Confessions of an SEO Copywriter
Confession: I have purposely inserted misspellings into my own writing.
I have rejected really good headlines and great lead sentences for mediocre ones that start with a keyword or phrase.
I have stifled the urge to delete redundancies. I’ve even added redundancies to get one more keyword into my writing.
For a former journalist, this is painful to admit. But for an SEO copywriter, it’s all in a day’s work.
Read the rest of my guest blog post at SEOSage.org.
Marketing That Sounds Like You: A Primer on Finding Your Voice
“People respond to the humanity, not the form. The voice, not the form. Put your whole self into it, and you will find your true voice. Hold back and you won’t. It’s that simple.”
–Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Whether you know it or not, you have a unique voice. It comes from the places you’ve lived, the jobs you’ve held, the people who have influenced you, and the experiences you’ve had.
Your voice gives you character. It helps people remember your message, and facilitates trust. Sadly, the first thing many business owners do when writing marketing materials (copywriting) is abandon their voice and imitate someone else.
Usually the person they imitate is bland, detached, and instantly forgettable. Continue reading
Copywriting Secrets From Mark Silver at Heart of Business
I’ve been a freelance web copywriter for over half a decade now, but one copywriting question still trips me up: how do you write a sales letter that’s not formulaic or full of hype?
Most people wrinkle their noses when they think of the long-form sales letters that dominate the internet, but that copywriting format has become a cliche for good reason: when done well, it works.
Then there are the thousands of long form sales letters that aren’t written well. (I’ve been responsible for at least one.)
Wondering how to be persuasive without being pushy, I asked one person whose sales letters I’ve always admired: Mark Silver of Heart of Business. Mark was kind enough to talk with me about his copywriting techniques and share what I learned with you. Continue reading
Video: How To Write Killer Copy For The Web
The Lancaster SEO Meetup Group recently invited me to speak on one of my favorite topics, writing killer copy for the web.
Copywriting describes writing that appears on sales and marketing materials. (No, it has nothing to do with copyrighting, or registering stuff with the government.) Continue reading
