seo copywriting - Express Writers

The Top Techniques SEO Copywriters Use to Succeed

January 1, 2021December 5, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Successful SEO copywriters know that having a great headline is their very first conversion opportunity, even though they know that much of their headline display in Google is actually based on pixel width (which is about 470 pixels or thereabout). Many copywriters typically stick to a specific character amount – about 65 to 70 characters – this way, the entire headline will display on Google, Bing and Yahoo. Aside from nailing-down the character count, how exactly do you get your target audience to do the most important thing of all – that is, click on the title? Here are a couple of valuable tips for increasing the possibility of getting clicks; many successful SEO copywriters use them. Know Your Target Audience Very Well Every successful Internet marketing plan starts with KNOWING your target audience. The better you know your audience, the more likely you are to create content that addresses their pain points. Content titles aimed at benefits and pain points has a higher chance of making conversions than content created with little understanding. If you choose to outsource to an SEO copywriter, you need to make sure that he or she has a thorough understanding of your target audience and what you want your content to achieve – that is, more conversions! Think about it, if you produce premium dog or cat food, would you advertise to the dog, the cat or their owners? Advertising to dogs or cats is hilarious, don’t you think? But quite honestly, you are producing these premium products so these pets will consume them, right? Yes, the dogs and cats are obviously the consumers of your products, but their owners call the shots. What stops a pet owner from feeding their pet(s) table scraps? Before dog and cat foods came along, these lovable domestic animals survived on something. Because many pet owners care about the health and wellness of their pets – and they don’t perceive table scraps to be healthy food for their pets, this is their pain point. As a copywriter, you can milk that angle and craft an article that speaks to responsible pet owners everywhere. Well researched and well written SEO copy addresses the pain points of the reader and gets them to take desirable action. Do Not Write Misleading Titles If you create a title that does not correctly describe the content you crafted, at best you will simply confuse the readers. At worst, you will frustrate the readers to a point where they just make up their mind to leave your webpage and go read the competition’s content. It is very important to remember that honesty and transparency will go a long way to help you succeed. Yes, it may seem that manipulation and exaggeration are effective, but they are only effective over a short period of time. Eventually, deceitful tactics ALWAYS catch up with you. Believe it or not, but most people cannot stand deceitful headlines; it makes them feel foolish. No one likes to feel foolish (even if they are not exactly the sharpest tool in the box). Do some research, and you will be able to create fascinating content that matches your amazing headlines, all with your eyes closed. Place Keywords or Keyphrases Near The Beginning of The Content Many SEO copywriters employ this technique. People typically read from left to right and a large number of people are not always patient enough to read to the very end of the title. Because Google bolds the keywords and the related terms that online users search on, putting the target keywords near the beginning of the headline will improve the chances of getting a click-through to your website. Do Not Be Too Focused on SEO It is very important to get your target keyword into the content title, but successful SEO copywriters will tell you that after you have done so, you should not be tempted to do any more SEO in the title. Getting one keyword or keyphrase into your headline is hard enough. You are very lucky if you are able to add more than one keyword/keyphrase in the title and still have a headline that does not sound absolutely ridiculous. But if it is possible, then by all means go for it. A good question is, “What if I have a really unusual keyword such as ‘Miami Pool Architects’?” Just do the best that you can, which generally goes something like this: Premium Pool Designs | Miami Pool Architects Pool Architects in Miami | Rogers Design Award-Winning Miami Pool Architects The third title is more likely to get the most clicks, but all three will work from a conversions and SEO perspective. If You Ain’t Got Nothing Else, Use How-Tos and Lists! Headlines with How-Tos and Lists are known to convert at a really decent rate. If your creative juices are not flowing like they ought to, you can use the How-To and List approach like this: 12 Tips to Get Great Gas Millage How to Erase 10 Years off your Face with a Haircut 5 Great Tips to Lose Weight in 72 Hours Testing, Testing, 1, 2… Every market has its attractive benefits and its own unique pain points. Like any other area of copywriting, it is important that you keep testing in order to find out what actually works for a particular target audience. Do keep in mind that what could work could be something as inane as bolding certain texts or using street lingo. You should not be afraid to consult editors on your team – every single person possesses a unique perspective, and may be able to help you figure out what works best. Hopefully this post helped you to learn more, and will also help you to achieve higher conversion rates as well!

