Posts Tagged ‘SEO copywriting’

5 Years On: Insights from a Successful SEO Web Copywriter

Five years ago, before the whole world was talking about content marketing and the importance of quality, well-written, valuable web content, I had an idea. I acted upon it. And became successful.

This post explains why I became a dedicated web copywriter 5 years ago, and why I believe I will still be doing this 5 years from now.

This is what I had identified back in 2008:

Celebrating my 5th web copywriting business anniversary

  • The internet was filled with fantastically designed websites – most of which had really crappy content
  • Many businesses were still copying their brochure text straight onto their website, with no usability in mind
  • Very few website owners understood SEO and were at a loss as to how to get people onto their website
  • SEO was still mostly seen as a technical skill and not many copywriters knew anything about it

My conclusion:

  • There was a need for good copywriters with sound knowledge of writing for the web, PR/marketing, website usability and SEO.
    And that was me!
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Knowing what keywords to optimise for

Is your website optimised for search engines? That’s great. The big question, however, is which keyword phrases your pages are optimised for – and do people actually type those terms into search engines?

Many websites naturally rank well for their own business name, brand or product names. Unless your branded names are incredibly common, it’s not hard at all to rank well for these, particularly if the words are part of your domain name or page URLs.

It’s the more generic keyword phrases your target market may be using that you want to know about, so you can optimise your pages for them and get new people (potential customers) who don’t yet know about you to find your website. You want to find the search terms people use when looking for the type of products/services you offer and target those.

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How often should you repeat your keywords?

Keyword density. That’s a term that refers to how many times you use a certain keyword phrase on a web page as a percentage of the total number of words on that page.

Some people offering SEO services hammer on about making sure your text has a certain keyword density (e.g. that 3% or 6% or whatever of your text should consist of your targeted keywords).

Well, guess what? That’s nonsense. (And don’t just take it from me, listen to Google. See Matt Cutt’s webmaster video below.)

There is NO magic number when it comes to keyword density in SEO.

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Learn SEO content writing – Online SEO & writing courses

Want to learn more about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Writing for the Web (Content Writing)?

Here are some SEO and Web Copywriting courses I recommend. These courses can be taken online, in your own time and at your own pace, making it very convenient.

I have taken courses myself in the past with both Search Engine College and Sydney Writers’ Centre, and I can vouch for the reliability of these course providers, while Moz and SEO Book are well-known international leaders in the SEO industry.

All organisations are run professionally by experts and you’ll get true value for your money.

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Tips for Selecting Effective SEO Keywords in Competitive Fields

Keyword research can be vital to the success of your website.

If you operate in a market with no or few competitors, it doesn’t really matter. People should be able to find your site if you just use common sense and let your website describe what you do.

However, in more competitive markets, it can be incredibly difficult to rank well for the keywords you think describe your products or services best – particularly if your website is still new.

You could be competing against hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites that are targeting the exact same keyword phrases as you. And it will be hard to outrank your competitors, because they may have many advantages over yours, such as:

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