A Guide To Writing Successful Website Copy

We all know that the lion’s share of web traffic comes through the search engines. We also know that keywords and links to your site are the two things that affect your ranking in the search engines. Your keywords tell the search engines what you do, and the inbound links tell them how important you are. This combination is what determines your relevance. And relevance is what the search engines are after.

There’s a lot of information around about how to incorporate keyword phrases into your HTML meta tags. But that’s only half the battle. You need to think of these tags as street-signs. That’s how the search engines view them. They look at your tags and then at your copy. If the keywords you use in your tags aren’t used in your copy, your site won’t be indexed for those keywords.

But the search engines don’t stop there. They also consider how often the keyword phrase is used on the page.

To put it simply, if you don’t pepper your site with your primary keywords, you won’t appear in the search results when a potential customer searches for those keywords.

But how do you write keyword-rich copy without compromising readability?

Readability is all-important to visitors. And after all, it’s the visitors that buy your product or service, not search engines.

By following these 8 simple guidelines, you’ll be able to overhaul the copy on your website ensuring it’s agreeable to both search engines and visitors.

1) Categorise your pages

Before writing, think about the structure of your site. If you haven’t built your site yet, try to create your pages around key offerings or benefits. For example, divide your Second Hand Computers site into separate pages for Macs, and PCs, and then segment again into Notebooks, Desktops, etc. This way, you’ll be able to incorporate very specific keyword phrases into your copy, thereby capturing a very targeted market. If you’re working on an existing site, print out each page and label it with its key point, offering, or benefit.

2) Find out what keywords your customers are searching for

Go to wordtracker.com and subscribe for a day (this will only cost you about AUD$10). Type in the key points, offerings, and benefits you identified for each page, and spend some time analysing what words customers use when they’re searching for these things. These are the words you’ll want to use to describe your product or service. (Make sure you read WordTracker’s explanation of their results.)

3) Use phrases, not single words

Although this advice isn’t specific to the web copy, it’s so important that it’s worth repeating here. Why? Well firstly, there’s too much competition for single keywords. If you’re in computer sales, don’t choose “computers” as your primary keyword. Go to Google and search for “computers” and you’ll see why… Secondly, research shows that customers are becoming more search-savvy – they’re searching for more and more specific strings. They’re learning that by being more specific, they find what they’re looking for much faster. Ask yourself what’s unique about your business? Perhaps you sell cheap second hand computers? Then why not use “cheap second hand computers” as your primary keyword phrase. This way, you’ll not only stand a chance in the rankings, you’ll also display in much more targeted searches. In other words, a higher percentage of your site’s visitors will be people after cheap second hand computers. (WordTracker’s results will help you choose the most appropriate phrases.)

4) Pick the important keyword phrases

Don’t include every keyword phrase on every page. Focus on one or two keyword phrases on each page. For your Macs page, focus on “cheap second hand macs”. For the PCs page, focus on “cheap second hand pcs”, etc.

5) Be specific

Don’t just say “our computers”. Wherever you would normally say “our computers”, ask yourself if you can get away with saying “our cheap second hand Macs” or “our cheap second hand PCs”. If this doesn’t affect your readability too badly, it’s worth doing. It’s a fine balance though. Remember, your site reflects the quality of your service. If your site is hard to read, people will infer a lot about your service…

6) Use keyword phrases in links

Although you shouldn’t focus on every keyword phrase on every page, it’s a good idea to link your pages together with text links. This way, when the search engines look at your site, they’ll see that the pages are related. Once again, the more text links the better, especially if the link text is a keyword phrase. So on your “Cheap Second Hand Macs” page, include a text link at the bottom to “Cheap Second Hand PCs”. If you can manage it without affecting readability, also include one within the copy of the page. For example, “As well as providing cheap second hand Macs, we sell high quality cheap second hand PCs”. TIP: If you don’t want your links to be underlined and blue, include the following in your CSS file:

Then format the HTML of each link as follows:

As well as providing cheap second hand Macs, we sell high quality cheap second hand pcs.

7) Use keyword phrases in headings

Just as customers rely on headings to scan your site, so to do search engines. This means headings play a big part in how the search engines will categorise your site. Try to include your primary keyword phrases in your headings. In fact, think about inserting extra headings just for this purpose. Generally this will also help the readability of the site because it will help customers scan read.

8) Test keyword phrase density

Once you’ve made a first pass at the copy, run it through a density checker to get some metrics. Visit GoRank's Keyword Density Analyzer and type in the domain and keyword phrase you want to analyse. It’ll give you a percentage for all the important parts of your page, including copy, title, meta keywords, meta description, etc. The higher the density the better. Generally speaking, a density measurement of at least 3-5% is what you’re looking for. Any less, and you’ll probably need to take another pass.

