Category Archives: Copywriting Thoughts

How much time does SEO copywriting take before your rankings improve?

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How much time does SEO copywriting take to improve search engine rankings

How much time does SEO copywriting take to improve search engine rankings

I was going through a Reddit thread about whether a person should invest in SEO if he is spending good money on advertising on Facebook and other social media networks.

People also talk about how much time it takes for search engine rankings to improve.

SEO copywriting is the backbone of search engine optimization.

SEO copywriting is the backbone of search engine rankings

SEO copywriting is the backbone of search engine rankings

Search engine optimization does not exist without optimized content because if there is no content, if there is no copy, what do you optimize?

Three main components of SEO – as I understand the field – are:

  • Writing and publishing optimized content.
  • Optimizing source code so that search engine crawlers can crawl and index content without hurdles.
  • Getting backlinks from authority websites, preferably with higher page rank.
  • Interlinking existing content.
  • Increasing the time people spend on the website.

Recently Google rolled out its “Helpful Content” algorithm update that penalizes websites that solely publish content meant to improve search engine rankings, without providing any value to human readers.

This is a good step on Google’s part because what is the purpose of publishing even optimized content if your content is not solve any purpose.

Therefore, SEO copywriting can help you only if it really helps your readers.

What is SEO copywriting?

The meaning of SEO copywriting

The meaning of SEO copywriting

I’m surprised that after all these years people still ask this question.

SEO copywriting in itself is nothing.

Every useful piece of copywriting is search engine optimized automatically.

As Google has suggested in its new algorithm guidelines, always write and publish human-friendly, human-first content.

And anyway, unless you are a high-authority website with hundreds of backlinks and a domain that is very old, even if you publish top-class content, it is difficult to get higher search engine rankings in just a couple of months.

So, if you hire me for my SEO copywriting services and then you expect that your rankings should improve within two months, you are daydreaming.

Even if I give you an example of my own website, although I’m writing this blog post on “SEO copywriting” there is a slim chance it will rank well because high authority websites such as Hubspot, Search Engine Journal, Backlinko, and Neil Patel (among many more) have already ranked well on the first and the second page.

Then why am I writing on this topic if I don’t hope to rank well for “SEO copywriting”?

It improves my content depth – and this is a reason why you should publish SEO content.

To gradually improve your content depth because as your content depth increases, so do your search engine rankings.

Now coming back to the question of “What is SEO copywriting?”

The simple explanation is that it is the art of writing informative content following the best SEO practices.

These practices include:

Crafting a headline that truly represents the body content.

Using the language used by the target audience.

Using short sentences to make it easier for humans to read and for search engine algorithms to process.

Strategically using keywords and search terms within the content so that they are an integral part of your narrative.

Satisfying the search intent – with what intent people are searching for your information?

How is SEO copywriting different from SEO content writing?

Difference between SEO copywriting and content writing

Difference between SEO copywriting and content writing

Content writing is mostly for blogs and other pieces of content that is meant to inform and educate.

You follow the same conventions when writing SEO content but a big difference is that in copywriting, you convince and convert people.

In copywriting, there is a CTA.

Content writing is used for blogging, case studies and other information articles.

Copywriting is used for the main website content, email marketing campaigns, landing pages and social media advertisements.

Hence, SEO copywriting means writing search engine friendly copy with the intention of making people perform the action represented by your CTA.

How long does SEO copywriting take before your search engine rankings improve?

Your search engine rankings don’t just depend on optimized content although, your content is the base of your entire SEO strategy.

SEO experts say that there are more than 200 factors that affect your search engine rankings, and your content or copy is just one of them.

Still, from the perspective of a content writer who has attained decent rankings for a few websites merely on the strength of SEO content, how long does it take?

I’m talking from the perspective of SEO copywriting and content writing.

I have experienced this with a couple of my own websites.

If you publish content – good SEO content – everyday, and preferably multiple times in a day, you can improve your rankings in 3-4 months.

It depends on the topics you choose.

It also depends on how well you can use your keywords and how competitive those keywords are.

You need to focus on longtail keywords because main and primary keywords are already covered by other websites.

