I’ve lately come across several articles written by other copywriters that I, quite frankly, have a major issue with. Clearly targeted toward small business owners with miniscule budgets, the articles that some of our fellow copywriters are crafting encourage John Q. Small Business Owner to write their own copy because it’s so incredibly “easy,” and good writing is just a matter of “practice” and misleads these poor souls into believing that writing is almost as easy and methodical as brushing your teeth. I doth protest....
There is no disputing the success of Apple Computer’s recent advertising campaign. If you don’t watch television, or you’ve been sleeping under a rock, here’s the basic premise of the campaign: A series of ads with two guys, standing side-by-side in front of a white background, talking back and forth – what could be more boring, right? But, leave it to Apple to make something this simple successful. There are many reasons these ads work, but there are three very basic marketing principles that make the campaign effective. And...
Basic Guidelines for Any Web or Marketing Copy We’ve all been traumatized by tragic attempts at copywriting that left us wishing we’d never even bothered wasting our time reading it. Creating the stark opposite – copy that grabs, engages, entertains and informs the reader – is a craft that is improved over time. To become a Copywriting Jedi is to endure the process as you carefully learn the ways of the pen. And no Padawan, no matter how gifted, can escape the basic rules of good marketing copy. Effective copy is an important part of creating a...
If you are new to SEO copywriting, it quickly becomes quite clear that writing for SEO is far more complicated than it seems. The SEO Copywriter’s Challenge First, there are many variables that you have to consider before you even START writing – you must keep in mind the company’s overall brand and marketing strategy, their targeted keywords, the article subject matter and the audience you are trying to reach all at the same time. Second, the article must be shaped around a topic that the target audience is likely to find interesting, whether your...
Generally I can give a list of reasons as to why it’s great to have a SEO Copywriter working on your website, but every now and then, a website comes along that does my work for me. Here’s a great example of a site that either needs to hire a SEO Copywriter or needs to replace the one that they’re already using along with their SEO Services Company. Keyword stuffing aside, the grammar on this site is nothings short of terrible. Hopefully this will illustrate exactly what I’ve been talking about on this blog. addthis_url =...
As more and more companies feature blogs on their websites, I get a steady stream of questions about what exactly should go on a company blog. While I typically will post any SEO Articles and SEO Press Releases that I’ve written for the client on their blog, there are still plenty of uses for a blog that can be both beneficial and entertaining for both customers and the company themselves. You Too Can Be Ann Landers No matter what your business is, there are people that are going to seek advice on what they should do in regards to your business. ...
A recurring issue that I’ve run into recently when dealing with SEO Articles written by somebody other than myself, is length. The problem isn’t so much that the articles aren’t long enough, but that they’re too long. You wouldn’t think that having an article with lots of information that lead to it being longer would be a problem, but then you tend to forget that the websites that accept these articles typically only accept SEO Articles up to a certain length. Here’s a few pointers for those considering writing their...
Increasingly I find myself writing both press releases and articles for various clients, and with that comes the increasing number of times that I am compelled to explain the difference between an article and a press release. In light of this I’ve set out to explain, both simply and in detail, the differences between the two to avoid any confusion in the future. Let’s begin. Articles The simplest way to think of an article is to pick up a copy of Newsweek and read an article talking about what to look for when house shopping. If that analogy...
We count on and trust links from authority sites, as well as the Search Engines and Directories to point us in the direction of sites we need. Let’s discuss this ‘trust’ from the standpoint of positioning your Web business. When you have generated traffic to your site, you need to give people what they are really looking for. In particular, you must deliver genuine answers and real benefits through your site copywriting. This is a big stumbling block for those who optimize for search engine robots to gain positioning – without taking...
How to write for search engines is a topic with much debate. While seo companies may disagree on the finer points such as keyword density, how many words should be included on a page and so forth. All good seo companies can agree that the quality of the writing and the persuavness of the content is just as important. Read further to hear Susan Esparza’s view on how to write for the search engines. Much of the time when we take on a new client, one of our recommendations is that they increase the amount of unique, keyword-targeted, text content on...
