Are you being tempted by the dark side?

Are you looking for great results without the hard work?

If you are, you are heading for a very big fall because the grass most certainly isn’t greener on the dark side.

As an online marketer, search engine optimisation is vital for your survival. But the only effective way to boost your visibility is through an effective, white hat SEO strategy.

It’s not a quick fix, it’s a long term solution that needs constant nurturing. So if that sounds like too much like hard work to you, perhaps you’d better rethink your online marketing  career.

Creating a winning SEO strategy

If you’re hoping that I’m now going to say I was just kidding and you can achieve great rankings really easily – you’re going to be disappointed.

To be an SEO winner you’ll need the following on your shopping list:

• Well researched keywords
• A professionally designed website by someone who understands SEO
• A professional SEO copywriter to create reader-friendly copy
• A link building strategy

SEO is a slow burner – overnight results are unlikely (but not impossible, that depends on the competitiveness of your keywords) but if you keep at it and maintain your strategy’s momentum, you’ll get long lasting organic results.

And organic results means no hefty pay per click bill every month.

Creating a losing SEO strategy

If all of that seems like hard work to you, there are some techniques you can adopt to cut corners.

Of course, if you do that you will also encounter the wrath of Google which is never nice. Plus, your website will probably look shocking, read abysmally and will never convert a visitor in a month of Sundays.

Those lovely people at SEOmoz have produced a list of 32 SEO tactics to avoid. These are all black hat techniques which must be avoided at all costs.

Grab yourself a coffee and have a read through them and make sure your strategy is above board and whiter than white.

Some of the comments are really interesting too.

Over to you

What has been your most successful SEO strategy?

Please leave a comment and share your experiences.

The SEO Low Down

Google is constantly changing. It loves to keep internet marketers on their toes by changing the goal posts every so often.

One of the most recent changes that you’re bound to have noticed is the introduction of Google Instant Preview.

Now, when you enter a search term in the Google search box, each of your results will have a little magnifying glass next to it. Designed to help you search smarter, by clicking on the magnifying glass you bring up a preview of the web site so you can see in an instant whether it’s going to be of interest to you.

So now, rather than having to open a site, scan it, realise it’s not for you, hit the back browser and start all over again – you can scan the results without leaving the page to find the website that’s going to offer you what you’re looking for.

How does that effect SEO?

Well, to be honest, no one is really sure at the moment. But what it does mean is that you have to be sure your website is maximised to attract the click-through. Basically you have to make sure that the preview gives them the information they need to choose you.

Here are a few things you can do to tip the balance in your favour:

Say farewell to flash

As you know, flash is not good for SEO because the search engine spiders have a tough time crawling it and are unable to distinguish between normal text and the more prominent heading text (i.e. H1, H2 tags etc.)

An added complication now arises with the arrival of Google Instant Preview because the Preview can’t render the flash element of your website leaving it looking rather distorted and unattractive.

Basically if you want your website to shine, ditch the flash.

META Descriptions

You already know that your META Description doesn’t have a direct effect on your SEO as far as ranking position goes. But it comes into its own when it comes to attracting click-throughs.

The 150-160 characters must convince the searcher that your website is worth checking out because it offers the information they need to know. If you want your magnifying glass to be clicked make sure your META Description tells them what they need to know by including your keywords.

Headings

The size of the preview means the reader isn’t going to be able to make out all the text on your website. That’s why it’s imperative that you use good, descriptive headings within your site that contain your keywords.

By acting as sign posts, they will show the reader what information is available on your web page so their decision to click will be based on what they can see – your headings, layout and images.

Images and Alt tags

Using the right images can make your website. They should be relevant and interesting enough to lure your reader in. Also, to give your SEO as much of a boost as possible, you must also ensure you utilise their Alt tags and filenames making them descriptive, relevant and contain your keywords.

It doesn’t matter what line of business you’re in - a copywriter, electrician, solicitor or builder – these 4 techniques will help boost the attractiveness of your website.

In the ways of the web, looks and substance are both needed if you want to attract traffic. Remember the preview shows only a reduced scale version of your website so you’ll needs as many visual cues as possible to get the click.

Search engine optimisation – three words that can fill any internet marketer with dread.

