The most perfectly crafted web copy will not do much for us if we do not take the time to do some Search Engine Optimization on the final design and layout of our webcopy.

Most of us, after spending some time working on writing copy, become myopic, and loose the ability to be objective about our work. I mean really, we spend a day or two writing and editing the perfect sales pitch. We run it by some family members and friends who tell us it is the coolest thing since sliced bread. We are convinced the copy writing effort will pay off. In the back of our mind, we wonder if it might even be Award winning copy. And it very well may be. In fact, we assume the copy cannot get any better, so we turn it over to the engineering staff to be put up on the website….Hooray!

But now, guess what? It is time to brace ourselves. Do we know what is coming? Our baby….the work we gave all our mental energy to, is about to be picked at, teased apart, added too, modified with new key words, optimized, with new paragraph headings added, and perhaps even a new title. Our masterpiece is coming under the SEO spotlight. The thing we did not realize is that the quickest way to cripple our advertising message on the internet is to forgo the search engine optimization of our content. What is the key phrase density? Do the meta tags meet the goals of the SEO team? What is in the top line of text? Will it need to be changed? At this point, we find ourselves compromising. Why? Because web copy and search engine optimization are two critical partners in our future profitability and success. We cannot do one without the other and expect our website to generate real profit.

If we write an article or web page that has a Key Phrase focus, it will sound odd, forced, and not quite right in the readers mind. The compelling and urgent copy that will cause the reader to move to a “Call to Action” will not be there. It is best to write a compelling, heart felt article that helps the reader, by providing information, solving a problem, or taking them to our shopping cart. After the copy is done, let the SEO experts review, suggest, and improve the copy, to reach the goals of the copy that were set out in the first place.

The perfect copy writing is producing copy that is compelling and leads readers to a call to action, and also makes use of all the SEO tools available. This is where discipline and experience come into play, Those new to the business fail to realize the importance of combining expert copy writing with expert SEO to create the perfect blend.

Expectations, that is what it is really about; we need to have the proper expectations that no matter how good of a writer we are, the SEO review will make the copy better. Even if we complete both steps ourselves, we need to know when we have on a copywriter’s hat and when we have on an SEO hat.

We MUST understand the painstaking hours of labor and incredible attention to detail that go into coordinating an entire website marketing campaign. And that’s what most new marketers completely miss when they’re just starting out trying to drive traffic and business to their sites.

Killer Copywriting + SEO = Higher Sales Conversions!

Pat Holman is the CEO of iXod Conversion Marketing, an Internet Marketing firm.
Pat Holman

David Clark is a former Managing Partner for Gartner UK Consulting.  Prior to that, he has been in senior positions at a few of the other “tier one” consulting firms and a couple of enjoyable stints as a CIO positions in industry. His career spans about 25 years during which time he has delivered around [...]

Related posts:

1. SaaS Challenges for 2009
2. 10 things to know about Cloud Computing Strategy
3. The next frontier in IT Strategy: A McKinsey Survey

Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports Wikipedia has grown without a strategy. But Barry Newstead in the HBR article titled “Inside Wikimedia’s Open-Source Strategic Planning” says that there are some strategic issues that needs to resolved.

Related posts:

1. IBM’s ‘Smarter’ Growth Strategy – From Big Blue to Big Green?
2. Emerging Role of IT in the Marketing Strategy of Coca-Cola

WidgetPad Inc., a provider of collaborative developer environments for hybrid Web-based mobile applications, has announced WidgetPad for iPhone. WidgetPad for iPhone helps developers easily create native applications using standard Web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript, and distribute them as stand-alone applications via the Apple iTunes store. WidgetPad is a collaborative, open-source environment that [...]

This is a post from Web Dev News, a site brought to you by Xavisys Web Development.

WidgetPad Introduces Web-based Open-Source Development Environment for iPhone Widgets

Olivier Drean is EMEA alliance partner for APRISO, which is an editor of MOM (Manufacturing Operation Management) system. He has a unique perspective of IT in manufacturing organization. I had an interesting conversation with Olivier and here is an excerpt of my conversations with him…

Related posts:

1. Testing GM’s IT Strategy
2. IBM’s IT Strategy
3. Emerging Role of IT in the Marketing Strategy of Coca-Cola

The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) has launched a new blog. The first post, “What would you do differently if you had to start your software story again” is the first in many from the wide reaching shareware community that make up the ASP’s membership. Ive been a long time ASP member, and recently an ASP board member, and have found it invaluable for the professional software developer. Read the ASP Blog here