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All copywriting should be from an SEO standpoint

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

While I am certainly no copywriting master like Debbie or Susan here, I do wield my force in search engine optimization and other online strategies. What I have been noticing, however, is probably what most of you in the copywriting or public relations industry are noticing (and where the money is going): SEO is a “new” copywriting tool.

All copy on the web should be written from an SEO standpoint.This means writing from the basis of keywords that will optimize your online exposure and narrow the focus of your message, making your work that much more effective.

A marriage between SEO and copywriting means more sales. If search engine optimization is the act of getting your information found by your customers based on the keywords your customers are already searching for, then using the very same words your customers found the content with to begin with should improve sales due to your copy resonating with the consumer. This, no doubt, provides the best use of the content, or copy, being created.

Use SEO methods in your copywriting to improve your content.

You improve sales by using words that resonate with the customer - it’s what they searched for, after all.
You’re writing copy that not only sells, but gets found by your target audience.
Your copy is benefiting your website as a whole due to its search engine optimization components.

If you’re looking to do copywriting or press release writing, an understanding of search engine optimization is becoming more and more critical to the point where it’s beginning to be listed in job requirements. This makes perfect sense, since copy and content should have been created this way to begin with. And with the majority of content going digital, even the copy you’re writing for traditional outlets are finding their way to the internet.

Tags: Copywriting, press release optimization, search engine optimization for pr, SEO, seo press release, seo wilmington nc, Talk
Posted in Internet Marketing, Public Relations | Comments

Tech Talk: What is Subscribe and RSS?

Friday, June 12th, 2009

There’s a lot of terms flying around in this new age of “social technology”, where companies like Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter are becoming household names. But what do any of these terms really mean and why should you care? That’s what I’ll be explaining in my weekly Tech Talk.

What does “Subscribe” or “RSS” mean exactly?

Our first weekly term is “Subscribe” which is often synonymous with “RSS”. Let’s talk about “Subscribe” first since it’s a word we’re already familiar with (or it’s at least in the English dictionary).

You may have noticed websites that have “Subscribe” on it, or more specifically “Subscribe to this blog” or “Subscribe to this news feed”. What this actually means is that by clicking on that subscribe link or button, you can have any new updates from that website or blog automatically sent to your e-mail (or online subscription reader) as soon as that site is updated with a new post. RSS and Subscribe are the exact same thing, except that RSS is really the technology behind how subscribing works.

RSS, sometimes referred to as a “feed”, stands for Real Simple Syndication. It’s called RSS because of exactly what the acronym means – it’s a very simple way of syndicating images, text and sometimes audio and video. The reason the term “RSS” is still used, even though it’s used in the same fashion as “Subscribe”, is because us nerds like to have our super secret cool language that only we understand (true story) .

Why “Subscribe” and RSS is important.

In the past, the way news or information online has been read was through a process of going to a website, reading the headline, and clicking on the respective article. That method works fine if you’re not visiting more than 2 news sites a day. For those who might visit on a low range of 5 - 10, and a high range of 50 - 100 to keep up with the latest trends in their industry, subscribing is just a more efficient way of getting your information.

Being able to “Subscribe” to someone’s “RSS” removes all the trouble, allowing you to either receive new information via e-mail, or read it in your RSS Reader. Subscribing to an RSS feed allows you to pull the information you want, when you want it, and in a convenient manner. In other words, rss allows the information to be fed to you, instead of having to hunt it down.

Subscribe to our blog via e-mail or RSS feed!

Tags: feed reader, howto rss, howto subscribe to blogs, rss, rss reader, subscribe, Talk, Tech Talk, what is rss, wilmington
Posted in Internet Marketing | Comments

10 Questions To Ask An SEO Consultant You’re Looking To Hire

Friday, May 29th, 2009

If you don’t know the questions to ask when hiring a SEO consultant to help build traffic to your website, you’re not alone. SEO is complicated, so it can be challenging to evaluate candidates’ expertise without at a baseline understanding yourself.

To provide a basic overview of SEO, we hosted a webinar entitled SEO or S.O.S?: Buyer Beware – Shop Smart for SEO. You can download the recorded presentation and slides here. As a follow up, we created 10 Questions to Ask a SEO Consultant to test the knowledge of a consultant or employee before making any hiring decisions. We have also provided a printer friendly version of the questions for download.

We encourage you to utilize these two resources to make fully informed decisions about SEO. Good luck!

1. What type of content is most easily crawled by search engines?

XHTML.

2. What is the best way to improve the frequency in which search engines crawl your site?

Update your content frequently.