Follow these guidelines, and you’ll be well on your way to effective SEO copy.

Just remember, don’t overdo it. It’s not easy to find the balance between copy written for search engines and copy written for customers. In many cases, this balance will be too difficult to achieve without professional help. Don’t worry, though. If you’ve already performed your keyword analysis, a professional website copywriter should be able to work your primary keyword phrases into your copy at no extra charge.

About The Author

Steve Hattrick owns and runs konteaki furniture one of the leading furniture stores in the UK As well as developing and marketing their webstore.

steve@konteaki.co.uk

Writing a Sales Copy that Sells

When writing a sales copy, all internet marketers know that a long copy will sell more than a short copy. This does not mean that the more words the better; the quantity and the quality of detail is what will improve its performance.

Having the correct sales structure will keep the reader interested from start to finish. These are the steps to follow to create a successful sales letter:

1. USE A POWERFUL HEADLINE. Express the main benefit of your product in a short sentence. Grab your readers attention and make them want to continue reading.

2. CREATE EXCITEMENT WITH A SUB-HEADLINE. In no more than two or three short sentences, expand on the benefits of your product and generate excitement in your reader. If you are offering a limited promotion, specify the limitations of your offer here.

3. OUTLINE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCT. Give the reader three good reasons to buy your product. These reasons have nothing to do with the product's features; think about what your customer wants. For example, if you are selling holiday villas, say something like:

"If you want to take advantage of the comfort of a luxury apartment, enjoy the Mediterranean sun and save money on your summer vacations, then this might be the most important letter you'll ever read"

4. EXPLAIN YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION. This is the specific benefit that differentiates your product from all the others. At this point, you must mention your USP in one or two sentences. You will explain the details later in the sales letter.

5. PROVE YOUR CREDIBILITY. The most important thing to sell on the internet is credibility. Your readers have to trust you before they will buy anything from you. Give them three reasons why they should believe you. Try to prove that what you say is true.

6. EXPLAIN THE FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCT. Explain how your product will improve your reader's life or how it will solve a problem. The more detail you can provide, the more convincing your copy will be.

7. PROVIDE MORE DETAIL ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT. Here is where you can tell the reader everything about your product. Use as much space as you need. Write until you get bored.

8. INCLUDE CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS. In order to continue establishing credibility, mention testimonials of customers that have already bought from you and enjoyed your product. Have them mention what they liked most about the product instead of making general comments like "I really loved your product..." or something similar. Mention at least five testimonials.

9. ELIMINATE THE COMPETITION. You eliminate your competition by giving your reader the information they need to see that your product is superior. Mention the elements where your product is excellent and much better than your competition.

10. BUILD VALUE. To build value in your offer you have to let your readers know that your offer is so good, that they cannot refuse to take it. One way of doing this is to compare the value of your offer with the normal value of your product.

11. PROVIDE A SUMMARY OF EVERYTHING YOUR CUSTOMER WILL RECEIVE. Make sure your reader understands everything he is going to get from you.

12. MENTION THE PRICE OF YOUR PRODUCT. Mention the regular price and the sale price of your product. The regular price must be crossed out and the offer must follow.

13. LIST YOUR BONUS PRODUCTS. The objective is to prompt immediate action by offering something extra. With this strategy, you are also adding value to your product. You can also try to create a sense of urgency by telling that the bonuses will only be available for a short time.

14. OFFER A STRONG GUARANTEE. The strongest guarantee you can offer is a "money back" guarantee. The willingness to offer your product at no risk will generate a lot of trust and confidence among your readers. You have to honour your guarantee for any returns you may get, but you can be sure that the sales you will generate with this strategy will be by far outnumber the number of returns.

15. RE-EMPHASIZE YOUR GUARANTEE. Remove all elements of risk by closing your sales copy with something like:

"You don't have to decide now if this product is for you. Just get it and try it out. If it doesn't do everything I say and more, if you don't save money, or if your business doesn't improve, or if your life isn't better, or if you don't absolutely love it, just let me know and I'll give you every cent of your money back! So you have nothing to lose and everything to gain."

16. TELL THEM HOW TO ORDER YOUR PRODUCT. Provide detailed instructions about how to place the order.

17. SIGN THE LETTER. Use your full name and title.

18. CLOSE WITH A "P.S." Use this part to emphasize the most relevant points of your letter.

Remember that this will be a long sales copy that will take your readers some time to read. With this in mind, you must work on the format and design of the copy so that it is as friendly as possible. Highlight the most important statements, so that the letter can also be read in one or two minutes.

