Does Your Copy Look "Fake" To the Search Engines? by Karon Thackston

Does Your Copy Look "Fake" To the Search Engines? by Karon Thackston

by Karon Thackston2004
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword

From the early days of search engine optimization, keywords and content have always been vital to achieving your goals. Starting back in the days when we used to shove every slightly relevant keyword into our Meta tags, it has been obvious that search engines love text. The more advanced the engines have gotten over the years, the more complex and sophisticated many writers have gotten with their search engine copywriting.

Supposed formulas, saturation levels, and other mysterious concoctions have been developed to help us outsmart the engines. However, what we should have been doing all along was writing for the visitor first and the engines second. Why? Because creating a site that's loved by visitors is a prime factor in linking, ranking, and marketing as a whole. As the engines make great strides with more personalized and efficient searches (such as semantic search) natural search engine optimization writing is even more important.

Rather than just indexing the copy on your site, engines are learning to "understand" what a page is about. The ironic thing is, as the search engines get more complex the "formula" for SEO copywriting is actually getting more simple.

Write Naturally

In the future, search engines will be looking for Web pages that reflect a natural tone with the copy. Is it obvious that keyphrases are being shoved in wherever possible? Does every headline/sub-head, image tag, and comment tag have a keyphrase included? Does the copy sound fake, unnatural, and stiff? If so, then spiders and bots will recognize it and possibly flag it as something to be wary of.

Take a look at this lovely piece of copy I found while surfing just the other day. (I've replaced the keyphrases used in the original copy with the word "wherever" so as not to embarrass the site owner.)

Wherever Holiday Rentals

Holiday rentals in Wherever for holidays in Wherever

Wherever holiday rentals directly from the owners. Rent a holiday villa in Wherever or perhaps a 2-6 bedroom apartment in Wherever. Wherever vacation rentals for holidays in Wherever are easily located by searching the Wherever Holiday website. Wherever Holiday Rentals offer holiday apartments in Wherever and holiday villas.

Find accommodation in Wherever by clicking on the Wherever map or the active links. You will then see holiday rental apartments, villas and townhouses in stunning Wherever accommodation.

Let's suppose someone walked into your travel agency and asked for help. You would most likely ask what they were looking for. They would reply, "Holiday rentals in Wherever. What can you show me?" Would you honestly take off on the spiel above? Can you see yourself talking to a real client face-to-face and saying, "We offer Wherever holiday rentals in Wherever and can find you many apartments, villas, and houses in Wherever"? I don't think so.

Tips for Writing In Natural Language

1) Vary your keywords/phrases. For example, if a keyphrase you particularly want to target is "14k gold jewelry" consider also using keyphrases like "14k gold watches" or "gold wedding bands" or others along those lines. This will give you a variety of phrases within your copy.

2) Read it out loud. When you read your copy out loud you'll get a better sense of whether it sounds unnatural. If you wouldn't say, "We make 14k gold jewelry and have made 14k gold jewelry for 10 years. If you need 14k gold jewelry just view our catalog" out loud, then don't put it in your copy, either.

3) Break up keyphrases. As searchers get more knowledgeable about finding what they want in the engines, they use longer and longer search queries some of which just don't make any sense. For instance, I recently had to use the phrase "real estate Pittsburg downtown" when writing a page of SEO copy. Since this search string was not easily worked in as that exact phrase, I broke it up. One sentence I used it in said: "When looking for commercial real estate in Pittsburg check the downtown listings first for exceptional locations and prices." The words are still in the same order with minor breaks in between. When you can't use a phrase "as is" this is a very viable alternative.

Keep in mind the direction search engine optimization is taking. The closer you can get to writing in natural language, the better off you'll be. It only makes sense to create a site now that will last through the long haul. Especially when that site will have a better chance of favorably appealing to the engines and your visitors.


About the Author
Karon is author of How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy). Discover the secrets to creating SEO copy with a perfect balance between keywords and natural language. http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword

"Copywriting Secrets Of The Indian Mystics" by Dave Alston

"Copywriting Secrets Of The Indian Mystics" by Dave Alston

Hi everyone,

Been ruminating on this one for a little while now but its probably one of the most profound discoveries of my life. It all began with a little book about music and its had such a deep influence on my copywriting and small business, indeed my whole outlook on life, I'd like to share it with you all now.

Heres what happened

About 8 years ago I bought the book Man and Music In India by Roshmi Goswami and was introduced to a staggering thought from within its pages that every note sounded by a musician is actually a container for the spirit of the musician.

Now breaking that open further I began to see that (Im a musician myself; drummer, guitar player) as the notes of a musician could be filled by the very soul or spirit of the musician himself or even God or demons (if you believe in them) so the notes were almost like little boats that each musician filled with their persona unique to them and by plucking, singing, striking the note they in essence launched it out into the waves of the sea of sound where it eventually reaches the port of its destination - the audiences hearing ear, who gladly receive and enjoy it (or otherwise if a bad musician).

In my minds eye I saw each musical piece therefore (stick with me here - its worth it I promise) as composed of thousands of little boats (the notes) sent out to sail across the sea of sound by vibration (the waves) to the audiences listening intently on the other side of that sound sea.

