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.

Once upon a time if you wanted to research a subject you had to go to the library and scour numerous reference books for the information you needed.

Today, you just have to Google it.

So how long will it be before the humble books is consigned to the history web pages of the internet?

With the arrival of the Kindle reader (iPad and smartphones) the traditional book looks to be under threat of extinction. This ‘electronic-paper’ wonder  is supposed to offer a reading experience that looks and reads like real paper.

Really?

Not for me thanks. When I read I like to hold a book; fold back the cover and turn proper pages. I love the way its spine creases, the smell of its pages, the way you can insert your bookmark (only to lose it and then have to spend hours trying to find the page you were on).

Even though they take up vast amounts of space in your luggage, there is something very special about a book – for a start it’s battery is never going to go flat.

Reading on the web

If the text of a book is fairly small, you’ll still read it. If the text on a web page is tiny you won’t bother.

Writing for the web is very different from writing for printed media. Reading from a screen is difficult, tiring and really quite boring. So how do you overcome that to encourage people to read your website?

Make your writing look interesting

If you want people to read your content you have to make it look attractive and the best way to do that is to ensure there is:

• Lots of white space
• Headings and sub headings
• Short paragraphs
• Bulleted lists

Basically, if you want people to read the content on your website you have to make it look inviting. Your copy has to be interesting, relevant and search engine friendly. Getting the right amount of content on your page is vital – but good SEO Copywriting doesn’t necessarily mean writing thousands and thousands of words.

So how many words should you have per page? There is no right or wrong answer to that, just make sure you use as many words as you need without waffling. So long as your content is interesting, relevant and attractive, people will read it.

Once upon a time if you wanted to research a subject you had to go to the library and scour numerous reference books for the information you needed.

Today, you just have to Google it.

So how long will it be before the humble books is consigned to the history web pages of the internet?

With the arrival of the Kindle reader (iPad and smartphones) the traditional book looks to be under threat of extinction. This ‘electronic-paper’ wonder  is supposed to offer a reading experience that looks and reads like real paper.

Really?

Not for me thanks. When I read I like to hold a book; fold back the cover and turn proper pages. I love the way its spine creases, the smell of its pages, the way you can insert your bookmark (only to lose it and then have to spend hours trying to find the page you were on).

Even though they take up vast amounts of space in your luggage, there is something very special about a book – for a start it’s battery is never going to go flat.

Reading on the web

If the text of a book is fairly small, you’ll still read it. If the text on a web page is tiny you won’t bother.

Writing for the web is very different from writing for printed media. Reading from a screen is difficult, tiring and really quite boring. So how do you overcome that to encourage people to read your website?

Make your writing look interesting

If you want people to read your content you have to make it look attractive and the best way to do that is to ensure there is:

• Lots of white space
• Headings and sub headings
• Short paragraphs
• Bulleted lists

Basically, if you want people to read the content on your website you have to make it look inviting. Your copy has to be interesting, relevant and search engine friendly. Getting the right amount of content on your page is vital – but good SEO Copywriting doesn’t necessarily mean writing thousands and thousands of words.

So how many words should you have per page? There is no right or wrong answer to that, just make sure you use as many words as you need without waffling. So long as your content is interesting, relevant and attractive, people will read it.

Every business with a website is after good Google rankings.

With more and more people turning to the internet for goods and services, you’ve got to be listed if you want to be found. Which means your listing has to be on the front page.

The copy on your website has to contribute to getting great rankings and it has to be interesting and relevant to your reader. That’s a tough combination to achieve which is why it is vital your business invests in the services of a good SEO Copywriter who really knows what they are doing.

SEO Cheatsheet

If you are still determined to do your website copy in-house, you’re going to need some help. Luckily I stumbled across a post on Conversion Marketing which will help you out no end.

If it’s your job to manage what appears on your website (images, articles, web copy etc.), this post is for you. If you’re not email the link to this for the person who does – they’ll thank you forever.

Conversion Marketing have put together a great On Page SEO Cheatsheet. It tells you how to get the most from your website’s on page search engine optimisation elements:

You can get your very own copy by clicking here and downloading the PDF.

