Not all marketing is digital. Not all marketing requiring genuine content writing. But I dare you to find a marketing program that isn’t in some way integrated into online marketing.
Early on in my career I met an entrepreneur who said “your business needs to work for you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. If you can figure that out, well then you struck gold."
Well, I think we have arrived at such a possibility.
Since most businesses advertise on the web, from google ads to google my business listings, banner ads across websites to putting your business on social media, we are online 24/7.
If you are not advertising - then make your website work for you 24/7. In order to make sure your webpages are found in Search Results, then we need to make sure your web pages are Search Engine Optimized, we do that.
Article Reading Time:
Getting thru the knowledge builder What is SEO?: approximately 5 minutes
Approximate reading time Full Post, including examples: approximately 9 minutes
WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION AND WHY DOES YOUR BUSINESS WEBSITE NEED IT?
When writing for the web, and web pages, there are basis best practices we MUST use. When someone starts typing in their search, we want Your Website to be one of the first ones to appear on the list. We are experts in this piece of the internet puzzle.
We stay in front of the always evolving internet and website development changes (hello Web 3.0). We use only the best practices to ensure our clients see the results they are looking for in their online marketing strategies.
Clients often ask about web pages and why the process of writing for the web is so intricate (for us, not the client). Thus this article was born.
HOW SEO CONTENT WRITING WORKS (The Non Technical Definition)
Your customers want to find your website. In order for your website to appear in search results, and for your page to "Be The Answer," then we know you have excellent original content and genuine SEO.
We are going to explore why this idea of Content writing and long term content management and Genuine SEO is so important.
When your customers search information on the web, we are certain you want web pages to appear that are relevant to your search. These pages should be crafted for easy reading, aligned with your brand, with information your target customers want, and show up in the first set of search results. <— That’s where the customer started, with the internet search.
The NEW Art Form that is SEO
Genuine Search Engine Optimization (SEO) applied to content writing will evolve with the way your business does. True SEO is not gimmicky, or that phony way, no click bait to try and drive traffic to your website. We explain WHAT IS SEO below, with examples. There is no way to manipulate genuine, well crafted content that applies SEO best practices naturally. Altho many will tell you can manipulate SEO, their lying. because it gets you short terms results, with big long term penalties.
Listing keywords on a page has already been blocked by the almighty algorithm (keep reading for more on Search Engine Algorithms). And embedding keywords is not the answer either. Genuine SEO is getting more powerful every year. And my best argument about the value behind generating Genuine SEO is the biggest company behind it all. BECAUSE of GOOGLE.
Is it really raining cats and dogs? We use genuine SEO for your website. And write in ways that send clear messages.
Genuine SEO “It's Raining Cats and Dogs.”
No it’s not! Be Honest in your SEO Tactics, Because Google is watching.
The biggest reason why you can’t manipulate SEO is because of one tried and true business model: Google Search. Google has not changed there business mission since their founding.
Google’s purpose is still to get you the best information from the web for your search query. PERIOD. Google algorithms change several hundred times during the year, and while we cannot anticipate every new layer of their brick and mortar Google Plex, Google’s growth and change does validate our point. Google is getting better at "googling." That means Google will get better at ignoring those gimmicky keywords tactics, and bad or unoriginal content.
How does google know what is "bad content." Ah, that’s the beauty of analytics.
CONTACT JOANNE to get Your Website Optimized with our SEO Package
SEO is not just Keywords. What is SEO?
We are going to get a little technical here. But stay with me I promise it's not painful.
Remember your early elementary school math days. You learned that an algorithm is a formula or a long math sentence, and each element of that sentence is a value. Say you find pieces of a website. Like the website header sentence, the 'keywords' on the page, the images, image description or alt tag, and a link in the paragraph. These 5 examples are some of the SEO 'values' calculated by the algorithm.