3. True or False? Out of all the major search engines, Google is considered to have the best tools for researching the link information of a competing website?

False. Yahoo!’s Site Explorer and search engine is considered the best source for acquiring competitive link information.

4. True or False? The maximum number of characters that Google takes into consideration when looking at the Title tag of your page is 70.

True. When using keywords on your page, you want to make sure all relevant keywords and information are in the first 70 characters, as that’s all Google pays attention to.

5. Why is it important for a website to have a flat site architecture?

You reduce the number of links a search engine must follow to get to content. In addition, the flatter a website, the easier it is to spread a larger portion of the link juice being passed to various pages on the site, thus boosting the ranking power of each page on the site (unless page sculpting is being done, preventing juice from flowing to certain pages).

6. What should be considered when deciding on the URL path for a web page?

The web page the URL is directed toward is an important factor in being chosen as a relevant search result. The page determines the keywords to be placed into the URL path.

For example: www.talkinc.com/internet-marketing/seo.html
The above would be a good path, leading to a page on our site related to SEO and internet marketing.

7. True or False? The number of times a keyword is used on a page is an important factor in how search engines determine what your page is about.

False. Keyword density having an effect on search results is a myth. Properly using HTML tags in a document and the accompanying text is how a search engine determines what your page is about.

8. Why is the long-tail theory important when considering keyword choice?

The long-tail theory states, in reference to keyword choice, that instead of going for a single highly competitive keyword, you will see better immediate results and long term results by creating several pages that rank well for less competitive terms than one page that is trying to rank for a highly competitive term (which also has much higher fluctuation).

9. True or False? Meta descriptions are an important factor in search engine optimization.

True. While not necessarily playing a role in getting your site to rank well, the meta description does play an important role in driving traffic to your page. The meta description is frequently used as the description for your page on the search engines result page, and a good description entices users to click on your page listing. This is why SEO is about driving traffic to a website, not just improving pagerank.

10. True or False? Using keywords in the H2, H3, and H(x) tags aren’t important as long as you use your keywords in the H1 tag.

False. The H(x) tags are an important part of optimizing a page, the same way the STRONG/emphasis tags are an important part of optimizing a page. There have also been some instances where H2, H3, and H(x) tags have taken greater precedence over H1.

In addition to the questions above, you will also want to ask the following questions to ensure they are a good fit for your needs.

•    What is his/her keyword research/choice process?
•    What does he/she considers “good” links?
•    What is his/her link building process?

Use the following grading scale to determine if he/she is a true SEO expert.

Each question is worth 10 points.

100 points – Knows what they’re talking about.
80 points – Knows what they’re talking about, but if he/she missed any questions after #5, they may not be up to speed on the more advanced methods and processes.
70 points – Knows some components of SEO but may not know enough to accomplish what you want for your website.
60 points and below – Does not know enough about SEO to ensure a successful campaign.

Tags: 10 seo questions, hire seo, Internet Marketing, SEO, seo consultant, seo questions, Talk, talk blog, talkinc, wilmington nc
Posted in Internet Marketing | Comments

My second first day

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

I’m nearing the end of my second first day working at Talk. Having been invited back as a summer intern after a week-long externship in March, I feel like I have returned home. Not only does Talk offer an incredible learning experience, friendly uber-talented co-workers and adorable top dog Camden but also the opportunity to completely submerge myself in a to-do list.

For the last four years I have lived my life carrying around my to-do list and savoring the enjoyment of checking items off. Post graduation, I enjoyed one whole week without homework and without a job. I enjoyed sleeping in and naps on the beach, hoping to offset my sleep deficit from late-night studying, but I can only handle so much of that. With no agenda, I have had way too much free time to ponder issues of unemployment, pending financial doom and my recently canceled health insurance.

Today, Kirsty mentioned writing for Intern Diaries and reminded me that I have a unique perspective. I am one of the many recent college grads who is interning after graduation regardless of previous internship experience, because of the economy.

It’s a frustrating time for young professionals such as myself. I worked relentlessly to make myself a strong candidate for jobs after graduation, having interned for the American Heart Association, worked at Pyramid Public Relations, been an active member and leader in PRSSA, volunteered in my community and graduated magna cum laude. I did everything I could to prepare for the job market only to find that there were no relevant positions available.

I hope that if you can identify with my situation or know someone who can, that you will follow my Intern Diaries this summer. As my internship and job search progresses, I’d like to share what I learn to help you out or maybe just to make you laugh.

