Search engine optimisation (SEO)

 

SEO is one of the most talked-about aspects of online marketing and is so complex

that it will be dealt with separately in chapter 6. Don’t worry: you do not need to

know or apply any SEO principles until then. For now, here is a brief explanation

for the sake of completeness.

Search engines such as Google have special processes for deciding which web

page shows up first in their lists of search results. SEO is the process of getting

your page as high up on that list as possible. There are many technical ways

of improving your position on this list, but two of them relate specifically to

copywriting: keyword optimisation, and the hierarchy of content on a web page.

• Keywords. When somebody searches online, one of the ways that a search

engine knows that your page is relevant to the search request is that the

same words appear on the web page as in the search term that was used.

Therefore, the more frequently these “keywords” appear on a web page, the

more relevant that page will be to a search engine for the query that was made.

• Content hierarchy. Another way that a search engine identifies relevant

content is by analysing content areas on a web page. Some areas are valued

above others in terms of importance: for example, a search engine considers

the main page header to be more important than sub-headers. Similarly, it

will consider sub-headers to be more important than a paragraph of body

copy. Therefore, if your chosen keywords appear in these important places,

such as in your page’s main header, a search engine will see the page as more

relevant for search queries relating to that keyword.

SEO is a long-term marketing technique that will bear fruits if you approach it with

determination and patience. With the right skills, knowledge and resources, SEO

could be the simplest and most important marketing tactic for achieving increased

traffic and ultimately increasing your return on investment.

• Non-biased. SEO only generates natural (organic) listings and is perceived to

be non-biased. According to www.seoresearcher.com, natural listings convert

30% more than paid listings and the percentage of clicks on organic search

results increase with the level of education of online users.

• Return on investment (RO I). SEO has a better RO I than any other marketing

medium. The only “cost” spent on SEO is the time spent researching,

calculating and analysing data, but the return can be considerable.

• Less fraud. There are no bidding wars or click fraud.

• Brand presence. SEO helps build an online brand presence and long-term

positioning. Search engine rankings are relatively stable compared to PPC and

SEO is cheaper and works over a longer term than other marketing strategies.

• Flexible. Through an SEO campaign, you can reach a large audience of people.

Your organisational strategies can optimise your website to meet the needs

and requirements of your choice.

• Measurable. By tracking key conversion goals and analysing relevant statistics,

SEO success can easily be quantified.

• Targeted. Converting visitors into customers is one of the essential goals of

SEO . You are able to derive the source of specific traffic through your website

and report on which keywords are generating the most traffic. The more

targeted traffic equals more sales.

Principles of writing for the web

While web copywriting should adhere to all the general rules above, there are

some added technical and stylistic rules that apply to online text. One of the most

important things to remember is that web readers are active participants rather

than simply passive readers. They will click links, navigate to new pages, multitask

when browsing, open multiple tabs and so on. They will not read a web page

from start to finish, but rather create their own journey through it. This is one

of the reasons why creating a user experience is so important (as you learned in

chapter 2) and why writing for readability is crucial. Keeping their attention is very

difficult, and your approach to writing for the web must take this into account.

Keep web copy short and simple. The quicker and more directly you can make

your point, the better. Put the most important information prominently at the

top so that it appears above the fold of the website (the part of the website

that is visible without scrolling down). Break your copy up into short, readable

paragraphs – this creates space and makes it easier to read. Above all, make sure

you preserve a no-nonsense approach to your brand and product; web users will

see through your marketing rhetoric easily and will mistrust your message.

• Wrong: If you have ever had the problem of not being able to access your

email on your cellphone, maybe you should consider trying out our product sometime.

• Right: Can’t access email on your cellphone? Download our product now.

Be genuine and honest. Your writing must reflect the credibility of your brand, and

must be genuine so that readers feel a personal connection through the impersonal

online medium. Always write accurately and honestly about your product; readers

will immediately notice when your writing is hype rather than genuine enthusiasm.

Avoid exaggerated words and clichéd “marketing speak”; web readers expect

content to be frank, clear and true, and any indication that this may not be the

case will drive them away. A good way to come across as genuine is to adopt a

friendly, open and unassuming tone.

• Wrong: Our unbelievable time management product will promote absolute

synergy throughout every aspect of your business! You will get 100% more

productivity instantly!

• Right: Our time management product will help your employees work together

more efficiently. Previous customers have reported a 20% increase in

productivity after the first month.

Focus on headlines, leads and captions. Often, you concentrate so much on the

main body of text that you overlook the “little extras” like the headline, the lead

(the introductory line) and captions for your images. Don’t ignore these elements.

The headline is the most important piece of writing on the page because that is

what draws a person to read your content – or not. Try to keep the headline both

as short and as specific as possible.

