Writing good content is an art.
Especially in today’s era of information overload and nearly every field being thoroughly explored.
Therefore, in this post, you will learn:
- How to make your content evergreen.
- How to stand out from the competition.
- How to persuade the most difficult clients with your copywriting style.
Here is a list of 17 key steps to optimize your content.
Let’s get started.
1/ Identify Your Target Audience
Choosing your audience is the first step in your thought map.
Whether you’re offering something—a blog, baby strollers, or e-commerce with furniture—you need to know who your target audience is.
That’s why knowing your audience is the key to success.
Understand their needs, interests, and behavior.
Tailor your content to speak directly to them.
Use audience data to refine your approach.
Create personas to represent your typical readers.

Consider demographics, psychographics, and pain points.
And dive deeper into details; consider your audience’s hobbies and interests. It’ll help you gain a better understanding of your product and how to shape your pricing.
Audience insight guides your content strategy.
Adjust your tone and style to match their preferences.
2/ Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research literally unlocks your audience’s language.
Find the solution for their maladies, then provide them with the answer on your blog.
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or Senuto to do the best job.
Look for high search volume, low-competition keywords.
Understand the intent behind the keywords.
Find long-tail keywords for niche targeting.
But also, don’t forget about the short-tail ones.
Your content strategy should be driven by keyword insights. The more in-depth, the better.
Keywords help align with what your audience searches for.
That’s why regularly update your keyword list.
3/ Optimize Headlines
A good headline is fundamental in the game of copywriting.
Your reader won’t proceed further if the headline doesn’t grab their attention.
Headlines are your first impression.
Make them catchy, clear, and SEO-friendly.
Use obvious and simple headlines. The clearer it is, the more clicks it’ll generate, and the faster your site will climb in SEO rankings.
Headlines should promise value to the reader.
Keep them under 60 characters for better SEO results.
A/B test different headlines for engagement.
Check how many impressions headline X generated and compare it with another one.
Include your primary keyword in the headline.
Well-written & well-optimized headlines boost CTRs, gaining more clicks from organic and paid traffic.
4/ Use Subheadings for Structure
Subheadings break your content into digestible parts.
Allow your reader to gain momentum—create clear subheadlines.
To make them stand out more, use different font sizes for headlines & subheadlines.
Because they’ll smoothly guide readers through your article.
Subheadings improve readability and SEO.
Make them informative and intriguing. Make your reader unable to resist reading them!
They should follow a logical sequence. Don’t play with overly creative subheadlines.
Pro Tip: Use keywords in subheadings for better SEO indexing.
5/ Incorporate Keywords Naturally
Especially at the beginning and end of your post.
Incorporate keywords naturally; write a title if it contains them, or a smooth sentence using chosen keywords.
Avoid overusing them; aim for a natural flow.
Place them in headlines, subheadings, and throughout the text.
Keywords in the first paragraph signal relevance to search engines.
Use synonyms and related terms for semantic improvement—for your reader & search engines.
But don’t harm your text with keyword stuffing. Try to limit your post to 1–2% of total usage per particular keyword.
The reader’s experience should always come first. That’s why knowing the right keywords is key.
Use keywords to enhance, but not dominate, your content. It wouldn’t sound appealing.
6/ Personalize Your Content

Let’s assume you’re writing an email—what’s the name of your recipient?
If you’re writing a blog post—who is your target audience?
Personalization and a good understanding of your target group are crucial.
Personalization encourages your reader to keep reading what they’ve seen.
It tailors your message to individual needs.
Use data insights to tweak content.
Personalization makes your reader feel special.
And this is what personalization is all about—making them feel exceptional.
Incorporate user preferences and interests. It enhances the relevance of your marketing.
Personalize for a memorable content experience.
7/ Create a Sense of Urgency
Make your reader feel that they can gain or lose something.
That’s why urgency motivates quicker decision-making.
Use time-sensitive offers to create urgency.
Phrases like these do the job:
> Limited time offer
> Book Your Last Place
> 5 people looking for this room
Best Example: Booking.com.
Ensure urgency feels genuine, not forced.
There’s a fine line between being encouraging and being pushy.
Urgency leads to impulse purchases.
Make your reader feel like they’re losing rather than gaining. Nobody likes to lose.
From a psychological standpoint, loss motivates action more than the potential of gaining something.
8/ Simplify Your Design
Nowadays, less is more.
Limit color schemes for visual harmony.
The 60-30-10 rule will help you with this.
>> 60%: Main theme color.
>> 30%: Secondary color, for creating contrast.
>> 10%: Accent color, indicating an action, e.g., CTA button.
Focus on clean & considered design. It enhances the user experience.
Avoid clutter and focus on the essentials.
Don’t try to be overly creative; be effective.
Simple designs improve content readability. And this is key.
Simplify navigation for better user flow.
Ensure your design is intuitive and user-friendly for mobile & desktops.
A simple design is both elegant and effective.
Best example: Apple.
Words are redundant.
9/ Use FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