A Blueprint to Quality Web Copywriting

January 1, 2021November 27, 2013 by Adam Oakley

You may have the most beautiful website design in the whole world, but if you fail to implement good web copywriting—that is, if the content on your website basically sucks—you may not get readers to take the “desired action” after reading the content on your site. When creating content for the web, it is important to understand that the Internet community is a jungle filled with information hunters. Websites that have been designed to convert readers and visitors should have “words crafted to convince;” period. Believe it or not, web copywriting is an art and there is no software on the face of the planet that can come up with words that can touch the human soul the way an experienced and gifted writer can. What is the Rule of Thumb In Web Copywriting? Be clear and concise. A large number of Internet users simply scan sites for the information that they are searching for, so you need to create content that is clear and concise. You want readers to easily locate the gist of every paragraph as fast as possible. Fancy words and highly complex sentences are practically useless on the web. Seriously, why would you want to use a fancy word like “obtuse” when you can simply use “stupid” instead? No one has the time or patience to reach for a dictionary when they read your content. Another important copywriting rule to follow is to make your content easy to read. How Do I Learn the Art of Drawing Readers In? It is certainly no secret that great web copywriting is a vital online marketing tool for drawing, retaining and turning visitors to loyal customers. But, how do you create content that draws people in? Once you know the secret of drawing readers in with words, you will be way ahead of the competition. Here are some surefire ways to draw readers in: Keep the Copy Short. Remember, the attention span of an average online user is short, so for Pete’s sake do not babble. Place the “juicy meat” of all your points right at the beginning of your web copy, instead of burying them at the nosebleed section of your webpage. If you interest your target readers up front, they will read the details and stay on your page for much longer, thereby increasing the possibility of buying your product or service or taking desired action that will benefit you in the long run. Get In Style. Having a unique writing style will not only make your site standout, it will also do a great job of drawing readers in. For a lot of websites, an informal but lively voice is the best way to go; it will help achieve easy readability and simplicity. The online community typically prefers websites that have content written in an informal and conversational style. Know Your Audience. Who are your target readers? When you know who your target audiences are, then and only then, will you be able to create content that will speak to them. Build an Emotional Connection. An effective web copywriter strives to connect with readers by making them smile, cry or laugh out loud. The content should strive to make readers feel any emotion besides indifference. Look for a way to connect with your readers the way the competition isn’t. Think about it, why was the Oprah Winfrey show loved so much, by so many people, for over two decades? Her show has a way of connecting with viewers in the most powerful way. Do Not Fake It! Readers can sense when you are not writing from the heart or trying hard to be what you (or your brand) are not. You need to be true to your voice. It is important to understand that people hate fakes. Wait A Minute, What About SEO? The 1990s is history and search engine algorithms have become more advanced. Quality web copywriting no longer involves keyword stuffing, but search engine optimization (SEO) is just as vital as ever. Keywords are important to your webpage, but should be included in the title and body of your content in the most natural way. Many copywriters use applications like Google’s Keyword Planner in order to add a little bit of scientific dimension to their God-given intuition. Hyperlinking: How Exactly Does That Work? Hyperlinking is very important when it comes to creating content for a webpage. A hyperlink is the most convenient way to provide more information and attribution to readers. For instance, if you mention a proven fact in your content, but you do not wish to go into the details, all you need to do is to just link to another article that clearly explains that proven fact. The process of hyperlinking is very simple, you can either write something like “for more details see this research,” or link on the word “research”. Or you can highlight a particular word, which will provide readers with a clue as to what information that link will provide them. See what Matt Cutts said on links in content marketing. Just ensure that the link is set to open in a new window or tab, this way, the readers will find it easier to get back to your website. Or else, readers could get carried away by the new information they are getting from the other site and even forget that they began their search on your webpage. Direct Readers With a Call to Action When it comes to effective web copywriting, your “Call to Action” is the main item you want readers to click on. If you write great content and fail to give readers a directive on what to do next, then congratulations! You have just won the award for “Dumbest Mistake to Make with Your Web Copy.” According to an interesting article on Moz, a lot of webmasters make horrible mistakes when it comes to content marketing—do not be one … Read more

