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How to conquer career burnout

April 26, 2012 • posted by

There must be something in the air.

In the last week, I’ve chatted with two people facing career burnout. This wasn’t a temporary, “I’ve been working too much and I need a vacation,” situation.

This was, literally, a life crisis.

Building a career can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s wonderful to see where you’ve come from and know that you’re truly successful. You may own a profitable business. Or you may be an in-demand employee. You’ve worked hard for your success, dammit – in some cases, spending over 1/4 of your life in your current career.

On the other hand…reaching mastery can mean boredom. Sure, you know that there’s more you can learn. But you also know that you can show up, turn your brain off, and do better than 90% of everyone else out there. You see the same debates floating around the industry (Is SEO dead? Is Google really evil?)

And you find yourself feeling…trapped.

Every work day feels as dull as the one before. You examine your immediate options and think, “Well, I can stay put. Or I can take a pay hit and do something else.” Depending on your financial situation, you may not have the freedom to change careers. Or, you may have been doing the same thing for so long that you have no idea what’s out there.

If you’re self-employed, the thought of taking a “real job” may be enough to keep you where you are.

Even if you don’t know why you’re still doing it.

Have I gone through this? Heck yes. I remember talking with a friend about closing down, moving to Mexico and living on my savings.  It wasn’t a pipe dream. I was working out the pros and cons.  Then there were the dreams where I would announce on stage, “This is my final conference – I’m leaving the industry.”

I love what I do. But there have been times that I’ve been…tired. And that’s when burnout can creep up and smack you.

Typically, you have little warning signs before the big burnout hits. Work doesn’t energize you anymore – even if you hit a huge milestone. You find yourself putting off important tasks because you just don’t care. You put in the minimum amount of time and no more.

If you ignore the warning signs (and the mini-burnouts,) you’re setting yourself up for a big crash. That’s when moving to Mexico seems like the best idea in the world.  You can pull back from this – I did – but it’s much, much harder.

Here’s what to do:

-  Have outside interests. This may seem like a “duh” comment, but career-climbers are often highly focused. They go to work, come home, go to bed and start it again the next day. Doing anything “fun” feels like it cuts into valuable work time. You may feel like you “don’t have time” to take a class, exercise, cook a healthy meal – whatever. But do it anyway.

-  Feeling antsy? Consider how you can tweak your career. Often, the first symptoms of career burnout is feeling bored. If you’re in that space, think about how you can add some spice to your work life. That could mean getting a new job. Or going back to school. Or launching a new product line. Or moving away from clients and selling products instead. Consider how you can leverage the talents you have while getting that dose of “newness” you need.

- Talk it out. I thought I was the only one who faced career burnout. I started beating myself up, saying, “Gee, Heather. You own your business and you can do whatever you want. You can change your situation. But you don’t know how. Loser.” Turns out, feeling like a “career loser” is pretty common.  Share how you’re feeling with a trusted mentor, colleague or friend. They may be able to provide an unique perspective (and if nothing else, it feels good to talk to someone else.)

- Increase your vacation time. An interesting side-effect of burnout is that we dig our heels in, work more hours and try to power through. This is typically the worst thing that you can do. :) If you’re feeling the beginnings of burnout, schedule a vacation right now.  Try for two weeks – but if that’s not possible, at least take four days away from work.  The mini-break alone may help provide some perspective (and when you return, schedule another vacation so you have something to look forward to!)

- Take a sabbatical. Vacations are nice, but they may not give you all the time away you need. Does your job allow you to take a sabbatical? Take it. Are you self-employed? A sabbatical is still possible with a little planning.  I’ll be taking my first one in about a month, and I’m excited to see how the time away treats me. But truthfully, it took a conversation with a friend (thank you, Bruce Clay) for helping me feel like I deserved a sabbatical.  Now, I’m pumped at the sabbatical possibilities – and I think that I’ll be feeling VERY energized when I return.

- Still not feeling it? Come up with an exit strategy. My father, a member of the Greatest Generation, was a master of switching careers. He was a a fighter pilot, a test pilot, an insurance agent, a trust officer, Vice President of a major financial institution and a small business owner. When he was done with one career, he seamlessly found something else to do. If you’ve tried everything and you’re still hating your work life, figure out your finances, set a deadline and start plotting a new career choice. Just because you’re considered an expert in X doesn’t mean that you have to do it forever. It will take some soul searching. It may not be “easy.”

But just remember: Life is too short to be bored with what you do.

Don’t forget: The price for the SEO Copywriting Certification training goes up $140 on May 15th. Start now for the best price! 

 

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SEO content marketing roundup, week ending April 25th

April 25, 2012 • posted by

Are you a big brand? Good news! Possibly over-optimized? Dubious linking profile? Negative SEO? Not so good news. This week’s Web-writing news is dominated by Google’s favors, penalties and apparent chinks in its armor within the SEO and search industry, while social media marketers weigh the relative strengths of vying platforms and content marketers talk lead generation and conversions. All of these web gems await you in this latest and greatest edition of the SEO content marketing roundup! Enjoy…

Content Marketing

Citing impressive mobile user stats, Newt Barrett discusses why you need to “rethink your content marketing” with “Why the Massive Move to Mobile Computing Changes Content Marketing Rules” at Content Marketing Today.

In part 2 of her Wednesday video Q & A series, Kaila Strong continues her lead generation theme by answering “How Can You Use Content Marketing to Generate Leads?” at Vertical Measures.

Angie Nikoleychuk discusses how to create conversions-driving, link-baiting content using the AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) formula with “How to seduce your readers and woo – bait – links” at SEO Copywriting.

Jeff Slipko posts “Top 10 Affiliate Tips for Using Content to Increase Revenue Streams” at Search Engine Watch.

Ky Harlin posts an interesting read on “How time of day affects content performance” at iMedia Connection.

Boring products to promote? Lee Odden speaks to this with “Marketing Boring Products is not a ‘Boring’ Problem, It’s a ‘Knowing Your Customers’ Problem’,” at Top Rank.

With his usual acuity, Seth Godin discusses “Selling to people who haven’t bought yet” at his blog.

Content Marketing Institute and Brandpoint conducted a (relatively small) survey on “Digital Content Marketing,” posting a video plus key take-aways at the CMI blog site.

So “How to Fuel the Content Marketing Engine”?  Mike Lieberman addresses this subject smartly at Talent Zoo.

And how do you keep all of that content creation and marketing organized? Heather Lloyd-Martin shows viewers “How to create an editorial calendar” in her weekly video post at SEO Copywriting.

In part 2 of her series on the (B2B) marketing downturn, Liz Smyth talks “…content, content, content” at Marketo.

Eric Wittlake discusses going beyond the usual measurement and tactical optimization with “An analytics roadmap for marketers” at iMedia Connection.

Marketing Sherpa’s weekly research chart illustrates the “key attributes that organizations seek in marketers.”

Shelly Kramer discusses “brand storytelling” with the example of how Crop Ventures gained her attention, at V3 Integrated Marketing.

Wayne Barker discusses “7 Characteristics of Compelling Calls to Action” at Search Engine People.

Jess Walker illustrates good website designs with examples that incorporate functionality with content and good looks with a “Good Design Roundup” at Portent.

Joe Pulizzi interviews Lee Odden about his new book, Optimize, at Junta42.

Events:

SEO & Search

If you’re a big brand, good news! Google is loving you by “Making the Web Work for Major Brands” with its “Brand Activate” initiative, as it croons, ah, posts at its blog penned by its VP of Display Advertising, Neal Mohan.

Pamela Parker delves into the details of Google’s “Brand Activate” initiative with “Google To Back Branding Measurement Standards With ‘Brand Activate’” at Marketing Land.

Pamela Vaughan also details Google’s “Brand Activate” by breaking it down and explaining the exact constituents of the initiative at HubSpot.

So why do big brands get all the breaks? Dr. Pete explores Google’s obvious favoritism of big brands at SEOmoz.

By the way, Matt Cutts presents an 8-minute video on how Google search works, embedded on HubSpot via a post by Pamela Vaughan (and also embedded with the YouTube transcription via a post by Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Land). Cute!

David Harry posts “Negative SEO: Looking for Answers from Google” at Search Engine Watch, in which he summarizes the conundrum of regular site owners who may be (obliviously) harmed by malicious linking, then penalized by Google for it.

