Archive for the ‘Copywriting’ Category
Thursday, October 11th, 2007
by Karon Thackston (c) 2007 http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword
The old clich is wrong. All our lives we’ve heard, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” That may occasionally be true, but for the most part it’s what you say AND how you say it. Case in point: Announce It!, a custom candy-bar-wrapper manufacturer, had copy on their home page that was acceptable. It mentioned pretty much all the important things a site visitor would need to know about ordering candy wrappers. Yet the copy wasn’t pulling as well as it should have been.
The Problems
The target audience consists mostly of women. In addition, these women order favors for special occasions. That means (stereotypically speaking) you have people who ask a lot of questions and are especially cautious of buying something they can’t touch, feel or see (in person) for use at a major life event. Communication (what the copy says as well as how it says it) is vital.
The text had to convince women that they could trust Announce It! to produce something they would show off in front of all their family and friends for important occasions such as birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, weddings, showers and more. That meant answering the questions these women have as well as instilling confidence that their party favors would be the hit of the event.
Technically, the copy was OK. But it lacked excitement. No, not hype – excitement. It needed to reach out to women and make them feel welcome while also reinforcing that Announce It! was the perfect solution for them. You can see the original text here: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/customcandybarwrapper-original.pdf
From a search engine standpoint, the site was bouncing around a good bit. According to the site owner, “For a long time, I held the #1 position for many of my keywords. As search engines evolved, my site started bouncing. It was time to hire a professional.”
The Solution
The plan was to make the text more inviting and supportive while providing information that was easy to immediately identify. I wanted to help Announce It! differentiate itself from other candy-bar wrapper and favor sites. That meant making important benefits clearly visible. In addition, a glimmer of excitement would be added to the copy to get the women in the mood to buy.
A complete change of focus for the copy would also happen. Rather than “we” and “us” the copy would be directed toward the visitor while still communicating important benefits about buying from the company.
Lastly, correcting an elementary mistake would help the copy read better and assist with SEO. The hope with SEO was to give Announce It! some stability, as it had a history of bouncing back and forth between the first and second pages in the SERPs.
The overall goal was to increase conversions for this site. As the site owner herself said, “Without conversion, your rankings don’t mean as much. You really have to convert the visitors once they get to your page.” Oh so true!
In Part 2 of this series, we’ll look at the rewrite and the results of this copywriting makeover so you can see firsthand what effect the changes had for Announce It!
Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO and online copywriting that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Already know how to write, but need help using keywords? Get Karon’s report “How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.The old clich is wrong. All our lives we’ve heard, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” That may occasionally be true, but for the most part it’s what you say AND how you say it.
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Thursday, June 21st, 2007
by Karon Thackston
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Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
by Karon Thackston
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Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
by Karon Thackston
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Friday, December 1st, 2006
by Karon Thackston (c) 2006 http://www.copywritingcourse.com
Time for a pop quiz! Name three products that sell better when a facts-based approach to copy is taken. Just off the top of my head I’d say computers, fax machines and microwave ovens. Now, name three products that sell best when the copy is romanticized. Travel, fur coats and jewelry are good examples. Knowing when to use facts and when to use fantasy was a problem JuliesJewels.com had on one particular website page. Let’s see how approaching the copy differently brought this e-commerce company greater success.
The Problems
One of the hardest things to learn as a copywriter is which focus or approach to take with copy. There are general guidelines to follow, but experience will tell you that there are almost as many exceptions as there are rules. However, in the case of JuliesJewels.com‘s Moissanite jewelry page, it was obvious we had a clear lack of — and a clear need for more — emotion.
For those who may not be acquainted with Moissanite stones, they were originally created in a laboratory by a Nobel Peace Prize-winning scientist. They are made of a replicated mineral that was originally found in a meteorite that crashed to earth thousands of years ago. However, unlike cubic zirconia (CZ), they are extremely hard and do not form a cloudy appearance over time. Moissanite offers the brilliance of a diamond without the flashy price.
Now, the guideline goes: If you have a product that is unfamiliar to the marketplace, you will want to educate your site visitors while you sell to them. However, sometimes “educate” gets confused with “provide facts.” This was one problem Julie’s page suffered from.
