seo copywriting - Express Writers

Optimizing Web Copy (with Keywords): Why You Should Never Sacrifice Content Quality

November 29, 2022November 29, 2022 by Nicole Inge

When creating online content, optimizing web copy with keywords is an essential piece of the puzzle. But the question is, should that be your primary focus as a content creator? Although optimizing your content is essential for generating more website traffic, it’s also crucial that you’re getting that traffic to convert. When traffic converts, you know your content is doing the work to get people interested in your business and can make them customers. It can be easy to laser focus on weaving keywords into your copy, but that can distract from giving your readers a useful experience. That’s why it’s time to make creating quality content for your existing human reader your primary mission and use optimization as a secondary asset to attract more traffic. Prioritize Solutions Over Keywords With the Google Helpful Content Update’s launch, the tech giant encourages creators to focus on creating people-first content. This means offering your readers a satisfying experience while creating content that meets their expectations. Do this, and you stand a better chance of ranking high in the SERPs. Don’t do this, and you’ll find your content will generate less organic traffic. Creating and consistently posting content that offers solutions to your audience’s biggest pain points will allow you to achieve the pinnacle of helpful content. Even without Google’s update, you should craft content that positions you as knowledgeable and passionate. But since they encourage creators to write content that leaves the reader feeling like they’ve learned enough about a particular topic to achieve their goals, you might as well utilize this in search engines. Then you can be authoritative on a subject and market yourself in the SERPs. So, where does keyword optimization come into play? Can I still optimize web copy with keywords? Google suggests writing to your human reader first, then directing your attention to SEO best practices for keywords. You avoid the typical lackluster, robotic, and unsatisfying content that comes from focusing only on search engines – which won’t bring in the conversions you need anyway. 7 Ways to Create Quality Content for Your Reader Now that you know your human reader should always be your primary focus, how can you create quality content people enjoy reading and sharing with others? There are several things you can do to get started: 1. Focus on Their Unique Needs Your readers search for content that addresses their unique problems. That’s why you should get to know your target audience because then you can identify the topics that will offer answers for them. And connecting on this deeper level reveals more about their interests and pain points — you humanize your business and build trust with the people you want to reach. Once you know more about your readers, you can start doing research to determine what they search for on Google. A way to do this is by checking Google Analytics to see which search terms land people on your website. After finding those, take the successful topics from your site and reflect them on social media for further optimization. You can also use your content across multiple channels, saving time and effort. Take things to the next level by studying your competitors. See what topics they use for their content to see what’s generating interest from their audience. Use it as inspiration, then dig deeper into the topic and put your own spin on the information. 2. Write Captivating Content That’s Easy to Read All of your site content should be well-written and easy to consume. If it isn’t, your ideal reader could disappear from your pages. An easy way to start incorporating steps that will make your content captivating? Write a catchy, attention-grabbing headline. Headlines should be short and sweet and communicate the point of your article. Make sure this headline is relevant and avoid clickbait-y titles that can turn readers off. From there, write an introduction that will set the overall tone for the article and leave your audience wanting more. In your introduction, highlight the problem you’re addressing so readers know what to expect. Sharing statistics or fun facts is one way to increase interest here. But make sure your stats are well-researched. You may opt to introduce your article with a fascinating story instead. Experiment and see what fits your style and audience’s attention span the best. Make sure the body of your article is easy to read by checking for flow in the editing process. Formatting is another big step. Keep the post simple to follow through subheaders that break the blog post into sections. Additionally, numbered and bulleted lists help with readability because your audience can get the gist of a section without much effort. Basically, avoid big blocks of text that are visually hard to absorb and keep the blog dynamic. 3. Add Visual Interest Visuals are another powerful way to up-level your blog posts. By adding images to your blog posts, you appeal to those readers who are visual learners. By incorporating images, you can help them understand complex topics through customized infographics and other images. Additionally, stock photos are helpful because they help you break up text and include humans to help make connections. Source: NCN Technology Whenever possible, you can also consider adding videos to your blog posts. Videos can expand on the topic at hand and provide additional information for your reader to consume. And by sourcing images and videos to complement your posts, your readers will sew how much time goes into the incredible content you produce. 4. Create an Emotional Connection with Your Reader Content that evokes an emotional response and builds connection is memorable. It’s a great feeling when your content sticks in a reader’s mind. You can create these emotional connections in a number of ways. For one, you can opt to tell engaging and relatable personal stories. Think about the reasons and feelings that would bring someone to your content, then comment on those and offer empathy. Additionally, consider how you write. Your writing … Read more

The Importance of Being Authentic in Your Online Copywriting (From an SEO Copywriter)

