Optimal Copy - SEO Copywriting Blog

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

Ah, Portland, Oregon. Bluer than the Pacific Ocean—bluer even than the Democratic Party’s collective blood. Where success is measured by how well your comfort and success accord with doing the “right thing.” Where compassion and creativity share a bottom line and an extended vision. Where marketing that bottom line means you capitalize with words like “creative,” “authentic,” “unique,” “independent,” “progressive,” “experimental,” “original,” and so on ad naseum. Where ideas “inevitably overflow outside traditional worlds” [wk.com - Weiden & Kennedy]. Where the “magic” a company has to offer exceeds the product, extending into and is “deeply ingrained in giving back to the community” [www.hannaandersson.com - Hanna Andersson]. Where companies are “as responsible as we are profitable, and committed to doing good with the resources we have” [www.keenfootwear.com - Keen Footwear].

Now I’m not suggesting that these marketing templates and conceptual strategies are strictly located to and from Portland, Oregon. Turn on your on demand digital cable in high def and you’ll quickly recognize many of the same catchphrases, keywords, and “responsible” products calling your name. So is this turn towards a marketing voice rooted in “doing the right thing” (which naturally always includes making a profit) then more of a generalized transnational strategy? Of course it is. But I’d still argue that this trend grew, developed, and was perfected here in Portland, and that at the very least, it’s representative of the marketing moves popularized by the big name Portland success stories. People in Portland are typically very comfortable. The climate and pace of life are almost too moderate. We’re politically progressive (duh), we’re concerned with a balanced quality of life. But most of all, we think ahead. We can live for tomorrow because we’re situated quite well today. And the metropolitan area attracts a certain breed of American: typically young (under 40), college-educated, white—I realize I’m stating the obvious here—but perhaps above all else, Portland attracts “responsible creatives.” And responsible creative types are going to best know how to create, push, and market products to other responsible creative types. We Portland marketers want to sell our product, our brand name, our website, etc. to ourselves (or someone who looks and lives a lot like us).

Now this may not be news to those of us who map and make these strategies. Then again, perhaps it is. I’d suggest that the Portland Principle (a cool phrase invented by my business partner which suggested something, some kind of a general trend—and now here I am filling in that “je ne sais quoi” with a specific definition) has outlived its usefulness. This ultimate consumer—the Columbia Sportswear-clad chick who lives in the condo unit just below you—the one who drives a Subaru outback with the “Keep Portland Weird” and the “Re-Defeat Bush” bumper stickers, who jogs every other morning with Hugo, her Weimaraner, whom you never see on the weekends because she’s out hiking or kayaking or whatever godawful recreation this particular type regularly engages in, who religiously recycles (except for those occasional mornings when she’s way too hungover), who isn’t quite sure whether she’s going to vote for Hilary or Obama because they both seem kind of untrustworthy, but she certainly isn’t going to vote for a “crazy” like Kucinich—or maybe she will. She read something on Salon.com about how he’s attracting more and more deep-thinking twentysomethings and that must mean something, right? Must our copy always be scripted and delivered to the specific needs and impulses of this (completely fictional–and I might add, unimaginatively so) ultimate consumer? I don’t think so. I think people like her are tired—or at the very least—uninspired by copy that relentlessly retreads the same progressive ground over and over and over again (and if a cardboard character like this one is bored by such marketing copy, imagine the response of the woman who actually lives in the condo unit below yours).

I’m hereby throwing down the gauntlet to local and national copywriters and editors. When asked to script the “About” page for your employer or contractor, try not to write that such and such a firm “is an independent, creatively led fill in the blank that creates strong and provocative relationships between good companies and their consumers” [www.wk.com] (I’m picking on Wieden & Kennedy because they, perhaps more than any other Portland-located firm, represent the success of this so-called “Portland Principle,” and because they specialize in original and creative idea-making). I’m not suggesting I have any specific answers or even general directions to move towards aside from a move away from clichés about “caring relationships with communities and the natural world at large.” I’m suggesting that hip will always be shackled by its own localized and temporal attachments. I would like to see smart and successful copywriting move beyond hip. Language is arguably all we have to bend our cages. Let’s use what we’ve got. And let’s all breathe a little. It’s the right thing to do.