In a similar thread, with “Google’s Unnatural Links Message: The Shot Heard round the SEO World?” Eric Enge reports on Google’s linking inquisition, sending its dreaded “unnatural links” message to site-owners around the world (1 million thus far) as it shuts them out of search. Also at Search Engine Watch.

WebPro News weighs in on the subject with “Can Your Site Lose Its Rankings Because Of Competitors’ Negative SEO?” featuring SEOmoz’s Rand Fishkin’s challenge to “take SEOmoz rankings down” to expose Google’s apparent Achilles heel on the matter.

So what else should you be wary of? Oh yes, Google’s “over-optimization” penalty. SEOmoz’s “Whiteboard Friday” presentation is on “6 Changes Every SEO Should Make Before the Over Optimization Penalty Hits.”

But wait! There’s more! Distinguished Engineer and Google Spam Combatant Matt Cutts has announced that “web spam” will not be tolerated, either in the form of funky linking or keyword stuffing, with “Another step to reward high-quality sites” at Google’s Webmaster Central blog.

And speculating on the fallout of Google’s “webspam” initiative is Shaun Anderson, with “Google Just Dropped The Nuke On A Lot Of Webspam”  at Hobo.

“Bing’s Search Plus Your World?” Bill Slawski reports that Bing promises its users Facebook-based social results provided they’re signed into Facebook, at SEO by the Sea.

Debra Mastaler finishes what she and Optify’s Scott Fasser started with a Search Marketing Now (on-demand) webinar Q&A on SEO-savvy B2B link building with “Six Degrees of SEO Bacon & B2B Link Building Q & A” at Search Engine Land.

Who knew? At Search Engine Watch: Conductor’s Nathan Safran reports on a Searchlight study which indicates that SEO pro’s still rank anchor text as the most important of all ranking factors, and that internal anchor text “can significantly impact search visibility.”

Avinash Kaushik again blows the mind with his latest post, “You Are What You Measure, So Choose Your KPIs (Incentives) Wisely!” at Occam’s Razor.

Events:

Social Media Marketing

Facebook Timeline [for business] Image Changes headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.

According to WebMarketing War, there are “7 Intense Social Media Wars To Watch Out For!” that may dramatically change the social media cyberscape by this time next year.

Speaking of wars, Social Media Delivered shares an infographic on Klout vs. Kred with a side-by-side comparison of what each does for brands.

Meanwhile, Lee Odden addresses “The Fallacy of Influence” at Top Rank.

Jeff Bullas posts “10 Top Trends in Social Media” via slideshare, sharing the top two in writing, at his blog.

Nicholas Carlson reports that Pinterest’s “bubble has burst” and that the upstart social media platform is now “actually losing users” at Business Insider.

Neil Patel shares “The Secret to Getting Highly Targeted Traffic from StumbleUpon” at Quick Sprout.

Magdalena Georgieva posts a simple guide for marketers on how to use hashtags on Twitter, at HubSpot.

Greg Finn explains the new shades of the Google+ share button at Marketing Land.

So “Why Bother With Google+?” Robin Neifield explains at ClickZ.

Ann-Marie Jancovich discusses “Public Relations in the Digital Age” at Vertical Measures.

Citing data from the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Phil Mershon discusses findings on how B2B marketers use social media at Social Media Examiner.

Events:

 

Don’t miss this! Sign up for either the daily or weekly SEO Copywriting Buzz newsletter and receive a free download of Heather Lloyd-Martin’s white paper, How to write for Google!

And head’s up! If you’ve been promising yourself that you’ll get real about your SEO copywriting career, the time is now! The only online SEO Copywriting Certification training independently endorsed by the esteemed industry non-profit watchdog, SEOpros.org, Heather Lloyd-Martin’s SEO Copywriting Certification program is scheduled for a price increase come May 15th. Register now to save $170!

 

 

photo thanks to Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

 

 

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How to seduce your readers & woo – bait – links

April 24, 2012 • posted by

Imagine: You’re in the running for your dream job. All you have to do is pass the interview and it’s all yours. So, you get ready to head to the office, but on the way you stop off to grab a quick bite to eat. When you finally make it to your interview, you notice everyone seems nervous and has difficulty making eye contact. You lose your concentration and fail to mention the important points you’d carefully placed on your mental to-do list.

The interview is short and awkward and you know you’ve lost the job before it’s even over. Once you get home, you happen to glance in the mirror and get a sick feeling in your stomach. Part of your lunch is still on your face. You forgot to check before you got to your interview, and now it’s too late. There are no second chances.

Link bait works the same way. If you don’t perfect the presentation and focus of your content, your traffic will simply go elsewhere without a second thought. You won’t get the results you’re expecting, and sadly, you’ll never know how many links you lost out on.

Link Bait & AIDA: Designing Your Link Bait for Success

Link bait doesn’t usually have buy buttons or testimonials, but it’s still similar to a landing page. Both content types need to:

  • Grab Attention.
  • Hold the reader’s Interest.
  • Incite emotions and Desire in the reader.
  • Convince readers to take Action. (Convert them)
  • Provide value after the conversion.
  • Have a focused, clear design that complements your well-written content.

That’s a lot for one piece of content to accomplish, so every element needs to be perfect. You need a proven conversion formula like AIDA.

So what do I mean by AIDA, exactly? It’s an acronym for : Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.

A = Attention: Craft a Powerful Headline

The headline has no more than ten seconds to grab a reader’s attention and to do that, it has to:

  • Stand independently: Does it tell the reader what the content is about?
  • Grab attention: Does it catch the eyes of people who will link back to you?
  • Promise value: Does it promise the reader a return on their investment (time)?
  • Contain power/action words: Verbs and power words like free, cheap, and fast get attention and add to the value.
  • Have a clear message: Does your headline promise to provide the reader with a particular benefit? (Just make sure you live up to this promise in the content.)
  • Stand out: Does the headline stand out visually from the rest of the page and its contents?

You can also strengthen your headline with design elements, like the image below (taken from the Harrods.com website). The headline promises their swimwear will make her sexy (a value/benefit). And the image drives the point home:

 

 

 

 

 

Check out these great posts for more headline writing tips:

I = Interest: Make the Content Interesting

When building a landing page, you need to answer the visitor’s biggest question: “So what?”

What does your visitor gain by buying your product? Because link bait doesn’t outright sell something, you’ll need to use other methods of generating interest.

One solution is to pull the reader through to the next step in the “reader conversion funnel” by focusing on details that will pique his/her interest the most.

A few years back, Danielle Winfield of BlueGlass wrote a post called “When Offline Linkbait Ignores the Online Part.” In it, a popular pet magazine had featured an article on famous peoples’ pets. Sadly, their layout fell short. Danielle provided a list of changes that could have increased the amount of attention and links they could have gotten.

Her biggest suggestion? Play on the reader’s interest in celebrities.

And don’t forget about formatting: Subheadings and bolded text will help the reader identify the important information quickly.

So how do you know if you’ve done it right? If you cut out everything except the subheads, bolded text, and bullet points, the reader should still get the basic facts from the article.

D = Desire: Make Your Reader Feel Something

Ask anyone who knows me or has followed me on Twitter for a while, and they’ll tell you I frequently cry over a good movie, book, or video. In fact, if it doesn’t make me laugh, cry, or rant, I feel disappointed and won’t recommend it to others.

Link bait works in exactly the same way.

Link bait shouldn’t necessarily make you cry (although it has been known to happen), but it should make you feel something. Most of the time, I link back to posts because it gave me an “I never thought of that” moment, or I felt so passionate about a topic that I couldn’t help but reply.

To get the reader emotionally involved, engage his/her five senses. Not sure how to do it? This technique is discussed in some detail by James Chartrand.

In the meantime, check out the copy below from Lola’s. Not only does the copy make excellent use of the five senses, but the design also enhances the reader’s emotional response. (I know that made you hungry, so I’ll wait while you grab a snack.)

 

A = Action: Ask for the Link

This is where you’d normally plaster a big ol’ call to action on the page that screams, “buy me!” But link bait is different. Asking people to link back to you doesn’t work that well. Readers need a reason to do it.