For example, if I want to rank well for search terms like “content writing services” or “SEO copywriting services”, at least right now it is near to impossible.

Therefore, I try to focus on less competitive search terms.

For example, I rank well for “content writer for accounting businesses” or “content writer for coaching websites”.

In fact, even if you search for “SEO copywriter for accounting business” you will be able to find my website in top position.

Again, coming back to how much time it takes.

If you are aiming for rare keywords that very few people use, your website can start ranking well even within a couple of weeks if you manually submit your links to Google after publishing them.

But with fair amount of competition, give yourself 3-6 months.

3-6 months when you publish content everyday on your chosen keywords.

You will need to exercise patience.

Can you improve your rankings just on the strength of SEO copywriting without getting backlinks.

I have never actively sought backlinks.

My website has backlinks but that’s because many people have linked to my blog posts on their own.

Over the past 10 years, my website has accumulated some good backlinks.

Somewhere around in 2010 I actively wrote guest blog posts for some high traffic websites and from there I got a few backlinks.

After that, I never tried, and I solely focused on publishing content on my own website.

I use a mix of SEO copywriting and content writing to keep my content search engine friendly.

My rankings are not stellar but they are good enough to give me a steady flow of work.

I don’t remember how much time my content writing website took to create a search engine presence, but I have worked on two other websites.

For both of them, I was able to start getting search engine traffic within three months.

But I published lots of content, sometimes more than 5-6 posts per day, with 4 being minimum.

Those were highly focused blog posts and back in those days (5-10 years ago) Google was not very strict.

Since most of my blog posts linked to external content, they were just 300-400 words.

Despite that, I could get them rank on the first page.

Realistically, what suggestion would I give to someone starting from scratch?

How long does SEO copywriting take before the rankings improve?

Keep a budget for 4 months if you publish one web page or one blog post every day.

If you publish twice every day then 2-3 months.

It goes without saying that how well your SEO copywriting performs depends on the degree of competition you face, but then, whenever you are starting from scratch, it is always better to focus on less competitive search terms.

10 Best Apps to Manage Your Copywriting Business

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Best apps to manage your copywriting business

Best apps to manage your copywriting business

Copywriting has become more lucrative than ever, especially in a post-pandemic society.

What you may have once considered a side gig can now easily become a full-time career.

However, it’s important to look at yourself as more than just a freelancer.

When you’re a full-time copywriter, you’re also a solo entrepreneur.

Managing your business efficiently and effectively will help you find long-term success when it comes to finding steady clients, marketing yourself, and building a life-long career.

Technology has made it easier than ever to manage your copywriting business.

So easy, in fact, that there are many things you can do with the smartphone sitting next to you on your desk right now.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at 10 of the best apps you should be using to manage your copywriting business.

1. Grammarly

As a seasoned copywriter, you probably already have a strong handle on basic grammar skills.

However, everyone makes mistakes. If you’re writing for several hours each day, it’s easy to misspell a word, miss a punctuation mark, or utilize language that isn’t as concise as it should be.

Grammarly can help.

The app uses writing assistance technology to check everything from spelling to tone.

It can take any piece from “okay” to practically perfect in a matter of seconds.

With nearly 30 million active daily users, this app will end up being your best friend when it comes to proofreading and editing.

2. Viably

Whether you have two clients or ten, invoicing is important.

You want to get paid for your services on time, and you want to present your invoices to your clients in a professional manner.

There are plenty of invoicing apps out there, and Viably is one of the best.

Not only does it offer professional-looking invoice templates, but helps small business owners know exactly what should be featured on their invoices, including:

  • Payment terms
  • Due dates
  • Fees
  • Taxes
  • Account numbers

Using apps like Viably to manage your invoices will keep everything organized and in one place, so you won’t have to chase down clients for payments.

3. Lucidspark

Many people associate Lucidspark with team collaboration.

While it’s great for that, it’s also an essential project management tool that can keep you on track with various writing projects and deadlines.

It will help you through the phases of project management:

  • Initiation
  • Planning
  • Execution
  • Monitoring
  • Closure

Not only will a project management app like this help you keep track of clients, but you can also use it when you’re developing and implementing new marketing strategies so you can stay true to your desired timeline.