If you opt for the PPC (pay per click) route, you may see faster results but you’ll also experience the high price tag that tends to come with it. SEO may be slower but it’s a more economical long term solution.

To get an SEO strategy that works, you’ll need 3 things:

• An SEO friendly website that is easy to navigate (for the reader and search engine spiders)
• Great content written by a professional SEO Copywriter
• Back links

Yes, I know what you’re thinking but it really will pay to get experts in to help you with the first two on the list.

Many business think they can generate their own copy. But there is a real art to writing to sell on the web and writing something that is going to help with your SEO. I am an SEO copywriter and therefore you probably think I’m just trying to scare you into hiring me (or someone like me) but I’m not. Ask your web designer’s advice and he/she will tell you exactly the same thing.

To get a website that works, converts and ranks you must have all three elements listed above.

So what about backlinks?

When it comes to building backlinks, you must think long term.

There are companies out there who will help you buy links but that often causes more harm than good. The best option is to do it yourself – it takes time and you may need to have a couple of people working on it for you, but it’s by far the best way to go.

I stumbled across this post on Seomoz.org which gives an example of how this can work. Take a look at Rob Ouseby’s post “Create A Link Building Team Within Your Organisation” and see what tips you can pick up to make your whole organisation a continuous link building machine.

Remember a good SEO strategy is on going and involves a well structured website, professional SEO copywriting and continuous backlink building.

Search engine optimisation – love it or hate it, it’s here to stay so you’d better get to grips with it.

Before you ask, no I wouldn’t call myself an SEO expert.

So why am I writing this post about it?

Well, I am a pretty good SEO Copywriter – what makes me so sure? Well my own site is on the front page of Google for the term copywriter which is very competitive (getting on for 7 million search results) as well as several of my other keywords. Plus a number of my clients are also enjoying front page rankings.

If you think writing SEO content is about throwing a load of keywords together, you’d be wrong. There’s a whole lot more to it than that.

To guide you through the mine field that is SEO, here are 7 things you should know about SEO content if yours is going to work:

1. The importance of content

Writing good content isn’t just about rankings.

Your content should always be written for your reader first and search spiders second. It must be interesting and relevant because you want people to link to you (a big part of any SEO strategy) - back links are vital for good rankings.

Your identified keywords will have to be in your content, but they must be used naturally. Cramming them in your copy will make it unreadable and spammy. Make it natural and read it out loud to make sure it flows - readability is everything.

2. Attention grabbing

Headlines are great for grabbing your readers’ attention. They must be relevant to your copy and journalistic in style – you need to grab their attention and make them want to know more. It’s also vital you get your primary keywords into them too.

3. A great bio

To make your articles, blogs and directory submissions work hard for you, make sure you add a good biography. Make it interesting and use your keywords.

4. META

META descriptions are often overlooked – they are the 150 characters used to describe your content. Include your keywords so your reader can instantly see whether your content is going to be relevant to them or not. It won’t directly influence your SEO but it will show readers that your site is very relevant to what they are looking for and therefore attract that all important click-through.

5. Layout

How your web copy, articles and blogs look is vital. Make sure there’s lots of white space so they are appealing to the eye and easier to read. Headings and sub headings can be used to direct the reader through your text. When using headings make sure you use the correct tags and in a hierarchical order. H1 tags are your main headings; your sub headings should be H2 etc. And of course, always use your keywords where possible within the headings.

6. Be original

Coming up with continuous and original copy isn’t easy and the temptation to recycle is great. But don’t – Google won’t like it so make sure all your content is original. 

7. Pictures

Images are always a great way to enhance your copy so make sure they’re relevant to your content and make sure you utilise the ALT tag to make the most of their SEO potential.

Why do you need to know this?

Many people believe SEO is all down to keywords and content. In part it is, but your SEO strategy should encompass so much more. You have to think about readability, links, images as well as the navigability of your website (for humans and search engine spiders).

Thinking SEO copywriting is an expense you can do without is rather short-sighted. Investing in well written SEO copywriting is vital for the success of your online marketing.

As an SEO copywriter I hate word count. It’s counterproductive and here’s why.

