Today, so many business owners and entrepreneurs are incredibly hung up on writing for search engine optimisation, that their website ends up a terrible user experience. As with many other things, there is a good and a better way to do things, but writing for Google as opposed to writing for your desired user is not going to win you any fans, or any sales.
If you can keep this in mind, first and foremost, here are some good pointers when creating your web content.
I would suggest you first start by getting a feel for exactly what type of words users looking for your business use when they search.
For example, if you are a plumber, it would be useful to know if your potential customers search for, plumbing or plumber. You can do this by making use of a magnificent tool called Google Insights for Search. Log on to http://www.google.com/insights/search/# and enter the first keyword you want to research (plumbing). You should select what to search (Web search), then choose your country, state and time period you want the search to cover. You can also choose which categories you want to search or you could select all categories. Hit enter and you’ll see a graph showing you exactly the number of times plumber has been requested as a key word in a search. Then do the same for the word plumber and compare the two.
Apart from the obvious, you’ll be able to see industry trends. For instance, whether the industry you’re interested in increasing in search results or not. You’ll also be able to view predictions for the period ahead. This is all very powerful stuff that wasn’t available until recently.
When writing content for your website, understand that it must be all about your keywords. Your content must be dense with keywords. But there is a skill to this as you also need to ensure that it isn’t overly complex, as this will put readers off and turn them away. It must remain useful, informative and interesting, without smacking of heavy-handed marketing. That’s not what most people want to see. They want useful or relevant information and not hype.
One of the secrets to writing good web content is to keep it short and to the point. You must resist the temptation to write in essay style. Dot points work well, so too does lots of white space. Short and sharp is the name of the game because most people don’t want to spend hours looking at a Web page – they want to dive in, get the information they want and then move on, ideally to another part of your website but possibly to another site altogether if they haven’t found what they are looking for.
Have you noticed that you tend to read in a different way online to other forms of media? If so, you’re not alone. Most people seem to have Attention Deficit Disorder on the Internet. They tend to scan more than read, and this is particularly more so with women. This is something you need to take into account when writing your content. You need to provide bite-sized pieces of information rather than every chapter and verse. Understand that at best you’ll only have around 5 seconds to impress your reader enough for them to arrive at a decision. It is during this 5 seconds that they are viewing your page that they’ll typically decide whether to click back or carry on looking at your site. That’s really not a lot of time.
You also need to factor into your understanding that approximately 50% of visitors to your site will bounce. This means they will check in, have a quick look around and bounce back out and onto the next page that their search turned up. We refer to this as the bounce rate.
Once again, remember that the writing on your website needs to appeal to your readers, get your message across and keep them there long enough to buy from you.
DEC
About the Author
Cool Ben Bradshaw Facts: Started his first business at 14. Created his second business at 17 – Offering Car Detailing & Car Body Kit Services. Became the number 1 sales person in the country for largest flooring company in Australia by the age of 19 selling over 1.5 million dollars per year, he achieved this within his first year. Left his sales career to pursue a career as a Corporate Comedy Magician and Speaker. He was able to quickly turn this into a extremely successful business and became one of the busiest and most successful magicians in Australia within 2 years. Ben has won 2 Guinness World Records For Magic. Ben has won over 10 Business Achiever Awards. Currently CEO & Founder of one of the largest internet marketing agencies in Australia. Ben regularly consults with Google regarding the future of online advertising. Ben will present a brand new internet marketing seminar at the Googleplex Sydney along side Key speakers from Google later this year Ben Bradshaw and his Online Marketing Magic! Ben Bradshaw is one of Australia’s online marketing and Google Adwords pioneers. He is the Director of Australia’s largest Australian owned AdWords Management Company, and one of Australia’s most sought after speakers and trainers on the subject. Ben started to host magic shows at the tender age of ten, and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest escape from a straight jacket. His interest and ability in online marketing began as a magician in his early twenties, trying to get more bookings as a corporate magician. Traditional advertising simply wasn’t working and after trying many different advertising methods, Ben experienced remarkable success for his business following months of research and self education on Google AdWords and how to make it work for his magic business. Through trial and error Ben was able to figure out how to best increase his web traffic and maintain this steady stream of bookings, which meant enormous growth for his business. After witnessing his success with AdWords and the benefit it gave to his business, Bens’ friends, who were all entrepreneurs, started to ask for his assistance in fuelling online traffic and growth for their own businesses. Ben would set-up their Google AdWords accounts and then share his various tips and tricks on how to effectively maintain the accounts. When their businesses started to experience measurable success as a result of online marketing, Ben decided that the next logical step for him was to hang his straight jacket up and start a business dedicated to offering other businesses Google AdWords Management services; thus his online marketing empire was born. Ben’s agency SponsoredLinX has been operational for many years now, located in Brisbane and with a national client base, and has quickly taken over its competitors in the industry as the place for businesses to go if they seek high quality Google AdWords Management. Bens’ ability for AdWords Management was soon noticed by various industry leaders and SponsoredLinX was approached to become one of only a very select few authorised Google resellers, shortly after its inception. Since then Ben has been able to grow his business by a staggering 300%, and it is now Australia’s largest Australian owned AdWords Management Company. Keeping the theme of magic alive, Ben has been able to quickly and seamlessly create and nurture a powerful team of professionals around him, all committed to maintaining the impeccable detail that Ben puts into each account he looks after. This commitment to detail has meant that SponsoredLinX has been able to successfully exceed its clients’ individual needs. During his years in this evolving industry, Ben has received of a number of accolades and awards, including The BRW 2010 Fast Starter Award and The Smart Company Awards Winner 2010. Ben has presented at the Googleplex in Sydney about his involvement and experience with Google AdWords, and this year will release the very first DIY business book dedicated to the subject of online marketing. Without a doubt, this milestone will keep the accolades coming and the magic of Ben Bradshaw alive and kicking.