You tried. Yet, you failed. You tried again. It’s still not working. Give me 10 minutes and I’ll teach you how.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Rest assured that any program or product I promote is recommendable. No BS.

You’re determined to make money online. Probably, you’ve seen a lot of sponsored ads on social media encouraging you to try blogging and all that stuff. 

Perhaps, you heard from a friend who succeeded in affiliate marketing and blogging as income sources. These success stories spark your curiosity about how this works. 

Here’s the fun fact: It’s not just because you start blogging. It’s more than that. If you think you expect success when you simply bought a web hosting package, it’s not.

If you choose to stay with me for the next 10 minutes, I’ll explain how these people achieved so much with their blogs. 

Over the past 6 years of writing online, I have studied tens of thousands of content and observed how successful bloggers create their blog posts and other varieties of content. 

Take note: These bloggers earned 6-figures at least through their blogs.

After almost 10 years of digging into their content, I compiled the top observations and made them simpler so you can apply them immediately. 

It’s not a mystery anymore. There’s no need to write and hope that your content will gain traffic and convert users to loyal fans. 

The secret has been debunked. 

And you’re about to uncover the secrets I have never told anyone about. 

You will find the answers as to how they generate money from writing pieces of content and earn 6-figures from blogging alone. 

Did they simply write and hit publish and that’s it? You will know the answers to the end. So, stay tuned. 

To uncover the mystery of a 6-figure content, we’ll go through these objectives:

1. Learn the step-by-step process of how you can stand out from the crowd, attract loyal fans, and gain influence in the public domain.
2. Implement the strategies on your content and bolster its fullest potential by knowing the secret sauce most successful content has that yours don’t have. 

These conditions apply even if you aren’t a native English-speaking writer. 

I’m no American. I’m a Filipino who’s been trying so hard to compete globally against better writers. 

But I remain competitive. 

Many companies offered me writing jobs and writing opportunities. I earned more than $5,000+ in income from it. 

So, if you tell me you can’t write better because you’re not from an English-speaking country, that’s BS. 

Set your excuses aside and let’s begin.

Why Does Your Content Suck?

A piece of content sucks when it doesn’t gain traction it needs. That means when you write any content, it should at least gain traffic or convince users to sign-up and become subscribers. 

In other words, your readers failed to connect with you and it wasn’t effective. 

Several variables could be considered. Perhaps, you have low traffic. Or, it could be because you just don’t know how to write powerful content. 

Given the 2 theories, I divided your tasks based on:

1. content
2. content optimization 

In terms of content, you will know the basics of content writing and how you could transform your boring content and convert the users into loyal fans. 

From your Heading 1 (Content Title), Heading 2 (Content Heading) to creating outlines to organize your ideas. 

It sounds like a good deal. 

Aside from the content, you will learn the most common pet peeves among content marketers resulting in low traction. 

This will include the SEO techniques most successful pieces of content possesses and implement on your site. 

How To Write Powerful Content?

I mean content that people are willing to pay if you write about it. It’s a learned skill, my friend. So, pay attention, okay? 

In what I call the “Powerful Content Anatomy,” it comprises the basic structure that an effective content should have to target the search engine and the users per se.

Therefore, it’s important to pay attention to these areas because they play a big role in structuring your content. 

1. Optimizing post title.
2. Optimizing content subheading.
3. Proper keyword distribution in the content
4. Optimized content images
5. Permalinks/URLs
6. Categories
7. All-in-One SEO Pack (Title, meta description) = marketing gem in SERP
8. The secret sauce to powerful content writing

What is Heading 1? [Post Title (Maximum of 1 per post)]

You have the Heading 1, which is the post title. When Google crawls to your site, it detects your post title as H1. Most bloggers use H1 to divide the content, which is wrong. 

There should only be ONE H1 in the content. 

What is Heading 2? [Content Subheading]

Imagine if I write in a plain paragraph form. No images. No subheading. Just the blog post title and the content. It’s like reading a novel in the public domain. Do you want that? 

Google doesn’t. 

You need subheadings to divide your content regardless of how long the post is. You can use at least 3 subheadings to divide into:

• Subheading 1 – Introduction
• Subheading 2 – Discussion
• Subheading 3 – Conclusion

You can use more than 3 subheadings as long as they’re optimized. When it’s optimized, Google detects your content and selects some parts of it as the best answer to search results. 

Wait, what? 

Take a look at this. I typed in a question and here’s what I got. 

So, how did they do it? 

It’s your content subheadings. I mean, optimized content subheadings. 

How can you optimize your subheadings? 

Consider keyword research. You can search on Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) to get an idea of what keywords you should include in the post.

For example, you want to write about the “best writing apps.” You can type in the keywords and see the results on the page.