December 31, 2020October 6, 2016 by Ashley

As an SEO copywriter, I see what goes on behind the scenes in the world of online content. By that, I mean I see the assignment and request sheets. I even have the long phone conversations with clients who aren’t exactly sure what they want, but who know they want something. I get the jumble of keywords and the word count and the instruction to make it into something useable. It’s often creation ex nhilo, in its finest form. And the other copywriters out there know what I’m talking about. Despite the fact that it’s often difficult, though, it’s entirely worthwhile. And here’s why. Online copywriting challenges us to be one thing that we often aren’t in our daily lives: authentic. Today, more people are turning to online content than have ever done so before, and their B.S. detectors are better than they’ve ever been. Because of this, it’s critical to take all of the raw components of online copy and make them into something coherent, compelling, and, yes, authentic. If this is something that you, like so many SEO copywriters struggle with, this piece contains some tips to help you be more authentic in all of your online content, starting now. Enjoy! Authenticity: The Cornerstone of Great Online Content The best creations from any good SEO copywriter are like a puzzle meticulously assembled. It’s a little bit of SEO, a little bit of research, a little bit of skill, a lot of dedication, and some humor or insight, all rolled into one cohesive package. If any of these components are lacking, the content just does not work. And don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of this out there, but it’s not what people want to interact with. Today, brands in all industries and specialties are striving for authentic content, and readers around the globe are working harder than ever before to find it. This represents something extraordinary. While content has long since been the vehicle for various forms of marketing, it’s a recent thing that the demand for authentic content has reached such a fever pitch. Today, customers don’t want to interact with pushy, stiff content that reeks of used-car-salesman vibes. Instead, they want legitimately valuable content that helps them solve problems and, get this, develop relationships. According to an article published in the Harvard Business Review, the importance of a massive, powerful brand (think Wal-Mart) is falling, while the importance of company-customer relationships is rising. In fact, the value of customer relationships has doubled over the last decade, leaping from 9% to 18%. In addition to driving things like engagement and sales, stronger company-customer relationships also help promote brand recognition and loyalty. And what’s the best way to create these relationships? You guessed it: authentic content. 3 Brands Currently Killing It with Authentic Content To get an idea of what authentic content looks like in the world of online copywriting, it’s smart to look around at a few brands that do it well. Here are three of my favorites: 1. Dollar Shave Club I reference Dollar Shave Club often in what I write because I truly believe they’re one of the best brands out there regarding online content. I’ll confess that I became a member of their service based purely on the genius of their launch video, and the goodness just continues. For an example, consider this email I received from them just today: While this headline might not immediately strike you as “authentic” (slapstick, maybe?), it does a few things well. First of all, it’s funny. I saw it in my inbox and knew that the email would contain a pitch for some hand cream. I also knew I wouldn’t buy any, but I opened it because I wanted to see what was inside. And guess what? As a consumer, I’ll continue opening their emails until another one of their products does appeal to me, and then I’ll purchase it. Because they’re consistently funny, upfront, and authentic, I’m a devotee of the brand – even though there are similar ones out there. 2. Patagonia Patagonia is one of my favorite clothing companies, and it’s also one of my favorite brands for content. Dedicated to sustainability, recycled materials, and super high-quality outdoor clothing backed by an “ironclad guarantee,” Patagonia takes its vision into its content, and practices what it preaches every step of the way. The company’s blog, The Cleanest Line, features articles on everything from preserving the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear to profiles on great outdoorsmen (and women). While Patagonia isn’t funny like Dollar Shave Club (and, where it exists in Patagonia’s marketing, humor takes a different form), the company manages to speak directly and authentically to their clients, which is probably why they have one of the single strongest followings I know of. 3. Neil Patel Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Hello Bar, and I believe he’s one of the best marketers out there. While he does many amazing things in the way of content, one of my favorite things about his approach is his willingness to admit that he hasn’t always been awesome at this. While an influencer like Neil could feel completely inaccessible, he takes steps to break that perception down by openly sharing what he calls his “oh sh*t” moments. It’s vulnerable, honest, and authentic, and it makes people want to engage with his brand even more than they would if they knew he was one of the most successful marketers out there. 5 Steps to More Authentic Content (By Yours Truly, An SEO Copywriter) Unless you know how to approach it, striving for authentic content can have the opposite effect: it can make your content feel stiffer. Luckily, these five tips will help you get off on the right foot: 1. Write for your audience, whoever they are Obviously, the audience Dollar Shave Club is targeting is somewhat different than the audience Patagonia is targeting, so it stands to reason that the voice is different. That said, though, both brands do an excellent job of speaking to their unique audiences. To make your content more authentic, learning to … Read more