If you’ve completed the previous step successfully, much of this should already be done for you. But you can take steps to encourage interaction (and links):

  • Ask a question or opinion at the end.
  • Say something controversial, slightly biased, or partially incorrect. (Just be careful with this one. The last thing you want to do is come off looking uninformed. Or worse.)
  • Leave parts out. If you “forget” something, someone will surely fill in the blank for you. Just be sure to fulfill the promise you made in the headline.
  • Offer an incentive. While this only works with certain types of link bait, it can be extremely effective if you use the right motivator. It doesn’t have to be anything big, either. It simply needs to be something most of your readers won’t be able to get access to on their own.
  • Tie them personally to the piece. If you write a direct response to someone and kick-start a friendly debate, or address him/her specifically in the content, s/he may return the favor.

 

The AIDA technique doesn’t guarantee you success every time, but this technique will certainly help in getting your content read and link-loved.

Want to know more? Read Steven Bradley’s article on the subject. (And be sure to check out the series written by Tim Ash that he included at the bottom of the post, as well.)

Now it’s your turn: Have you used AIDA to improve the success of your link bait?

 

About the Author – Angie Nikoleychuk

Angie Nikoleychuk is the senior copywriter, consultant & strategist at Angie’s Copywriting Services. She specializes in link bait creation, content strategies, and content optimization. Like to learn more about creating effective link bait? Check out Angie’s new e-book: Creating Successful Link Bait – the ultimate guide to link bait creation.

 

photo thanks to o5com


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How to create an editorial calendar

April 23, 2012 • posted by

Are you feeling the need to get your (editorial) act together? If so, you’re in luck, as today’s SEO copywriting video is on how to create an editorial calendar. In past webinars, Heather has discussed the importance of having an editorial calendar, but she has never actually addressed how to create one. So today, she does just that.

Heather has wanted to do a video how-to on creating an editorial calendar – especially for those new to SEO content writing and for DIY SEO copywriters – because she realized that in previous posts, her using the words “editorial calendar” may have implied a complex concept, when in fact it is very simple.

Tune in as Heather de-complicates the “editorial calendar” with three steps to creating one that serves both you and your content development team…

“Editorial calendar” sounds so complex…

  • People think that it should be a fancy, detailed document.

Many folks assume that creating an editorial calendar means that they need to have a special document and do things in a special way in order to track all of their content…and it really doesn’t have to be that complicated.

  • Two advantages: planning and accountability.

The advantages of having an editorial calendar are that you can plan all of your content and that everyone involved is accountable.

That way, it’s not just a case of having all of this stuff in your head – you can actually lay out a schedule so everyone concerned knows what pages are going to be written, by whom, and when. Down to the end-process of who is responsible for uploading the page or post, everyone involved knows what’s going on and can then fit it into his/her individual workload.

  • There are a lot of ways to create an editorial calendar (and some of them are fancy and detailed), but let’s keep it simple…

Step #1: What are your monthly SEO content goals?

The first step in creating your editorial calendar is to make a list of your monthly SEO content goals. This is where you sit down and think: “All right, what do I want to do this month?”

Things you might want to consider include:

  • What new pages do you want to create?
  • Are there pages that you want to edit for keyphrases?
  • Are there other SEO content initiatives (for instance, changing page Titles or descriptions)?
  • What’s your content “theme” for the month?
  • Think “manageable.” Know how much content you can create/edit a week.

In considering the last point – manageability – the upshot is to not overwhelm yourself. It is all too easy to write a list of 50 things that you want to do in a month, when the reality is that you can do about 10 of those things.

Focus on what’s really important to accomplish in the month, and hold yourself to what you know you can actually do.

Step #2: Mark up a page from a calendar

This is the easy part: print out a calendar page or buy a calendar, then start marking it up with content specifics and deadlines, such as:

  • When are you starting the writing project?
  • Who is the writer?
  • When is the rough draft deadline?
  • When are the edits back?
  • What’s the final deadline?
  • When will the content be uploaded and who will upload it?

If you feel more comfortable with an online calendar, then by all means use one.

Once you’ve completed the month’s editorial calendar, you’ll be able to look at any given week and know immediately what’s going on.

If after you’ve created the calendar you realize that the schedule is overwhelming, then it’s absolutely okay to take some stuff off! You want the calendar to be something that is manageable and that is going to work for your team – not something that’s gonna drive people insane!

Step #3: Get more detailed (if you choose)

While simplicity and manageability are key, it may be that you’ll want to go a little deeper with your editorial calendar and provide more detail.

Ask yourself: What does your team need to see?

For instance, if you use an Excel doc, you can include details such as:

  • Per-page keyphrase focus
  • URL
  • Title
  • Call to action

You can also group content by type, detailing such things as creating X number of sales pages/month, or writing Y number of blog posts/month.

  • “Type” of content (sales page, blog, press release, “how-to” page)

This is something that you can play with, and again, it’s about what works for you and for your editorial team.

There is no set way to create an editorial calendar, but it is good to have something that is functional because – guaranteed – you’ll not only be able to write much more content, but that content will also be better because: you have planned the time to work on it, you know the scheduling details, and you know the deadlines, so you can upload your content on a consistent, regular basis.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s SEO copywriting video how-to! Do you have an SEO copywriting question or topic suggestion for Heather? Love it! Send it on over to her [at] heather@seocopywriting.com or tweet her [at] @heatherlloyd. See you next Monday!

 

Want to learn more about SEO copywriting? Sign up for either the daily or weekly SEO Copywriting Buzz newsletter and receive a free download of Heather Lloyd-Martin’s white paper, How to write for Google!

And psssst – a head’s up! If you’ve been thinking about becoming certified in SEO Copywriting best practices, you have until May 15th to register for Heather Lloyd-Martin’s SEO Copywriting Certification training at its original price! Sign up now and save $170!

 

photo thanks to yoppy

 

 

 

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How to spend less time writing proposals (and still land the gig!)

April 19, 2012 • posted by

Are you spending hours on your proposals and still not getting the gig?

Maybe it’s time to give your prospects less to think about.

I received this email from a frustrated freelance copywriter:

“When clients ask me for a proposal, I spend at least 3-4 hours working on it. I review their site, run keyword research, make a list of how I can help, etc. The end result is a 15-20 page proposal that looks great. I’m not getting the jobs, and now I’m wondering if I have to add more information? Help!”

If proposals are a part of your business, you understand this woman’s pain. It’s like spending hours to get ready for a date that never shows up. You’re sitting there looking pretty, and find out that your prospect decided to “date” someone else (assuming you hear back from them at all!) Ouch!

Plus, from a business perspective, that’s three to four hours of billable time out the window.  ::poof::

The answer?  Give your prospects less information packaged in a different way. Here’s how to “dumb down” your proposals and give your prospects what they really want.

Rule #1: Don’t give it away.  

It’s common for new freelancers (or anyone new to the proposal process) to blur the lines between “proposal” and “billable work.” Proposal-time is not the time to figure out a strategy, run a bunch of time-consuming research and outline your process. At best, you’ll overwhelm the prospect with your reams of material. At worst, the prospect has no reason to hire you – after all, you’ve already told them exactly what you’d do and how to do it. If a prospect needs strategy in addition to hands-on work, explain that it’s a separate deliverable.

Rule #2: Try to set up a phone chat before you create a proposal.

Email only goes so far – so take the time to set up a quick, 30-minute chat. This gives you the opportunity truly understand the project’s scope before you develop a proposal. Otherwise, you may include services that the customer really doesn’t want. The end result? The client may feel that you “don’t understand their needs” and look elsewhere for a provider.

Rule #3: Ask the prospect what he needs to see (and make sure that you deliver exactly what they ask for.) 

I’ve had (many) prospects tell me, “I don’t need anything fancy. Just a short email outlining the deliverables and deadlines is fine.” And that’s exactly what I give them.  Be warned:  don’t try to out-think your prospect and throw in a bunch of extra stuff that you’re “absolutely sure will seal the deal.”  You don’t want your prospect to think, “If she can’t follow directions now, what is she going to be like to work with later?”

Rule #4: Keep it simple and short.

This is a mistake that I made early in my career. I would sit down and create 20+ page proposals until my eyes bled. What I didn’t understand is that I was making my prospects’ eyes bleed as well. Think about how much time you have in your day. If you saw a 20-page proposal waiting for your review, would you hungrily tear into it? Or “accidentally” round file it? Yeah. Me too. Shorter proposals are definitely better.

