As part of ClickZ’s Connected Marketing Week, Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Francisco is hosting its “learn-in” from Tuesday August 17^th through Thursday August 19^th, featuring the brightest stars of search and social marketing. And yes, our Heather is most prominently featured! First she will introduce the speakers for “Content Marketing Optimization,” and then present — surprise! — “Developing Great Content.”  The agenda details can be accessed at SES San Francisco.

Speaking of great content…other news and links well worth your while, from content mills to content as link bait, to landing page testing, content management, and a 12-step rehab program:

• You may recall the recent buzz /controversy over content mills/farming?  Well, take at look at this:  Blekko may be in prime position to become the new search tool of the day, allowing you to saw-zaw your way through, well, bad SERP listings and farmed content to get to those quality sources and sites that you trust!  It’ll be most interesting to how this scenario plays out!
• Search Engine Land boasts a post from Jordan Kasteler, of BlueGlass fame, sharing on How To Focus on Content to Create Great Linkbait. Now, don’t yawn or be too quick to dismiss – this brief article is loaded with great insights!
• Yes, it’s true – the 12-step program has found its way into content marketing, via a Landing Page Rehab Program that, once you stop laughing, is a fabulous, full-on infographic complete with 12 steps and “Doctors Orders.” 5 stars out of 5!!
• And finally, from Marketing Sherpa are two great articles, one specifically addressed to SEO copywriters, listing five specific tactics to ensure that your company or client’s content management system supports your SEO goals, and the second, a 6-step how-to on planning landing page tests.

As underscored in the previous Mondays’ posts, researching your competition and tracking social trends, you are not the only wonder in web town!  (I know: Surprise!) So to refine and improve upon your content, and one-up your competition, you first need to truly know thyself, and second, you need a fearless reality-check on where you stand relative to your competitors.

This is where SWOT analysis comes in:

• Strengths Even if your business is in its infancy, it still possesses certain strengths from the get-go.  For instance, can you sell your products at 10-percent less than your competitors?  Do you offer unique, fun products not found anywhere else?   Besides your intrinsic strengths, consider your external advantages: Do you have a great supplier who ships products fast and works with you on payment terms?  That is definitely a plus in the strengths column!  Try to come up with ten strengths your company has.  If you’re stuck, ask for the opinion of a trusted colleague, friend, or even a client:  you may be surprised by how wonderful other people think you are!

• Weaknesses Just as your business has inherent strengths to bring to the table, the reality is that it – like all businesses – has weak spots.  There is at least one internal vulnerability that you need to acknowledge and eventually overcome in your marketing materials (more on that in a later post).   For instance:  Are you a brand-new company competing against an established one?  Are your prices slightly higher because you can’t buy in volume like the big boys?   Again, list your top ten weaknesses.

• Opportunities Time to take heart!  These insights and visions – opportunities —  are what motivated you to start up your business in the first place, right?  Did you see the beginning of an emerging trend, and notice that there are very few sites offering what you want to sell?  Do you have scads of contacts from your last job that you could leverage as your own, first few clients?  From an SEO standpoint, opportunity can mean that you can optimize for terms and concepts well ahead of – or better than – your competitors.  Revisit your strengths:  what opportunities present themselves from them?  Write down five opportunities that your business has, right now.

• Threats Real or perceived, threats do exist and it is wise to acknowledge the worst-case scenario and make a plan to work around it.  It could be an ex-employee who starts up a competing business.  It could be that your supplier doubles their price of an essential product or service.  This does not mean your competition will take over your market share and drive you out of business.  But it does mean that you should be aware of such threats, and make a solid plan for surviving them!    Again, list your top five perceived threats.

Whew!  Great job, and nobody died!  Now that you’ve done your SWOT analysis, try putting everything you’ve listed – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats – into a matrix, like so:

Now, don’t you feel better, knowing where you stand and where you need to focus your efforts? Next week, we’ll delve deep into how to profile your perfect customer and thereby craft precision benefits statements!  Stay tuned!

Blog posts provide weird information like, “An experienced SEO copywriter optimizes his texts not only to avoid grammatical and stylistic errors but tautology in key words should be also avoided.” Online tools stress a magical (and nonsensical) keyphrase density percentage (a search for “keyword density” pulls up over 888,000 Google results.)  Not to mention, there are scads of bad examples of keyphrase-rich writing, leading clients to think, “Maybe it is all about stuffing keywords into the copy.”

