Does Your SEO Copy Have Multiple Personalities?
Posted by Sandy Fitzgerald on Thu, Mar 18, 2010
In the movies, people with multiple personalities can be both fascinating and disturbing, all at the same time.
But did you ever stop to consider that we all have different personalities at different times? We've got good days and bad days; happy days and sad ones. Some days, we're all about business, and other days, we're as silly as schoolchildren.
It's called being human, and it's wonderful to be ever-changing. But when it comes to SEO copywriting, is variety really the spice of life? Well, maybe, and maybe not.
If you want to keep your audience involved and engaged, then variety is a great thing. Don't be afraid to spice up your writing with personal anecdotes, artwork, or even humor.
Conversely, it also will keep your readers coming back, thereby getting your writing higher on the search engines - if sometimes you are angry or upset with a topic and you're not afraid to let people know about it. Outrage, if it's well-placed, can bring a whole new audience to a website, and a whole new dynamic.
In other words, if you want to take a stand, make sure you have enough research and information to make your point, and go right ahead. But sometimes, when you least expect it, your SEO copywriting can really take on a whole new life; one you never expected.
It's easy to do, too. You start out on one topic, carefully chosen for its keywords and search results, and for one reason or another, it never really develops into a coherent piece of content. Or, if you're blogging, you start out with your blog having one purpose, and suddenly, other topics crowd their way in. And before long, your blogs and SEO copywriting are a mish-mash of styles, items, articles and topics that bounce off each other.
Where does this leave your SEO efforts?
1. If you have no clear topic or keywords, it makes your item difficult to find on the search engines.
2. Your readership and site visitors will decline, because your site, if it includes badly written copy, will push readers away rather than draw them in.
3. You'll lose your "expert" tone. When visitors are searching for specific articles on a topic, they usually want at least the presumption of expertise. A writer who bounces around without a coherent purpose loses credibility quickly.
4. Your increasingly confusing and conflicting articles won't be shared on Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites, because people won't trust what they're reading.
So how can you keep this from happening? It's simple - keep your focus. Pick a topic, outline it and stick with it, at least for the article in hand. If other "personalities" start creeping into that article, jot them down in a separate notebook or find an easy way to keep track of them. You can always use those ideas in separate copywriting projects, after all.
When it comes to SEO copywriting, variety can keep it interesting, but focus on the topic at hand will lead to much more tangible rewards.