Thanks to Guest Blogger - Larry Gotterer
In the search engine world, your rank means everything. Show up on the first search page and you’re on your way. Land a spot in the top seven and you’re clicking with the big dogs. Reach the top three and your competitors start fuming with envy. Grab the top position and you’re a Google God!
The question now is: What have you sacrificed to get to — or closer to — that coveted number one spot? Search engine optimization is a science. To succeed, it means writing to get noticed by search engines. There are rules to follow (Ten Golden Rules come to mind right off the bat). But unfortunately, search engines only list your pages. They don’t do the purchasing — people do. So, if you don’t also write for your target audience, you’ll be paying the price for a lot more than clicks in the long run.
It’s easy to see if your search engine optimization efforts are working. Just search yourself. But is your copy working? Have your relevant keywords sucked the life out of your content’s creativity? Have your key messages lost their voice in a web of multiple keyword doubletalk? The truth may be lurking in the answers to these questions:
1) Is your copy overly written for search engines ... or is it also written to sell what you
offer in an engaging, enticing, entertaining and/or educational way?
2) After reading your copy out loud, do your keywords make it sound like a robotic, dry encyclopedia excerpt ... or do your business identity, brand and personality still shine through?
3) Your click rates and visitor counts have been going up ... but have your sales?
Search engine optimization should be a critical component of any Interactive marketing plan. Just remember that businesses buy keywords, but customers, clients and consumers buy the pitch behind the keywords. Bottom line: when you optimize your search engine efforts, make sure to optimize the impact of your copy.