Technorati Tags: portland copywriting, seo copywriting, creative marketing, portland principle, seo copywriting portland, copywriting services portland, Optimal Copy, Eric Gregory

By Lisa Peyton

At the core of all search optimized copy is keyword content or “density”. SEO pros may disagree on just how important this content is, but they all agree that it’s important. There are several keyword density tools out there so I’ve listed my favorites for your consideration. I use the tools below to check out the keyword density of my landing pages and to check up on my copywriter’s work to see if I need to have him rework and increase the amount of times he has worked the targeted phrase into the text. I also use these tools to research the keyword density of the contenders for that coveted #1 spot on any given search engine for my keyword phrase, getting a good idea of where to set the bar for my own copy.

I would love to be able to say that there’s a set keyword density formula for all the top search results in Google—unfortunately, there isn’t. After testing out several phrases and comparing the top 5 results for each one, there is typically wide disparity between the keyword percentages on the page. I found some pages that had percentages as high as 40% and 50% for the targeted keyword phrase and others that didn’t even have the searched phrase in their title tag, resulting in an overall percentage closer to .23%, or less than 1%. This shows that there are several other factors being considered within those tricky search engine algorithms. But we all already knew that! So remember to keep keyword density in perspective–it’s only one component of a well-optimized page, but a relatively easy one to nail with the handy tools listed below:

http://www.keyworddensity.com/

At first I didn’t like the idea of having to find a second page when I was focusing on the density of the page I was building out, but it’s pretty interesting to compare the top ranking pages for your targeted keyword phrase. This tool is one of the only free resources I found that will let you enter the keyword phrase that you would like the resulting percentages to be based on. I think it’s a great starting place when trying to test out the keyword density of your content, but I wouldn’t use it as the only source for your data.

http://www.webjectives.com/keyword.htm

Webjectives offers another free tool that allows you to enter the keyword phrase along with the URL of your webpage. There are 2 check boxes that allow you to perform partial keyword matching and decide how to deal with case sensitivity. For example, “Technical Recruiter” would be a different keyword than “technical recruiter.” The results page breaks down the density using the individual components on the page–such as Title, Body, Meta and Alt tags, as well as giving you an overall total percentage. It very nicely counts all the words on the page for you and gives you a final weighted keyword density for the entire page.

http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-density/

This is a second type of tool that doesn’t ask you to input the keyword phrase, instead you enter the URL and check-off a handful of different options, including the number of keyterms to display, the elements to include such as alt tags and meta tags and the number of words per phrase, 1, 2 or 3 words. This tool is a bit limited if you are trying to optimize for some long-tail terms that may have more than 3 words. The result is simply a list of phrases and their corresponding percentages or density on the page. This tool is useful when trying to determine which keywords your competition is targeting since you don’t have to have a specific keyword phrase in mind when performing the analyses.

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/

KeywordDiscovery, my current keyword research tool of choice, offers a density tool with their subscription service. It’s not technically “Free” but it’s included if you purchase their other keyword services, starting at about $70 bucks per month. Their keyword density tool is among those that don’t ask for specific keywords but return a list of phrases with the highest density. This tool allows up to 4 words per phrase, so it’s a bit more focused if you are targeting specific search terms. The chart includes the keyword phrase, density percentage, actual word count, number of searches for the term and whether the term is located in the title, description, and the link-text or heading of the page. Once again, this a great tool to see just how optimized your competitors’ web pages are. One quick glance allows you to see which words they have gone out of their way to target and how competitive they are.

Technorati Tags: seo copywriting portland, seo copywriting, search engine optimized copywriting, search engine marketing, internet marketing portland, keyword density tools, free keyword tools, free seo tools, portland copywriting

By Jill Whalen

Last night was our third SEMNE event (Search Engine Marketing New England: http://www.semne.org), and we were humbled to have Dan Crow, director of crawl systems at Google, spilling the beans about how to get your site into Google. He talked for a half hour or so, and then proceeded to answer audience questions for at least another hour. As I sat there listening to him (yes, I actually listened to this one!), I was struck by what an awesome important information — straight from Google. It was clear that the 100 or so people in the room agreed. In fact, at 7:30 on the dot, everyone spontaneously stopped their networking activities and simply took their seats without being asked to. These folks definitely came to hear Google!

