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How much research do you do when writing web site home page content? It has recently come to my attention that I do more research than actual writing. The fact is, I do research for months before tackling any new project. The work I do for clients; the research can lead to sleepless nights while I wander the web and other parts unknown to get a handle on what I want and need to put forth for any given project or client. What is amazing about this is I don't think anyone else puts as much effort into their research as I do. Whoa! Back up the truck Chuck! ...you might say. But I hear this from client after client: • How did you come up with this concept? It is so unique! • We did not even consider those key phrases! • How did you compile so many statistics so fast? • This is so much more than we thought we'd get! • Our traffic has increased ten fold and conversions have quadrupled! Uh, huh - I tell you no lies. It also makes me wonder how others go about researching web site content. A few of the things I do for every client when I begin are: • Analyze the current content. Not just read it over. • Analyze the current statistical information in relation to the content. • Analyze the competition. • Analyze the competition. • And finally, uh, analyze the competition some more. If you don't know WHO you need to beat out with your new web page content, how will you know or understand HOW to do it? What to say? WHO to say it to? Getting ahead of the competition is or should be the goal here. So concentrating your efforts on the competitive market is where you need to be spending your time. The web page content you come up with (those four to twenty home page paragraphs) can mean the difference between keeping a client, gaining new clients and feeding your family, uh, and the family of the client. Think about that. More than one family depends on your words. So do you still think a few afternoons on research is all you need to do? Think again. Good, solid research can mean, among other things, eating well, having good wine on the table, uh, this is making me hungry and it is coming on to breakfast time! Just another hour or so of research and I will stop to eat. Maybe I will go for that now... Food, research, food, research, decisions, decisions... Verb  Copyhead in Wichita, KS, USA
Your Web Site Is Your Book… and search engines judge your book by It’s TITLE. Back to SEO Tips here. It seems writing SEO tips gets more traffic than writing about copywriting or even SEO copywriting. The one tip to be handed out today is about web page titles. The page titles are the crowning glory for each web page. The title sits at the top of the page as a reminder to the viewer/reader of exactly what that page should be about. One of the most important things you can do for yourself is spend time on the title of each page of your website. If all it says up there is “Home” or “About Us” you have not only missed the boat, you are sinking it to the bottom of the big pond known as the world wide web. Your web page titles are indexed first. Let me re-iterate that statement – your web page title is indexed first. The title of your pages should be more thought out than the page content. It’s true. You may spend hours, weeks or months constructing the best page content possible for your niche market but if you do not spend as much time considering the title, that wonderful page content will be moot. No one will find it without the proper title. The Do’s: • Use keywords first as the first words carry the most weight. • Every page should have a unique title. • The words or sentence you use should make sense. • Write your page titles for human consumption. The Don’ts: • Don’t put your company name in the title. • Don't use words such as "best, top, fabulous." • Don't repeat keywords if possible. How many characters?: • Google page titles display 64 characters in results. • Yahoo page titles display 68 characters in results. Note: You can have more characters in your page title but how much weight they carry is questionable. When putting the crowning glory on your web pages think hard about those words and use your imagination to allow your crowns to be a true shining glory. Is this a hoky enough blog entry? Geeze a loo Batman. I could do better but it's past my bedtime, again... Blessings. Verb SEO Copywriting Wichita, KS, USA
Good Evening Ya'll. Because SEO tips seem to be such a big thing these days and because I almost never see this one "out there,” I thought I would jot it down and add it to this blog. Since no one reads my blogs, that point may be moot. However I am doin' it anyhousen and hope some lost souls find it, and make good use of this little tidbit. Once you have found and know your niche market, have done a lot of other SEO work, this "tip" might help you with your PR in google. Let's hope. It has helped my web sites, in the long run. Using your main search term first, one where your web site shows up on page one in google, look at every listing on page one. Are there directories there? There almost certainly should be as large directories show up in just about any search term search now a days. Start at the top and work your way down. Go at least three pages deep too. Apply to be listed in these directories. Take the time to enter all the pertinent information for each directory you are applying to be listed in. I know, I know, it's spouted all over the place that google is penalizing large directories for paid inclusion. This has nothing to do with that. If a directory is showing up on page one now, it has not been penalized. DUH. At least not yet. This supplies you with incoming, one-way links to your site that are using pertinent key words and key phrases that you are also using. There are some web sites that list directories and will submit your site to lots of them. At least they say they do. Ignore those sites unless you want to be listed in directories that don't have a chance of helping your PR and could actually hurt your ranking. Choose carefully where incoming links come from. Quality is always better than quantity. Getting listed in directories is time consuming, not a lot of fun, drudge work. I can guarantee you though that if you do it properly, the rewards can be momentous. Add this to your daily schedule: • Add one incoming link to my web site every day. • I will NOT pay for listings. If you do it in this fashion, it will not feel like such mind numbing work. At the end of one year, you will have 365 good, valid incoming links from directories that google seems to like. After all, they are listed and placed well. OH, you use a lot of different key words and phrases, right? Then you need to have that list handy. After getting free listings in all the directories on the first (at least) few pages of google search, move on to the next key word or key phrase. At this point, you are starting over with the process. See what I mean? Drudge, drudge, drudge... very boring. But also, very effective. Questions? Surely you have some... Sunday Blessings. Verb  ~~~~~~~~~~ Verb is a grandmother, and consummate microbusiness SEO specialist, web designer and web content writer/copywriter. She works with microwebmasters, providing high value web content, SEO services and teaches SEO strategies.