4. Quickbooks Payroll

Most people recognize the Quickbooks name.

It’s been a trusted accounting program for big and small businesses for many years.

Quickbooks Payroll is a newer service, providing business owners an easy, streamlined way to get their employees paid.

As a copywriter, you probably aren’t going to have a dozen employees.

However, as your business grows, you might need to hire an assistant, or even another writer or two.

Whether they work remotely or in a shared space, paying them fairly and on time should be your top priority.

Quickbooks Payroll makes that easy.

Plus, it provides automated taxes and forms, so you don’t have to worry about getting those together for your employees when tax season rolls around.

5. Expensify

While we’re on the subject of money, managing your finances is crucial when you’re running your own business.

Even if you’re the sole employee, you might need to purchase things to keep your business running properly.

Expensify allows you to scan receipts and process expenses quickly, no matter where you are.

It will keep them organized in one place, and can even integrate with other accounting apps to keep track of every expenditure.

That will save you a lot of time, effort, and stress as you prepare your taxes each year.

6. HotSchedules

If you take on a few employees as your business starts to grow, keeping track of everyone’s schedule is important.

When people work remotely, it’s okay to be flexible.

However, if you’re paying your workers by the hour, you’ll want to make sure they’re logging time correctly.

Apps like HotSchedules can help with that, in addition to:

  • Keeping your team organized
  • Monitoring performance
  • Requesting time off
  • Integrating schedules with Google Calendar

There are plenty of scheduling programs out there.

The unique thing about HotSchedules is that it’s completely mobile, so no matter how small or large your operation, you can keep track of everyone from the palm of your hand.

7. Evernote

As a writer, you’re probably constantly jotting things down and trying to keep track of everything you need to remember.

Evernote is a great app for keeping your thoughts and “to-dos” organized in one digital location.

You can take notes and share them with others for free, or upgrade to the paid version of the app to manage projects and workflows.

8. Ubersuggest

Created by marketing guru Neil Patel, Ubersuggest takes the guesswork out of SEO blog writing.

Ubersuggest helps you with both keyword and topic research and can help you discover what your “competition” pages have written about similar topics, so you’ll know which keywords will be effective and which ones to avoid.

9. Hubspot

Whether you want to streamline your social media efforts or keep your clients and contacts in one convenient location, Hubspot can help.

It’s a great tool for managing Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can have an active social media presence and engage with potential clients.

However, the real benefit comes from using it as an email marketing tool, where you can create custom messages for your existing clients, loyal “customers,” and more.

It’s wonderful for fostering healthy client relationships, so you don’t have to constantly worry about finding new customers and more work.

10. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a familiar name in the world of marketing, so if you’re not already using it, you should be!

It’s a platform that allows you to create optimized SEO content in one convenient location.

You can schedule social media posts days or weeks in advance, keep track of mentions and follows, and ensure you’re posting at least one piece of content each day to keep your clients engaged.

Hootsuite is a user-friendly and efficient way to take charge of your business’s marketing efforts, so you don’t have to spend hours on social media each day when you could be writing.

So, have you downloaded these apps yet?

Whether you’re a one-person operation or you’re a growing copywriting business that’s starting to hire employees, these particular apps will help with everything from perfecting your writing to tackling your taxes.

Give them a try, and you might be surprised by how much more efficiently you’ll run your business.

 

5 reasons for hiring a copywriter for better content

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5 reasons for hiring a copywriter

5 reasons for hiring a copywriter

As a business owner, you must have heard this constantly- hire a copywriter.

But why?

Why should you invest in hiring a copywriter when you see no value in it?

If you have wondered the same, then it is very important for you to understand the key benefits of hiring a copywriter.

Once you know how valuable the services of a copywriter can be, you will be jumping up to find an expert copywriter that fits your business needs.

In this post, we will discuss why hiring an expert copywriter can boost your company’s growth.

Create a brand identity that stays with customers

Have you created something that you are proud of?

It is time that your audience feels the same way about your brand.

A copywriter can capture the essence of your brand and help you bring it to life.

Well-written content is the foundation of creating a memorable and recognizable brand.