The difference of getting high or low values, depends on how well each of these is are properly structured, and optimized [which is a fancy word for following the rules of how to set it up] for search engines. If you follow best practices in optimization, it results mostly, in your website "ranking well." If you rank reallllly well, then you page can appear on the almighty 1st page search results, and before a user starts scrolling [a fancy word called above the fold].
Additionally, your website will "Be The Answer" consumers are searching for. And all businesses just like yours want that! More on our definition of SEO is here.
Negative Values in the Algorithms, they "Ding" Your Site
Luckily we at JKM are familiar with search engine algorithms and web development best practices that our client web sites do accomplish. They are not "Dinged" by the following page rank blocks because we practice Genuine SEO.
Part of that math sentence we just talked about in the above paragraph, well in that algorithm there is a value that functions to block bad seo. The 'value' for example of simply listing keywords, listing terms, or 'repeating content' (called duplicate content), well you will 'lose points' in the algorithm. Other bad seo includes bad header formatting, and images that are not optimized to be mobile responsive or act as click bait and have nothing to do with the web page.
Google hates content that is copied from one web page to the next (with some few exceptions). Your website ranking also gets dinged for the dreaded 'canned content' (copy and paste) that some web developers use. We always write fresh new content for each client. Never canned, never repeated. Getting around this conundrum of referencing other content, not copying it, is cross-links. Cross linking to outside sources and high ranking heavy traffic sites (think Starbucks, or Amazon, or you should see our credits page) will give you website greater page ranking. And, you know by this point, there is a higher website value in the algorithm for genuine valuable content and SEO tactics.
Your customers, the humans reading the web page, want to see content with a 'readability' and ease. As people we like checklists to get things done, and if a user clicks away quickly form your website, then google knows people are not finding the content they want. Long vertical scrolling on a web page was a no no. But in the past few years we are moving away from the 350 words model to a “skyscrapper” long scroll on web pages. Thus the search for the balance between being "readable" and "Search Engine Optimized” (read our definition here) will always be changing.
Joanne Klee Marketing carefully crafts YOUR BRAND SPECIFIC message into the copy, blending keyword best practices and your messaging in a way that is natural to read (and well liked by algorithms). Positioning you as the website with the answers, and being found online.
We make your website live and breathe your business, and users feel like they are interacting with your brand, but not reading a KEYWORD dictionary.
When SEO is Genuine, say in the way you are reading this article, you get a variety of benefits:
relevant webpages with information for the human reader, ...
which website results in get shared via social media, ...
your website appearing in more search results, ...
and earning the almighty backlinks to your content
all this while building the personality (Brand) of your business
and of course, the algorithm loves the VALUES we mentioned
With this method of building GENUINE SEO CONTENT we work with search engine tools to help more people find your page and make your business relevant. The more people find and share your page, the more traffic you gain and the more revenue you earn.
[You have arrived at The End of the 'Knowledge Builder' section, now we will get into some examples.]
“It’s Raining Cats and Dogs”
So most of us have heard the saying "it's raining cats and dogs" at some point in our lives. And probably a battery of other idioms growing up. Idioms are a good way to understand the elegance in writing for SEO. Clear, direct, concise messages versus 'cute' or 'clever' approaches that get lost in translation. Using ‘complex bits of frozen syntax to be clever DOES NOT WORK for Genuine SEO. Stay with me thru the intro bit here . . .
IDIOM id·i·om ˈidēəm/ noun;
Complex bits of frozen syntax whose meaning is more than simply the sum of their individual parts.
A deeper meaning then the words being used.
Often not literal.
More idioms that are not good for SEO
… You crack me up.
… Hot under the collar.
… I need to get forty winks tonight.
I remember growing up and hearing my aunt's and uncle's use slang & idioms to get me to behave. “Stop jumping on the couch or you’ll crack your head open.” Was my head ACTUALLY getting cracked open 'like coconuts?' No. But that saying was a proxy for instructions: “stop jumping off the couch or you will get hurt.” Today's mommy me says: let's make a better choice then jumping on the couch <and redirect child avoiding cracked open head>. More idioms like these are not good for website SEO.