If you scroll down, there are frequently asked questions from users who also search for the same thing. 

Below, you see more results that give you ideas on what you could use for the subheadings. 

Why do you have to optimize your subheading anyway?

As I pointed earlier, Google likes it when you provide valuable content. And in Google’s eyes, it’s the matching keywords your users use to search for that particular information.

If you optimize your headings, it gets a higher chance that your content will be on the featured snippets or at the top SERP (search engine results page). 

Are you getting me? 

How Keyword Distribution In Content Works?

When it comes to the keyword distribution, you don’t have to fill the whole content with the exact keyword for the sake of the SEO. You can use it 3 to 5 times.

For example, your target keyword is “best writing apps.” You can evenly distribute the same keywords in the content as long as it fits the sentence. You don’t want to compromise your grammar for the sake of the keyword. 

And please, don’t abuse this strategy. Otherwise, it will be penalized due to “keyword stuffing.”

When I wrote for news sites in the past, they instructed me to fill the content I wrote with keywords as much as possible just to get traffic. 

You can use the keyword at the beginning, along with the discussion, and the last paragraph. This is already considerable. 

How To Optimize Content Images?

There are many ways to optimize your content images. But first, why do you need content images in the post? 

The first reason is obvious. Like the subheading, it’s the best strategy to get your users to stay on the page without feeling overwhelmed. 

If you choose to be minimalistic, you can use a few photos because, duh, you don’t have to fill your content with photos, losing the purpose of the content itself. 

You can add related free stock images from Pixabay and Unsplash to emphasize your point.

Another way could be an infographic just like what I did, which shows the summary of your content in a different method. 

Just so you know, not all of your readers are fans of plain words. Like me, I prefer learning new concepts through visuals. I need to see it to learn it. 

This is how your infographics help in giving your users a nutshell of your content. The same way for the rest of the content images you will use for the post. 

The second reason is it allows Google to detect your images and to give your site traffic. How?

Have you realized that Google Images is also a good organic traffic source? If we go back to our example, “best writing apps.”

The photos seen at the top page will likely get higher chances to get more clicks. Once the user clicks the image, it directs them to a zoomed image along with the link below it. 

If you take a closer look, you will see the post title, meta description, and/or alt text. What are these? 

To answer that, I like you to understand the following:

1. Post Title [Heading 1]
2. Meta description
3. Alt Text

Before we go on, let’s do a quick recap. 

What Is A Post Title?

Your post title is the Heading 1 in HTML code. During Google indexing, it crawls to your site pages and detects H1 as the title. So, you have to be careful not to use H1 and H2 interchangeably.

Again, H1 is the post title and H2 is for the subheading. The same principle applies to H3 and H4. 

What Is A Meta Description?

The next thing is the meta description. It is your shortest content marketing strategy. It’s one of your gold mines. 

This is why you shouldn’t underestimate it if you have seen it on Yoast or All-in-One SEO Pack.

Regardless of the tools you use, the meta description will ALWAYS be part of the SEO strategy. 

Why?

It is because this area gives you the chance to promote the content across billions of readers. 

If you take a look at the image below, you see the words below the title and the URL. This is where your meta description is seen. Are you getting me? 

Your meta description only has 160 characters allotted for the snippet. This means you have to convince Google and your users as briefly as you can. 

How To Write A Good Meta Description?

According to Moz analysis, in 51.3% cases, Google uses the original meta description tag you wrote upon publishing the content. 

However, there are times that Google could overturn the meta description and prefers to show some parts of your content as a meta description instead. 

But that doesn’t mean you will leave this blank just because Google will anyway overrule it. No. You still have to write it down yourself. Do you get me? 

To create great meta descriptions, you need the following formula: 

• Your point
• Primary keyword
• Call-to-action

Be sure of your meta description and your content match. At the same time, you need to be conversational and never forget the CTAs. 

“Read more here.”

“Find out more.”

“Click this post.” 

These are call-to-actions. You can start aggressively and say,

[su_box title=”For example:”]Find out the best writing apps writers should try in 2020 you shouldn’t miss. Click here.[/su_box]

This is an example of a good meta description. 

What are Permalinks/URLs?

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator which is also called a web address. It’s the web resource reference specifying the location of any resource i.e. pages, images, and sound files. 

In short, a URL is your web address. 

How To Optimize Your Web Address?

The first and the best thing you could do is to match the target keyword with your web address as long as it applies.

Again, don’t compromise the thought of the content for the sake of SEO.

When your web address matches the target keyword used in your post title, content, alt texts, meta description, and even post categories, it’s pleasing in Google’s eyes. 

