Year End Wrap-Up

So as the year draws to a close, I am looking back over it all, and seeing what I learned.

1. Schedule more time for my own stuff.
2. Keep the flow of projects steady, so one ends as another begins (reduce overlap).
3. Participate in more online discussions of interest.
4. Attend more conferences (try to hit 2 per year).
5. It's all about backlinks (today, anyway).
6. Bartering rocks.
7. Smaller businesses are typically more of a hassle, but can be extremely rewarding.
8. Communicating SEO in numbers is the best possible way to get more work.
9. Old clients can surprise you with new requests any time.
10. It's all about the relationships you make, maintain, and build upon.

I am sure there was more, but this is a fine little list of 10 things that definitely were a part of 2008.

Overall, Articulayers had a really solid year. Surprisingly, had more work toward the end than at the beginning - which is a polar opposite of the norm (especially when the economy is sluggish). I did see some folks coming to me for a "life-saving" effort (economy-driven), but it definitely felt like more people were hip to SEO this year than last.

I didn't make one cold call in 2008 - a first.

Lots of blogs went up this year - hope they make it. Blogging can be a bear if you are not into it. And jeez, I even like blogging now, but can hardly find time to write anything here, much less plan and execute detailed posts. As with many things, blogging looks much easier than it is. But I helped launch a dozen or more really solid corporate-type blogs - hope they all succeed.

Finally, I gained 8 new clients since July, and they are my main focus as 2009 begins. Some won't have more work right away, but I believe all of them will be back for more of the SEO copywriting love they find here. Great folks, running businesses I believe in or solid reps for bigger companies.

So Happy New Year. Hope you, like me, are psyched for it - SEO work has never been better, or more detailed...and I still love what I do, every day.

Piece.

Oh Months, Must you Keep Flying By

So November came and went, and now December is half through, and I haven't had anything to blog about...well, not really true - lots to blog about, just no good time to do it. I had a couple major website releases for some clients, so work prevents other work, you know?

But in releasing some new stuff for these clients (one here in Atlanta, two up in Wisconsin), I am streamlining the way I communicate SEO. I have talked before about why the suits like numbers, so I have created a few report templates that now allow me to offer really solid reporting for any website...it is a plug-and-play way for me to keep the communication flowing upstream. And they have all the money, so I keep them happy.

So in October/November, I concentrated on 3 clients, helping 2 others with some minor updates. I did some SEO copywriting and web optimization, and actually did a pretty cool print ad. I gathered up some year-end data, and reported tons of great progress to a lot of my existing folks.

I have also been bitten pretty hard by Facebook - lots of friends out there, and it's been fun. Got a couple light leads from it, but it is a social valve for me right now - not a phishing tool. I have plenty of work - I actually have very few places to use the web for any fun. Social media is a little weird for me - I am not that casual on the web. But this is still pretty fun, and it's great to talk to friends I haven't seen in 20 years or more.

I traveled some in the past two months. Attended some training and webinars, but nothing earth shattering. Have had some direct contact with some industry types, which is cool...simply talking to more like me is always a good thing.

But I didn't build much for myself in the past 8 weeks - it has been all about the Benjamins. But now that the Christmas coffers are full, I am going to try to balance 2009 and the holidays more in my own favor.

Art Versus Eating

I just watched a great documentary (called "My Kid Could Paint That") about a suggested art wunderkind - Marla Olmsted, the 4 year-old painter from New York. It was a good film, in that it made me think. Don't care whether or not it is true - because it had the desired effect. It was good art, in and of itself. Many of the characters are pretty tragic, and not the point here.

As a freelance seo writer, I often get asked about why I do this. Especially by folks who know me, and know how much art has driven my life. I started out playing in bands and writing comedy and fiction. So there is some internal struggle from time to time as well - why do I do this? But the reason is so simple, it almost hurts. Art is communication. This makes anything you do well, anything that connects you and your message to other people, art. So for me, I simply had to re-think what I thought it means to be an artist.

