Buzzwords Copywriting Manchester

Buzzwords has taken another step into the Web 2.0/social media world with Squidoo!  Check out this ‘lens’:

www.squidoo.com/buzzwordscopywritingmanchester

For the past couple of weeks, Buzzwords has been Number One on Google for the keyword ‘website copywriters’ (and number 3 or 4  for ‘website copywriting’).  I WAS ASKED RECENTLY HOW I ACHIEVED THIS.  The most accurate response would have to be: attention to detail.

SEO (search engine optimization) copywriting is all about details.  There’s a lot of debate about meta tags and links as well as the ‘usability’ of the page from a searcher’s point of view.  As far as copywriting goes, there would appear to be a new-found premium attached to well-written content.  Whether this is to do with Google’s army of ’human’ readers or the new technology being used by the company’s robots to spot writing that’s ‘relevant’ to specific search terms - without being stuffed unnaturally with keywords - is anyone’s guess.  

The concept of inbound links is one I can fully appreciate.  A site that attracts lots of linking from other sites that are both sector-relevant AND authoritative is obviously deserving of recognition in the search engine rankings.  However, the fact that Buzzwords’ site has fewer that one thousand inbound links (and that a recent DMOZ listing of Buzzwords wouldn’t yet appear to be recognised by Google) makes me think that good on-page SEO counts for a lot, especially for the more niche and ‘long-tail’ keywords.   

Ah, the mysteries of search engine optimization (SEO)!  I thought I knew a bit about it, but the recent rankings of the website copywriting page of my main website (www.buzzwords.ltd.uk/website_copywriting.htm) have puzzled and pleased me in equal measure.

After languishing in the bottom half of the first page on Google since the page was re-written last year - a ranking many people would die for, but not really good enough to attract the premium enquiries in what is, let’s face it, a pretty niche neck of the woods! - the website copywriting page of Buzzwords’ website now ranks at #2 for the keywords ‘website copywriter/copywriters’ and #5 for ‘website copywriting’.

Nothing’s been added or taken away (as they say).  So what’s happened to make this important change?  The page had been optimized in the usual way for meta tags and so on, and the copy had the ‘right’ keyword density.

There are only two factors I can think of which may have made the difference.  First, the content has ‘matured’.  To explain: if older links are looked upon more favourably by search engines, will body copy be seen in the same way?  Second, Google’s latest algorithms may very likely include a weighting based on Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI).

In other words, linguistic analysis gives a site brownie points for using clear,  approachable syntax.  If that’s what’s happening with my website - or if anyone out there can give me some other good reasons for the sudden improvement in the ranking for the mainstream keywords I’ve mentioned - please let me know.

Most people’s idea of SEO copywriting would probably be writing a website with major keywords included at a suitable density.  Throw in some expertise in the on-page SEO department and the job’s as good as done.  Or is it?

If you personally commission SEO copywriting, either for your own company or on behalf of a client, you should know that SEO copywriting skills can use those same keywords to great effect in other ways.  We’re back to link-building again - using keywords in areas like Online PR and Article Marketing (aka Article PR) to link back to a landing page on your website (whose URL should also include the magic keyword[s]!).

Any SEO copywriter worth his salt will be able to create links with online article directories, PR newswires or distribution sites.  With skillful keyword research and some savvy online marketing, extending the reach of your keywords (and, by extension, the number of links pointing to your website) is only an SEO copywriter away!

Listen to some SEO commentators and you’d be forgiven for assuming that meta tags are no longer a factor in the way search engines rank websites.  Following a recent Google declaration, greater  emphasis is now placed on the number of quality, inbound links which point to a site.

It’s obvious that this will be a good indicator of the ‘importance’ of a site but, it should be said, meta tags will always remain as the signposts which indicate relevance of content.  That in turn must surely mean that  meta tags will always be an important part of on-page SEO.

Fortunately, the search engine robots can now identify ‘natural’ language patterns in online copy.  The death of ‘keyword stuffing’ is not only good news for the readers of websites who now no longer have to endure unreadable and repetitive text.  It also frees up copywriters to write in the way they prefer - in real sentences that concentrate on the flow of ideas and information, rather than including as many keywords as possible.  

Keywords are still important, of course.  The difference now is that they should be used carefully - in <h1> tags certainly, and also in introductory sentences. They also have a place in <title> tags - the nearer the beginning of the line the better.  (And if you can also include main keywords in a page URL, this too will help with ranking.)

The conclusion to all this is that mega tags are alive and well but - in an increasingly c0mpetitive web environment - the search engines have been forced to look at inbound links to sort the wheat from the chaff. 

