Buzz On Copywriting – Content Axis

A web log of blog has evolved as an internet medium.  Whereas it was used mainly to post personal diaries and journals, there is now a proliferation of corporate and organizational blogs for business, public relations, and as a means to determine market preferences and public opinion.  As such, it now plays a very important role in communication.

Let’s Get Down to Basics

Blogs are websites where articles, commentaries, images, videos, etc. may be posted.  A common feature of this type of site is that it allows visitors to add content, although these can be moderated by the blog administrator.

Being a website, a blog thrives on “hits”, and without people visiting the site, it is likely to be relegated to “internet oblivion”.  So before one thinks of increasing blog subscription, the issue of having a sufficient number of visitors should be dealt with first.  For this reason, the importance of SEO should not be undermined.

Those who already have a popular website may attach their blog to this and take advantage of the existing site’s popularity.  This approach has been known to quickly improve page rank and blog traffic.  However, a credibility issue may ensue, since the association may be construed as bias.

The bottom line is that some form of SEO will have to be implemented for your blog to stand out and generate the desired traffic.

Now That You Have Them, How Do You Keep Them?

Especially when it comes to corporate and organizational blogs, it is not enough that the desired number of “hits” is obtained.  There has to be a way of retaining these visitors so that they will continue patronizing your site, and this is where subscription comes in.  In the process you will have to promote your site so that visitors will realize its value and subscribe.  And these are some of the things that can be done:

1. The visitor should be made aware that subscription is an option, and a desirable alternative at that.  There has to be an invitation to subscribe that is properly worded and effectively placed within the site.  Oftentimes, it is necessary to spell out the benefits of subscribing, and you may even go to the extent of offering a freebie.  Remember, you are promoting the blog.
2. Consistently produce quality content.  This is an effective SEO technique and one good way of increasing blog subscription.  After all, why bother with a blog that contains mostly trash in the first place?  And make sure that the issues remain relevant.
3. Incorporate a feature box.  This is known to improve subscription rate significantly.  However, some technical know-how is required since codes are involved.  If you do not have the necessary skills, you will have to invest and outsource the task.  But if you are after a significant increase in subscription, this is money well spent.
4. Keep the atmosphere friendly.  Imposing your thoughts is a surefire way of losing visitors.  Blogs are popular because of the two-way communication it provides, and not so much as to its propaganda value.

 

Needless to say, a blog is a potent marketing and communication tool provided it is properly executed and maintained.  And one way of improving its effectiveness is through subscription.

Janine Fields is a professional photographer, who is presently maintaining a personal photo blog and a business blog for her studio.  She sees blogging as an effective way of sharing her work as well as promoting her business.

Headlines that don’t sell

The problem is that people and companies are so interested in getting their website and content to the top of a search engines results that they forget the fundamentals.  They are so busy making sure that keywords are in place and their preferred search phrases are primed in their website that they forget to engage the reader.  The headline is what makes the viewer read the website.  It is what makes a viewer click the link.  If the headlines do not engage the relevant readers, then it doesn’t matter where your web content is ranked.

Repetition……again

The curse of SEO optimized web content is that it is giving birth to a hate among website user.  How sick are you of reading the same thing three times.  Where a search engine optimized page has simply stuck the needed keywords into a sentence and then “spun” it to say the same thing again in a different way.  Here is an example, where clearly the writer has had to fit in the keywords, “cheap hotels”, “discount hotel” and “cheaper hotels”.

“ Find cheap hotels on our page now.  We have the cheaper hotels online and waiting.  Our discount hotels are cheaper than any other site.  If you are looking for cheap hotels then look no more.” Ha ha ha  what a dilemma

That paragraph could have just said, “Our website advertises cheap hotels”, but because it has been SEO optimized to the hilt, that first paragraph on the website is just a waste.  A complete waste of a reader’s time and attention, and so many people are getting so sick of it that they will just click off the site, because they assume (rightly) that the rest of the site is full of the same filler.

