Matt BrennanThe Internet is a crowded place. In order to stand out amongst the competition, you need to be able to quickly and easily tell your customers what makes your business different from the rest. You have to tell good stories and you have to stand out. That involves SEO copywriting.
There’s no shortage of tips and tricks and hacks for gaining traction in Google and the other major search engines. SEO hucksters and magicians are willing to show you how to gain that coveted spot. But here’s the question: Are you telling the story that you want to be telling?
SEO copywriting can win you eyeballs. But that is only part of the equation. In a matter of a couple seconds, the brains behind those eyeballs are formulating the decision on whether they want to stay with you or move on to the next search result. So you’ll need to have your message down pact.
Writing for SEO is good, but you’ll want to write for people too. A lot of bloggers and copywriters will lead you to believe that writing for SEO and writing for your audience is an either-or equation. It’s more like finding balance on a scale. There is an art to doing both.
Here are a few SEO copywriting tips that will help you win some customers:
If you have questions on any of these, you may want to talk with a marketing writer.
Look for the hot issues. What news that pertains to your business do people want to know about? If you can rank a blog post on a major issue, it is bound to find some visibility as well as register with a wider audience. But here is the thing: Don’t just write about a major issue for the sake of being seen. Make sure that you have something important to say. Do your research and convey your opinion thoughtfully.
Do your keyword research. You may think you have a good idea for a blog post — something that is bound to register with your audience. Maybe there is a slight tweak in the language that can produce higher search results in a less competitive environment. It is always good to have an idea on how your post could perform. Your keyword research can help.
Work your language in naturally. Yes, it is the search engine that ultimately decides what kind of visibility that your post might have, but it is people reaching for their wallets who ultimately buy things. Your goal is to trip the part of the brain that causes people to stretch their arms for their wallets. Powerful, emotional stories do better at that than keyword bombing a post. Pronouns are acceptable parts of the English language for a reason. A handful of keyword usages in a 400-500 word post is all it takes. Don’t push it.
Tell better stories. Tell people how your product has improved your customers’ lives. Tell people about the pain that your product or service heals, or the product it solves. If you can do this while making people laugh or cry, even better. Stories make your business stand out and distinguish your brand.
Watch your spelling and grammar. Mistakes with language can erode trust. Make sure you are consciously aware of the difference between its and it’s, or there, they’re and their. Small things that may not matter to you can cause a reader to question your industry knowledge. If you have doubts, you can always hire a copy editor to help you tell your story.
Wrapping it up…
SEO copywriting doesn’t stop with the inclusion of the right keywords. It doesn’t include carpet bombing your readers with a sales message that only resonates with you. It stops with the conversion of your readers, not just traffic to your website.
Your analytics will be able to tell you if your readers bounced after a few seconds (closed the page), or if they went on to buy, comment or share. Web content writing involves considering your readers’ experience, from beginning to end.
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