The Business Case for SEO Content Development

The Business Case for SEO Content Development: Turn Words Into ACTION! Heather Lloyd-Martin, SuccessWorks Ulli Muenker, BusinessWeek

- Pioneers in SEO content since 1999
- Train clients in SEO copywriting best practices
Develop strategy, new content and edited content
Founders of SEOCopywriting.com
SuccessWorks overview

- SEO content through the sales cycle - Why build content – AmsterdamEscape case study - Why focus on content – BusinessWeek case study - In-house or outsource - Justifying the budget What we’ll discuss today

Why care about content?

SEO content across the sales cycle Purchase Research Awareness General overarching keyphrases Digital camera reviews, blog posts, brand/features comparison Make/model search

Plethora of “consideration” keyphrases

Everyone’s doing it! Articles on CircuitCity.com

Everyone’s doing it: Zappos.com blog

Case study – Amsterdam Escape

- #1 Specialty Lodging – Trip Advisor - “Bad” SEO created duplicate content, which… - Caused AmsterdamEscape to be banned from Google - Was paying $4,000 per much in PPC to fill the gap Past issues

Travel to Amsterdam Hotels in Amsterdam Amsterdam vacation rental dam square things to do in Amsterdam Amsterdamrestaurants what’s the currency in Amsterdam Amsterdam nightlife Amsterdam shopping Amsterdam apartments vacation rental rembrandtplein Travel packages Amsterdam Creating content across the sales cycle

Content page example

Ranking examples - “Amsterdam nightlife” - #7 in Google - “Amsterdam shopping” - #16 in Google - “Amsterdam red light district” - #13 in Google - “Amsterdam apartments” - #2 in Google - “Amsterdam Nieuwmarkt” - #11 in Google - “Vacation rentals Amsterdam” - #7 in Google Plus, scads of rankings for long-tail keyphrases!

Cost savings through content development $48,000

BusinessWeek.com - Overview
Overview:
Online since 1995
Majority of content is available for free
Advertising based model: more page views => more revenue
Site receives high traffic referral from search, above industry average

SEO Role for Publisher Site
Since 2006, BusinessWeek focuses on more traffic from search
Goal:
Traffic increase from search engines: More page views = more advertising revenue
Initiatives:
Evangelize SEO concepts by:
Optimizing templates & customized pages
Publishing more free content pages – accessible to SE
Conducting regular SEO training for Editorial team
Results:
More than doubled traffic from SE over the last two years

Importance of SEO Copywriting for Publishers
Template pages
Articles
Blog/Forum posts
Job listings
Profile pages
How to optimize:
Set up template to include keywords in metadata
Summary
Short-lived content
Very newsy
Opportunity due to high page volume
Customized pages
“ Best of …” / “Top …” pages
Overview pages about specific topics
Special collection pages
How to optimize:
Research strong keywords and spread these words on the page & in metadata
Summary
Evergreen content
Regular feature
Opportunity due to targeted SEO copywriting
Majority of pages can be separated into template and customized pages Majority of pages can be separated into template and customized pages

SEO Copywriting: In-house or Outsource Template pages In-house: Create SEO awareness on how to write keyword rich headlines Outsource: Get recommendations on template format Example: Article Page title => uses article headline Customized pages In-house: Generate basic keyword research with tools & internal search engine Outsource: Determine best keywords Example: “Game Room” overview page Page name => customized keywords

SEO Copywriting Outsourced: Results Examples – pages optimized in 11/07 “ Economy” Overview page “ Game Room” Overview page => 1,150% traffic increase from SE Customized keywords: Customized keywords: => 405% traffic increase from SE

Outsourcing SEO Copywriting: Pros & Cons
Pros:
Allows staff to focus on prioritizing overall SEO initiatives
Level of expertise & specialization
“ External consultant” status
Fewer full time staff
Cons:
Time for consultant training on brand & website content
Agencies often have high staff turnover
Less control over project turn-around time

In-house or outsourced? “ Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

SEO copywriting – the real scoop

What SEO copywriting is NOT

SEO copywriting basics
Keyphrases in headlines and subheadlines
Keyphrases in hyperlinks
Keyphrases throughout the content
Keyphrase-rich Title
“ Longer” copy (250 words is a rule of thumb, but it depends on page content and the page templates.)

Whether in-house or outsourced If your copywriter is writing sales-related copy, look for direct response copywriting experience… If your copywriter is writing informational copy, look for journalism experience Either way, the writing – and how it flows on the page – is crucial. Don’t pay low dollar for bad writing!

Content and conversion Q: What’s your first conversion opportunity?

In-house or outsourced? Partnership approach Outsourced

In-house or outsourced? Outsourced
No writing staff
No time
No editorial calendar
No clue
Solution: outsource the work to build content
Cons: Expensive
Finding the “right” firm
Training writers in your tone and feel

How to decide? Partnership approach - Have existing writers on staff - The writing team has time for SEO content development Solution: SEO copywriting training OR Writers create content, and outsource keyphrase editing Cons: Explaining tone, feel and parameters to the training/content strategy

Justifying budget
Review current positions and do keyphrase research. Where are the positioning “holes.”
Review current conversion rates. Well-written content converts at a higher rate than so-so copy.
Are the PPC keyphrases represented in the organic campaign?
Can you baby step the budget/process?
Can you show success with long tail keyphrase?
Remember, organic doesn’t necessarily replace paid – they can both work together.

Thank you! Heather Lloyd-Martin SearchEngineWriting.com [email_address] Blog: SEOCopywriting.com

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The Business Case for SEO Content Development

by Heather Lloyd-Martin

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