And yet, this is far from being a perfect science - even with all the powerful semantic analysis tools at the search engines’ disposal.  Generating links from online articles and PR, for example, is a process that is still open to abuse by automated submission software but, here again, search engines are ‘on the case’ with their increased awareness (and intolerance) of duplicate content.

It’s important for online copywriters (and those who brief them) to remember that search engines exist solely to provide the most relevant search results for their punters.  Quality content will bring its own rewards in increased uptake among the online community.  Meta tags, similarly, will always be needed to invite the search engines to ‘come see about me’.

If you want a higher ranking website, make sure you work on those inbound links!  SEO copywriting is a great tool for doing this and I’ll be looking at the various ways to approach this massive subject over the next few weeks.

Suffice it to say: Google now sees the number and quality of links pointing to a website as probably the most important factor in deciding that site’s fortunes.  The part that SEO copywriting can play in this is enormous - on-page SEO, article marketing (aka ‘article PR’), online PR and systematic directory-led link building… all of which is based on solid keyword research.  It’s enough to make your eyes water!

I had a comment a couple of weeks ago that some of my early posts (this blog is only two months old!) were nothing but self-promotion.  This was never my aim.  The intention was to give a new blog some kind of perspective.  This is because  I feel that no-one ever reads the supplementary pages of a blog - life’s too short! I’d be interested to hear what other people’s views  are on that.

On the web, inbound links affect a website’s position in the search engine rankings.  Generating quality links that win search engine brownie points is best achieved through article PR and online PR. 

A huge amount of copywriting work is involved, especially when it comes to writing worthwhile, informative articles  - suitably optimised with appropriate keywords of course.  Online news releases are more straightforward to write, and bring better returns on time invested - providing you have something to say on a regular basis.  Again, SEO and keywords play a part, but frequency of output is vital to achieving meaningful success.

If you can post articles and releases on your website a couple of weeks before launching them into the outside world this allows time for the content to be indexed by search engines and helps in the linking process (although it may be wise to write an edited version of your content to be doubly sure of avoiding ‘duplicate content’ penalties.) 

Apart from anything else, continually adding to your website is viewed favourably by the likes of Google - hence the power of blogs to surge through the search rankings, and stay there, providing content is updated on a regular basis (daily is the ultimate, but weekly keeps the pot simmering). 

The links associated with blogs are of course generated through tags.  Social media links to Technorati, StumbleUpon, Squidoo and so on also help.  Main websites which incorporate a blog therefore have a head start over their ‘unblogged’ counterparts.

Creating links is hard work - hard copywriting work that is also very time consuming.  The dividends are impressive, however,  especially if search engine rankings equate to new business enquiries for your company.

Finding the time to do all this - the writing, distributing to online directories and media etc - is usually a problem for most companies.  Employing a specialist freelance copywriter to handle it all makes lots of sense. 

Not only do you get quality writing and the regularity of output that comes with commercial commitment.  You’re also buying-in specialist knowledge of the market and, crucially, how the market works.

Copywriters like Michel Fortin are predicting the comeback of offline marketing in 2008 but, in reality, it never went away. Of course, there was a time not so long ago when I was writing press ads like there was no tomorrow.  All that time spent on ‘creative concepts’ now seems like a lost world.

Display ads are still with us, as are in-your-face news releases in the trade press and crude mailshots by banks trying to persuade us to do all things financial.  So offline never went away.  It just kind of got lost in the online maelstrom. 

Economic conditions notwithstanding, it now seems like there are opportunities to make a killing with astute offline marketing.  You could say a gap exists in the market.  I would say it’s more a question of carefully combining online with offline. 

Markets and media have fragmented that’s for sure.  Whichever way you cut it, this is a permanent feature in a new marketing landscape which should be seen as an opportunity to which we can all easily adapt.  Online marketing merely adds to the options available.  We overlook ‘offline’ at our peril.

Direct mail copywriting may well become more popular as marketers realise that the online world is now an overcrowded (and expensive) place.  The Internet is here to stay but some marketers have probably gone too far in the direction of SEO and pay-per-click advertising at the expense of having a rounded marketing mix which includes tried and tested offline techniques.  Here endeth the lesson.  A Happy and Prosperous New Year to one and all!

