Optimal Copy - SEO Copywriting Blog

By Karon Thackston

Sometimes choosing which company to buy from is about like
deciding which brand of canned peas is the best. To make matters
worse, the copy on most websites doesn’t offer any help.

There are three major offenders in copywriting that I see
constantly on the Internet. The first is generic copy that offers
no specific differentiation points — in other words, reasons why
the visitor should choose you instead of the thousands of other
sites that are just a click away. The second is overused fluff
copy that has no substance. And the third? Using company-focused
copy (”we” and “us”) instead of customer-focused (”you” and
“your”). It’s the third offender I want to address in this
article.

I am literally shocked that — after decades of marketing
evangelists preaching “It’s not about you!” — website owners
still don’t get it. What’s not to understand? Copy that focuses
strictly on your company and practically or completely ignores
your prospects doesn’t work nearly as well as copy that speaks to
your target customers in their language and about the benefits
they will receive.

I discussed this very topic with SEO friend Jill Whalen
recently, and she commented, “I think people don’t understand how
to write to the customer instead of about their company.” Perhaps
my cohort is right. So, in an effort to educate, let’s look at
several before and after scenarios.

Company-Focused Copy Examples

It’s as if this web design firm has intentionally made an effort
to ignore their site visitors. They use their company name, “the
client,” “customers,” and practically every other word to
describe who is reading the page. Except, that is, the most
important: you. You must address the one, single person who is
reading your web page at any given moment, not a collective
population of people.

ABC Web Design is dedicated to customer service. We make great
strides to offer high levels of customer service and
communication with clients. As a small company, we understand
one-on-one service is needed. Our designers have developed
hundreds of small-business websites and we make the process
simple. Contact us for pricing and a free consultation today.

Do you see that not a single “you” is used? The site visitor is
never addressed. It’s all about the company. Now let’s change it
to be about the customer:

ABC Web Design is dedicated to your success, promising high
levels of customer service and communication. You’ll be kept up
to date — on a one-to-one basis — about the progress of your
project. Relying on years of experience, your web designer makes
the creation process simple, guiding you through every step.
Contact us for pricing and a free consultation today.

Here’s another example.

We have the finest contractors in the marketplace today. Our
kitchen experts have been recruited from the most successful
companies. XYZ Kitchen Remodeling Company of Kalamazoo has the
support of a large network with over 300 reliable and
professional kitchen remodeling contractors serving most of North
America.

Here’s the rewrite:

When you want to work with the finest contractors in the
marketplace, XYZ Kitchen Remodeling Company of Kalamazoo answers
the call. Not only will you benefit from using experienced
kitchen experts, your renovation is backed by the support of the
largest network of kitchen remodelers. That gives you the
knowledge and skills of over 300 reliable, professional kitchen
remodeling contractors in North America.

See the difference? Is it a sin to use the words “us” or “our”?
Certainly not, but your copy should be weighted far more heavily
with customer-oriented words than company-focused ones. Tell
visitors about your service, your results and your experience.
But do so in a way that makes them and their success the center
of the copy.

When you keep the focus on your company, you prevent your target
customer from knowing the benefits they’ll reap after working
with you. However, when you adjust your focus, you shine a bright
light helping visitors to quickly see why you’re the best choice
for them.

Karon Thackston creates customer-focused copy that connects and
converts. If you’re struggling with copy that doesn’t perform,
contact Karon today through http://www.MarketingWords.com for
online copywriting or copywriting training.

Here’s an informative enumeration of SEO copywriting practices you do NOT want to engage in.  Courtesy of the always illuminating Karon Thackston.

Top 10 Don’ts for SEO Copywriting
By Karon Thackston © 2009, All Rights Reserved

Following in the footsteps of Rand Fishkin and Guy Kawasaki, I
decided to come up with my own list of don’ts.

There is no shortage of don’ts when it comes to SEO copywriting.
It seems this niche got off to a rough start many years ago
when early comers somehow misconstrued the core principles of
the trade.  Allow me to elaborate on how not to write SEO copy.

1. Don’t shove as many keyphrases into the copy as humanly
possible.  It’s not about the sheer volume of search terms you
include.  Yes, Google and other engines should be able to follow
what the page is about.  Yes, engines are looking to match a
searcher’s query with search engine optimized content on your
web pages, but which pages land at the top is decided through a
series of calculations far more complex than any simple ratio.
When you overload copy with keyphrases you sacrifice quality and
user experience.

