Scattering search engine bread crumbs

“Each time you write content about your key topics, you are seeding the Internet with keywords. Like bread crumbs that lead back to the gingerbread cottage, those keywords will help readers find you” says Patsi Krakoff from The Blog Squad. Although she jokes about “offending SEO experts” most of her SEO content comments are right on the money. Enjoy!

Get rid of your SEO skeletons once and for all

I found hidden links within 60 seconds. Discovering the duplicate pages took another minute. And – lookie here – the code is really, really bad.

No, this isn’t a scammy corporation trying to spam their way to the top. This is a Mom and Pop business where the owners are honestly trying to do everything right. Yes, they educated themselves by reading books and visiting forums. Yes, they can speak SEO…to a point. But they knew they couldn’t do it all themselves.

So they did what most companies do. They hired out to SEO #1, who suggested adding 50 duplicate doorway pages, one for each state. That SEO lasted six months before getting fired for non- performance. Enter SEO #2, who thought hidden links were the way to go. Then, the owner of the company put his fingers in the SEO pie. He decided to add hidden text because, “It just seemed to make sense to me.”

And with that, the company (which will remain nameless) hid another SEO skeleton away in their closet.

This situation is so common that I call it “inadvertent spam.” The site owner didn’t mean do to anything wrong…but their site is full of violations. And unfortunately, their pages aren’t positioning as a result

If you aren’t seeing the results you want – and you’ve either optimized the site yourself, or worked with one (or many) SEO firm (s) – consider a SEO audit. Yes, they cost money. Yes, they’re pricy. But they are well worth it. Jessica Bowman at SEMIn-House does a great job discussing this topic, so I won’t rehash it here. Suffice it to say that I’ve seen audits pay for themselves many times over. We offer SEO content reviews through SuccessWorks - and it’s amazing how tweaking a couple things can make such a huge difference.

Would an SEO audit be a smart move for your site? Ask yourself:

• How many people/firms have “touched” the site within the last five years? Different SEOs (whether in-house or outsourced) may implement different techniques. If the SEO isn’t skilled – or was trying to game the engines – those techniques may have hurt your site long-term.

• Do you really know your site’s history? If you’re a new hire (or just moved to the SEO department) calling an audit allows you to see exactly what you’re getting into. Additionally, it helps you find new ways to leverage your search campaign that the last person may not have seen.

• Does your IT department (or SEO) brag about having “secret ways to trick the engines” or “proprietary methods that will gain top rankings?” That’s like hearing your accountant say that she has a “proprietary tax preparation method” for keeping your taxes down and the IRS happy. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Get an audit and check it out.

• And finally…if you’re optimizing the site yourself, are you sure that you’ve grabbed every opportunity? A SEO audit will outline what you need to do next, helping you focus your efforts and save time.

Talking about Titles: How to educate your client

Faced with a SEO-clueless client and need to educate them on the basics? Ramon Eijkemans at Searchwritten discusses how to talk about Titles in his post Title-tags for dummies. Enjoy!

How to turn blah headlines into eyeball-grabbing powerhouses

Direct response headline writing is tricky.

You know that you have to “grab the reader’s attention,” but that doesn’t help much when you’re facing headline-writing writer’s block and nothing is flowing. How can you work your SEO copywriting magic when you don’t even know how to begin?

We’ve all been there – you just need a little jump start. If you’re feeling stuck, here are some tried-and-true headline archetypes, compliments of the American Writers and Artists Institute.

Idea Starters: 52 Headline Archetypes to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing…From The Best of The Golden Thread

1. How to (accomplishment) by (doing something unexpected)
2. How to (accomplishment) in (time frame)
3. How to turn (problem) into (benefit)
4. How to get (goal) from (something common)
5. How to improve your…
6. How to start…
7. How to have…
8. How to make (someone/something) do (something great)
9. (Problem) - how to fix it
10. How to get free (product/program)
11. How you can (action) in the next (time frame)
12. How an uninformed (person/action) make a fortune in (business type)
13. How an unexpected (event) changed my (situation)
14. How I (accomplishment) in (time frame)
15. How I (accomplishment) by (something unexpected)
16. How I improved my (problem)
17. (#) ways to (promise)
18. (#) ways to avoid (problem)
19. (#) steps to…
20. (#) ways to…
21. (#) ways to beat (problem)
22. Get rid of your (problem) forever!
23. Buy no (product type) ’til you’ve seen (product name or description)
24. Read this and (promise/threat)
25. Dare to be (promise)
26. Read this or (threat)
27. What makes…?
28. Do you make these mistakes in…?
29. Want to be (better condition)?
30. (Problems) - Which do you want to overcome?
31. (Personalized greeting), here are (#) (products) of interest to you. Which (#) do you want free?
32. Are you ever (problem)?
33. Tired/fed up with (problem)?
34. Should you (something your prospect is thinking about doing)?
35. Are you…?
36. Are you ashamed of (problem)?
37. Secrets of (some kind of expert)
38. What never ever to (common chore/action)
39. The truth about…
40. What you should know about…
41. The one sensible way to…
42. What every (person) should know…
43. The secret of…
44. Why…
45. What it takes to…
46. What everybody ought to know…about this (business type)
47. Little known ways to (benefit)
48. The wrong way and the right way to (do something directly related to your business)
49. The secret of (accomplishment)
50. The secret of…-Yours, if you qualify
51. Your (something important to you) is in imminent danger
52. When experts (failure/problem) - this what they do