In other words, when your keywords match with the URL, you get the higher chances to be detected in the search engine. Especially if the target keywords have higher value but low in terms of the competition.

What Is A Category In WordPress? 

Your website follows a taxonomy. From the main subject of your blog, it goes into several categories that represent the topics you like to cover. 

For example, your blog is about writing. That means you can write about writing app reviews, writing tips, etc. Each of these topics represents your category. 

WP Beginnner simply defines its functions as “to sort and group your blog posts into different sections.” 

Why Do You Need To Optimize Categories?

This is for the sake of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes. If you take a look at the categories section of the backend, you see different categories added, right? 

As you can see, I added descriptions for each category because it helps in increasing the site rank. 

From Google’s perspective, it helps in detecting the group of posts and its main theme easier than having no description at all. 

Why?

Yoast explains how optimized categories help prevent individual pages from competing from each other. 

Look. Google wants the best and the most unique content to inform people around the world. 

If you have a messed up category list, Google might get confused and we don’t want that. 

As much as possible, we must be clear with the pieces of content we like to write about and make sure you provide keyword-rich descriptions of your categories. 

So, if you haven’t done it yet, be sure to do it now. Review your categories and don’t leave their descriptions blank. 

What Are The Best Tools To Help You Optimize Content?

I know learning all this stuff is overwhelming. If you have been writing posts for a while, this could entail a lot of work on your part. 

But that’s okay. It’s going to be worth it. I promise. 

As you can see, my traffic started growing to almost 5K sessions from 1K sessions when I took the time to review the overall structure of the blog. 

This is why it’s very important to spend time to overhaul your site before you proceed in writing blog posts.

If you haven’t started anything yet, learning these concepts earlier is the best thing you did. I haven’t learned all about these when I began my blogging journey. 

So, what are the best tools to help you optimize content? 

I recommend you to try these tools I already tried and proven effective to boost your site traffic. 

• All-in-One SEO Pack 
• Yoast
• Ubersuggest 
• SEMRush

All-in-One SEO Pack VS Yoast

These tools are available in free and paid versions. But what I use now is the free version All-in-One SEO Pack, which has been a big help in boosting my site traffic.

It is a tool that gives me the option to write the best title I want Google to show up on the search engine, as well as the meta description. 

I also used Yoast before, which is also okay. But I liked the All-in-One SEO Pack more than Yoast. However, what the former didn’t have is the cornerstone content option.

Yoast gives you guidelines about where to improve your content by suggesting the areas where it needs to be revised. It could be your title is too long or you don’t have enough keywords and number of words. 

That said, Yoast could be your second option.

Ubersuggest VS SEMRush

If you prefer an advanced level of site overhaul, you can try Ubersuggest and SEMRush. Both of which are the top choices for 6-figure-income bloggers for several reasons.

First, these two platforms provide insights on how your site performs based on Google’s organic search and social media marketing. 

SEMRush, for instance, gives regular reports on how your social media accounts perform in a certain period. 

It also provides information on the websites that also published similar content as yours. Given, you can network with these sites and/or potentially contribute through guest blogging later on. 

Also, you can study your competitors in a closer look than using the free versions of these apps.

When you do, you’ll learn where you can increase your edge against them by providing content they haven’t covered before. 

And this is our goal, right? 

It’s a big job. But you have to do it. 

You want many people to read your content, increase your web traffic, and make money from your content.

Ask yourself, how could you reach out to more people if you skip the daunting site overhaul? 

I made the same mistake. I neglected the categories and continued writing posts believing that when I write more, the traffic continuously increases. It did. But it’s not giving me stable web traffic. 

When I applied this strategy, I saw growth on my site traffic and saw significant differences in my content both on Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

At this point, are you still with me? I hope I didn’t overwhelm you with information overload, my friend. 

I know it’s a lot to take in, a big task to do; however, it’s going to be the best thing you need to do to get the best traffic without getting into trouble. 

Do you get me? 

If yes, are you ready to learn the secret sauce in writing powerful content based on the structure? If you say, let’s proceed to the content. 

What Is A Cornerstone Content?

“It’s the core of your website,” Yoast wrote on its published article with the same title. In other words, it’s what your blog is about.

In my case, it’s about writing particularly in creating content that your readers and Google will love. 

Regardless of the niches, which you like to focus on, it’s important to write a few pieces of cornerstone content to tell Google, “Hey, I’m writing about content writing.” 

If you simply tell without showing you did write about content writing, Google will not give a damn s**t on you. 

Instead of cawing as loudly as you can to get attention from the other crows, show something that you deserve attention. Are you getting me? 

This is why it’s very important for content writers, especially those with professional blogs, to write comprehensive content about their niche. 

Firstly, it gives your site a foundation it needs in terms of narrowing your focus in considering several topics fit for the website.

