SEO
Writing
Optimum
Text for Optimum Success
by Phil Hanson
What You Want
Every
'Netrepreneur desires to own a successful on-line business,
and a popular Web site from which to run it. Whether you want
to build or enhance your reputation, establish your credibility,
elevate your status among your peers or simply contribute to
the common good, chances are that your primary goals are to
generate an income and make a healthy profit. After all, profits
are the yardstick most people use to measure success.
There
are numerous ways to accomplish these goals, but perhaps the
fastest and best way is to optimize your Web page text for the
major search engines. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) writing
is vitally important to your Web site's success because search
engine optimized Web pages tend to rank higher in the major
search engines, a status that results in more visitors coming
to your site.
But,
the number of visitors, alone, won't guarantee your Web site's
success. Effective SEO Web page copy must function, at a
minimum, on two levels; it has to appeal to the search engines,
and it has to appeal to the visitors that the search engines
attract to your Web site.
If
your Web page content's sole reason for being is to convey general
information and bulk up the Web site to satisfy the search engine
spiders' gluttonous appetite for keyword-rich material, SEO
text gives you better odds of getting a good page rank.
However,
if your Web page's purpose is to compel visitors to buy a product
or service that you're selling, then your search engine optimized
text also needs to contain sales copy that convinces visitors
to make the purchase. In effect, your SEO Web page copy must
now perform at a third level.
You
don't have to make compromises to get Web page copy with muscle.
In fact, when it comes to effective Web page text, you shouldn't
make compromises of any kind. You can have SEO Web page
content that does it all. (See the Perfect Text Order
Desk for details.)
What
the Search Engines Want
Of
course, it takes more than just professional-quality text to
earn a top page rank. Search engines are programmed to look
at title and description tags, keyword density, subject relevancy,
total site content, linking strategy and link quality, among
other things.
Good
SEO writing involves compiling a search term list (keywords
and keyword phrases), then writing in a manner that makes good
use of the chosen search terms, both in placement and in density,
to create body text that's relevant to the Web page's purpose.
Meta
tags are also important, especially the title and description
tags. Keyword tags are of less importance, but they still
have their uses. ALT tags, too, are useful, and failing
to include them can cause your Web pages to rank lower.
Search-engine
spiders love written content, so having massive amounts
of it can only help your cause. Having an article archive on
your site is a good way to provide that content. Just remember
that the SEO rules that apply to the rest of your site also
apply to individual articles.
A
good link strategy is an essential part of top page ranks.
Avoid link farms and any Web sites that are obviously of low
quality. Avoid linking to any site that can destroy your credibility
or damage your reputation.
Don't
use a Web site's Google page rank or Alexa rank as an excuse
for linking, or not linking, to a site. The only way you can
tell whether a Web site has merit, for linking purposes, is
to get inside the site and check it out for yourself. Your most
important criterion is lots of relevant, well-written content.
It's what the search engines are looking for, and you can be
absolutely certain it's what your potential link partners are
looking for on your site.
Without
sufficient quantities of SEO text on your Web pages, your
Web site will neither attract the high-quality link partners
you desire, or the high search engine page ranks that are so
necessary to on-line success.
What
Your Web Site's Visitors Want
Optimizing
Web page text for people requires a different strategy. Because
people and search engines read Web page content in different
ways, your copy must accommodate both without sacrificing
one for the other.
Reader-friendly
text must flow smoothly from start to finish. It must be coherent,
cohesive, comprehensible and literate, but never ambiguous or
confusing to your readers. A seamless weaving of SEO text
with text that's imminently more readable by people complicates
the writing process, but is worth the effort and/or expense
because it serves dual purposes. The same text that causes search
engines to deliver more visitors to your Web site also gives
those visitors a better reading experience.
Well-written
headlines grab a visitor's attention and make her want to
read the text that follows. But, keeping a reader's attention
is as important as getting it. If the body text is not held
to the same high standards as the headlines, you'll lose the
reader anyway. You may as well not even have the headline; your
Web page has failed.
Attention-getting
headlines, supported by attention-holding text, are the keys
to 'Netrepreneurial success. It doesn't get any simpler—or
more complicated—than that.
What
Your Potential Customers Want
Okay,
you've got great headlines and equally great body text occupying
your Web pages. Are these enough? Maybe, and maybe not. It depends
on your Web pages' purpose.
If
your Web pages must sell products or services, then strong
sales copy must be integrated into the optimization writing
process. Potential customers want to be informed, they want
to be persuaded and they want to be convinced. Then,
they want to be sold.
Writing
Web page text that simultaneously appeals to search engines,
human readers and potential customers is akin to creating artwork
that consists of a picture made up of many smaller pictures.
It's a neat trick if you can pull it off.
Is
writing multiple-purpose text an easy task? Never! Is it worth
the effort? Always! Professional writers know that good
writing is not so much about writing, per se, as it is about
rewriting and revising. Few, if any, writers get it right with
the first draft.
Besides,
it's the final draft that counts.
Copyright
© 2004– 2005 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Order Phil's SEO text for Web pages directly from the Order
Desk.
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