Entries Tagged 'Website copywriting' ↓

Before you go getting any Tom, Dick or Harry.com to link to your site …

Everyone says Link Building is important but you really wish it wasn’t because it’s such a tedious process. Here’s the motivation you’ve been looking for. In a recent survey of SEO experts, they identified the top 10 contributors to a website’s Google Search Ranking – and 7 out of 10 involved links!

Survey of SEO experts on factors affecting Google Search Ranking

In the States, seomoz conducted a survey of 37 leading experts on organic Search Engine Optimisation. They asked them to rank the importance of a huge range of factors. What helped your Google Search Ranking? What hurt your Google Search Ranking? They then compiled the collective wisdom and came up with a list of the top ten positive SEO factors – and the top 5 negative SEO factors.

What is the most important SEO factor?

So what was the sophisticated SEO technique identified by these experts as the most important factor contributing to your site’s Google search ranking? The humble Meta Page Title. Those 60 characters that are available to you across the top of the web browser. The bit of your site that might currently say “Home”. As Christine Churchill said, “If you have time to do only one SEO action on your site, take the time to create good titles”.

How important is link building to your Google Search Ranking?

According to this group, link building is VERY important to your site’s ranking. In fact, of the top ten factors they identified, a whacking 7 of them involved links.

Top 10 Positive SEO Factors

1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
2. Anchor Text of Inbound Link
3. Global Link Popularity of Site
4. Age of Site
5. Link Popularity within the Site’s internal structure
6. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to site
7. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
8. Keyword Use in Body Text
9. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
10. Topical Relationship of Linking Page

So, go build some links, huh? Simple. Well, maybe not.

How important is GOOD link building to your Google search ranking

Before you go getting any Tom, Dick or Harry.com to link to your site, there is some more sobering information for you to digest. Of the Top 5 Negative Factors influencing your Google Search Ranking, 2 of them involved links.

Top 5 Negative SEO Factors

1. Server is Often Inaccessible to Search Engine Bots
2. Content is Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index
3. External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
4. Participation in Link Schemes or actively selling links
5. Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on many pages

So, you need links but you need quality links. Motivated? I sure am.

For the full article on SEO factors affecting Google Search ranking, click here.

Americans and Australians have a different vocabulary. It’s not ‘petrol’, it’s ‘gas’. It’s not ‘takeaway’, it’s ‘to go’. It’s not an ‘invasion’ of Iraq, it’s a ‘liberation’.

Everything I’d read said that Wordtracker was the Keyword Analysis tool of choice for the serious SEO professional. But there are two reasons why it’s of limited value to local Search Engine Optimisation operators – the relevance of its data, and its very ordinary usability.

Is Wordtracker all it’s cracked up to be?

Most US SEO professionals will tell you that Wordtracker is the best keyword analysis tool on the market. Peter Kent says it – though he acknowledges a commercial relationship with them. But he’s not alone. So I left the comfort of Google’s keyword tools and explored Wordtracker but was totally underwhelmed.

Wordtracker’s woeful usability

The first thing that will strike any self-respecting SEO professional is just what a naff site Wordtracker is. It looks old and dated. But, worse than that, its interface is not intuitive – to say the least – and it just doesn’t let you do what you want to do.

Control over the keywords you choose

Wordtracker’s strength is that it really does throw up an awful lot of keyword suggestions. In an increasingly crowded market where everyone is looking to carve out a keyword niche, this is pretty useful. However, what I’ve found is that it’s far too hard to control what you include and exclude. And then you’ve got to export the data for inclusion in an SEM campaign. But, its failings are more fundamental than that.

Wordtracker tells you what Americans search for

The whole purpose of doing Keyword Analysis is to identify what your customers are searching for when they come onto the net. Now, while Wordtracker might tell you what US customers search for on the net, there is no guarantee that Australian users search for the same terms.

