3 ultra-short tips to improve your website [Vol. 5]

Raise your hand if you want to read yet another in-depth article that will give you lots of homework.

What, no hands?

I guess it's because you're still busy making your website faster while slaughtering your drop-down menus, huh.

Well, you are in luck, because this week is the week of the ultra-short tips to improve your website instead.

Tip #1. How to write a great first sentence

...or as Henneke Duistermaat puts it "How to Captivate Hurried Readers with a Magic Opening Line".

Henneke urges us:

• To make it short.
• To not say something obvious, chliché or dull.
• Instead:
  • to say something unexpected or funny
  • to ask a question

I'd add one more way to instantly capture your readers' attention with the first sentence: Empathy.

Especially if it's a complicated topic your readers may dread or a topic that many others also have written about, show your readers that you get that and promise that your post isn't yet another yawn-inducing 3000-word monster.

(It may be a 3000-word funny monster. But you don't need to tell them that right away. One sentence at a time.)

Example #1:

"Uuu, website optimization! How exciting!", said no website owner ever.

...is the first sentence from my post about optimizing your website for speed (something only few people enjoy, myself excluded).

Example #2:

All website owners of this world have one thing in common: We are obsessed with our statistics.

...is the first sentence from a post about UTM parameters, which gets read and shared, despite the boring topic (I know! I'm surprised myself!).

Tip #2. How to instantly see if you have a chance to rank for a keyword

I don't think I've ever written a post without doing keyword research first.

I don't let Google tell me what to write about orhow to do it, but if I have a topic in mind I check with Google to decide what exact phrase to target so that it will reach more people.

I also don't write anything I know I have no chance to rank for on page #1 soon. As they say, the page #2 of Google search results is the best place to bury a body because nobody will look there.

This approach helps me grow my organic traffic week after week.

Here's how to instantly decide if you have a chance to rank for a keyword:

• Install Moz bar (a free Chrome add-on that among other things shows you domain authority numbers).
• Google the keyword you have in mind.
• Press a couple of times on the Moz bar icon till you see the domain authority numbers appear under every search result.

Like this:

So, if you're trying to rank for "how to write great copy", your domain authority should be between 45 and 97.

#bummer

On the plus side, you didn't have to waste an hour on keyword research to find that out.

I picked up this tip from one out of 5 video podcasts I've ever watched in my life where Barry Feldman talks to Andy Crestodina (you can listen to it here).

Tip #3. How to decide if you should publish your content on X platform

You're a small business owner. You don't have the time to be everywhere. Yet, you'll see dozens of blog posts urging you to post here or republish your content there.

Which may or may not be a good idea.

So, before you cave under the peer pressure, ask yourself:

• whether that content platform fits your niche
• whether your target audience uses it
• whether your presence there will help you meet your goals.

An example:

One of my business goals is to create more content to see my organic traffic grow every month. This needs time, and at the end I don't have much of it left to do other things.

Should I start posting on Pinterest?

If I did, it would require me to create more visual content and build an audience.

Which takes time.

Which I don't have and would have to borrow it  from publishing organic posts.

Which would mean less monthly growth in organic traffic.

Which doesn't fit my business goals.

And that's why I'm not on Pinterest.

It may be different for you, but you should always ask yourself these 3 questions before investing time and effort into a new content platform.

This tip has been brought to you by Express Writers and their article re data-driven answer on where to publish content.

***

This will be all from me for this week.

Warm greetings from cloudy Germany,

Gill

P.S. Two weeks ago, I started posting on LinkedIn. You know, the supposedly uptight network where you have to suit up for your profile pic. 

Funny story: I've spent my first Thursday there answering comments till my fingers started to hurt. (Although I still get a little scare every time when I get a notification saying this important looking person in a suite commented on my post).

Are you on LinkedIn? Join me there! If I may not remember you, drop me a line saying you've been putting up with my newsletters, and I'll accept your invite.