I’ll try to keep this short and sweet, lest I get off track and make the mistake of not heeding my own advice.

Your visitors want to know “what’s in it for them?” That’s why in Part One of this series, we talked about adressing the reader as “you,” to help them identify with what is being said, and appeal directly to them. But that’s simply not enough, if your information isn’t actually relevant.

Relevance is a word that gets thrown around a lot when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and is calculated with a complex algorithm that takes many factors into account. For those of use who are a little less analytical, what that means is that the more you stay on topic and touch upon your chosen keywords and phrases (in addition to hammering home the benefits of what you do) the more likely you are to satisfy searchers, be they of the biological or the robotic variety.

(tag cloud by Flickr user kosmar)

Everything, including the content on the other end of your outgoing links, is taken into account when the search bots measure your “relevance.” More importantly, the (perceived) value of your content- to a human visitor- will determine whether they find what they were looking for, or they flutter away to the next search result.

One very important caveat: As I will touch upon in the next episode of this epic 7-part series, when it comes to blogging, all bets are off. Sure, it helps to re-visit a consistent theme, but healthy doses of miscellany will help you attract what we now call the Long Tail of internet search, where bizarre search terms bring visitors to your site. (hat tip to Chris Anderson)

Rule of thumb: (Ick, I hate rules) If you’re writing copy on static page that is designed to help convert site visitors into customers, then stay on topic. If you’re blogging, don’t let anyone tell you what to do!