 3 things:

1. In-site promotion: Add new articles to the "Latest Articles" module on the home page of your website so that visitors can see them at a glance;
2. Add internal links to relevant old articles that point to the new article, directing visitors to the old article to read the new content.
3. Social Media Promotion: Share the article to WeChat friends circle, industry groups, microblogging and other platforms, with a short testimonial (e.g. "A must-see for newbies! This WordPress image optimization tutorial, 10 minutes to learn, so that the site speed up 60%, with detailed step-by-step screenshots ~ Link: XXX").
4. If you have a WeChat public number, you can slightly modify the article and publish it to the public number to guide the public number fans to visit the website.
5. Link promotion: Send links to quality new articles to your peers who are exchanging links, invite each other to read and share them, and if the other party finds them valuable, they may recommend your articles on their websites, bringing additional traffic.

Fourth, content maintenance: let the old articles continue to bring traffic

The value of quality articles goes beyond the traffic they receive at the time of publication, and with regular maintenance, older articles can continue to bring in traffic and even rank over newer articles:

1. Regular updates of old articles: For time-sensitive articles (e.g., recommendations, tutorials), update the content (e.g., replace outdated plug-in recommendations, add new operating procedures) every 3-6 months, and re-publish after updating, the search engine will re-crawl and improve rankings.
2. Example: "WordPress Plugin Recommendations" released in 2023 can be updated to "WordPress Plugin Recommendations 2024" in 2024 by replacing the plugins that have stopped being maintained and adding new quality plugins that have come out.
3. Reply Comment Interactive: Timely response to user questions in the comments section of an article not only improves user stickiness, but also allows search engines to consider the article as "interactive and valuable", indirectly improving rankings.
4. Data review optimization: Through Baidu statistics, WordPress background "article" data, to see which articles have a high number of visitors, long stay, high conversion rate, and subsequently release more articles of similar themes;
5. For articles with low visits, analyze the reasons (e.g., imprecise topic selection, poor optimization) and revise or replace them.

Fifth, the common misunderstandings of novices and avoid the pit guide

1. Misconception: Pursuing "perfection" before releasing, resulting in low update frequency

Beginners do not need to wait until the article is "flawless" before releasing, first ensure that "valuable + stable updates", and then gradually optimize the writing and structure. Excessive pursuit of perfection will lead to interruptions in updates, which will affect the trust of search engines and users.

2. Misunderstanding: plagiarism or washing of manuscripts, seem to save effort but actually destroy the station

The search engine has zero tolerance for plagiarism, washing content, once detected, the article will be downgraded or even the site is punished. Beginners even if they write simple, to ensure that 100% original, can refer to the ideas of peer articles, but must be re-created in their own language and case.

3. Misconceptions: focusing on quantity at the expense of quality

Instead of releasing 5 pieces of worthless "hydrology" every week, you should release 1 quality article every week. Search engines and users are more important to the quality of content, 1 quality article brings traffic and weight, far more than 10 pieces of hydrology.

4. Misunderstanding: do not promote after the release, sitting and waiting for the traffic to come to the door

The initial weight of the new station is low, only by the search engine included in the traffic is limited, after the release must be actively promoted through social media, links and other channels, so that the article to get the initial traffic, the search engine will pay more attention and improve the ranking.

wrap-up

The core of content marketing is not 'write a lot' but 'write right' - pinpoint the needs of your target users, create valuable articles with a structured approach, and then make each article a 'traffic engine' for your website through simple promotion and continuous maintenance. For newbies, there is no need to be afraid to create, start with a short tutorial that solves a small problem, keep a steady update of 1-2 articles per week, and you will see a significant increase in website traffic in 3-6 months.

At this point, all the bases have been covered for the launch and promotion of the website.