Over the years I have worked on many SEO copywriting projects – some direct with businesses others for SEO web designers and companies.

Most clients realise I know quite a lot about SEO copywriting and in particular how it works. Many of the sites I write for rank on the front page of Google for their chosen keywords – not least my own website which is on the front page of Google for ‘copywriter’ (out of about 6 million results). So as SEO copywriters go, I’m pretty good – even if I do say so myself.

I’m not saying that my client’s success is solely down to me – that would be untrue – it plays a big part but other factors such as link building are also a major contributing factor.

Anyway, back to SEO copywriting.

Most clients give me a brief a list of keywords and then leave me to it because they know I’ll create copy that will not only help them rank well, but will also convert visitors into sales.

But some SEO companies and web designers I work for are fixated on word count. As far as I’m concerned…

Copy should be as long as it needs to be

Word Count Won’t Affect Your Rankings

There is no evidence whatsoever to support the thinking that more words will result in greater ranking success.

Despite this, I am still asked to produce a specific number of words per web page (usually in the realms of 500 to 600 words). It may well be that the project actually calls for that number of words but, if it doesn’t, imposing a limit on words plays havoc with my creativity.

Basically the copy has to be led by the product or service it is to sell. I’ve seen web pages with as few as 70 words that rank just as well as pages with 600+ words. 

If I have to write 700 words but the product or page subject matter only calls for 300, the remaining 400 words are just going to be padding. And that’s bad.

Every word on the web page has to be there for a reason - to sell. Plus you must think about your reader. Are they really going to be prepared to sit down and read your 600+ words? Probably not. For most people, if you haven’t convinced them within 200 words you’ve lost them.

So when you commission your copywriter, ask them to write fantastic SEO website copy that is interesting to the reader, sells the product and converts web traffic into sales and not a certain number of words. Because….

It’s the quality that counts

The effectiveness of the copy must be measured by its conversion rate.

It has to attract traffic (through SEO) and then convert those visitors into sales (through compelling and persuasive copy). Your web copy is there to target a specific audience. If it does it’s job, the traffic it brings will convert. After all, what’s the point of having 1000s of visitors a day to your website if your copy doesn’t convert them?

Why you need to know this

If you impose a strict word count you will either force your copywriter to pad with unnecessary words or they’ll have to ruthlessly cut their text which could seriously damage its impact. 

A good SEO copywriter will understand:

• Conversion
• Keyword usage
• The importance of tags
• The optimum places for keywords

Trust their judgement and leave them free to produce the copy for your website. They will naturally arrive at a word count that suits your product or service.

If you are a business owner looking to get into online marketing and, in particular, search engine optimisation, don’t forget to think local.

More and more people are searching for local companies through the search engines so it’s never been more important to ensure you have a strong local SEO presence on the web.

Many companies concentrate their SEO efforts on fairly generic terms that relate to their products and services but forget about their geographical details.

With the advent of increased and improved mobile search, it is vital you stand out in your local area. And the best way to do that is by utilising the power of local search.

Location, location, location

If your company covers a specific geographical location, make sure those details are added to your HTML through page titles. You should also try and use these details within your copy and headings but be sensible.

Remember you are first and foremost writing for your reader – if you over do it, the page will look clumsy. Other areas for location information are within the footer along with your address and also within your internal hypertext linking structure. Instead of linking freelance copywriter, use a geographical reference such as Suffolk freelance copywriter.

YouTube

You can also boost your online presence through marketing. Upload your video to YouTube and then use very localised tags – without being spammy. The chances are (depending on the competitiveness of your keywords) you’ll be able to get these ranked and the more entries you can get on a front page local search results, the fewer your competitors can have.

Wider areas

If your business covers several geographical areas you could consider creating specific landing pages for each area. They should have unique content (you don’t want to fall foul of the duplicate content trap) and optimised for each specific area. Hypertext links within these pages can then drive your visitors to your main website.

Boost your profile

Social networking sites make it easy to spread your business name to a wide audience. Set up social media profiles which relate to your geographical region. But, as with the landing page content, make sure each description is different. You should also utilise Google Places, Yahoo local, and Bing Local to boost your local profile.

Remember to always think local by adding location modifiers to your keywords.