SEO Writing Fact or Fiction: Let’s Test Your Knowledge

January 1, 2021October 23, 2013 by Adam Oakley

So here we are, seasoned SEO experts and newbie writers that aren’t even sure of SEO’s meaning. What do we know about SEO writing and what do we think we know? What Do We Know About SEO Writing? Below, I will share four facts and four myths that are believed, in some cases, more than the facts are. You can see which ones resonate with you in particular. A Successful Blogger Posts Twice a Week Writing More Than 300 Words Per Blog Fact. The longer the blog post, the more valuable the content is considered to be. Likewise, the more often the blog posts are made the more current the blog is viewed to be. With these factors in mind, success is only a thousand words and two blog posts away. Blogs should draw in the readership and develop a working relationship with them. People should feel camaraderie with the writer, or at least be able to understand your viewpoint and respect it so they want to read more of what you write. The fact that bloggers who write more in each post and write more often are successful supports the idea that people are developing a connection with that writer, even if it is a virtual one. Providing Less Information Draws In The Reader Fiction. Some companies are under the impression that sharing limited information will get interested parties to call for more. This can actually have the opposite effect. If the person is a potential customer that wants a better idea of services offered or prices charged, and they can’t get that from a company website, they will turn to a competitor who does share this information before they will make a call to gather the info. This is why it is important to answer the pertinent questions regarding services or prices instead of creating a website that only leaves the visitor hanging. Three-Quarters Of Users Don’t Go To The Second Page of Search Results Fact. Here is where SEO writing comes into play in a big way. For most people, they type a term or phrase into the Google search bar and start looking through results. The ones that catch their interest or seem most likely to hold the answer to their query are the ones that get clicked on. If the answer isn’t found on the first page, over 75% of the search engine visitors do not go beyond page one of the search results, no matter how many or few pages there are total. Also, users tend to choose the natural results more than the sponsored results, although this is only by a narrow margin. Search Drives More Traffic To Sites Than Social Media By 100% Fiction. It is more than that; it is actually by 300%. Sorry, that one was a bit tricky. Search is the number one driver for web site traffic. Does that surprise you? According to Search Engine Journal, this is true and is one of many statistics that people don’t expect when it comes to SEO importance to traffic driven to the average website. Social Media is a method of research and demographic information. However, that does not mean it is also going to be THE answer to creating more traffic for a website. Some people take the information on social media at face value and never track back to the professional website of the business in question. Search And Email Are The Most Popular Internet Activities Fact. This explains, obviously, the importance of that spam email you are always battling with and the quality copy to draw readers to the website of a particular business. These areas are the big draw. Therefore, the chance of a potential customer just happening onto your site among the millions on the Internet is slim to none. SEO writers understand this is why we have our jobs and are (hopefully) good at them. Titles Aren’t Important When It Comes To Search Or Content Fiction. A blog at Wordstream notes the exact opposite. Taking time and effort to create a clickable title that is informative for the reader goes a long way in making successful, quality copy that reaches the intended audience and keeps them interested. The title in a news article is meant to gain attention. The title in an online article can lead to further information or new and unexpected data. Use these possibilities for your—the writer’s—benefit. Make the title work for you and for the reader. The Search Engine Industry Is Estimated To Be Worth $16 Billion Fact. This industry is money in spades. Understanding the importance of the search engine industry and working to determine the best way to use that to your advantage is a huge step on the way to your own success. Don’t ignore search engines as secondary or unimportant. Recognize them for the impact they have on daily Internet use. In fact, throughout the world each month, there are over 100 billion searches done. That means millions of searches Per Day. Those numbers are nothing to scoff at, if you ask me. Writing For A Particular Audience Or Researching Keywords Are Time Wasted Fiction. Both of these are methods to success that are forgotten or delayed in such a way their benefits are lost. The audience should be your first thought when writing anything. They are the ones you are trying to reach, and as such you always need to be thinking of them. Likewise, the audience is looking for a particular phrase or a certain product or service that can be found by searching for a particular keyword or keyword set. If the keyword is not researched to make sure it will have the desired effect, it may fall very short of its intended goals. For SEO writers, separating fact from fiction may not be vital but it is helpful. Understanding the business is important, and knowing the aspects that are more important … Read more

