This, therefore, makes copywriting an integral part of every SEO strategy. By utilizing high-quality content, you can quickly increase your Google ranking to help you stand out from your competitors.
It pays to invest adequately in proper SEO copywriting. You should learn to avoid fatal mistakes that could compromise your SEO strategies.
Are you looking forward to investing in SEO copywriting?
Below are some of the fatal copywriting mistakes you should avoid:
Mistake #1: Focusing on Your Company and Products
This is one common mistake that most copywriters do and ends up crippling their conversion rates.
The truth is, your audience is neither interested in your company nor does it care about your latest news or what you do. They only care about themselves and things that can make their lives better. So you’ve got to show them you care about them. [source]
Most customers visit your website looking for answers to their problems. If your content cannot offer them solutions quickly, then they are gone.
For this reason, you need to change the focus of your copy from business-centric to customer-centric. Ideally, ensure that your content appeals and adds value to your customers.
Focus more on using “you” and “your” in your marketing strategies rather than using “we” and “our.” And if at all you will need to talk about yourself and your products, then it should be in the context of providing value to your prospective clients and customers.
Mistake #2: Not Starting With a Keyword Research
Most marketers underestimate the importance of keyword research oblivious of the fact that keyword research is an essential step in driving qualified traffic to your site. Before creating any content, you first need to understand your customers’ search intent.
What are people searching for and what do they intend to find? Is your choice of keywords relevant to their searches?
If you wish to optimize your Google ranking, you should first identify your customers’ needs and search behavior and then work backward by targeting their search intent to attract more traffic and boost conversions.
The best practice is to focus on relatively less competitive keyword phrases that are frequently searched by your customers.
Also, ensure that the keywords are closely associated with your company or products to boost relevant traffic that will help you accomplish your business goals.
More importantly, if you want to reach prospective customers in your location and its environs, you should endeavor to target geo-specific keywords. These are keywords that have your location as qualifiers. Here are good examples:
- Best medical expert in Chicago
- New York coffee shop
- Moving company London
Better yet, the keywords could have “near me” attached to it. Here are examples:
- Best clinic near me
- Chinese restaurants near me
Creating content that answers a particular search intent around a keyword will increase your chances of ranking higher in the search results pages.
Hauser-Ross Eye Institute & Surgicenter, a regional eye care provider optimized its content for location-based keywords and implemented other SEO marketing strategies. After running the campaign for 3 months, they increased organic traffic and their revenue grew by 333% year over year.
Mistake #3: Talking to Everyone at the Same Time
When it comes to generating organic and qualified leads to your business, you need to focus your energy and content to a specific group of audience. It’s nearly impossible to tailor your content to suit everyone’s needs.
Have you ever been in a noisy place – trying to ignore all the noise around you and then suddenly someone calls out your name?
The chances are that you looked around immediately to identify who is trying to capture your attention even though you thought you weren’t listening.
The same case applies to online marketing. Online users tend to ignore general information intended for the public but are keen on information that seems more specific to them.
Find your target audience and get to know their habits, goals, and desires. Once you have done that, tailor your content to address them directly. This will help you boost traffic and consequently enhance your online presence.
Nike, for example, is a global brand that speaks to a specific group of shoe users at a given time. That’s why they have Nike running shoes for men, for women, and for other specific running purposes. The brand even goes as far as driving campaigns specific to women -- NikeWomen
An Analysis of its Brand Communication, Adidas shared some thoughts on communicating to the right customers while nurturing leads that are still on the fence.
Mistake #4: Poorly-Formatted Content
I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had time to make it shorter. ~Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).
No matter how good or valuable your message is, your content is less likely to drive significant traffic if it’s non-readable. Proper formatting is essential in enhancing the readability of your content to increase the number of customers visiting your site.
Remember that you’re competing against time to attract and retain the attention of your readers and writing huge chunks of text will ONLY defeat the purpose.
You should leverage the power of shorter paragraphs and bullet points to make your content more reader-friendly. According to Jim Estill from Copyblogger, “A paragraph that runs five sentences long is daunting and there is a good chance that the reader will not read it.”
