SEO, What You Should Know!
As a copywriter I’m still jumping up and down with glee at the developments within the SEO industry. A move that many hoped would never come has sent SEO experts into a spin and left websites reeling from shock.
Bye Bye Keyword Tool
The keyword tool has been replaced with the keyword planner. This means that SEO experts have to sing for their supper. No longer can they enter a web address and receive a list of keywords by rank, they have to use their initiative, research the customer’s target market and basically do what they should have been doing all along.SEO is usually seen as complicated but it’s not. It’s simple and anyone can learn it in a day. If you doubt me, I did just this and got my friend’s websites to the top of Google (including my own) for the search terms:
Copywriting Services
Decorators Malton
I’ve even got my own on the first page of Google for Copywriting Services, (yes global) , a term SEO agencies told me would cost tens of thousands pounds to rank in the first three pages.Yet look at the copy at these top websites and you’ll see. They’re not stuffed with keywords, it’s just little old me doing a spot of copywriting naturally, bringing in the words once if that.It works because the content attracts, it engages and it does what it’s supposed to, offers a warm welcome to anyone who hops on board via Google.
Moving on to Panda, you’ll see why the combination is incredible. If you don’t know much about Penguin and Panda updates and you run a business online, you should learn. Not in order to do all of your SEO and content yourself but to ensure these shyster SEO experts don’t spin you a line.Many are still spamming inboxes claiming they can make you rank (only £3000!) they can’t. Only quality copy, clever marketing and a deep understanding of your target market will enable you to thrive.
Penguin/Panda? It’s all Black and White…
Now penguin updates are basically changes to the algorithms Google uses to determine the relevance of a site. Panda updates are changes to the criteria to measure the popularity of a site.Panda is my domain. I love the black and white furry creature as it makes growing businesses online just that. Black and White.Now Google are assessing websites on their popularity, not just backlinks, but the quality of the backlinks.
Not just website visits but how many encouraged a share, a retweet, a shutout on LinkedIn and more.You can buy visits, you can buy backlinks, and you can’t as yet buy shares and quality unless you invest in a good copywriter with a sound understanding of SEO.
Next Steps for Success
Without boring you silly, the end result is this. Your content needs to be tip top. It’s got to engage, it’s got to entertain, it’s got to inform and give tips and advice otherwise you may as well stand in the city centre screaming “come and buy”. It puts people off, people take a wide berth, yet you offer an incentive to visit and they’ll plod along naturally.
The Big No Nos
Now blogging is a great way to add value to any site. I blog for various brands from Calpol to Yahoo, I love it. What frustrates me though is the business that tells me to blog about their activity. An update once every six months is fine, but blogs that detail the daily life of an office along with shouting about special offers are not. They’re dull, no one wants to read them (unless you’re a celebrity) and they won’t bring traffic in.I always advise that you choose a topic related to the business, connect to businesses with relevance (not in competition) and exchange blogs (which exchanges audiences, win win).
For instance:
My copywriting services blend well with web design. I give tips and advice across the web about writing, increasing profits, business and copywriting and I guest blog on many web design and social media sites to give their audiences tips and advice too.An organic food shop would do well to partner with a garden centre while having a series of blogs on recipes, along with how to grow your own.It’s not rocket science, the internet is a source of information, and if you treat it like one big advertisement, your customers are going to fast forward through your ads until they can get to the good stuff.
In summary, choose quality copy, consider the long term goals and forget buying articles for a tenner. It makes your business look amateur while giving copywriters a bad name. Now with these updates, it will also damage your SEO too.If you’d like to receive a great return on your investment in copy and you’re committed to giving your customers a great online experience, contact me. I’d be more than happy to help you drive business growth, naturally.
Comments