Good Evening. A very little bit about SEO and SE Placement. ...and every little bit helps. I like to jump right in, so here we go... SEO work should be done before you build a web site. What? How is THAT possible? You simply make a list of what all the search engines want from a site and implement them when building your web site. It's the first step. It's OK - don't scream and holler. I understand how frustrating that sounds. If everyone had to back up to the beginning they would give up. Right? Well, no one wants to do that so, with the list nearby, let’s start with one basic thing. Are you listed in google? Everyone’s web site (pretty much) is crawled by the googlebot, the msn bot, inktomi slurp, and other various crawlers and spiders. When your site is crawled it also is indexed. It can take two days to two months for the results to show up in your searches but it does happen. Are we there yet? Want to know if your site has been indexed? Go to google and in the search box type this: site:www.yoursitename.com or whatever your url is and see what you get. You should see all the pages listed for your site. This means your site has been crawled and indexed. See how easy that was? You should never have to pay anyone to "submit" to search engines. SE robots know their job and DO their job, so keep your hard earned $$ in your own pocket. Don’t buy into that, it’s stupid to pay someone when the robots have already done what they are programmed to do. Is your baby lost in the crowd? Now search with your search terms, did you find your site? Don't feel bad if you didn’t. This happens to plenty of folks. You work your tail off, learn html (css and more), build a site (by trial and error) and then uh, you hit a brick wall. How do you get it to show up in searches somewhere in the top uh, 100,000? LOL. Just kidding, that should not be anyone's goal. The goal is page ONE on google for your targeted search keywords and/or key phrases. Back up the truck Chuck! Do this. It is for your own good (so don't give me that LOOK!). Get a google account and verify your web site or web sites. It's free, easy and it will be a boost to your SEO efforts to use the tools google provides. What makes google so special? It is the most complicated of all the SE's, the most used, ever changing and probably the most poo-pooed. But the fact is, if you can learn to optimize your web site for google all the other search engines will pick you up too. Like falling dominoes - you knock them all down, one by one, check them off your list, sit back, and relax. Yeah right. Here are the web marketing facts:
If you think it is hard to compete with Wal-Mart in your town how are you going to be able to compete with every Wal-Mart in the WORLD? The ONE SEO Tip? Let google tell you what you need. They do you know. Want to get to the top? With a little encouragement a list of what you actually need to do may show up here. Stay tuned... Blessings and Peace, Verb  P.S. - I don't have a dog anymore, so relax. Plus, no dogs were actually used or abused during the writing of this blog entry. ~~~~~~~~~~ This blog by Eileen Brown, owner of Buddy Web Works and Buddy Copywriting. (Both divisions of BEK - Brown Enterprises of KS, and the Buddy Web Group.) Eileen is a grandmother, and consummate microbusiness SEO specialist, web designer and web content writer/copywriter. She works with microwebmasters, providing high value web content, SEO services and teaches SEO strategies.