It not only gives your brand a human voice that the audience can empathize with but also highlights your unique selling proposition.

When your audience can relate to your brand ethics, they are less likely to forget it.

Hiring a copywriter will ensure that you have made an impact on your audience’s minds.

Copywriting techniques are useful to hook readers, hold their attention, and incite some action from them that would move them one step ahead in the sales funnel.

Expert copywriters know how to write winning content that builds positive brand identity and generates ROI.

Showcase your brand’s ethical values by hiring a copywriter

Your brand ideals must be such that the audience can relate to that messaging.

And the best way for you to convey your brand messaging is through powerful copy.

Words that can convey what your brand stands for in an effective manner.

And this is where a copywriter enters.

While creating brand awareness, the copywriter also writes engaging content around your brand values and ethics.

They tell a story about their brand that makes the audience connect with your brand emotionally.

In addition, with the help of a copywriter, you can also connect to your customers and talk about your products while keeping your values intact.

Hire a copywriter and generate organic traffic through SEO optimization

You may like to read: What Is SEO Copywriting And How Does It Help Your Business?

SEO optimization is one of the most vital aspects if you are looking to build brand awareness.

Having SEO-optimized content will help you reach the maximum audience organically.

Copywriters can help you with their SEO skills to ensure your content ranks well on search engines.

Ranking on top will increase organic traffic to your website. A skilled copywriter will provide SEO-optimized content while developing your blogs and websites.

They will do everything that they can to ensure you are seen, which is one of the biggest benefits of hiring a professional copywriter. This includes researching for relevant keywords, applying keywords in your content, and optimizing information.

Expert copywriters make their living writing content and are well aware of how to write content for both Google and the real online audience.

When you hire copywriters for your business, they ensure that you not only get noticed by the search engine algorithms but also by the readers who are looking out for information.

Hiring a copywriter who knows your business and believes in it, will get you the maximum advantage.

Try to look for someone who shares the same values as your brand.

This will make it easier for you to build relationships with your audience.

Hire a copywriter who is equally enthusiastic about your brand

Finding someone who is equally enthusiastic about your brand as you are might not be easy to find but is a valuable asset to have.

A passionate and driven copywriter with similar ethics as your brand will ensure that your business skyrockets faster.

Finding someone with a similar belief system as yours is the best kind of partnership you can find.

A copywriter who believes in what he is writing will generate copy that will be convincing and engaging.

The content will come from the heart and will speak to the masses in a much more convincing manner.

However, hiring someone with no knowledge or interest in your product can result in mediocre copy that will do just as much damage to your brand reputation.

The best way to go about this is to have a conversation with your copywriter and give them a detailed briefing about your product, brand, and brand values.

This will make them aligned with your thought process and produce a better copy.

Build trust and customer loyalty by hiring a copywriter

The trust you build with customers during your initial interaction is ever-changing.

Every time you post something from your brand, there is a chance to build a higher trust quotient and turn the potential buyers into brand advocates.

A copywriter is vital to ensure that the content posted on behalf of your brand is effective.

Almost 80% of people reported consuming content from brands over the last year – whether it was written, verbal, or visual.

The more the number of people consuming content, the more the chances to attract your target audience.

Once you do manage to gain attention, the next step is to gain their trust and not break it.

A copywriter creates high-quality content consistently to build customers’ trust.

Hiring an expert copywriter will help you – Drive sales, pull in new traffic, build brand loyalty, engage the masses, and reflect your values.

Conclusion

Hiring a copywriter has a lot more benefits than you can imagine.

They help you save time and effort by writing exceptionally high-converting copy for your business.

While you may be an expert yourself, hiring a copywriter will allow you to focus on more important things to improve your business.

A copywriter with his or her word placement skills can attract the target audience and encourage them to act.

Needless to say, good content is required for your website to perform well, both in terms of search rankings and engagement.

That being said, if you are lacking time to concentrate on your content, it is time to consider hiring a copywriter.

The inalienable relationship between copywriting and SEO

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Copywriting isn’t just about writing ads these days. When we are writing copy for websites and blogs, it goes beyond selling stuff, although, I must admit that selling stuff is one of the most important functions of copywriting.