10 Commandments of Online Writing to Obey Immediately for Better Results in Your Content Marketing

December 31, 2020August 17, 2016 by Adam Oakley

It’s easy to approach online writing the same way you would school papers. Your first instinct may be to keep your language formal, professional, and terse. You want to sound like you know what you’re talking about and establish your credibility. Mistake number one. It’s equally as easy to approach writing online as if it’s your personal sounding board. You have a domain and a content platform – the world needs to know your opinions about your industry and anything else that rolls off the top of your head, gosh darn it. Mistakes number two and three. If you have fallen prey to these easy blunders, it’s time to get your head back in the game – the content marketing game. The above methods will not win you any ROI, so what will? The online writing gods require certain things from you if you expect to get anywhere with your search rankings and traffic. Follow these 10 commandments of online writing and you’ll get leaps and bounds closer to the ROI you need and want for your hard work. The 10 Commandments of ROI-Worthy Online Writing 1. Thou Shalt Write for Humans, Not Search Engines Yes, online writing needs to be optimized for search engines – but it needs to be written for humans. If the people in your audience aren’t top-of-mind every single time you sit down to write, you’re breaking the most basic commandment of web content creation. It’s really just simple logic: If you want to reach your target users, you must write for them. The rest should fall into place. Why is this true? David Risley for Search Engine Journal puts it like this, and he’s spot-on: “If your focus is on helping, provoking or inspiring your reader, search will more or less take care of itself.” That means you’re not adding keywords wherever you can, or sneaking them in where they don’t belong. It means you’re not wondering “How can I make this more search-friendly?” while you’re writing. It means you’re setting out to write content that answers human questions or solves human problems. It means you’re striving to be informative, helpful, and logical. Ironically, if you set out to write for search engines above all instead of humans, you’re going to get burned. Don’t do it. 2. Thou Shalt Use Keywords Strategically Keywords – those magic words and phrases that search engines glom onto. If you use them correctly, you’ll probably look like this: Without the strategic use of keywords, though, you’re going to be like the kid sitting alone in a crowded cafeteria. No one is going to join you at your content table and partake in your content feast. Keywords are the little flags that let search engines understand your content and index it. Unless you use them strategically, you won’t draw the organic traffic that can be so vital to leads and conversions. 3. Thou Shalt Not Neglect Thy Meta Data Metas, A.K.A. meta titles and meta descriptions, may seem inconsequential to your overall content strategy, but you’d be a fool to ignore them or gloss over their importance. Here’s a big reason why they matter: They can encourage more click-throughs for your content in search results. This is because search engine results consist of nothing BUT metas: Writing strong metas can persuade users to click. That’s powerful – ignore them at your peril. 4. Thou Shalt Proofread and Edit Thy Online Writing Look at the two short paragraphs below. Which one looks more credible, trustworthy, and professional? Which one is easier to read and understand? Proofreading your work and taking the time to edit is just one part of producing high-quality content. Neglect these steps, and you’ll not only hurt your chances of ranking – you’ll also inhibit your audience’s ability to understand you. 5. Thou Shalt Not Forget Thy Audience Niche Speaking of your audience, are you remembering their specific needs, wants, desires, and preferences at all times while you write? It’s easy to fall into the trap of writing what you think they want to hear versus what they actually want to hear. As a result, the content you write will be less relevant to them. This is something search engines will pick up on. Avoid this by conducting regular target audience research, referring to your personas often, and writing directly to them in your content, like you’re having a conversation. 6. Thou Shalt Research Thy Online Writing Topics For better content and online writing, research matters. A LOT. To be blunt, making claims without backing them up with facts, data, studies, and sources destroys your authority and credibility. Everyone’s knowledge depends on everyone else’s knowledge. When you add research to your online writing, you’re participating in this public conversation and showing you did your homework to come to your conclusions. You’re proving the accuracy of your work. Even more importantly, you’re giving credit where it’s due and avoiding plagiarism. These things are huge online, where it’s incredibly easy to steal content. 7. Thou Shalt Publish Regularly The most successful online writing, the kind that builds authority for a site and grows its search rankings, is published consistently, on the regular. Google is hungry. It wants fresh helpings of your content on a constant basis. It doesn’t like stuff that’s stale, outdated, or served sporadically. Read this Moz article about how content freshness affects Google rankings to learn more. (Hint: The stuff you posted two weeks ago is decaying!) Figure out the posting frequency that works for you to keep your content fresh, then stick to it. Your writing and content will benefit. 8. Thou Shalt Link Judiciously Along with freshness, successful online writing also requires some juice to help build its clout in the SERPs. To be more specific, it needs some link juice. Link juice does a few things: It helps search engines crawl your site It helps your audience navigate/browse your pages It adds value to your content This includes smart internal linking within … Read more

Google Pirate Hits the Web

December 31, 2020November 7, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Argh, me mateys! There be fewer torrents ahead! Who doesn’t love pirates? Google, and those of us who take pride in our creations from movies to music to content. We’re not talking about spunky and sometimes spooky fantastical characters. We’re talking about real, live cyber pirates who hand users illegal versions of programs, movies, music, and more. We’re talking about repeated copyright infringers, the thieves who make off with our content and spread it about the Internet. According to a recent Torrentfreak report, the latest Google Pirate update has had a noticeable impact on many torrent sites. Most of us have heard of torrent sites, but unless we’re big downloaders, we probably don’t know much about them. A BitTorrent is a protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing. BitTorrent protocol distributes huge amounts of data over the Internet. Torrent files can be anything from legally sharable software, like OpenOffice, to highly illegal shares, like cracked copies of Adobe Photoshop or pirated movies and music. Google’s Pirate Isn’t Torrent Friendly According to Searchmetrics, Google has been repeatedly criticized for “not doing enough against Piracy.” The nature of the Internet makes it next to impossible to police the proverbial waters effectively. It’s been argued that there’s no proven means of halting piracy on the high cyber seas, but Google’s Pirate update appears to be a step in the right direction. Since the update released at the end of October, popular “pirate” sites—BitTorrent and torrent sites—have seen massive drops in search traffic. It appears that the search engine giant is “policing” the high seas by deterring search traffic from locating these sites in the first place. Search Engine Land’s coverage of the update included the following screen shot of the SEO visibility for the site torrentz.edu: Image Credit: SearchEngineLand.com According to Wikipedia, as of 2009 peer-to-peer torrent websites collectively accounted for an estimated 43 to 70 percent of all Internet traffic, depending on geographic location. Jump to February 2013, and these websites are suddenly responsible for 3.35 percent of all worldwide bandwidth. This is more than half of the 6 percent total bandwidth dedicated to file sharing. There’s no denying that the distribution of pirated material has grown rampant. One might argue that it is virtually out of control. And it’s not just torrent sites that are the problem. Any site can be guilty of stealing content. Some event claim stolen content as their own. The Internet is so massive that it’s almost impossible for copyright holders to track down and report all offenders, but the incentive to do so just grew. Whom It Affects Google’s Pirate Update 2 works much like Panda and Penguin. Leveraging the data and queries collected by the first Pirate update from two years ago, Google’s new and improved swashbuckler is smarter than ever. You might say this buccaneer is sat proudly in the crow’s nest, actively on the lookout for copyright infringements. Any site where it spots a violation receives a huge drop in rankings. In some cases, sites are completely removed from search results. But Google’s not just spotting and dropping copyright infringing sites. The king of the cyber seas is applying real, verified complaints and reports to the algorithm. Any site with a filed report through Google’s DMCA system will be the recipient of a sizable drop in rankings. The site risks immediate removal from the SERPs. According to Searchmetric’s analysis, affected site are not receiving a mere slap on the wrist. You might say these sites are being made to walk the plank. Some have seen a 98 percent loss in SEO visibility, which is enormous. So far, it’s been unauthorized television and movie sites, peer-to-peer torrent sites, and various free download websites that have taken massive hits. Are You in the Bullseye? The good news, at least for most of us, is that Google’s Pirate is on a precise crusade. It seeks to spot and slash piracy websites. The current reports indicate that only mass download websites and those blatantly guilty of copyright infringement are being hit. It’s been about two weeks, and we haven’t seen any indication that there are bystander casualties. Chances are you’re not in the Pirate’s bullseye. However, there’s certainly nothing wrong with making sure that you’re not ever skirting the outer edge. After all, the websites hit by the swashbuckler are getting hit hard. Your goal should be to hold to best practices: Give credit where credit is due. Did you see the image credit earlier in this blog? You’ve probably noticed similar credits throughout numerous posts. It’s called giving credit where credit is due. When you “borrow” or share content, always give credit. It’s also smart to review the source. Read their terms and conditions. Confirm they are okay with their content being shared. See if they request a specific credit. When it doubt, cut it out. If you can’t verify the source of any type of content, don’t display it. If you verify the source, but they state their content is not to be reproduced in any manner, don’t reproduce it. If they are okay with reproduction, but it comes with an express permission clause, contact them for permission. If there is even a sliver of doubt, cut it out! Don’t share or reproduce the content, even with a credit. Observe the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have done to you. It’s solid advice for anyone, anywhere, any time. You wouldn’t want your content from words to images stolen. Don’t steal others. Instead, do everything in your power to promote a piracy free Cyber Sea. The best way to avoid the Pirate’s wrath is to avoid copyright infringement. Google is continuously improving their algorithms. We’ve seen the results in updates to Panda and Penguin. Spammy, low quality websites are being steadily weeded out of search results. As a stauncher stand on Internet piracy is taken, we can expect to see future updates to the algorithm. Keep your nose clean of copyright infringement; avoid distributing … Read more