Rule #5: Don’t forget to include benefit statements.  

Your prospect may be sold on why your services are so important. But remember, your proposal may be passed around to multiple team members – and they may not quite understand your brilliance. Don’t forget to clearly outline how your services can help your client boost her bottom line. While you’re including your benefit statements, don’t forget to…

Rule #6: Remind your prospect why they should hire you over your competition.

Don’t lose the sale because you didn’t make your unique sales proposition clear. A quick reminder of your expertise is a smart idea, especially for team members who aren’t familiar with you. You don’t have to send them your extended resume.  But a few statements like, “I’ve written for catalogs for over 15 years, and have increased conversion rates 67% or more. I’m confident that I can achieve the same results for your company” can go far.

Rule #7: Try to review your proposal with your client.

It’s tempting to push “send” on your proposal as soon as you finish. However, try scheduling an appointment with your prospect so you can review the proposal together. I learned this trick from Denny Graham (one of my instructors in my Copywriting Business Bootcamp,) and it’s increased my close rates tremendously.

What about you? What are your favorite proposal-writing tips?

Looking to save a little bit of cash? Remember that the SEO Copywriting Certification training prices goes up May 15th. Start your training today for the best price.

 

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SEO content marketing roundup, week ending April 18th

April 18, 2012 • posted by

So where is that crystal ball when you need it? This week’s latest and greatest Web-writing news is ripe with speculation and projections. Perhaps inspired by comScore’s recent release of 1st quarter industry data, internet marketers of all persuasions seem focused on trends and the future. Content marketers discuss where they’re heading, SEO & search pro’s assess their state and forecast trends of their calling, while social media marketers digest big numbers and speculate away…Enjoy this especially thoughtful, forward-looking collection of links to the best of the marketing web!

Content Marketing

Rebecca Lieb discusses “Publishing in Today’s Digital, Social Reading Environment” with thoughts on the future of e-reading, at Marketing Land.

And speaking of publishing, Lee Odden talks about his newly-released book, “Optimize…” at Top Rank.

Ian Lurie and Geoff Livington discuss “how to save marketing from itself” with Matthew Grant via MarketingProfs’ Marketing Smarts (podcast).

Gabriella Sannino discusses developing a web presence with strategic content development, branding, and more with “What’s Your Branding Power?” at Level 343.

So where is the internet going in the next three years? Douglas Idugboe considers the question at Smedio.

Lyena Solomon summarizes Matt McGee’s thoughts on content creation strategies and more from the weekly Twitter #SEOchat, at Search Marketing Weekly.

In his third of a series on content development, George Aspland posts “9 More Content Development Ideas For Increased Visibility” via user-generated content, at Search Engine Land.

Gilad de Vries posts “7 Lessons From Content Marketing’s Greatest Hits” at Mashable.

Shelly Bowen posts “5 Great Starting Points for a Content Recycling Program” at Content Marketing Institute.

Sharon Hurley Hall discusses content curation with “How to do Content Marketing ‘Without’ Content – Be a Curator!” at unbounce.

Rand Fishkin discusses overcoming content creation fatigue with the latest SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday presentation, “Overcoming Your Winter of Dis-Content.”

Ian Lurie discusses the three elements comprising a core marketing formula with “Three principles of internet marketing,” at Portent.

Sean McGinnis posts marketing mistakes to avoid (and how to fix them) at his blog.

Mack Collier discusses building trust with “5 Reasons Why You Need to Stop Marketing and Start Teaching.”

Robert Rose posts “How Asking ‘Why’ Helps Us Get to Our Larger Story” at Content Marketing Institute.

Marketing Sherpa’s weekly research chart depicts the top-rated B2B tactics for “developing value propositions that resonate and convert.”

One for the bookmarks: Lee Odden lists 2012’s top UK internet marketing blogs at Top Rank.

Gini Dietrich generously shares her own blogging process at Spin Sucks.

Per Schmitz shares “6 Tools That Help Bloggers Manage and Monitor Their Online Reputation” at Kikolani.

MarketingProfs’ considers whether you should host your blog on-site or off in its “short articles.”

So “Does Website Design Impact The Bottom Line?” Zach Bulygo explores the question in detail at KISSmetrics.

Tim Ash shares an interesting case study in landing page conversions with “It’s Not Over Till the Stragglers Convert” at ClickZ.

Seth Godin talks perception with “Money scales but emotions around money don’t.”

Events:

  • MarketingProfs University is offering a live, online “Marketing Writing Bootcamp” from May 10th thru the 23rd (with on-demand access to the recordings thru April of 2013). Use coupon code SUCCESS to save $200!
  • The Content Strategy Conference, ConFab 2012, scheduled for May 14th thru the 16th, is completely sold out, but you catch live coverage via blogs, updates, and the @confab2012 Twitter stream.
  • Usability Week 2012 Conferences, hosted by the Neilsen Norman Group, are scheduled for May 14th thru the 18th in Washington, D.C., and for June 25th thru the 29th in Chicago.
  • Marketing Sherpa’s Optimization Summit 2012 will be held in Denver from June 11th thru the 14 th. Register by April 30th for early bird savings of $300!
  • Content Marketing Institute’s Content Marketing World 2012 is scheduled for September 4th thru the 6th in Columbus, OH.

SEO & Search

From Search Engine Watch: Miranda Miller reports on Google’s record-setting $10.65 billion first quarter revenue and its proposal for a “new class of stock” to allow the behemoth “…to remain focused on the long term.”

Meanwhile, Matt McGee reports that Blekko’s traffic shot up nearly 400-percent in the first quarter – and Blekko CEO’s five reasons as to why – at Search Engine Land.

Citing comScore data, Greg Sterling reports that Yahoo’s first quarter revenue actually exceeded expectations and its traffic increased by 8-percent – also at Search Engine Land.

State of Search posts its 88th podcast in which Bas van den Beld and Roy Huiskes discuss the state of (re-structuring) Yahoo, Google’s performance under Larry Page, and the potential for Google Analytics for Google+.

First-generation SEO expert Jill Whalen shares her 15+ years’ perspective of the SEO/search industry, including her take on Google’s latest round of updates, via her interview with SEO Copywriting.

Following up on SES New York, Eric Enge posts his interview with Adobe’s Warren Lee on “How To Structure Your Organization For SEO Success” on the enterprise level at Search Engine Land.

Hugo Guzman also discusses enterprise SEO strategy with the astute “When it comes to SEO, diplomacy often trumps technical ability.”

Google vs. Facebook: Jeroen van Eck compares numbers with the (admittedly speculative and) provocative post, “Facebook Might Be Going After Google, And They Could Just Win,” at State of Search.

The next step in the “ever-evolving” SEO industry – semantic search – and Google’s “rich snippets” update(s) are the subject of WebPro Tech’s Bharati Ahuja’s post: “Is Your Website Markup Enriched To Support The Rich Snippets Updated By Google?”

Semantic search and Google’s rich snippet updates are also the subject of Bob Meinke’s post, “Why Is Google Allowing Rich Snippet Spam?” at Bruce Clay’s blog.

Neil Patel posts a how-to on improving your rankings with semantic keyword research at SEOmoz.

Peter van der Graaf discusses the seasonal trending, hype spikes, and search volume life-cycles of keywords with “Timing Your SEO Efforts to Rank During Traffic Peaks & Spikes” at Search Engine Watch.

Trond Lyngbo discusses social search spam and the future of social signals with “Social Search: Dead On Arrival? Or On Life Support?” at Search Engine Land.

So is personalized search getting too personal? At Search Engine Journal, Melissa Fach posts “User Thoughts on Personalized Search” which features an (MDG Advertising) infographic suggesting users think so.

At Search Marketing Standard, Rebecca Appleton posts the second of a two-part series, “Six Top SEO Tips Straight From the Horse’s (Google’s) Mouth” (and here’s the link for part one).

Heather Lloyd-Martin offers perspective and tips for panicked site owners on Google’s latest Panda slap, the “over-optimization” penalty, via her weekly video post at SEO Copywriting.

Anthony Verre posts a helpful guide to DIY site audits, sharing his favorite tools, with “Down and Dirty Audits for Quick Wins” at Search News Central.

With “Real SEO Specialists: Finding the Needle in the Hay Stack,” Level 343 shares the questions their clients most often ask and the answers a legitimate optimizer should give.