Now you can discover how web pages work in the SEO arena and help optimise your own to give your Google rankings a boost.

Building your freelance copywriting business from scratch isn’t easy.

• How do you get started?
• Where do you find your clients?
• How do you build up a portfolio?

They are just a few of the questions that will be flying round your head.

I have been a freelance copywriter since 2007 and I am frequently asked those questions by copywriters just starting out.

But there is often another one too – Should I write for free?

A fledgling freelancer has a problem – potential clients want to see a portfolio of work. But you can only amass a portfolio when you have clients.

So how do you get those first clients?

Should you write for free?

If a newbie was to ask me whether I think they should write for free, I’d probably say no.

If they asked whether I’d every written anything for free, I’d have to say yes.

How’s about that for confusion? But I have only every done free work in exceptional circumstances. And I’m not alone as this post by Lorraine Thompson shows when she gives 5 cases for working without pay.

When would I work for free?

• As a donation to a charity that I support
• As part of a mutually beneficial barter
• If it’s a ‘too good to be true’ portfolio enhancing opportunity
• For friends and family
• If it helps promote me and my business

If you are asked to do some work for free stop and give your response serious consideration. Is it really going to benefit your business?

Is your website converting?

There are loads of websites out there that look great, have loads of content and, sometimes, rank quite well. But they are missing one thing – they aren’t converting.

This is a conversation I tend to have with people far too regularly. It goes a bit like this:

Client: “My website’s working really well – I get about 500 unique visitors every day”

Copywriter: “Great, so what’s your conversion rate?”

Client: “My what?”

Argh! There you have it – they’ve missed the number one reason for having a website – converting your visitors into paying customers.

That’s why I’ve written this post – to show you how you can make your website convert visitors.

How to make your website convert

Let’s look at how people behave online.

Imagine you’re looking for a new camera. First you’ll probably enter your search phrase in Google, browse down the results and open a new tab for each entry that catches your eye.

Then you’ll read through each one in turn to see what the companies are offering and gradually whittle the open tabs down until you arrive at the one you want.

Have you worked out how to get your website to convert yet?

Yup – someone will buy from you if you are offering something that no one else is. It could be a price choice, free delivery, extended guarantee…the possibilities are endless.

So if you want to convert your visitors you must identify your unique value proposition and make sure it’s the first thing your potential customers see.

Because your UVP is your primary benefit it has to be something that makes you stand out from the crowd. It could be a free bonus item, price reduction, guarantee – something that is of real value to your reader.

If you hide it within your text or deep inside your site, your reader isn’t going to find it and they’ll go elsewhere. So you have to make their lives as easy as possible and make it obvious and on all pages – after all it might not be your home page they land on.

Have a look at your website – is your UVP obvious? If not you know what you’ve got to do if you want to give your conversion rate a boost.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

The days on the Yellow Pages and Business Pages are fast diminishing. More people today turn to the search engines to find local service providers and products.

Therefore getting to grips with local search has never been so important. How geared up it your website and online marketing activities up for local searches?

The best way to make the most of your local search potential is to own as much of the web as possible.

Boosting your online presence

One of the best ways to boost your profile online is to increase the number of web pages you have. That doesn’t mean to say you need a hulking great big website that’ll cost a fortune, but rather a number of pages that relate to your business.

Let me explain.

You can use the power of other websites to increase your online presence. This can be through using Web 2.0 sites such as Squidoo or Hub Pages or other ‘directory’ style sites such as www.myProSpot.com.

This is just one example of a ‘directory’ style website you can utilise to boost your online presence. It allows you to add your company details as many directories do,but by becoming a Platinum member (the site also offers a free membership) you can grab yourself a micro site for your company.

Here’s the one I set up for my freelance copywriting business. Now, not only do I have my own copywriter website, but I also own more of the web through my myProSpot web pages.

These sites are brilliant for local businesses because they allow you to own much more of the web cheaply. Not only will it help with your SEO, it also has great features such as customer feedback – so you can compete against the big boys through your feedback.

