Content comes in all types, lengths, and mediums. From an SEO point of view, we simply know that it’s important—no, crucial—to add content on a regular basis to our Web sites. The content we add must be of value to our potential buyers.

But truthfully, “writing content” is the most difficult and time-consuming part of the search engine marketing process. I’ve been in the SEO industry for nine years, and I can honestly say that writing content is the part that most SEOs dread. Optimization isn’t a problem. It’s writing content that’s the problem!

One solution: User-generated content.

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Robin

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As you know if you’ve been reading this blog, there are many, many types of content. In fact, I just finished writing an e-book that offers over 100 content ideas, and I’m still thinking of more ideas. The ideas just won’t stop.

When you write content, however, you can either “tell” your site visitors something, or you can “show” them something. The same goes for articles. When I judged Andy Beal’s contest, many of the contestants wrote articles that told me facts, whereas other contestants showed me how to do something.

There’s nothing wrong with either form. We need the news that “tell” us facts. We need to know what’s going on in our respective industries. We need to know the latest toys being introduced by Google, Yahoo!, Live, or Ask. We need to know when Google buys out another company. These are all “tell” content or articles.

However, “show” content takes it a step further. This content explains how to do something, such as how to use one of Google’s new toys in a step-by-step fashion.

Some writers tend to adopt one form or the other. For me personally, I use the “show” method. I’m an instructor, so I naturally want to teach or help in everything I do. If I personally can’t show something, the content doesn’t seem right for me.

However, content that show is more difficult to write. You have to delve into the various steps it takes to achieve the results. You also have to decide how much information to give. If you’re a professional Web designer and you’re writing content about one of your specialties, you want to give away enough information to prove you know what you’re doing without giving potential customers too much information so that they can do the work themselves.

How can you turn a “tell” article into a “show” article?

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