For many years I thought about this and then realised (sorry Im a bit slow on the uptake sometimes!) that this didnt just apply to notes in music but more deeply and profoundly it actually applied to the very stuff of life itself - WORDS.

As such every single every single word you say or write is a container, a little boat as it were that actually contains YOU! The question is what fills your little boat before you launch it out to sea?

If the light bulb has not gone on yet it will, just keep pondering the bigger picture above - perhaps of a lone master violinist or a sitar and tabla player deeply intwined in an intricate Indian raga and before long youll understand exactly what Im driving at and its deep, very profound.

When you apply the above metaphor to words you see the little boats not as notes just being containers for the music and spirit of the musician but rather words as little ships themselves that contain YOUR very essence, spirit, soul and persona.

Every time you speak or write a single line you release a little Armada of these little boats out onto the sea of existence itself - if speaking, then out onto the splashing waves of the sea of sound - if writing, then even more deeply into the sea of heart to heart direct communication itself without a sound, directly to the target.

What s so profound about the written word is its ability (when the writing is good) to bypass all the defences humans erect against other humans intrusion and drop directly into the emotional and decision making part of the heart to evoke powerful responses. Thats also good if you want to sell something to someone.

Quick example

My wife didnt even know I really had feelings for her in the first months of us knowing each other and shed moved to another town 65 miles away - I wrote her a letter; it was pretty powerful (I was terrible at controlling my emotions then and splurged the clumsy letter full of poetry and undying declarations of love etc!) and she phoned me saying she was surprised at my feelings for her; within 8 weeks we were married and that was 17 years ago.

Prior to the letter Id just been a fleeting aquaintance and if Id tried face to face Id probably have blown it being so nervous and all but; the words carrying my spirit, passion, persona bypassed all her natural resistance and melted her heart!

So whats this all got to do with copywriting? Well a massive amount really; the point Im trying to uncover here is that you reveal your very personality through every single word you write even if there are some aspects youd rather not show to others, especially prospects or clients.

Each little copywriting word boat is saturated with an invisible (to you but not your readers), almost DNA like substance which betrays who you really are to everyone who reads what you write.

Eek! Kinda scarey

So putting your best food forward for business doesnt mean covering up the nasty bits and hoping folks wont find them. Their sixth sense tells them to avoid you or do business with you because the substance leaks out from the little boats to alert them to who the real you is, whether you like it or not.

Rather, you fix whats wrong in your business, align who and what you are with an honest decent direction and let that saturate all your future messages as you roll out your campaigns to win the world. Then your transparency will win you friends and business you become attractive.

Never forget when your words drop through someones letter box, email box or arrive through the ether on a telephone wire folks instantly know deep in their gut whether youre the real deal or not.

You cant hide it - when you wrote your copy or launched into your sales pitch you filled your little boat with who you really are, your own unique DNAprobably without even knowing it.

Think about your copywriting this way; yes youve got to grab attention, give the other person what they want, see things from their perspective, give them the benefits up front etc but when it comes to your USP and what makes YOU special, make sure your entire message is drenched in your unique, niche tailored, custom fitted, perfectly targeted USP but it must be done with absolute honesty or they will know, they just will.

I remember years ago working for a photocopying company - I was the best in the whole company at getting appointments yet useless at selling them if I went on an appointment; why? Because although Id admitted it to no one including myself at the time - I hated photocopiers (they are so boring) and the people could instantly tell that when I spoke about them.

On the other hand I loved getting appointments for the company (I secretly hoped the boss would send the other good reps on the calls) and thats why I did so well at setting them, people were instantly turned on by my words down the phone to them because I was passionate about lead generation.

My boats were full to to the top with unique Dave Alston-ness! and people loved it so they set appointments with me.

You also need to be special, unique, different for someone to do business with you these days because folks
can so easily go somewhere else at the click of a mouse - align your business with who you really should be.

Ensure every word you say, or write is filled to the brim with the right spirit and true integrity and allow the sea to carry each little boat directly into every single heart you target. Youll be amazed at what happens.

Make no mistake, in these increasingly impersonal and troubled times people value enriching business partnerships they can rely on and will give them their business. But youll only get them by targeting the heart and theyll only let you in if they can instantly sense they can trust you.

People want to know you care - theyll sense it instantly; good or bad, when your word ship arrives whether you want them to or not. So why not examine all your words verbal and written from how your small business answers the phone, your voice mails, your sales letters, autoresponder messages, right through to your web site content? Replace defective words with heart to heart communication instead.

Check if your communications really are brimming with the good stuff you want others to see in your business when they get word from you. Dont send them containers full of refuse with your good companies name on it without even realising it. The worlds got too much of it already spam. Send out a little fleet of word ships filled with gold to make peoples lives better instead.

Thats just one tiny copywriting secret Ive gleaned so far from the Indian Mystics. Keep your eyes peeled for the next article its The Indian Rope Trick.

About the Author
Dave Alston is the Author of 'Revealed: The Hidden Truth About Web Design' and owner of http://www.aceofwebs.com - small business web success driven by crystal clear copywriting. Subscribe to his 'Ace Tips' marketing RSS feed by copying and pasting http://www.aceofwebs.co.uk/rss/wp-rss2.php into your RSS Reader.