About 40% of all small businesses don’t have a website

Considering the online age we’re living in, that’s a very scary statistic. But why should it be like that? Even if you don’t have the budget for a stand-alone site right now, utilising a site like myProSpot will get you online – fast.

t really is worthwhile looking into setting up profiles on sites such as this one – there are plenty out there.

Online marketing – love it or hate it, if you’re a business owner you have to get to grips with it.

As the vast majority of the population use the internet to search for products and services these days, if you you don’t have an online presence you will be missing out on a massive marketplace.

But that doesn’t mean you can just lob any old website into cyber space and people will come running with open wallets.

Being online badly can seriously damage your business

The first thing to remember when starting out in the online world is that the internet isn’t a static entity.

It changes at an alarming rate so you must get to understand it and keep up to date with the latest thinking, ideas and pitfalls.

Being successful on the web will take time, patience and money. If you chuck any old thing together on the cheap you’ll do yourself more harm than good. After all if you had a High Street store you would make sure your window display was attractive and enticed people in the door.

Your website is your virtual High Street store so it must be professional, appealing and tailored to your business needs.

One of my favourite blogs is Copyblogger. A post appeared on there a while ago by Mel Brennan called 6 Online Marketing Mistakes that Will Kill Your Business. Mel takes you by the hand and leads you through the 6 no-nos of internet marketing.

Grab a coffee and have a read. Whether you think you’re web savvy or not, it’s worth taking a few minutes to check it out and make sure you’re not committing any of these cardinal sins.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

If you a business owner today the likelihood is that you dabble in email marketing, or at least have started to think about it.

Email has opened up a new and effective way of keeping in touch with your customers quickly and relatively cheaply.

You can use the emails to give great information, keep them up to date with industry news as well as new products, services and offers.

It only takes a few seconds to communicate with thousands of people.

Because email marketing is a hot topic, I have written numerous posts about it, such as:

How to build your email marketing list

Email marketing – Welcome

How to be an email spammer

How to become the King or Queen of email marketing

Consistent  email marketing

10 words that will make people open your email

Email marketing – When’s the best time to send?

Boost your email open rate

But in this post I want to look at one of the most frequently asked questions…

How often should I email my customers?

It depends…

Your ideal frequency is going to be determined by your business type – what’s right for your neighbour isn’t necessarily going to be right for you.

Take a good hard look at your business. The optimum frequency of your emails will depend largely on:

• What you are offering your customers
• Who your customers are
• What you have to say

People tend to send email son either a quarterly, monthly, bi-monthly (i.e. once every two months), twice monthly, weekly and sometimes daily (or multiple times per day) frequency.

To help you out, here is a short guide to email frequency:

Quarterly

This is great if you don’t have a lot to say. Your products and services probably don’t change that much and you rarely have offers to make.

The main problem with quarterly is it’s not regular enough to make an impression on your readers. By leaving so much time between communications you run the risk the recipient forgetting who you are.

Monthly

Monthly is quite common as it’s regular contact without being intrusive. The content can be a mixture of information, offers, news and views. This type of information exchange is a great way to build and strengthen relationships with your customers.

As a copywriter I send out a monthly newsletter. It provides hints and tips on copywriting, marketing and social media – its all free information that I am giving away and I never sell through it. By the way, if you want to get on the mailing list visit my website and sign up.

Twice a month

This is a compromise if you want to make contact more than monthly but don’t have enough to say for a weekly newsletter. One of the main benefits of twice monthly is that you can use one newsletter to give information whilst the next could be an offer on one of your products. 

Weekly

These are often used by stores looking to sell. Their weekly emails let them communicate offers and new lines quickly and easily to their customers. Plus being retail outlets it won’t come as a surprise to the recipient that they are being sold something.

Keeping up with your chosen frequency is important because your readers will soon get to expect your next issue. If you have to miss one make sure you  tell them to keep them informed.

Email marketing (whether it’s to sell or to offer a regular newsletter) is a great way to keep your company name ‘out there’.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

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.