As I read the original copy (which you can see here: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/juliesjewels-moissanite-original.pdf) terms like “replica” and “lab” and “wholesale” struck me as cold and undescriptive. Yes, they were absolutely true, but they completely disregarded the wonder and enchantment brought about by one of these manmade diamonds.
While a few words like “beauty” and “lustrous” were included, they did little to help a man feel proud and confident that he was choosing a gorgeous piece his wife or girlfriend would swoon over. It didn’t evoke any emotions in women who lack the funds (and the desire!) to spend thousands on diamonds yet still dream of jewelry that was is unique as they are.
Another challenge was the page’s so-so performance in the search results. Considering how horribly competitive most jewelry terms are with regard to search rankings, Julie’s positioning for this page wasn’t too bad. The Moissanite jewelry page usually bounced between positions 11 and 30 on the major engines. However, the goal was to push the page as high as possible while driving visitors deeper into the category.
The Solutions
The key points that needed to be made on the Moissanite jewelry page were these:
- Moissanite is the next best thing to a diamond, closely replicating a diamond’s luster, vibrance and quality.
- Unlike CZs, Moissanite jewels are rare, not a victim of a flooded marketplace.
- While not considered “cheap,” Moissanite is definitely affordable.
To prepare myself for writing this page, I looked over the various other pages of the Julie’s Jewels site. I wanted to dream a bit about the earrings, rings, necklaces and other pieces I that included Moissanite stones.
As I clicked from page to page, I took notes about what I saw, what I felt and how I reacted to the pictures of the jewels. I also went to various diamond websites. Since Moissanite is almost as hard as diamonds and since it so closely resembles the characteristics of diamonds, many of the adjectives used to describe diamonds would also be applicable to Moissanite stones.
Lastly, I thought about who would be buying these gemstones and why. Perhaps a man who truly wanted to impress his fiance, but who didn’t have the money to pay for a one-carat or two-carat diamond ring. Maybe a woman who wanted a pendant that was truly exceptional, but didn’t care to pay the extensive markup usually found on diamond jewelry. While the reasons might vary, the common denominators were that beauty and quality mattered as much as price. Once I had a good grasp of the target audience and the products, I set out to write a new category page.
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Sunday, October 29th, 2006
by Karon Thackston
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Thursday, October 19th, 2006
by Karon Thackston
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Wednesday, September 13th, 2006
I was so excited to read his post! Google-icon Matt Cutts was blogging on August 21st and hit the nail on the head (as he does quite frequently). The title of the post was, “SEO Advice: Writing useful articles that readers will love.” That, in and of itself, says it all. Why is this such a thrilling post? Because it reinforces what I’ve been saying for years. Whether you’re writing content for a website, an article or any type of SEO copy, you must think of the reader first.
There is such a barrage of worthless articles floating around the ‘Net these days. Keyword stuffed, useless ramble that was obviously written with the sole intent of attempting to rank high. Striving for top rankings is not a bad thing, but the purpose of writing SEO articles is threefold not onefold:
provide information, rank high when used on your site and increase link popularity. That means the practice must follow the purpose.
Why Write an Article?
Let’s start at the beginning. Why write articles to begin with? While having SEO content on your site is a good thing, your first concern should be with offering useful information to your readers. Cutts agrees with this practice and makes a point to discuss why providing relevant, helpful information is vital.
If the information isn’t helpful, those who visit your site will have little interest in reading it. Yes, if the page ranks highly, it might bring in a bit of traffic. But if visitors take one look at your article then click away, what good have the high rankings done you?
Likewise, if you choose to distribute your article throughout the Internet, it is highly unlikely that others will elect to run your article on their sites. If your work doesn’t provide solid information and is poorly written, it will not be considered link-worthy.
Optimizing for the Engines
Once you’ve decided what information you want to provide, you can turn your focus to SEO. Copywriting for the engines requires balance. You never want to sacrifice the reader’s experience for the sake of rankings. Stuffing keywords into text is a method that will almost always backfire. Practically no one wants to read an article (or website page) that constantly repeats the same exact terms to the point of extremes.
Cutts also addressed this issue in his blog post, stating that he included keyphrases within his own article and also used similar terms. Cutts made a point of suggesting that we pay more attention to keyphrase use (and the use of variations of those keyphrases) than focusing on keyword density.
The Two Most Important Keys
The two “meta-issues” Cutts highlighted in his article were both related to user experience, not to the practice of SEO copywriting. First, pay attention to the content you offer.
