Before I launch myself on the issue of keywords and phrases, please be aware I’m not an expert in search engine optimisation. I know lots of people who are, but wouldn’t begin to try and teach anyone the finer points of SEO! What I do know about is how to create SEO friendly copy.

Firstly, you need to know what people are searching for. The experts have lots of means of working that out – however, a good place to start is to ask a few people what they would type into the search box to find the sort of products or service that you offer.

Remember that people don’t search for ‘professional IT services’, they search for ‘how do I get my computer working properly?’ They won’t put in ‘Advanced Time Management Training programmes’, they’ll put in ‘Getting better organised at work’.

When you’ve got two or three likely phrases (and maybe a few less common, but interesting ones) you need to write copy that uses these between 2-4 times. Don’t contrive the copy – it has to work for the human being reading as well as the search engine.

Bear in mind that today’s search engines tend to ‘read’ the overall content and assess whether it relates to the subject being written about, so a string of keywords just doesn’t impress them at all!

Make sure that the content on the page is all about the subject of the page and makes sense, include your keywords and relate the content to them.

If you want to create more than one landing page for more than one set of keywords, the same applies – and you can’t simply write the same copy with the words changed; Google doesn’t like that and dumps your page! There’s an art to creating alternative copy.
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When you create a website you are usually hoping that people will be interested in your products or services and, eventually, part with their money to buy what you’ve got.

So, who are the people that you want to make those purchases?

Please don’t tell me ‘everybody’!

If you deliver a specific item or service you should know what your target market is. For instance, if you sell left-handed scissors, you’re not interested in selling them to right-handed people. If I’m hearing all you left-handed people saying “My Mum/husband/daughter could buy me a pair as a present,” I know that – but your target market is left-handed people – and those people who are present-buying will know to look at places where there are items for left-handed people.

So, what you need to present is the information that your specific target group will be looking for.

If your product or service is suitable for lots of people in many different niches – pick one niche and write for them. When you’ve got that cracked, choose another niche; create another ‘home’ page for that niche and you’ll find that you can bring people to your website based on their specific set of needs and wants.

Trying to write one page that targets financial advisors, horse racing aficionados and computer programmers is impossible – but they all buy products in common (office supplies, computer hardware) and, potentially, they could all be in the market for the same service (coaching, VA services) you just wouldn’t present those products and services in the same way.

Get focused, aim and then fire – your chances of hitting the target are much greater when you can see it!
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It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a book, a letter, a website, or a marketing email – there is one thing they all have in common – a plan!

I know of writers who suffer from ‘writer’s block’ – and they claim that they need inspiration to write. I don’t buy that!

Even for fiction – where creativity might be said to be rated higher (although I don’t agree with that either) – a plan makes writing easier.

If you know what the purpose of your written document is and brainstorm all the key elements that must be included:

and so on, then organise all the information into a logical order – you’ve got your plan!

Of course, part of the issue will be about length – how much information do people want to read on this issue? There will be items of information that are essential and some that are desirable, and some that are purely an ego trip for you. Time to do some weeding!

Now you have all the essential information and information that helps people to get your message in the right order, writing it should be really straightforward.
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1. Forget all about what you want to tell everyone about your business! Find out what your clients and potential clients biggest problems are and write about those – in terms of how your product or service can solve them, of course.

2. Don’t waffle! Keep sentences and paragraphs short – I was always taught one thought per sentence and one idea per paragraph.

3. Use carrot dangling techniques! Tell your reader how good life will be for them with your product or service in place. Get them to imagine already having it.

4. People buy on emotional triggers; the ‘what’s in it for me’ element of your products/services. So, yes, tell them what it is; and also tell them what it does (briefly), but major on how they’ll feel.

5. Don’t expect them to work hard to find out more – or to work out what to do next. Tell them what action to take next and make it easy for them – so put the phone number right after ‘call us now’, make the instruction a hyperlink to the page you want them to go to.
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When you launch your shiny new website do you test it to find out if it works for the reader?

Ask a selection of customers, suppliers and associates to test it out for you and give you feedback.

Ask them to:

Then you might also ask them:

This feedback is invaluable and your test team don’t have to be experts, in fact, it’s better if they’re not. The less web savvy they are the better ‘real-life’ feedback you’ll get.

Remember the site is for users not designers – don’t be precious, if changes need to be made, then make them! The results will show up in your bottom line!
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1. Headline – needs to be in prime real estate and bigger than anything else to get attention.

2. Simple, easy to use navigation – easy to find, consistent, no overwhelm, no guesswork!

3. Don’t underestimate the power of using the text as hyperlinks to aid navigation too.

4. Content – put your message up front – but in the readers terms of reference. Keep it short, clear, simple and concise.

