Whether in life, SEO, or content generation (for some of us, these have sadly become one and the same), passion is key.

I'm sure that all of us have a past teacher or professor that sits on the lid of our mind's eye, and continually stomps around in disgust as we mindlessly churn out "okay" content. We rationalize that the keywords all appear in a semi-natural fashion, and that the site that we are submitting to has a great PR.  

What we are really doing is hurting ourselves and turning away a ton of highly targeted users. Why?

Well, besides wanting your article or site to rank highly for your specific term, you have to have engaging content that keeps them absorbed in your site. Engaging content....there's a term that everybody uses, but nobody ever gives a useful definition to.

What does it mean to engage? 

I could go to a dictionary and grab a definition, but a definition is cold and doesn't excite the imagination that an example does....and I have an example...a stress-filled, but ultimately rewarding example. 

I recently asked my girlfriend to marry me. We are now engaged.

What did it take for this to happen? 

First off, we had an existing relationship.  During this period, I took her out to dinner, cooked for her, cared for her when she was sick, and treated her with respect and understanding (and she did her fair share of the same).

Next, I asked her to marry me.  She said yes, and I gave her something of value in exchange for her promise of a permanent relationship.

As an engaged couple, we are now planning our wedding together. We have to send out invitations, pick a caterer, attend pre-marital counseling together, and make a host of other decisions that I never would have considered otherwise. 

Some day soon, all our planning will culminate in a marriage, and we will begin a life together.

At this point you may or may not think that I am totally off subject. I'm not.

Your content both creates an opportunity for your client to get to know you and get engaged on the first date! How?

If you set out with the full intention of educating or amusing your reader, then a basis of trust and respect has been established.  You have their best interests at heart, and your goals are secondary.

If, in the same article, you leave them with something valuable (a tool, ebook, or hard-to-find information), then you have engaged your reader. Your site or article becomes the trusted/only source for that information that is either understandable or useful. This is stronger than a bookmark, stronger than a link.

You have left, in essence, a bookmark in their mind.

Once this is done, you start making plans for a long term relationship. They send you a comment, or link to your site, or their is an email exchange.  They make requests for changes or features that you would have not considered without their input. You find out what your user wants to see, and what keeps them coming back.

As in every marriage, you must never stop treating the user with respect or ignore their opinion.  While the user may complain on occasion, so long as their concern is answered, they will not leave you.

The natural progression at this point is to ask the question:

How do I make my content more likely to engage?

I hate "5 ways to do this" and "Seven great ways to do that", so I'll put the answers in bullet points, and you can arrange them in any way you like.

• Know the subject you are writing about

Remember, both novices and experts in your field will read what you have written. Make sure that you fact-check and your writing moves from simple>>>greater complexity, and not vice-versa.  Avoid using jargon, except for when it is necessary.

• Get information through immersion

If you are a freelancer, or writing about someone else's website or industry, go get firsthand experience with their product or industry.  If possible (and given the global nature of internet business, it may not be), sit in their offices for a day.  Talk with their salespeople, call their best customers. Ask what they do well, where they need to improve, and what their goals are. This will improve your SERPs in the long tail, as user jargon tends to be reflected in their searches.

• Use allegories, stories, and case studies to increase understanding.

All great philosophers, from Jesus to Aesop to Aristotle, used simple stories and parables to convey a deeper lesson and meaning. The human mind has not evolved to such a great extent in 2500 years that it can no longer understand simplicity.

• Love what you are doing

If you don't care about what you are doing, it shows. Don't just go through the motions, dig deep. It's not just a link. It's a marriage of two parties with related ideas and passions. If what you are writing about is your passion, then someone else is bound to be interested, if not overjoyed in the reading of it.

I hope this article has inspired you to think about content in a new context, not as link building, but as a courtship, relationship, and passionate marriage of ideals.

Until next time...I'll be signing off