Copyright 2006 Peter Tarrida del Marmol

About The Author

Peter Tarrida del Mármol is a Spanish online and offline marketer. Get a FREE e-book about making business online EVERY WEEK by subscribing to his newsletter: http://www.auctionearnings.com

Writing Copy for Online Auctions

The phrase writing copy comes from the advertising world, and it means a type of writing used to sell anything, from ideas to goods or services.

Copy writing is both an art and a science. You are trying to persuade as many people as possible to bid on your items by using words and phrases. While the art of writing copy may take years to master, the science of writing copy is a bit easier.

In order to place bids on your items, potential customers need to be able to find your items. Generally speaking, they find your auction item in one of two ways. They can either browse through pages of items in a general category or they can do a search on a specific type or brand of item.

Far and away, search engines play the leading role in getting your auction items seen by potential customers. Therefore, writing copy for the search engines is the ideal approach to take for writing copy for online acutions.

Titles

Title tags serve as the initial item identification tool. Generally speaking, short, accurate descriptions are the keys to effective titles.

Keywords, the most common words or phrases used for a search, are the most important aspect of writing titles for search engines. Typically all items can be broken down into three types of keywords:

Item Brands
Items Types
Item Names

For example, if you have a Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug for sale, your title would say exactly that, Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug. By using the brand, type and name of the item, you maximize the number of times your item will show up in search results. Any customer searching on the specific phrase Royal Daulton Mad Hatter Toby Jug, or Royal Daulton or toby jug would be able to find your listing.

By comparison, an inaccurate, incomplete or mispelled title such as, Royal Daulton Man or Royal Dalton Man, would decrease the number of potential customers because search engines are machines that match search terms with titles rather than interpreting titles to match search terms.

There are a variety of strategies employed to attract the browser to click through a listing. Some of the more prevalent, but often frowned upon strategies, are those titles that use innocuous phrases such as 'look' or 'must see'. Those phrases add nothing descriptive to the title and are generally considered nonprofessional.

Since the space allotted to titles is limited, descriptions that add only a few extra characters are always useful. For example, using dates, such as 1956 to describe a Knickerbocker Doll, or acronyms, such as LE (Limited Edition) and NIB (New in Box), at the end of titles are also effective ways to draw potential bidders to click through to your listing.

Finally, there may be times where bending these rules of title writing might be to your advantage. There are items whose names might be less salable than a substitute description. For example, a Norman Rockwell collector's plate called, "The Understudy", where the understudy is a picture of a clown, might not be as inviting a title as Norman Rockwell Clown.

As the folks on Madison Avenue continue to remind us, certain things, such as sex, puppies, kittens and clowns always sell. After some practice, you can get a feel for when using a description sells better than using the actual name.

Item Descriptions

A quick check of the search function in most online auction sites shows that they have an option for customers to search by both title and description. Therefore, many of the same rules of thumb that apply to writing titles equally apply to writing descriptions. The big difference between writing titles and writing descriptions is the amount of space provided for the tasks.

While there is limited space allocated for , there is almost an unlimited amount of space available to describe the item. Generally speaking though, a short paragraph is sufficient to provide accurate descriptions for the majority of items you will sell. All the items you write copy for should contain three basic elements

Item Identification
Item Measurement
Item Description

Just as in the title tag, the first part of your description should identify the item, again using the same key words that appear in the title.

Since pictures do not always provide a complete or even accurate representation of an item, measurements should be provided for all items. For example, a picture of a woman's wrist watch can show the basics of the watch. However, they can not show the length of the bracelet or the size of the watch face.

The most important aspect of describing the item is accuracy. To start, auction items can either be new, in their original box, or they can be used. All things being equal, used items have a higher potential of having a flaw that needs to be accurately presented to potential bidders. So, for example, on all the types of ceramic, porcelain, clay, crystal and glass items, there could be chips, cracks, scratches or crazing on the item.

Additionally, there are times when the flaws are apparent on the pictures you have posted. Do not assume that the customer sees the flaws on the picture. When you describe the item, you can add a phrase such as "see picture #1".

Finally, it's almost as important to know that the purpose of writing copy is to sell the item. Writing copy, just like any other type of writing, is intended for a specific type of audience. It's always a good idea to keep a series of questions in the back of your mind about the potential audience, as you plan on writing the description. Who is likely to purchase this item? For whom are they purchasing it? Is it for a collector? Is it for a family? Is it for an office worker? A sentence or two describing the item in a way that appeals to your audience is always a good idea. It takes time and practice to effectively integrate these types of sentences into your descriptions.

About The Author

Patricia A. Michaels has successfully sold over 2,000 items at auction and has been an internet publisher for about 10 years. She is the publisher of http://funwithcollectibles.com.

editor@funwithcollectibles.com