Take Inspiration from 4 Old Marketing Campaigns to Power Up Your Holistic Inbound Marketing

December 31, 2020October 22, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Organic content marketing. Non-paid search engine optimization. Holistic inbound marketing. Whatever name you call it, this type of marketing is all you need to get noticed online. Paid search and advertising can only take you so far – you need to keep funneling money into these channels to keep them alive and working. You’re paying for a top spot on Google. The investment in organic content marketing, on the other hand, is up-front. You put money into content creation and SEO, publish your stuff, promote it, and then sit back. After a few months, with the right attention to quality and optimization, your content starts climbing the SERPs. That’s the major difference between paid, outbound marketing and organic, inbound marketing: One keeps building momentum as it nurtures leads. The other halts and drops dead the second the dollars and cents do. Okay, so paid search has its benefits (immediate visibility on Google’s first page), but it only lasts as long as you keep paying. So what about traditional advertising? Where does that get you? Well… Paid Ads and Cold Sells Do Not Nurture the Customer – Holistic Marketing Does Traditional ads are one-and-done. They’re the cold sell to end all cold sells. They appear in front of a target pretty randomly – when they’re driving by a billboard, when they flip to a live TV show, or when they read a magazine at the doctor’s office. Seeing an ad once is not enough to nurture a connection with a customer. That’s why you’ll see the same ads over and over – the companies want you to remember them, whether you want to or not. These days, that type of approach feels irrelevant, intrusive, and, mostly, annoying. Marketing as Holistic Relationship-Building Of course, the way a holistic marketing strategy works is to draw people to your brand who are likely to buy from you. HubSpot calls this crucial first step the “Attract” stage: You attract the right people with relevant, high-quality content that’s targeted for your potential leads’ state of mind. The value of the content you provide builds a relationship with your readers, one that stands on a foundation of trust. Ultimately, that relationship and trust are what lead to a sale. Newsflash: This Is Not a Novel Concept This idea isn’t new… In fact, it’s older than you may think. Let’s turn back the clock and take a peek at how content marketing blossomed during the early days of advertising. These old marketing campaigns from household brand names provided value that nurtured relationships with potential customers. More than that, they may just inspire you anew with your own content ideation and creation. Turn away from paying out your ears for ads or top SERP spots and follow me to… 5 Old Marketing Campaigns That Demonstrate the Awesomeness of Holistic Inbound Marketing Before the internet, there was print content marketing. Here are four outstanding examples. 1. John Deere’s News Magazine John Deere is a tractor and farm equipment manufacturer in the U.S. The company’s most famous marketing campaign might serve as one of the earliest examples of organic content marketing. John Deere has been around since 1837, but it wasn’t until 1895 that they launched their farming news magazine, The Furrow. Volume VI of The Furrow, published in 1901 This publication is a fantastic example of long-form content marketing. It’s still published monthly, in fact, because it is: Comprehensive Targeted for John Deere’s customers Informative/entertaining A relationship builder between the company and their audience Authoritative – it puts the emphasis on the company’s clout and know-how in the industry The 1976 Bicentennial Issue Today, the magazine still has an audience of about 2 million worldwide subscribers and is printed in 14 languages. Back issues are digitized on the magazine’s website: Readers and farmers can check out articles that address topics like land conservation, the food system, sustainable farming and best practices, and the importance of plant diversity for crops. This incredible content marketing initiative is undoubtedly part of the reason why John Deere is still a household name today. 2. American Express’ Travel Guides American Express is a world-renowned financial services company. How did it get there? With a little help from its comprehensive and user-focused content marketing through the decades. When the company opened in 1850, it was initially a courier service in New York state. Then, by 1915, it added traveler’s checks and travel agency services to its roster. (Additional banking services came later.) When it moved its focus to travel in the early 20th century, American Express decided it wanted to be the travel company of the United States. How would they do it? With some really great holistic inbound marketing. The company started publishing travel guides that became go-to resources for any traveler. They were informative, useful, colorful, interesting, and appealed to the average American Express customers – travelers, jet-setters, and professionals. Here’s an early example of a guide to the French Riviera from 1917: Check out this guide to Alaska tours from 1931: And this guide for Americans traveling to Europe, circa 1948: Later, the company moved from small guides to big publishing ventures. They bought the magazine Camera and Travel in 1968, which they later renamed Travel + Leisure. It went on to become a best-selling magazine. Today, American Express is one of the biggest companies in the world. Their travel/financial services have grown and expanded to include exclusive airport lounges, travel insurance, business credit cards geared for traveling professionals, and more. And, their content marketing has moved onto the digital sphere, of course, where they still offer travel guides and tips: 3. Sunkist’s Early “Infographics” If you want an early example of using infographics in marketing, look to Sunkist, the fruit-grower, and their early ad content. Sunkist started in 1893 when citrus growers in California banded together to better market their sweet crops. Back then, oranges and lemons were viewed as luxuries that people only ate on holidays or received as Christmas … Read more

