Six mistakes in SEO copywriting
One of the biggest challenges that site owners and marketers face is having to write content that’s not only optimised for search engines, but that will also appeal to people. That’s what search engine optimised (SEO) copywriting is about: creating content that ranks well in search engine results pages, builds authority for your brand and also persuades people to take action (whether that’s buying a product or signing up for your mailing list). If you want to attract and engage your target audience, you’ll have to get smarter about your website content. While there are no secrets to optimising content online, there are some basic rules you might consider following, as well as some mistakes you should avoid making. 1. Content is King. NOT keywords The first mistake in SEO copywriting is putting too much effort into on-page optimisation and too little into copywriting, the persuasive content that is supposed to answer questions and influence visitors to take a decision. SEO copywriting is optimised, attractive content that generates links and promotion from visitors, which can increase the authority of a website as well as rankings for certain keywords. This means that you can benefit more from a natural link – a recommendation from a user who visited your site and enjoyed your content – than if you were to stuff your content with keywords. Most users have come to realise by now the difference between quality content and content written specifically for search engines. 2. SEO copywriting is about conversion, NOT Google rankings Here’s a fact: ranking well on search engines does not guarantee conversions. Optimised content might catch users’ attention thanks to the top position in Google’s search engine results page, but it might as well lose the SEO advantage if it doesn’t accomplish its goal, which is to convert! In other words, there’s no point in putting a lot of time and effort into optimising your content to attract more visitors to your site if the content itself is low quality or lacks valuable information. Users won’t think twice about heading back to the search results page and going to your competitors’ sites instead. 3. Optimising a web page does NOT equal keyword stuffing There’s no reason to stuff your web content with keywords just to get your site to rank well in search engine results pages. Why not just use the terms that are relevant to your business and optimise your copy by doing a few basic SEO tasks such as: Including your main keywords in the title of the page, as well as in the first and last paragraph Making the URL SEO-friendly by including variations of the main keywords Optimising the H1 heading, subheadings and the ALT tag (the description text for the images). These are the essential optimisation elements that can help you rank well in search engines and, at the same time, inform your visitors what your site is about. Now that the SEO part has been taken care of, you can focus on filling your pages with some awesome copy that’ll entice visitors to buy from you. 4. Measure quality content through links and bounce rate, NOT traffic What does “quality” content mean? It’s content that users find informative and interesting enough that they’ll want to link to it on their blogs, comment and share on social media, or take any kind of action that you want them to take. Quality content keeps readers on your site, it engages them and makes them want to visit more pages. As a result, your site’s bounce rate decreases, which can help you rank higher in search engine results pages. Bottom line: quality content isn’t measured by traffic (because SEO spam can also bring in traffic) but by the level of engagement with visitors. 5. Don’t stuff your content with links As with keywords, try to avoid linking to too many pages from your site or from external site. While internal linking is important, only link when necessary and to content that is relevant. Stuffing your content with irrelevant links will make your web page (and entire website) look spammy and it can also affect the organic performance of that page. The key here is moderation. Internal links are important, just make sure the anchor text shows natural in the page and the information is relevant. External links are also ok as long as you don’t: Overdo it and include hundreds of links on a single web page. Include irrelevant information, stuffed with keywords. Link to sites considered spammy or with no connection what so ever with the on-page content Include paid links without marking it with a nofollow tag 6. Focus on your customers, NOT your business No one really cares about you or your company. Visitors want to know how you can help them solve a problem, if they can trust you and reasons they should buy from you. So when you write your website content, make sure you talk to them and about them. That means more “you” and fewer “we”. There’s a very cool copywriting tool called We We Calculator that you can use it to ensure your copy is customer oriented. It basically cleans up your website copy from all the “we”, “me”, “us” and reminds you to replace those with “you”. Did we miss anything? Let us know in a comment below.
6 top tips to get your message out there
Coming into the new year it makes sense to re-focus what you do and how you do it, so you can be more efficient and more effective over the next 12 months. How you sell yourself in the words and messages you deliver to customers and potential customers is one of the most important factors to examine. The modern world is all about here, now and short and sharp and if you are not ‘with it’ you may be missing out. Here’s six top tips from us to make sure our messages are making an impact: 1. Use bullets Do you remember when you used to do exams and the teachers always told you if you were running out of time, to list your outstanding points as bullet points? They did that for a reason. It’s far better to show your hand in a bullet than risk either not getting round to making your point or perhaps risk having your point lost in a paragraph or seven further down the page. Especially in digital delivery (online, social media, email, etc) brief is a winner. 2. Keep language simple in your headlines and bullet points That’s not to say acronyms, slang and buzz-words shouldn’t be used (they may well have great SEO value) but you want your headlines to appear clear and appeal to the widest possible audience. By all means use more colourful language to illustrate concepts and where there is a technical knowledge being discusses to gain credibility, but keep your eye-catching words to a standard that all can engage with. Start simple and then develop your point. 3. Show solutions When talking about your products and services try focusing less on the actual specifications but more what those specifications mean. Even technophobes can grasp a concept better if you present it in a way of how it actually benefits them. Stats and technical details can be used to illustrate later but for the majority of your audience you should be looking to engage with them as to how your products and services will impact on them – and hopefully benefit them. 4. Pay heed to The Rule of 3 Ok so we have six top tips here but if we were mailing this out, we’d probably have stopped at the bullet point before. Why? Well three has a bigger impact on the subconscious. It’s why you will often find politician’s making a speech will make three points to re-enforce a statement. It’s important to never have more than three key messages if you are to avoid confusion for your audience and also ensure maximum impact. By all means add sub-messages for sub-categories (e.g. each product having its own set of three points) but remember short and sharp is the modern way. 5. Use WOW words Modern day teaching pushes the use of wow words (highly descriptive words like incredible, fantastic, etc) because it keeps students engaged in their work. The same can be true of marketing messages. Don’t over-do it, you are not writing a fairy-tale, but show some excitement in your language and you are more likely to get your potential customer excited too. Action-based words and phrases work well in marketing messages which is why you will often see things things like “time-saving”, “cost-effective” and “market-leading” 6. Think 25-50-100 As a trainee journalist this is how I was taught to write a press release. Consider your story and then work out how you can sell that in 25 words, how you can sell it in 50 words and how you can sell it in 100 words. (Actually, it used to to be 50/250/500 but in the modern world if you haven’t grabbed somebody within 200 words you have probably lost your chance). Whatever your communication make your message within these parameters. In the first 25 words you should be able to say everything you need. In the next 50 expand on those points and in the final 100 sell it some more, perhaps with a bit more technicality as well as a very brief summary. That’s six to be getting on with. There are tomes of books on this subject so plenty more to absorb, but if you do start with these 6 you are sure to start seeing some positive impact on your message impact.
