Whether you are writing content for your own blog or for someone else, you want to make it as high-quality as you can. By improving your skills, you can boost traffic, sales, and your following. Here are three things that might be missing from your content.

1. SEO

SEO, or search engine optimization, is the act of using keywords in your content that will get it noticed by search engines. If your content ranks high enough, it will receive more traffic. Improving your SEO is a good way to bring more readers to your work without having to shell out much, or any, money for marketing. If you fail to add SEO, you won’t get the amount of traffic you want.

2. An eye-catching headline

Your headline is as important as the content you write. Don’t rush when creating your headline. It’s the first thing people will see and either be intrigued enough to read more or they’ll move on to something else. If you’re giving your readers a list of tips or information about something, let them know how many. Use eye-catching tricks such as alliteration and don’t forget power words such as “energy” and “strong.”

3. Links to back you up

Even if you are knowledgeable about the topic, it’s a good idea to include a link or two to show that you’ve done your research and provide additional reading if your readers are interested. If you mention something in your content that you aren’t going to go into in-depth, providing them a link for more information will be appreciated as you’ll save them from having to do it on their own. If you write about a topic often, you can keep an ongoing list of links to use. Just make sure you double-check they are still active before using them.

4. Focus

If your content is all over the place, you are going to lose readers. Remember that people are coming to your content because of what your headline is offering. To keep from going off on multiple tangents, always refer back to your headline. If what you’re talking about has nothing to do with it, leave it out. You might mention something slightly related to your topic, but if you do, keep it short. You can always write another piece about that topic if you choose to.

Writing good content is a skill that can benefit any blog or business.