1. Every page needs a focal point

 

Every page on your website should have a focal point, a place where the visitor’s eyes are naturally drawn. It can be an image, a special offer, or a headline. In addition, that focal point should direct your visitors to act, a call-to-action.

 

Click here for free sample, for example.

 

Think of your pages as Billboards. Billboards are big, bright, and clearly direct you to take a specific action. You site pages should do the same.

 

Your focal points should include images and copy that is keyword rich and help the search engines find your site.

 

2. Headline can be very effective

 

Headlines organize your content by making a promise to the reader. It follows then, that your content must then deliver on that promise.

 

Using the “who-what-why” formula isn’t the only way to format your headlines, but it works. Think of your headlines as a promise, a commitment you make between you and your visitor.

 

There are many effective headline formulas out there, so you need never worry about repeating yourself.

 

Whether it’s on the page or in your meta data, headlines are an important SEO tactic.

 

3. Get 50% through the use of numbers

 

People are more apt to believe something when a number accompanies it. 51% of those surveyed believed something is more powerful than a majority of those surveyed believe…

 

Numbers grab our attention and are more credible than general terms. It seems people like specifics.

 

4. Use power words

 

Words like fast, easy, guaranteed and free are powerful copy.

 

    “Free is the most powerful word in the copywriter’s vocabulary. Everybody wants to get something for free.”

    -Robert W. Bly

 

In our email marketing we typically use headlines such as, “Free PDF…” or some other power word to increase click-throughs and, eventually, sales opportunities.

 

5. Think about your images

 

The cliché is “a picture is worth a thousand words” and it’s true. And if a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth ten thousand. Think long and hard about the visuals you use. Pictures and videos can supercharge story and include:

 

    * Photographs

    * Artwork

    * Charts and Graphs

    * Slidedecks

    * Video

    * Infographics

 

Make sure your images have an ALT description so the search engines know what it is you’re trying to communicate through your images.

 

6. Use Sub-Headlines

 

Would you read a newspaper if it had just one headline? Of course not!

 

We want information that is categorized and well organized.

 

If your text is longer than 250-400 words, you must use sub-headlines. No exceptions.

 

While the search engines give sub-headings slightly less impact than Headings, sub-headings remain an important SEO tactic.

 

7. Lists work

 

This entire post is a list.

 

Why do lists work so well? Lists are the building blocks of the thinking process, of ideas. To communicate your thoughts quickly and effectively, nothing structures the information like a well-thought out and logically organized list.

 

8. People love quotes

 

In my book Communication Wins, I opened every chapter with a quotation. Selecting the right quote for each chapter took up a significant part of my editing time.

 

Use quotes to organize your ideas and demonstrate that our major points are significant enough to have earned a historical quotation. If Abraham Lincoln commented on your major point, then it’s probably important enough for people to want to learn more about it.

 

9. Fun with font

 

Some people change fonts within their copy for emphasis. We think that’s a bad idea. To attract attention to a particular point or section of your copy, try using bold and/or italics.

 

The search engine can detect bold and/or italicized font in your copy and assume these are the important terms (keywords).

 

10. Your voice sells

 

There are dozens of good SEO copywriting techniques. We encourage you to learn and use them.

 

However, at the end of the day, you need to find your own voice. Your particular point of view, style, and tone, form the foundation for your audience appeal.

 

I love the way Peggy Noonan writes. She was President Reagan’s speech writer and has a lyrical style and velvet touch while, at the same time, the ability to cut like a knife, without sounding angry, through the foolishness that is served up to us on a daily basis as serious political discourse. Would I like to write like Peggy, you bet!

 

But I can’t. There’s only one Peggy and I’m not her. So I have to do my best to write like me. I’ve learned that my best writing is typically short declarative sentences that are easy to read and understand.

 

Do you agree?

The eyes have it:
Several of my blog entries have mentioned that reading is out and viewing is in. That’s not surprising since human beings are visual creatures. Approximately 65% of the information we gather comes through our eyes. Our ability to accurately process information declines considerably when we use our other senses. A steak is a steak to my untrained nose, but my entire being prepares for action at the site of a thick Filet Mignon.

Some seeing is better than other seeing. Fewer and fewer people want to gather information through the oftentimes-dry act of reading. More and more people want to gather information through the visually engaging experience of video. They want to be told a story. They want to be given both the information and its contextual meaning in an engaging and entertaining way. For most, movies are preferable to books.

Give the people what they want where they want it:
This is where (online) video excels and the numbers back it up. According to a survey printed on May 12 in eMarketer Daily, 87% of respondents said they will spend more for online video in 2009 than they did in 2008. An astonishing number.


Similarly, MAGNA Global, a division of Interpublic Group, forecast in April 2009 that online video ad revenues in the US will exceed $1.0 billion in 2011.