How to Write Copy for your Website or Blog

Posted on February 7, 2012 by kaydeeweb

A search engine cannot see the pretty design of your site, a search engine will trawl the raw code within your page – and that includes the copy you write. Keywords are words that people might type into a search engine to find a site likes yours. Choosing good keywords and including them in that copy is really important.

Keywords versus Keyphrases

You must consider which keywords visitors to your website will use to find it. Then incorporate them into the copy. “Key phrases” are phrases made up of those words.

Think about how many websites might contact the keyword “bike”. There would be millions, in many different countries all across the world. That is why we now use keyphrases, or long-tail keyphrases. The customer that you want is much more likely to type in “mountain bikes oxfordshire” then they are to type just the word “bike”. So do think about being specific and about localisation.

If your site is to do with mountain biking the key phrases could be: mountain biking oxfordshire, mountain bike shop cotswolds, expert mountain biker, and hill biking cotswolds. Choose 2 – 3 key phrases for each of your web pages. Stick to them, and try to repeat the key phrase (although not too much, as you can get penalised for this too).

Tips on Keywords

Write a list of as many single words and short phrases as possible that describe your business, your service and your products plus any other information you think is important. List the words that users would type into a Search Engine when trying to find a business like yours.
Choose 2 -3 key phrases for each of your web pages. Make sure they are different, but relevant.
Search Engines look for exact keywords, they don’t know that a word might also mean something else. If you really want to be listed under the key phrase of “mountain bike shop “, then that specific and exact phrase must appear repeatedly throughout the copy on pages of your site. Be sure it is included in the first paragraph, in the first sentence if at all possible.
From the keyword lists you have chosen for your site, pick a primary and a secondary keyword that you want to rank well for.
The first paragraph should be a summary of the page and should include both primary and secondary keywords.
Include keywords in the last paragraph.
Headings and subheading should contain keywords, where possible.
Linking text should be keyword heavy. This could mean links to other pages in your website, or links to other websites.
If you are location based, then do make sure you let your customers know you are in say “Oxfordshire”, or in the “UK”.
Make the key words and phrases specific to your business : do not list anything which is irrelevant. For example, your bike shop might be family run but users would not directly search for that.
Include keywords in your domain name. Perhaps you’ve found that “biker” is your most effective keyword. You might try to get a domain name such as mountain-biker.com or biker-shop.com. Including keywords in your domain name gets you credit with the Search Engines.
There are online tools which can help you determine the most useful key words for your business:

Google Key Word Tool https://adwords.google.com
Google Trends http://www.google.com/trends

It is a good idea take a look at your web stats a month or two after launch to see which keyphrases are working. Every month the website can be tweaked, and better phrases used. Also consider that trends change. One minute people may be searching for “orange mountain bikes”, then next month “giant mountain bikes” may be more popular.

Click to visit my page on Search Engine Optimisation.

The reports on this page are for your information only. Kaydee will not be liable for any damage, loss of money or any other problems that arise if you do take actions on the advice given.

Why Do I need a Blog? Should I have a Blog AND a Website? What is the Difference?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by kaydeeweb

A blog is all about your ability to interact with your audience, who are ultimately your customers. A website is a place where those customers go to find information, quickly and easily, or buy from you. The blog gets the surfers attention and will direct them over to your website, letting them see what you have to offer.

A blog will consist of posts (in chronological order or in categories) written by you, your employees or colleagues about your business, or things that are connected to your business.

Blogs make it easy for visitors to add comments to your posts - real, topical comments and they will interact with you and with other customers. Encourage comments and opinions. Even bad feedback can be handled well, and a response from you will mean that you care. You can control which comments are viewed by the public.

Contact me if you need help in setting up your blog, making it look professional or just some ideas

Case Study

Take a shop, selling shoes. What are their customers interested in? What types of shoes do they sell? Are they shoes that are good for your feet; there is one good post. Fashion? Winter shoes, Summer shoes. What shoes are more favourable to walk around in, on a city break? What shoes go with a dress, trousers, for work, for a power meeting, trainers for running, fashion trainers . . . there are so many posts based around one item.

The shop owner might write a post about running trainers. Help your visitor choose a good pair, a middle of the road pair or a cheap pair. Compare them. Do you love the smell of a new pair of trainers, or checking what they look like as soon as they come into the shop? What are runners interested in? They are not just interested in the trainers. Give them a good local track to run around with their new trainers on, bought from your shop. What about food? Healthy food for runners. Looking after their feet. The possibilities are endless.

WRITE ABOUT THE PASSIONS YOU FEEL FOR YOUR BUSINESS! You might think no one is interested, but people will buy from you if they know you love your field.

And within each of your posts you will need to link through to your website: eg. “Love running? We have the latest NIKES coming in … click here“. This will push the traffic over to your site.

Videos, photographs and interesting content will all help your blog. You can even ask people to subscribe to an RSS feed, where they will be able to keep up to date with the posts you put on.

Contact me if you need help in setting up your blog, making it look professional or just some ideas

I’ve got a website, now what? Getting better search results.

Posted on March 30, 2011 by kaydeeweb

Your website is online, and you now appear on Google when you search your company name, which means Google has finally picked you up! But you are not listed very high for your top key phrases, so what do you do now?

Getting good results on the search engines takes time and constant chiselling, but there are a lot of tools to help now a days.

Building Links

Build up a network of links from other websites, websites that are relevant to your product or service.

You could ask suppliers and customers to link through to your site.
You could do a search and submit your site to some of the millions of directories out there. Some are paid for, some are not. Get on all the free ones and then pick and choose the paid ones. Some may not be worth it. This is something I can do for you.
Links on your site to other (relevant) websites will help with your ranking too.