2.  Don’t lose site of balance.  If SEO copywriting isn’t about
the percentage of keywords within the copy, then what is it
about?  Balance.  You have two audiences with SEO copywriting:
the search engines and your site visitors.  But surprisingly,
the balance doesn’t come with serving both masters well.  The
balance comes in how much you cater to the engines.  You see,
your site visitors always come first.  However, if you write
with too little focus on the engines, you won’t see good
rankings.  If you put too much focus on the engines, you’ll
start to lose your target audience.  Balance. always balance.

3.  Don’t let someone else choose the keywords.  If keyword
research isn’t a service you offer, an SEO firm, keyword
specialist or some other professional that your client hires
will have to conduct the research.  Don’t just accept keyphrases
these folks toss your way.  Ask to see the entire list with
recommendations as to which terms would be best strategically.
Then you, as the professional writer, can decide which will also
work best within the copy.

4.  Don’t sacrifice flow for numbers.  This is a follow-up to
number three and is a major issue with bad SEO copywriting.
SEOs or clients sometimes insist on using hacked-up search
phrases that simply don’t work in a normal sentence. An example?
“Candies samples free.”  Many copywriters will just grin and
bear it, sacrificing quality and flow for the sake of
competitive values or other numbers.  The result is often some
obnoxious sentence like, “If you’re looking for candies samples
free, you’ve come to the right place!”  Forcing a phrase into
the copy at all costs never turns out well.

5.  Don’t use keyphrases that don’t apply to the page.  If you
operate a site about wedding receptions, don’t try to force a
search term about wedding dresses into the copy just because it
pulls a lot of traffic.  (A) Unless you sell, alter or design
wedding dresses, it won’t be applicable.  (B) Even if you manage
to get the page ranked well for the phrase [wedding dresses],
once the visitor clicks to your site and realizes you have
nothing to do with wedding dresses, they will leave. It’s a
waste of time and effort and it creates a poor user experience.

6.  Don’t use misspellings and correct spellings on the same
page.  I fully understand that the misspellings of keyphrases
can be valuable search terms.  However, to mix correct spellings
and misspellings within the same page of copy looks like you’ve
got a bunch of typos in the content. It’s just not professional.
Some writers will go for the old, “We rent limousines
(sometimes spelled limosenes) for the most affordable prices in
town.”  I don’t care for that approach. It’s just not natural.
Would you ever see brochure or newspaper copy that reads that
way?  I think not.

7.  Don’t use keyphrases the exact same way every time.  This is
how we end up with horrible SEO copy that sounds like a 4th
grader wrote it.  (See #4.)  There are lots of ways to use
keywords in copy, not just one.  In order to sound natural, you
have to get creative with your keyphrase use.  One way is to
break up phrases using punctuation.  Since search engines don’t
pay attention to basic punctuation marks, you can easily write
something using the search term [real estate Hawaii] that reads
like this: “Currently there is an impressive selection of
available real estate.  Hawaii listings can be.”  See?  “Real
estate” is at the end of the first sentence and “Hawaii” is at
the beginning of the second sentence. The engines ignore the
period so there’s no problem.

8. Don’t use all types of search phrases for every situation.
There are many ways in which this “don’t” applies.  One quick
example is that of an ecommerce site.  It wouldn’t be advisable
to use specific, long-tail keyphrases on the home page of your
site.  They are much too specific in most cases and are better
suited for individual product pages.  Broader terms are
typically best for an ecommerce home page.  If you don’t
understand the best applications for the various types of
keywords, you’re likely to have lackluster results.

9. Don’t neglect ALT tags/image attributes.  These tags are the
ones associated with images on your pages and they carry a good
deal of weight especially if the image is used as a link.  The
ALT text counts the same as anchor text in a text-based link.
Depending on a few different factors, ALT text may be a good
place for those misspellings mentioned in #6.

10. Don’t forget the chain of protocol.  There’s a method to the
SEO copywriting madness.  The idea is not to get as many
different keyphrases onto a page as possible.  Just the
opposite, in fact.  Rather than having 12 different search terms
used only one time each, you need to use two to four keyphrases
(depending on the length of your copy) per page.  The title,
META tags, ALT tags, other coding elements and on-page copy need
to support each other as far as keyphrase use goes.  Your goal
is to let the engines know that you have original, relevant
content about a narrow topic.