Christmas is in the air, I’m frantically trying to finish online copywriting projects before the 20th and mindful of January deadlines for website copywriting and direct marketing work.  Fact is, the demand for copywriting never ends - but we all need a break and Christmas is a great time for switching off and completely re-charging the creative batteries.  For some, it’s also a good time to plan for the New Year - that’s certainly what’s happening with so many of my clients who are already chokka right up to Easter!  I may just post the odd blog or two over Christmas, just to keep my hand in.  On the other hand… 

It doesn’t matter what you call it, online copywriting is an essential skill for today’s copywriters.  For online content, visibility starts with ‘keywords’.  From here, search engine optimization (SEO) takes over to make sure that the keywords feature in the content.  Attention to detail and intensity of focus will ensure that SEO copywriting is successful.   That, plus a certain strategic vision which marries marketing objectives with the long-term targeting and link-building activities of using online PR and article PR.  Online copywriters must be aware of the SEO context of what they’re writing about.  This adds yet another consideration to what is often a blinding array of criteria to fit into a copywriter’s briefs! 

Having started Buzzwords in Manchester a million years ago, it’s reassuring that many of the copywriting skills in demand then are equally in favour today. 

Companies who pile all their eggs into the online basket are probably missing a trick.  Integrated marketing never went away, and it could be argued that because fewer companies are now involved in traditional offline marketing activities, the field is wide open to steal a march on the competition! 

From the enquiries for copywriting services I’ve received recently, website copywriting is top of the tree.  A close second, somewhat surprisingly, are company and product brochures.  Everyone I speak to about the continued popularity of printed matter reckons it’s all to do with people wanting something they can hold!

It may also be something to do with the fact that we’ve over-estimated the extent to which ‘online’ will wipe everything else off the map - pretty much like the much-vaunted ‘paperless office’ of the 1980s which never transpired.  What is happening is a fusion of both offline and online marketing methods in a marketing flurry which places the primary emphasis on cost-effectiveness - or ’ROI’ to use the current jargon.   

To find out more, call Mike Beeson on 01565 654023.

A difficult area of freelance copywriting is agreeing rates.  Copywriters vary in so many ways; copywriting projects differ hugely in their complexity and value; and clients’ expectations have been confused in recent years since the Internet has thrown up a new breed of so-called copywriter who either charges the earth based on very little commercial experience, or who charges next to nothing because they are based in low-cost overseas’ economies or are simply unaware that copywriting does have real value.

With 20 years’ experience,  I have seen some dramatic changes in both the way copywriting is perceived and the attitudes clients adopt towards paying for it.  Until ten years or so ago, most copywriters emerged from ad agencies or newspaper backgrounds and usually had to jump through various academic and training-ground hoops.   Nowadays, anyone can - and many do - call themselves ‘copywriters’ with no grounding whatsoever in the industry.  This leads to difficulties when clients realise that they’re paying someone who falls well short of the professional rates being demanded.  It leads to difficulties for the reputation of copywriting as a whole.  And it muddies the waters when it comes to agreeing a fair rate for the job. 

Fortunately, I have enormous experience in the copywriting field and I can tell you how long a job will take and how much it will cost  after a quick look at the brief and assessing how much information is available.   All work is charged out by the job - although some clients understandably want a ball-park hourly or day-rate to make inter-copywriter comparisons.   

Buzzwords can also provide copywriting ‘packages’ at an inclusive monthly rate.  This can work out to be very cost-effective where a company plans to be active on several marketing fronts simultaneously.  This could include writing or re-writing a website.  It may include writing landing pages for a pay-per-click advertising campaign or writing a mini-website for a new product launch or spinning off a specialist company within a group.  It could also include marketing collateral such as direct mail or advertising.  Or it might include the various aspects of PR.  The list is endless - but Buzzwords will be happy to oblige where clients are looking for, say, an integrated Online Copywriting campaign or an ongoing PR campaign. 

In all cases, Buzzwords can provide the support services of designers, printers, computer programmers, SEO experts and others.  For more information, call Mike Beeson on 01565 654023 or visit Buzzwords’ website (URL  on ‘About Buzzwords’ page).

With an increasing emphasis on online copywriting, Buzzwords can nevertheless offer clients a broad spread of expertise which includes offline creative techniques.   

Traditionally, this began with creative concepts which brought copy and visuals together in ads, brochures and so on.  It also includes editorial writing for PR-related projects such as newsletters, case studies, news releases and features.  In addition, direct marketing skills still play a major part in writing sales letters and ads which sell off-the-page. 

The crossover of direct marketing skills into online copywriting can be seen most clearly with website writing where the customer-focus is paramount.  Online copywriting also includes an awareness of search engine optimization  (SEO) techniques which will improve search engine rankings without alienating the human reader who, ultimately, will be the one who decides whether to buy, enquire, subscribe - or not.  Buzzwords can offer all these skills and more which will be featured on this blog during the coming months.