SEO Optimizing Your Online Copywriting: Tricks of the Trade

January 1, 2021January 30, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Search engine optimization is a bear of a topic. Many of us feel like we’re staring down a ferocious bear as we try to wrap our heads around SEO optimization of our online copy. It can seem like a daunting task, even when we hire a professional. Today, our goal is to turn that ferocious bear into a teddy bear by the time you finish skimming or reading this blog. Are you up for the transformation? SEO Updates: Pandas and Penguins and Hummingbirds, Oh My! Writing for the web has been said to be a beast of a task. Unlike traditional copy where you wrote for the audience, online copy demands that you write for the search engines too. Google, the king of search engine beasts, makes no secret of their requirements for proper SEO optimization. The guide they provide is great, but suddenly we find ourselves being hit by various creatures. In 2013, we had a panda, a penguin and a hummingbird thrown at us! Since when is throwing untamed wildlife at us okay? Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird were all updates to SEO. With each one, the focus of optimization and rankings changed. At times, it felt like we were being attacked by wild animals. Now that the dust has settled (and the wildlife seems to be caged, at least for now), the ferocious SEO bear really does look a bit more like a cuddly teddy bear. The Truth about Keywords In all the wildlife excitement, someone had the courage to start a vicious little rumor that the days of keyword optimizing were going, going, gone. Based on Google’s SEO updates, we respectfully disagree. It is undeniable that how we use keywords has changed, but we have by no means been discouraged from using them altogether. As a result, you still need to tackle keyword research and keyword usage when optimizing online copy. Keyword research is a frightening topic. “Research” isn’t a word most of us appreciate. It brings to mind painful classes and scary essays. What exactly is keyword research? Well, it boils down to discovering which words or phrases your target audience will use when conducting an Internet search. We published an informative blog about keyword research that can open your horizons to this concept in more depth, back in December. You’ll want to pinpoint the top 1 to 3 keywords for your target audience. These words should be inserted into the following places: The title tag The #h1 headline Image alt tags The body of the text (usually in the first and last paragraphs) SearchEngineLand published a fantastic article about optimizing a single page of content with multiple keywords. If you need (or want) detailed information about where and how to place your keywords and phrases, it’s a great additional resource. Keyword usage in copy is a whole new ball game these days. In the past, Google’s search algorithms weren’t synonym smart. As a result, we had to use specific keywords and keyword phrases. It wasn’t uncommon to read copy that made both the writer and editor cringe. Proper grammar? Forget it. Semi-proper grammar? Maybe. Keyword phrases were often out of order or senseless because they had to cater to the search engine. Thankfully, search engines are smarter today. Not only can they handle synonyms, but they can also adapt to variations! Instead of having to insert “sandwich peanut butter” into a sentence and cringe, we can now write “peanut butter sandwich” and the search engine will still grab this key if someone types “sandwich peanut butter” into a search query. Keywords and phrases still need to be researched and used, but they don’t have to be used at the expense of quality content. The general rule is that a piece of content should have a keyword density of approximately 1 to 2 percent. However, the flow and quality of the copy should take priority because, as CopyBlogger points out when writing about SEO copywriting, “Google treats the truth and authority of your domain, what others think about your content and the words they use to describe it, as an important indication of quality and relevance.” The Importance of Relevance and Authority The primary way websites are ranked today is through a combination of relevancy and authority. In essence, search engines want to see relevant content conveyed by a credible or authoritative entity. They have numerous algorithms designed to determine relevancy and authority; geo-location, search history, Query Deserves Diversity and Query Deserves Freshness, just to name a few. Domain authority is growing more and more relevant to SEO. At first, wrapping your head around it can be a terrifying prospect. I’ll be honest: the first time I read about domain authority, I felt like I was sitting at a tech conference. I thought, “My god, I’m in way over my head.” The SEO bear was growling at me, and I could have sworn he was about to swipe. Then, I started to find resources that helped me make sense of the tech jargon. Moz published a great article about domain authority. Personally, I had to read it a couple of times to grasp it all. Don’t feel bad if you have trouble understanding domain authority at first. The learning curve isn’t as steep as it appears, and it really is natural to feel a little lost. Here’s what you need to know about domain authority in laymen terms: Domain authority, or DA, is very difficult to directly influence. A DA rating represents how a website performs in search engine rankings. One way to begin increasing your DA is through SEO linking, but don’t expect immediate or noticeable results. The only sure way to influence your DA is to spend time improving your overall SEO. The Trick to Improving Your Overall SEO The ultimate trick, the perfect key, the guarded secret…it all comes down to one primary thing: quality content. SEO is literally all about creating content that is so compelling, so … Read more