Andy Crestodina posts how to get your picture in search results via Google’s Authorship Markup at KISSmetrics.

Tom Anthony posts “How Authorship (and Google+) Will Change Linkbuilding” at SEOmoz.

SEO Hacker’s Sean Si features a Matt Cutts’ video on white-hat link building with “Yes we Can! Says the White Hat SEO Hacker.”

Sujan Patel posts a how-to on tracking off-site clicks as goals using Google Analytic’s Event Tracking feature, at Search Engine Journal.

For beginners, Glenn Gabe posts a detailed guide to conversion goals in Google Analytics, also at Search Engine Journal.

Erez Barak discusses “7 Ways to Use Visitor Intelligence in SEO & Marketing” at Search Engine Watch.

In the global market? Tom Schmitz posts “11 Considerations For International SEO” at Search Engine Land.

Ending on a light note, Jack Martin posts “The 101 Best Google Tricks, Easter Eggs, April Fool’s Day Jokes and Pranks” at Portent.

Events:

Social Media Marketing

Citing data from a variety of sources, Christian Arno notes some astounding numbers as well as geographical diversity in platform preferences with “Worldwide Social Media Usage Trends in 2012” at Search Engine Watch.

Among the sources cited (above), is the eMarketer post, “Facebook Helps Get One in Five People Worldwide Socializing on Online Networks,” and its prediction that 1.43 billion people will use a social networking site this year (up 19.2-percent from 2011).

Heidi Cohen also cites a number of sources in her post, “Where is the Future of Social Media Marketing?” noting that 70-percent of marketers are looking to expand their mix of social media platforms, at ClickZ.

Brian Solis discusses “Disruptive Technology and How to Compete for the Future” at his blog.

Gabriella Sannino offers an industry veteran’s viewpoint on social sharing, conversions and optimization with a thought-provoking post at Search News Central.

John Lewis speculates on “The Next Phase of Social Media” at Sexy Social Media.

At Marketing Land, Greg Finn discusses Google+’s new format with “Google+ Gets A New Look With Interactive Navigation & ‘Timeline-esque’ Profiles.”

Citing Google’s slick PR spin in announcing Google+’s new look, Danny Sullivan weighs in with “If Google’s Really Proud of Google+, It Should Share Some Real User Figures,” also at Marketing Land.

Noting the anemic business and news community support of Google+, as well as Google’s lack of G+ branding on offline media, Debra Mastaler asks “Where’s the G+ Beef?” at LinkSpeil.

Pamela Vaughan discusses the importance of social proof in consumers’ purchasing decisions with “10 Ways to Instantly Amplify the Social Proof of Your Marketing” at HubSpot.

Chris Brogan speaks to the value of working for your content’s social sharing with “Earning Attention” at his blog.

Bas van den Beld issues a warning to Groupon with “Facebook Slowly Rolling Out Facebook Offers, Watch Out Groupon,” featuring an embed of Facebook’s video on its Offers, at State of Search.

Following up on her recent webinar on Facebook’s Timeline, Sarah Schager posts “15 Facebook Timeline Tips to Bring You Up To Speed” at Vertical Measures.

Andrea Vahl illustrates “5 Ways Businesses Are Using Facebook Timelines” at Social Media Examiner.

Pamela Vaughan posts “35 Statistics That Fuel the Battle Between Pinterest and Google+” (along with a free download comparing the two platforms) at HubSpot.

Jason Miller video-interviews B2B “thought leaders” about “their interest in Pinterest” at Marketo.

Anna Maria Virzi contemplates whether Pinterest will push into e-commerce at ClickZ.

Ashley Zeckman shares “3 Pinterest Tools That Will Have You ‘Pinning’ In No Time” at Top Rank.

Rich Brooks posts a how-to on “4 Ways to Grow a Twitter Following That Matters” at Social Media Examiner.

And finally – remember Foursquare? Rick MacManus posts “Just Checking…How Many of Foursquare’s Reported 20 Million Users Are Active?” at ReadWriteWeb.

Events:

 

Don’t miss this! Sign up for either the daily or weekly SEO Copywriting Buzz newsletter and receive a free download of Heather Lloyd-Martin’s white paper, How to write for Google!

And psssst –  head’s up! If you’ve been thinking about becoming certified in SEO Copywriting best practices, you have until May 15th to register for Heather Lloyd-Martin’s SEO Copywriting Certification training at its original price! Sign up now and save $170!

 

photo thanks to Outdated Productions (Courtney)

 

 

Filed under SEO Content marketing,Tips and techniques

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Jill Whalen on SEO: then & now

April 17, 2012 • posted by

Jill Whalen will always have a special place in my heart. Back in the day, we had a lot of “firsts” together.  We spoke at  Search Engine Strategies for the first time together. We presented at our first international conference together.  And we created RankWrite together, the first newsletter that discussed SEO and copywriting.

Jill was also featured in our “SEO women” series as one of the first-generation woman pioneers who helped build and define the SEO and search industry.

Here,  Jill shares about her path to becoming a leader in the SEO copywriting profession, answers our questions about Google’s latest updates, and discusses her perception of the SEO and search industry as a whole…including why truly good SEO copywriters are a rare breed, indeed.

Enjoy! – Heather

Q:  As one of the first wave of women who pioneered SEO, could you share with us your journey into that wild west world?

That’ll take us waaaaaay back to the early 1990′s when my kids were little and I first got online with a 2400 baud modem!

I got interested in IRC chat and created a parenting chat channel. By 1993 I taught myself HTML and developed a parenting website to go along with the chat room.

I was determined to figure out how to get that site found in the search engines of the day, i.e., Lycos, Excite, Webcrawler, so the same way that I taught myself HTML I analyzed what made certain websites rank for certain keywords and others not.

  • Discovering “SEO” – before it was “SEO”

It was pretty obvious at the time that it was the words on the page that would make the most difference. If you wanted to show up for a keyword phrase such as “parenting chat” then you needed to show that your site was obviously focused on being a place where parents could chat. Pretty obvious, but funny how others just weren’t thinking in those terms.

Eventually I started offering to design websites for some of the parents I had met online in my chatroom, and that gave me the opportunity to play with my new found SEO knowledge (it of course wasn’t called “SEO” yet).

Others had started to figure out the whole words on the page “trick” but instead of just making their pages relevant to what they wanted to rank for, many simply hid the words at the bottom of the page or with a font in the same color as the background of the page.  (I laugh when I still see this going on today, as if these people think they were the first to think of something so “clever”!)

  • The power of great copywriting

I went the opposite route for my clients and hired people far better at copywriting than I was, to describe what my clients offered in a way that would entice people to want to purchase from them. (That’s how Heather and I hooked up back in the late 90′s.)

And suddenly the SEO copywriting industry was born!

I found that the hard part of SEO was finding great writers. But once you found them, it was simple enough for them to understand the whole process of making sure they used keywords within their great writing.

Today I find that while great copywriting is still the number 1 thing you can do for a website, and I still recommend it for most sites, I focus my own energies on diagnosing technical issues that can hurt a website’s ability to gain the search engine traffic they deserve.

  • On search engine friendly website design

Website designs have become so complicated, and surprisingly too many developers still don’t understand how to create a truly search engine friendly site.

In addition, I love using Google Analytics (GA) to figure out why a website has suddenly lost a good portion of their search engine visitors. GA is so powerful these days, and if you know what you’re doing, it’s almost like being able to go back in time to see what was previously happening and then comparing it to what is happening now.

Q:  So what is your take on Google’s data encryption? How do you see it affecting keyword research?

Sadly, Google encrypting the searches of people who are logged into Google products such as Gmail and Google Analytics has meant that website owners have lost a lot of keyword data that we used to have regarding who visited our sites.

It shouldn’t affect keyword research as Google’s keyword research tool still provides the same data, but it will affect being able to effectively measure our success. It’s hard to know if the keywords you optimized for are bringing you traffic if you can’t see exactly what those keywords are in your analytics.

I actually just wrote a post about this subject: Measuring Natural Keyword Traffic in the Age of (NotProvided) Secure Search.

Q:  What are your thoughts about Google Search Plus?

It’s good and bad.