Always impart useful, concrete knowledge to your reader.
Second, study your niche (a.k.a. know your target audience!) and write specifically for the purpose of helping them.
There is other great information included in Cutts’ post, and I encourage you to read it plus the comments that follow. You can find it here:http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-writing-useful-articles-that-readers-will-love.
These are things I (and other SEO pros) have been preaching for years. User first, search engines second. When you get the priority straight, the rest will fall into line without much hassle.
About the author:
Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO and online copywriting that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to also check out Karon’s report “How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.
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Thursday, August 17th, 2006
Automation is an odd creature. It usually seems, at first glance, that automating a process can make things easier, simpler and faster. But oftentimes, once an automated process is in place, trouble spots pop up. This is sometimes the case when looking at the copywriting aspect of Google’s dynamic keyword insertion tool.
In case you’re unfamiliar with dynamic keyword insertion (DKI), it’s a feature of Google’s AdWords program. It is often used for large campaigns in order to automatically insert the keyword into the headline of an ad. Truly, it’s a lifesaver for many pay-per-click (PPC) ad managers who have to stay on top of thousands of ads every day. It’s all done with a simple syntax command: {keyword:_______}.
From a timesaving standpoint, this is a wonder tool that hasrescued PPC managers from the mind-numbing chore of typing the same keywords over and over. From an economic point-of-view, DKI can (not always) perform well enough to make it a viable option for larger campaigns. But what happens with regard to copywriting and eye tracking?
See It and Click It
The human eye is normally drawn to things that are unusual.
Things that look out of place or different get noticed far more than things that blend in. For instance, on a page full of black text and black & white photographs, a small red square in the bottom corner will get focused on almost immediately. Why?
Because it is completely different than everything else around it.
This same principle applies when considering your copywriting strategy for AdWords. When using DKI, you’ll want to keep your eye on the results pages. Why? We’ve all heard that using the keyphrase in the headline pulls better. It does? most of the time. There is an exception, however. This exception is what you’ll be watching.
In fact, a study done last year by Enquiro, Did-It and Eyetools tracked users’ interactions with the Google search results page.
It found that surfers normally reviewed the page in an F formation. They would scan vertically down the left side of the page and then over to the right (where paid ads are) IF something caught their attention. That’s the point we’ll explore in this article.
In order to get clicks, you first have to get seen. If your ad looks and reads like all the rest, you’ve completely lost your originality advantage.
See For Yourself
Copywriting using DKI is a balancing act. You have to consider several factors, including the character count of your longest keyphrase, your ability to add text to the keyword-rich headline and how the ad looks on the page.
Take a look at some examples below. Remember that AdWords results show differently at various points throughout the day (and in relation to individual account parameters), so you may not see exactly what I saw when doing this research. I’m sure it will be close enough for you to get the idea.
Go to Google and type in the phrase “cruise vacation center” (without using the quote marks). See how all the ads look different? They don’t all have the same words bolded. They don’t all use the same copy. The bold words stand out because they are different. In this case, your eye will usually go first to the ads with bolded words in the headline.
You see ads offering a 6-night cruise for $xx.xx and other ads promoting X% off on a cruise vacation, etc. There is diversity and that’s a good thing.
Now, what if you type in “home improvement?? (Again, without the quotes.) If your results page looks like mine, practically every ad has the exact same headline: home improvement. Not only do most of the ads look the same, the headlines read the same. Your eye doesn’t know where to go because everything seems identical. But wait! About four or five ads down, something catches your eye. It’s an ad that has no bold in the headline. That stands out because it’s different! As you scroll further down the page, more ads with no bold in the headlines pop out at you. In this case, because everyone else has opted for the DKI feature, their headlines are all very similar, making them less noticeable. But the ones who wrote custom headlines won out, thanks to diversity.
Tips for Writing With DKI
If you want or need to write using the DKI option, consider these tips:
- Use a descriptive word along with your keyphrase. Instead of just inserting the phrase “airline tickets,” place the word “discount” or “cheap” before your keyphrase to help it stand out.
- For keyphrases that will take the entire 25-character limit, consider using one word of the keyphrase in the headline, instead of the entire phrase. Rather than “home improvement,”
try inserting just “home” or “improvement” along with other text you write yourself.
- Keep it applicable. Your headline still has to convey a strong message about what the customer can expect at your site.
