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.

You’ve done your keyword research, you’ve designed your website so it’s easy for your readers to navigate, you’ve even found an SEO copywriter to write some great, targeted copy that your visitors will want to read. So what’s next?

That is just the start of your search engine optimisation strategy, if you want it to continue to work and bring in great rankings you’re going to have to become an active link builder.

How do links help?

Let’s go back to the beginning. Every web page is given a Page Rank (a number ranging from 0 to 10 to illustrate your page’s value with 0 being the lowest).

When another page links to you (using a follow link), a little bit of that Page Rank filters through to you (link juice) because it’s seen as a vote of confidence in your page. So the more quality links you get to your website, the higher your Page Rank and the more authoritative you are seen by the search engines.

So how do you get links?

First off, gathering links can a slow and lengthy process (and a continuous one). The best way by far to link build is by doing it organically.

How do you do that? Well it’s by:

• Writing interesting content that people will want to link to
• Submitting your website to directories
• Blogging and linking back to your website through your posts
• Article marketing

It’s time consuming and slow, but you won’t get Google’s back up.

Is there a quicker way?

Yes there is but I wouldn’t recommend it. Short cuts are never a good idea so don’t buy in links you could be asking for all sorts of trouble especially as you’ll be going against Google’s guidelines and could risk your website. If you don’t believe me take a look at Julie Joyce’s post on Search Engine Journal entitled “4 Huge Mistakes to Avoid When You Build Links“.

If you’re serious about SEO, your website and your reputation, go organic – it’s the only way.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Remember Wimbledon last year and that epic match between Mahut and Isner? It lasted an incredible 11 hours and 5 minutes in total with Isner eventually winning 6-4 3-6 6-7 7-6 70-68!

You’re probably wondering what Wimbledon, and that match in particular, has to do with SEO copywriting. Well hang in there and I’ll tell you.

Just like Isner, if you want to win with your SEO strategy you have to be in it for the long haul.

Many people still view their ‘SEO strategy’ as:

• Find a few keywords
• Get someone to build a website
• Stick some text on it which includes the keywords
• Bob’s your uncle, you’ll be on the front page of Google

That’s not how it works. If it was that easy we’d all be laughing.

To put a more scientific slant on this, here’s a simple equation to help you discover what it takes to success with your website’s SEO:

SEO friendly website + great SEO copy + back links + determination = great rankings

If you want to achieve great organic rankings you must:

• do great keyword research
• get a professional SEO copywriter to write your copy for you
• constantly build back links to your website (via blogs,articles etc.)
• review your analytics regularly to see your site’s performance
• regularly review your keywords

Basically it is a continual process. Is it hard work? Yes, it can be but when you consider how much money you’ll save (in relation to pay per click advertising etc.) it won’t seem so bad.

Great search engine results will reduce the need for other paid advertising. So what would you rather do? Spend a bit of time getting clients for nothing, or spend a shed load of cash on ineffective advertising?

The decision is yours. But I know which I would prefer.