This week, I asked SEO copywriters in the Facebook SEO Copywriting group, “If you could give your client just ONE SEO copywriting tip, what would it be?”  Here are their responses:

The big takeaway? SEO copywriting is more than just keyword stuffing. It’s about providing users with relevant, unique (and I would add quality) content. It’s about spending time – and I mean a lot of time – with keyphrase research, strategizing how to use your “money terms” as well as integrate long-tail keyphrases. Plus, it’s knowing how to leverage the content you do write. Do you start a Twitter campaign? Is a blog really worthwhile? Can article syndication drive more links and qualified visitors?

Whatever you choose, just know that content marketing is all about the momentum. As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, taking SEO copywriting baby steps – whether than means starting your keyphrase research, planning a section strategy – or heck, even looking for a SEO copywriter to help you – is just fine.  As @DerekCromwell pointed out, “Do something. It beats the hell out of doing nothing.”

In the July 6 issue of MediaWeek, the headline “Council to Counter Web Generators’ Growing Clout” was front and center.  The Internet Content Syndication Council (ICSC), comprised of representatives from firms such as Proctor and Gamble and Reuters, is complaining that content aggregators like Demand Media and Associated Content are “cheapening” the quality of Web content.

I couldn’t agree more.

For those unfamiliar with the business model, Web content aggregators make their money from syndicating content produced by freelance writers.  The production process is like SEO copywriting on steroids: Editors use savvy keyphrase research to ferret out SEO copywriting opportunities, and assign keyphrases to their freelancers.  However, rather than the emphasis being on the customer experience – that is, creating a quality, informative article that’s targeted towards a specific market, the emphasis is on content that’s “good enough” to get links or long tail rankings. For more information about Demand Media’s business model, check out this Wired article.

If you’re a site owner – and you don’t want to hire a copywriter or produce content in-house – you may be tempted to turn to Demand Media or Associated Content for an “article bank” of articles.  Heck, it’s cheap, easy content that you can instantly slap on your site. But personally, I’d think twice about using such services. Here’s why:

1. Syndicated content isn’t targeted. It’s great to fill content “holes” with new content – and that’s a great strategy. But you want it to be original content, targeted towards your audience and their specific needs. For instance, if I was writing an article about marketing with mailing lists, I’d be asking questions about the target audience, their existing knowledge levels and their pain points. Those specific writing touches helps to connect with your reader…and drives conversions. After all, “write for your reader” is the foundation of every writing gig for a reason.

2. You’re getting exactly what you’re paying for.  Writers working with sites like Associated Content aren’t making much money – at all.  For instance, Associated Content’s site lists upfront payment rates of $2-$15 per article. If someone has an $1,000 mortgage payment, they will need to write over 66 articles in a month just to make their mortgage. The focus isn’t on quality – it can’t be for those rates. Those rates breed a sweatshop, “Write it fast and turn it in” mentally (and how could it not, really?)

As an example, I searched Associated Content’s site for “SEO copywriting” and checked out the first article.  Here’s a direct quote discussing the advantages of SEO copywriting:

• “Helping to work out various steps to increase sales

SEO content writing aims to increase the sales rate and marketing goals to achieve maximum profit.”

Really? REALLY?  ::hits head against desk:: No, this isn’t exactly “high quality” content that should be syndicated. At all.

3. Bad content reflects negatively on your brand. Would you rent a rundown storefront in a bad area to save money? Heck no. It would drive customers away. Same goes for poorly-written content – if the content is inaccurate, poorly written or just plain dull, it’s not going to help.

As a side note, I’m a tad disappointed that a search engine like Yahoo – who is intimately familiar with the importance of quality content – would purchase Associated Content. From a SEO perspective, Y! would have to know that articles syndicated across multiple sites probably won’t position well. And from a pure copywriting perspective, it seems like they’d want to focus on quality content – not copywriting for “outsource-to-India” prices. From a revenue perspective, I get it – cheap copy makes money. But I’d like to see them up their game a bit. Shame on you, Yahoo, for promoting content that you know isn’t top-notch.

For more on this topic, check out MarketingVox’s take.

Good news:  it’s not all bad news.  Google’s Mayday update may be the thing to slap site owners upside the head and encourage them to create great content.  Wondering what May Day means to content marketers?  Check out some of the buzz:

• Ken Lyons weighs in on Google’s May Day and its “under the hood” implications as a site-level, SERP game-changer:  My Take on the Mayday Update:  Strengthen Your Niches or Land in the Ditches

• Vanessa Fox shares her Q&A with Google’s Matt Cutts on the Mayday algorithmic rankings change, and what it means:  Google Confirms “Mayday” Impacts Long Tail Traffic

• Webmaster World’s ongoing discussion of Google’s “Mayday” changes, as well as Google SEO News & Discussion:  Webmaster World

In 75 words or less, comment on this post and tell us why you want to be a Certified SEO Copywriter.

