There’s something uniquely frustrating about pouring your time, energy, and budget into a piece of content—blog, guide, page, whatever—only for it to sit quietly collecting digital dust. No clicks. No engagement. Just... dead air. For many businesses I work with, especially small to midsize ones, this happens more than they’d like to admit. It’s easy to blame the algorithm or SEO being “too competitive,” but let’s be honest: more often, we're creating content that never had the right foundation built into it.
In an industry driven by first impressions and fleeting attention, effective content isn't just about looking good or even saying the right things. It's about solving the right problems for the right people—people who are actively looking for something. When done well, content becomes the highway that drives engaged traffic to your digital front door. The good news? We can engineer this kind of content with strategy—and just a little psychology.
Today we’re going to explore how to create specific types of content that not only rank but also hold attention. As someone who wears multiple hats—web designer, SEO consultant, accidental therapist—I’ll guide you through a big-picture approach to developing pieces that matter. And yes, we’re going well beyond “just blog consistently.” Let’s make it click.
Before we dive into types of content, let's look at the core concepts. Traffic and engagement are often treated like siblings, but they’re more like cousins. Traffic is visibility: people showing up to your website from search, social, or referral. Engagement is what those people do once they get there—read, scroll, comment, subscribe, buy.
The tricky part? You can have one without the other. You can buy traffic, but you can’t buy genuine attention. And from a long-game SEO perspective, Google increasingly rewards engagement as a signal of relevance. In other words: they’re tracking what users do after they click.
If you want traffic that converts into leads, clients, or even just loyal readers, you must align your content with the right search intent. Here's how I explain it to clients:
Good SEO strategy starts with knowing where your audience is in this journey and which kind of content best meets them there.
One of the most undervalued types of content is the in-depth explainer guide. Imagine you’re talking to a slightly stressed-out business owner who just Googled “Do I need a new website or just a redesign?” If you deliver a thorough, impartial answer, you don’t just rank—you build trust.
I published a long-form post comparing Webflow and WordPress for a local client who was torn between platforms. I didn’t bias the answer. Instead, I walked through beginner-friendly comparisons—design flexibility, costs, support, SEO limitations. The result? That guide landed on page 1 for "Webflow vs WordPress for small business" within two months and drives consistent leads from small business owners across Tennessee.
When I’m building these guides, I often think of them like preparing a living room before guests arrive: welcome them with clarity, answer what they’re afraid to ask, and make the experience frictionless.
Local SEO has a reputation for being dry. But when done properly, location-specific pages can do double duty: they rank well and help users understand why hiring a *local* expert is a smart move.
For Zach Sean Web Design, I created a geographically optimized page for “Local SEO Franklin TN.” But rather than just stuffing keywords, I treated it like a mini-guide. It includes:
Engagement on that page is significantly higher than other service pages—it’s not just about being found, it’s about making someone feel like they found the *right* partner for *where* they are.
“Hub and spoke” content strategy is pretty hot these days—and for good reason. It works. It’s how Google understands topical authority and helps keep users engaged across multiple pages.
Let’s say your main service is “Custom Website Design.” You create a flagship page about that. But around it, you have blog posts about:
Each links back to the main service page, and vice versa. You’re building a content cluster—a themed group that signals depth to search engines and keeps people moving along the decision path.
I worked with a personal health coach in Brentwood. We created a main landing page for "Virtual Nutrition Coaching" and wrote five related blog posts geared at different decision points. Within three months, that cluster moved her from page 5 to page 1 for several competitive target phrases like “virtual healthy eating coach Nashville.”
The phrase I hear a lot when someone is hiring me: “How do I know you’re legit?” Fancy logos and testimonials help, but detailed client stories go further. They show your process, your thinking, and most importantly—your ability to get outcomes.
Think of it like a short documentary. It doesn’t just say “we did it”; it shows the why, the how, and the transformation. Good case studies include:
When I wrote a story about helping a struggling online bookstore improve their slow, clunky Wix site, I included screenshots, data from their new bounce rate (which dropped by 38%), and even a paragraph in their own words. That page performs as well as some full-on services pages—and people stay on it for over four minutes.
Every buyer compares. Whether it’s platforms (Webflow vs Squarespace), services (DIY SEO vs agency), or even timelines (1-week website vs 6-week process), creating high-quality comparison posts wins attention at a key moment: decision time.
Someone Googling “Webflow vs WordPress” is telling you they’re deep in research mode. They’re looking for clarity, not a hard sell. When your brand shows up to educate rather than push, trust forms fast.
I often mention that choosing a CMS is like choosing a work vehicle. Need to haul furniture? You don’t rent a Miata. Want to zoom fast with low maintenance? You don’t get a school bus. Every tool has a use case—the clearer you make those, the more helpful your content becomes.
Here's where things get interesting: often, content doesn’t rank or convert because it doesn’t connect emotionally. As someone who’s played the role of “marketing therapist,” I’ve seen it firsthand—people are confused, unclear, and trying to express a brand identity they haven’t yet defined.
Your homepage or about page should read like a good therapy session: slowly unpacking who you are, how you help, and where your values show. When I redid the site for a yoga studio in Nashville, we rewrote their copy around what their clients were truly looking for: not fitness, but healing from stress and trauma. The difference in bounce rate? Over 45% decrease.
At the end of the day, the goal isn’t just more content. It’s the right kind of content, created intentionally for your audience, your goals, and your market. Whether it's a hub-style guide, a locally-optimized service page, or a values-driven story that reframes the reader's self-perception, everything you publish should come from a place of clarity and strategic empathy.
I’ve seen countless businesses make the shift from scattered content that sort-of ranks, to high-performing pieces that serve multiple roles—SEO booster, sales conversation starter, even brand manifesto. That leap doesn’t come from volume. It comes from thoughtful structure, deep listening, and crafting content that feels like it was made just for your reader—because it was.
There are no shortcuts here, but there is a path. And it all starts with rethinking content as a living conversation between your business and the people looking for exactly what you do.
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