What Is Indexing?

Dan started out his presentation discussing what “indexing” means and how Google goes about it. Basically, the process for the Google crawler is to first look at the robots.txt file in order to learn where it shouldn’t go, and then it gets down to business visiting the pages it is allowed to visit. As the crawler lands on a page, it finds the relevant information contained on it, then follows each link and repeats the process.

Robots.txt Explored

Dan proceeded to explain how to use your robots.txt file for excluding pages and directories from your site that you might not want indexed, such as the cgi-bin folder. He told us how each of the major search engines have their own commands for this file but that they’re working to standardize things a bit more in the future.

In terms of what the crawler looks at on the page, he said there are over 200 factors, with “relevance” playing a big part in many of them.

Google Still Loves Its PageRank

Dan also discussed the importance of PageRank (the real one that only Google knows about, not the “for-amusement-purposes-only” toolbar PR that many obsess over). He let us know that having high-quality links is still one of the greatest factors towards being indexed and ranked, and then he proceeded to explain how building your site with unique content for your users is one of the best approaches to take. (Now, where have you heard that before? He explained how creating a community of like-minded individuals that builds up its popularity over time is a perfect way to enhance your site.

Did You Know About These Tags?

We were also treated to some additional tips that many people may not have known about. For instance, did you know that you could stop Google from showing any snippet of your page in the search engine results by using a “nosnippet” tag? And you can also stop Google from showing a cached version of your page via the “noarchive” tag. Dan doesn’t recommend these for most pages since snippets are extremely helpful to visitors, as is showing the cache. However, Google understands that there are certain circumstances where you may want to turn those off.

Breaking News!

Google is coming out with a new tag called “unavailable_after” which will allow people to tell Google when a particular page will no longer be available for crawling. For instance, if you have a special offer on your site that expires on a particular date, you might want to use the unavailable_after tag to let Google know when to stop indexing it. Or perhaps you write articles that are free for a particular amount of time, but then get moved to a paid-subscription area of your site. Unavailable_after is the tag for you! Pretty neat stuff!

Webmaster Central Tools

Dan couldn’t say enough good things about their Webmaster Central tools. I have to say that seems to be very common with all the Google reps I’ve heard speak at various conferences. The great thing is that they’re not kidding! If you haven’t tried the webmaster tools yet, you really should because they provide you with a ton of information about your site such as backward links, the keyword phrases with which people have found each page of your site, and much, much more!

Sitemaps Explored

One of the main tools in Webmaster Central is the ability to provide Google with an XML sitemap. Dan told us that a Google sitemap can be used to provide them with URLs that they would otherwise not be able to find because they weren’t linked to from anywhere else. He used the term “walled garden” to describe a set of pages that are linked only to each other but not linked from anywhere else. He said that you could simply submit one of the URLs via your sitemap, and then they’d crawl the rest. He also talked about how sitemaps were good for getting pages indexed that could be reached only via webforms. He did admit later that even though those pages would be likely to be indexed via the sitemap, at this time they would still most likely be considered low quality since they wouldn’t have any PageRank. Google is working on a way to change this in the future, however.

Flash and AJAX

Lastly, Dan mentioned that Google still isn’t doing a great job of indexing content that is contained within Flash and/or AJAX. He said that you should definitely limit your use of these technologies for content that you want indexed. He provided a bit of information regarding Scalable Inman Flash Replacement (sIFR), and explained that when used in the manner for which it was intended, it’s a perfectly acceptable solution for Google. (You can read more about sIFR here: http://wiki.novemberborn.net/sifr.) Dan said that Google does hope to do a better job of indexing the information contained in Flash at some point in the future.

The Q&A

Many of the points mentioned above were also covered in greater detail during Dan’s extensive Q&A session. However, there were many additional enlightening tidbits that got covered. For instance, Sherwood Stranieri from Catalyst Online asked about Google’s new Universal Search, specifically as it applied to when particular videos (that were not served up from any Google properties) would show up in the main search results. Dan explained that in Universal Search, the videos that show up are the same that show up first while using Google’s video search function.

