A copywriter doesn’t just make you sound good with nice words, their job, these days, is a lot more technical.
A copywriter who can gain you traction with your brand, that leads to increased engagement, enquiries and sales will still be the one who can do wonders with words. Put simply, they must be a good writer. Even before they get to the technical bit.
A copywriter who knows how to make every word work to best effect; eliminating redundant sentences, confusing logic and unpleasant hyperbole, helping your target audience to connect with you on an emotional level, is an enormous asset to your sales and marketing deployment.
But if you can work with a copywriter who knows how to craft your online content around the keywords and phrases that your target audience are tapping into Google to search for you and your products and services, even better.
Once a copywriter has determined some of these keywords and phrases, their job is to then write your content structured around them. But this is not as simple as it sounds. The copy must not be ‘stuffed’ artificially with keywords; no one wants to read a nonsense list. The content must read well and be helpful, and informative, to the browser who searched for it.
It’s certainly not enough (although it’s something) for a browser simply to find you. If the content is not well-written or helpful, the browser won’t linger to read it; they’ll jump straight off. This is known as the ‘bounce rate’ and one that copywriters are very conscious of when they are writing online content. Google will not reward you for a high bounce rate, because it signals that your content isn’t particularly helpful.
Your SEO will also be damaged by errors in spelling and grammar. As well as a good level of readability, your online content should be mistake-free. It’s an indicator of quality after all, one which Google’s algorithms are looking for when separating out millions of search results.
On top of all this, the copywriter should ensure that what they write is original content. For maximum SEO your content should not be lifted from elsewhere on the internet. Your copywriter will research what they need to on the internet, and likely find lots of useful material, insight and facts. But the writing of it should be in their own words, i.e. your words. Copied content is not great to have on your site. Even though it is very common to come across, if you’re serious about your SEO, you want original content only, containing original insight if possible. Aside from the fact, you don’t want to be approached by someone’s legal team for plagiarism!
Placing the writing of your online and offline copy in the hands of a capable copywriter who understands SEO is one of the best things you can do to increase engagement. The return on your marketing investment will be higher, and ultimately increase your bottom line. So, if you get a copywriter, make sure they can do the technical bits too.
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