~~~Writing for the Search Engines~~~
From: Yvonne DiVita
I am having a terrible time with my boss! He hired me as a writer, and
now won't let me write anything! Recently, I was taken to task for our
low-ranking in the search engines. Well, I have been researching and
studying and I TOLD him we need to have keywords that correspond to
our content, which we do not have now. He resisted this option because
he did not want to create new text. The text, by the way, was
developed before I came on board. It's not well done. I did manage to
edit it a bit, but, now that I know more about the company and more
about SEO, I have advised a re-write of the site. I gave him some
suggestions, which he barely looked at.
Then, my boss decided to do the 'rewrite' himself. He tacked on a few
key phrases to the static pages and thinks this is the solution. He
will NOT entertain the idea of a true rewrite. I just need you to
support my research saying content IS important. That way, when I get
a new job, I will be able to require respect, having the word of a
professional SEO. Obviously, being a professional writer gets me
nowhere. (big sigh)
Thanks for your help.
Yvonne DiVita
~~~Heather's Response~~~
Hi, Yvonne,
I feel your pain. It's terribly frustrating to be hired for a
particular skill set and have your well-informed opinions ignored by
the person who hired you. Hehe, I do have to wonder - if he didn't
want Web text, why did he hire a writer? Inquiring minds need to
know!
Unfortunately, it's a common misconception for people to believe,
"Hey, we already have text on this page. Why should we change it for
the search engines? After all, people don't like to read on the Web -
right?"
Yeah, right.
It sounds like the existing text does not provide a strong enough
marketing message, nor is it adequate for the search engines. As
I've said over and over (c'mon, say it with me) when you write for the
search engines, you MUST satisfy two demanding masters - the search
engines and your prospects. BOTH of these elements must be tight and
wired if you want to see strong results. After all:
1. The search engines *need* to see the text written in a particular
fashion (read: including well-researched keyphrases) in order to rank
your site well. No matter how big your company is, or how popular,
you must have your main keyphrases appear enough times for the search
engines to stand up and take notice. So, if you ignore this point
from the get-go, you are hobbling your chances for a good ranking.
Yes, it's true! Basically, by ignoring the text, you say, "Hey, I
don't care about the search engines. Let them find me on their own."
Ya think the search engines are going to change their OWN process just
to include your little ol' site? No way, no how. If you want to play
with the search engines, you have to play by their rules.
2. Another thing that is *crucially* important is maintaining your
marketing message. This is the main reason why you can't "edit" for
keyphrases and plunk them wherever they fit. Yes, it seems like a
quick fix - and that's attractive. But, like all things that are too
good to be true, "tacking on a few keyphrases" won't offer you any
strong success - and sabotages your marketing flow.
Strong SEO writing is dynamic, exciting and targeted. It immediately
tells prospects "what's in it for them," and how you can offer a
solution. If your prospect has to muddle through a keyphrase list in
order to determine what you're selling - or if the text doesn't scream
your benefits - your prospects will give up and surf away. Why waste
a top ranking with text that doesn't help convert surfers into buyers?
For more information on this point, you can read "Don't Edit Your Search Engine Success" on the Rank Write site.
Now, it could be that your boss won't change his mind, no matter how
much proof you provide. If that's true, and he just *won't* listen,
express your concerns in writing. Yes, it's a CYA...but it also
proves you did your job. And believe me - it's entirely possible
that after this campaign fails, your boss will finally listen and let
you make it right. That assumes you stay in your position long enough
to find out...
Thanks for your question. Please let us know how it goes!
Heather
~~~Jill's unsolicited 2 cents~~~
Just wanted to mention one thing. As much as we like to deny it, it
*is* possible to have a highly ranked site without keyphrase-rich
text. If you do some searches at the various engines, you'll
definitely find unoptimized sites, with barely any text, that do rank
high. {{blech!}} Sometimes they rank high because they have
thousands of high quality sites linking to them, which might make up
for their lack of text. Other times they are just a strange blip on a
search engine's "irrelevant results" list. (See my Q&A below for more
on this!) But I'll betcha that as soon as another site comes along
that has at least 250 words of great keyphrase-rich content, with the
tags optimized accordingly, it would bump that other site right outta
there. Why not be the site that does the bumping, instead of the one
getting bumped?
Jill
~~~Send Us Your Questions~~~
If you have questions about online copywriting or search engine optimization (or both!), just zip us an email to questions@rankwrite.com. We've had some folks ask if their question
was "too basic" to be printed - and you don't have to worry about
that! There are no "stupid" search engine optimization or copywriting
questions, so ask away!