Sometimes I like it when I’m looking for a past article that someone in my online social circle has written. And I also like that it’s helping SEOs to *finally* agree that rankings are no longer possible as a way to accurately measure SEO success since they’re different for everyone. (That’s something I’ve been saying for years, but SPYW has made it all that much clearer.)

To go along with that I like that it should help to get search marketers focused on making their pages better overall, rather than being concerned with just a couple of keyword phrases and where their page shows up.

On the other hand, as a user/searcher it’s often annoying as I don’t always want to see what my friends have recommended! (You can hit the “non-personalized results” button, which does help.)

As to how it will affect SEO overall, it’s much too soon to say. They’re still tweaking it a lot and have already made Google+ results not quite as heavily featured as it was at first.

I’d recommend keeping an eye on it, but don’t make any major changes in the way you do business just because of it. You should probably have a Google+ account and filled out profile, though, if for no other reason than to get Google Author status which is an amazing perk for anyone who puts content online.

Q:  What is your take on Google’s “over optimization” penalty?

Aside from the fact that it’s impossible to “over-optimize” anything (because to optimize is to make perfect and you can’t go beyond perfect!) it’s likely just Google propaganda to scare dumb SEOS and web spammers.

But if it is indeed a real thing (and I hope it is) then it’s all a step in the right direction for Google. I’ve always found it annoying that SEO in all the right places could often beat out sites that were actually much better, but didn’t know anything about SEO. You shouldn’t be able to stick an extra keyword in a Title tag of a crappy site and have it beat out a great site!

So if it’s indeed something Google’s working on or implementing, it will finally make what I have been teaching in SEO for over 10 years to be true! (To be clear, what I’ve been saying and teaching did always work, but it was and is a long-term process which could sometimes get temporarily beat out by silly SEO parlour tricks.)

I’ve always said that the better Google gets as a search engine, the better the sites who’ve used my SEO methods would do. And they are! Hard work and good marketing should pay off even better if Google is serious about their spam fighting.

Q:  What would you say are the most important factors influencing SEO now?

This is a difficult one to answer as it’s different for every site. There’s certainly no magic formula or something that will work for every site.

  • Site architecture

That said, I find that having the right site architecture can make a huge difference for most websites. That is, creating a great hierarchy for your site so that the most important top level category pages are linked to from your global navigation, and then those top level pages each link into their own little subset of pages within their sub-category.

This pushes or funnels your internal link popularity properly throughout your site so that your main pages can be optimized for the more competitive phrases and your deeper pages for more long-tail phrases.

  • Technical, duplicate content issues

Another key factor influencing SEO is fixing any technical duplicate content issues. And by that I don’t mean duplicate content in the sense of someone posting someone else’s article on their site, but more the issues that can be created by some content management systems when they create multiple URLs for the same content.

Cleaning up those issues via rel=canonical or other means can make a huge difference to a site’s ability to get targeted search engine traffic.

  • Content marketing

And because nearly every industry has become so competitive online, it’s critical for people to market their websites via a blog and/or email newsletter or some other outlet that can showcase the company’s areas of expertise on a regular basis.

This will help to bring new people to the website who may still be in the research phase, but who may be ready to buy at some point in the future.

Q:  You’ve been in the SEO industry since the (pre-) beginning. What’s your overall impression of the profession, from where it started to where it’s going?

I have both good and bad impressions of the SEO industry.

I know and have met tons of people who truly get SEO and want to make a difference for the companies they work for. Unfortunately, I believe they are still few and far between.

It’s too easy to talk a good game about SEO without really knowing what you’re doing. And many companies are getting burned by them.

While many scammy SEO companies exist, clients have to take responsibility for doing their due diligence before hiring one. It’s often a case of the quick fix mentality, which clients often have. They want what they want, and they want it yesterday.

While a professional SEO consultant will set realistic expectations, often it’s not what the client wants to hear, so they’ll find an SEO company who will tell them what they do want to hear. In which case, they get what they deserve!

I kind of hate to say this, but with SEO being so hard to pinpoint these days (in terms of how to do it), I think businesses new to website marketing may want to start out with PPC first to see how their site performs overall. That way they can learn what works and what doesn’t.

Once they are making some profit through that marketing channel, then they can start branching out into SEO. It will be much easier at that point, because they’ll have hard data that they can use to optimize for the natural listings.

Overall, I feel that the better Google gets at fighting web spam, the better our industry will be. If spammy stuff simply doesn’t work anymore, those bad companies should eventually die out. And the sooner that happens, the better!

About Jill Whalen

Jill is the CEO of High Rankings and has been in SEO since its pre-beginnings, circa early 1990′s.She is a prolific writer and contributes regularly to Search Engine Land and Talent Zoo. Jill also founded and runs the High Rankings Newsletter, and just recently started an online forum for those interested in Google Analytics, specifically its custom reports, at Custom Report Sharing. You can contact Jill via her High Rankings website, and find her on Twitter at @JillWhalen.

 

Get real! Get your certification in SEO Copywriting and turn your income up to 11! SuccessWorks’ SEO Copywriting Certification training is available at its original price through May 15th – register now and save a chunk of change: $170!

 

photo thanks to aussiegall

 

 

 

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How to write for Google’s over-optimization penalty

April 16, 2012 • posted by

Greetings and welcome back! Today, Heather addresses a collective, anxious concern about writing SEO copy given Google’s latest Panda slap, the “over-optimization” penalty:  Help! Is my Web content over-optimized?

While it is true that Google has made a lot of changes and is cracking down on content, the upshot is: don’t freak out! It will be okay, if you follow the three basic guidelines laid out for you in today’s SEO copywriting video post.

It’s unfortunate that this latest Panda update has DIY Web writers afraid of the “Big G,” and wary of optimizing their Web content. Either you’re worried about what you may be doing wrong now, or that Google will tweak yet something else and what’s okay today may not be tomorrow, then your current ranking will plummet, etc., ad nauseum. So you freeze and do nothing, which is not helping your conversions.

In an effort to calm your fears and help you relax, Heather brings some perspective to Google’s over-optimization penalty. Tune in as she discusses the three “over-optimization” questions to ask yourself if you’re concerned that you may have crossed the line…

Over-Optimization Question #1:  Have I used “too many” keyphrases?

There are three things to look at when considering this question:

  1. How does the copy sound when you read it out loud?
  2. Did you try to match a (mythical) keyphrase density?
  3. Did you write 1,000 words of content “for Google”?

First, how does the copy sound when you read it out loud? 

As Heather has discussed in previous posts, one of the easiest ways to figure out if you’ve used too many keyphrases in your Web content it to simply print off the page and read it aloud.

If you hear yourself tripping over a keyphrase every third word or so, then yeah – you’ve probably pushed that optimization envelope a little bit too far. Time to scale back your keyphrase use until it sounds easy and natural to the ear.

Second, did you try to match a (mythical) keyphrase density?

Again, as Heather has pointed out before (as well as Google’s spam-master, Matt Cutts) there is no such thing as “the (perfect or magical) keyphrase density for Google.” Period.

If you’ve been trying for such a mythical goal, then you most likely have pushed the optimization envelope too far with overuse of keyphrases in your Web content. Repeat the exercise, above.

Third, did you write 1,000 words of content “for Google”?

If you have a super-long Web page where you wrote on for 1,000 words – and you really didn’t need that many – be honest with yourself: did you extend your copy beyond its usefulness thinking that’s what Google wants in terms of word count or page length? Think again.

The simple solution? Dial it back.

Slicing the word count and tightening your message will not only serve your conversions better, but it will also save you from the Google Panda slap. Get in there and try to figure out if the copy you wrote is targeted to your readers: is it what they would want to know? Or have you added some keyphrase-laden fluff that detracts from the user experience?

Over-Optimization Question #2:  Is my bolding and linking out of control?

This occurs a lot on small business sites, where the DIY site owner thinks: “Okay, so if I bold all of my keyphrases and link to everything I can possibly think of, that will help me with Google.”

And it really doesn’t.

Here are three things to keep in mind when using bold font and links:

  1. Hyperlinking to related pages = good.
  2. Bolding headlines/subheadlines = good.
  3. Linking or bolding every third word = bad.

If your linking or bolding is really overdone – and your reader is confronted with links all over the place and all this copy bolded that really doesn’t need to be – it’s not helping her or your Google ranking.