We hate loosing.
That’s what good copy is about—a sense of loss driving action.
The best example? The earlier mentioned Booking.com is the king of the market.
Take advantage of using FOMO in your content.
Highlight what others are experiencing.
Use social proof to amplify FOMO —> someone already bought it.
Showcase the popularity of your offer —> which one was chosen most often.
Create content that feels exclusive —> it’s not for everybody, it’s exclusively for you!
That’s why FOMO drives quick action and conversions.
Use FOMO to make your offer irresistible.
Balance FOMO tactics with authenticity—the more proven examples, the better.
10/ Address Pain Points
Understand your audience’s challenges by understanding your audience.
What really bothers your reader?
Find the cause, do research, and, based on your experience—suggest a solution.
Address these issues directly in your content. Be very clear in pointing them out.
Empathize with your audience in your messaging. Try to step into your audience’s shoes at every stage.
Turn their problems into your content focus. Your readers will love your approach.
Effective content solves problems, doesn’t just sell. We love to buy, but we hate to be sold.
Use testimonials with the right presentation of the problem and solution. Social proof plays an incredibly important role in purchasing decisions.
11/ Keep it Mobile-Friendly
Most users access content via mobile. 64.1% vs. 34.5% traffic market share for mobile. Significant difference.
Ensure your design is responsive on all devices. Including tablets.
Mobile-friendly content improves the user experience. That’s why people want to buy and keep reading.
Test your content’s mobile compatibility regularly.
Short paragraphs work best on mobile screens.
Optimize images and videos for quick loading.
Keep CTA buttons easily clickable & visible on mobile.
12/ Use Data and Statistics
The data shows the credibility and coherence of what you describe.
Solid data is the backbone of any business, so present as much of it as you can.
Use statistics to support your arguments and show the audience that you are right about what you’re saying.
Infographics effectively present complex data. Best idea source? Pinterest.
Data-driven content appeals to logical readers.
Present statistics in a simple, understandable way.
Do you remember the rule “explain it to me like I’m 8 years old”? It applies here.
Incorporate data to support your narrative.
However, don’t base your content solely on data—people love storytelling, not just data.
Example:
>> McDonald’s is 80% about marketing, 20% about food.
>> Apple is 80% about marketing, 20% about manufacturing.
>> Starbucks is 80% about marketing, 20% about coffee.
Use data to support your content, but not to rely on it.
13/ Segment Your Audience

I won’t surprise you if I say that not all readers are the same.
Therefore, you must carefully consider who you are targeting.
Segmentation allows for targeted content.
Customize your message for different groups.
Use demographic, geographic, or psychographic data.
Segmentation leads to more personalized marketing. In this way, you increase ROI and reduce advertising expenses.
Adequate segmentation of your audience increases conversions. This is particularly important when starting your business journey with a limited budget.
14/ Use Eye-Catching Images

Works?
Here we are.
Images capture attention instantly. Like the image above.
They convey messages faster than text.
Choose high-quality, relevant visuals. They can also be funny.
Goal: capture attention immediately.
Images should align with your content theme.
Use graphics to illustrate complex ideas.
Use infographics to make your post skimmable.
A/B test images to see what resonates best.
The right imagery will increase shares even by 30%.
14/ Experiment with Ad Placements
Ad placement will significantly impact visibility. That’s the first thing.
If you’re into media buying—it’s fundamental.
If you want to earn money from ads on your blog without alienating your readers—you need to consider this.
Hence, test different locations for your ads.
Consider the user experience when placing ads.
Ask yourself: “How would I perceive this ad if I were my reader”?
Empathetically stepping into your audience’s shoes always helps in better understanding the strategy and its outcome.
Ads above the fold usually get more attention.
Experiment with sidebar, header, or in-content ads.
Track ad performance to find optimal placement.
Avoid intrusive placements that hinder the exhibition of content.
Effective ad placement will quickly boost CTRs.
15/ Restructure & Amplify Internal Linking
Internal linking is not just an SEO tactic.
It’s a roadmap for your readers’ journey.
Link relevant articles to what you’re writing about to keep readers engaged.
This enhances the value and depth of your content.
Moreover, a larger base of internal links lowers the bounce rate.
Use descriptive anchor texts for clarity.
Strategically place links for a natural flow.
But don’t exaggerate with internal links. The ideal number is 2–3 internal links per 500 words.
Internal links boost your website in Google’s rankings.
Don’t do it just once. Regularly update and amplify your internal linking structure.
16/ Improve Website Speed
Website speed is crucial for user retention.
Why?
3 facts you need to know:
1/ If a website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, 40% of users will abandon it.
2/ Page loading delays of just 1 second can result in a 7% decrease in conversions.
3/ For an e-commerce site making $100,000 daily, a 1-second delay in loading could mean an annual sales loss of $2.5 million.
Therefore, focus on making your site load as quickly as possible.
Slow loading times lead to high bounce rates.
Optimize images to reduce load time.
Remove unnecessary plugins that burden your site.
Use a reliable hosting service for speed.
Employ caching for faster website performance.
Simply put—a faster-loading site will retain more users, increase its visibility, and boost sales.
Takeaways
There are many ways to optimize content.
But you’ve read the list of 17 key steps to optimize your content that really work.
And really—you don’t need 10 years of coding experience to implement these changes.
Regularly update your content and encourage your visitors to read more often.
More good content means more readers.
However, consider that your blog won’t immediately be as interesting as Tim Ferriss‘s blog.
But that’s okay!
A/B test what you’ve done, and you’ll be impressed by the great results your Google Analytics shows you, and how many visitors enjoy your content.
And what are your key steps to optimizing your content?
Let me know in the comments.
And if you liked my post—share it with your audience.
P.S. If you’d like to bring something up in private, add me on LinkedIn & X.
Thanks!
Simon
Author Profile
- Simon Gorlak is a Digital Marketing Expert with over 8 years of experience. He specializes in 3 areas: SEO, Lead Generation on LinkedIn, and Email Marketing. Simon's blog gathers knowledge that helps Marketers & C-level to increase profits from their online businesses. Also, his content helps to reach the most difficult customers, make others' content to be read & purchased. Besides digital marketing, Simon speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish & works as a Head of Business at an Indian Start-up.
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