Why Copywriting is the most important SEO skill, and how I proved it

April 24, 2007 | 10 Comments

There was a time when the role of the copywriter was to just write the website’s main service pages, with the requisite keywords craftily sewn into the copy. It was the developer’s responsibility to apply their HTML wizardry to trick the search engines into pushing the website onto people’s screens. However, as Google’s algorithms have evolved so have the responsibilities of the copywriter.

Google increasingly ranks sites based on who is providing the most relevant information and with the most high quality back-links. For achieving both of these aims good quality copywriting is key.

Your website’s copy has never been a more significant, central pillar to your search marketing strategy. Copywriting is what will attract search engines, as well as consumers. Copywriting is the glue that holds your SEO playbook together.

Search marketing guru Lee Odden recently hosted a poll to assess what SEO skill was the most important. Lee’s readership is certain to include some of the most experienced and savvy search marketers around. His poll’s results should provide an accurate insight into the search industry’s thinking.

Here are the results at the time of writing, but please check Lee’s original post for the latest figures. I don’t think anybody will be surprised by the result, and judging by the comments section nobody was:

  •  Copywriting (30%)
  •  Keyword analysis (13%)
  •  Marketing strategy (10%)
  •  Web analytics (10%)
  •  Online research and search (8%)
  •  Traditional link building (8%)
  •  Social media for SEO (5%)
  •  Online PR for SEO (5%)
  •  Account management (3%)
  •  Creative and design (3%)
  •  Coding (2%)
  •  Sales process consulting (1%)
  •  Media and link buying (1%)
  •  Server side issues (0%)
  •  Blog marketing (0%)
  •  Blackhat skillz (0%)

Steven Bradley, another SEO specialist, offered his insight into the poll. He assessed that although no discipline on its own is the answer, copywriting is the central skill needed to drive most SEO tactics.

As the industry moves increasingly towards link building and visitor retention, the importance of good copywriting is only set to continue.

Internet marketers have long advocated how copywriting is the most important element of your website. Only your words will truly engage with visitors and persuade them why they need your product or service.

Internet marketing is now venturing into the realms of engagement, online PR and blogs; copywriting has never been a more crucial skill for getting attention and effectively marketing yourself online.

Lee’s SEO skill poll’s result couldn’t be more appropriately timed judging by my own recent experience of search marketing.

In the last week there has been a slow trickle of visitors reaching my website for my key search term ‘copywriter’. It would appear that Google has seen it fit to push my website onto page 2 of UK search results.

Reaching the higher echelons of UK copywriter websites is now within my grasp. If I can raise my game and post to the Crucible more often, I might be able to turn this trickle into a flood of targeted traffic, bursting into a torrent of phone calls when I have clawed my way onto page 1.

Google’s decision to promote my business revolves around the copywriting (or technically speaking the ‘content’) that has gone into the Copywriter’s Crucible.

If I hadn’t started blogging then my website would probably have remained treading water in the outer reaches of search results, a place that receives so few visitors and such little attention that it becomes a virtual graveyard of failed businesses.

Simply by posting once a week on subjects relevant to my business, and that I hoped would interest other people, I have been able to overtake my competitors’ near-static websites, sat complacently watching the world go by.

Copywriting and blogging has been the fuel that has kept my website vibrant and healthy. Writing regularly is what has given my website the wind to power my search marketing strategy, and hopefully eventually sail my way onto Google UK’s front page.

The search term ‘copywriter’ is the lighthouse by which people will find me. Now my website has nearly reached the shoreline of page 1’s search results I will soon be able to dock and wait for business to arrive, rather than be stranded out at sea without even a paddle.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Copywriting, Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, blogging 

Smart Business Sells in Chapters

April 18, 2007 | Leave a Comment

The internet’s resurgence as a place for doing business has launched another gold rush. People are panning furiously to find the best way of marketing and selling online. Every once in a while a business comes along which seems to tick all the boxes; their stall appears destined to do a brisk trade in the global marketplace.

In this Tuesday’s business section of the Telegraph newspaper, the editor felt it newsworthy to print a comment by a PR exec about an online bookstore offering free downloads of their books’ first few chapters: “This is a unique offering and has great PR potential which would really ramp up the marketing and sales.”

My delight at finding a PR practitioner who understood the true value of giving away free content lured me into reading the full article (you have to register to read but registration is free).

It was a case study about Lovereading.com: a relatively small company hoping to compete with the mighty Amazon by tempting readers with the first few chapters of their books for free.

By giving away free content they are being a ‘generous brand’. Smart supermarkets give away free consumer magazines; businesses can offer free white papers or newsletters. As long as your content is of value, giving away for free is the best way of garnering trust and loyalty with a consumer now resistant to advertising.

Lovereading were featured in the paper because they are looking for investment to grow the business and attract their target of 1.5 million readers from a UK field of 10 million bookworms. Their business is primarily to act as a direct marketing tool for publishers and attract readers not enamoured with Amazon.

If ever a business was suited to the internet then Lovereading is it. If they are able to provide a more efficient and valued service than Amazon (who offer free samples but from random chapters) then their market is not just the UK but the entire world.