Secondly, cornerstone content tends to get a lot of quality links. Let’s say, you wrote an epic post about “100 Best Writing Apps You Should Try.” This is what happens.

Google crawls to the page and detects the value of your content. When it does, it determines whether your page deserves a spot on the top search results. This could be part of the outcomes after optimizing your content per se.

Another scenario will be the other sites could use your page as a reference to their content and add your link to their content. 

And once your page earned several links, Google will see you as an authority in that subject. What it can do later on is increasing your visibility in the public domain. 

Do you understand the overall picture of how cornerstone content can do to the site performance? 

How To Write Cornerstone Content?

I’ll make this quick. Cornerstone content is a combination of applying the strategies we learned before (the SEO) and writing good content for your users and Google. 

At this point, we’ll focus on how you can structure as to how you can get your users to read the entire post without losing their interest and leaving your site. 

Now, let’s begin. 

Your content comprises 3 important parts:

1. Introduction
2. Discussion
3. Conclusion

If you haven’t read my post about content writing, I suggest you read more about how to write powerful content in detail.

Your introduction is where you introduce the issue. You can start with a provoking question, sharing a related quote, or telling a story of a troubling event. 

Take a look at how Thought Catalog introduces its post. 

In the first paragraph, the writer successfully establishes the foundation of your content by assuming how you feel after reading the title. 

I’ll give you another example.

This is a published post on Forbes. Observe how the writer does it. 

In the discussion proper, make sure you don’t give up the tension and conflict between your promise and your users’ struggles. Let’s get back to our example,  the “best writing apps.”

As a content writer, what do you assume your target users feel about it? At first glance, you would think, probably they’re having a hard time writing. So, they seek your help.

And what would you do? 

Do you want to present them BS? No, right? 

This is why when you discuss the content, ALWAYS keep the tension going as I’m doing to you right now. 

When you read your post again and you find it boring, you will likely make your users fall asleep and leave your site. That’s for sure.

The Secret Sauce To Effective Writing

If you review how I wrote this post, you will notice I keep checking on you, asking you about how you feel and assuming your struggles why you ended up on this page. 

This is exactly how successful bloggers, guest bloggers, and freelance writers make 6-figures in writing. 

They successfully targeted the right audience by providing Google a good reference to guide them to your site. 

At the same time, they successfully converted them into loyal fans by giving them options to follow their posts. 

And you can do it, too. 

Unless you are willing to pay the price.

Face the daunting task. 

Take time to overhaul the website and write irresistible content as regularly as you can.

If you do these on every post you plan to write—starting today—you will see differences not only in the way you write content but also the figures as shown on your Google Analytics and Google Search Console. I guarantee that. 

It may not happen overnight, though. It took a few months before I started seeing the results of my labor. So, do it. It’s going to be worth your while.

The point is, the secret sauce to writing effective content is to keep your readers interested to stay with you. 

And the best way to do that is to provoke their emotions as you present the conflict between your promise and their situation – their struggle. 

If you want more discussion about this, you can read my post wherein I detail the step-by-step process on how you can structure your writing better. 

You can also grab your FREE copy of my ebook “Become A Legendary Content Marketer” and learn more about how to write powerful content. 

Conclusion – Start Writing Great Content!

Can you do it? 

I know it’s a lot of work. I mean, a lot of work. 

But you see, I see the results. 

Do you want to see the same on your traffic, too? 

If you are desperate to see quality organic traffic, follow the strategies I presented to you and apply it to your websites. 

Here’s what you have to know before I end this post.

First, it won’t work if you don’t have posts. Well, that’s obvious.

Second, it won’t work overnight. So, don’t expect immediate results because it takes time for Google to crawl on your website and see if you’re the traffic. 

Third, it won’t work if you are lazy. Go back to your old posts. Update them and make sure everything is optimized. Check your categories, post titles, etc. Everything. Do a complete overhaul. 

Fourth and the last point, it won’t work if you are still confused and still uncertain of what you should do next.

If this sounds true to you, grab your FREE ebook and review the steps over and over again. 

It’s only hard at first. But as soon as you get used to this system, you won’t notice that your writing standards increase. And your readers notice it. 

Later on, you will get comfortable writing this way and notice significant changes with the way you write content for your audience.

Not only your readers will like, but Google will do, too. 

To end my post, I like to ask this question. Was your 10 minutes with me worth it? Did I present the point of the content well? 

If I missed anything or if there are still some points I need to clarify to make sure you understand every point, feel free to share it in the comments below. I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts and answering your questions. 🙂

If you like this post, feel free to share it with your friends and family, especially those who are struggling in writing powerful content that works. 🙂

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