The Dreaded Supplemental Results

Of course, someone just *had* to ask about supplemental results and what causes pages to be banished there. (This is one of the most common questions that I hear at all SEO/SEM conferences.) Dan provided us with some insights as to what the supplemental results were and how you could get your URLs out of them. He explained that basically the supplemental index is where they put pages that have low PageRank (the real kind) or ones that don’t change very often. These pages generally don’t show up in the search results unless there are not enough relevant pages in the main results to show. He had some good news to report: Google is starting to crawl the supplemental index more often, and soon the distinction between the main index and the supplemental index will be blurring. For now, to get your URLs back into
the main results, he suggested more incoming links (of course!).

There was a whole lot more discussed, but I think this is enough to digest for now! All in all, my SEMNE co-founder Pauline and I were extremely pleased with how the night unfolded. We had a great turnout, met a ton of new contacts, caught up with a bunch of old friends, and received some great information straight from Google!

For more information on SEMNE or to see some photos from the event, please visit the SEMNE site here: http://www.semne.org/. I’m running late today, but will try to have the pictures up sometime tonight if I can.

CEO and founder of High Rankings®, Jill Whalen has been performing search engine optimization since 1995 and is the host of the free High Rankings Advisor search engine marketing newsletter, author of “The Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines” and founder/administrator of the popular High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum. In 2006, Jill co-founded SEMNE, a local search engine marketing networking organization for people and companies in New England.

Technorati Tags: search engine marketing, SEMNE, search engine marketing networking organization, getting into google, jill whalen, search engine marketing news, High Rankings, internet marketing, SEO news, search engine optimization news, google news, search engine optimization forum, optimal copy, seo copywriting portland, portland seo companies

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

By Lisa Peyton

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Stoney G deGeyter at a SEM conference in Portland, OR. Since that time I have spent many hours on the web sifting through tons of articles and information on the topic of keyword research and it’s importance surrounding every aspect of web optimization and marketing. Stoney’s pdf entitled “Keyword Research and Selection: The Definitive Guide to Gathering, Sorting and Organizing Your Keywords into a High Performance SEO Campaign” has held up as the best free resource on the topic. He lays out a very organized and methodical process, simplifying what can easily become an all consuming and unfocused mess.

Taking the time to read, comprehend and implement the plan he lays out will save you money and many hours of your valuable time. Investing the time up front to fully research keywords can be the one step amateur internet marketers overlook but it is by far the most important.

keyword research, internet marketing, seo services

Technorati Tags: keyword research, internet marketing, seo services

By Lisa Peyton

When it comes to writing a resume, most of us know the basics – Name, Contact Information, Experience, Education, etc. But are you aware that even top-level executives make fundamental resume blunders? Our executive recruiters see hundreds of resumes a week and here’s what they DON’T want to see on your resume:

1. “Don’t provide a resume that simply lists job description versus highlighting accomplishments and results. Be sure to provide context so the reader knows the exact role you played in achieving each accomplishment.” Roy Notowitz, Generator Group - Partner/Recruiter

Carla Vaughan echoes this sentiment in her article, “Why is It so Important to List Accomplishments on Resumes?

“Your accomplishments are what distinguish you from your competitors in the job-search process. All things being equal, if a hiring manager were looking at two identical prospective employees who could handle the tasks of the job perfectly well, but one had accomplished more than the other, who do you think is going to get a phone call? Obviously, the person who accomplishes the most “wins”.”