If we bring the ‘long tail’ into the equation then, depending on how quickly they can add downloads to their library, the number of books they can offer is virtually limitless.

Without the limitation of physical space and the technology available to print books to order, they can cater for any author, genre, taste or even language. Their potential market is enormous and only made possible by setting up shop online.

I got so carried away from reading the article that I ended up leaving a comment of my own. Hopefully the Telegraph’s editor might find it newsworthy enough to publish in tomorrow’s edition, even if they did delete my suggestion that Lovereading start a blog.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Marketing, blogging 

Why Businesses Aren’t Blogging

April 12, 2007 | 2 Comments

I am a business blogging evangelist. There I’ve said it. I think businesses should be selling their services through education and building trust with information of value. What better way of achieving this than with a relevant and regularly updated blog?

Sometimes I wonder whether I do get carried along with the whole web 2.0 crowd and should stop to see why business blogging hasn’t yet taken off on a larger scale. After all, not everybody thinks there is going to be an imminent revolution in how businesses communicate.

This week I’m going to step down from my pulpit of normal sermons, on the need for businesses to engage with their marketplace, to see what the other side thinks.

Last week’s Blogging4Business conference was an opportunity for those in marketing and PR to listen to blogging’s proponents and decide whether to be afraid or rejoice.

The BBC sent a reporter along so, with their government mandate for objective reporting, I was interested to see what impression was being broadcast to the wider world.

The BBC’s reporter attended a session hosted by Microsoft’s Darren Strange, one of their leading bloggers, who gave a typically browbeating speech:

He delivered an impassioned plea for firms to allow staff free reign to write their own blogs.

“I know it sounds scary that you have hundreds of people writing what they like about the firm, and you having no control over it,” Mr Strange said.

“Yes, things will go wrong, people will say things that perhaps they shouldn’t but the benefits outweigh the downsides.”

The room of PR executives meanwhile had been stunned into silence.

It’s a common theme in the blogosphere that the traditional PR and marketing mindsets are struggling to come to terms with the new attitudes to communication. It would appear that this view is also shared with the wider world and still a reason why business blogging isn’t being pushed along the traditional lines.

People often fear what they don’t understand or think they can’t control. Mainstream exposure of blogging is always beneficial for the movement’s growth, even if it’s just to highlight the gaping void between the traditional mindset and new breed of online proponents.

In my search for people prepared to stand up and challenge the beliefs of the business blogging movement I came across a white paper by Lewis PR. The report is well researched and objective, and does give a clear insight into some of the barriers holding the movement back.

Here are some of its key points:

  • In a survey of 300 companies from 10 countries only 5% had a blog. A stark contrast to the popular and oft quoted Jupiter research report that heralded 35% of companies would be blogging by the end of 2006. The fact is that business blogging hasn’t yet taken off and is still mainly the preserve of individual professionals, marketing and new media agencies.

  • There is uncertainty about the benefits and best practices. More mainstream awareness is needed of case studies and businesses who have gained from blogging.

  • There is less enthusiasm to invest in new technology simply because it is the latest fad. Businesses are no longer going to spend money just trying to be cool. People are keeping their fingers in their pockets after getting them burnt in the last misfired internet explosion.

  • Blogging requires a significant investment of time, skill and knowledge. You can outsource the first two, but will still soak up an employee’s time providing the third.

  • It’s difficult to assess the value of blogging in terms of cost-benefit. We are still missing a recognised set of metrics for measuring engagement, although some would argue that a lot of marketing takes place without robust metrics anyway.

  • It’s difficult to pitch blogging to a CEO. Without quantifiable benefits like bringing in sales leads and reputation enhancement, but with the much publicised risks, it’s a difficult sell. Page 10 of the report does, however, provide a good summary of all the possible benefits for HR, marketing, sales etc.

  • Marketers and blogging gurus might read a lot of RSS feeds but that doesn’t mean business people do. Will your blog be able to gain their attention with all the emails, industry magazines and sales calls they receive in a day? (Research was, however, published by Edelman showing that blog readership contains a large proportion of influencers: people responsible for buying decisions who want to be up to date on the latest developments. RSS has also only been integrated into browsers for a few months).

  • Your blog has to be able to provide news and information of value to attract readers. If your business isn’t in a fast paced industry then you might struggle to provide enough for the business crowd.

  • Blogs need to be transparent and fit in with the blogging culture, if this doesn’t fit in with your business’ culture then your blog might struggle. Corporate speak doesn’t work online.

  • Your blog might attract negative comments and feedback if you’re in a controversial industry or attract criticism. Animal testing firms should probably think twice.

Lewis PR’s report highlights many of the issues business blogging is facing: lack of awareness, lack of well known case studies and the fear of jumping in before everybody else.

The business blogging movement still continues to gain pace though, with SEO firms now signing up and many PR agencies making hesitant enquiries.

Last year I went to a small business exhibition in Milton Keynes to distribute leaflets on the benefits of blogging in the hope of riding the web 2.0 wave. I’ve still got a pile sat in my drawer. Lewis Global PR’s report shows that it might still be too early to give them another airing just yet.

