In 2011, SEO and writing is going to change big time as the rules of SEO game has changed and so has the readers’ mindset. People have stopped paying attention to copy that looks crappy, as lot of bad content has been littered on the Internet.

Not just the search engines, but users even are a lot more conscious of the value your content adds to his or her life, and after the introduction of snapshot feature in Google SERP, it has become more difficult for badly written content to make its way to the customers’ computer. Even when it gets a chance to get there, they are quickly thrown out.

So how to make a content interesting both for people and machine?

To make your content interesting for your readers you need to do the following:

• Use the language that your visitors converse in.
• Provide them the value they are looking for.
• Do not just write anything. Do a research before delving into the actual writing process.
• Read blog comments, forum posts, and watch YouTube videos to see what your customers are getting and what their requirements are.

Following the handful of tips given above will take your writing business to all new height, but how to make the same content accessible for machines (search engine bots).

If you are new to the field then the fact that you have to write content for machines as well may make you cringe, but this is what we all have been doing since always in the name of SEO content. We have been working to satisfy the needs of machine, so that it could display our websites when visitors come searching information on the topic we are writing.

To make your content standout with machines you need to do the following:

• Do not write for the machine. Even it does not want anything to be written exclusively for it.
• Place important keywords and other related terms at appropriate places.
• Do not go overboard with optimization.
• Write with audience in mind and SEO should be the secondary thought.

Content written for the two groups that we talked about above should not be mutually exclusive. You need to write content that meets the needs of both of them. This is not very difficult, all you need to do is practice.

There is another fact, and it is related to objection handling. No matter what objection your clients have, or what problem they say they have, you can handle it and that too by following a set of steps given below.

Sincerely listen to what he has to say

Do not object or stop your client from speaking his heart out. Cutting him short is a sign of weakness. Let him speak not only and try to understand his point of view on the matter at hand. More so because he may himself tell you the answer to the objection he has raised.

Make him talk

If your client is not the kind who bares his heart out then make him talk. Ask questions that will make him reveal more about the objections. More often than not clients reveal the solution when talking about their objections, so make them talk.

Ask questions related to the objection your client raised

Ask questions to unearth the reason behind the objection raised by your client. Quite often, the issue raised by the client is mere a disguise (or external appearance) of the real objection he has. You need to ask relevant questions so that you can unearth the real reason behind his denial to make a purchase now.

Do not try to prove them wrong

Proving your clients wrong is the worst thing you can do in a sales situation. You are not there to win a debate, so do not go with that mindset. Let you client speak about his problem, and except that whatever he says is write, after all he is the one who is there stuck in a problem.

Be gentle to him, and even if you have to say that your client is wrong, say it in a way that it does not hurt his ego. It should not appear that you are playing the one-upmanship game. Make him realize that you are trying to solve his problem by understanding his point of view of the situation.

Take notes

This is vital, and notes taken when the client was talking will also help you in addressing his concern. Take notes, but not in a way to break is stream of thought. Your note taking should go undetected.

The things I have discussed above about objection handling are very important. You need to cultivate yourself in such a way that the above given objection-handling technique becomes part of your nature. Inculcate these into yourself, and practice it until it becomes your nature.

The study titled “Digital Window Shopping: The Long Journey to Buy” found that on average people take 33 hours and 54 minutes in making a purchase after their first visit to a website. In the last study conducted by McAfee, the average delay between the first visit and the final purchase was 34 hours and 16 minutes.

In total, around 54% of combined online shoppers wait for anything 12 hours and 2 days before making a purchase, whereas, 12% shoppers wait for less than 12 hours, and 33% wait for more than 2 days before making a final purchase after the first visit.

In the report McAfee has used the term “cautious shopper” for the group that wait for more than one day before making a purchase. 64% of combined online shoppers fall into this category. See image for detail of the report.

Writing is hard work. Go and ask anyone who is in the business for long and he or she will tell you what a drag this is. As they say it, “The worst part of writing career is to sit still on your desk and write.”

Writing never comes easy, no matter at what stage you are into your writing career. It will never come easy. It takes time, effort, and pushing from your side. Do not assume that someone just sits on the desk and starts stroking keys and articles or books or reports or whatever starts forming itself. It never happens this way. To draw an analogy, let me tell you that writing is akin to polishing gold necklace—it required time, determination, precision, attention to details, and ability to continue even when your mind is saying “F” Word out loud.

I have been long enough in this field to realize this. Initially, I was delusional. I thought it will come easy to me as I am into this since I was a kid is class 3rd. But, as I wrote I was delusional.