The Art of SEO Copywriting: Tricks of the Trade

June 19, 2024January 13, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Copywriting is a skill, no question. When it’s mastered down to a science, it can drive readers and prospects to take action that is profitable for businesses. But, at its heart, copywriting is also an art. Here’s how Copyblogger defines it: In many ways, the art of SEO copywriting is the art of written persuasion PLUS the science of search engine optimization. Optimized copy is simply copy that people can find through online search. The “art” comes in when people read that copy and are moved to act. It’s a one-two punch that can take a business everywhere. So, how do you nail both the art side and the science side? Let’s dig in and explore. Nailing the Art of SEO Copywriting: 3 Tips 1. Follow the Famous Saying: “The more you tell, the more you sell.” Famed ad man David Ogilvy advised copywriters to write more, not less, to convince customers to act. Dr. Charles Edwards is responsible for saying “The more facts you tell, the more you sell,” but Ogilvy is the one who made it famous. Why is it true? Because you, as the copywriter, have a single chance to convince your prospect – when your copy is laid out in front of them. If you put all your cards on the table, the customer will become better-informed, will feel smarter about the product/service, and thus will come to a decision more easily. So, always remember to list those benefits, go into detail, and really give the prospect all the information they need. This will help them feel ready for the action you’re trying to pull from them. Do not, however, confuse giving more information with being wordy or redundant. (Do not be like Ron Swanson with his typewriter.) Keep your copy concise, but provide plenty of facts and benefits. 2. Light Up Their Imagination with Stories If you’re a writer, you’re a storyteller. You can and should use that skill in your copy to help persuade and convince your prospects. It works because: Stories make your readers feel real emotions, which are powerful motivators. Reading stories versus lists of facts helps your readers remember what you’re saying better. For a great example of storytelling in copywriting, look to Modcloth, the women’s fashion retailer. In each of their product descriptions, they tell a mini-story about the item in question to help their readers imagine what it would be like to own and wear it. The story also makes the item memorable. Here’s a story about a bright yellow raincoat, which Modcloth has us imagining wearing during rainy commutes or “misty midnight jaunts”: Here’s another about a breezy wedding dress, which the retailer wants us to imagine ourselves wearing right at that pivotal moment before the ceremony begins: As you can see, stories are powerful. They make emotional connections between your reader and the product/service you’re trying to sell. When you use stories in your copy, your readers will look like this: Which will make them want to do this: Or this: Via Envato Which, in the end, will make them feel like this: 3. Relate to the Reader The road to brilliant copy must always curve back to the reader. To do this, first, you have to know who your reader is. Then, address them in your writing with these principles: Use second person voice. The reader is “you,” not “he” or “she.” Pretend you’re having a conversation with them. This becomes far more interesting and engaging when you’re writing for a specific target audience member. For example, how would you strike up a conversation with a middle-aged stay-at-home mom versus a millennial entrepreneur? Put yourself in your reader’s shoes and approach your copy from their point of view. Never for one moment forget who you’re talking to – each facet of your copy should speak to your target reader. Finessing the Science of SEO Copywriting: 3 Tricks The art of copywriting needs to be bolstered with the science of SEO. Here are some key basics: 1. Optimize for Keywords If nobody reads your copy, all your work will go to waste. To make sure it finds an audience, you must optimize it for search by using the right keywords in the right places. Here are the places your target keyword needs to hog the spotlight: At or near the beginning of your headline/title Once in the first paragraph In at least one of your subheaders Inside your meta description, preferably at the beginning Before you start inserting keywords into your copy willy-nilly, first remember that you should always use them naturally. This means if your copy sounds robotic and not like normal human speech, you need to rethink it. For example, say I wanted to optimize my copy for the keyword “fiction books dogs”. I would not want to write something like this: Fiction books dogs are compelling – who doesn’t want to read about man’s best friend? Instead, you need to make sure your keyword fits seamlessly into your copy. The reader shouldn’t even know it’s there: Fiction books about dogs are compelling because dogs are man’s best friend. Note how we inserted the conjunction “about” to help make the keyword mesh with normal English. For funny-looking keywords, little grammar modifications like this can help in a pinch. Feel free to use helper words like and, but, or, about, with, at, etc. within your keyword phrases – Google will ignore them and understand that you’re going for “fiction books dogs” rather than “fiction books about dogs.” For example, the listing below is ranking for “fiction books dogs” even though it has a helper word (“for”) sandwiched in it: 2. Make Your Copy/Content Really Good You would think good copy is a relative idea, but it’s not. No matter where you look, all good copy has some key features in common. These are essential for SEO and ranking well. According to Search Engine Journal, good copy is: Helpful and useful. It keys into user search … Read more

