To make the maximum impact from the content you write for your website or blog, it is important that you are aware of the basics of SEO copywriting while keeping in mind that first and foremost you’re writing for people.

SEO copywriting is the practice of writing copy that helps you attract web visitors via search engines and here are some practical tips that SEO copywriting guru Glenn Murray of Divine Write shared in his webinar last week.

To optimise your web copy you need to:

• Learn what your target customers are searching for
• Use those phrases frequently in your copy
• Use them in the right places
• And use similar words.

You also need to get lots of links from other websites to yours by being:

• Helpful and informative
• Practical
• Newsworthy
• Funny, or controversial

Then get the word out!

Let people know about your new content, for example by tweeting it on Twitter and sharing it on your Facebook page.

People will link to your content because it helps their readers.

The good news is that Google and Bing have recently confirmed that links on Facebook and Twitter do have an impact on where they rank your website.

To find out which words are used most frequently in your copy, Glenn recommends using a Word Cloud Generator such as Wordle.

7 Insider Tips for Creating Quality Content

1. Always write for your web visitors first, and optimise your copy for search engines second
2. Stick to the fundamentals of good copywriting, for example, include a compelling headline, use correct grammar and have someone else do a proof read to pick up any typos etc.
3. Stay on topic
4. If you think you’re over optimising, then you are
5. If you’ve heard of keyword density, forget about it
6. To find topics to write about, ask your Twitter followers what they want
7. Monitor the performance of your popular pages, so you’ll know what works.

More good news is that quality content that is well written is naturally optimised (because you have included keywords to make your writing clear).

Glenn also recommended the link building tool Ontolo

Take your keyword research a step further

The Grassroots team recommends that you give Market Samurai a try. We find it to be the best keyword tool on the market, hands down. The tool draws data from Google’s Free Keyword Tool but also gives you a huge amount of additional and rather valuable information. We particularly love that it allows you to analyse the Top 10 websites that are ranking in search engines for your chosen keyword, and colour coding that helps you understand whether or not your website can compete.

Download a trial here.

Got any questions? Please leave a comment below.

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