As a copywriter writing for websites and blogs, you need to pay close attention to the SEO aspect of writing. Of late I have been repeatedly stressing that you shouldn’t allow your SEO to dominate your writing, but it doesn’t mean you completely ignore it. There is a complete branch called SEO copywriting.

Is there even a separate field called SEO copywriting? It depends. There are many writers on the web who call themselves SEO copywriters but mostly it’s about striking a balance between writing compelling copy and writing in a manner that improves the website’s search engine rankings.

On day-to-day basis, there are very few clients who understand the difference between a content writer and copywriter. When you are writing for a business website, for example for a homepage or for services page, you’re not writing content, you are writing copy, copy that is intended to “sell”. Clients want that from you. Whenever you are writing to sell and not just to inform and educate, you’re being a copywriter and not a content writer.

At the same time they also give you a list of keywords you need to optimize the content for. Therefore, you’re not merely selling through your writing, you are also incorporating keywords to improve search engine rankings. Whether it actually improves your rankings or not is another issue, but this is what you call SEO copywriting.

Why do I say there is an inalienable relationship between copywriting & SEO?
Because the line is blurred. The content writer is also a copywriter when writing for the main website and since as a content writer one of your primary jobs is to improve search engine rankings, even as a copywriter you are trying to achieve the same.

Of course, this is difficult to explain to the clients and personally I feel even if they can make a difference, they won’t accept it because a copywriter charges more than a content writer. A different topic for a different day.

The Importance Of SEO Copywriting In Search Engine Marketing

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The importance of SEO copywriting in search engine marketing

The importance of SEO copywriting in search engine marketing.

Search engine marketing or SEM involves improving your organic search engine rankings and search engine advertising through PPC campaigns or other engagements.

The importance of SEO copywriting rests in the fact that it improves the quality of your SEM strategy from multiple angles.

Many businesses use a combination of organic SEO and paid search engine placements.

I have observed that if you initially pay Google for placements, even your organic search engine rankings begin to appear faster in the search results.

Hence, it is better that if you have just started publishing quality content and Google hasn’t yet started crawling and indexing your content on regular basis, you can gain quick visibility through running up few PPC campaigns.

How does SEO copywriting help you in SEM? Why is it important?

As mentioned above, how you define search engine marketing depends on your strategy.

You may want to completely depend on improving your organic search engine rankings.

You may not want to spend a lot of money and effort on high quality content, but you quickly want to increase your search engine visibility and you’re ready to pay for every click that you get.

Normally this happens when people are not aware of the benefits of improving their organic search engine rankings through strategic SEO copywriting and instead, they want to go for a quick fix.

Paid advertising is costly. You are paying for every click.

The search engine users know that since you cannot improve your rankings naturally, you are paying to increase your visibility.

Hence, trust factor is lower compared to organic SEO.

I’m not saying that you should refrain from paid search engine marketing altogether.

In fact, you can make strategic use of it.

But you shouldn’t make it into a major search engine marketing strategy.

The ultimate goal is to improve your SEO organically, and this is where SEO copywriting can help you.

Below I am listing a few reasons why SEO copywriting is important for your search engine marketing strategy whether you want to pay for your visibility you want to improve your SEO organically.

SEO copywriting reduces your PPC costs

When you pay Google for your search engine placements, you have a PPC arrangement.

There are also other modes of advertising, but this is the most prevalent one.

You pay for every click.

Your listing appears in the “sponsored” section.

Google declares it openly that you are paying for the placement and your content is not appearing in the search results because of its inherent quality and relevance.

This happens with every search engine. I’m using the name of Google because it is one of the most used search engines in the world with more than 97% market share.

So how does effective SEO copywriting reduce your PPC costs?

In two ways:

  1. Through actual reduction in the amount of money you pay per click.
  2. Through improving your ROI – you generate more business per click.

It is in Google’s interest that more people click your sponsored link because you are paying for every click.

But then, after a while, it will be counter-productive because paying for every click will prove to be so expensive that you may have to deactivate your campaign for a while.

Google doesn’t want to kill the goose that lays golden eggs.

Hence, it rewards you by reducing your PPC rate if your placement generates more clicks.