Good Morning Copywriters. I am cutting to the chase, as I am a bit angry. If I use some strong language, forgive me. While searching for web sites in my own little berg (by using the city, st in the se) I saw a line in a web site description that caught my eye. It was something like this: "events: 'smart women' meeting at such and such." (not the actual copy) There was no link to the named web site so I copied and pasted it into my brower to have a look see. A very pleasant web site indeed - the headline caught my eye and I started reading - not much on the first page so I clicked on the "next" button. On the second page "Business Overview,” there were several paragraphs to read. The third paragraph headed with "The facts" is what made me angry. You know that feeling when something that is simply not true and it jumps out at you? And you think: What? What was that? Well, this time I did not laugh and go on. It made me angry because the entire intent of the web site was to draw in "smart women" and any smart woman would know this was not a fact. The offensive text: "millions of baby boomers in their late- thirties to mid-fifties..." And BINGO, I saw red. What idiot thinks "late-thirties to mid-fifties" are the baby boomer ages? It is wrong to out and out lie, my Mother told me that and I am sure yours did too. Why do some copywriters think they can play with the facts? The baby boomer years are 1946 to 1963 and that makes the age range 44 to 61 (in 2007). Everybody knows that! Don’t they? The example above is a real instance. Copywriters must realize that people are smarter than they might think. Always get your facts straight before presenting them to the public. As stated, many women would just laugh it off and read on, but many would also know it was a blatant lie , not some kind of malignant typo. And any smart woman would leave the web site upon reading that text. 01.) Get your facts straight. 02.) Present them intelligently but personably. 03.) Go to heaven for always telling the truth. 04.) Us baby boomer smart women will catch you if you lie. Whew! I am glad I got that off my chest. I guess “idiot” and “lie” is the strongest language I used. You should thank your lucky stars that I am drinking coffee and not wine…  Verb CopyHead, Wichita, KS, USA
Good Day, Copywriting World. In case you missed it, I blogged here last night to clear my mind of many mixed feelings. A real tear jerker too. Yuck. When re-reading it this morning, the realization was I had written an ad. Jeeze a loo Batman! It was not my intention or my wish to advertise to anyone about anything. Sometimes the copywriter in us just takes over. Some of us cannot turn off this thought process. One thought leads to another when telling a story and although the post was disjointed, disorganized, and very personal, it led to posting two urls. If you read that blog post, you will know how that thought process worked. In trying to clear my head, I came to peace with the same issues that brought me peace when I bought those urls. It felt good and brought on a smile. It would be an unknown fact, how I chose those names, if I had not blogged about my feelings. I was telling a true story off the top of my head. Good storytelling has brought customers back to websites as often as good concise, clear copy has done for many a year. If you can tell a compelling story and work the information about a product or service into the story (copy) you might be the next HOT copywriter in a worldwide market. This type of copywriting does not come naturally to many copywriters. But for those who do find it easy to express their own life stories (as in 'wearing your heart on your sleeve') it can be a lucrative career builder. Supposing you are able to write fiction, all the better. Depending on the product or service, try telling a story, just for fun, the next time you are writing copy. You may find it comes easily or naturally. If so, you may have just found a new niche for your copywriting skills and a whole new marketing strategy for your career. Good luck and keep your puck moving… Verb P.S. (The tear jerker blog entry is here: http://www.copywriting.com/community/blog-b6-entry9.html ...just in case you are in the mood for that.) Copywriter in Wichta, KS, USA
Dear Gentle Readers. Although this blog, among others here is supposed to be about copywriting I need to stray from that tonight to get some personal things said, written down and out of my head. It will not be my usual ramblings. My first Grand-nephew is going off to Denver tomorrow to a new life and college. I just spoke with him to wish him good luck and send my love along with him in the morning. He may not sleep enough tonight and as silly as it sounds, I probably won't either. He would have been my older brother's first grand child, had my brother lived beyond his 35th birthday, that is. And at this point my brother would have been bursting with pride. I am, but my feelings are mixed with angst. It is a dangerous world out there, can you dig it? Sending a child out to be on his (or her) own is different than it used to be. I remember my son walking to school along some very busy avenues, but back then, you worried about the traffic, not the other bad stuff that could happen. It's funny that saying "Good luck", "good bye" and "love ya kiddo" can bring on feelings of sadness, anxiety and general malaise. I have missed my brother since the day he left this world and speaking with his first grand son