5 Basics of Good SEO Copywriting

June 19, 2024August 30, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Much of the time, when businesses say they want good copywriting, they mean they want good SEO copywriting. There’s a great reason for this: SEO copywriting helps your page rank in the search engines, which helps drive traffic to your site. That’s a big deal. It also helps you become a big deal on Google. Copyblogger also rightly states that modern SEO copywriting is about creating compelling, useful, valuable content that people will want to share and link to like crazy. These links pointing back to you give you an even bigger SERP (search engine results page) boost – bigger than what keyword-optimized content can do alone. So, the reasons for optimizing your copywriting for SEO are solid. You have to do it if you want to rank for certain keywords. Thankfully, there are some basics you can follow to ensure you’re on the right track. Hit these, and you’ll position yourself for a big ol’ helping of SERP domination. The 5 Basic Commandments of SEO Copywriting It’s best to think of these SEO basics as commandments. You need to follow them to the letter to make sure you are optimizing your copy at the ground-floor level. As the Google gods commanded it, so let it be: 1. Thou Shalt Optimize Thy Titles Good SEO begins with optimizing the title of your piece with the keyword you’re targeting. This helps tells the search engines exactly what your page is about from the get-go. However, it’s often not enough to simply insert your keyword into your title – you need to place it where it will be most visible. That means inserting it naturally as close to the beginning of your title as possible. You should also focus on creating a title/headline that is arresting, curiosity-inducing, or emotion-grabbing as well as descriptive, honest, and accurate. It’s also important to create titles that are the right length. Otherwise, your titles will appear cut-off or truncated when they turn up in search results. As you can see from this example, the title showing up in search has been truncated (indicated by the ellipsis at the end): Thankfully, this title is written in a way so no important information is lost where it’s cut off. If you must use a longer title than what Google allows in the search results, keep your focus keyword – and the most important part of your title – at the beginning. For reference, Search Engine Watch and Moz recommend keeping your titles 50-60 characters long if you don’t want them cut off in the SERPs. 2. Thou Shalt Optimize Thy Meta Descriptions Sometimes, but not always, the search engines will grab your meta description to use as the “snippet” text that shows up below your link. Needless to say, this is an important bit of text. It could mean the difference between getting a click from a visitor or having them choose someone else’s link. This snippet used to have a character limit of 160, but that has recently changed. Best practice right now is to keep your metas under 320 characters. For good SEO, write metas for the users who will be reading them, not the search engines. A useful description that’s also enticing can help you grab that click from a searcher. For good measure, include your focus keyword near the beginning of your meta description. This will also help your reader know that your page contains the exact information they need. 3. Thou Shalt Not Let Thy Content Quality Slide The quality of your content matters to SEO just as much as any other factor. To put it bluntly, high-quality content ranks higher. In fact, according to Search Engine Land’s Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors, content quality is the #1 ranking factor for on-the-page SEO: What does high-quality look like? It is: Well-written with no spelling or grammar errors Factually accurate and up-to-date Easy to understand and readable Organized well, with logically arranged sections and sub-sections with subheaders Scannable and easy to digest (note: this is a natural by-product of clear writing and good organization) If your copy and content are not high-quality, all the other SEO activities you use won’t matter. You must create the best content possible, otherwise, Google will not consider you for first-page status. 4. Thou Shalt Use Keywords Intelligently in Thy SEO Copywriting The use of keywords in your copywriting will serve as the foundation for your SEO efforts. Without those keywords there, intelligently and strategically placed, the search engines won’t have any idea what to do with your content. However, using keywords is not a science – it’s more of an art. Along with adding your focus keyword to your title and meta description, you should also sprinkle it into your content as naturally as possible. If you want to make it easy for the search engines to figure out what your page is about and rank you for the right keyword, include it as early in your first paragraph as possible. Don’t overuse it, though – that’s keyword stuffing. Google may smite you because of it. Instead, use synonyms and related terms to help search engines understand your page’s relevancy. A good practice to follow to avoid over-using keywords: Consciously write your first paragraph to include your focus keyword. Then, forget about keywords altogether and write the rest of your piece normally. When you do this, you’ll find yourself naturally and effortlessly using synonyms and related terms in your copy, and it won’t feel like pulling teeth. During the editing process, you can go back and scan your copy for these natural instances of keyword usage. Grab one or two synonyms and add them to one or two subheaders for good measure. You can do a quick search of the document to see how often you used certain keywords. In Microsoft Word, for instance, simply type “Ctrl + f” to open the “search document” feature. 5. Thou Shalt Link to Relevant Web Pages in Thy Content … Read more

