Entries Tagged 'seo' ↓

Writing a press release is one thing, making sure it gets read is entirely different.

In the good old days (really, were they good?), you would create your press release and then send it to a few editors of local newspapers and magazines.

The fate of your press release was in their hands – if they liked it, they printed it. If they didn’t, it was consigned to the bin, never to be seen again.

Today, things are a bit different. Now you can distribute your press release to various online services, re-post it on news websites, include it in your own blog and email marketing. Not only that, if people like what they read, they can share it with others.

Before you start jumping round the room with glee, even if you publish it online, your press release will only be seen if it shows up in the search engine results. If you don’t pay close attention to the rules of SEO, you might as well take your chances and send out your press release the old fashioned way.

6 ways to make your press release visible

As a writer, it is up to you to give your press release as much chance as possible to be seen. The following 6 tips will help you achieve this:

1. Keywords

In the online world, there’s no getting away from keyword research. Think about the words and phrases people are most likely to use to search for you.

For example, if you’re a coffee shop in Ipswich, using ‘coffee shop’ is a bit too generic (and you’ll have hot competition to rank well). Choose 2 or 3 keyword phrases that are highly specific to your business. For example, ‘Barney’s coffee shop Ipswich’ includes the company name, what it is and its location.

2. Headline

The headline you choose will also act as your title tag or page title. Therefore, it is vital your primary keyword phrase and company name appear in it (with your keyword phrase at the beginning).

In the world of SEO, it is your title tag that Google reads first because it tells it what your content is about.

3. Short and powerful

Staying with your headline for the moment, Google only displays 65 characters in the title tag (including spaces) so your headline should be no longer than this. Of course, that is easier said than done. Normal practice suggests that a headline between 60 – 80 characters is acceptable, but your keyword phrase must be at the beginning.

4. First paragraph

As you already know, the first paragraph of your press release is vitally important. It should contain the most important and relevant information. Therefore, your primary keyword phrase must appear in the first paragraph.

5. Hyperlinks

The beauty of online press releases is that you can include hyperlinks. By linking your keyword phrase back to your website, you are telling Google that it is a website that contains highly relevant copy. And Google loves that.

6. Newsworthy

This one doesn’t have anything to do with SEO, but it is still very relevant.

Your press release has to be newsworthy. Unlike the old fashioned printed press release, when yours appears online, it’s there forever.

So, if you put something out there that is a thinly veiled advert, you could be seriously damaging your company’s reputation.

One thing you have to remember is that no matter how well you SEO your press release, results won’t happen overnight. Have patience and eventually you will see your press release being picked up in the search results.

Being online, it will remain visible forever, providing you with a potential source of traffic for a long time to come.

From that list of ingredients, this post will look at the power of SEO copywriting.

When done well it will help your search engine rankings, attract readers and convert them into sales.

Done badly it could harm your rankings, repel customers and won’t convert a sausage.

So how can you make sure you get it right?

5 signs of good SEO copy

1. Write for your reader

There is a popular misconception that SEO copy has to be written for the search engines.

Wrong.

When writing your copy, always write it for your reader. Forget about keyword density – Google is more concerned with the amount of text, the topic you’re writing about (i.e. that your keywords in your title tags etc., are aligned with your content) and how hot the competition is for your particular keywords.

Always, always, always write to your reader first and foremost because they are the ones you want to read your copy and they are the ones you want to buy from you.

2. Don’t be repetitive

How many times have you read a website only to constantly hear the keywords being repeated?

Don’t stuff your copy with your keywords so it gets repetitive. After all if that was the only factor Google was interested in, all your competitor would have to do is insert one more keyword than you to rank higher.

And if that happened, the internet would be full of keyword-stuffed gibberish.

3. Don’t forget to link out

You already know the benefit of links into your website as part of your SEO strategy but don’t forget to link out too.

Linking out to authoritative articles not only adds to your reader experience and keeps Google happy; it could also help you attract inbound links.

4. Structure

Writing for the web is just like writing for anything else.

Your copy must be structured and attractive to the eye if you want people to read it.

