As we continue dishing out primers and introductions to the major components of Internet Marketing, please allow us to share with you our two cents in doing Web Copywriting.
Perhaps the biggest guiding principle when it comes to writing for the web is user compatibility “ internet-savvy people would rarely read through a website’s content in the same way that they read books or printed articles. The general perception/observation around is that Internet users would only scan a copy, look for any word that would make them feel that they need or have to know more what is written about, then jump off to another website when the copy fails to create that interest.
Having said the above, we have put together a list of Do’s and Dont’s that we feel will be of tremendous help to writers out there in preparing their keyboards to catch their fingers a million times.
1. Brand your subject well. Writing web content may require you to satisfy two sets of customers: the client and the consumer. Before you type your first letter, it is best that you are already familiar with your subject’s personality, marketing strength, and voice.
2. Know what you’re writing and why you are writing for it. Writing for the web isn’t only about knowing how to write well. Being a writer also demands for you to be capable of quickly picking things up rather than just being good at writing. Don’t be stubborn about your style. When you’re optimizing a copy, don’t write as if your article is going to be published on Vogue or GQ.
3. Strive for uniqueness. Take time in building the content. Try to start new whenever you write even if it feels like you’ve been doing the same thing forever. Going back to the first tip, reading through your marketing inputs over and over can help you turn that invisible light bulb on “ resulting to fresh-looking and unique-sounding copies each and every time.
4. Content clarity. Write as if you’re targeting a person who does not have any inkling about your subject. Develop your copy in a manner that will be understood by just about anyone who might stumble upon the site you’re working on/with. Be succinct and be concise. A message that can be conveyed across with a single line doesn’t have to drone for five long ones.
5. The psychological word library. Especially for a project that includes a handful of clients all thriving on the same industry, there will be a tendency for your copies to mirror each other in word variation, style, and sentence length. Don’t allow yourself to cultivate a word library inside your mind “that will make your copies hardly original. The synonyms tip on Word was put there for a reason.
6. Satisfaction. Do not satisfy only yourself when writing. You’d be amazed at how people will actually react to your copy regardless if you worked long hours in building it. It is also noble to do layman’s terminology beyond jargons; not all people will know the meaning of “edifices” or “heuristics” just because you do.
Writing on and for the Web isn’t that hard; you just need to set your goals and not veer away from them once you do.
Ed Canape |
CopyWriting |
Date posted: April 19, 2007
Even if it sounds a little tricky, the term Social Media Marketing (SMM) or Social Media Optimization “ to a certain degree “ is self-explanatory. SMM gives you easy opportunities to create links back to your site/s, inspire more traffic, and invite clicks or interaction from other people. Ultimately, it helps reinforce the purpose of doing SEO for all Search Marketers™ macroscopic sakes.
Long-term goals can consequently be set after the aforementioned benefits of Social Media Marketing. For starters, you can capitalize on the link building aspect of SMM and get backlinks without too much trouble… and what SEO wouldn™t want that? You can also push down “bad publicity” (pages that contribute to negative popularity) on the SERPs through SMM, regardless if your site is already at the top. However, the best result you can achieve with Social Media Marketing is something that is not necessarily uber technical: reputation. It is the same as when you visit your favorite community or forum site often to mingle with other users; recognition translates to better visibility.
Social Media Marketing has been met with a good dose of compliments and complaints. For example, the successful promotion of your site and/or its pages does result to it having more leverage at Social Media sites and eventually the Search Engines; and this advantage is virtually yours to lose. However, some claim that doing SMM entails tremendous energy and requires an awful lot of time for your efforts to start providing the promised outcomes. Worse, power circles already populate some of the most-visited SMM sites now “ it can prove to be a difficult and tedious task to penetrate them to usher in your own space. For the SEO whose plate is never empty, practicing Social Media Marketing can actually become a dilemma.
In the essence of straightforward marketing though, SMM is a very noble and sensible engagement. We will share more about where you can do SMM on our next posts about this dynamic system.
Ed Canape |
Social Media |
Date posted: April 17, 2007
Welcome to SEMLaguna!
We will share our Search Engine Marketing knowledge with you through the experiments and tests that we do – regardless if they are met with success or not. To get things started, we have prepared a Primer for your intellectual consumption; to perhaps ready you for the articles ahead.
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Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the term used to describe the various practices implemented online and offline to make a website visible on major search engines and consequently attract visits from Internet users. The search engines use sophisticated algorithms (formulas) to give each website a relevancy score based on the search words (aka keywords) used in a website.
I. What is Search Engine Optimization and why do we need it?
Internet traffic is driven by the major search engines: Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. They continue to be the best “square one†of web navigation for most Internet users – a medium that can make (or break) an organization. Other efforts such as website design, usability, content, and all other services or products you develop have higher odds of actually getting offered to clients and customers with the help of SEO. Simply put, a company or organization can take advantage of the endless traffic opportunities from search engines through SEO.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is first and foremost a discipline that involves changing or improving certain elements of your website and increasing the number of external links (from other websites) pointing to yours. It is further subdivided into two factions: On-page and Off-page SEO.
Read the rest of this entry »
Ed Canape |
Search Marketing |
Date posted: April 12, 2007