  • Ask yourself: What makes sense to your reader?

Forget about Google for a minute…strictly from the reader perspective, is copy riddled with bold font and links inserted in every other sentence really going to help her convert?

No. Just like the previous example of having too many keyphrases stuffed in your Web content, you want to focus on what makes for a good reader experience.

  • If you keep your reader’s needs in mind, then the way you bold copy in your text and the way you hyperlink to other pages will be much more natural.

Over-Optimization Question #3:  Are my Titles written for readers? Or Google?

As we know, page Titles are those clickable links on the search engine results page. It follows that your page Title should be written like a compelling headline.

  1. Remember that the search engine results page is your first opportunity for conversion.
  2. Shoving every keyphrase you can think of in the Title tag won’t help you.

A solid, optimized page Title should have keyphrases, of course. But it should not read like a string of keyphrases separated by commas.

Outside of the fact that a page Title of “keyphrase, keyphrase, keyphrase” (or “keyphrase|keyphrase|keyphrase”) is pretty spammy, it is not going to help you with that first, crucial conversion. If someone encounters that listing on the search engine results page, chances are they’re going to click on another Title.

As with the previous two questions to consider when judging if you’ve over-optimized your Web content, if you focus your efforts on the reader – in this instance by asking yourself “what will make the reader click on my listing over the nine others?” – then you will be on the right track with both your readers and Google.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s SEO copywriting video how-to! Do you have an SEO copywriting question or topic suggestion for Heather? Love it! Send it on over to her [at] heather@seocopywriting.com or tweet her [at] @heatherlloyd. See you next Monday!

 

Perk alert! Sign up for either the daily or weekly SEO Copywriting Buzz newsletter and receive a free download of Heather Lloyd-Martin’s white paper, How to write for Google!

And psssst – a head’s up! If you’ve been thinking about becoming certified in SEO Copywriting best practices, you have until May 15th to register for Heather Lloyd-Martin’s SEO Copywriting Certification training at its original price! Sign up now and save $170!

 

photo thanks to me’nthedogs (Mark Robinson)

Filed under Small business,Tips and techniques,Tips by Industry

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How to kick adversity’s ass

April 12, 2012 • posted by

Sometimes, life throws you a curveball.

I know quite a few folks facing hard times right now. Divorce. Illness. Financial problems. Death of a family member. You probably know people going through the same thing (or, maybe you’re the one facing the difficult days).

It’s interesting to see how people deal with life’s less stellar moments. Some people face their adversity head-on. They see what’s happening, they ignore the fear, and they charge straight ahead.

Other folks don’t handle it quite as well. They turn inward and blame themselves. Life feels uncontrollable and scary. And no matter how much things improve, they always expect the other shoe to drop.

That’s not a fun place to be.

Adversity is one of life’s constants, like death and taxes. No matter how good things are now, something…unpleasant…is going to happen.  The key is – will you let that thing (whatever it is) destroy you? Or will you kick adversity’s ass instead and thrive?

Oddly, I’ve found that my most successful times are a direct result of crappy things happening. When I got laid off and had no money, I started freelancing – and discovered that I loved the writer’s life. When my husband died, I focused my energies on building my brand – and SuccessWorks was born. When I got hit with a huge and unexpected tax liability, I creatively thought of ways to make more money – and had my best year ever.

Yes, I’m stubborn. But I’m also a firm believer that what doesn’t kill me does make me stronger.

Having said that, there may be some times that you’d rather curl up than fight. If adversity is weighing down your world, here’s how to deal with it – and eventually kick its ass.

Feel the emotion and let it go. It’s normal to feel scared, angry, remorseful, guilty – you name it. Pushing the feelings aside will do nothing but bottle them up. The key is to tell yourself, “I’m going to acknowledge whatever icky emotion this is, and then I’m going back to work.” It doesn’t mean that you’ll stop feeling scared, angry and remorseful. It just means that you’ll stop focusing on fear and focus on you instead.

Make a list of what you can control.  There’s always something you can do, no matter how uncontrollable the situation seems at the time. Can you contact past clients and see if they have any work that they need done? Can you start exercising – even a little bit – so you can clear your mind? Heck. some days, “controlling what you can control” means only having the energy to make one important phone call. That’s OK. Make a list of everything that you can do, both big and small. Reminding yourself that you can “control the controllables” is a huge mental-health move.

Take care of your business “baby.” Are you self-employed? It’s easy to put off important business things because your brain isn’t clicking along at full capacity. However, the last thing you need is for your business to suffer because you’re going through a dark time. Remember that your business is your baby. It needs your constant attention, no matter what else is happening in your life. If you can’t give it 100%, find someone who can fill in and help. Taking your hands off of the business wheel will add extra financial stress down the line – trust me. I know.

Take action every day. You may feel paralyzed by your current situation. That’s normal. The key is to snap yourself out of it and take some action every day. Maybe that means figuring out a new budget. Or calling some people who can help you. Or doing some research. Don’t let a day go by without doing something that will help shake you out of your current situation.

Don’t be afraid to pay for help. If you’re facing a financial hit, your first instinct may be to tighten your purse strings. That’s a smart instinct – but don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. If your business needs a tax pro to help you out of this situation, hire one. If you need a better business plan, work with a consultant (or, if you’re a freelance copywriter, consider the Copywriting Business Bootcamp.). If you need to talk to a counselor, find one.  Don’t add “I can’t afford it” to your already high stress level.  Spend what you need to spend and pull yourself out of your current hole.

Talk to someone about how you’re feeling.  Do you feel your stomach tighten and your heart rate increase every time you think about whatever is going on? Don’t bottle it up inside – get it out. Find a friend or trusted confident and tell them what’s going on. Cry with them, laugh with them and let them show you the “other side” of your situation.  You’ll walk away with a new perspective (and focus, too!).

Remember that it will pass. The situation – whatever it is – is temporary. It may not go away tomorrow, but it will go away. You will learn some (hard) lessons as a result of the situation, but that’s OK. We all do. The more adversity we face, the better prepared we are to kick its ass – and move through it with grace, confidence – and even a little bit of humor!

What’s your favorite way of overcoming adversity and kicking its ass?

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SEO content marketing roundup, week ending April 11th

April 11, 2012 • posted by

Mystery…suspense…who dun it…and why? In this week’s latest and greatest Web-writing news, SEO & search pro’s suspect a sneaky weekend Panda update is behind maimed rankings, social media marketers investigate why Facebook really bought Instagram, while content marketers (not so mysteriously) talk up blogging and email marketing. Many twists & turns in this week’s episode – end the suspense with these satisfying selections! Enjoy…

Content Marketing

Kaila Strong discusses quality lead generation (part 1) via content – and understanding it – at Vertical Measures.

From a B2B perspective, balancing lead generation quantity with quality is posted at Marketo.

Also in the B2B vein, Lee Odden posts “5 Ways to Win with B2B Content Marketing & Social Media” at Top Rank.

Good content creation eluding you? Heather Lloyd-Martin shares strategies for recovering your writing mojo with “How to write sizzling Web content, every time” at SEO Copywriting.

Hugo Guzman posts a thoughtful read on broadening your marketing perspective with “The evolution of digital marketing expertise.”

Marketing Sherpa features email marketing in its weekly research chart with “Email marketers who quantify ROI are in the minority.”

Nathan Richter shares four ways to use email to improve website conversions at ClickZ.

Citing a recent customer survey conducted by ExactTarget, Cynthia Boris posts “When it Comes to Sharing, Email Still Rules,” at Marketing Pilgrim.

Christine Dunn makes the case that “Email is Still the Best Way to Share Content Among Consumers and Businesses” at Content Marketing Institute.

On the fence about blogging? Gabriel Gervelis presents analytics data in favor of blogging, as well as time-saving tools, at Search Engine Journal.

Anna Ritchie pitches “The Ultimate Guide to Blogging,” available as a free download, at Content Marketing Institute.

More resources for blogging are at KISSmetrics, with a nicely segmented list of “44 Must Read Resources on Content Marketing.”

Ann Smarty shares her “guest article quality assurance flowchart” at MyBlogGuest.

Neil Patel posts “10 Lessons Seth Godin Can Teach You About Blogging” at QuickSprout.

Seth Godin discusses the growing phenomenom of “twitching” in the accelerated world of the social internet.

