Writing Seo Friendly Content

By Author: Lyndon Ogden
Total Articles: 14
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Copywriting for a website is unlike than for any other media because the mindset of those who are going to be reading is different.

SEO Friendly Copywriting makes it even trickier because you are asked to consider writing in a style that suits the search engines but not the reader.

You, know the type of thing I am talking about ‘pet rabbits are fantastic for children because pet rabbits are pretty and you can meet new friends who also have pet rabbits' etc. It might make your webpage SEO dynamite for the search engines but its total garbage to a human being.

A case in point is my own SEO services website which I write for regularly. I do not follow the SEO rules manual and just try to write naturally. Is my website optimized perfectly for search engines; No! Is it a place people regularly visit because the content is interesting; Yes!

Anyway, back to the copywriting-

Because most web pages will be found via a search engine, the person searching will be looking either for you or another business like you. This puts them totally in control because they will be focused ...
... on finding a piece of information, product or service without much delay.

Questions that visitors might ask themselves quite quickly are - Is this to the right place? and will I find what I'm looking for here?

It is absolutely vital that you answer these questions in both your headline and any sub-headlines you may have. You need to convince the first time visitor that they are at the right place as soon as possible and that they should continue to read on. To make this happen, your content needs to provide answers so that the visitor knows exactly what they are looking for.

Here are some of the points you should consider when copywriting for the web.

Keep your website copy brief

Unless a visitor has been directed to a specific page on your website they will typically only read one or two lines of the text. So the longer your website text is, the less likely they will hang around to read it.

Keeping your copy simple is as important as keeping it short. It is important that website visitors are able to understand what has been written without a second reading.

In most cases, you should strive to convey one key idea effectively in the first two lines of writing. Any more and you will start to see visitors click away from the page.

Obviously, a one introduction will not convey a full message and so providing them with a link to another page of your site with more information is a perfectly valid tactic.

What do I do with long copy?

If you do include longer copy, then organize it for the visitor to browse easily. Providing them with useful headings, sub headings and bulleted lists helps greatly in increasing the stickiness of a page.

Not all the visitors to your website will read long pieces in their entirety. So write copy that is easily skimmed and enables them to read just the parts they are interested in.

Long copy should always be as easy to read and navigate as short copy. If you wouldn't read it yourself then why should your visitors?
Lyndon Ogden is the MD of Your SEO Services. A SEO Services company dedicated to passing on great advice about SEO.