Your choice of font also plays a significant role. When it comes to text font, you should be concerned with three factors: size, type, and color. Make sure that your font is at least 16 pixels for maximum readability.
Also, the line-height and line width must also be considered. Give enough white spacing to make the content readable.
It’s also crucial to ensure that your font colors and the background complement each other. Again, the use of multiple headlines with bigger headline fonts can assist in attracting more traffic.
Mistake #5: Being Too Wordy in Your Sentences
One way to increase the quality of your content and significantly boost your search ranking is to cut unnecessary words.
Your audience will much appreciate it if you go straight to the point. Including filler words between relevant words is virtually useless and only serves to lengthen and complicate your sentences.
Make your sentences clear.
Your sentences should be short, clear, and concise. Avoid using unnecessarily complex or abstract words. Redundancy is also another cause of wordiness. HelpScout’s articles are always clear and persuasive and have no redundant words. Take a look:
It may involve the inclusion of redundant words or redundant information. Avoid unnecessary words to assist your readers in finding solutions to their problems quickly when reading through your text.
Mistake #6. Forgetting the Call-to-Action
Call-to-action (CTA) is one of the most ignored content marketing components yet very effective in enhancing your site or brand awareness. According to Unbounce, “Over 90% of visitors who read the title also read the CTA copy.”
Having done a great job of attracting the attention of your prospective customers, you need to include a compelling CTA to motivate them to take the next step towards sharing your content or becoming loyal customers.
Customers expect and want clear instructions as to what to do. You’ll be confusing and frustrating your customers if you don’t have clear and persuasive calls to action.
Your CTA should be straightforward and geared towards a specific goal.
If you’re providing informative content to your audience, then Calls to action such as “learn more” or “request a demo” could be most appropriate. Also, place them in strategic positions and ensure that they are kept short and actionable.
By changing the CTA copy from "Download Paper" to "Get My Free Paper" and split testing the two variations, SAS increased conversions significantly.
Mistake #7: Not Optimizing Content for Searchers
It makes no sense to create a content library that offers solutions to all your prospective customers’ needs yet not readily available when the customers search for the content on the search engines.
Your goal should be to create content that’s NOT only packed with valuable information but also keyword-optimized to increase its chances of performing better in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Start by creating original and useful content that’s relevant to your target audience.
Make sure that the content satisfies the local searcher’s intent if you’re trying to attract local clients/customers, for example.
Now proceed to include profitable keyword phrases that will boost your online presence during a customer’s search.
Extra Storage Space shifted most of its marketing budget online and embraced search marketing. By optimizing their content around searchers’ intents and being consistent, the share of rentals from online channels increased by 1,300% in five years and ROI grew by 184%.
Do you need help creating a successful SEO strategy that will help you rank higher in Google first page? Our Digital Marketing Agency in San Diego can help you. See our services page.
Mistake #8: Writing in a Passive Voice
According to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “using passive voice in your writing isn’t a grammatical error but it’ll weaken the clarity of your writing.”
Different forms of writing have their rules and style. Passive voice is utterly discouraged in SEO marketing for two main reasons:
- It’s relatively wordy
- It uses a sentence structure that requires more cognitive effort to deduce a meaning
Passive voice omits the doer of a given action from the sentence making it hard for your audience to identify who is acting and who is being affected.
Again, it’s less engaging when compared to active voice. Here’s a clear distinction (with examples) between active and passive voices.
Since customers prefer high-quality content that’s straightforward and more engaging, using excessive passive voice and vague language will have an impact on your Google ranking optimization strategies.
Use active verbs (e.g., that will help you illustrate your point more clearly to meet the objective of your content and to attract more customers.
Conclusion
Essentially, captivating your customers’ attention should be your primary goal when doing SEO copywriting.
Take time to research your target audience and tailor your content to suit their needs.
Don’t forget to correctly structure and proofread your content to ensure it's of high quality and value to your customers. Do that, and you’d be rewarded with devoted readers who are loyal to your brand.