Should you take up writing?

Indeed, you should. If writing is tough then what is not? Nothing is easy. You will have to exert yourself in everything that you do. But there is one thing about writing that none of the profession shares, at least not in the essence that writing does.

Writing creates a world, where you are in control of what each of your words will do. But, still your readers are in control. As it is upon them to make whatever sense they want from the writing. Writing is a game being played between the minds of the writer, readers and everything that falls in between.

This indeed makes writing fun.

Yes. Writing is fun. In the truest sense of the word, not in the sense that mean no work all play.

-Try thinking positively about the job you hate.  Consider the positive parts, such as the fact that you are lucky enough to have a job during this turmoil.  The fact that you have reliable enough work that you’ve stayed employed, and have been able to live more comfortably than many other Americans.  Thinking about your good fortune is a great way to bring that smile out.

-Set time limits on your tasks, to see if you can accomplish your goals.  This is almost a tactic to make a game out of the monotony you may suffer if you hate your job.  Also this helps you get faster, and better at accomplishing your tasks.  The appearance of becoming a better, harder worker, could help you advance into a higher position that you won’t hate.

-Take an interest in your coworkers.  Make friends, and be positive and good natured with them.  Creating a better work environment around you can really help how you feel at work.  A great way to do that is improve your relations with those around you, creating a friendly environment that you can enjoy.

-Finally, just because you have a job, doesn’t mean you can’t look for a different one.  Try looking for other opportunities that may serve you better.  Something that you can really get into, and have a true passion for, unlike your current job.  Just make sure to keep that knowledge silent, as some employers take personal offence when their employees look for work elsewhere.  The last thing you want is to lose the job you have, because you were looking for a different one.

What do you do when writing becomes drag for you?

Do you continue to write as usual or do you do something else?

Believe it or not, despite how torturous writing become, many writers continue to write and what happens? They end up producing mediocre work. This is wrong. This pulls the motivation down. A writer should not continue when he or she is not feeling like writing.

Stop Writing! When writing seems like a drag. There are quite a few things that you can do when writing becomes drag for you, which I am listing below. These steps will not only relax your mind, but it will also infuse enthusiasm in you that will make writing once again a pleasant exercise.

Things to do when writing becomes drag

• Take a walk in the woods.
• Sit near a pond, lake or river and listen to the sound of bird chirping and watch the water forming shapes.
• Listen to soulful music.
• Watch a movie.
• Read a book or a short story.
• Recite a poem.
• Dance
• Go out and take a walk
• See teenagers falling in love for the first time
• Surf the internet, but do not go to the usual sites that you visit
• Talk to an elderly person in your community and ask him about his life’s experience.
• Visit an orphanage, talk to kids there and play with them.
• Watch a game of sports.
• Paint, if you like painting.
• Observe the nature.
• Lie on the ground and watch the empty sky. Focus on the bubble that forms in the sky (it is actually an illusion).
• Relax
• Above all, follow your heart

You should not limit yourself to doing these things. Do whatever you wish is good for you, apart from writing, and see how the experience enriches you.

One of the most common methods, and one that you should most definitely be employing already, is to keep an idea notepad with you at all times.  Not necessarily an actual pen and paper mini notebook, but something to function as such.  If you have a smart phone, like an iPhone or Blackberry, you can use their note taking features to quickly jot down anything that pops into your head.  This keeps you ahead of the game with a wealth of ideas that you can look to later, when you find yourself in need.

Read.  Can’t stress that one enough.  The more you put your energy towards learning new things, or reading new ideas, whether through books or magazines or online articles, the more information you’re taking in that you can call upon at a later date.  Extraordinarily useful when coming up with a new topic to write about.

Find a friend or colleague to bounce a few ideas off.  Let them know about the concept and tell them some things you were considering, or ways you want to approach writing about the idea.  The input they have could help you guide yourself into a brilliant new direction you couldn’t have thought of on your own.

If you find yourself struggling to think of anything while sitting at your desk, take a break.  Go outside for a few minutes, get some fresh air and clear your head.  You’ll find yourself feeling much more refreshed, and after wicking away the fatigue, you’ll be in a much better place to re-energize your thinking.

Finally, as a last resort, twist around another idea you’ve already read about or heard about.  If you can’t find an idea all to your own, borrow someone else’s.  Don’t just rehash an article or book that you’ve read before of course.  But take what you learned there, or the basic concept, and apply it to your own outlook, and your own unique writing voice to manufacture an entirely new piece of work.