Make sure it has a beginning, middle and an end with a strong headline. Split up your text into small paragraphs using sub headings as sign posts to help your reader skim the text.

Also, headings and subheadings are the ideal places for your primary and secondary keywords.

5. Be natural

There are loads of software programmes out there than can automate or spin articles for you. But they are no substitute for a well-considered, well-structured and well written article.

Don’t be tempted to use shortcuts.

So the moral of this post is to forget keyword density when it comes to your SEO copy. The most important thing to remember is to write for your reader. They are the ones you want to attract and they are the ones who you want to buy from you

When you think search engine optimisation, what is the first thing that pops into your head?

• Keywords
• SEO copywriting
• Title tags
• Headings and subheadings

Yes, they are all very important SEO factors but for the on screen part of your strategy.  There’s a whole lot more that has to go on behind the scenes.

Off screen SEO is a vital part of your SEO strategy and has to work in conjunction with your on screen antics.

What are the off screen factors?

When thinking off screen you are looking at things such as:

Website

This has to be built by someone who knows what they are doing. A well designed structure and easily crawled and navigable site will do wonders for your SEO.

Links

These are vitally important. Every inbound link you get is like a vote for your website. And the more votes you get, the more Google will love you.

You can generate links from blogs, article marketing and directory submissions (e.g. DMOZ.org). But don’t just gather links from high ranking sites. Although a link from a site with a PR of 4 or higher is worth a lot, you need to mix in some lower ranked sites too.

The most effective inbound links are those where you have used your targeted keywords within the anchor text link. So, for example, if I wanted to generate a link back to my main website (Briar Copywriting) I would use an anchor text link similar to this:

“Copywriting, and especially the art of SEO copywriting, is essential to not only attract visitors to your website but also to generate and maintain great rankings within the search engines.”

Just remember that link building is something that should be done constantly.

Social media

You may have noticed that Google is using social media results in its SERPs these days. But more than that, social media activity will help you develop online communities. These people will talk about you and promote you to others and so drive more traffic to your website.

This is also the same for forums. Taking part in discussions will not only generate links to your website but it will get your name known.

For more information about SEO, take a look at Google’s own SEO starter guide for invaluable hints and tips on how to create an online presence that really works.

Nick Cobb is a freelance copywriter, online marketing consultant and the founder and Managing Director of Write For You Ltd. His principal website, My Freelance Copywriter, provides a wide range of copywriting services to domestic and international businesses, while his sister site. Red Hot Sales Letters, is dedicated to producing profit-pulling sales copy for online marketers.

The author’s views are entirely his own and may not reflect the views of FreelanceCopywritersBlog.com. If you are interested in producing a Guest Post for this blog, please get in touch with your ideas.

The concept of SEO copywriting has taken on a huge amount of significance in recent years. More and more companies are realising just how important a role it plays in pushing their website higher in the search engine rankings. But like anything else, there’s a way to do it right, and a way to do it wrong!

Do it correctly, and you’ll end up with beautifully crafted, search engine optimised website content that appeals to both human beings and the search engines alike. Do it incorrectly, and you’ll end up with an incoherent mess that will have your readers clicking away in seconds.

So if you’re new to the concept of SEO copywriting but can’t afford to hire a professional to do it for you, here are some useful tips to bear in mind…

Don’t Stuff Up

Back in the day, people used to believe that the more keywords you included in your website, the more relevant your site would become, and the higher it would rise in the search engines for your main keyword(s). This resulted in the practice of “keyword stuffing”, which only succeeded in creating ugly and incomprehensible content that repeated the same words over and over again! Google soon cracked down on this and started to penalise sites that did it.

So if you’ve read about the importance of “keyword density” recently and were planning on loading your web pages with your main keywords, think again. By all means, use your keywords in your content, but make sure that your copy makes sense and reads well.

Always remember that good quality content is the most important factor, because not only will it convert visitors into buyers, but it will also have more chance of being linked to, which will ultimately boost your search engine ranking anyway.

The Crowbar Effect

Whatever product or service you’re selling, the headline (or H1 tag) is crucial. This is where you’ll grab your prospect’s attention and pull them further into your website or sales copy. Get this wrong, and you may lose them for good.