Unless you have an exceptional number of back links built up,
just mentioning [dark chocolate], [chocolate strawberries],
[chocolate chip cookies], [chocolate cake], [chocolate
desserts], [organic chocolate] and [chocolate cheesecake] once
each on a web page isn’t likely to do a lot of good.  Instead,
pick two or three terms which are closely related and use them
several times each along with mentioning them in your tags.

When you avoid making common mistakes, you’ll find your SEO
copywriting flows much better, is more natural-sounding and
ranks higher, too.

Need help with SEO copywriting?  Karon has written 3 excellent
books to help you learn keyword optimization techniques. Visit
http://www.CopywritingCourse.com today and click to the Order
page for details.

By Karon Thackston © 2009, All Rights Reserved

I shake my head every time I read one of these blanket
statements. I’m amazed at how so many people still think that
one size of copy still fits everyone. It’s just not true.

Here’s an example. A while back, I read, “Prospects hate being
bombarded by text-heavy pages, especially on a home/landing
page.” This is coming from Internet Marketing Report in
relation to business-to-business (B2B) websites. I’m sorry, but
I completely disagree.

Just because a website is B2B does not automatically mean every
single one of its visitors will “hate being bombarded by
text-heavy pages.” The product or service itself, how familiar
the product or service is to the market, the target customer’s
preferred communication style and a dozen other factors
contribute to the decision about whether or not long copy or
short should be used.

On the other hand, we have direct-mail experts who’ve taken
their style of copywriting (sales letters) online. And, just
like the ultra-short copy suggested by the Internet Marketing
Report article, long copy has its audience.

If you ask direct marketers, they’ll swear that the long,
scrolling, often hype-filled sales letters are the end-all,
be-all of copywriting. Again, nothing could be further from the
truth. The same reasoning applies to those who say you must use
a sales letter as opposed to those demanding short copy.

DISC Helps Us Understand

You may have heard of the DISC model that categorizes people
into four primary groups (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and
Compliance). There are others as well, including Myers-Briggs.
No matter how you group people, the point is that everyone is
not the same.

So then, how can one style of copy possibly fit everyone? It
doesn’t. There’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. Whether
you’re B2B or B2C, you have to know your target audience and
communicate with them in the way that they will be most
receptive.

For instance, people high in Steadiness traits on the DISC model
prefer longer copy. What’s more, those high in Steadiness make
up over 40% of the population of the U.S. Those high in
Compliance crave details. They, too, would want longer copy.
Dominance types want the bottom line first and possibly details
later if they deem them necessary. And Influence? Those high
in Influence move at the speed of light and make decisions on a
whim. They aren’t much into details either.

Combine with these four styles the additional factors that being
male or female add and you’ve really got your hands full. Want
to get extremely precise? Toss in some persona/profile elements
that deal with lifestyle, convictions and more. It’s enough to
make your head spin at times.

Use Your Judgment

Before you buy into a blanket statement about consumers -
whether it pertains to writing copy, setting prices or anything
else - use your judgment. Does what’s being suggested really
make sense for everybody? Is it possible that all people across
the entire globe respond in the same way? No.

We all communicate differently. We shop differently. We make
decisions based on different criteria. We respond to different
stimuli. If there’s one common denominator, it is that we’re
all different.

Looking for a better way to learn web copywriting? Karon’s SEO
copywriting course teaches you how to improve conversions and
rankings. Complete with assignments and feedback. Get the new
5th edition today at http://www.copywritingcourse.com.

by Karon Thackston © 2007, All Rights Reserved

In Part 1 of this series, I introduced you to Announce It!, an online candy-bar-wrapper manufacturer that was seeking professional help with their search engine copywriting. Facing an audience that consisted primarily of women who were purchasing favors for special occasions, Announce It!’s copy had to be spot-on with its communication. The primary problems were that the copy did not convey a sense of excitement or answer all the questions customers might have. It also focused too heavily on the company rather than communicating with the site visitor.

Let’s see how the changes were worked into the copy and what the results were.

The Rewrite

You can see the original copy at:

http://www.copywritingcourse.com/customcandybarwrapper-original.pdf
and the revised copy at:
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/customcandybarwrapper-new.pdf.