How You Can Be a Better SEO Copywriter in 3 Steps

January 1, 2021July 23, 2013 by Adam Oakley

3 Ways to Tap Into Your Creativity Like Never Before

Being a better SEO copywriter takes one thing, and one thing only: more writing. The old axiom is to commit to write 500 words every day, and maintain that schedule no matter what you’re writing about, but how are you supposed to come up with consistently great ideas for topics to write about? Content is king when it comes to SEO copywriting, and maintaining consistently great content is the key to success in the online realm, but many business owners can feel more than a little out of his or her depth when trying to keep up with a rigorous writing schedule, even if it is only 500 words per day, if they key to maintaining success is consistently engaging content.

SEO Copywriting Is Like Fishing: It’s All About the Hook

November 16, 2020July 18, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Good marketing through SEO copywriting is a careful balance – you have to take care of the needs of your current customers without even neglecting the need to always be catching the eye of new leads. If you’ve been neglecting your marketing efforts, believe me, you’re not alone. SEO Copywriting: 4 Tips That Will Hook Readers Every Time One of the easiest ways to drive your marketing car is by constantly adding new and fresh content to your website. If your site doesn’t have a blog page, consider adding one. The benefits you could gain from adding a blog will far outweigh the relatively small amount if time it will take to set one up. For those of you who do have a blog, or are just starting one, you may be struggling to find ways to keep fresh content rolling out on it. Developing a regular posting pattern is definitely advisable, and choose a schedule you can stick to. If that means one post per week, that’s fine. If it’s three, that’s even better. Consistency is key, and over time you can even develop a regular readership. Now, setting a schedule is one thing, but filling that schedule with good SEO copywriting is another. I get it. Sometimes as a SEO copywriter you can start to feel like a broken record, covering the same topic in seemingly every way you can. The key when developing the same tired old topics into fresh material is to attach a hook to every post, and that is what this article is here to help you do. What is a “hook?” “Hook” is a term borrowed from songwriting (and fishing). Put simply, it’s a turn of phrase or particular line that causes a song to be memorable and enjoyable. The band Blues Traveler has a song about this concept (you’ve probably heard it, the chorus (and hook, actually) begins, “The hook brings you back”), and it’s as true in SEO copywriting as it is in music. In copywriting, the hook is the art of the headline. It’s the subtle skill of spinning a topic this way or that, making it seem more inviting, enticing, or informative for the reader you’re looking to grab. In this article we’re going to look at some common tactics for hooking new readers with your newfound SEO copywriting skills. 