It really raises my blood pressure. SEO copywriting has started to get a bad rap due to carelessness. How is that? Because too many people claim to know what they are doing. In reality, they just drop keywords into the copy without worrying about how the copy flows. Mechanical or stiff-sounding copy is a sure sign that a hobbyist writer has gotten their hands on things.
When you write SEO copy, you need to take the time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. There are two mistakes that almost all amateur search engine writers make. Let’s take a look at each one.
#1 – The list
Let’s say you visit the home page of a website that sells beauty supplies. As you read through the copy, you keep coming across a number of items: salon supplies, salon equipment, and professional nail tables. The copy says something like this:
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The Best Selection of Barber Supplies, Barber Equipment and
Professional Manicure Tables On The Internet
When shopping for salon supplies, salon equipment, and professional nail tables, you need a supplier that offers a great selection and great service. Because buying professional salon supplies, salon equipment, and manicure tables can be an expensive undertaking, you also want a company that offers the lowest price.
Trust ABC Beauty Supply to bring you the widest selection of salon supplies, salon equipment and professional nail tables in stock every day. Orders ship within 24 hours and for all salon supplies, salon equipment, and professional manicure table orders over $100, shipping is absolutely free!
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See how it flows (or doesn’t flow) when you use all of your key phrases in a row every time? Once, sure. It’s okay. Even twice, depending on the length of your copy. But putting all your key phrases in one list and using them every chance you get is too repetitive. What do you do instead?
Discuss each in its own section. Talk about the various types of barber supplies. Review the reasons why your beauty salon equipment is better than what others sell. Or even list the features and benefits of the line of manicure tables you offer.
#2 – Substituting generic terms for keywords
This technique (as well as the previous one) is perfectly fine IF you use it sparingly. However, replacing every instance of a generic term with a keyword phrase will make your copy sound downright silly. Let’s take a look at an example of a web design site.
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Web Design New Orleans
Our New Orleans web design company offers a high level of creativity to businesses located in the general area. Our New Orleans web design styles are never made from templates. Each New Orleans web design is a custom creation just for your site.
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If you walk into the office of a web design company and the employees start talking like the copy is written, chances are you think they’re on drugs! So why the heck would you write your site copy that way? The reason is that most hobbyists mistakenly think that they cannot write for both search engines and site visitors. I am delighted to say that they are wrong! Surely you can write for both with great success.
Try this:
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Progressive, creative, optimistic. Those are the phrases that best describe many online businesses based in New Orleans. The web design for your organization should match your style. Never created from templates, the site designs you receive will truly reflect your corporate personality. Because we work exclusively with companies located in or near New Orleans, the web designs retain that Big Easy feel.
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You saw it? The sentence was divided using punctuation. That won’t affect your ranking in the slightest, but it will make your copy sound MUCH better.
These are not all errors. I wish they were! But most of the mistakes amateur writers make can be corrected with a simple test. Read it out loud. If the copy sounds ridiculous to you when you read it out loud, it will sound just as ridiculous to a site visitor.
Take your time. Learn the ins and outs of SEO copywriting before you start creating the copy for your (or your clients’) pages. So you can be sure that your copy will convert better while contributing to your high rankings.
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