Headlines are one of the most important elements of advertising copy and of search engine optimization. The original web page didn’t have any type of headline — a fundamental mistake that needed to be corrected. The introduction of the text now begins with using a keyphrase and stating a benefit. The headline reads:

Creative, Custom Candy-bar Wrappers

Designed To Make Your Event a Hit!

Since Announce It!’s keyphrases all deal with candy-bar wrappers, it’s obvious that visitors who find this site are already familiar with the general product. (At least to the point of knowing what a custom candy-bar wrapper is.) The question they still have is, “Why should I buy from Announce It! instead of all the other candy-bar-wrapper sites?”

As the visitors read on through the copy, they find reassurance that their idea of using custom-designed candy-bar wrappers is a good one. Visitors are also provided with several benefits available from Announce It! that other companies don’t offer. For the sake of scan-ability, bullet points are used to further highlight differentiating factors about Announce It!. (Low minimum orders, free color proofs, free photo inclusion, etc.) This all helps to clearly explain why this site is the better choice over others the visitor may have gone to previously.)

Because the product itself is graphic, it was important to retain the product images used on the original home page. Certainly, customers would expect to see samples of the wrappers. However, to create a greater impact, each image was captioned with a short bit of occasion-specific, persuasive, keyword-rich copy. For instance:

“Custom candy wrappers are a truly creative way to send your retiree off in style.”

The finished product now speaks directly to the site visitor, sounds more professional, outlines important benefits and uses keyphrases in an appropriate way so as not to hinder the natural flow of the copy.

The Results

The results showed improvements in both conversions and rankings. According to Announce It! their conversion rate quadrupled! They also report, “[The copy] has really made a difference in the way the site is perceived and how the customer reacts. I have gone from a one-person operation to a full-fledged business with five employees. The traffic and orders continue to increase every year!”

You couldn’t ask for much better than that!

WEBSITE BIO:Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors with Karon’s Copywriting Course at http://www.copywritingcourse.com.

Technorati Tags: seo copywriting, optimal copy, search engine optimized copy, search engine optimized copywriting, copywriting portland

by Karon Thackston © 2007, All Rights Reserved

The old cliché is wrong. All our lives we’ve heard, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” That may occasionally be true, but for the most part it’s what you say AND how you say it. Case in point: Announce It!, a custom candy-bar-wrapper manufacturer, had copy on their home page that was acceptable. It mentioned pretty much all the important things a site visitor would need to know about ordering candy wrappers. Yet the copy wasn’t pulling as well as it should have been.

The Problems

The target audience consists mostly of women. In addition, these women order favors for special occasions. That means (stereotypically speaking) you have people who ask a lot of questions and are especially cautious of buying something they can’t touch, feel or see (in person) for use at a major life event. Communication (what the copy says as well as how it says it) is vital.

The text had to convince women that they could trust Announce It! to produce something they would show off in front of all their family and friends for important occasions such as birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, weddings, showers and more. That meant answering the questions these women have as well as instilling confidence that their party favors would be the hit of the event.

Technically, the copy was OK. But it lacked excitement. No, not hype… excitement. It needed to reach out to women and make them feel welcome while also reinforcing that Announce It! was the perfect solution for them. You can see the original text here: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/customcandybarwrapper-original.pdf .

As I’ve always said, you never want to “we” all over your copy. The content needed to speak to the site visitor, not talk about the company. The old text was full of “we’s” and “our’s” and hardly even acknowledged the site visitor.

From a search engine standpoint, the site was bouncing around a good bit. According to the site owner, “For a long time, I held the #1 position for many of my keywords. As search engines evolved, my site started bouncing. It was time to hire a professional.”

The Solution

The plan was to make the text more inviting and supportive while providing information that was easy to immediately identify. I wanted to help Announce It! differentiate itself from other candy-bar wrapper and favor sites. That meant making important benefits clearly visible. In addition, a glimmer of excitement would be added to the copy to get the women in the mood to buy.

A complete change of focus for the copy would also happen. Rather than “we” and “us” the copy would be directed toward the visitor while still communicating important benefits about buying from the company.

Lastly, correcting an elementary mistake would help the copy read better and assist with SEO. The hope with SEO was to give Announce It! some stability, as it had a history of bouncing back and forth between the first and second pages in the SERPs.

The overall goal was to increase conversions for this site. As the site owner herself said, “Without conversion, your rankings don’t mean as much. You really have to convert the visitors once they get to your page.” Oh so true!