Tags: blogging, intern, Intern Diaries, Marketing in a Recession, PRSSA, Public Relations Agency in N.C., Talk
Posted in Professional Development | Comments

Say What? 3/23/09

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

While brainstorming Talk’s new business card design: Process Icons

Shawn: “We could do a taco. You could be the lettuce.”

Susan: “If I’m the lettuce, would you be the beef?”

Shawn: “Yes. And you could say, ‘Lettuce see where we stand on this’ and I would say, ‘Do you have a beef with me? Let’s ask the big cheese.’”

Susan stares blankly at him.

Shawn: “So no assemble your own taco business card kit?”

UPDATE: When relayaing this story to a friend, she said, “It would be great it you called it a Talk-O kit.”

Tags: Branding in Wilmington N.C., Graphic Design, Overhear at the office, Talk
Posted in Branding, Graphic Design | Comments

Calling all goats

Friday, March 13th, 2009

Process Icons

Debbie: “You know how sometimes they put goats in with horses to calm them down? I need a goat.”

Tags: Corporate Culture, humor, Say What?, Talk
Posted in Talk | Comments

Say What?

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Process Icons Being creative people, we say a lot of crazy
things. Say What? will give you random snippets of conversations overheard at Talk. Here’s the first installment.

(While perusing a new paper sample book)
Susan: “Did you feel the chameleon? You totally have to feel the chameleon!”
Shawn: “I think I’ve been asked that before.”

Tags: Graphic Design, Say What?, Talk
Posted in Talk | Comments

Things We Love

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

Debbie loves being Camden’s voice on Twitter – I opened up an account for her on Twitter this week. You can find her under the alias, “TalkBarketing.” She waxes eloquent on a daily basis on the trials, tribulations and rewards of her position at Talk, Inc. as chief motivational officer. For those who don’t know, Camden is my dog and she is Talk’s official mascot, chief cheerleader, and provider of unconditional love to all who seek it. Follow Camden at Twitter. She’s got a lot to say.

Holly loves celebrity twittering – As the king (or queen) of blogging, I knew Perez Hilton would be on Twitter. Once I began to follow him, I realized that his @ replies and comments were often directed to many of my favorite celebrities. Thanks to Hilton, I am now a follower of Taylor Swift, Ashton Kutcher, Lily Allen and many more. I am able to read first-hand about Solange Knowles’ night at the Grammy’s with sister Beyonce or Shaq’s big win at the game last night. It might sound silly, but I think Twitter has a way of bringing people together, and I can only hope Taylor Swift will @ reply to my request for concert tickets.

Kelly loves designer Sherwood Forlee’s anti-theft lunch bags – For those who are tired of co-workers helping themselves to your lunch or who want to give that bully at their child’s lunch table a run for his money, anti-theft lunch bags are the perfect solution. The bags are regular sandwich bags with green splotches on both sides to resemble mold. Once you put your sandwich inside, no one will want to touch it. Genius!

Kirsty loves the Oscars – Here is the ultimate example of how an awards program can be an excellent marketing vehicle. The day of, people are glued to their TVs to see what Wolfgang Puck will be making for the Governor’s Ball, the day after women will be trying to find replications of their favorite red carpet gowns and weeks after movies will see a spike in revenue from ticket sales. This year it will be interesting to see if the glitz and glam is toned down a bit due to the economic climate, but I sure hope not.

Shawn loves international brands – It’s always fun to see what common brands, logos and packaging look like in different parts of the world. Here are a few examples of Western logos and packaging with an Arabic twist.

Susan loves Pandora radio – This free web-based radio is dedicated to helping people “listen to and discover new music.” The site allows users to create their own stations based on music they want to hear. Pandora lets users share their stations and crate online relationships based on musical preferences. It’s social media for the music lover. The only drawback- you cannot play songs on command.

Tags: Graphic Design, humor, Social media, Social Media in Wilmington N.C., Talk
Posted in Graphic Design | Comments

Word of the Day 1/13/09

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

MEME (noun) — an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another through nongenetic means; imitation.

Online, a meme refers to a list of questions that someone poses to you which you answer, and then tag others to answer and pass on. Richard Dawkins coined the word “meme” in his book The Selfish Gene (1976) to describe how one might extend evolutionary principles to explain the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena.

SOURCE: I’ve seen this term used frequently in various blog postings I’ve been reading about social media.

USE IN A SENTENCE: My friend Ashley tagged me in a meme in Facebook entitled “16 Random Things” that details 16 random things about her life, likes, dislikes, family, etc.

Tags: Talk, vocabulary, Word of the Day
Posted in Professional Development | Comments