Getting your writing right
If content is king, the way you tell it is certainly in line for a noble title. How your chosen words and sentences combine can have a massive influence on your readers. Tapping into a reader’s subconscious is a route to hidden sales and making a connection with a visitor to your site also makes them more likely to react positively to you and spread the word. So here are our six tip top tips on writing engaging copy that will keep your readers entertained and coming back for more. 1. Reason Anybody can give an opinion, but to back it up with proof gives you credibility and gives your argument sense. Telling people what you think and then telling them why you think that gives them a chance to ‘reason’ your argument themselves, although in practice they rarely do, instead natural instinct means more credibility is given to those who offer a reasoned approach. 2. Compare Your chosen words are your tool and the use of metaphors, similies and analogies are the master wordsmith’s tools of choice. By offering examples, comparisons and illustrating your writing in a literary sense you immediately get your reader thinking about what they are reading, gaining their attention and ensuring they read on. 3. Prove Reasoning and comparing are steps towards proving what you say but a customer testimonial or external review adds extra validation. Whatever you say, however you re-inforce it, having another person confirming the same is always going to more strength to your argument and make people sit up and take more notice. 4. Empathise Getting your readers to agree with your thoughts is a perfect way of engaging them, and to do that you need to understand your readership and make them feel you know them well. You also want them to think you know the topic well too. That gives you credibility, immediate impact and with that persuasiveness too. 5. Repeat Psychologists swear by it. Students succeed by it and TV Broadcasters survive by it. Repetition re-inforces your point and triggers subconscious memory points that will make information recall more likely in the future. Use it wisely though. Just repeating the same thing in the same way however will ultimately turn your reader off. Making the same point in different words is easy, as is making it in a different way such as with a second example. Reminding your reader what your aim of the article is about will also make sure they are in the right mindset to read it. 6. Respond A two -way conversation is always more successful. If a reader responds to your piece, either via direct comment or perhaps via social media, make sure you respond back. They have taken time to not only read your piece but also to reply, so give them the respect they deserve and do the same. Picking your words and making them work on the page can drastically improve your engagement scores and ultimately your sales too. Take care, take your time and take note of the reaction when you do finally publish your content and you will quickly begin to see a positive response.
Writing for mobile is twice as difficult
With so many people using a mobile device to surf the net, it’s important to know how to write and organise the content on your site so it’s user-friendly. When was the last time you checked how your site looks and reads on a mobile device? This is not something to be ignored as the number of users getting their daily dose of web information on the move is constantly increasing. This article aims to help you do a better job at writing content for mobile. It’s not scientific, just a few tips that can really make a difference. What do mobile users really need? Most people believe that the mobile version of your site should just condense all the information from your current site. In my opinion, that’s totally false! Why? Because condensing so much content in an effort to make it look better on a mobile device can actually act against you. Users might have an even harder time finding what they’re looking for. The purpose is to keep it simple and give your visitors exactly what they need. You might need to do some research and determine what exactly these mobile users are looking for on your site. Instead of just copy and pasting the content you currently have, work around it and only include the information that’s relevant to mobile users. Focus on their needs rather than on a good-looking site. Remove the unnecessary For mobile users, time is of the essence. They need to find information fast, so be sure they won’t have time to read the About page if all they want to do is buy a train ticket, or check if there’s a delay on their flight. Instead of including redundant content and using a small font so it all fits in, focus on filling that little space with useful information. Don’t overlook SEO It might be a mobile device they’re using to access your site, but search engines work the same regardless. This means that you shouldn’t forget about optimising the content on your mobile site with strong and relevant keywords. Make links visible With so many accessing the web using a touchscreen device, it’s important to make it easy for them to just tap on a link to get on a page. Work with your designer so that links are visible and can easily be clicked. In conclusion, when writing for mobile always think about your visitor’s needs and find ways to make their stay on your mobile site as enjoyable as possible.