Writing copy for a website is challenging. Should you opt for engaging and clever copy? Or go down the better-ranking SEO copy route? Here are some tips to keep in mind when building your website’s copy.
With the importance of search engine optimisation, or SEO, coming into wide recognition, the copywriting landscape is changing. There are new considerations that copywriters need to adhere to when writing copy for web in order to attract visitors to their sites.
Often clients will pass on a list of their desired keywords and it is the copywriter’s job to insert these words seamlessly into the text. This is often a challenge as certain keyword phrases may not even make any grammatical sense and prove very challenging or even impossible to insert into the text. Even when the keywords do make sense, copy is often being sacrificed for the sake of cramming as many keywords into the copy as possible.
In these cases it can detract from the copy so much that it just becomes a keyword drenched mess. Copywriters who take this approach need to step back for a minute and remember the original goal of copywriting: writing concise and compelling copy that is designed to draw in readers and increase sales.
However we do know that writing with SEO taken into consideration is very important. You might have the best website/article on the planet, but if nobody is reading it what is the point? So it is a fine line that you have to walk between writing engaging and clever copy and SEO ranking copy.
So what prevails? SEO or quality?
In many instances a website visitor may come across the site due to the efforts of keyword stuffed copy. Once on the website the hard-to-read and uninspiring copy may encourage them to take their business elsewhere.
After coming across many of these scenarios here are some important tips:
- Choose the right keywords:
It is important to research your keywords and choose the best words for your purpose. Whether that is the best ranking keywords or long tail keywords that may relate closely to what the business you are writing for does. Ensure that you have measurable results for your keywords and are not just plucking words out of the alphabet.
- Do not go overboard with keywords:
Choosing too many keywords will result in a situation where it is impossible to write engaging copy as the volume of keywords will act as a roadblock for your copy. This is what we definitely need to avoid, so do not use too many keywords.
- Do not compromise quality for the sake of adding a keyword:
At the end of the day, copywriting is about engaging the potential customer and convincing them to purchase. No use clunking an extra keyword into the copy if it is going to detract from the intent of copy. Your average reader will not see the keyword and think “Oh, well that’s ok the writer is obviously writing SEO copy.” The reader will think that what they are reading is boring, hard to read and will begin looking for a new website.
This makes copywriting in the modern age an exciting challenge which will see the superstar copywriters rise above the average ones.
