2009 June 08

SES Toronto Live Blogging: Copywriting: 45-Minute Boot Camp

Moderator:
Amanda Watlington, Owner, Searching for Profit
Speakers:
Andrew Goodman, SES Toronto Chair & Principal, Page Zero Media
Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder, SEO-PR
Jeff Quipp, Search Engine People

PPC Ad Tips

Andrew’s up first.

Brand in your titles
Branding in url
Geotargeting drives clicks (appears under the ad)

He’s talking about using the word wholesale for bulk, to not waste clicks on the wrong audience. Now discussing using URL with a page /whatever.html to show attention to that which they are particularly interested in.

Don’t say too much is “free” – rugs advertiser 75% off! Free shipping! Free duty! Seems sketchy.
Other point: ad copy might be better as different depending on position

Free shipping a good deal on heavy items is good idea – talk about what’s truly important to the purchaser.

Ok some statistics around the waffling around these basic take-home considerations:

Ad Testing: Finding the double winner. High CTRs, not hurting ROI

Tight targeting
Better ad higher roi ad?
Statistically significant tests
Initial triggers through A/B/C tests
Record hypotheses and results
Refine with multivariate testing

SEO Copywriting and Press Releases

Greg is back!

SEO copywriting can do more than just build rankings!

It can:

boost online sales
generate business leads
increase website traffic
build brand awareness
slice
dice

Tips that helped optimize a landing page for Southwest Airlines:

changed Southwest to Southwest Airlines (sorry corporate branding!)
changed non-stop flights to nonstop flights (sorry grammar!)
included the price of the product (more than just low fares)

Talking about how an optimized press released generated lots of business.

Optimizing for niche terms with hardly any volume. (Well, I guess ya, as long as your sales are worth loads. Not the case most of the time buddy)
Add photo to the press release
Put on a landing page with a form users full out, basically for tracking purposes
Add rich media (YouTube embed works too)
Using full words instead of acronym branding

3 reasons copywriting is important to SEO:

1. Help a site rank

Keywords in title
Use synonyms
Keywords in headings
Bold and italicize keywords
More about quality of information than quality of writing

2. Entice searchers to click on a listing

Promise a benefit
Unique meta title and description to increase click-through rates
Speak to your key competitive advantages (location, price, selection, etc.)
Do not talk about service, because it doesn’t differentiate you enough

3. Help visitors achieve their goals and get them to take action

Know the F-shaped usability rule and apply it
People don’t read content. They scan. Create scannable content.
Importance of setting the tone with the first 2 paragraphs
The first 11 characters of any line need to say enough to entice readers.
Use headings and subheadings to organize content and ideas.
Use relevant and supporting images.
Use sourced facts.
Use basic language, and do not alienate

Searching for Profit

Amanda’s on now.

5 Copywriting principles for improving retail performance

Add content to every page
Titles must have keywords
Ask for the order early and often. Calls to action.
More keywords = More sales. Longtail baby, in content.
All buyers are not alike. Personas! Identify your buyer types, and market to them.

How to do it:

Start with proper keyword research
Write pages around the chosen theme (write for readers, ensure value)

Q & A

What do you use for keyword research?
Kevin Newcomb says use Google
Greg says use Google for public relations, in exact match.

Despite the longtail focus, no one mentioned any of the keyword tools better suited to giving big longtail lists.

How do you stop people from using your content?
Amanda’s one-word answer: copyscape. After being asked for some elaboration, she didn’t give much, glossing over a rather legitimate concern.

How many keywords to target per page?
Greg says 3 on regular pages, 6 for press releases. Those 6 cover who-what-when-where-why-how. Seems to have overlooked the “key” part of the word “keyword”. Weird formula. Should go by what are the best terms, full stop.

What call to action text for B2B
Since there’s no real “buy now!” should he do “learn more!” or something like that? After a non-answer from Amanda, Jeff Quip came in with a good answer: pick a few options with your intuition, and do some multi-variate testing.

Alright - so they covered the basics of basics. Got to start somewhere!

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