Writing an eye-catching headline

• Keep it short, preferably under 10 words

• Be as specific as possible

• Use simple, unambiguous words

• Try to make the reader curious by using intriguing and emotive words

• Entice the reader by asking a question or making a bold statement

• Address the reader directly by using the pronoun “you”

• Headlines with numbers work well (e.g. “5 tips for…” or “The top 8…”)

• Headlines that suggest a benefit or reward are also effective (e.g. “How to…” or “Why you should…”)

• Be honest – don’t let your headline mislead the reader about the content of your article

 

The lead, or first line of your text, is vital because most readers decide whether

they will read the rest of the text based on it and the headline alone. There is a

copywriting idiom that states that the purpose of the headline is to get the first

line read, the purpose of the first line is to get the second line read, and so on.

Captions for your images are also important, since they help readers to scan the

page for interesting information. The caption should be quite short, describe your

image and indicate its relevance to the text.

• Bad headline: Great new offer! (Unspecific, uninteresting, sounds like a marketing ploy.)

• Bad headline: Your business could be made more successful if you follow these steps (Indirect phrasing, long-winded without providing much indication of what the article is about.)

• Good headline: Double your Twitter followers in 3 steps (Clear, direct, promises useful advice in an easily digestible quantity.)

• Good headline: Are you at risk from online identity theft? (Direct and intriguing, creates a concern in the reader’s mind, sparks curiosity.)

 

 

Have a clear call to action. A call to action is a statement that tells the readers

exactly what you want them to do – should they buy your product? Share your

article? Follow you on Twitter? The only effective way to get people to do what

you want is to tell them directly. Your call to action will be related to the goal of

your marketing campaign and to how you measure conversion (more on this in

chapter 8). If you want to grow your online social community, the desired action

will be to engage with your social networking profiles. If you want to increase

sales, you may want visitors to download your brochure or free sample.

• Wrong: There are many ways you can keep in touch with us. Browse our website to see more about us.

• Right: Sign up to our newsletter now to keep up to date with special offers and promotions!

Create value. There are hundreds of billions of articles on hundreds of millions of

websites on the web – what will make people read yours? Don’t get caught up

with trying to write well for the web and forget to make your content meaningful

and valuable to your audience. Consider what the users of your product may want

to know about, how you can make their lives easier or how you can entertain

them. Provide enough information so that anyone who wants to buy your service

or product can find what they need; web users can be quite cynical and will want

to consult a lot of information before they make a decision and hand over their money.

It is good to consider taking one of two approaches: either become the niche

expert in your field by writing about industry-relevant details and news (have a

look at www.carblog.co.za, a blog for people interested in automotive news), or

become a generalist teacher, somebody who educates outsiders or novices about

the industry (for example, www.goodadvice.co.za writes blog articles that teach

laypeople about finance concepts). Have a close look at how both blogs approach

aspects like jargon, assumed knowledge, familiarity with basic principles and levels

of specific detail.

 

 

 

 

Communicating with a web developer

 

Developing a website is expensive and complex, so it is vital that you communicate

properly with your web developer – and that you listen to their professional advice.

The first important aspect is making sure that you have the correct documents.

These are: • Your design specification sheet and the designs your designer has created, which you have approved.

• Your technical brief, which you will work on with your developer and transform into your technical specification sheet.

• Information about your hosting and domain name arrangements.

When you meet with your developer, explain in normal language what sorts of

features and goals you want for your website, outlining as many details as possible,

and feel free to show examples. Take the time to understand the developer’s input

and suggestions, and ask them to create a technical specification sheet for the

project. Then do your homework by researching the suggestions made to make

sure you fully understand the parameters of what the developer has suggested.

Remember that a developer is a professional but may not be looking at all the

important aspects, like your target market, so be open to new ideas but keep your own view in mind.

A web developer will strive to make your website meet the following five criteria:

1. Easy to update. Ideally, your website should have a simple CM S that you can

manipulate easily and without technical expertise.

2. Quick to load. Your website must have a small enough file size so that is

will load quickly for a wide variety of people using different computers, connections and browsers.

3. Easy to find. Depending on your contract agreement, your developer will

optimise your website so that it will be found easily by a search engine. Note

that this could be a separate expense.

4. Interactive. Your developer will include interactive elements like the navigation,

links, a search feature or other additions. Your development costs will vary

depending on how many extras you want.

5. Secure. Your developer should put measures in place to protect your website

against spammers, viruses and other web risks.

Like with any other project, make sure that you clarify rates and deadlines before

you approve the work – and be prepared for unexpected delays or problems,

which can occur regularly with web development. Outline the exact outcomes and

deliverables of the project in clear terms; find out what service or maintenance

agreement – if any – is included in the cost. Keep a good documented record of all

decisions made, in case there is a dispute about an aspect of the project.

You will be given the chance to make small corrections as the project progresses,

within reason, but understand what it means when you “sign off” on something.

Signing off means that you are happy with and fully approve the feature under

discussion; after you have signed off, the element cannot be changed again

(except at considerable cost when the developer must revert the project to an

earlier phase). Be completely sure that you are happy with something before you sign off on it.

Website Problems

The website has many problems, including:

• No focus – the viewer doesn’t know where to look or what to click.

