5 things your SEO copywriter needs to create powerful content
Sending a list of keywords to your SEO copywriter is a good start for your new web project, but it’s not everything he or she needs to turn your pages into gold.
Your writer needs to have a solid understanding of you, your products/services and your audience. Here are five key pieces of information to send their way so you can maximize your investment.
1. A detailed ideal client profile.
Your web copy pages should be written for your client – not for your industry peers. The pages should be written as if your company is speaking directly to your customers.
Think about it this way: you’d have a much different style of speech planned if you were presenting to the residents of a local senior center instead of fellow business executives.
Your writer needs to know who they are speaking to. They’ll use this information to do some research about who your ideal clients are, how they speak and how they like to be spoken to.
2. A tone or approach for your brand.
The way your ideal clients communicate isn’t the only thing that your SEO copywriter needs in terms of voice. The tone or approach for your company is essential information for your writer. They need to speak in the voice of your company.
Is your company a trusted advisor who is formal and informative? Is it the best friend who is giddy and excited to share? Is it the gentle coach who is encouraging and helpful?
If you’re not sure, now is the time to decide. Getting down your tone and feel is important for your SEO copywriting project – and for conversions!
3. A short list of competitors.
Your direct competitors represent the environment in which you’re making your digital pitch. Your SEO copywriter needs to know who you’re up against, and how your competitors are approaching the same topics that you’ll need to cover.
A review of competitor websites can help tweak a headline or perfect a call to action that will make sure that website visitors convert on your site instead of heading back to the search engine results.
4. The per page call to action.
Speaking of conversions, your SEO copywriting webpage plan needs to outline the call to action per page.
If this is going to be part of the web design, let your writer know. If they need to use a specific phrase or call to action that will be repeated throughout the site, make that clear. Or if you need a new idea for a site-wide call to action, now is the time to establish that.
5. An hour interview with your top products/services expert.
Handing off the reins via email or project management system is a good start, but your SEO copywriter will greatly benefit from an exploratory call. Having an exploratory call has become standard operating procedure at Endurance Marketing because we get so much from the experience – and that reflects in the copywriting.
Even if you have thousands of pages of research material, getting on the phone with your top sales person or VP of marketing can help your SEO copywriter sharpen his or her focus and determine where to start first.
Make the effort – and the time – to give your SEO copywriter these key pieces. You’ll see better results in engagement, search engine rankings, conversions and general satisfaction. And who doesn’t want that?
About the Author ~ Courtney Ramirez
Courtney Ramirez is the Director of Content Marketing Strategy for Endurance Marketing. She’s an SEO Copywriter and content marketing specialist who creates clickable content for clients in both B2B and B2C markets. As a proud graduate of SuccessWork’s SEO Copywriting Certification training program, she geeks out on algorithm updates and content marketing metrics. She’s always in the mood for a good cat-based meme. You can connect with Courtney on Google Plus, LinkedIn or Twitter.
photo thanks to Tomas Sobek
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The new SEO Copywriting is simply authenticity. Start writing (or speaking) from the heart or a position of authority and credibility on the subjects your customers care about.
If you don’t have time to do the writing yourself, find someone who can interview you on the subjects you choose and turn your spoken words into written words.
Being new in this field, I learned a lot from this post.
I had a client recently who passed his job to interview me to his “marketing assistant” instead of doing it by himself.
But since I needed more information that the assistant cannot provide me, the web owner had no choice but to talk to me.
With that, I think that it is also the responsibility of the writer to “push” his client to make sure that he gets all the information he need before accepting the project.
Thank you both for your comments!
Dave – Interviewing is a great start to SEO copy. Combining a clients passion and knowledge with the target keyword list is a good recipe for success.
Angel – Pushing is definitely part of the job sometimes!
I find that the majority of the time a simple, down to earth approach works well, regardless of the product or service. Potential clients want to know exactly what they’re getting for their money, so why not just tell them straight up?
Straight up can mean different things to different audiences. That’s why it’s critical for your copywriter to understand the audience, target market and – in many cases – the platform for your content.
You bring up some good ideas. People will just send the SEO writer keywords and then expect a beautiful piece of writing on a short time line. It’s hard to understand how much background a writer needs when writing quality SEO content. Thanks for the post.