Social Media

Social media is extremely popular, and there is a lot to be said for building links to your website through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GroupOn and many other social media networks. These websites already have very high ranks in the search engines, which means when you make a post on a subject, your keywords may be picked up on organic listings like Googles. If you constantly link to your website via your accounts, the traffic will be driven over.

Social media is also a good way of letting your followers know about new products, new services and what is happening within the company.

Updates to your Website

I’m always made to feel like I’ve made this one up. Obviously I want to update your website as I like to be busy, but this is honestly a good way to show the search engines that your website is worth visiting. Search engine crawlers can see the date that your page has been updated, and if it has new content it will reindex it. If it is not new, it will pass it by. If the crawlers see new content they will revisit to check your site for updates. The more often crawlers visit your site, the better your chances of improving ranking for the keywords on each page.

Showing that your website is authoritative will encourage search engines to index your pages quicker; this will work in your favour when it comes to future listings and developments.

Updating your website also keeps it up to date with ever changing technology. Your users won’t be pleased visiting an old looking site.

Start a Blog

A blog will encourage visitors to your website. Blogs are a successful way of boosting a website’s content without making the pages cluttered. Please see my recent post “Why start a blog?“.

Bigger is Better

Another one I feel guilty for telling people, but is true!

The more pages your site has, the more opportunities it has to rank for different key phrases.

Every page on your site has optimised content. Each page may concentrate on different keywords, and done correctly it means search engines rank you for different terms, meaning you climb higher in the rank order. But do not overload your pages with different keywords. See my post on Googles Quality Guidelines.

Say you have articles on your website, the words within those different articles will be available on a internet search, meaning that potential customers come across your website almost by accident. This is where you capture them, and sell sell sell!

Content can be added to your website at any time, whether I have designed your site or not. Email me to find out what I can do for you.

Clicking on my Google listing

Yes, it is true, the more popular your website and the more times your site is clicked on within Google, the better Google will rank your site. Google wants to give it’s users the best search experience, so popular websites have more clout. This does not mean you should sit and click on your link over and over, as Google registers your computers IP address and will only record the one click. Nice try.

Visit my website for more information on search engines

Why start a blog?

Posted on March 15, 2011 by kaydeeweb

I am a website designer, why would I start a blog?

Surely I have the ability to put anything I want to say to my clients onto my website? Well I do. I put useful tips there. But this blog is my way of conversing with you; ‘you’ being either a current client – giving you good customer service, or ‘you’ a potential client – so I can show you how clever I am, and therefore (eventually) convince you to employ me.

You, as the reader, can comment on any of my posts and interact with me. I can chat away in a friendly, conversational manner, and you can get to know me.

A blog or a website?

Obviously being a website designer, I am going to say both. But remember I can earn money from designing your blog for you too, or from teaching you about a blog, even from maintaining the blog for you. Either is fine by me.

Remember there will be many people who will not read your rantings, even if they WILL learn something. Who has the time these days? Which is why my blog is seperate from my website.

My website will give you specific information straight away. When reading my blog you will settle down, have a cup of tea and, hopefully, read my ramblings.

You also have to ask yourself if you have time to keep your blog up to date. Say three times a week? Or you will need to employ someone, like me, to maintain it for you.

Blogs and Search Engies

No offence, but the blog is not entirely for you. Search Engine crawlers will be happy to sift through my blog, checking it for keywords and more. Every time I link from my blog to my web design company, they pick that up. It increases my power on the Internet. Google and other Search Engines take into account the number of links pointing to your page and determine how important your web page is. The more important the Search Engines consider your website to be, the higher it is ranked in the organic listings.

Don’t get me wrong, there are ways of doing these things, and I will bring you a few tips in the coming posts.

Have I got anything interesting to post on a blog?

Six months ago, I would’ve said no, I haven’t. You would say yes, I have. You are the one that wants my twelve years of Internet know how. You are reading this.

Remember this is true for your clients too. What skills do you use every day? How do you make or choose your products? Which customer have you sent off happy today, and why? Will people learn how your service or product stands out, by reading a post just like this one?

Consumers love open, honest selling these days. Not hard sell. What can you do for your potential customers?

Convinced I Should Run a Blog

It was always in the back of my mind that I should start a blog. But I am so busy, why would I want to, and what would I write?

Since meeting Jane Van Velsen from The Right Writer, who is a social media consultant I have realised I have got A LOT to post here. Every day I meet a client and have to explain something again, I realise “I could write about this one“. And help others. Yes, I want your business. I want to show you how clever I am, but I am happy for you to learn something from me too! It is also a fantastic place to send my current clients, so I do not have to explain the same thing over and over.

So the blog is MY area to show you my Internet expertise, and what I have learnt in all those years of working with the web. It is also a wonderful traffic driver over to my website, so you can see my website design portfolio, get it?

Where as, my website is a tidy, organised domain where you can view all my products and services in a glance. People work in different ways. YOU are happy to read this; Mr Jones might want the organised website. So I am capturing you both.

My blog and my website run beautifully along side one another.

Reasons a Small Business SHOULD start a Blog

A blog will;

drive more traffic to your main website
(“I did this, click here to find out more”)
generate more product/service sales
(“these are great for this reason, buy them here”)
could create an additional stream of advertising income
(google ads)
be a great customer service tool
(John from Banbury asks “why”, so here is my post on ‘subject’)

So basically, on my blog I will let you have some information, for free, in the hope that you will come back and one day click onto my website, see my website designs, get a feel for what my company does and employ me.

So why haven’t you got a blog? Do you need help setting one up? Contact me