• Multiple colourful backgrounds and font colours are confusing – what is a link?

• No defined corporate identity – where is the logo and the brand-appropriate design?

• Hard to read text in the navigation bar (grey on red).

• Vertical navigation makes the visitor scroll down, and the links are not clearly named.

• Far too much clutter and content that is not optimised for web reading. No

white space to guide the eye or create a sense of order.

• Unrelated content – why is there a picture of a welder?

• The page is not centred – it appears on the left of the screen.

• In addition, the site plays music automatically. This is undesirable for several

reasons: it dramatically slows the loading time of the page, it annoys the

viewer and it can infringe copyright, as it seems to do in this case.

Good design:

• Excellent design layout means that the entire page appears above the fold (you don’t need to scroll down at all).

• Good use of white space and symmetrical layout. Content is minimal.

• Having two navigation bars is confusing, but the links are clearly labelled.

• Text is well laid out for readability and is short, and the headings are clearly defined.

• The three blocks at the bottom suggest calls to action.

Web style guides

The process of designing a website involves choosing specific colours, fonts,

images, layouts and other elements. Once your page is conceptualised, it is a

good idea to create a web style guide. Your web style guide is a document that

defines all your design choices, so that your approach is standardised and easy to

refer to if changes need to be made. It also defines key framework and technical

aspects that are important to remember when making additions or changes. This

document is very useful for maintaining a coherent and attractive website and

helps a new designer get up to speed with your design choices. You should update

it regularly to make sure it conforms to your current designs.

For a small business, it is sufficient to note the basic style elements, colours,

fonts and layout preferences, as well as the approaches to usability and user friendliness

(for example, never having more than five headings in the navigation bar).

 
  

   

Online copywriting

Online copy is any promotional written communication, as opposed to images,

graphs or other content, that you publish online. Online copywriting is not the

same as online writing in general. Specifically, copywriting is the art of creating

persuasive text that promote your product or brand. Copywriting explains,

endorses, convinces, attracts and persuades. Any writing that you publish about

your business, both online and off, will fall under the category of copywriting:

your website, brochures, promotional articles, emails and so on. While professional

copywriting for marketing purposes is a specialist skill, anyone can learn to write

effective, engaging content about their brand.

Where do I find it?

Everywhere. Here are just some of the places where you will find online copywriting:

• Websites. All text on a website is web copy, from the home and contact

                   pages to the customer feedback and product descriptions.

• Blogs. Business-run blogs are the epitome of online copywriting.

• Email promotions. Any marketing messages sent by email, like newsletters

                                 and special offers, fall under copywriting.

• Online adverts. The text of any online advertising is also web copy, since it is

persuasive writing used to promote your product or brand.

 Promotional articles and press releases. If you write commissioned articles

about your product, even ones that are loosely related, you are writing web copy.

 

Copy can be divided into two broad categories. Short copy comprises the small

 

bits of text that are dotted around your website, in your online adverts, your

promotional emails, blurbs and so on. Short copy is generally only a few sentences

long and must be direct, to the point and action oriented.

Long copy, in comparison, is any longer piece of writing, like a blog post, email

newsletter, press release or article. Long copy allows you to expand on an idea

and build a brand personality, which helps you engage with your readers, but

needs a strong headline and good style to ensure it is read. Both long and short

copy have an important place on the web and in your brand strategy.

Content management system

 

 

A content management system (CM S) is the system that you use to add or change

content on your page. CM Ses come in varying degrees of complexity, and the one

you will choose to use will depend on your internet skills and on how often you

modify your page’s content. The three options are:

1. Basic template CM S. This type of CM S can be used by anyone because it is

very simple and just requires the user to enter the new data. No technical

knowledge is needed. If you have ever used WordPress (www.wordpress.

com) or Blogger, you have used a simple template CM S. Yola also has a basic

template CM S. This is also the cheapest option, but has the fewest features.

2. Open source CM S. This type of CM S is more advanced and can be customised

by a web developer to include the features you want. This can be a good

option for non-technical people, depending on your choice of open source

CM S. Joomla (www.joomla.org) is a popular option. Open source CM Ses are also free.

3. Custom CM S. Some advanced websites need a custom-build CM S and

generally require a web developer to manage them. This option is viable if

you plan to hire an agency to create your website or if you have a dedicated

IT department; however, the other options are perfectly suitable. Building a

custom CM S is very expensive.

If you plan to update and add content to your page often, choose a CM S that you

find easy to use – that way, you can manage the content yourself without having

to hire a web developer. If your page is going to remain largely static with few

changes, which is unlikely, it is all right to pick a more complex option – but even

in this scenario, you can save yourself time and money by using a system you

understand. The complexity of your website is largely dependent on which CM S

you choose.

Writing for the web

Web copywriting is a specific and unique type of writing, and often requires a

specific touch to get it right. The most important things to remember are to keep

your writing very simple (using short sentences, common words and plenty of

paragraphs), to put the most important ideas first and to structure your text so

that it is easy to read (by using bullet points, bold, spacing and so on).