Step #3 - Never, ever sacrifice tone, feel or usability for the search engines

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Here's something to ponder:  The search engines don't pay your bills.  Your prospects do.  Why would you write copy solely for the search engines when your clients keep you in business?

Click-thru conversion pages don't just help your site rank high in the search engines.  It also converts your prospects into paying clients.  Yes, search engine writing dictates that particular phrases must pop up in the copy at least three times.  However, it is still possible to craft persuasive text around these terms and convert visitors into customers.

Of course, if you want conversion, certain other things must appear in your copy for your prospects to take action.  These are:

  • Benefit statements.  Tell your prospect how your product or service will make them sexier, happier, wealthier, save them time, make them money or streamline their operations.  In other words, make sure every line of copy is dedicated to what's in it for your prospect.  That's what they want to know - and if you want to make sales, that's what you need to tell them.
  • Call to action links.  Hyperlinks are more than a cool place to insert keyphrases.  They're also the secret to energizing your prospects and guiding them to the next action step.  Think about it:  if you don't tell your prospects what action you'd like them to take, whose fault is it when they don't take it?
  • Customer-centered tone and feel.  The search engines don't give a darn about your tone and feel.  But, your prospects do care, and base their buying decisions on how much they trust your company.

According to a 2002 report by Consumer WebWatch, 80 percent of US Internet users, in their decision to visit a Web site, considered "being able to trust the information on the site" very important.  If your writing doesn't strike a musical chord with your readers, your prospects will start hearing the beat of a different drummer.  And tramp away to your competition.

Next:  Searcher usability