So first things first, your headline needs to be intriguing, powerful, and of course, persuasive. And in order to achieve this, it needs to make sense! There’s no point crow-barring your keyword into your H1 tag if it don’t read so good! So think about your readers first. Write the headline or H1 tag with human beings at the forefront of your mind, rather than the search engines. Of course, be sure to include your main keyword, but not at the expense of clarity.

License to Kill

With many sites being built on WordPress these days, more and more people are being given license to change and update their website content. This can be a god-send when designers take 3 days to add a full stop to the end of a sentence, but it can also give people a little TOO MUCH power!

For instance, internal linking can be a great way to boost your search engine ranking, as it allows you to make your site more relevant to your major keywords. Likewise, putting your keywords in bold and italics can also help a little.

However, upon discovering this, I’ve seen many site owners adopt a policy of turning every single one of their keywords into internal links, or putting them all into bold and italics! This has the effect of making the copy extremely difficult to read, which will only serve to drive visitors away. So remember, internal linking is good. Putting your keywords in bold and italicizing them can be of benefit. But don’t go overboard, because you’ll lose potential customers if you do.

There’s a lot of great SEO copywriting out there but there’s a lot of bad stuff too.

Once upon a time it was considered that the only way to get your website to rank well was to create content that was purely targeted for the search engines. Inevitably, this resulted in a mountain of websites (and articles) that were stuffed to the rafters with keywords rendering the text unreadable.

Such as:

Brian is an SEO copywriter. He has been working with SEO clients for many years and excels in producing SEO copywriting that works. Through SEO copywriting he gains exceptional rankings for his clients. His SEO copywriting skills have been applauded the world over with his SEO clients the first to recommend his talents. “SEO is the way forward” said Brian, “SEO is what helps my clients get in front of their customers. Without SEO many didn’t get great online sales but now I have worked on their SEO copywriting they are getting more traffic.”

Yuk.

The sad thing is there are still a lot of people out there who think this works.

As more and more people realise that content marketing (articles, blogs and website copy) is the best way to get noticed, more and more badly written content is appearing.

If you want your content to get ranked and attract readers, here are a few things to bear in mind.

How to get your content read

1. Write for people

You may well be scratching your head thinking “Who else would I be writing for?”

Well most people, who generate content like the example above, don’t write for people. They are writing for the search engines by over stuffing their copy with keywords.

Writing for your reader is the most important thing. Naturally, you will include your keywords anyway so there’s no need to stuff them into every sentence you write.

2. Don’t be boring

When you try to boost the frequency of your keyword within your article you end up with something repetitive and boring. Plus if great rankings came solely down to the number of keywords you’d included you’ll end up in a ‘frequency war’ to see who can add the most. Therefore nothing that appeared on the web would be readable.

Therefore it is much better to keep your writing natural and concentrate on getting your keywords into other prominent on screen areas.

3. Maximising on screen SEO

To explain that last statement in number 2, the key on screen areas are in your headings (H1 and H2 etc.) and ALT tags for images.

Basically that means breaking down your article by using sub headings.

This not only gives more prominence to your keywords it also makes your article easier and more attractive to read.

Remember, the search engines will read every word of your articles but your reader will skim read and look at the sub headings.

4. Link out

Although you are trying to generate inbound links to your website through your content, it’s always a good idea to link out to other information.

After all, to create your article you would have probably done some research so why not link to it? Providing your reader with this extra information will add value and enhance your status as an expert in your field. And, with a bit of luck, might encourage more inbound links to your site.

5. Be natural

Last but not least, be natural.

As stated in number 1, you have to write for your reader first and foremost. But make sure the way you write is also accessible.

If you write in jargon and industry ‘speak’ you’ll reduce the accessibility of your work. Writing in simple language and in the second person (so you actually address your reader directly) will make it easier to read for everyone.

At the end of the day, natural copy will always do better than obvious SEO stuffing. Use simple language, plenty of sub headings and talk directly to your reader if you want to create content that ranks and is accessible to your reader.