Summary: Want a quick lesson on writing
for the web so that people actually see it, read it and take action as a result of it?
Then take a look at the "Down and Dirty" details..
Today, being on the first page for your most popular keyword phrase is like having the
most memorable prime time television commercial in 1973.
Essentially, that's where the power of advertising is
going.
It's all about Search. And Search is only going to become
more important over the next ten years. If you can get on that coveted first page
organically, well then, more power to you! I know you probably have read other articles
about writing SEO copy and how it relates to achieving high search rankings, there are
plenty of them to go around. But some of the articles are complicated; some are too long,
others boring. Still others don't explain that great SEO copy is rarely effective just on
it's own - in order to get those high rankings (which is the goal after all), you have to
do other things too. So, we decided that what most people really needed was a "down
and dirty", easy to understand, ten step method. You ask, and we deliver. Here are
the official ten steps in order:
1) Check your Competitors
Who are your competitors? Do you know? If you don't, you
may want to go online and do a search for your product or service. Who is on the first two
pages? That is your target. Those are the companies that you want to compete with. Because
right now, they are getting your customers. Take a look at their website. Notice the copy.
Analyze their business. Are they successful? What are they not doing right? Look for the
holes. You're going to meet the needs of their customers (that they are not fulfilling) so
they become YOUR customers.
2) Research your Keyword Phrases
Remember, Keyword Phrase research is critically important.
It can also be a little tricky. Do you know what keywords or keyword phrases your
customers search for when they look for you? Are you sure? Se what your competitors are
using. You can do this by right clicking on their home page, selecting "View
Source" and then checking their keyword meta tag. Next, go on to Overture.com (Now
Yahoo), click on "Visit the Advertiser" section, and use their Keyword Selector
Tool. Its great - and its free. You can also use Wordtracker.com, but it does cost
$7.50/day.
3) Write Good Copy
Now its time to start writing. Or re-writing. And if you
can't write, you can hire a website copywriter to do it for you. The bottom line is to
write about benefits, not features. Don't tell them how great your company is. They will
discover that for themselves when you overwhelm them with your service and deliver the
perfect product that meets their every need. Make the copy to the point and snappy. Make
it sure it has impact, and asks the potential customer for their business.
4) Integrate Your Keyword Phrases
After you figure out which keyword phrases you want to use
on your site, you need to integrate them into the copy of your site. Think Home Page and
Services page as the most important pages to use them on. Essentially, you want to them to
make up 5% of the total words on the page. It's not that hard actually. Just don't use
them all over the place like some stupid copywriters do - you could get de-listed from the
search engines. Definitely use them in your headlines and sub headlines. That will get you
extra points, so to speak.
5) Check your Links, Build if necessary
Do you have any inbound links pointing to your site? If
not, no amount of awesome copy is going to get your site high rankings. Links are very
important. And even more so for Google. Go to linkpopularity.com and see what you have.
Also check your competitors. If they have more than you, you need to get some high quality
links. You can either do that yourself or hire someone to do it for you. It can be time
consuming and expensive. But you gotta do it. It makes you look important to the search
engines. A good way to do it is to make sure you are listed on directories, including DMOZ
and industry related sites. Go to incominglinks.com to see which ones you should be listed
on. Then write articles and submit them to article submission sites. That could
potentially give you hundreds of links for free.
6) Use Go Rank's Analytical Tools
GoRank.com is a fantastic free resource for SEO. They have
a Keyword Density Analyzer, Link Popularity Analyzer, Top 10 Keyword Analyzer, Research,
News and lots of other great stuff. It's a great tool and something I use every day. It
will help you in your SEO copy efforts.
7) Submit to the Search Engines
After you've ensured that your website copy and all the
other important SEO considerations have been completed, it's time to submit to the Search
Engines. Do it manually. Go to the search engine and do it yourself. Definitely don't pay
someone to do it for you. You may have to resubmit a few times, but eventually, your site
will get noticed.
8) Tweak the Copy as necessary, Add New Content
After your site has been up for a while, go back and take a
second look. Ask friends and customers what they think of it. Can anything be improved?
You'll be surprised what you may hear. If something isn't working, fix it. Make it sound
better. The other thing that you should also be doing is adding content regularly. Build
free resources into your website. This will make your customers and potential customers
happy, and it will make you appear to be more important in the eyes of the search engines.
Adding articles to your site is a great way to give your customers new, free content.
Write about things that they would find interesting.
9) Partner with a Great SEO Firm
You may want to also consider partnering with a great
Search Engine Optimization firm. There are probably a hundred very good ones out there.
There are also 1000 bad ones. For the good ones, check out topseos.com. and
marketingsherpa.com. They both list reputable firms. Whoever you go with, make sure they
have a list of client success stories complete with stats to back it up.
10) Measure Your Success!
Finally, measure your success. (or progress) Get a software
program that will provide you with some web metrics as it pertains to your site. WebTrends
and Statcounter are great ones. There are quite a few others as well. As you can see,
Search Engine Optimized copy is only part of the overall SEO story. There is a lot to it,
so make sure you cover every area. After all, we want to get your web site to the very
top!
C2005 Jon Wuebben. |
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