2. “Writing in the third person, so annoying! I just want to scream, ‘You’re not that cool!’” - Vince Amela, Generator Group - RecruiterIn her article “The Six Cardinal Rules
   Of Resume Writing,” Wendy Enelow at careerjournal.com agrees with Vince.“Write your document in the active first-person tense, never the third person, and choose language that’s appropriate to the type of position you’re seeking. If you’re a mid-level manager, don’t use “Ph.D.” language. If you’re in line for CEO, COO or other top operating slots, use words appropriate to that level.”
3. “Don’t put hi-res images or graphics on your resume that takes forever to load, I want to see your information, not fancy clipart.” Lisa Peyton, Generator Group – Marketing and Recruiting CoordinatorWeird or “creative formatting” makes it difficult for an employer or recruiter to identify pertinent information. Stick to a traditional chronological format. Also, PDF documents do not work well in resume databases – they are not easily parsed. Stick to text or MS Word Docs when applying for jobs online. In a recent study of Fortune 500 companies it was discovered that 36% currently are using automated systems to parse resumes and about 40% plan on moving in that direction in the near future. This calls for guidelines that are automation friendly, according to professor William H. Baker: “Job applicants ought to stay within certain guidelines. Graphics should not be included, and the applicants ought to use dark type and white or off-white paper so there is good contrast between the type and background. Also, use standard-sized paper and between 9- and 13-point type.” More information can be found on the aforementioned study in Stephanie Tripp’s article, “Fancy Resume? Fortune 500 Study Says Think Again.”
4. “Don’t use more than one font – intentionally or unintentionally, it just looks bad” Jesse Connell, Generator Group - Executive Recruiting ManagerJesse’s not alone, according to the General Resume Guidelines at sampleresumes4free.com . It’s wise to “try to use one type, avoid using more than two font types. Suggested fonts are the Times New Roman, Arial or Verdana. Font size should be no larger than 12 point and no smaller than 10 point. Font color must be black always. Do not use colored font.”
5. “Don’t Include photos – prove that you ARE qualified for the job. Not that you look like you’re qualified.” Kevin Servino – Generator Group – Consumer Products RecruiterIn fact, Career Services at Virginia Tech claims photos should never appear on a resume ”unless you’re applying for an acting / theatrical position where appearance is a bona fide occupational qualification. Therefore the best approach is not to provide a photo in any form (on-line or otherwise) in connection with your job search. Employers are prohibited from making hiring decisions based on appearance or other factors not relevant to the job qualifications; therefore employers want to avoid seeking out information that is not appropriate to consider.”
6. “Never include incomplete employment dates, like not including months. This makes it hard to determine exactly how long someone is at a company.” Roy NotowitzWhile it may be important to list detailed and complete information, you don’t want to over do it. Keep your resume clean and uncluttered by deleting any dates that aren’t meaningful to the employer. In “Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Resume” ,
   Katherine Hansen provides this advice: “Don’t list dates that don’t add anything to your resume; for example, dates you spent involved in college extracurricular activities. If you were involved in these activities during college, the reader can pretty much guess your dates of involvement, and listing the dates will just clutter up your document. Same with dates of involvement in professional or civic organizations; ask yourself if those dates will be meaningful to the employer reading your resume.”
7. “A resume does not have to be one page but it does not need to be 6 pages either. Make it appropriate length for your experience with enough detail but also use an efficiency of words as much as possible.” Roy NotowitzSo how long does your resume need to be? Monster Resume Expert Kim Isaacs offers these guidelines in her article ”How to Decide on Resume Length False”
   :
   “The new guideline is: A resume should be long enough to entice hiring managers to call you for job interviews. That may sound vague, but there is no hard-and-fast length rule that works for everyone. Factors to consider include career objective, occupation, industry, years of experience, number of employers, scope of accomplishments and education/training.Consider a One-Page Resume if:
   • You have less than 10 years of experience.
   • You’re pursuing a radical career change and your experience isn’t relevant to your new goal.
   • You’ve held one or two positions with one employer.

   Consider a Two-Page Resume if:

   • You have 10 or more years of experience related to your goal.
   • Your field requires technical or engineering skills, and you need space to list and confirm your technical knowledge.

   Consider a Three-Page Resume or Longer if:

   • You’re a senior-level manager or executive with a long track record of leadership accomplishments.
   • You are in an academic or scientific field with an extensive list of publications, speaking engagements, professional courses, licenses or patents.”
8. “Vague ass-kissing ‘career objective’ responses–e.g. ‘I’d like to work for a company that appreciates hard work and personal commitments and allows me to be who I really am.’ ” Eric S. Gregory, Optimalcopy.com – CopywriterThe ass-kissing can be saved for the cover letter according to tutoriallist.com, where one of their lessons “ will teach you how to get the attention of any prospective employer by constructing a cover letter with charm, competence, and the all-important ass-kissing.”