Archive for September, 2004
Tuesday, September 28th, 2004
by Karon Thackston © 2004 http://www.learn-copywriting.com
Headlines are, without a doubt, one of the most important elements in copywriting. As has been said countless times before, if you don’t get your readers’ attention with the headline, the chance of them reading your copy is virtually none. But headlines (and sub-headlines) play a vital part in the copywriting process for other reasons, too.
Whether we, as copywriters, like it or not, the fact is most people will not read all the copy word for word. Headlines can help fill in the blanks in several ways so “skimmers” still get the gist of the information included in the copy.
Headlines Outline the Benefits
Using headlines and sub-heads that state benefits about your product/service can be a powerful strategy. Using wireless home networking for example, you might create headlines and sub-heads that read:
- Work From Anywhere In Your Home
- No More Jumbled Cables Strung Everywhere
- Have Multiple Computers Online At The Same Time
- Make All The Computer Users In Your Home Happy
Even if the customer didn’t read the copy included in between these heads and sub-heads, they would still be made aware of all the benefits of having a wireless home network.
Headlines Give An Overview
Depending on the type of copy you’re writing, headlines can help to urge your customers to read further. In fact, in long-form copy, headlines should create their own sub-set of copy. If you read just the headlines, they should make sense all by themselves. For example, copy about a new book on how to start your own business might use the following headlines.
New Book Takes You Step-by-Step Through Starting Your Own Business
An introduction would go here as well as copy designed to gain the attention of the reader.
Starting A Business Is Easier Than Ever
Continue with the copy here.
The Little Known Secrets In This Book Will Show You How
More copy here.
See? As you read through the headlines and sub-headlines they make sense even without any copy. This serves to give an overview of the information to those customers who may not read every word of the copy you’ve written. If they read just the headlines and sub-heads, they’ll still understand what you’re offering.
Headlines Can Raise Curiosity
Make a statement that’s so unusual it doesn’t make sense. Create “cliff-hangers” with your headlines and only give so much information before stopping. When you use these and other interest builders, you can encourage customers to read further into your copy just to satisfy their curiosity. Using natural gardening products as our example, the headlines and sub-heads often look like this:
- My Roses Are Bursting With Blossoms Since I Stopped Watering Them
- My Prize-Winning Tulips Would Wither Up and Die If It Weren’t for…
- Which Annual Blooms Twice As Big When You Give It A Beer/Shampoo Cocktail?
These statements make you think. They start the reader wondering so that he/she continues to read on to get the rest of the story.
When creating headlines in your copy, think about how they all work together. Instead of just plopping bolded words in between paragraphs, create a plan revolving around progressive headlines that can lead your readers to buy.
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Monday, September 20th, 2004
by G. W. Schuyler
My site just wasn’t getting the traffic required to run a profitable business. As I asked around I heard more and more about what I needed for my site to generate the traffic. It was called Search Engine Optimization.
Being a novice in the area of web site marketing, I asked people who know computers and programming, who have websites, and marketing degrees, how to best optimize my site. I read articles on the Internet, and looked at several options, from very expensive SEO companies to free of charge search engine submission. Being a bargain hunter by nature, I decided to start with free and work my way up the price scale from there as needed!
Comparing Apples with Apples
Well, I found that, although I may be able to select red delicious apples over granny smith apples based on this method of shopping, buying a SEO service is quite another story. For one thing, when looking into optimizing my website, I was not comparing apples to apples. Each SEO company has their own level of service or specialization, and all promise great results. This simply does not hold true.
Take for example a particular company that offers multiple search engine submission. What do they actually do? They offer to, “ optimize and position websites to come up on the first page of major search engines…guaranteed.” Read the fine print. It is found several clicks back in the Search Engine Intelligence Report. This document states that, “Your website does NOT have to be optimized to submit your web site to search engines, directories and link sites.” Even to the novice this should send up a red flag. Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse? In my opinion it is. Many search engines clearly recommend that your site must be optimized before submission.
Furthermore, they do not optimize your site. You do. They give pointers but the actual optimization is up to you. Therefore you must judge for yourself whether you are truly qualified to undertake this task.