5. Scanability – most people won’t actually read your copy, so put key information in bullet lists and key words or SHORT phrases in bold to attract attention.

6. Reading for the bots – keywords and phrases need to be repeated 2-4 times – but don’t bend the copy out of shape to accommodate this. Bots are getting quite clever these days and can tell when you’re keyword stuffing.

7. Readability for humans – DON’T use:

8. Fonts – stick to a sans serif font – like Verdana, Arial, Tahoma or Trebuchet. Serif fonts (Times, Palatino, Garamond) are too fussy for the screen resolution to present well.

9. Page layout – keep it clean and simple, avoid 2 column layouts and very wide or very narrow columns of text, put visuals to the right of your copy so they don’t encourage people to skip bits, put things where people expect them to be (ask me if you’re not sure) so they don’t have to stop and think about anything.

10. Tell people what you want them to do and then make it easy for them to do it.
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When you’re writing web copy it’s easy to let your keyboard run away with you! The first step is to have a structure to write within; I always mind-map my websites and then each page.

This is the structure I use:

1. Subject matter of the page
2. Purpose of the copy – i.e. what do I want people to do when they’ve read it.
3. What problems are the readers suffering from? What is their pain?
4. What would their life be like when they’ve got what I’m offering?
5. What are the key points of what I want to tell them? (notice that this comes LAST).

Use No. 3 to construct the headline and opening paragraph, sometimes using 4 as a contrast (or a carrot).

Use 3 and 4 to write about 5.

No 2 gives you the material for the call to action for the final paragraph.

No 1 gives you the button title – but NOT the page title!

The word count should not exceed 250-300 words, ideally less.
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The Contact us page is rarely ‘written’. It’s that page where your email, phone number and snail mail address goes. Sometimes it’s also the page where you ask people to embark on a form filling exercise. Why do you need copy?

Every page should have a headline and a headline is there to engage people, so your Contact us page needs something to connect with the reader too. These are the sort of headlines that can work on Contact us pages:

There are many more options, but I’m sure you get the idea.

You don’t need lots of text on your Contact us page, but a line or two creating a friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and open approach often helps to get action. It’s also important to tell your reader ‘pick up the phone or send us an email’; people do respond to instructions.

Don’t ask them to fill in a form – at most you will need their name, email address and query.

You don’t need their phone number – and asking for it can result in them leaving your website as it may suggest to them that they will be the target of a spate of unwanted sales calls.

As a first contact you don’t need other information – like address or details of their situation in relation to your product. Get a relationship going and then ask questions. I know it’s a quick way of getting information, but, as a potential customer, I want to work with people who care about my needs, not people who respond to data lists!

Keep it short, keep it friendly and stick to the essentials!
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When people land on your services or products page – what do they get? I’m not talking about ‘buy one get one free’ deals, or discounts or special offers – I’m talking about what are you presenting – and, more to the point HOW?

These are common mistakes that web designers and DIY web builders make:

#1. No headline
If you think that, because someone has already connected with your site on the home page they don’t need it, think again. You never know which page your visitor will arrive on.

#2. Too much information
When you’re introducing a range of products or services don’t try and dump everything on the visitor at once. Use this page as an introduction and have sub pages that are able to focus on one thing at a time.

#3. Navel gazing
When you write copy that starts with ‘We do/make/sell …’ or ‘Our widget does …’ you’re navel gazing, in other words, talking about yourself. Focus on ‘you’ not ‘we’.

#4. Talking about what it is
When you’re presenting a product or service and you are describing what it is you are way short of the emotional triggers that make people buy. Talk about what it does and, even more important, what they get.

#5: Technical jargon
Or any sort of jargon. Even if you think that all your potential clients will understand what you’re talking about, don’t assume that. Explain terms, use layman’s language and focus on what the technical aspect delivers in the way of benefits (a good phrase to use is ‘which means that …)

#6: Too many options
If you’ve got 23 different products don’t expect me to decide which one to look at – group them into logical sections and give me a page for each group. Much less frightening!
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When someone lands on your website where do they go? If I’m hearing you saying that they can choose to go anywhere on the menu, then you’re not using your website properly.

You decide on the journey you want them to take and then lead them by the hand (or the mouse)!

So your home page is where some of them start – where do you want them to go next? Services? Products? Don’t leave them to have to make a decision – tell them where to go next and give them a hyperlink (or, at the most, two) that makes it easy for them to get there.

You should do this exercise for every page – where do you want them to go next? Last para should tell them what to do – and give them the means to do it. So don’t expect them to search for your phone number if you say ‘call us now for more information’, say ‘call us now on 01234 678910′. If you want them to email then the instruction should launch an email already addressed to you.

The menu is great for people who want to explore, but most people don’t want to waste the time – they want to get what they came for – and quickly, so don’t make it hard for them!
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