Maybe you’re a freelance writer, and receiving your Certification will help you build another income stream and give you a competitive edge. Maybe you’re a SEO agency copywriter and you want to know how to help your clients see better conversion rates. Or maybe you’re a small business owner who needs DIY SEO copywriting skills. Just tell us why Certification is important to you!

Easy!

Plus, even if you don’t receive a free training, you’ll still get a bonus – every person who enters will receive a 25 percent-off coupon for a future SEO Copywriting Certification training subscription (Total savings – $149.75!).

Here are the guidelines:

• Anyone can participate!
• No purchase is necessary.
• Post 75 words or less about why you want to be a Certified SEO copywriter in the “comments” section of this blog post. You have until Tuesday June 29, to submit your response.
• Make sure you include a valid email address (otherwise, I can’t contact you if I choose your comment – or give you your discount coupon!).
• The winner will receive a free 3-month subscription to the SEO Copywriting Certification training. There is no cash prize, nor can cash be substituted for the prize.
• The winner agrees that I can use their name and comment in future marketing materials.

That’s it!

I’ll choose what I feel is the best entry on June 30th. Once the winner has responded, I’ll announce it here. If the winner doesn’t respond within 48 hours of contact – sorry – the prize will go to the next person.

Of course, any spammy entries will automatically be deleted. You’ve been warned.

Ready? Set? Go forth and comment!

Hello, all!

Today’s post is by Pam Foster, a highly experienced SEO copywriter and one of the first Certified SEO Copywriters in the world. Enjoy!

The other day, a marketer for a sophisticated mid-size national company inquired about hiring a professional SEO copywriter to improve his website’s search engine traffic and sales results.

He admitted that his website is in very tough shape (weak search engine rankings, not much activity on this site), and that he doesn’t know why. This kind of awareness is terrific – it’s the first step toward making big improvements!

So let’s quickly hit the key points about what’s wrong with his site… those missing critical elements that drive results online these days:

•    The web pages don’t include a single keyphrase his ideal prospects may be using to find his company’s services in search engines such as Google and Bing.

•    The page titles and meta descriptions have absolutely no information about why someone would choose his company among the many options in search results

•    The messages on every page are all about “how great and cool our company is;” not focused on what the customer needs

•    It doesn’t seem to set itself apart from the competition. There are no messages that differentiate this website from others in the same business category

•    It isn’t “conversion-focused,” meaning there are no inviting calls to action; no compelling reasons to sign up for his company’s emails, inquire about services, or buy anything

And that’s just for starters.

So as you can imagine, this marketer would find tremendous value in hiring a skilled SEO copywriter who knows exactly how to bring his website to life with a smart keyphrase strategy, customer-focused messages, and compelling sales copy that offers unique and exciting reasons to choose his company over others. Right?

In other words, copy like this would be “found money” in the bank for his website, yes?

Well, sadly he didn’t see it that way. He balked at the fees for hiring a professional, skilled SEO copywriter – someone who will offer a terrific return on his investment and deliver measurable results. Instead, he decided to search for a cheaper resource; even though his company can and should make the sound investment in what works.

Ah, well. He’ll soon find that this “Penny Wise, Search Foolish,” approach means he’ll end up working with someone who doesn’t know all it takes to write successful SEO copy. Therefore, his frugality will come back to bite him.

We hope to help you avoid this problem with the following logic.

We’re not saying you have to take out a second mortgage to invest in SEO copywriting that works. But if you plan on a budget of at least $500-$800 or more per page, you’ll soon find that it’s a drop in the bucket when you consider the immediate and long-term gains you’ll realize.

For example, let’s say a single new client is worth $1,000 to you (if you’re a consulting service). Or 20 new product sales may equal $1,000 if you’re a retailer; even more if you’re a B2B marketer.

So would a $500 web page investment today, that returns $1,000 in business tomorrow, be worth it? I’m pretty sure I hear you saying, “Heck, ya!” Plus, when you consider the long-term gain of each new customer relationship, the revenue potential is infinite. Trust me on this one.

It’s important to banish short-term thinking when investing in your web content. Instead, consider it a solid foundation that will support your business revenue growth for quite some time. (You wouldn’t build your dream house on quicksand, now would you?)

