You already know that fresh, original content is what charms Google and nudges you upwards on search engine results pages. Relevant networking, however, is a facet of that quest that’s too often neglected. Finding news about your industry, a celebrity in a position that could use your product or similar headlining stories — provided they aren’t *too* out-of-left-field — can help tie your story into the stories the world is already reading. Here’s a few ways to give your team of freelance writers excellent tie-ins to work with:
Make Sure You’re In The “SEO Know”
Get to know major news outlets and read them frequently, especially popular ones like TMZ and the Facebook news feed, as these are the stories most often shared, discussed and searched in the moment. Work with your writing team to determine proper turnaround — you want to capitalize on the popularity at its crest — and get it up and on your site as soon as possible. You should also request Facebook and Twitter posts that can be used to link back to the article once its posted, even if your posting platform automatically posts to social media during updates. Fresh, “human speech” updates, rather than simply a title and a link, will drive even more interest to your posts and put even more keywords out there to associate with your brand. If your schedule makes searching for link-worthy news every day difficult, stop by Google Alerts to put in a few keywords related to your industry – Google will email you if they show up in the news!
Stay Positive
“If it bleeds, it leads” is a common piece of advice to those in the news industry, but it’s a phenomena you definitely want to avoid. Generally, you don’t want to associate your brand with strong political or religious viewpoints — extricating yourself from a scandal is difficult enough without accidentally advertising yourself right into one. No one likes a bully, either, so if you’re pointing out some unfortunate soul that could have saved face by using your product or service, be sure to instruct your freelance writers to keep it lighthearted and sympathetic.
Don’t Copy, Spin
Just linking back to a news story doesn’t show a lot of originality, and Google’s reaction will reflect that. Instead, repost a video and ask your writers to pen a few paragraphs about the content of the video, allowing your business to submit a fresh take on it. Ask them to pull key points of interest from news stories and discuss them, or to describe the subject of the news story in their own words to infuse originality. Be sure the link in your story is “stable” – from a larger news source that is unlikely to remove or alter the URL – and check back in a few days to make sure everything still looks good. News stories change quickly, but the late-to-the-party searchers will still wander into your page for weeks afterward.
With a nod to the news and some talented freelance writers in your corner, you can make some serious headlines for your brand!
Writer Bio: Delany M is a freelance writer available for projects at WriterAccess.