Lauren Sorenson posts “Why Marketers Should Invest in Visual Content Creation” at HubSpot.

Barbara Apple Sullivan discusses the relatively new marketing practice of “mobile brand engagement” at iMedia Connection.

Jakob Nielsen discusses the two different designs required for a good user experience (mobile vs. desktop users), and shares “cross-linking to make it all work.”

Roger Dooley discusses gamification and the psyche’s reward system with “Juice Your Marketing with Dopamine” at Neuromarketing.

Brendan Cournoyer posts “3 Things to Look For when Hiring a Journalist for Content Marketing” at Content Marketing Institute.

Writing a marketing ebook? Pamela Vaughan shares “11 Essential Elements of a Well-Designed Marketing Ebook” at HubSpot.

Events:

  • iMedia Connection has scheduled its iMoms Summit for April 22nd thru the 25th in Orlando, FL.
  • MarketingProfs University is offering a live, online “Marketing Writing Bootcamp” from May 10th thru the 23rd (with on-demand access to the recordings thru April of 2013). Use coupon code SUCCESS to save $200!
  • The Content Strategy Conference, ConFab 2012, scheduled for May 14th thru the 16th, is completely sold out, but you catch live coverage via blogs, updates, and the @confab2012 Twitter stream.
  • Usability Week 2012 Conferences, hosted by the Neilsen Norman Group, are scheduled for May 14th thru the 18th in Washington, D.C., and for June 25th thru the 29th in Chicago.
  • Marketing Sherpa’s Optimization Summit 2012 will be held in Denver from June 11th thru the 14 th. Register by April 30th for early bird savings of $300!
  • Content Marketing Institute’s Content Marketing World 2012 is scheduled for September 4th thru the 6th in Columbus, OH.

SEO & Search

An Easter surprise from Google? As reported by Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable (Webmaster World thread), dozens of SEOs and webmasters noticed significant “changes in Google referrals” (i.e., up to 40-percent dives in traffic) over the weekend, fueling speculation of a quiet (but dramatic) update.

Chris Crum elaborated on the suspected Google update at WebProNews, with “Google Update Suspected by Webmasters Losing Traffic,” noting a Panda “refresh” update may be the culprit.

Turns out that the big G was indeed the butler who did it: Clarissa Sajbl reports that Google is “focusing on foul links and link-building strategies” and site/page over-optimization with “Google’s Latest Panda Roll-Out: April 2012: The Basics” at State of Search.

Really? Danny Goodwin reports that according to a U.S. poll (ABC News/Washington Post), Google is “loved” more than Apple, Facebook, and Twitter – at Search Engine Watch.

Matt McGee reports that besieged search giant Yahoo is undergoing a company-wide restructuring and that its search stays alive, “at least on paper,” at Search Engine Land.

Eric Ward warns of signs of over-optimized linking in light of Google’s over optimization penalty, also at Search Engine Land.

Stoney G. DeGeyter also discusses Google’s over-optimization penalty – asking if you’re ready for seven “what-if’s” – at Search Engine Journal.

Aaron Wall posts his interview with Internet Marketing Ninja Jim Boykin on “… links and the changing face of SEO….” at SEObook.

Danny Sullivan takes a look at Google’s “project glass” – “Google’s Siri For Your Eyes” – embedding its video on the product, at Search Engine Land.

Bill Slawski discusses how Google might index “link behavior” information at SEO by the Sea.

Dr. Pete entertains the question “What’s Better – On-page SEO or Link Building?” at SEOmoz.

Rand Fishkin suggest five “Non-Intuitive Search Queries & Resources for Link Building,” also at SEOmoz.

Long-tail SEO and the overall success of an SEO campaign are the subject of Ray “Catfish” Comstock’s post, “4 SEO Recommendations to Target the Long Tail,” at Search Engine Watch.

Nick Stamoulis discusses five key indicators that your SEO campaign is working – from a long-term, big-picture perspective – at SEO Copywriting.

Bharati Ahuja discusses the key quality factors influencing your search presence with “Forget The Keywords And Focus On The Keyness Factor Of The Content” at WebPro Tech.

Level 343 talks about the preventative care of your website, providing helpful details down to coding issues, with “Proofing for Problems: SEO and Web Development.”

Kerry Dean gets down to the basics of sound SEO and site optimization with “In This Bright SEO Future, Don’t Forget The Basics,” at Search Engine Land.

Ben Goodsell posts a how-to on getting the most out of SEO extensions and add-on’s at Search Engine Watch.

Lars Lofgren discusses “8 Google Analytics Features Every Site MUST Have Enabled” at KISSmetrics.

Jonathan Allen posts the delightful “Personalized Search, Clients from Hell and How Not To Be An SEO” – the three winning animation shorts from Linkdex Stories’ competition, plus his own – at Search Engine Watch.

Speaking of Search Engine Watch, it provided some exceptional coverage of SES New York sessions, including:

  • “Integrated Marketing: Why Search Needs a Large Seat at the Table,” by Eric Enge.
  • “Competitive SEO Analysis: Data, Creativity & Understanding the Competitive Landscape” by Derek Edmond.
  • “7 New Ways to Think About SEO & Converged Media Metrics” by Andy Betts.

Events:

Social Media Marketing

Josh Constine and Kim-Mai Cutler report on Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, turning “its budding rival into its standalone photo app,” at TechCrunch.

Citing Mark Zuckerberg’s own blog post, Om Malik goes beyond the headlines with his insight into the real reason Facebook bought Instagram at GigaOm.

ClickZ’s Christopher Heine reports that Facebook’s Instagram purchase was to boost its mobile strength.

At TheNextWeb, Harrison Weber predicts that Google’s response will be to buy an Instagram competitor (“and fast”).

At Mashable, Joann Pan discusses the (free) photo app, Pinweel, as an alternative to Instagram.

“LinkedIn Group Search” headlines Social Media Examiner’s weekly news.

Citing Experian’s new 2012 Digital Marketer study, Search Engine Watch reports that Pinterest is now the third most popular social network (behind Facebook at #1 and Twitter, #2).

Kailei Richardson answers marketers’ questions about Pinterest, beginning with what the social platform is to begin with, at iMedia Connection.

Michael Gray discusses “Why Website Owners Should Be Using Pinterest” at his blog.

Bryden McGrath posts a how-to on uploading more original content to Pinterest (and discusses copyright issues) at Portent.

Discussing Facebook’s upcoming IPO, Mark Schaefer posts “Why Facebook will become the most dangerous company on earth” at {grow}.

Jason Keath releases “The 2012 Facebook Advertising Report,” based on a group survey effort, posting the results via infographic and offering a free download at Social Fresh.

Brian Solis reports that “Brands Give Facebook F-Commerce an F” at his blog.

Miranda Miller pulls some valuable insights from Social Media Examiner’s industry survey with “The 5 Ws of Social Media Marketing: Industry Survey Insights,” at Search Engine Watch.

Also taking a deeper look into the SME industry survey is Gini Dietrich, focusing on local search and Google, at Spin Sucks.

Shelly Kramer posts a sharp read, “Data and Contextual Analysis: The Road to Good Decisions,” at V3 Integrated Marketing.

Kristi Hines posts “Measuring Socia Media ROI & Goal Conversions with Google Analytics 5” at unbounce.

Debra Donston-Miller posts “5 Social Media Metrics That Matter Now” at The Brain Yard.

Jenn Deering Davis discusses “5 Essential & Easy Social Media Metrics You Should Be Measuring Right Now” at KISSmetrics.

Matt McGee posts “How to Find Your Customers on Social Networks” at Small Business Search Engine Marketing.

Brian Solis posts “Meet Generation C: The Connected Customer” at his blog.

Marcus Sheridan shares “5 Creative Tips to Increase Blog Traffic and Boost Your Business” at Social Media Examiner.

Matt Nicholson posts “How to Shield Your Brand’s Social Reputation” at Jeff Bullas’s blog.

Ashley Zeckman shares “5 Tips for Taking the ‘FUD’ out of Twitter for Employees” – fear, uncertainty and doubt – at Top Rank.

So “How Followable are You on Twitter?” Matt McGee poses the question to small businesses at Small Business Search Marketing.

Finally, Debby Hemly posts “26 Elements of a Gamification Marketing Strategy” at Social Media Examiner.

Events:

 

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