10 SEO Copywriting Secrets to Increase Your Traffic
Before you delve into this list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets, you need to understand that driving traffic to your website is the key component on how you will achieve your online business goals. This is the only way you can establish global presence among the millions of websites that are out there. And this is where SEO comes in.
The problem is that SEO is commonly misunderstood. People think that for as long as they stuff keywords in their articles, SEO will come into play and do its job by itself. It is also a bad thing to think that just because you have submitted your page name in Google, you would expect traffic to come to you. Well, it takes more than that. Check out these 10 SEO copywriting secrets that will improve your website traffic drastically if followed carefully.
Create an attractive headline.
The first and most important in this list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets is the headline. The headline is the blue link you see on the search engine. No matter how good your content is, your headline is what makes people click on your link. Mediocre headlines are similar to poor food presentation — the food is good but it looks bad so no one will order it. A good headline should attract attention and invite the person to get into action. It is the headline that makes the promise of what someone can expect from your website.
Good headlines generally start with numbers. Examples are: “7 Beauty Secrets of the Famously Rich” or “How to Make $1,000,000.” This headline is far better and more attractive than a lame “Beauty Secrets for You” or “Make Money Today.” Headlines with numbers tell the reader right away what the content is. It gives them an idea how long they will have to read and if there is value in what your content offers. In fact, headlines with numbers generate clicking action 50% better than all types of headlines combined.
Write informative content.
The second item in this list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets is content. Your content must deliver what the headline had promised. If you used a number in your headline, make sure your content is itemized by number. People need useful articles to read. Apart from the actual value of the content, your SEO copywriting techniques should include writing and publishing fresh articles regularly. Two to three times a week is the most optimal number of posts you should have. If you have the bandwidth, do it daily.
Write an optimal meta description.
Third on the list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets is meta description. A meta description is the description of your Web page. This is the paragraph that is shown below your headline in the search engine page and this is what search engines index. The meta description pretty much tells the reader what your Web page is about before he or she even clicks on your headline.
The meta description should be enclosed with <head>section</head> on the Web page. If this description matches what a person searches for in a search engine, it will show up in the top page. The meta description of your Web page tells the search engine robots how relevant your specific Web page is to what the person is looking for.
A meta description should be written with 150 to 160 characters and should include your keywords. If you want your meta description to be optimized for mobile, keep it to 113 words.
A good meta description summarizes your content. If your headline is “7 Beauty Secrets of the Famously Rich,” a good meta description would be: “What do Angelina Jolie, Sharon Stone, Nicole Kidman, and Catherine Zeta-Jones have in common? Find out the seven beauty secrets of the famously rich…”
Use the right keyword frequency.
The most commonly abused and ignored in this list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets is keyword frequency. Keyword frequency refers to the number of times your keywords appear in the entire Web page. If your target keyword is 7 secrets of beauty, you need to determine the optimal number of times you will use this in the article body.
Many will say that today, keyword frequency and density no longer matters. Yet, what many people do not realize is that it still impacts organic traffic. Many readers will find your page spammy if you stuff your content with keywords. Keyword stuffing occurs when you use your keywords too much that the article pretty much becomes incoherent. The keyword must also be in the headline and generally, your keyword density given the total number of words in the article should be no more than 5%.
The best content that search engines look for are keyword phrases or longtail keywords. However, you need to caution yourself against keyword stuffing. Search engines will mark and ban you if you commit this offense.
Use page links to your advantage.
One of the 10 SEO copywriting secrets is page linking. A page link is created when you link a picture, a word, or a phrase to another website. This tells search engines that you are sociable and that you are connected. Linking your site to other websites basically tells search engines that you are telling other people that there are more information out in the ‘Net. The mere fact you linked to other sites is an indication that you provided information to your reader.
Linking to authority websites — popular top ranking websites — also indicates that you value what other people have to say. What the search engines do if you link out is to reward you with a top ranking page because you are making their jobs easier — to organize all Web pages in the Internet by indexing and relevance and making these information accessible to everyone.
To do this, find a keyword in your Web content and look for a Web page that offers content for it and then link that keyword to it. Right now, there are no hard rules for linking, unlike keyword stuffing. Generally, you should link to relevant pages and, outside your own website, link only to in-depth information to your own website.
Improve your site speed.
The sixth important item in this list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets is site speed. This is very important. According to some studies, 40% of people will abandon your site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Even if your website is full of content and interesting but the loading time is dismal, people will never link back to you because they never read your content to begin with!
To start improving your site, you need to use pinging websites to determine your site speed. If your site speed loads for more than 3 seconds, you may want to consider paying for more bandwidth. You can get this from your Web hosting provider. This is why free websites are almost never advised for someone who is serious in building traffic and money online; you have to invest in high quality Web hosting services.
Use keywords in images.
Images must be mentioned in this list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets. The search engines cannot see that you have a beautiful picture of a sunset. If you named an image as untitled.jpg, this is how the search engine will read and index the picture. You have to treat images the same way as you treat content. If your article body is about the keyword “beautiful sunset in Florida,” you must rename your image as “beautiful sunset in Florida.” Once this image is uploaded, the search engines will tag it as “beautiful-sunset-in-Florida.” Anybody who searches for this same keyword will prompt the search engine to show this image.
Use backlinking strategies.
Backlinking is the opposite of page linking. With page linking, you are redirecting your readers to other websites that are not necessarily yours. With backlinking, you are posting on other websites that have links pointing to yours.
It does not have to be you who has to backlink. The power of organic or natural traffic should come into play in this strategy. If you post something that is very relevant, chances are people will share this via social media and more people will visit your site. As your site traffic improves, your overall SEO performance will also improve.
Use permalinks to your advantage.
Permalink is definitely part of the top 10 SEO copywriting secrets. A permalink is basically the name of your Web page. It is a URL that directs the user to a specific page on your site. There was a time when a permalink looked like this: http:/www.domainname.com/&8532. This permalink is not useful for search engines. There is no way they can tie this up with your actual Web content. Instead of that, use a permalink that looks like this: http:/www.domainname.com/7-day-fitness-tips. A permalink like this is easier for search engines to index.
Get people to act.
The tenth and final item in this list of 10 SEO copywriting secrets is call to action. When all has been said and done, the ultimate thing that you want from your visitors is to do something positive about your website. This can only be done by the power of persuasion. Somewhere in your website, there must be an area that will call people to act. You have to provide the benefits to the reader to convince them to either buy what you are selling or subscribe to your blog.
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