SEO copywriting is really nothing new. It is based on the same principles that copywriting has been based on for thousands of years. The difference is that the content being written is geared toward both human readers and search engine spiders, with keywords being a principle anchor to hold it together.
Here are 5 basic SEO copywriting techniques that every content writer should keep front and center.
- Write For skimmers and scanners – Online readers don’t read, they scan. Make your content easy to scan by making it visually appealing with images, lots of white space, bullet points, and page layout structure.
- Use power words – Words like “free,” “easy,” and “powerful” are what veteran copywriter Robert Bly calls power words. Use them liberally in your content and snag your readers like a fish.
- Make a list, check it twice – Lists make your content easy to read and organizes your writing for your reader (so they don’t have to). Everyone loves lists.
- Quote the quotable – Why use your own words when someone else’s are more credible. If you can secure a famous quote, or a quote from a famous person, about your topic, then your content will earn instant credibility.
- Get their attention with headlines – Headlines are the first thing your readers will read. Make them bold and compelling. Guard their honesty, of course, but capture your reader’s attention with a bold promise (then deliver on that promise in your content).
These 5 copywriting techniques are powerful and easy to implement in your SEO content. Make it easy for your reader and you’ll see the big payoff.
The key to effective online writing is to have your readers click a link and read your story, blog post, etc. Headlines are the tools that writers use to make that happen. Here are some of our best tips for writing great headlines.
- Keep it relevant – Your headline should tell your reader exactly what to expect from your article. If your article is about bobsledding, then your headline should make it clear that’s what the article is about. Readers don’t want to click a link and find out your article is about something else.
- Make a promise and follow through – Every good headline makes a promise. “100 of the best restaurants in Chinatown” is pretty specific. The reader knows what the article is about and expects to be told what the best restaurants in Chinatown are. It has a promise. The hard part is delivering on the promise, but it’s also the important part.
- Show how easy it is – Some headlines do this better than others, but if the reader thinks it is easy to get the benefit of reading your story, then they’ll read it. “3 ways to jump a rope,” “1 simple tweak …”, and “5 ideas to spark …” all tell the reader that the answer to their question is just one click away. It’s really easy.
- Don’t try to be clever - You may think it’s cute to play with words and offer a double entendre. Some of your readers will too. Others will be turned off by it. But the real reason you want to leave the clever out of your headlines is because it doesn’t sell the story. A reader might laugh at your clever headline, but she likely won’t read the story.
Follow these tips to successful headlines and you’ll watch your readership grow.
Writing copy for a website or blog may seem like hard work. However, often, the only reason it’s hard is because we make it so. Constipated copywriter is a good term for it – you strain, you exert yourself, but at the end of the day, you’ve written 200 words that deliver a message, but is dry and very formal.
There is a misconception that readers want to see facts in very short bursts. The reality is, we are training readers to want this type of information. Social media optimization almost insists on short punchy content. That’s fine for social media. When it comes to your website, users want to see that short punchy content expanded on a little more. Those small punchy Tweets for example are meant to attract visitors to your website. Why? Because you have piqued their interest.
If they arrive on your website to be met with dry fact-based content, they may well leave a little unsatisfied. Your content needs to be interesting. It also needs to be of a length that it can suitably address that content. If you feel it is too long, then break it into two pages. If your content is that interesting, most readers will follow.
Your content can still be punchy, and it can still be broken into short bite-sized pieces – we call them paragraphs, by the way, not the whole page. Produce content that you would want to read, produce content that is interesting, at times entertaining, but above all else, delivers on the promise made by the page’s heading.
If you’re guilty of constipated copywriting, then learn to relax a little, learn to deliver the kind of content that people in your niche are looking for.
Is there a difference between web design and web development? Actually, there is. But sadly, most small business owners don’t really know what it is.
Web Design is about one thing – making your website appealing and attractive to your target market.
Web Development, on the other hand, is about making your website functional and helping your visitors find more easily the information they are looking for. There are a variety of strategies for accomplishing that task.
While web design is concerned about elements such as logo design, sidebar widths, header and footer appearance and photo/video presentations, web development is more concerned with elements such as navigation menu protocols, conversion funnels and usability studies. Of course, copywriting and SEO are also very important.
I won’t say that one is more important than the other, but it does help to know the difference. Your web development team should include a good web designer. But it shouldn’t consist only of a web designer. At any rate, if you are setting up a website that you hope will make you money then you should think about web design within the framework of your web development strategy – not the other way around.