Why SEO Copywriting Services Are Essential To Your Internet Marketing

June 19, 2024January 10, 2014 by Adam Oakley

Today, it’s impossible to have a good digital strategy without one crucial thing: SEO. SEO or search engine optimization is the cornerstone of highly visible, highly relevant online content. And the best brands know they need great SEO copywriting services to help them climb to the top. Why, you ask? Simple: ranking on the web requires a lot more than just having great content. Think of it this way, even if you made the most beautiful shirt in the world, would you be able to sell it? If you only made one of them, and you didn’t know how to get it to a place where customers could see it — probably not! Even if your content is outstanding and your brand is reliable, that’s not always enough to rank. Instead, you need the help of a good SEO copywriter to give your content the finishing touch it needs to shoot to the top of the SERPs. Read on! The Value of SEO Copywriting Services SEO copywriting combines two things that, unfortunately, most brands aren’t great at: SEO and copywriting. Even if you have a strong team of in-house writers, SEO is a specific industry that takes a lot of time and attention to learn. This means not everyone knows it, and even the people who do don’t always know it well. This is why it’s so critical to seek help from a professional. When it’s done right, SEO copywriting services can do the following things for your brand: Boost Your Search Rankings. Great SEO makes your content more visible and will help it claim more prominent spots in the SERPs, which is important since these spots claim the majority of the clicks and attention. Save You Money. If you’ve been relying on paid advertising or paid placements to bag customers, SEO copywriting services can represent a real cost-savings. Instead of taking a “spray and pray” approach, SEO copywriting targets the customers you want to connect with, and gives your content a path to ranking organically. Keep You on the Cutting Edge of Content. Search engines are claiming an increasingly larger market share, so featuring more prominently within them is a very good idea. The easier it is for customers to find your business, locate your content, and have meaningful interactions with your brand, the more sales your company will enjoy. Help You Remain Competitive. If you’re not working on your SEO, but all your customers are, you can bet you’re going to fall behind. Everyone’s doing it nowadays, and you can’t afford to be the last one on the bus. What Is SEO Content, and Do I Need It for My Business? A lot of business owners don’t understand why they need SEO copywriting services. This is primarily because these business owners aren’t familiar with the process of search engine optimization, or the effect it can have on online content. SEO content is copy written with the aim of drawing new visitors to your site. The more traffic your website gets, the more sales you make and the more authority you earn. To create effective SEO content, copywriters use a variety of strategies, including placing keywords and phrases throughout the copy, optimizing meta content and images, and formatting the headline so that it’s easy for readers and search engines to understand. 10 Smart Reasons to Hire SEO Copywriting Services Powerfully written web content can boost your conversions, earn you more customers, and even increase your Google rankings. With that in mind, it’s clear this is one thing that’s too important to ignore. Here are the ten biggest reasons to hire an SEO copywriter: 1. Good Research that Boosts Your Content’s Value A good SEO copywriter knows how to do research and incorporate it into an article. This is important because links and backlinks are influential ranking factors in the world of SEO, and having links to relevant, reputable third-party sources throughout your content can help it earn higher search rankings. 2. More Compelling Calls to Action Remember: SEO copywriters are copywriters first, which means they know how to craft a mean CTA. We’ve talked before about why calls-to-action matter, and how creating better ones can help boost your conversions, but did you know that simple SEO tactics, like including keywords and phrases in your linked CTA anchor text can also help your site rank and produce more qualified leads? An SEO copywriter can deliver all of this and more. 3. Enhanced Page Focus Unless you have a good understanding of SEO, learning to focus a page can be difficult. Fortunately, SEO copywriters understand exactly how to narrow, target, and position your content so that it ranks most efficiently for your chosen keyword. 4. Better Keyword Research If you’re targeting crappy, short keywords and phrases and being disappointed by your results, SEO copywriting services can help. While keyword research is a major factor in good SEO, not everyone knows how to do it. And rightfully so! It requires the intelligent use of several tools and approaches laypeople don’t have an excuse for knowing! Hire SEO copywriting services, though, and you’ll get solid keyword research that will improve your rankings. 5. Natural Keyword Inclusion Once you’ve tracked those keywords down, what do you do with them? Do you just stuff them into your copy wherever they fit or do you include them naturally? The answer is, of course, the latter. SEO copywriters will weave keywords into your copy, so readers don’t even notice them, but search engines can rank them. 6. SEO-Friendly Meta Tags and Descriptions Do you know how to write meta tags and descriptions? Do you even know what they are? If your answer is “no,” that’s okay! These are the perfect example of difficult yet essential SEO tools that only experienced copywriters know how to handle. Used by search engines to rank and interpret your site, meta content is too important to ignore, but too challenging and specific to farm out to just anyone. 7. Pages that Are the Perfect Length Did you know that even length plays into the SEO … Read more