1. The Problem-Solver Hook If you’re in a business, then chances are your customers all have problems, and they’re probably pretty similar. Spend some time brainstorming, and ask yourself: how do I solve the most common problems of my customers? Spin those ideas into headlines: “Check Engine light in? This may be why.” “Get rid of ants in a week with this home remedy.” “8 amazing hairstyles you can do yourself.” These are just some examples. You may notice that none of these headlines are sales pitches. To the contrary, they seem to be encouraging your readers to fix these problems themselves – and you’re correct! This may seem like the opposite of asking for business, but don’t fret. If you help a reader solve a simple problem themselves, this lends credibility and an air of respectability to you, and later, when that customer has a bigger problem, you’re going to get that call. 2. The Horror Story Hook As a general rule, customers want to do business with a person and not a company. We develop personal relationships with our doctors, not with the receptionists or the clinics where they work. There’s no better way to humanize your business than with a disaster story. Every business has its blunders. Tell your readers about your biggest disaster, and of course include the punchline where you were able to turn the situation around and solve the problem. Your readers will be wowed at your ingenuity, and will love the fact that your sense of humor enables you to share such a disastrous tale. 3. The FAQ Hook You probably hear the same questions over and over again. Creating a series of posts, or even video blogs, addressing these most frequently asked questions will save your customers time when they’re searching for someone to do business with. If you can address the most common concerns without ever speaking with a potential customer, then you’re making a connection with them without even trying! 4. The Newsroom Hook News from the industry that’s relevant to your readers is another great way to spin the same old topics in a new way, and there’s a bonus here: if you’re sharing and reacting to industry news, this is a perfect way for you to use your competitors’ announcements to improve your own search results. Did that dry-cleaner downtown just open yet another new location? Use that as an opportunity to explain that the competition’s rampant expansion is causing poor results, and that your small, family owned dry cleaning shop will always do a better job.

Make Your Readers Love You With These SEO Copywriting Tips

January 1, 2021July 17, 2013 by Adam Oakley

When doing SEO copywriting, it’s easy to get bogged down in the “textbook” methods, and lose sight of the reader.

But writing without your reader in mind is simply a waste of time.

After all, being on the front page of Google isn’t going to do you any good if your content isn’t relevant, compelling, or engaging enough to draw a reader in.

At the end of the day, your goal as a copywriter should be to make readers love you.

That’s not to say you should completely ignore the basic tenets of SEO.

But you do need to find a balance between appeasing Google’s webcrawlers as well as your human audience.

What Not To Do In SEO Copywriting

January 1, 2021July 10, 2013 by Adam Oakley

The goal of SEO copywriting and inbound marketing strategies is simple:

Gain leads that have a high chance of conversion.

Unfortunately, once you’ve gain these leads, it’s not all that difficult to lose them.

But let’s take a step back. Not only can the simplest mistake cause you to lose the leads you’ve worked so hard to gain, but it can also hinder your chances of gaining new leads in the future as well.

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you want your copy to enhance your chances of gaining leads.

But if, for some reason, your aim is to drive your audience away, take a look at the following tips to help you do so.

