SEO Copywriting – 10 Steps to SEO Heaven!

New SEO copywriting content has been added to Buzzwords’ copywriting website (buzzwords.ltd.uk/seo_copywriting.htm).   ‘SEO Copywriting – 10 steps to SEO success!’ is all about the various steps that Buzzwords goes through when conducting an SEO copywriting makeover for a client. These include:

• STEP ONE – Analysing the website structure and sitemap
• STEP TWO – Keyword appraisal
• STEP THREE – Optimising every page with the appropriate keywords
• STEP FOUR – Including keywords in URLs
• STEP FIVE – Optimising for business leads from the immediate locality
• STEP SIX – Writing for people, not robots!
• STEP SEVEN – The time lag between SEO copywriting changes and visible search engine results
• STEP EIGHT – Results and the limitations of on-page SEO copywriting
• STEP NINE – The need for strategic off-page SEO copywriting
• STEP TEN – Persistence pays off with free online advertising!

 

SEO Copywriting and Ongoing Optimisation

When it comes to SEO copywriting, one of the biggest problems I face as an SEO copwriter is persuading clients that optimising their websites is an ongoing process.  Most think it’s like writing a brochure.  Choose a set of keywords, wait awhile – and hey presto!  Google loves me!  Not.

Probably one of the best vehicles for encouraging clients to embrace SEO copywriting as an ongoing concept is to sign up for a content managed website (CMS).  There’s no substitute for being in control – whether the client writes the content, or a copywriter is commissioned to do it.

Of course, this involves finding out about basic on-page SEO copywriting skills like keyword research, meta tags and knowing what goes where.  An even bigger potential problem is with off-page SEO copywriting and link building.  Even with a CMS, the downside to building links is that it takes lots of time and effort.  That’s why it makes sense to leave it to a professional SEO copywriter.

Ongoing optimisation is definitely not a quick fix when it comes to creating a successful website.  Fine-tuning keywords and meta tags, for instance, doesn’t generate results overnight.  Nor does article marketing. 

With all the other demands of running a business, ongoing optimisation will inevitably slip down the list of priorities, especially if progress is slow.  Employing a copywriter who also monitors the results of SEO copywriting activities is probably the best way to approach optimisation.

Set a six-month target.  Monitor the rankings of the web pages you’ve optimised.  (Remember: Google ranks pages and NOT websites!)  Monitor and compare rival keywords.  Search for new keywords and compare their performance.  And look closely at which aspects of your SEO copywriting are working – and those that aren’t!

The importance of your website as the focal point of all your online marketing cannot be over-stated.  It follows therefore that the effects of your site’s rankings on sales lead generation makes SEO copywriting and ongoing optimisation one of the most important online activities in which your company should be investing.

Copywriting for the construction industry – a new dimension

In less than two years, copywriting for the construction industry has been turned on its head.  Recent economic events have had real-life effects that have trickled down into every area of everyday life.

Everyone in the construction industry – and everywhere else for that matter – knew the party would have to end eventually. The way it happened, however, was both unique and breath-taking.

Suddenly, plans and developments were put on hold.  The future was fudged and nudged back a little.  Balance sheets were written in red ink for the first time in a decade.  And yet, the blood-bath could have been worse. 

Recessions are times when businesses are forced to take stock.  The self-correcting nature of capitalism steps in to allow companies to cut away the fat, re-focus on core business activities and re-arm for the future.

Of course, copywriting is but a side-show in all this.  And yet, effective marketing is essential for corporate recovery in any business sector.  Copywriting for the construction industry will become more streamlined.  Websites will become ‘content managed’.  The media relations side of  PR will move online.  The dissemination of  ‘information’ will be more fluid.  And accessing it will have to be ‘on demand’.  

Integrated marketing will receive a shot in the arm in the shape of resurgent inter-personal selling.  As everyone becomes more web-savvy, the split between online and offline marketing will become less pronounced.  The need to differentiate will disappear.  And marketing will be re-instated to its status of being a major standalone business discipline.

The ’satellites’ of online marketing, networking and social media will mutate from fads into mainstream tools.  As ever among all this, copywriting will be there, forced by necessity to be quicker, leaner and totally business-focused. 

Like so many other marketing services, copywriting will become ever-more commoditised.  The days of self-indulgent creativity and precious preening are well and truly behind us.  And when it comes to winning respect in the wider business community, maybe that’s no bad thing.

Copywriting is a business too!

In a recession, the only answer to shrinking markets is to diversify into new ones.  This is as true of copywriting as it is of any other business activity.

Buzzwords has therefore moved officially into copywriting-led marketing services.  I say ‘officially’ because these are areas where we’ve had plenty of previous experience, but they were seen as as peripheral to the main copywriting business.

This is all good news for Buzzwords’ existing clients – and new clients too.  It means that a wider range of services is now available from a single source.  And it also means from a trusted source when it comes to quality and price.

Everyone is price-conscious right now.  so giving clients more choice is also providing a better service.  This is probably one of many ways a company can sidestep the main impact of recession.  Tighter margins needn’t necessarily mean lower profits.