For Australian SEO work you need Australian search data

You may have noticed that Americans and Australians talk differently. It’s not just the difference in accents. We have a different vocabulary – in almost everything. It’s not petrol, it’s gas. It’s not takeaway, it’s “to go”. It’s not an invasion of Iraq, it’s a liberation. This different use of language is going to have serious consequences in Keyword Analysis. So, American-dominated data is of limited value – unless you have a global market. If your market is Australian, you need Australian data.

Why I prefer to use Google’s keyword tools

I still use Wordtracker – hell, I’ve paid the hefty annual subscription so I’m going to get my money’s worth. But my two preferred tools are both by Google – and not just because they are free. Google’s Keyword Tool and its Traffic Estimator have the huge fundamental advantage over Wordtracker that you can look at purely Australian results. Or purely NSW results. Or purely Sydney results. And know much more accurately what your customers are looking for.

Self interest aside, doing your own website copywriting is a false economy that can cost you in search traffic, sales conversions and brand development.

Paying top dollar for design but doing your own copy means you end with a David Beckham website – it looks good but the voice is a right turn-off.

Now, this might seem like a self-serving post. Of course, I’m going to say you’re stupid to do your own website copywriting. But there are at least 3 good reasons why it’s dumb to write your own website copy. (Unless you happen to be me.)

1. Google Search ranking. The ability of your website to generate sales depends largely on its Google Search ranking. And your Google ranking depends on its level of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). You need to choose the right keywords and then optimise for those terms through meta tags, the body content and links.

Now some people think they understand SEO but this is an area where a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I had a client who didn’t want to pay for SEO and made a right pig’s ear of it. They didn’t go up the rankings – but down. Way down!!! For the sake of a few thousand dollars, this company will have lost thousands of dollars in sales. A good website copywriter is a good SEO copywriter and will easily repay the investment in increased site traffic.

2. Online Sales Conversions. When people get to your site, your copy needs to convert this visitor into a customer. This is a combination of what you say, how you say it, and the different access points you give to the visitor. A good website copywriter won’t limit themselves to the copy – they’ll feed back to the designers and the information architects to improve the sales effectiveness of the site. A good website copywriter will increase the probability that people actually buy something from you – rather then disappear into the ether.

3. Brand Development. Companies seem quite happy to pay a squillion for website design but then want to get cheap on the copy. But when you pay top dollar for design and go DIY on copy, you end up with a David Beckham website – it looks good but the voice is a right turn-off.

You might be a competent writer, have sound grammar and  excellent punctuation. You might be able to communicate perfectly. But, with all due respect, you are unlikely to bring the verve, life and character that a professional writer can. A good website copywriter can turn your brand from an also ran into the cock of the roost.

In the grand scheme of things, website copywriting is only a small percentage of a total website budget. But it can make a huge difference to your website traffic (through SEO), your sales conversions and the voice your website projects to the world. Don’t let your website be a squeaky Becks. Let it be a smooth talking George Clooney. Hire the Web Copywriter today.

One of the nicest website copywriting projects I’ve worked on went live this week – the site for Ausfine, the makers of the finest merino wool in the world.

The newly launched Ausfine merino website

Ausfine is a small group of Australian Merino farmers who grow traditional merino wool – with modern sustainable methods. Each year, there is a global search for the “Golden Fleece”, and in three out of the last four years it’s been grown by an Ausfine farmer. New Zealand Merino? Get out of here.

Through writing web content on the Merino Innovation website, I got to know quite a bit about this amazing fibre and got to spend a day on some Ausfine farms up around Armidale. I did some copywriting on a brochure of theirs that won a National Print Award, but more importantly it helped them win a contract with Brooks Brothers in Manhattan. This website is an online version of that brochure – with the added functionality of being able to browse merino fabrics. Best of luck with it, Murray!

Those of you foolish enough – like me – to upgrade to the latest Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac suite will have noticed – among other things – that it’s incredibly slow to open documents. I went searching for a fix and found this:

Basically, in Preferences, you switch off “WYSIWYG font and style menus”. You’ll find it makes a helluva difference. If anyone has any similar clues to cure Excel and Powerpoint I’d be thrilled to hear them.