Without SEO, the search engines don’t see you

SEO copywriting services give you the means to be seen by the search engines. They do that by providing search engine optimized copy for your website, as well as directory articles, blog posts, and other content related to your business. With SEO content, you can almost effortlessly market your goods and services throughout the Internet. The more search engine optimized content you have distributed throughout the Internet, the more back links you have to your website; the more back links you have to your website, the more the search engines see you. When people go to a particular search engine and type in keywords relevant to your website, your site results will come up higher in search engine rankings and may also have more results throughout those rankings, again giving you greater visibility.

But be careful

There’s a word of caution in regard to SEO copywriting, though. In years past, people could simply do what’s called “keyword stuffing,” meaning that they could simply stick gibberish up on their websites and place keywords hither and yon throughout that text. Because the search engines were not particularly sophisticated at that point, doing so often gave websites that weren’t even legitimate lots of traffic and lots of money.

You need the right keyword density

These days, search engines are really savvy. The content you write has to be peppered with just the right amount of keywords, with current percentages at about 1.5% keyword density. That means that for every 100 words in a particular piece of text, 1.5 of those words can be a keyword/keyword phrase.

The content you write has to be interesting and informative

In addition, that content has to be interesting and informative, truly valuable to prospective clients. You can’t just write anything as you might have been able to in years past and stick it up on your website, thinking that it will garner you traffic and therefore clients.

The copy has to be “clean”

A final important note about professional SEO copy is that it has to be clean. There should be no grammatical errors, spelling errors, etc. Professional search engine optimized copywriting services know how to provide this content; when you turn your copywriting needs over to a professional SEO service, you can be sure the content you’re going to get will attract traffic and interested prospective customers. With that, those prospective customers are much more likely to become actual customers.

According to reports on Search Engine Roundtable, Google will begin giving greater ranking to websites that offer strong content.  Rankings will falter for sites that are technically savvy and SEO’ed the way that has been effective in recent years. Do you hear what I hear?  Website owners issuing blood-curdling screams, as their once first-page websites fall off – who knows how far?  This could really devastate many, who depend on first-page rankings as a primary source of income.  However, this could be the chance for some really good sites that offer something fresh and original to come to the forefront.

It seems that GoogleBot has become more sophisticated of late.  Search engines (primarily Google) are now capable of using various analytics to determine how searchers react to a website, i.e. how long a visitor remains on a site.  This helps inform Google of the quality of a website, as users tend to stay longer on websites they find valuable or informative.

Now, it seems, search engine ranking could hinge on high-caliber content, rather than pages that are perfectly optimized for keyword terms along with page titles, meta tags and the like.  How will this affect your business?  Is your content up to par – and is your content writer aware of the upcoming changes, ready (and capable of) conforming to the new changes in algorithms?

In a nutshell, Yahoo is claiming that Facebook used technology inappropriately that belongs to Yahoo legally.  This news could not have come at a worse time for Facebook, as potential investors are just beginning to weigh the benefits of adding Facebook to their portfolios.

Specifically, Facebook is being accused of infringing upon patents related to communications, advertising, programming, privacy and social networking.  A spokesperson for Facebook said:

“We’re disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation.  Once again, we learned of Yahoo’s decision simultaneously with the media.  We will defend ourselves vigorously against these puzzling actions.”

Read more of the details regarding Yahoo’s lawsuit here.

So . . . are you laser focused on keyword optimization?  Does it consume your mind when you (or your seo content writing provider) write those web pages and articles?  Is the only thing blazing in the back of your mind whether or not your content has precisely the right density of keywords, or whether they’re mentioned in every other sentence or paragraph?  If this describes you, it’s time you knew that today, keywords are not the ONLY thing that matters.  In fact, you need to forget about them!

What?!  Forget about keywords?  Absolutely.  This isn’t to say that you don’t need keywords anymore, because you do.  The thing is, when your content writer writes with the interests of the reader in mind, the keywords flow naturally into the content, without any conscious thought.  Additionally, when you aren’t zeroed in on the perfect keyword optimization, other keywords that help search engines know what your site is about fall into place as well – it’s simply a win-win situation when you put the reader first.