Business blogging might not be appropriate for every business. But for those wishing to reach a global audience with a niche product, the time is still ripe to start talking about yourself and engaging with your online marketplace. I still know which side I’m on, even if it is just because it’s more interesting.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Copywriting, Marketing, Online-PR, RSS, Search Engine Optimisation, blogging 

“Google is not a search engine. It’s a reputation management system”

April 5, 2007 | 6 Comments

The relationship between copywriting and search marketing has never been closer; I now find myself covering the same stories as eminent SEM pros Lee Odden and Andy Beal. All three of us have recently covered issues highlighted in a Wired article about ‘The See-Through CEO’, a story about how being transparent can enhance your image, and how Google is now your mirror.

The article discusses how a CEO openly talked about his business and reached out to his marketplace. By exposing some of the myths and taking out al the ‘sales baloney’, he was able to build relationships with customers like never before. He also appeared to upset the rest of his industry in the process, but I digress.

In our new connected age it is impossible for businesses to rely on smoke and mirrors to disguise their problems. People can now spread their opinions and experiences faster than a Paris Hilton home video. Companies such as Sony, Walmart, Dell and South West Airlines have all felt the wrath of disgruntled customers, haemorrhaging their reputation with relish.

The powers of a company to control their message are dissipating. People can now block out their overt PR and sales spiel. Transparency now appears to be the language to adopt, spoken with the vocabulary of relevance and value.

The key area of my shared interest with Lee and Andy in the article is the impact of comments and opinions on search results. Google loves regularly updated websites with plenty of back-links. It’s these that are highlighted as the most relevant and pushed onto people’s screens.

When the uproar over Dell’s customer service exploded the first two search results were posts attacking Dell’s reputation. The lesson is that if you don’t talk about yourself than somebody else will, and you might not like what they have to say.

With hindsight, Dell should have simply released an apology and a promise to do better. Customers get angry when they think they aren’t being listened to, but can be forgiving if they feel their problems have at least been acknowledged.

Google is no longer just an online directory, but a reflection of your reputation. Its search results show what is being said and what information has the most influence. Internet marketing is no longer just about getting your website to the top, but also about getting to know the search results around you.

Previously brands would hire a PR agency to push positive stories onto the news channels to influence what people were saying. Now people are creating news channels of their own, free to say whatever they like and with an audience that listens intently.

As the Wired article comments:

“Being transparent, opening up, posting interesting material frequently and often is the only way to amass positive links to yourself and thus to directly influence your Googleable reputation. Putting out more evasion or PR puffery won’t work, because people will either ignore it and not link to it - or worse, pick the spin apart and enshrine thosecriticisms high on your Google list of life.”

The same topic was covered by a panel at the Bloggin4Business conference, currently in full swing in London. The panel of experts were discussing the impact of social media on advertising and marketing.

“Marketing needs to completely reinvent itself because the media world has completely changed,” commented Anthony Mayfield from Spannerworks, “Success means earning attention by being useful.”

The notion that online marketing is purely about SEO is dated. It’s now about becoming a relevant and active cornerstone of your marketplace’s community. You need to become an ‘authentic brand ambassador’ and an integrated part of your online ecosystem.

A brand’s internet marketing strategy should be about being as transparent as possible and generous with their news and information. Not burying their heads in the sand and hoping people in the internet bubble will run out of air.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Copywriting, Marketing, Online-PR, RSS, Search Engine Optimisation, blogging 

E-consultancy Roundtable Online-PR report

April 3, 2007 | 3 Comments

Discussion of Online-PR continues unabatted with the ever reliable e-consultancy releasing their report on the status quo.

A few of the key points:

  • There might be widespread use of Online PR for defensive purposes, such as reputation monitoring, but there is still little proactive use for marketing due to lack of experts and PR agency knowledge in the area.
  • Companies need an integrated offline and online approach with activites supported and reflected in both.
  • Uniting online and offline PR is a recent development -“SEO internally is quite easy but persuading the PR team to take online PR seriously is difficult because they don’t understand the value it can bring to the business.”
  • “Traditional PR is about cuttings and circulation. Online is about influence and conversation. What is putting a lot of traditional PRs off is that it’s seen as being about technology. But it’s about relationships and conversations.”
  • There are SEO agencies offering Online PR services, but these agencies may not have the online copywriting skills needed to carry out important aspects of online PR effectively.
  • Bloggers can be particularly powerful in niche areas.
  • “It’s about remembering why people form communities in the first place. It’s got to be relevant otherwise there is no point in being there.”

So far, my attempts to develop Online-PR in Milton Keynes hasn’t met the groundswell of support I had been hoping for. The perception of blogs as a marketing tool is still taking time.

In my experience, whenever you are trying to push something new people need to hear about it from a number of sources before they start to take it in. Now that e-consultancy are on the case they should be hearing a lot more about Online-PR from a lot more people very soon.

Posted by Matt Ambrose | Filed Under Marketing, Online-PR, RSS, Search Engine Optimisation, blogging