You’ve probably seen a lot of ultimate guides on the Internet. There are even guides to creating ultimate guides.
There is a good reason for this.
Unlike standard content, ultimate guides get much more attention. On top of that, wholesomeness of these papers makes it easier to get links.
People are very impressed with what they see and are more inclined to share your content with their loyal fans.
But there is a catch.
Although this approach looks fine and dandy making you believe that ultimate guides are the best way to get on the map, they are really hard to create. At least to create successful ones.
This is why I made this article in order to point out some facts about guides, their creation and how your SEO can benefit.
Concept of ultimate guide
Guides remind me a lot of essays.
Similar to academic essay writing, it is all about sharing information, researching a topic and making conclusion based on that.
However, it is necessary to say that guides are much more actionable in comparison to an average essay. While students focus on scientific part of the problem, bloggers make guides in order to help users do something.
Main purpose of such paper is to help reader do something instead of learn something. The difference might seem slight but it actually a big one.
This is why guides exploded on the online scene.
People who browse the Internet do it for two main reasons: to learn or to be entertained. Given that it’s really hard to constantly create entertaining videos (especially for certain industries) you need to focus on education. This means there will always be space for creating guides as people will always have questions.
Current issue with ultimate guides
As you can presume, ultimate guides quickly became popular for their ability to get links and improve your SEO. Alas, like with anything else, they soon encountered a big obstacle.
In time, it became boring and overused.
You see, the main issue with this content is their length. In order to create a successful guide, you need to be thorough. Unfortunately, most people do not have enough time (or patience) to go through lengthy content if they can get their answers in couple of definitions. This left writers with a conundrum: how to create lengthy piece that isn’t boring?
This is why guides have seen a bit of a decline as of late.
However, it is safe to say that a good guide will still find its audience and there is still a good reason to write one. Unfortunately, it is much harder to make it successful nowadays.
Writing basics
As a writer, you are probably interested what you need to do in order for a guide to work. No worries, I got you covered.
Check these actionable tips!
1. Learn more on the topic
Best way to start your journey is by reading about a topic. Ideally, you should be an expert so you can give a professional unbiased opinion throughout the page. Nevertheless, you should borrow ideas and information that seem valid from other websites. Of course, do not forget to link back! This will be a friendly gesture and it will also increase the validity of your piece.
2. Make a plan
Without a custom plan, there is no way you can create a quality, all-in-one guide. It is necessary to structure your article before you start creating it so you always have a compass.
3. Keyword research
Last thing you need to do before you start writing is to find a good keyword. General idea is that a good guide can trample any content. This is only partially true. You will still need to optimize a bit.
4. Be mindful of writing
When you finally start writing the piece, make sure it is flawless in terms of grammar, phrase usage and general style. In the end, this content will be read by numerous people and you are doing a bad service by providing something that sucks.
5. Promote the content
You might think that no one will link to you for free especially if this other company is selling similar products and services. This is not entirely true and it is necessary to promote your content among influencers.
Conclusions
Same way you wouldn’t buy essay, you probably wouldn’t buy a guide (although there are many online companies offering this service).
Make sure to develop your strategy and start creating guides. Even if they do not convert the way you expected, they will still diversify your content.
About the author:Â
Nikolay Stoyanov is a well-known Bulgarian SEO expert with 9 years of SEO experience. He loves writing about various SEO topics on his blog NikSto.com. Nikolay also offers 100% white hat SEO, audits and Penguin penalty removal services to clients in various niches around the world.
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