Words You Want Freelance & Ghostwriting Services: May 2010

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Four Common Mistakes in SEO Copywriting

No one ever said SEO copywriting was easy. Then again, no one said it had to be cheap and unreadable! Here are four common mistakes I see in SEO copywriting and why they make us all look bad.

1. Bad Spelling in SEO Copywriting

The greatest invention in the history of the world (okay, maybe #5 or #6) was spellchecker for Microsoft Word. Yet, despite the ubiquity of MS Word, there are still numerous websites out there that feature bad spelling and grammar. The average customer, assuming he or she has a high school education or above, will probably lose interest after reading six or seven mistakes in a single paragraph. Especially if the company is advertising a book on “How to Get Published.”

2. Boring Articles in SEO Copywriting

Since when did articles becoming so commonplace, so passionless, so boring? Imagine The New Yorker or Reader’s Digest printing an article that said nothing in particular or gave no special insight into anything. Wouldn’t millions of readers complain or cancel their subscriptions? Why should the web be any different? If anything, we web writers should be aspiring for higher quality than print, considering that the Internet is the most visited entertainment medium in the new age.

3. Shameless Plugs in SEO Copywriting

There’s nothing wrong with a little “plugging” in SEO, but it does you no favors if you fill your entire page with nothing but hearsay, bragging and salesman talk. People want to communicate. When you’re barking at people to buy your products, the communication is largely one-sided. Converse with your customers; address their concerns and talk about subjects that are of interest to them.

4. A Lack of Pictures

SEO copywriting is not just about words. Every other medium (radio, TV, newspaper) all utilize images and sounds, where applicable. There are many websites that fail to inspire interest from their audience because they cram so many words into a single page and fail to add a splash of color.

Take these pointers to heart and watch your traffic increase!

Valerie Mellema

President

WordsYouWant.com

Posted via email from Words You Want

Friday, May 21, 2010

The Importance of SEO Article Marketing Strategies

It is story time again. This story will help to prove a point about SEO article marketing strategies. Once upon a time in the 1980s, there was a car dealer that really hit it big. He must have sold twenty cars a week at the peak of his career. In the 1990s, business was slower but still allowed him to maintain a comfortable living. Then came the 2000s and business really started to come to a halt. Why? Easy—this old car dealer, as smooth a talker as he ever was, was still living in the 1980s. Article marketing strategies were not totally non-existent back then, but certainly integral to success the way they are today.

He wasn’t looking towards the future. In fact, he never really thought that Internet marketing would take off the way it did. If you tried to talk to him about social media marketing today, it would be like trying to explain molecular science. He much preferred to run his newspaper ads, sell cars by referral and generally get by from walk-in sales. Who knows what happened to this 1980s hotshot. Maybe he went the way of the Rubik’s Cube. Maybe he retired and is living happily in Costa Rica. Maybe the economic collapse of 2008 did him in for good. Who knows?

The fact of the matter is that there are millions of businesses just like his, that are struggling even now. Perhaps in 2009, business owners are aware of SEO article marketing strategies and Internet marketing, but maybe they just don’t know how to access it or where to begin. They might not know anything about a website or about how to submit to an article directory. They might not know EzineArticles from E-How.

If you are one of these businesses, or know someone like this, then like the 1980s public service announcement once said, GET HELP NOW. It’s time to swallow your pride and forget everything you thought you knew about marketing. It’s time to start communicating with the audience of today through article marketing strategies. The audience that is always online and frequenting websites like Google, Yahoo, MSN, CNN and even The Onion.

The best way to communicate with the audience of today is to invest time, money and energy in Search Engine Optimization and article marketing strategies. This is the best way to get higher rankings in keyword searches and the best way to retain a human audience. Rather than hire a ghostwriter individually, it might be more cost-effective to order an SEO package, complete with a series of articles, blogs and press releases. For a low price you can get a full order of Internet marketing—the 2000 era marketing that will get you noticed in this cutthroat online society.