What Stinks?
Ahhh. Summer. You sit back in your lawn chair with a cold beverage in one hand, and your favorite book in another.
Enticing barbeque aromas waft past your nose, and your stomach grumbles with anticipation.
You catch the sweet scent of roses in the garden and the fresh cut grass from next door.
But wait a minute… something is not right. There seem to be more flies gathering, and you just can’t seem to relax. What did you forget to do at work earlier?
Reluctantly, you pick up your Blackberry and start searching through your e-mails, your extensive, “To Do List” and the Internet.
And then, it hits you… Now, something really stinks.
No, it’s not your barbeque overcooking on the open flame.
It’s not the kids playing a prank on you.
It’s not a skunk passing by.
No. It has been right under your nose all along, and you just realized what it is.
It’s your Web site!
Sure. You’ve got lots of cool graphics, and your logo shows up really well with a big picture of you in the “About” section.
But who cares… especially if no one can find you online!
Content is king, queen, and all the other subjects!
As Dan Kennedy, “The Millionaire Maker” and author of the “No B.S. Book” series just highlighted in our recent phone conversation (Yes, I’m name dropping to get my point across!), while it’s great to have a professional-looking Web site, what does your copy say?
Are you providing value to your target customers and new site visitors? Is it the right length?
Your site should:
· Let visitors know they are in the right place within seconds;
· Provide answers to their questions;
· Offer a solution, resources and current information;
· Capture e-mail addresses with a free report, newsletter, etc.; and
· Include easy, contact information among other things.
And once all of this is in place, you really need to:
Optimize your site for the search engines.
If your site is not optimized for the search engines, you are missing out on a LOT of site traffic.
And the days of packing keywords into a site to get noticed by the search engines is over. Now, it’s more important than ever to provide valuable information that includes keywords, links, headers, sub-heads, and more.
You need copy that sells.
How to Get Rid of The Stench.
Well, now that you’ve figured out where the smell is coming from, how do you fix it? Well, you have two choices:
- You can throw the whole thing out and start over, or
- You can eliminate the smell with fresh, new SEO copy.
Either one of these solutions will work. And you can do it yourself. But unless you are trained to take care of it, the smell will just increase.
Current customers will leave, and new customers will stay so far away, they won’t even know what you have to offer … so with this in mind…
Use A Professional Exterminator!
I highly suggest you spend the money to hire a good, SEO copywriter and exterminate the cause of the odor as soon as possible!
Not only can good, SEO copywriters help you get noticed by the search engines and bring in new customers, but they can also offer new marketing ideas to keep customers engaged and coming back for more. These new activities may include social media, SEO press releases, e-mail auto-responders, newsletters, eReports, and more.
And the best part is that SEO copywriting can be monitored. You can see what’s working and change what’s not… immediately. This makes it very cost-effective, and you get the best results possible.
…so what are you waiting for? Take action!
After all, when your Web site provides valuable information and copy that sells, things will stop stinking. And all you’ll notice is the sweet smell of success!
Now, if you have questions about SEO copywriting, or need help with your copy, please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. Plus, I’ve started a new program to help entrepreneurs increase sales and awareness for less than a cup of coffee each month!
Check it out at www.rembrandtwrites.com/newsletter and let me know what you think. Thanks!
August 12th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Melanie I just checked out your blog and I have to be honest as an entrepreneur trying to find a solid, honest SEO firm is very difficult. There seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors in the SEO world and as an entrepreneur it’s tough to know where you should invest your money. Here are the questions I ask SEO firms and I have a tough time getting answers for my franchise opportunity.
1. How many backlinks will you provide a month?
2. Are these backlinks permanent or are you just placing me in catalogs around the web and as soon as our business relationship ends will I be dropped from these catalogs?
3. Who is providing the backlinks and what are they saying?
4. Do you sub out your backlink services to India?
5. How can I track our SEO progress on a montly basis? And I mean really track it. I have been handed some sample ‘monthly reports’ from SEO firms that really don’t tell me anything.
Now out of these 5 questions some SEO firms answer 3-4 of these questions and some answer none of them. In these times entrepreneurs have to be smart about how they spend their money and SEO firms can be extremely hard to judge because the product is tough to gage.
August 12th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Hi David,
Thanks for your comments. Unfortunately, there are many SEO scams out there, and entrepreneurs need to be careful. Also, SEO is now focusing more on content rather than keywords so it’s very important that your SEO copywriter provides VALUE - not just keywords and links.
Your questions are good, but when it comes right down to it, your SEO copywriter should be able to show results and communicate with you regularly.
After all, one of the great things about SEO is that it can be monitored and changed as needed for the best results.
All the best David, and if there is anything I can do to help you further, please let me know.
Melanie, rembrandtwrites.com
August 19th, 2010 at 3:03 am
Melanie: I too gone through your blog and would like to ask you the better ways to increase the traffic.
August 19th, 2010 at 8:03 am
Hi Abundantentrepreneurs,
Thanks for your note. Please contact me at rembrandtwrites.com, and I can provide you with additional information.
Thanks!
Melanie
August 19th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Great article. You are so right. Content is king. Copywriting my be one of the most essential (and difficult) skills to master.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Thanks Melanie!! As a copywriter, I spend my life fixing websites with poorly written or non-existent copy.
…And I think we’re typically undervalued.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
So true Julie. The right content can bring in thousands of new sales and completely turn a business around!
Thanks for your note,
Melanie, rembrandtwrites.com.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
There is no need to pay anyone for SEO. All these things mentioned can be done yourself without spending cash for the many scam SEO companies out there.
August 19th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Hi Sonny,
Thanks for your comment, and I agree. People can do their own SEO, and they should definitely avoid the scam SEO companies out there.
SEO is a matter of providing valuable content, learning the kind of coding and placement to put into online copy and measuring results.
However, a lot of entrepreneurs don’t have time to do this. That’s when it’s time to look for a qualified, SEO copywriter for help.
Melanie, rembrandtwrites.com
August 20th, 2010 at 9:00 am
The best thing I ever did with my blog http://www.inventionaddict.com was to self host with WordPress. The SEO All-in-one pack is an awesome pluging.
-Stephen
October 2nd, 2010 at 10:26 am
Wow… an amazing mastermind of instant-info-air-freshener.
And I didn’t need to open the window.
Thanks .
October 2nd, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Thanks for the nice comments above. Very witty!
And Stephen B. I agree. The SEO All in one plug in is great!
All the best,
Melanie, rembrandtwrites.com
July 13th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Hi Darren,
Thanks for your comments, but I think you got a different message out of the article than I was trying to convey.
Basically, I’m telling people TO HIRE hire an SEO expert or SEO expert service for their SEO copywriting needs.
I state:
“I highly suggest you spend the money to hire a good, SEO copywriter and exterminate the cause of the odor as soon as possible!
Not only can good, SEO copywriters help you get noticed by the search engines and bring in new customers, but they can also offer new marketing ideas to keep customers engaged…”
I never mentioned that all SEO companies are scams or blacklisted all SEO companies. Why would I do that when I offer SEO copywriting services?
I just warn people to check out the SEO service/copywriter they hire before making a monetary commitment.
I’m all for hiring a good SEO copywriter or SEO service!
Please reread the article as I think you missed my message.
Thanks,
Melanie