The amount of money that you pay is inversely proportional to the number of clicks you can generate.

Through efficient copywriting, you can make more people click your paid placements and as a result, end up paying less to Google.

Suppose, initially you pay $ 0.5 per click for your current placement.

The copy of your ad is really good and it encourages more people to click your advertisement.

After a while, Google begins to charge you $ 0.45 per click for the same position.

This way, Google will go on decreasing your PPC if more people click your ad.

This is one way copywriting brings down your search engine marketing costs if you are paying for your placements.

The other way is by increasing your ROI.

In a PPC campaign, you use aMr landing page.

If you get 100 clicks from Google, you expect to make at least 5 sales.

If your SEO copywriting is not convincing, you may make 2-3 sales per 100 clicks, or even less.

If your copywriting is convincing, you may make even 10 sales per 100 clicks.

Hence, the success of your PPC campaigns depends on how convincing and well written the copy on your landing page is.

SEO copywriting organically improves your rankings for your main keywords

You need to resort to paid advertising on Google because you don’t have good organic search engine rankings for your main keywords.

If your links naturally appear in the SERPs, then there is no need for you to pay for the placements.

Just imagine – if you go for paid placements, you are paying for every click.

Referring to the above example, if you are paying $ 0.5 per click, for 100 clicks, you will be paying $ 50. For 1000 clicks, you will be paying $ 500. And so on.

But what happens if you organically improve your search engine rankings?

People can find your links among the top results and when they click your links, you don’t pay for those clicks.

Hence, whether you get 100 clicks or 10,000 clicks, your cost doesn’t increase.

In fact, it is free traffic.

Can you easily increase your rankings for your primary keywords?

Not if you have great competition.

For example, if I want to improve my search engine rankings for “SEO copywriting services”, it may be very difficult because top content writing and copywriting services are already ranking quite high compared to my website.

So, what do I do?

This brings us to the next topic…

SEO copywriting organically improves your rankings for longtail and related keywords

While you continue with your effort of improving your rankings for primary keywords, you should first focus on improving your rankings for longtail and related keywords.

Hence, instead of aiming for “SEO copywriting services”, I may aim for “The top 10 benefits of SEO copywriting”.

If you’re running a real estate business in Mumbai, instead of trying to just improve your rankings for “real estate business in Mumbai” you can write content around “Why it makes sense to work with a local real estate business in Mumbai”.

Longtail keywords may not directly bring your business, but they increase your visibility and then this visibility brings you business.

If you publish informative content covering your longtail keywords, other websites and blogs have a reason to link to your website or share your link on their social media timelines.

This brings you the much needed visibility.

When people link back to you, it also improve your search engine rankings for your primary keywords.

Effective SEO copywriting brings down your bounce rate

Your bounce rate has a direct impact on your search engine rankings.

Your bounce rate tells Google whether you have valuable content on your website or not.

If people immediately leave your website after finding your content in search results, it tells Google that people are unable to find what they’re looking for, for the keyword they are using and finding your content.

Here is a small video that explains the relationship between your bounce rate and search engine rankings:

Hence, your content begins to lose its current rankings for the keyword.

Again, I will give my own example.

If someone searches for “best SEO copywriting services in my area” and comes to my website and within a few seconds goes back to Google to carry on the same search, Google downgrades my current rankings for the search term “best SEO copywriting services in my area” because it assumes that my website doesn’t have relevant information for the topic.

On the other hand, for the same search term when someone finds my link and goes to my website and spends some time going through my web page and even explores other webpages for a few minutes, it tells Google that my website has relevant information and consequently, it upgrades my rankings for the same search term.

This is how your bounce rate affects your current search engine rankings.

Relevant SEO copywriting gets you more backlinks

Getting authoritative backlinks is an inalienable part of your SEM.

What motivates people to link to your content?

Relevance. Value. Engagement. Topicality. Authority.

All these attributes can be incorporated through relevant SEO copywriting practices.

Concluding remarks

SEO copywriting is a big part of your search engine marketing strategy.

It renders a direction to your SEM.

It brings down your costs.

It gives you lasting search engine visibility once you have been able to convince Google that your content is relevant for particular keywords and search terms.