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll look at the rewrite and the results of this copywriting makeover so you can see firsthand what effect the changes had for Announce It!

Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors with Karon’s Copywriting Course at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Already know how to write, but need help using keywords? Get Karon’s report “How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.

Technorati Tags: SEO copywriting, copywritingcourse.com, copywriting course, Karon Thackston, optimized copywriting, search engine optimized copywriting, portland copywriting

By Eric S. Gregory

You’ve heard about it. You’ve been told it’s absolutely essential to your company’s web-based success. You may have even sniffed around potential providers, curious as to what it means exactly, how much it costs, and what you get in exchange for your investment. There are some of you out there who have actually gone ahead and contracted a consulting service with the specific goal of improving and securing your firm’s internet visibility. SEO–I’m talking about Search Engine Optimization, a historically recent internet marketing strategy, designed to optimize your firm’s web presence, ensuring high search results (hopefully top 10), hits, and visits. As with any hot marketing trend just bubbling under mass awareness, the SEO field has quickly become engorged with not only those interested in paying for the service but a dizzying quantity and variety of providers.

So why even utilize a service such as SEO for your company’s website? Simply put—to stay competitive in an age when business is increasingly conducted via online channels. A smart SEO provider can focus and edit your website verbiage, helping you lay out and design your site so as to maximize effective readability by popular web search engines such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc. And many claim to do just that—often leveraging hyperbolic guarantees against improbable expectations. But a quickly growing (and confusing) array of SEO providers simply means that your firm needs to go into the provider search armed with knowledge, forethought, and patience.

Excellent SEO service includes close attention to copy editing—scripting SEO keyword verbiage and weaving the keyword text into the site so as to maximize search rankings. So unless you’ve got an in-house copywriter who’s got time to spare and a facility with keyword optimization and follow up writing/editing, you’re going to want an SEO provider that makes SEO copywriting a top priority—and does it well. So if you notice misspelled words, poor grammar, and/or confused syntax in the text of a potential SEO provider’s website, you’d be wise to move on to the next contender. A poor grasp of language is obviously an impediment to confidence. So even if an SEO provider guarantees (and even fulfills) competitive search rankings, those guaranteed “hits” probably won’t turn into return visits if your copy looks and reads like sh*t. This should be obvious, but in an age where txt msgs r cnsdrd aok as means of communication, a gentle reminder that proper grammar still means something can’t hurt. Skillful writing can compel and elicit powerful and sustainable interest.

For those firms with either qualified in-house copywriters or the gumption to try SEO copywriting independently of an external provider, I’ve provided some excellent online resources for how to get the job done well. The links below are not free, but for usually a nominal charge, one gains access to the basics (and typically more) of SEO copywriting 101. Like all human practices, writing takes practice. So once you’ve secured the fundamentals, nothing but trial and error will ensure successful (and well-written!) SEO copy.

• www.successworks.com Heather Lloyd Martin was one of the first SEO copywriters in the field and continues to do premier work, offering training courses through her successworks website.
• www.highrankings.com Jill Whalen offers an expansive array of SEO services, but her special reports (found under the SEO Writing & Editing header) are especially rewarding for the DIY SEO copywriter and editor.
• www.copywritingcourse.com
  Recommended by Jill Whalen by way of her site’s forum, Karon Thackston’s course covers step by step fundamentals accrued through years of writing professional copy.

If you’re one of those many firms that have neither the time nor interest in writing your SEO copy independently, there are numerous highly qualified national (and quite probably, local) SEO copywriting providers that would be more than happy to take your job on. Below are some pertinent questions you might want answered before you sign on the dotted line.

• How will services be charged? By the page? By the hour? A flat rate?
• Do you have ownership rights to the completed copy? Is it licensed? Can you make your own addendums and corrections?
• Is the copy being generated by a being made of flesh and blood? Or is it simply processed through a computerized copywriting program?
• Will they provide title tags, meta-description tags, meta-keyword tags as well as body copy, saving your firm extensive and costly programming hours?,/li>
• Be sure to review a portfolio of prior copywriting work and check previous client references.

Technorati Tags: seo copywriting, seo copy writing, seo copywriting solutions, search engine optimization, search engine friendly copy, seo copy, copywriting portland, optimal copy, seo copywriting resources, seo copywriting training, seo copywriting companies, portland copywriting companies