Bad grammar, broken English and bad sentence syntax

Commercial SEO writing is being bought cheaply.  Articles, web content and blogs (and loads more by the way) are being outsourced to companies whom are charging very little but giving back poor quality.  People are buying web content and articles for as little as $1 per 500 words.  The content will have the keywords in, but the only people who can afford to live on $1 per 500 words are in developing countries where English is not their first language.  Their content quality, language and grammar skills are unlikely to be as good as a native person’s skills.  They are also less likely to be well educated; as well educated people would charge more.  This means that web copy is optimized but stuffed full of poor sentence structure, bad grammar and broken English.  The content is often of a poorer quality and less likely to be read in full by the viewer.

Link spamming

Back links are good, but too many back links and the search engine will start to exclude and rank lower.  This is thanks to the changes that are making link farms (pages set up just to create links to others) obsolete.  Creating too many links to other websites is also starting to work against websites, as it is regarded as spending more time on links than content, and is hence getting pages ranked lower.

Duplicate content

There is a temptation to duplicate yours or other peoples content when it comes to make a web copy more search engine optimised.  The big search engines are penalizing sites for this, and it will actually work against a site.  Original and frequently updated websites are better ranked.

This is all distilled into one mantra – good copy sells!

Headlines that don’t sell 

The problem is that people and companies are so interested in getting their website and content to the top of a search engines results that they forget the fundamentals.  They are so busy making sure that keywords are in place and their preferred search phrases are primed in their website that they forget to engage the reader.  The headline is what makes the viewer read the website.  It is what makes a viewer click the link.  If the headlines do not engage the relevant readers, then it doesn’t matter where your web content is ranked. 

Repetition……again 

The curse of SEO optimized web content is that it is giving birth to a hate among website user.  How sick are you of reading the same thing three times.  Where a search engine optimized page has simply stuck the needed keywords into a sentence and then “spun” it to say the same thing again in a different way.  Here is an example, where clearly the writer has had to fit in the keywords, “cheap hotels”, “discount hotel” and “cheaper hotels”. 

           “ Find cheap hotels on our page now.  We have the cheaper hotels online and waiting.  Our discount hotels are cheaper than any other site.  If you are looking for cheap hotels then look no more.” Ha ha ha  what a dilemma

That paragraph could have just said, “Our website advertises cheap hotels”, but because it has been SEO optimized to the hilt, that first paragraph on the website is just a waste.  A complete waste of a reader’s time and attention, and so many people are getting so sick of it that they will just click off the site, because they assume (rightly) that the rest of the site is full of the same filler. 

Bad grammar, broken English and bad sentence syntax 

Commercial SEO writing is being bought cheaply.  Articles, web content and blogs (and loads more by the way) are being outsourced to companies whom are charging very little but giving back poor quality.  People are buying web content and articles for as little as $1 per 500 words.  The content will have the keywords in, but the only people who can afford to live on $1 per 500 words are in developing countries where English is not their first language.  Their content quality, language and grammar skills are unlikely to be as good as a native person’s skills.  They are also less likely to be well educated; as well educated people would charge more.  This means that web copy is optimized but stuffed full of poor sentence structure, bad grammar and broken English.  The content is often of a poorer quality and less likely to be read in full by the viewer. 

Link spamming 

Back links are good, but too many back links and the search engine will start to exclude and rank lower.  This is thanks to the changes that are making link farms (pages set up just to create links to others) obsolete.  Creating too many links to other websites is also starting to work against websites, as it is regarded as spending more time on links than content, and is hence getting pages ranked lower. 

Duplicate content 

There is a temptation to duplicate yours or other peoples content when it comes to make a web copy more search engine optimised.  The big search engines are penalizing sites for this, and it will actually work against a site.  Original and frequently updated websites are better ranked. 

This is all distilled into one mantra – good copy sells!