Answer: Three Letter Acronym - The Question: What does TLA stand for?
Another glitch to be aware of when signing up for a service like this is the type of search engine to which your site will be submitted. A list of the search engines should be provided for you. One particular company names FFA Farms in their search engine list. Since embarking on this new form of business marketing I have been inundated with initials. I don’t know what most of them mean. There are the common ones; www, URL and HTML for example. Then there are the more obscure initials; php, asp, or the frequently misunderstood, “<a href=.” To me this is a foreign language! It is not surprising that I simply skipped over the initials FFA in a lengthy list of search engines, is it?
There is a danger in this however! FFA farms can get your site banned from Google. This would be a devastating blow to most companies, and one from which it is difficult if not impossible to recover. If you have incoming links from an FFA there is no cause for concern. However if you have linked to them, then you are playing with fire. Ignorance of the rules does not protect you from their enforcement and you could very well be shooting yourself in the foot, or in this case, paying a “search engine submission specialist” to do it for you.
What Is The Bottom Line?
So, what is the bottom line? Search Engine Optimization is a complex and continually changing industry. You would not go to a podiatrist to get your eyelids lifted, or a dentist who served you a healthy serving of whisky to prepare you for a molar extraction. Therefore you are well advised to go to a professional and ethical company that specializes in complete Search Engine Optimization for your web site. I’m talking about a specialist - not a web designer, not a computer repairman. Look for a company who will continue to monitor and update your optimization over time. Check their references and be sure that they have in place a system to monitor your progress in your search engine rankings. You need a true SPECIALIST.
You may have to pay more for the service than the on-line submission companies charge, but it is worth the investment to know your site is operating within the rules, and that you will continue to have traffic driven to your web site without the risk of being banned. This will leave you with a peace of mind so you can go about your business - which is your area of expertise.
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Wednesday, September 15th, 2004
By James Peggie
Paid search engine placement can be used as part of your Internet marketing strategy to give your business an increased competitive advantage. This is because it gives you immediate control over your search engine rankings. This is one of the big differences between paying for rankings and rankings achieved through “organic” search engine optimization (SEO) where the results are achieved through a persistent and long term strategy. With paid search engine placement you pay to get immediately highly ranked in specific search engines.
Paid search engine placement usually takes the form of Pay Per Click (PPC). This requires you to pay only when someone clicks through to your site. PPC can be an effective addition to your overall search engine strategy as it can get you off and running quickly.
The main PPC providers, Overture and Google Adwords use systems based on bidding. Whoever pays the most gets the highest ranking. Adwords differs from Overture in that they also use a click-through-rate which rewards high click through rates with better pricing.
As with “organic” search engine optimization you will need to define the keywords that your audience will use to find your product. Your keywords are an important part of your sales message. Bear in mind that popular keywords will be more competitive and may have higher bids associated with them. This means that you will have to pay more if you use common keywords or phrases. Remember that if you use the wrong keywords you will get visitors that do not respond to your message.
The great thing about search engine placement through PPC is that you can get information and modify your campaign in real time. You can check the effectiveness of your PPC campaign by using the reporting tools that are offered by your PPC provider. This tells you how much business the campaign is bringing you. You can get immediate return on investment information. You can monitor your PPC ads and if they are not effective you can quickly change them. The key is to watch how much you spend and change the ads if they are not working.
Paid search engine placement can be an important part of your Internet marketing strategy. It is a great way to get it up and running very quickly. It also gives you a good insight into how effective your keywords are and an opportunity to try out different ones. “Organic” search engine optimization is much more cost effective in the long term. (3 months+) search engine optimization also gives your site exposure for a wide variety of keyword phrases across many directories and search engines. The two systems can be used effectively together so that you can make full use of your Internet marketing options over a period of time. This will help your business maximize its online marketing efforts.
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Thursday, September 9th, 2004
by Karon Thackston © 2004, All Rights Reserved
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword
With all the shuffling that’s been seen in the search engine world within the last year, the issue of obvious optimizing has become a hot button. The current line of thinking is that most engines (especially Google) are on the lookout for sites that purposely make an effort to optimize their pages in order to get high rankings. While this theory has not been proven, I agree that obvious optimization is not a good thing. Not exclusively because of what Google might think, but because of what your site visitors might think.