should make me prouder than it makes me sad. But it doesn't. I kept smiling, did not cry and joked with the lad a bit. All was OK when I hung up the phone. Then it hit me, the fact that he will not be here for his sister's first day of school this year or for his Mom's birthday. I know he will be home sick, we discussed that and the fact that bearing down, once again, on the books will lead him to a grand career in a few years. He's talented, good looking and tall. He is personable, everyone likes him. Most of us love him. My brother would have loved him, most of all. My brother was a commercial artist and his incredible talent has been passed on to this very special child. OK, enough, I am straightening up in my chair, wiping my tears away and blowing my snout in a slightly used paper napkin that was tucked in my sleeve. One extra "sniffle" and I am OK. When I was looking for domain names last year and earlier this year, it hit me that I had the perfect name, there, just on the tip of my tongue and it was available. BuddyWebWorks.com - Buddy was my brother's nickname. I called him that all my life. I did not know he had a real name until I was in my teens. Buddy - my big bro. So it was a natural and I could plunk down a few bucks and have a perfect url that suited me just fine. Then, I needed another domain name and "BINGO" I hoped against hope that it was available too, and it was. BuddyCopywriting.com - Nothing could be better, in my mind anyhousen. So now I have two url's that make me smile whenever I type them out, say them in my own puny brain, and consider how proud he was of me, back when, and how proud he would be today, tonight and tomorrow of his own first grand-son. UH, I guess it turned out to be ramblings after all, sorry about that... Next time, copywriting stuff, scouts honor. Verb P.S. (This is an EXAMPLE of storytelling coywriting. See: http://www.copywriting.com/community/blog-b6-entry10.html to find out why.) (See Verb's page on the ryze network.)
Hiya fellow blogging Buddies. For this particular blog I think we are supposed to write about copywriting. Is that true? Anyone? I guess if I need to write copy on this particular subject I will begin by describing what I think I know about um... ok, I got it - text formatting for web site content. Yeah, sound good enough? This may only be a sideline to copywriting but it is past my bedtime and my thinking cap is sliding off the side of my head. Here is what I know, or at least think I know. 1.) Text lines should be short. Around 500 pixels wide, which equates to somewhere between 50 and 70 characters using a regular font like say, Arial and between 10 and 12 in size. This is for ease of readability. People will be able to read the text much easier. Have you ever seen a web site where the text line length is a variable? Sure you have, because more than 60% of web sites are set up that way. Sometimes the lines get so long you get lost and cannot follow along. Not very user friendly. Copywriters know this and according to the stats, a lot of web designers don't. 2.) Use white space around text boxes. Don't jam your text up against the side walls of your pages. It diminishes readability, yet again. Have, if possible, 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches of space around the text box. Or more, never less. 3.) Use a size type that is big enough to read without squinting. I know you know exactly what I mean on this one. Make the type large enough to be easily read. Three points on readability is the best I can do at this late hour. I won't go into fonts, as that is a whole 'nother subject and my eyes are starting to close all by themselves. If this is news to anyone in the copywriting forum, I'll eat my hat. Verb P.S. - I made up the 60% stat. It sounded good when I was typing out the point above. Don't believe everything you read. sheesh. SEO copywriting Wichita, KS, USA
Verb on Blogging. Active is the word to describe what a blog should be. "Active" as in "moving along". Blog when you have something to say and even when you don't. I don't know how to blog, so don't ask. If blogging were a real talent, I still would not know how to describe blogging to anyone as I am still a novice myself and wonder why anyone reads blogs. I don't have a problem with a blank page, I can fill up a blank page (or screen) pretty quickly. But would anyone want to read it? Probably not. And, guess what? No one does. My blogs are various and wide spread. I post in at least one blog a day and to my knowledge, none have been read. So, why would I continue to blog? To clear my mind? To haphazardly spew out words and verbs to the stratosphere? Not really. I just want to add links to my websites. Some blogging places do that quite well. So I blog. The thing I need to learn is how to do it right. Make my ramblings count for something. If someone had read one of my blogs, just once in the last month, I would have fallen in love. No doodah man. I suppose one of the reasons (other than the links) that I love to blog is to read my own words on the screen. How stupid is that? Pretty much: "Stupid is as stupid does." - Forrest Gump But, I can tell you that it is a necessary "active" part of being a copywriter. Write, write and write some more. I actually don't care that people do not read my blogs - as long as google likes them, I consider myself well read. Verb Copywriting Wichita, KS, USA |
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Jan 14 2008, 01:17 PM