Who Are You Writing For? How to Build an Audience Persona and Discover Your Ultimate Reader

June 19, 2024July 9, 2013 by Adam Oakley

Marketing 101: You can’t market to everyone. It’s just not possible. That’s why marketers hone in on specific audiences for their brands. Here’s the logic: For every product or service, there exist ideal buyers who will be totally into it, desperately need it, or some ratio of both. No, you can’t market to each of them individually. But, you can distill their similarities into an overall audience persona. This persona is a fictional human you create who has all the traits common to your target audience. This sounds great in theory, but why should you create one for your brand? How do you get started? The answers are right here. Why Create an Audience Persona? Besides the fact that using personas can boost your success rates (one company reported an increase in sales leads of 124% as a direct result of using targeted personas), what are some other reasons to use them? 1. Talk to Exactly Who Will Buy From You Imagine standing on a stage and looking into an audience full of people. You want to talk to the ones who will buy what you’re selling – but how? Right now, they’re just a sea of random faces. Now, imagine if you could shine a spotlight on an audience member who represents your ideal targets. This person’s interests, behavior, demographics, job, income, etc. are all indicative of your ultimate buyer. In fact, if you could pool your ideal buyers, take their common traits, and mold them into a new person, this is what that person would look like. All of a sudden, by singling out this one persona, you have the opportunity to speak directly to your buyer and get them to engage. If you tailor your messages to them, you’ll not only grab their attention – you’ll hold it, which will lead to profitable results across that audience segment. 2. Keep Your Messaging, Copy, and Content Consistent Besides being representative of a segment of your target audience, your persona is also a tool to use in your copy and content. When you create a persona, you create a person to write for – someone you can get to know intimately. You’re no longer writing to anonymous people, but to someone with preferences, needs, wants, and traits. Much of writing is about the audience. Your persona will guide how you write so it’s more pointed and powerful for the exact right people. Plus, personas are tools you can use for your business at every level to make sure your entire team is referencing and addressing the same targets. 3. Waste Zero Time on Non-Prospects When you create a targeted audience persona, you weed out the people in your audience who don’t need what you’re selling or won’t buy from you. These people may be interested, but there’s no urgency in it. Here’s how HubSpot frames that conundrum: “If only 1 out of 10 people in your target audience needs your solution, and 9 of them aren’t prospects, you’re wasting 90% of your time and resources.” If you try to address your entire audience with the exact same message, it won’t be as effective for some as it is for others. This is because they’re at different stages of the buyer’s journey. Creating personas that target specific types of people in your audience, and then creating messaging and content for each of them, eliminates this problem. How to Build a Persona for Your Audience: Research, Compile Data, and Get Personal Over and over, you’ll find that researching is the best way to approach building an audience persona. Then you can compile what you find and distill it into one, two, or a few different personas that represent your audience segments. Step One: Research Your Audience For research, there are some wide-ranging options for gathering data about your targets: Use Facebook Audience Insights Facebook has a tool you can use to research your audience and build multiple personas, and you don’t need an advertising or business account to access it. (You just need a profile.) You have two options in this tool: research using all of Facebook’s existing user base, or just research people who are connected to your account. Moz recommends the former option just in case your account connections have been “dirtied” in some way (i.e. if you have paid for followers in the past, your connections might not be an accurate representation of your target audience). After you choose which type of data to research, you can search various interests related to your industry and then narrow down the audience based on what you find. For example, say you sell books in Missouri. You would enter that information to find out who you should be targeting. As you can see, 67% of people in Missouri with an interest in books and reading are women: With this in mind, let’s narrow down our target audience to women only. Then we can look at demographics and stats for their household, like income and home ownership: Now we have more information for our persona: She should be a woman who makes $50-75K and owns a home. You can keep going into further detail from there as you browse the sections and continue to narrow down this woman’s traits. Check out this guide from Moz for a deeper how-to. Create Surveys Find out more demographic information about your audience with surveys. A simple survey can tell you exactly where your audience lives, their income, their education, family size, age, job industry and title, and more. Tools like SurveyMonkey are perfect for the job. You can create your own surveys for free and distribute them yourself, or you can pay to use SurveyMonkey Audience to collect data from a pre-qualified target audience with attributes you select. Chat 1-on-1 with Customers Don’t forget to go back to basics. Just take some time to have a chat with your customers to find out their preferences, interests, behaviors, and demographics. This can be as easy … Read more