The article "Copywriting Makeover: Search Engine-Friendly Can Also Mean
Visitor-Friendly" talks about copywriting, it was released by Karon Thackston.
by Karon Thackston © 2005 http://www.Copywritingcourse.Com
When it comes to search engine optimization, copywriting plays a
big role. You want to have excellent copy that appeals to both
your visitors and the enignes in order to create pages that will
rank highly.
However, sometimes there can be potential problems
with fitting copy into certain types of sites. Due to space
constraints, page layout requirements or other issues, some site
owners hesitate to include SEO copy thinking it will detract
from the visitor's experience. It won't if you do it right!
Gigmasters.Com is a database site that allows visitors to search
for any number of entertainment options then book them directly
from the site. They segmented their target audience by the
events visitors would book entertainment for (i.E., wedding
entertainment, birthday party entertainment, etc.) Pages were
then created for each entertianment type.
The Problems
Gigmasters.Com wasn't ranking highly for its keyphrases on a
number of pages. In fact, for the page we're foucsing on in this
article (see the original copy here:
http://www.Copywritingcourse.Com/gigmasters-original-wedding.Pdf)
, Gigmasters.Com wasn't ranking in the top 50.
The page desperately needed more copy.
The concern was that
visitors would be disrtacted by the addition of more text. After
all, customers who come to a site to book entertainment are
going to focus on the information in each performer's bio… not
the copy on the category page, right? As we found out, that was
not at all true.
In addition to quantity (word count), the page also needed
quality.
The one paragraph of copy that was on the page was
rough and sounded awkward.
The Solutions
Writing copy that appeals to the site visitors and the search
engines should be the goal of every SEO copywriter. You never
want to sarcifice one for the other.
However, I knew that adding
a long block of copy right in the middle of the page would not
be uisng good judgment. Good thing nobody ever said all your
copy had to be in one place!
By breaking the copy up and adding short blips under each
section of the page, we were able to incldue enough text to
support the chosen keyphrases. At the same time, we were able to
help visitors make the hottest choices for their wedding
entertainment.
The Rewrite
For that particular page, the target customer was somebody in
need of wedding entertainment. The visitor might be a birde or
the mother of a bride looking for a wedding band (a wedding
music band, that is), a DJ or some other form of wedding
reception music.
Most often the site visitor was a bride,
however.
I neevr want to include copy strictly for SEO purposes if
possible.
The copy shuold always have a dual purpose: to help
the visitor and to boost rankings.
To accomplish that with
Gigmasters.Com, the inrtoductory paragraph of copy spoke
directly to the bride-to-be.
It gave her the feeling that
Gigmasters.Com understood how important the music for her
wedding and reception are.
Under each msuic classification, the bride was given ideas or
suggestions.
Statemetns like, "The gentle melodies played by a
harpist or flutist during the prelude to your ceremony can add
an air of distinction" and " Do you want your guests to dance?
Consider a Latin band or swing band to pick up the beat"
prompted visitors to think through their selections and evaluate
all their options before deciding.
Each section of copy used at least one primary keyphrase to
boost support of those terms with the engines. The copy was
carefully written so as not to sound forced or stiff when
including search terms.
The Results
You can view the updated copy here:
http://www.Copywritingcourse.Com/gigmasters-updated-wedding.Pdf.
What happened after the changes? Within just a few weeks the
page began to rise in rankings dramatically!
Currently, the page
has great rankings with various engines for various keyphrases -
several in the top 10 with Google and Yahoo.
And conversions?
They are holding steady if not increased some
according to site partner Kevin Kinyon, further proving that
search engine copywriting can be helpful to real people, too.
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