SEO Copywriting – Google’s Mayday Update Takes Us Back to Reality

Plenty has been written already about Google’s 2010 Mayday Update and the effect it will have on SEO and long-tail keywords.

For an SEO copywriting take on the issue, you may want to look at my latest article ‘SEO Copywriting – Embracing Google’s Mayday Update’ – at www.ezinearticles.com – or at Buzzwords’ main website on the ‘Articles’ page (buzzwords.ltd.uk/free_reprint_articles.htm – don’t forget to add the ‘www’).

From an SEO copywriting viewpoint, this is a welcome continuation of Google’s move towards ‘real’ language. For SEO types who’ve been creating huge amounts of low quality website content in the hope of capturing a share of the lucrative long-tail keyword search market, their come-uppance hasn’t come soon enough!

Copywriting and the World Cup

What effect will the World Cup have on copywriting – and business in general? Will everyone (ie. mainly men) work like crazy all morning and then let it all hang out for the rest of the day? Will the nation suddenly be afflicted with workplace sickness and absenteeism – a plague on everyone’s houses?

There can be little doubt that major events like the General Election or World Cup are hugely distracting for business and businesses for days or weeks as the general public are caught up in a media-induced frenzy. In tough times, this may be a good thing (cathartic and all that). The negative effect it all has, however, on sales of everything except World Cup paraphernalia and beer will soon be seen!

SEO copywriting articles on Buzzwords’ website

I’ve added a couple of SEO copywriting articles to Buzzwords’ main website – see: /seo_copywriting.htm. They reflect how search is constantly changing and, with it, the skills and approach demanded of a SEO copywriter.

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.

A copywriter for the construction industry?

The interest in Buzzwords’ construction industry and property copywriting services in the past six months has been surprising.  Given the dire state of new house building in the UK and the contraction of the commercial side of the construction industry – what’s going on?

Here’s my guess.  Unlike during the last recession, marketing people in 2009 aren’t simply battening down the hatches until this ill-wind dies down.  They are in fact taking the medium-term view – and most aspects of construction planning involve time-spans of three years or so.  Seizing the moment has translated into ‘getting ready to seize tomorrow’.

Whether we’ll ever return to the mad days of the past decade is debatable, but one thing is certain.  The UK has a housing shortage – and there will always be a demand for high quality offices, stores and warehouses on both urban and out-of-town developments.

So it looks like construction industry marketing departments are diverting some of their resources into developing their business profiles, extolling their expertise – and maybe using the services of a copywriter or two to help them out!

Construction industry copywriter – a new page on Buzzwords’ website

Flying in the face of the recession, a new page has been added to Buzzwords’ website today: Construction Industry Copywriter. This complements the other building industry page on the Buzzwords’ site: Property Copywriter. Building is still continuing in the UK, even if at a much reduced level. Crucially, from a copywriting point of view, there are still thousands of people out there who are employed in what could be described as ‘construction industry support services’ – surveying, civil engineering, consultants and so on. Many major planning projects are either mid-stream or being discussed for launch in the medium-term once the major impact of this recession has passed. And there are of course parts of the economy, such as supermarkets, which are doing very nicely and which need buildings into which they can expand their business. And as with all businesses right now, everyone is fighting for market share. Fortunately for copywriting, this creates demand for website copywriting, SEO copywriting and e-mail/e-zine marketing – to name just a few disciplines.