Forbes Magazine called Heather Lloyd-Martin “the pioneer of SEO copywriting.” Over 24 years ago, Heather was the first person to discuss SEO writing best practices -- long before Google was everyone’s favorite search engine. Today, she continues to stay on the SEO leading edge, helping marketers understand Google’s latest updates and create standout content.
Heather has consulted with and trained leading brands across various industries, including publishing, travel, SaaS, search engines, and education. Her specialty is breaking complex information into bite-sized chunks, helping marketing teams learn to love (and master) SEO content writing and strategy.
Heather lives outside of Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two cranky cats. She loves working out, hopping on planes, rafting the Colorado River, and Starbucks almond-milk lattes.
In a perfect world, our well-written content always positions top-10. In reality, well, weird things happen. Sometimes, a keyphrase-stuffed page makes it to the top of Google’s search results. And stays there. How can that be? Did someone pay Google for that listing? (No.) Is repeating the keyphrase over and over a viable SEO writing tactic again? […]
Imagine this… You’re checking positions for a page you wrote, and you see something that stops you in your tracks… Another site has taken your content and has claimed it as their own. There’s no link, no byline, nothing. They copied your page and pasted it into their site. What’s worse, the page is positioned […]
How many of you get stuck in the “what should I write about” trap? ::raising my hand:: Fortunately, there’s a simple way to create highly useful content that’s great for your readers. Plus, Google LOVES this kind of content, and it even gives it special billing in the search results. What’s the secret? Answer common […]
Let’s talk about a big SEO secret. Once upon a time, I was sitting around a table with a bunch of other SEO experts. At one point, someone said, “Do you have a hard time keeping up with all the SEO news?” As I looked around the table, I saw everyone was nodding. And, yes, […]
Answer me this… Why do copywriters create boring bullet points? You know what I mean. Many product and service pages (maybe even on your site) highlight statements, like: Imported Washable and stain resistant Comes in green, blue or black YAWN. Are you still awake? Me neither. Here’s the problem: In a perfect world, bullet points […]
Did you grow up hearing, “If it’s easy, there must be something wrong with it”? Yeah. Me too. Instead of looking for the easy way out, we often look for the most challenging, brutal way to do things. We work harder. We work longer hours. If we’re not suffering, we aren’t trying. It’s all about […]
Freelance writers receive a lot of happy-crappy “how to increase your income” advice. There are thousands of blog posts online outlining tips like: “Charge more money.” “Find your niche.” “Package your services.” It’s not that the advice is wrong (heck, I’ve discussed those tips, too.) It’s that the advice only goes so far. “Charging more money” doesn’t mean anything if […]
Do you instantly hit the “ignore” button when you see a “special” client’s name come up on caller ID? Do you write “please shoot me” notes during client calls? Choosing the wrong clients is a slow, sure path to insanity. Fortunately, these folks throw up some pretty obvious red flags during the sales process. The key […]
Every once in awhile, someone will call me with this great, “guaranteed not to fail” idea. The conversation goes something like this. “Why don’t we build out another site, write a whole bunch of new, optimized content and target the same keyphrases. That way, BOTH sites can position in Google, and we can dominate the search listings. […]
How many times have you heard, “We can’t rewrite the web content right now. It’s too expensive”? Or… “Revising the SEO content is going to take a lot of manpower. We have other priorities.” Yeah, I’ve heard it too. Sure, the content may be horrible. But, the thought of changing it (and paying for it) […]
I’ve been teaching writers for over 20 years. Want to learn my secrets?