Take a look at the first page of results of your competition.  What you will likely find is that for the most part, these websites’ content is nothing special.  In fact, you’ll probably find that most of them are quite boring and mundane, and offer little if anything to the visitor.  How does that work for conversions?  How does that persuade potential customers or leads that your product/service is the end-all solution to their problem?  If your content is “just there” for keyword or search engine optimization purposes, you’re losing out – big time.

Talented content writing services know that content should tell a story.  Your website content and articles should rope your reader in, from the title/headline to the first paragraph, and on to the remainder of the text.  What sets your offer apart from your competitors?  Are you addressing the pain/problem of the reader?  Are you offering a partial solution (but never entirely, only enough to whet the reader’s appetite)?  Your job is to entice, intrigue and lure the reader in so that in his/her mind, your product/service is the only solution that will eliminate/cure his or her problem or need.

Does your content do that – or is it just there?  If you and/or your SEO content writing service are tunnel visioned and concentrate only on content “stuffed” with keywords, it’s time to step out of the past and into the future.  Give your content life, and watch your success soar to new heights!

In recent months, search engines have begun favoring those websites and blogs that offer true value and usability to the reader.  Fresh, original content is what those “bots” are looking for now, rather than pages that are packed with keywords in just the right place.  When you add pages (articles) to your site that are not simply a re-hash of the same old thing on every other site in your niche, you can count on success.  So where does article writing come in?

Three key reasons to write articles – 0r hire article writing services to do it for you:

Articles capture the attention of search engines. When you post fresh content frequently, you can be sure it gets noticed, particularly if the articles are optimized with the keywords your target audience is looking for.  Be sure to write to your readers, and the keywords will naturally fall into place.  LSI keywords and synonyms also help attract the attention of the search engines, so it’s important that you don’t repeat the same keyword phrase over and over redundantly.

Your customers are excited about coming back to your website. Think about it:  Would you want to come back to a website or blog that you enjoyed a few days or a week later, only to find the same old stuff you’ve already read?  Of course not!  Write articles about news in your industry, new product offers, specials, or important updates your customers will find useful.  Keep it interesting and informational.  Offer some really useful tidbits of information, and your readers are likely to “share” their discovery with friends on Facebook and other social media sites.  More traffic for you!

Articles can give you “viral” traffic. Just like a virus in the real world spreads, “viral” marketing can reach out far and wide all over the net.  How can your articles spread around the world?  Take 10 or 12 of your best articles (all of which are relevant to a single niche, of course), and create an ebook using them.  Give your ebook away to people who sign up for your email list, on forums, blogs, social networking sites – everywhere.  Include links back to your website/blog in your ebook for instant traffic!

This is just the “short list” of reasons that article writing should be at the top of your agenda.  Are you adding fresh content frequently?  If you’re not, you are definitely missing the boat (and hordes of targeted traffic).

Your titles and headings should be provocative, compelling, sometimes even a little sexy.  If you write your own content for your online business, you must learn how to create words that draw the reader a little farther.  First, you want a great title that compels a prospective customer to read further.  Once the reader is enticed by your headline, the job of the first few sentences is to keep the reader “hooked,” so that he/she will continue reading to learn more.

Consumers are hungry for information about and solutions to their pain/problem.  Always keep in mind while writing website pages, articles or blog posts that you must appeal to the reader, not go on about yourself or your business.  As hurtful as it may be, people want to know what you can do to help them; they’re really not at all interested in what YOU want.  Provide solutions and value to your reader in a way that convinces him or her that you know exactly how he/she feels, and that you can solve that need.

Now to the SEO aspect of writing content.  Do you really need to utilize SEO concepts in your writing, or is that old news, something that is no longer necessary?  The truth is, you DO need to use targeted keywords and phrases in your writing, but your first priority should be to write for your readers, not search engines.  Typically, you will find that when you’re writing about a certain topic, keywords naturally fall into place without you focusing your efforts in that direction.  Write naturally, always with the needs of the reader in mind – and you’ll succeed every time.