Thanks for giving this some serious consideration. Here’s to your web success!
Pam Foster

Guest blogger Pam Foster is the owner of ContentClear Marketing and PetCopywriter.com. Pam recently became one of the industry’s first web content writers to achieve SuccessWorks SEO Copywriting Certification… the world’s only SEO copywriting certification program.

“Why do I have to answer so many questions before you give me a quote? Years ago, if I wanted a copywriter to write a print ad, I knew it would be X amount. Why can’t there be more transparency?”

He had a point. I don’t list prices on my site – and neither do a number of my Certified SEO Copywriters. The main reason is because, “we don’t know what we don’t know” – short, catalog pages could be $250 a page – or up to $1000 if you factor in things like strategy, keyphrase research, customer persona generation and other factors.

And granted, a range like that could freak out the average prospect.

However, there is a way to get the information you need and find the right SEO copywriter for your next campaign. It may take more background research than sending a quick “how much do you charge” email.  And from the copywriter’s standpoint, there are some things that prospects can do to get an accurate quote, quickly.  Here are nine tips to get you started:

Do include your domain name in your initial email. At least twice a month, I get an email from an @AOL address that says something like, “I need five pages written for search engines. How much will you charge me? From a copywriter’s perspective, we can’t help you if we can’t see what we’re bidding for. Some pages (think longer direct-sales pages,) cost more. Others (like short catalog copy) can cost less. We won’t know what to tell you without seeing your site.

Do let us know your challenges. It’s wonderful when a prospect says something like, “We’re ranking well in the engines, but our sales copy isn’t converting.” Or, “We have a marketing team now, but they don’t know anything about SEO copywriting.” That information helps us evaluate your site and develop some ideas.

Do talk to us on the phone. I understand that it’s often easier to gather quotes via email. That’s OK. I do it too. But even a 15-minute conversation can help copywriters delve a little deeper into your challenges and explore different ideas. I’ve actually saved clients money because I told them that they didn’t need the big content marketing strategy they thought they did – and some simple tweaks would garner a great reward. We wouldn’t have come to that conclusion in an email conversation.

Do tell us what you’ll expect. Do you need us to provide status reports to your marketing department once a month? Are you working on an internal deadline, and need to have copy turned around by a certain date? Let your copywriter know what you’ll need before he zips you a proposal. That way, you avoid any future sticky issues – like your copywriter expecting to be paid to be on a three-hour branding conference call – when you thought it was a freebie (yes, this has happened!)

Do chat with multiple writers. It’s tempting to hire the first SEO copywriter who happens to meet your pricing and turnaround requirements. Just know that finding a good writer may mean talking to multiple people and asking lots of questions. Some writers will quickly “get” your business and will immediately generate some ideas. Other writers may not be as well suited for the task. Who you hire is crucial – after all, this person represents your brand – so make sure you find the best person for your business.

Do ask us for writing samples. Writers love to brag about our successes. Yes, by all means, ask for writing samples – especially when evaluating us against another copywriter. It’s important that you find the right fit for the right price, and writing samples (as well as case studies) help us showcase our value. Plus, from the client standpoint, writing samples will clearly show the difference between a $5 and a $500 sales page.

Don’t expect free consulting as a way to “prove our worth.” It’s important to find the right vendor – and many SEO copywriters will throw out some quick top-of-mind thoughts about how you should proceed. At the same time, asking us, “What strategy would you recommend” and “How would you specifically change the Titles” is moving from sales-process vetting to freebie consulting. Yes, ask us hard questions. Yes, ask for writing samples. But please know that the best copywriters (like the best doctors, attorneys and business consultants) won’t give it away for free.

Don’t tempt us with “more work later if you can lower your rate now.” In my non-scientific estimation, 99.9% of copywriters have lowered their rate in this scenario. And 99.9% of copywriters would never do it again. Unless we have a signed contract promising us “future work” – including a retainer guarantee – we can’t “bank” on future work. Ask us this question later, after we’ve worked together and we’ve built a successful relationship.

Do be open to higher fees  – but ask us how you can save money. Many people start the SEO copywriting vendor search process without a clue about per-page rates. Or, the prospect needs more than writing – they need strategy and better keyphrase research – and that drives up the price. At the same time, if you feel like the price is edging higher than you’d like to spend, ask about training (DIY always costs less in the long run,) running a longer campaign for a smaller (guaranteed) monthly spend, or even paying your agreement up-front for a discount. There are always ways to save some cash without sacrificing quality.