- Test and Track! Everything in advertising is subject to change. Smart marketers always test and track to get the best results.
With a little forethought, you can develop a combination of DKI and custom-written AdWords ads that drive qualified visitors to your site.
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Wednesday, July 5th, 2006
What would happen if?? I’m a person to always ask that question. I love testing and tracking to see what factors can improve or worsen a situation. So, it was only natural for me to track the moves of a little experiment I did involving SEO copywriting recently. I’ll gladly share my findings with you.
Before I do, however, I want to make a couple of things very clear. The outcome of this experiment will not be the same for every keyphrase on every page of every site. There are too many unknown factors at play in the overall SEO equation. Not to mention, all keyphrases are not the same, and all sites are not the same. In addition, this experiment takes no account of link popularity, which is a huge factor in achieving high rankings.
With that said, let me show you how I took the home page of one of my sites – that didn’t even rank in the top 50 – and caused it to rank in the top 10.
First of all, I’m not a big fan of checking rankings on a regular basis. I don’t run ranking reports for all my sites to be sure they are all in the positions I want them in for every given keyphrase. I’ll do it from time to time just to satisfy my own occasional curiosity. This experiment began when I noticed the home page of one of my sites was ranking highly for a keyphrase that didn’t seem to appear anywhere in the text.
Upon further investigation, I saw that the keyphrase was included in the ALT tags (a.k.a. image attribute tags) and that it was also included in the title tag.
I knew ALT tags previously carried a lot of weight with the engines, but had been downgraded in importance because site owners had badly abused the tag. Had ALT tags been reinstated in their level of importance? I decided to find out.
Keyword #1 was currently in the ALT tags and the title tag, so I decided to eliminate the keyword in the title tag. This would let me see if the ALT tags alone could hold the position in the search engine results pages (SERPs). To make things more interesting, I also decided to research and find a keyword that was a little more competitive and insert it into the title tag. On the same day I removed Keyword #1 from the title tag, I inserted Keyword #2. My home page was not ranked in the top 50 at that time for Keyword #2.
A few days later, the Googlebot came by and boosted my home page to position #18 for Keyword #2. Not bad! The page fell one spot (from #17 to #18) for Keyword #1 since the removal of the phrase from the title tag.
Keep in mind, these are not the most competitive keywords ever known. They each got between 100 to 200 searches a day. Also, the home page of this particular site had been (and still is) well ranked for years for other keyphrases and had a positive legacy with Google.
Five days later, Keyword #2 was moved up three notches to a ranking of #14 while Keyword #1 stayed the same. Things remained in their status quo for roughly 10 days and then began to shift again. Keyword #1, the original that was previously in both the ALT tags and the title tag, vanished completely. It was not found in the top 50. Keyword #2, that was only found in the title tag and nowhere else, dropped to position #25.
Four days later, Keyword #2 was back up in the rankings and was now at #16. To see if I could improve rankings further, I began to make small tweaks to the page attributes. I added Keyword #2 to the ALT tags (taking the places where Keyword #1 had once been), and I also added Keyword #2 to the body copy. The keyphrase was added to one, bold sub-headline and at three places within the body copy: none of which were above the fold. It was not added to any primary headlines that used tags, and no keyword density formula was followed for the body copy. No other pages on my site used this term as anchor text in links pointing to the home page. That gave the page keyword placement in the:
- Title tag
- ALT tags
- Body copy
Seven days later, the home page hit the top 10 for Keyword #2!
So, what does all this mean? Simple. There is no single primary factor in search engine rankings. It takes balance, testing and tracking to find out what works for your particular pages. Your best bet is to do exactly what I did? begin one step at a time and track your progress. Did something cause a positive movement? Keep it. If something causes a negative shift, take it out.
I’m not finished with this page yet. I’ll keep trying different things from time to time just to see what happens. Maybe I’ll add anchor text links from the internal pages to the home page.
I might try writing articles with keyword-rich anchor text links to help boost the rankings more. There are many acceptable practices I can implement for this page (or any page) that will allow me to observe the shifts in ranking. As the old saying goes, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” A diversified approach to SEO copywriting that includes tags, copy and links is always a wise start down the road to top 10 rankings.
Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO and online copywriting that impresses the engines and your visitors at
http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to also check out Karon?s report “How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.
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