How to Research & Prepare Your SEO Keywords for the New Year

December 31, 2020January 8, 2014 by Adam Oakley

According to Search Engine Watch, a leader providing search engine industry analysis, SEO marketing “finally matured in 2013.” In a single year, over 500 algorithm changes took place, changing the face of search engine optimization forever. In 2014, you’ll need to adapt to change if you expect to hold onto your SERP (search engine results page). In preparation for the New Year, we’ve investigated multiple resources and sorted out the pertinent research that will prepare you for the new word of SEO. SEO Copywriting Is More Important than Ever Newbie webmasters and business owners sometimes falsely believe that SEO copywriting is neither useful nor necessary. Such ideas could not be farther from the truth. In fact, we tackled this topic head on in one of our blogs on SEO copywriting. If you doubt for even a nanosecond that optimization for search engine placement is dying, you had better catch up by reading our post! In 2014, SEO will become more vital than ever. However, it absolutely must be handled correctly, otherwise it will be for naught. And the work you’ve already put into optimization now needs an overhaul, otherwise it’ll be hopelessly outdated and nonfunctional. You want website traffic? You want conversion and sales? You better listen up… Keywords Matter but They’re Not Almighty Over the years, opinions and facts about keywords have rapidly changed. At one time, content was bursting at the seams with keyword after keyword, repetitively stuffed in to gain high search engine rankings. Google put the kibosh on this outdated (and frankly, irritating) method of optimization for ranking in favor of quality content. People aren’t robots; they’ve never “crawled” over content and “indexed” it like early model search engine robots. Instead, audiences the globe over have cried out for the chance to read quality content, not sift through incoherent piles of keywords and phrases culminating in an “Order Now” button. As we wrap up 2013, one of the biggest and most buzzed about changes to SEO keywords is the loss of the Google Keyword tool. Moving forward, what does this mean for you? A Moment of Silence, Please Putting the Google Keyword tool to rest is an eventuality almost all of us have been expecting. For those of us neck deep in SEO research, we understand the transforming fact: users want quality content and a great experience above everything else, and Google has heard their voice. Cut the fluff and educate! That’s what consumers want. Back in 2011, Google started dropping hints to SEO marketers that their models and algorithms were about to change. The Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates pushed an attention shift from the almighty repetitive keyword insertion to content quality and relevancy. As we step into the new world of 2014, it would be prudent to take a hard look at your SEO campaigns. It’s time to ensure they’re keeping up with the changes. Otherwise, you’ll be pushing campaigns that won’t push business, and that the last thing you want to do. It would mean a complete waste of planning and funds. SEO Content in 2014 For those of us on the warpath, determined to give our audience of potential customers exactly what they crave, many of the same standards we’ve adopted in the past year are still relevant. For example, we have written on our blog about never sacrificing content quality for rankings. This philosophy is still one of the essential SEO content writing tips and the best policy going into the New Year. In fact, you might say it’s the only policy. Climbing the search engine rankings is about to focus on longer quality content, relevant material and the use of keywords with variations. As the New Year is ushered in, every business owner and marketing guru will meet the change of dealing with new obstacles. Let’s take a look at 3 of the most monstrous obstacles: #1: Traditional SEO Methods Won’t Cut It Remember the days when inserting keywords and variations of those keywords equated to higher SERP rankings? Don’t live in those days because they’re going, going, gone. Mobile searching has taken root, and the almighty Google has made it a point to determine where users are searching from. As a result, SERPs are not static. Google is also tossing customer opinion into the mix. What customers say about you is going hold more weight than other SEO elements on your page. What does this mean for you? It’s time to see beyond an SEO strategy. You’re going to need a local, national, and international strategy so that searchers from any location have a chance to see you. Local search terms are about to be vital for your local SEO success. Customer testimonials will be more important than ever. #2: Static is Out Neither Google nor your market is static. Just because you hold a high search engine ranking today, doesn’t mean you’ll still hold it tomorrow. You have to play defense to keep your rankings high, and you have to expect them to fluctuate throughout the year. What does this mean for you? Ranking competition is fierce. You need a defensive strategy to survive the upcoming competition of 2014. SEO isn’t a one-time deal. It must be maintained and evolve as SEO practices change. If you plan on successfully defending your visibility, traffic and conversions to sales, you need to allocate both money and resources into your budget for 2014. Skimping is out of the question! #3: Quick Fixes Lead to a Quick Death The rule of 2014 is to following SEO best practices. Cutting corners and attempting quick fixes—you know, the “I’ll tie up the loose ends later” approach—is something Google will not tolerate. A quick fix would get you quickly banned from Google! The 2014 SEO Game Plan Now that your head is reeling from the challenges, let’s talk game plan. It’s time to push a positive spin on the new frontier of SEO. After all, it’s entirely possible you already have plenty of best … Read more

SEO Copywriting 101: What’s the Big Deal About?

January 1, 2021December 7, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Are you a newbie Webmaster wondering why SEO copywriting is such a big deal? Let’s start by saying it is a really big deal because almighty Google keeps changing their search algorithm. So what does this exactly mean for you? It simply means that you have to create content that will be appealing to this mother of all search engines. You should never approach copywriting for SEO as a just a way to get the attention of search engines, it is a very important that you concentrate on writing for people while still employing writing techniques that will make your content easier to find by search engine spiders—pretty genius, huh? What Exactly is SEO Copywriting? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) copywriting is a technique of creating content for web pages that contain an adequate amount of targeted keywords or key phrases. The keywords should never be overused in the content. SEO is a process of achieving high ranking for websites in search engines. SEO copywriting also involves optimization for on page content such as including title, Meta description, key phrases, keywords etc. The main aim of SEO is to create content that is completely relevant to the person searching for the content, product or service provided by the website. Sadly, some SEO experts are actually unable to achieve this. Crafting irrelevant content may have some power to drive a lot of traffic, however, it will not serve the major purpose of Search Engine Optimization. Translation: you’ll be flushing a huge chunk of your SEO campaign money down the toilet because the content is not good enough to convert readers to loyal clients or customers. For additional resources, check out this article on 10 easy SEO copywriting techniques to use for link building on Moz.com. Advantages of SEO Copywriting Copywriting for SEO will bring more traffic to your website. It is also a one-time expense in search engine optimization unlike Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns. Copywriting for search engine optimization involves creating content that will not only inform visitors, but will also do a great job of converting them to loyal subscribers, customers or clients. A website that can keep visitors well informed is good, but, a website that informs and converts readers to loyal customers or clients? Well, that’s just gravy. Content that has targeted keywords or key phrases can be embedded in a webpage in order to help Internet surfers find the content that they are looking for. Think about it, what exactly is the point of having a website that no one ever visits? If you own a small or medium sized business and have a matching domain for it, then it is time for you to take a few steps back and take a long hard look at the big changes copywriting can contribute to the growth of your business. You read it right; SEO copywriting can affect the way your online business grows. There is even an article about scientifically backed copywriting techniques on Copyblogger.com. Five Good Reasons Why You Need Quality SEO Copywriting It Makes Your Website Look Professional. There is a really good reason why some people make a living off writing quality content. The first good reason for choosing excellent SEO copywriting rather than some silly excuse for web content is that it will make your website look much more professional. Think about it, if you visit a company’s website and the only polite word you can use for the content on the site is abysmal, will you seriously consider doing business with that company? Google Reads It – Seriously! Gone are the days when all you have to do is stuff a webpage with lots of keywords and Bam! You get to see the page rank high on Google. News flash, Google now takes its sweet time to search for top quality content and choose to rank it high instead of choosing websites with unoriginal content stuffed with keywords. Make A Great First Impression. If you are a native English speaker, then you know just how hard it is to read horribly written content. Some website content is so badly written that it is painful to read. Your mind will immediately associate that website with horrible written copy—yikes! If you choose to make a great first impression the very first time with well written copy, you will not have to worry about taking back a really bad first impression which often-times is impossible. Have Correctly Written Content. The last thing you ever want to worry about is having false claims on your site. Throwing up any content from a writer whose English is a little off (or way off) could actually translate into bad copy and false claims; two words: Not Good. A reputable professional SEO copywriter will provide you with content that you can post on your site worry-free. You will not have to worry about doing damage control caused by false claims, and the best part is that the content will be a hundred percent original and not plagiarized. Impress and Retain Customers or Clients. Your site may not be worth a million dollars (yet), but when you clothe it with top quality copy that beautifully describes your products or services and also fascinates your readers, when you have taken your website to a whole new level. Add the advantages of SEO copywriting, and you have thrust your site into a whole new realm. Believe it or not, quality content makes a big difference in the World Wide Web. If people find the content on your site to be very enlightening, funny or impressive, they will stay longer on your website. Even better, they may share it with others. With these good reasons in mind, investing your time in order to create quality content or hiring the services of a professional SEO copywriter is cheaper and a lot easier in the long run than allowing your site to get dragged through the mud by badly written … Read more