“I think I understand how to write optimized Web copy for B2C sites. But what about B2B SEO copywriting? Isn’t it different?”

It’s true that B2B SEO copywriting often has a slightly different tone and feel than it’s consumer counterpart. After all, if you’re targeting executives with buying authority, the copy will read differently than if you’re writing about pet accessories or Pilates mat classes.

But that doesn’t mean that B2B copywriting has to be straight, dull and “just the facts.” Nor does B2B copywriting have different SEO copywriting “rules.” If you’re confused about writing for the B2B market, just remember one simple acronym: CIAO. Here’s how it breaks down.

C – Customer focused copy.  Your first step before you start writing is to develop a customer persona – who will purchase this product or service, what are their pain points, what are they reading/buying now and how can you help? Just like in B2C SEO copywriting, every word you write should be laser-focused towards your audience’s needs. Consider how your product or service helps to shave expenses, provide peace-of-mind, improve profits or somehow simplifies a process. Specific benefits sell in the B2B market – so make sure you tell your prospect exactly how you can help them.

I – Interesting copy. B2B copy doesn’t have to be boring. Spec sheets, product features and case studies are important. However, the information doesn’t have to put people to sleep. In fact, one way to instantly differentiate from competitors is to write engaging copy that speaks directly to the prospect while providing benefits in an easy-to-read manner.  It’s true that you won’t necessarily be able to use a “peppy” tone and feel like you could with a B2C page. But you do you have more creative room to move than you think.  A quick rule of thumb: If you’re even bored by the copy, it’s time for a rewrite.

A – Action-oriented. It’s scary to see product or service Web pages without a call-to-action. The last thing you want to do is frustrate your prospects when they’re trying to make a purchase or contact you for more information. If you want folks to make a purchase, make the purchase link prominent. If you want folks to contact you, make sure you tell them and make it easy for them to take action. If your prospects have to hunt around your site just to figure out how to buy from you, there’s a good chance that they’ll boogie away and find another vendor.

O – Optimized. The B2B world can be highly competitive, and optimization can make the difference between a nice site that gets a little bit of traffic – or a huge powerhouse site that gains massive market share. Just know that the same “rules” apply when optimizing a B2B site. Hire a content marketing strategist to help plan your campaign. Choose specific keyphrases. Create a clickable Title and strategically insert your keyphrases within the copy. Remember, just like a B2C SEO copywriting campaign, skipping a step (like creating strong, keyphrase-rich Titles) can decimate your campaign, rendering so-so results rather than stellar.

See? SEO copywriting for the B2B market is easier to create than you think! Just follow the same “rules” you would for B2C SEO copywriting (keeping in mind that you’ll need a different tone and feel) and you should be fine. Ciao, baby!

Mind you, I’m a big fan of prospect due-diligence. Companies need to make sure that the vendor they hire will meet their needs – and sometimes, you can learn everything you need to know by reading written responses (especially if you’re hiring a SEO copywriting agency – if they can’t write compelling RFI responses, I doubt they could create good Web copy.)

But then, the other day, I received a very unique RFI – and I’m curious to see what you think…

The “typical” questions were there regarding how my firm worked with clients, and and asking about my firm’s writing process. But then, the questions started getting very…personal.  They asked me to name my top clients and their annual spend. Then wanted to know if I’ve worked with clients in certain verticals – and they wanted me to name the clients and engagement scope. And in addition, they asked for two year’s of financial statements.

Mind you, my husband didn’t see my financials until about two weeks before we were married.

Yes, there would have been a MNDA in place – so the information would have been protected. However, I didn’t know anything about the gig. Nothing. Not the scope of work. Not the budget. Nothing. This could be a $100,000 SEO copywriting makeover – or a $1,000 project. And unfortunately, the prospect was prohibited from providing any information until after they received the RFI – assuming, of course, that my firm made the cut.

How did I handle it? I took my firm out of the running. Even with a MNDA in place, I didn’t feel comfortable discussing my current clients with a prospect – not without my clients’ express signoff. And certainly, I did not feel at all comfortable sending over two years of financial documents before I could even speak to the prospect (and truth be told, I would never send over financials to a prospect.) It’s a shame, because I’m sure that I could have helped them. But the RFI process soured me on the gig.

But you tell me.  What types of RFI questions are appropriate – and what feels like “RFIs gone wild?” Am I being stubborn? Would you have provided that information in the hopes of getting the gig (keeping in mind, of course, that you wouldn’t know what the gig was before submitting your information.)

What do YOU think?