If you’re thinking your communications degree is a waste of time, think again. There is no need to fear uncertainty. New opportunities are being developed daily, each ready for someone with the proper skill set to capitalize on.
Nowadays, Internet marketing companies pay big bucks to hire professional SEO copywriters. In fact, copywriters are some of the top paid writers in the world. According to the largest job site in the United States, Indeed.com, the average salary of a copywriter is $59,000. If you’re lucky enough to secure a job as a copywriter in New York City, you can expect a hefty average of $73,000. Not too bad, right? Better yet, there’s plenty of room to grow in the field. Top copywriters, such as Robert Bly, are currently sitting on Six Figure salaries.
It’s not all about the money. At the heart of every successful online marketing campaign is strong copy, created by a copywriter who enjoys what they do. Good copywriters are passionate about the art of writing striking, intriguing and captivating copy. So, by now you’re probably asking, what exactly makes a copywriter unique? To clarify, being a copywriter has nothing to do with copyright. After the umpteenth time of explaining it to your friends, you may be tempted to say that you simply copy write. There is a degree of irony to that discerning emphasis, since respectable copywriters know that copywriting is not copying and pasting. We’re the people that strategically implement those “magical words” that inform, persuade, entertain and most importantly, connect with you, the audience.
SEO copywriters are a different breed. We do everything a traditional copywriter does, but with an added focus on SEO—otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization, or business writing directly for consumers. Copywriting for Search Engine Optimization combines the art of writing with the subtle implementation of select keywords that people use when looking up a certain topic on search engines such as Google. While it’s easy to preempt the challenge in writing something for humans and search engines, it is necessary. The reason is rankings. Ideally, you want to rank for number 1 on page 1 of Google. The reason you want to achieve this is to increase the visibility of your company, product or service amongst the millions of competitors you face on the vast entity that is the Internet. After all, the goal of online marketing campaigns is to attract more customers and translate page views into increased revenue.
There is, however, no point in achieving a first page ranking if no one likes your site and hates your copy. That’s why it is important to write for your target market. If nothing else, remember the golden rule of copywriting, content is King. Good SEO copywriters know how to convert potential customers into paying customers. In order to do this, it’s helpful to keep in mind that humans have the attention span of a gold fish. If you want them to stick around long enough to choose your product or service, you must grab their attention immediately and hold their interest. One way to quantify the average time spent on your website is the bounce rate.
A big mistake SEO copywriters make is keyword stuffing. You should never have to sacrifice the quality of your content for keywords. Balance is the key. Skilled SEO copywriters know the difference between subtle keyword placement in an article and going all out on a Thanksgiving turkey. They also realize that nowadays, the spiders (also known as crawlers or bots) at Google are developed enough to recognize keyword stuffing, and they will penalize your website or worse, ban it. There’s no point in sounding like a robot because humans don’t connect with robots, they connect with humans. You need to know how to create web copy that is appealing to human beings, but at the same time, ranks well. As communications students, we’re hoping you’ve gotten down the basics of good writing by now. If you happened to skip out on a few lectures, here’s a quick refresher …
Write like an SEO Copywriter in 10 Easy Steps
- Research the topic and your competitors before you write. If you don’t, you might say something that makes you look bad.
- Know your target. Each word you write should be in tune with your target audience. Relevance is the key.
- Bold and italics are your best friend. The spiders at Google and humans respond well to these.
- Bullet points, lists and paragraphs are your other best friend. You’ve probably noticed that it’s aesthetically appealing to read text that is broken up into segments. Otherwise it makes your eyes bleed a little. Make life easier for the person on the other end of the screen.
- Avoid repetition and be succinct because no one likes that one person that goes on and on and on about one simple thing for a whole paragraph without any periods or commas or semicolons because they don’t understand the concept of less is better and good grammar. Wasn’t that horrible to read? Good, don’t do that.
- Capitalize your headings, subheadings and nouns. Otherwise, it just looks odd and can come across as unprofessional.
- Unless you’re writing for a specific niche, don’t be too technical. Write like you’re writing for someone who knows nothing about the topic. Try to be conversational and a good sense of humor won’t hurt either.
- Use the word count feature on Microsoft Word. As a rule of thumb, make sure your copy is around 400 words per page and try to include a keyword every 100 words.
- References are a plus. They’re there to back you up.
- Include a call to action. First time readers of your content are like kindergarten kids on their first day of school. They’re likely to be either aloof or puzzled. As a teacher, you’re there to encourage them to take part.
If you’re serious about pursuing a career in SEO copywriting, you’ll need to invest time and energy into studying the craft. While spring break, frat parties and beer pong may be more attractive alternatives than unpaid internships, they are a great way to get your foot in the industry and build up your portfolio. You should also check out the latest copywriting courses available, and copywriting publications by the experts in the field. SEOmoz is also worth a visit as it is considered to be the online Bible for many in the SEO field. Copywriting isn’t just a fad. We’re going to be here for a long time, as the importance of online marketing becomes more difficult to ignore.
Secure a job in a growing and prosperous field with the Internet marketing professionals. We’ve had consistent growth every year, with 75 percent growth in 2011 alone. And we’re always looking for high-energy college students to grow with us. This is your chance to grow into a full-time, well-paid position with our company. Learn about SEO and Google Adwords, and receive hands-on Internet marking experience from the pros in the industry. If you’re energetic, enthusiastic, no-nonsense and ready to develop highly marketable skills in a high energy environment, apply today! No menial work.
February 22, 2012
