Get the latest scoop on SEO copywriting today and see a dramatic increase in your search engine positioning! Buy the updated SEO copywriting book - on sale now
My, how search engine optimization (SEO) has changed! In the dinosaur days of search engine optimization (around 1996)-- long before SEO copywriting was in vogue -- optimizing a Web site was as simple as tweaking your Meta tags and resubmitting your site. Once upon a time, you could rank high for a competitive one-word keyword like "design" without much thought or effort. Overture (or the ex-GoTo) wasn't even a concept. It was even relatively easy to get your Yahoo! Directory listing changed (and even submit for free, no less!).
What's more, the majority of SEO specialists (who weren't even thinking about SEO copywriting at the time) didn't care much about things like "conversion" and "ROI." If a site's hit counter was cranking, the SEO firm figured they did their job. If the site never made a sale, well, that's the client's problem - not their search engine-marketing firm's. Who cared about actual site ROI, anyway?
Those days are long gone.
Although a limited number of SEO firms proselytized the benefits of keyphrase-rich text, it wasn't until late 2000 that SEO copywriting entered the forefront.
When the dotcom bubble burst, it left a huge puddle on the b2b and b2c market floor. Surviving companies realized they could lead their prospect to their Web site, but they couldn't make them buy. Suddenly, it started sinking in that smart search engine optimization is more than eyeballs. It's converting those eyeballs into dollar signs. The mantra began: Conversion is action. Conversion is everything. But, how can a company have strong conversion rates and benefit from long-term high rankings?
The secret is simple: SEO copywriting - informative, keyphrase-rich text crafted for both search engines and your prospects.
Now that you know the secret, it's time to gain your slice of the search engine-marketing pie. C'mon. We'll show you how.
Who will benefit from this SEO copywriting guide?
Want to know if this SEO copywriting guide will help you? If you write copy for Web sites, this guide is for you.
You may be the online communications manager of a large corporation, managing a fifty-person writing team. You may be a successful copywriter, searching for new online writing skills. Or, you may have just launched your Web site and are still learning what SEO copywriting is all about.
What's more, you've heard that SEO copywriting is different than conventional online writing (which, by the way, is even more different than print copywriting). You've learned that including keyphrases - words or phrases that people would type into a search query box to find products or services like yours - in your copy is crucial. Yet, too many keyphrases are considered "spamming the search engines." You're searching for the tried-and-true process to ensure your writing packs the maximum search engine punch without alienating your readers. And now, you've come to the right (or write) place.
Whether you're writing to sell or writing to brand your business, this SEO copywriting guide will help you harness your company's creative power. You'll learn how every content page can be a natural "doorway page" into your site. Paired with search engine-friendly coding and savvy search engine marketing, you'll be able to blast your brand across the major search properties, gaining higher rankings and strong click-thrus.
Recommended SEO copywriting guide readers are:
- Content editors
- Copywriters
- SEO project managers
- Online content managers
- Marketing communications managers
- Site owners
- Web designers
- PR professionals
- Anyone with the power to approve or evaluate site text
What this SEO copywriting guide won't tell you.
- Secret ways to trick the search engines or directories.
Tricking the engines (commonly known as spamming them) is not just unethical - it's also expensive. Think about it: Imagine being banned from Google, MSN or Yahoo! How much revenue and brand would you sacrifice? What would that do to your long-term online success? Considering that these three search properties can drive incredible site traffic, an ethical SEO writing strategy is the smart one.
- How to create doorway pages (that is, pages that are created solely for the purpose of driving traffic to your site and not searcher oriented).
Once upon a time, doorway pages were considered a viable SEO copywriting technique. Now, they're as irritating to search engines as magazine response cards are to humans.
If you're going to spend time and effort researching keyphrases (which will be discussed later) and creating specialized content pages, why not include them on your site? With proper SEO copywriting techniques, you can drive traffic to your site via your inner pages - so doorway pages are a redundant technique that offers no value to your prospect.
Besides, many search engines (like Google and Yahoo!) don't like doorway pages, and will boot them out of their index. In fact, Alta Vista states that they will block sites from their index that utilize "machine-generated pages with minimal or no content, whose sole purpose is to get a user to click to another page."
- How to write for the Web.
Writing for the Web is not rocket science. In fact, there are many small business owners who agonized over every letter on their site - and created powerful copy that successfully converts their clients.
However, if you are new to the world of copywriting, or you come from a print background, it pays to do your homework. Before you dive into SEO copywriting, keyphrases and hyperlinks, take some time and learn the online copywriting basics before you start. We've listed some resources at the end of this guide that will help transform you from a 'Net novice into an online professional.
Now, let's start at the beginning and get into the SEO copywriting nitty-gritty. If you're penning prose for spiders, you should understand how HTML and hypertext lure these algorithmic arachnids into your site - and feed them the keyphrase-rich text they crave.