Sure, it can be tough to use keywords in your title or headline when you’re trying to write a sizzling, attention-grabbing title – but it can be done!  Here is a quick example:

SEO Content Writing, and Why Your Business Needs It

SEO Content Writing Takes Your Business From Fizzle to Sizzle!

It’s easy to discern what the keywords are, but which headline would capture your attention?  With a little creativity, you can come up with killer titles.

Whether you write your own content or hire SEO copywriting services to do it for you, always remember that content is what sells – and if your “hook” (headline) isn’t catching your prey, the rest is really a non-issue, isn’t it?

Successful blog marketing tips

Keep in mind that a blog should be updated often.  Post to your blog several times each week, if not daily – and keep the content relevant.  Your blog should be written generally around one topic, although there may be many sub-topics.  For example, you can have an internet marketing blog that discusses blogging, content writing, affiliate marketing, social media, etc. – but you don’t want to talk about your pets on your blog!

Create great content that your readers want to share.  Make it informative, valuable, and even humorous at times.  Give your words personality; people love to read content that either tells them how to do something or is entertaining.

Optimize your posts.  You never want to over-do it with keywords, but do optimize your content by including keywords in the title of your post, a time or two in the body (depending upon the length of your post).

Link out to highly trafficked blogs in your niche.  Search engines like it when you occasionally link out to other popular blogs with a high amount of traffic, so link to a great post you read on someone else’s blog, as long as it is relevant to the conversation.

“Guest” post on a popular blog in your niche.  Many bloggers LOVE free content, but it must be relevant to the topic of their blog.  Write a good article that is original, and offer it for free to the owner of the blog – IF they will include a link to your site.  Write a brief bio at the end of your article that includes a link to your website.  By guest posting on a highly popular blog, you can enjoy the other blog’s traffic!

Share your best posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.  Spread the word anywhere and everywhere you can.

Be creative, and keep in mind that successful blogging takes work.  You cannot post whenever you think of it (once a month) and expect to have a popular blog.  Your readers want to come back to find something new and exciting!

Put these successful blog marketing tips to work for your blog, and keep after it.  Be consistent and patient, and the rewards will come.

Posting original articles to directories before you post them on your own website is a huge mistake – here’s why

By submitting your articles to directories first, they essentially “get credit” for that article; the directory is the first place that search engines detect the article, instead of your website.  Always place your article on your own website first, then wait until it has been indexed by the search engines before submitting to directories.  This way, search engines “see” fresh, unique content on your website when they crawl it, content that is original and not already posted on another site.

Here’s another little tidbit of information that may come as a surprise to you if you are an article marketer who relies on directories for backlinks:  Because a directory has a page rank of 6 (for their home page) does NOT mean you will have a strong PR6 link pointing to your website!  The page on the directory where your article gets posted (and where your keyword text link points back to your site) will have a page rank of 0!  Now THAT’S food for thought . . .

Article directories are for syndication purposes, not article marketing

Originally, article directories were meant to be a place where other website owners could go to find new content for their websites that was relevant to their niche.  Nowadays, marketers use directories for all the wrong reasons.  Many work themselves into a frenzy trying to write 5 or even 10 articles each day, hoping to drive hordes of traffic to their blogs and websites via articles.  This is all wrong!  If marketers were to work as hard writing quality content that is well-optimized for their own websites, they would enjoy much greater success.

Not to say that submitting articles to directories is all wrong, but place your content on your own website first.  When you do place an article on a directory such as Ezine Articles, make sure it is your best work – only so that other website owners will want to pick it up for their own site, which will essentially drive traffic to YOUR website from theirs.

If you’re still using article directories to drive “instant” traffic, re-think your strategy.  Work smarter, not harder!  And also, think long-term success instead of instant gratification.  Use article directories for their intended use (syndication), and propel your own website to a whole new level by adding fresh, original content often.  Think of it this way; by placing your articles on your own website, you’re building your own real estate in cyberspace rather than the real estate of the directories.