SEO Copywriting: The Lean, Mean, Website-Traffic-Driving Machine

January 1, 2021December 6, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Website traffic is an extremely crucial element when it comes to SEO copywriting. It is no secret that the online business environment is highly competitive, hence the reason today’s smart business owners have turned to SEO copywriting services to help them achieve and maintain the high ranking of their website on top search engines like Google, MSN, and Yahoo. Expertly written keyword and key phrase oriented content will help you achieve good ranking on search engines. An increase in website traffic and conversions will result in increased sales of the products or services you offer. Some Businesses Just Don’t Get It While SEO copywriting services are known to have a great effect on the eventual success or failure of one’s digital marketing strategy, they are most times a completely overlooked sub-niche of the online marketing industry. Many companies that offer internet marketing services do not have an expert SEO copywriter on staff; this is due to the fact that a lot of small businesses do not have a clue as to the true value an expert SEO copywriter brings to the table. Another reason you do not hear about full-time copywriters being on staff is that the demand for website copy fluctuates greatly. The Biggest Advantage of Employing SEO Copywriting Services: Increased Sales! Okay, let’s cut straight to the chase, the major reason you hire SEO Copywriting services is so that you can save money and make a lot more money. A professional SEO copywriter will help you do just that. Basically, you stand a pretty good chance of increasing your conversion rate and making more money when you upload compelling content on your website consistently. The increased exposure, engagement and conversion rate the content generates will help you boost your revenue. Check out Hubspot’s blog on how to optimize your blog’s SEO for best success practices. Should You Have An SEO Copywriter on Staff? For many small and medium sized companies, having an SEO copywriter on staff may not be financially feasible. Thus having relationships with trusted freelance SEO copywriting experts is imperative. For larger businesses, employing an SEO copywriter on staff makes sense, however, freelance SEO copywriting services can provide more than just great copy including: Offer a newer and fresher perspective Renew working relationships by meeting deadlines and coming up with unique style and tone Offer time and cost savings versus going through the hassles of hiring employees (it is important to hire a reliable and trustworthy freelancer) Offer unique or niche experience staff writers may not possess Can quickly come on-board in case of an unplanned busy time Solid Ways SEO Copywriting Services Add Value to Your Business Boost Search Engine Visibility. Expert SEO copywriting service providers know just how to integrate key phrases and keywords in a way that makes the content readable in the most natural way, while giving your website content good exposure to search engines. There are techniques and expertise that go into doing this and Google is always making changes to their search algorithm. An SEO copywriter pays attention to this so that you do not have to invest time and energy learning it yourself. Time Saving. As soon as you and your hired SEO copywriter are on the same page, the SEO Copywriter does the work for you. All the research and writing is in their capable hands. This saves you time so you can get back to business and life. Reduces Frustration. Everyone knows that the relationship between an employer and employee is one of superior and subordinate. However, this type of relationship actually contradicts the human nature; every person wants to be independent and free. There may be clashing over creative differences. When you hire SEO copywriting services, you never have to deal with the hassle factor that usually comes with the typical working relationships. These freelance expert SEO writers know that they have a job to do, and will not waste time trying to impart their own creative desires they have their freedom and do not need to prove anything. Experts Develop Engaging, Fresh Content that Convert Readers. SEO copywriting experts know that actionable, specific content that offers valuable information to readers is effective in converting readers to clients or customers. Using an active tone, engaging the website visitors and ending with a compelling call to action is the cornerstone of writing good copy. It is the key to building business. SEO Experts Also Acts as Consultants. You will not be paying an SEO Copywriting Service to act as a business consultant for your business, but if you choose to retain one for the long term, these experts can easily point out areas your business can make some improvement in customer service or help you find more income streams. Be sure to keep an open mind and ask your copywriter for a periodical feedback. Your copywriter may just uncover a real gold mine for your business. Check out these SEO copywriting tips from Hubspot and Copyblogger. Knows Effective Copywriting Techniques Such as Headline Writing There are so many websites, blogs and ads on the internet and each one is clamoring for attention. SEO copywriting experts know how to create headlines that cannot be ignored by those seeking for information in that niche. As a matter of fact 75 percent of creating content focuses more on the developing of compelling headlines. Even horrible content with a really fascinating title is sure to get more clicks than quality content with a lame headline. Other well known techniques for arresting the interest of website visitors include: Making use of white space in order to make content easier to read Using bullet points or numbering strategically in order to demonstrate key points of interest Creating compelling titles and subheads to encourage further reading Using short paragraphs to make the content very easy to read for those who skim through the content.