Copywriting has for many years been the poor relation for webmasters, with many investing little time, budget or effort into the copy on their pages.
In 2013, thanks largely to Google updates, things started to change. The phrase ‘content marketing’ became the buzzword on everyone’s lips as suddenly people have started to take copywriting seriously.
In this guest post, Martin Harrison of website copywriting service Copify discusses his top copywriting tips for 2014 and beyond.
Create an editorial calendar
If you haven’t already done so, think about all of the key seasonal dates in your trading calendar and devise an editorial calendar for the production of content for these dates. For example, you may be running special offers for Valentines Day or Easter. Create blog posts and targeted landing pages for these events to make the most of potential traffic.
Review and update regularly
If you are are not regularly reviewing and updating your website’s content, you are missing a trick, not just in terms of SEO, but also in terms of conversions. Look at competitors for any obvious trigger words that could lead to a conversion, and if possible run A/B testing on landing pages to determine what creative excites your audience.
Use keywords sparingly
Long gone are the days of keyword stuffing. Today, you should focus primarily on great content that is genuinely interesting, useful and compelling to your audience. Refer to your targeted keywords in your meta data, title and body copy if appropriate, but don’t stuff them into every sentence.
Focus on questions
Google’s recent Hummingbird update reflects a change in searcher behaviour, which is increasingly becoming led by queries, rather than the traditional ‘keywords’. For example, someone seeking a web designer in Melbourne may have historically searched for ‘web design Melbourne’, whereas now they might search for: “Who is the best web designer in Melbourne?”
Think about the questions your customers will have about your products and services and structure your content around this. Use Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools data to reverse-engineer this process.
