Website content is one of the most powerful strategies for SEO. 

However, regular content creation can become a challenging task. Having a proper content strategy and system in place can make this process smooth. 

Content creation involves researching, writing, organizing, and editing content effectively. 

Let’s go over a simple yet detailed content creation checklist to help you with your content creation struggles. 

Keyword research

Keyword research is the most important part of content creation and also the first step of the checklist. Writing content without doing proper keyword research is a big mistake 

You can write great content, but if it is not targeting the keywords you want your business to rank for, it will only bring irrelevant traffic or maybe no traffic.

You can use the following tools for keyword research. 

Here are some important metrics to look for before choosing a keyword: 

  • Keyword difficulty (The lower, the better)
  • Search volume (The higher, the better)
  • Cost per click (The higher, the better)

Following is an example of a good keyword. 

Keyword example

It ticks the following:

  • Low keyword difficulty
  • High search volume 
  • Great CPC

Title Creation

Once you have your keywords figured out, the next step is to create a title that reflects your topic and is creative and eye-catching. 

It is recommended to check whether people are writing list posts, guides, or service pages for the targeted keyword you are trying to rank for, and It is better to follow the trend.

There are various ways on the internet to test your Title. For example,

  • Headline Analyzer Tool:

Although there are hundreds of headline analyzer tools on the internet, both free and paid, here is one we recommend.

Advanced Marketing Institute

Headline analyzer - making content creation easy

It is free to use, and it analyzes your tool by determining Emotional Marketing Value (EMV). Scores above 20 are considered good. 

  • By WordPress

WordPress also gives you a built-in option to determine your heading/title scores. 

Headline checker- content creation checklist

Creating an outline

Once you have your keyword and title sorted out, you need to start writing content. But before that, it is important to create an outline to simplify the process. 

The outline includes the title, intro, and headings (H2, H3, and so on). 

You can also use supporting keywords for the headings and have them in place before writing, so you won’t have to go back to step one later. This saves time and helps you create optimized content. 

Write quality content

There is so much content available around every topic on the internet that there is no more room for mediocre content. Writing mediocre content will not help you rank on Search engines.

Therefore, when doing keyword research, also do competitor analysis. This will give you insight into content that is ranking on the first page already for your targeted keyword. 

Next, your goal should be to create content ten times better and more informative than that. 

Here are a few things you can do to create quality content:

  • Use short paragraphs
  • Use lists (numbered and bulleted lists)
  • Proper headings 
  • Easy to read
  • Precise and not filled with technical jargon

Media

Adding media to your content can increase its readability, make it user friendly and increase your chances of ranking better. 

Therefore, it is recommended to add quality images and infographics where necessary to enhance your content. Media includes

  • Images
  • Infographics
  • Videos

However, quality should not be compromised when it comes to media. It is better not to use any images than to use low-quality images. Also, ensure the media you use are free from all copyrights or properly sourced and credited. 

All images should be properly compressed so that they don’t affect the speed of your website. Moreover, it is recommended to always use SVG, PNG, and JGEP only.

TinyPNG is a good tool that you can use for this purpose.

Tiny png - tips for content creation

All you have to do is upload your image, which will automatically compress it and then you can download it back and use it wherever you want. 

Introduction and conclusion

The introduction is the most important section of content after the title, if it is not engaging within the first 5 seconds, your bounce rate will automatically increase. 

Therefore, the introduction and conclusion don’t forget the importance of an engaging introduction and a fruitful conclusion, ideally including a CTA. 

You should also focus on including your main keyword in both the introduction and conclusion. 

Moving to WordPress

Moving your content to WordPress is a task in itself. Only a few people write directly on WordPress. Most people use different tools like Google docs or Dropbox Paper to write the content.

Therefore, once you have completed your content piece, moving it to WordPress, brick by brick is recommended. 

This means instead of copying the entire document; you should copy paragraphs to avoid losing any content or its formatting.

Linking

In content, there are two types of linking.

  • Internal linking 
  • External linking 

Internal linking means linking to supporting pages or content of your own website within the articles. 

External linking refers to other sites you have mentioned and linked to within your content. 

Both have SEO importance; external linking helps make your content more authoritative when you support it with stats, etc. Also, you can keep these links as no follow as well. 

Internal links help to engage your audience further, as those links go to other pages on your website and the retention rate increases. Always remember to keep internal links as do-follow. 

However, all your links should be set to open in a new tab, whether they are do follow or no follow. For example,

Linking

Editing and Proofreading

Once you’re done with all of the above. Always double-check your content for the following before publishing: 

SEO

The purpose of publishing a content piece is generally to get traffic and increase your reach. Therefore, it is nothing more than a foolish mistake to overlook on-page SEO. 

Before publishing your article, you should go through the following steps to get the most out of your SEO efforts. 

  • Keywords inclusion: You should include the main keyword and relevant keywords in the title, introduction, and headings, ideally. 
  • URL: Write your URL carefully, as it can be tricky to change later on, and make sure to include your main keyword in the URL. 
  • Alt tags: Don’t forget to add alt tags for the images and media. And also, make sure to have your keyword added in the alt tags (Avoid keyword stuffing)
  • Keyword distribution: Evenly distribute your keyword and relevant keywords throughout the article, depending on the length of your article, so it looks natural. 
    For example, if you’re writing about logistics or inventory, keywords like distribution management software can be seamlessly integrated for better relevance and SEO impact.
  • Post Category: Select the post category before publishing your article. Ideally, it is recommended to use only have 1 category; however, you can add multiple tags. 
  • Meta Description: Define a meta description to show what your content is about. This helps Google understand your content better as well as your readers.
  • On-page SEO: Complete the on-page SEO using Yoast SEO Plugin. It is a detailed guide to help you at every step and helps make on-page SEO as easy as possible. 
SEO - content creation checklist

Conclusion

Content is the backbone of your website’s SEO and growth. This was a quick yet detailed checklist to help you in creating your website content in the fastest and most effective possible. 

Having a content creation checklist can make the process smooth, and you can focus on writing high-quality content.

Leave a quick comment below if you found this content creation checklist helpful. 

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Rana

About
Rana

Building a website that drives traffic and generates leads is challenging. Rana is a website development consultant and a Co-Founder of WP Minds, a website consulting service that helps coaches, trainers, authors, and creatives to create winning website strategy, develop high converting websites, attract visitors and convert leads into customers to grow their businesses.

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