July 23, 2009SEO again
I’ve been working on copy for the web this week, so naturally I’ve been brushing up on my SEO skills in my spare time. SEO isn’t something you can learn and forget about, it’s constantly evolving — just like the web.
If you’ve got a website and you don’t know what SEO is, you might as well sell your computer and buy a typewriter. Or at least rip your modem out of the wall. Let me guess — you’re still on 56k, right?
But let’s assume for a moment you don’t know what SEO is. To be honest, unless you’re a web developer/marketer/copywriter, you don’t really need to know what it is. That’s what you pay us for. Right?
Still, a passing familiarity couldn’t hurt. Here is a good, quick guide on how to write for SEO. If you’re going to write your own copy (rather than, cough cough, pay a professional to do it for you) you could do a lot worse than start here.
But I want to go out on a limb a bit and say this. SEO is not the be all and end all of writing for the web. It is an important aspect of it. But the fundamentals of good writing still apply. Hype always accompanies any new industry. I laughed so hard this week at this absurd proclamation that “[mobile phone] apps are going to be as big as the internet!” Really?
My one experience with mobile phone apps was when I asked a friend to look up some train times on his iPhone. He had a choice – either pay a fiver for the app that connected to the website to search for times. Or look it up directly, on Mobile Safari, for free. Guess which one he picked?
Mobile phone companies have always been shameless self promoters. Anyone remember the hype about WAP a few years ago? Thought not. Similarly, SEO based copywriting/design agencies have a vested interest in selling you the primacy of an SEO solution. Don’t forget that, when you’re forking out your hard earned cash.
SEO is about getting people there. Driving up hits to your site.
Good copy is about keeping them there — then selling them something.
The two aren’t mutually exclusive. But they are different skills.
Less isn’t always more. Sure it’s important to be concise, but too many sites have become a game of buzzword bingo, bland corporate jargon that’s designed to give a good ranking on Google. Copywriting sites are perfect examples. They’re inevitably well constructed, but invariably bland.
The most important thing when considering copy is this: what makes you stand out from the crowd?
The answer: an outstanding copywriter!
It’s worth noting that this freelancer on Copyblogger doesn’t even mention SEO as one of his ten key skills for copywriters.
By all means concentrate on an SEO strategy for your landing page. Get the visitors in. Get hits on your site. But don’t forget to back it up with substance. Build up a dialogue. Be different. Make your customers remember your name.
There are plenty of strategies that don’t require specially written copy, just well written copy. Linkbait is one of the best — produce something that people want to see, and they will share it with their friends. Word of mouth isn’t half bad, either. That’s like linkbait, only in real life.
SEO is more than just the text on your page. It’s about linking strategies, social networking, the whole package. Good copy should still be good copy. Your landing page may need to contain catchphrases. But your site shouldn’t be riddled with cliche.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm and is filed under Blog, SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.