One of the oldest sayings in the world of SEO is that “content is king”. No matter how many years go by and whatever changes come in Google’s algorithm, the importance of content remains the same. Good content is the backbone of every successful digital marketing strategy. All other plans can fall flat on their faces if your content is weak and not up to the mark. Good content is the product of a lot of hard work and creativity. It is no wonder then that copywriting is considered an essential aspect of SEO and digital marketing as a whole.
Let Us Break It Down And Try To Understand What Exactly Copywriting Is.
Copywriting is not limited to SEO. It is actually connected with every aspect of the business and its branding. From the brochures that are printed of your company to the emails that are sent to the customers, it is all a product of copywriting. It is copywriting that creates a bond between your company and the outside world. It sets the tone of your company and communicates to your clients what your organization is all about.
These days a company’s website is like its virtual office building. Prospect customers or clients always check out your website before they even establish initial contact with you. Having a great design is simply one part of what makes a website attractive and informative. You need to have content that tells your website visitors who you are what your company’s mission statement is. Without good content, your website will either be like a blank canvas or will result in high bounce rate which is never a good sign for your business.
High bounce rate means that your website’s visitors do not find it relevant to what they are looking for. Keeping your visitors engaged is the core function of good copywriting. Apart from bounce rate, the tone of the content also has to resonate with the image your brand wants to project. No matter what that tone is whether it’s no-nonsense and all business, fun and peppy, casual or customer friendly, your website’s content sets that tone from the very first paragraph.
How Content And Copywriting Ties Up With Search Engine Optimization
Now we will discuss how exactly content integrates itself with the elements of SEO. The most crucial part of the content for SEO is how relevant your content is for your potential readers. Will they be able to gain anything from reading it? Does it really live up to the standard of content they are used to reading? All this has to be taken into consideration while writing any copy for SEO purpose.
Buyer persona plays a major role here too. A buyer persona is a marketing terminology that is all about understanding your target audience, the one you want reading your content. There are several personas you need to create your target audience, for example, one persona of the problem seeker, one of the solution seekers and one persona of the bargain hunter.
Once you have all these profiles mapped, it will be easier for you to write content that makes your target audience want to read it thoroughly. You must remember that quantity is not as important as quality. While it is good to have new content updated on your website regularly, the quality of the content should be the primary focus. Low-quality content is not going to get you any leads through SEO and is only going to increase your bounce rate.
A good piece of content is more shareable. When other people share your blog posts or articles on their social media, it increases your brand’s reach. People generally share content that they enjoy or find useful and they want their connections to read it as well. Before you publish any content, think whether this content is something that you would share on social media if you were your target audience.
Importance Of Knowing Your Keywords In SEO Copywriting
SEO revolves around keywords. The basic motive behind doing SEO is to improve your website’s ranking in search engines for a specific set of keywords. In order to rank for these keywords, they need to be present in the content of your website pages and blog posts. Before starting the copywriting procedure, you must know which the keywords you need to rank for are. Using various tools like Google’s keyword plan or keywordtool.io, you can check out some keywords which are relevant to your industry and its various variations.
Once these keywords are identified, you need to know where in the content you need to add these keywords. Those of you that know the basics of on-page SEO know that in order to rank for a keyword, it must be in the title, meta-description and first paragraph of your content. Apart from that, knowledge of keyword density is also important because stuffing your content with keywords can have a counterproductive result in SEO.
Call To Action –Which To Use For More Impact
Call to actions asks your audience to take some action through your content. Using an effective and appropriate CTA can make all the difference in the results you get from your digital marketing activities. Some of the most effective calls to actions are where you give some incentive to your audience. It can include CTA like “free trial”, “exclusive discount” and “download for free”.
Another effective CTA arouses the curiosity of your audience. Some examples are – “Click to know more”, “check out your surprise gift” etc. CTAs like these force your readers to click on the link you intend them to create the question of “what is on the other side?” in their minds.
Then there is my favorite call to action of all time, the time-specific CTA. This is usually used where there is a limited period offer that expires on a set date. Some examples are – “Hurry before offer expires”, “Grab it while stocks last”, and “Only 4 days to go”.
Conclusion
Copywriting is an art that is integral to the branding and marketing efforts of any company. No matter which industry you belong to, you cannot ignore the importance of SEO and you cannot do SEO effectively without good content and copywriting. Some of the most successful brands in the world are those that have recognized this fact.
