{"id":136088,"date":"2019-04-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?p=136088"},"modified":"2019-04-11T08:52:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T07:52:59","slug":"human-centered-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/content-management\/human-centered-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Know your audience: The power of human-centered content"},"content":{"rendered":"

Human customers mean you should be writing content aimed at humans, not algorithms<\/h2>\n

Your customers are humans. You\u2019re not trying to sell your products and services to Google\u2019s web-crawler bots. This means you should be writing content aimed at humans, not algorithms.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the algorithms control search results and SEO can have huge effects on your bottom line<\/a><\/u>. So as much as you might want to create beautiful content written for a human audience, it can seem that economics favours the robots.<\/p>\n

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\n \n Evaluating content marketing ROI guide\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Download our Individual Member Resource \u2013 Evaluating content marketing ROI guide<\/strong><\/p>\n

This guide is aimed at helping you improve your confidence in the value of content marketing by stepping you through a range of techniques to help marketers evaluate and prove their content effectiveness.<\/p>\n

Access the Evaluating content marketing ROI guide<\/a><\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n

The truth is that you can - and must - write for both. But it\u2019s easier than you might expect. By following the principles of human-centered content, you can create juicy content that boosts search engine rankings<\/a><\/u> while simultaneously speaking clearly and directly to an audience of actual people.<\/p>\n

\"Content<\/p>\n

Remember who your audience is<\/h3>\n

The most critical rule for almost any form of communication is to know your audience. Your product itself should already have given you an idea of your general audience, but it\u2019s good to have an understanding that goes somewhat beyond that.<\/p>\n

Robust knowledge of your target demographic will make it easier to convert sales. This is just old-fashioned marketing expertise - the art of demonstrating why your product\u2019s specific features match up with the customer\u2019s specific needs.<\/p>\n

Even in a semi-faceless online space, it\u2019s important to remember that there\u2019s a real person with their own unique interests, needs and wants behind that computer or smartphone. How well you address those interests, needs and wants can make or break your e-commerce business.<\/p>\n

Spend some serious time with the data<\/h3>\n

Human-centered content doesn\u2019t mean throwing data out the door. Quite the opposite, in fact. The data can tell you an awful lot about who you\u2019re addressing.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t been taking advantage of Google Analytics<\/a><\/u> yet, it\u2019s time to start. This powerful and free suite of tools is built right into Google, so there are no good reasons not to use it. It can give you great actionable insights, such as what search terms people are using to find your site and where they are landing. Getting into the granular detail of these data points can give you a much better idea of your audience than simple raw numbers.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve got a better handle on your traffic patterns, you can start deciding where to allocate resources. One good way to start is by optimizing the pages that visitors land on<\/a><\/u> frequently from search engines and make sure it\u2019s easy to get from those pages to the rest of your site. When doing so, remember to optimize for a mobile-first framework and, as a best practice, split test every element by launching a new version every two to four weeks so you can keep fine-tuning the landing page and improving your conversion rate.<\/p>\n

\"Webpage<\/p>\n

Look at long-tail keywords<\/h3>\n

Some of the keywords that can really help your e-commerce site might not be immediately obvious. Long-tail keywords are just such a group, and they\u2019re particularly useful because they offer more targeted opportunities for leads and conversions.<\/p>\n

The keyword \"cat food,\" for example, has a wide variety of long-tail variations. \"Cat food grain-free,\" \"cat food senior cat formula,\" and \"cat food for kittens\" are all more likely to result in a conversion because these consumers are at a later stage in their journey and have a better idea of what they want.<\/p>\n

If these shoppers are coming to your site, you stand a good chance of converting a sale if you have the product they\u2019re looking to purchase. The overwhelming point to this is that e-commerce brands need to make sure their links are relevant to consumers and contain the right keywords that will be most likely to target consumers in the purchase phase rather than just the product research phase.<\/p>\n

\"Link<\/p>\n

Give your audience something new, useful and\/or interesting<\/h3>\n

Your content will be much stronger if it has a definable use for the customer. A blog post extolling your product\u2019s virtues can be great, but what about a post that gives your audience some unusual applications for the product as well? Try offering shoppers:<\/p>\n