Article Directories and Their Intended Purpose

Many online marketers believe that writing as many articles as possible and submitting them to top article directories will help improve page ranking and drive targeted traffic – and that’s true, to some extent.  Most article directories allow you to place a text link in your author signature box; this text is usually a keyword or keyword phrase to help a particular page of your website rank for that keyword.  So, what’s wrong with this picture?

Article directories should be used to post your best work, so that your content is syndicated.  This simply means that other website owners will want to use your articles on their own sites, because of their quality and informational value.  When other websites post your articles, you gain one-way incoming links to your website coming from many other sources, and not just the directory itself.  If you’re posting articles to various article directories simply to get links from the directory, you’re shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak.  Why?

SEO Involves Building Your Own Real Estate, Not The Article Directories’

Posting your articles to the directories for syndication purposes is fine; however, if you’re simply using the directories to build thousands of back links you’re making a mistake.  Many marketers mistakenly assume that placing an article on a page rank 6 article directory will give them a PR6 link coming into their site.  This is not true!  You’re article will be posted on a page of its own, within the article directory – and the page rank will likely be a 0, perhaps a 1 at most.

For search engine optimization purposes, you should be building your own real estate.  This means that the articles you write should be posted on your own website first, and indexed before you submit them to the directories.  By posting your articles to the directories first, search engines give credit to the article directory.  Essentially, you are helping the directories expand their real estate and increase their standings with the search engines!

Article marketing is one huge aspect of SEO, but make sure you’re doing it right.  Instead of focusing on writing all of the articles you can for submission to directories, strategically plan for the best way to put your content in front of your target audience.  Offer an article to relevant blogs in your niche for posting, as long as the owner will allow you to link back to your site.  Always put your articles on your own blogs and websites first.  Make sure that you write high-quality content so that when you do submit to directories (after the article has been indexed on your own site), other website owners will pick them up for their own websites.

When it comes to article marketing, be smart.  Don’t let the directories get the credit for all of your hard work!  Search engines love content, so keep building your own website out with exceptional quality, informative and original articles.

The right content means fewer backlinks are needed for a high page ranking

Most people, even SEO experts, rely on two main strategies for ranking websites highly in the SERPs, or search engine results pages.  On-page optimization and strong backlinks.  If you’ve done any back-linking yourself or hired someone to do it for you, you realize how time-consuming it is (or, how expensive if you have someone do it for you).  Today, the way the content is written on the page can reduce the time and/or money spent on backlinking.  Why?  Because when your content is written utilizing LSI or Latent Symantic Indexing, far fewer backlinks are necessary to enjoy a high ranking.

Great content = great ranking, even without thousands of backlinks

Search engines are looking for highly relevant, informative and unique content when ranking websites.  Today, you cannot simply take a few pages from other highly-ranked websites and basically re-write them for your own site.  By writing in a way that the context of your pages is easily understood, you can eliminate much of the work (or expense) of creating thousands of backlinks.  Think of sites such as Wikipedia, which are content-rich and provide in-depth information to the reader.  THIS is what it’s all about!

SEO copywriting isn’t nearly as effective as it once was if you (or the writer you hire) is still relying on keyword density to propel your website to the top.

Today’s most sought-after content writers recognize the importance of a combination of keyword optimized content and LSI.  For example, in the “old days” a website or blog about “affordable jewelry” would likely be optimized for that phrase a certain number of times, so that the keyword density was 2%, 4%, even 10% (WAY overboard)!  Search engines today consider keywords that are used over abundantly spam, so if your SEO copywriter is still using worn out tactics such as this, the results aren’t likely to be what you expect.  LSI keywords in this instance could be anything from cheap or costume jewelry to pendants, bracelets, diamond earrings to discount jewelry.  You can see how these “surrounding” words help search engines determine exactly what your website is about!

Is your content writer still writing just as he/she did 2 or 3 years ago?  If so, it’s time for a change – IF you want your pages to be highly visible to those in search of your product/service.