This article appears courtesy of The Golden Thread, an e-letter from AWAI that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on how to build your freelance copywriting business. For a free subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread

Why delete “doorway pages” from your SEO copywriting vocabulary

Wow, people still talk about doorway pages? Turns out, that answer is “yes,” and Google has changed how they define them (which doesn’t make sense to me - I always thought of doorway pages as copy that’s been optimized for one keyterm for the sole purpose of driving traffic.)

I suppose, like leg warmers, neon and parachute pants, doorway pages have to come back in vogue. People discuss them in forums as a new, easy way to generate content. Sure, the new brand of doorway pages may seem sexier, have a different name or enjoy a cutting edge reputation (better design - yeah!). But they still won’t help you convert. Nor will the search engines respect them as “real content.” Spam has been…and will always be…spam.

Side note with doorway pages: Where I see folks inadvertently do this is around local content pages. Say your bank has 10 branches scattered around Washington State. Some banks create the same sales copy for all locations, and simply swap out the city name. Easy strategy, bad planning.  Instead, create custom pages for all locations. Besides, including references to local attractions shows that you’re involved in your community - and this can be a major selling point for folks who prefer to “buy local.”

Has your SEO copywriting strategy changed with the times?

The economy has shifted. Has your marketing message?

In today’s learned helplessness, recession-mindset economy, some business owners are moaning, “People just aren’t buying. There’s nothing we can do.”

The reality is that companies (and individuals) are buying products and services every second of every day. However, the marketing message that worked a year ago may not be applicable now. When money is tight, prospects want to know they’re getting a good deal (read: value) from a company they like and trust. Additionally, your prospects may have different objections than even six months ago - objections you need to overcome if you want to make the sale.

Although this article is written for salespeople, the principals apply to Web site sales copy - and how we all need to look at our messaging a little differently.

How has your company changed messaging (or developed new content) this year?

What’s the “best” word count for SEO copywriting?

The email from a SEO copywriter read, “My colleague’s SEO company is insisting that I write at least 500 words per page. But you said that the best word count is 250 words. What should I do?”

Stuff like this drives me nuts. I call it the Easy Bake Oven approach to SEO copywriting. That is, write 250 words, focus on your keyphrases X times each and pop it into HTML. Voila! You’ll have a top-positioning document.

It’s just not that simple.

The “how long should a Web page be” debate has been flaring fast and furious for years. Long ago, I wrote that a good rule of thumb for SEO content pages was 250 words because:

- It’s easier to gain keyphrase relevancy with a longer word count
- The tone, feel and conversion flow could still be maintained
- I was seeing success (as well as other copywriters) with a 250ish word count

I still preach this rule of thumb. However, it’s just a rule of thumb. It’s true that short copy (think catalog copy) doesn’t seem to position as optimally as copy that’s more fleshed out. And the more content you have, the more opportunities you have to position for a wide variety of keyphrases (especially long tail keyphrases.) But that doesn’t mean that there’s a magical word count for search engine positioning.

Unfortunately, many SEO copywriters think that they have to write exactly 250 words (or more) on every page. This is fine when the writer has a lot to say – articles, FAQ pages and some product descriptions can easily maintain a 250 word count without sounding fluffy. Fluffy, bloated copy can kill a conversion flow just as fast as too-little copy.

However, there are some pages where squeezing 250 words out of the content is impossible. There’s just simply not enough to say. Conversely, some pages actually benefit from a longer word count. It’s not the search engines that should dictate your per-page word count. It’s your customers. What works for them? What word count conveys your information in the best way for your target audience?

Think about this when you’re writing the copy: Have I said everything I could? Have I overcome all objections? Have I showcased the product or service? Is the keyphrase usage seamless? Does the copy encourage the next conversion step? Have I placed my keyphrases in the search engine power positions?

If your answer is “yes,” you’ve done your job. It’s really as simple as that.