When a Web site is created with the intent of having it ranked highly, one thing often happens. The focus gets placed solely on the optimization and is taken almost completely away from the visitor. This leaves your site in a dangerous state of unbalance. Let’s take a look at some examples.
New Orleans Web Design
Our New Orleans Web design firm offers a high level of creativity to businesses located in the general area. Our New Orleans Web design styles are never made from templates. Each New Orleans Web design is a custom creation just for your site.
I can’t count how many times I’ve visited Web design sites that were targeting local audiences and found copy similar to this example. Forget for a moment that this copy is completely “me, us, we, our” centered, and let me ask you a question.
If someone asked you what your company did would you say, “Web design” or “New Orleans Web design”? Yes, I know the keyphrase is “New Orleans Web design,” but using that phrase interchangeably with “Web design” shatters the flow of natural language. Breaking up that phrase will help you retain your appeal to the engines and your site visitors. It will also keep you from appearing to be over optimized.
You’ll also want to vary your terms to avoid absolutely bombarding the reader (and the engines) with the same keyphrases.
That may mean the need for longer copy if your target audience is one that would respond well to longer copy.
Try this instead:
Progressive, creative, upbeat. Those are phrases that best describe many online businesses based in New Orleans. Web design for your organization should match your style. Never created from templates, the site designs you’ll receive will be truly reflective of your corporate personality. Because we work exclusively with companies located in or near New Orleans, Web designs retain that Big Easy feel.
See the difference? By breaking the phrase up, you work with the flow of natural language instead of against it. To your site visitors and the engines, it appears the phrase is just part of a written conversation instead of something that has been purposely (and carelessly) tossed in for the sole benefit of higher rankings.
So, is the flow of your current copy destroyed by keywords? Are you scaring off both the engines and your visitors? One quick check can help you decide. Read your copy out loud. (Or better yet, have someone else read your copy out loud.) Does it sound odd? Does reading it feel forced or stiff? Would the sentences you’ve written in your copy seem out of place in the course of a verbal conversation with someone? If you answered “yes” to any or all of these questions, you might better take a closer look at your Web page.
Karon is author of
“How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy).” Discover the secrets to creating SEO copy with a perfect balance between keywords and natural language with this insightful e-report.
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Monday, September 6th, 2004
By Dylan Downhill
Google went public last month but that’s not the big news for Google. Nor is the settlement of the PPC patent fight with Overture. The big news is that Google may have hit the limit on the number of pages it can store. In a nutshell the number of pages Google says it has indexed (currently it reads ‘Searching 4,285,199,774 web pages’ is not that far from the largest number an integer in Unix//Linux can handle - around 10 million off - see full article here http://www.w3reports.com/index.php?itemid=549. Whether they really can’t add new pages without deleting old ones or whether this is bologna (after all, they are a bunch of uber-techies - surely they increased the size of the index when they saw this coming); only Google knows.
Why did I mention this. Well we’ve been noticing a definite lag time for new sites to get fully indexed. Older sites are still being indexed fine, and we’ve noticed that adding a new page with a link from the home page will get it indexed extremely quickly (although the Page Rank takes a long time to catch up). We have noticed with older sites that rename the URL of hundreds of pages all at once (such as during a redesign) are not being indexed quickly either.
We have noticed that Yahoo search results have been getting better, and with the lag that Google has introduced we find ourselves heading to Yahoo more often than we used to, and with the toning down of the advertising the overall experience at Yahoo is more pleasing than it was (take note Ask Jeeves!)
In terms of results we have noticed that Ask Jeeves/Teoma will show ranking improvements quickly, then Yahoo follows soon afterwards. Google is taking a long time to respond to site changes.
To ensure your site gets fully indexed we do recommend that you add a good sitemap linking to all the pages you want googlebot (the Google spider) to find. In fact the process of building a sitemap can help you find orphaned pages (no longer linked to from anywhere on the site), I added one recently to Elixir and found 2 pages that were orphaned.
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