Other idioms like “it’s raining cats and dogs,” well that just doesn’t translate into anything much that is literally about rain, other than a lot of rain is coming down. Either way, when it comes to seo and getting what information you want for your website, it is better to be DIRECT and use literal meanings then sayings that do not truly mean the words being used.
… as blind as a bat.
… let the cat out of the bag.
… I smell a rat.
And so goes writing for SEO. Literally humans are reading your website, so purpose based content is a better search result, where your business appears. Just jamming keywords on a page just for the sake of it is like trying to make google understand how raining cats and dogs could sell umbrellas.
Don’t be click bait. Don't get caught in the gimmick of keyword listing. Google will block that!
… out of the blue.
… seeing red.
… doubting Thomas.
Analytics and Research Based Decisions
Good content is measured by you, the user, always! And google knows through the use of analytics if website content is valuable to the users and consumers. What people and website users like is not a well kept secret. We know because we can see how people use - or don’t use - your website. We can dice the data in many ways (and fix it!).
We take it a step further by applying what we know about beautiful websites, and great seo, to make you an excellent web site, or redesign your web pages.
The analytics and research tools we use for understanding consumer behavior, well google uses those too. Amongst other things Google also continues to improve their algorithms, and that's why they change several 100 times a year. When potential customers don’t stay long on your page and you have "high bounce rates." A bounce rate means user land on your page and click away without viewing other pages. This problem will also decrease your page value in search engine results. Your bounce rate tells Google 'the user is not finding content on this page for the X search.' ... you have to measure up.
… keeping up with the Joneses.
… by the skin of my teeth.
… eye for an eye.
“Good content is measured by the user, and not by a Google Bot. Always!”
Good Website Content Writing Takes Talent ...
Writing is a skill. Speaking one or more languages is a skill. Language as a system of communication which has literal and figurative meanings. … Don’t talk in tongues. Don't get caught mixing daily speaking as a source for SEO content. Yes, write for a website like you talk. And write what you say and adding clever, creative, positioning of your business message. But stay close to some SEO rules so your clever writing will not drive traffic to your website.
Web development is a system of communication just as language is. Web sites and internet pages have to be visually pleasing for the user AND web formatted for those algorithms to value.
… grease somebody's palm.
… jump the gun.
… lay down the law.
Good content and copywriting, that is yummy reading by human eyes plus balanced with the 'high value' wants for algorithms IS A SKILL. Good copywriting is developed over many years and long periods of time spent writing, and writing, and writing. Experience is the understanding when the balance is achieved between the what’s good for human read-ability along with search-ability, and that balance takes talent.
Learn more about Joanne, her writing, and marketing philosophy here.
… pay through the nose.
… tighten one's belt.
… Are you still in one piece?
Don't Get 'Lost in Translation'
Understanding good Genuine SEO Content for the web is similar to translating idioms to a non-native speaker of the English language. Idioms are a figurative language. While we use idioms that are full of whimsy, mystery, meaning and fun to play with, if you do not understand them, or their translation, then the meaning is lost.
The same …lost in translation goes for Google. Being fancy in your writing gets lost on google. Instead write directly the way your target audience reads.
… hit the sack.
… hit the hay.
… toss your cookies.
Similarly, stuffing keywords into a post as we have made …crystal clear at this point, is NOT good content writing. And besides, it’s terrible for reading, it is NOT the GENUINE SEO search engines want. Don’t get lost in translation with bad keyword integration.
THE GENUINE SEO FORMULA:
KNOWLEDGE + TALENT + VALUES = GENUINE SEO
Thanks for Reading,
Joanne
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More fun idioms I love to use . . .
... Don't twist my arm. ... Your barking up the wrong tree. ... You hit the nail on the head. ... This cake is out of this world. ... Speak English please. ... Go fly a kite. ... Your bouncing off the walls. ... Your up a creek without a paddle. ... Time to hit the sack!