I have a lot of friends that play music. Most have day jobs, some don't. But all of them have to play, because they do. I play - piano, drums, guitar - whatever. Sometimes with others, more often without. I decided a long time ago, I like owning stuff. Having stuff, and expecting music to pay for the stuff I like made a few decisions for me. I am a realist. Fiction is tough. Writing comedy is tough. Playing music is tough. One out of a million make enough to eat. That makes for a lot of hungry folks. So I aimed my art more specifically, I discovered and subsequently targeted my product(s) at an audience always willing to buy...I got into copywriting. To me, this is easy. Give me a specific direction, I'll give you the script for success. Easy.

But I think there is a great deal of art in what I do. I am mastering the art, by hitting the mark in fewer conversations. Less revisions. Quicker flips. If I can talk to you once and deliver, you benefit from my artistic bend.

I eat well. I had sushi for lunch today, and was happy that the high price didn't matter to me. I could easily afford it. My current art affords me sushi lunches, which is cool by me. Because I want my art to pay for my life. It makes me happy and content - I find creativity as well as monetary rewards.

Some of the best artists I have ever known struggle with paying bills on time. I don't. Some of them question their paths, don't know what to expect from their futures. I don't. I buy their art. I see their shows, and drop my money in the tip jar. I go home to a nice house, and have all the stuff I need. I don't feel I want for much. Freelance copywriting has been the key to my success.

So how this ties into Marla Olmsted and the documentary, I don't know. What I do know, is that I appreciate my art. I know how to create something from nothing, or can make simple ideas more beautiful. My professional detachment allows me to not be married to anything I write for work - changing my text is part of the drill. If I don't want a comma moved or a verb switched, I have fiction to save me. My art is still there, it is still mine. But when they are paying me, and paying me well to say what is important to them (not me mind you, but a collective them), I let them change whatever they want. I offer opinions on what's best, but don't let my art get in the way of my eating. Eating costs money...and so does my time. It balances out nicely.

Ongoing Education

The thing about SEO work that appeals to me (one thing, anyway) is that it changes all the time. This means that you must be ready to study forever if this is a career choice you wish to pursue and actually do anything with your skills for others.

As an example, this week I have already completed an hourlong Webinar on podcasting, and have another tomorrow on the changing face of SEO work. I register for these things all the time. I pay attention to what the experts are saying, and make sure I am doing all I can in the interests of myself, and my clients.

I do have to say, most of the time, I already know most of what they are preaching. I have been doing this for over 6 years, so I had better be on top of it. But I do get something out of every bit of time spent...sometimes, it is one simple hint that can really open up some good possibilities. The point is, I never know what they are going to cover unless I am there, ready to listen (not judge them or compete).

In that respect, attending a conference or 2 per year is also a great idea when you can do so. I have only been to one so far this year, but am trying hard to get my employer to send me to PubCon in Vegas in November. Why? Because these are the industry pros that I pay attention to, this is the elite group of folks I would like to be on par with, if not directly associated with someday. I don't tend to crawl from the cave too often, so I don't make a public spectacle of myself either when I do attend something. I am the quiet guy in the back row.

But attending the right conference can be a great experience - it really energizes you to hear from people you respect. I have met some of my SEO heroes, not that they'll ever remember me. Again, back row lurking has its drawbacks.

But the point is, I am not afraid or vain enough to ignore the potential of talking with a bunch of people who do what I do. I don't see it as competition at all...I have yet to meet someone that I compete with in my niches. I am not an affiliate marketer, and I don't usually go after things that don't support small businesses. So strategy is strategy - and we can share lots without stepping on each other's toes.

In the case that I do already know everything they are discussing, bully for me. It just makes it a little easier for me to know that I do know what I am doing, that I do add serious value to my clients' efforts. It gives me some strength to argue my intentions.

After all, if I know everything they are talking about, I am consistently doing everything I can for my clients, no? Not a bad place to be at all...and again, I don't know this until I hear what they have to say.

So get out there, and register for whatever you can. Learn, learn learn. SEO work will never get any less complicated...so be willing and able to become a part of it. It's a simple reward of this profession to become a part of a community willing to share the tricks of the trade.

Branching Out

As a freelance seo writer, I have a unique opportunity to help people. Lots of times, it is small business owners, who I help by offering affordable rates and honest service. But this weekend, I started a new thing, and thought I'd write just a quick note about it. Bear with me.

I know a lot of blues musicians here in Atlanta, and they are some really great people. However, though they are very talented, most cannot do much with their websites. It's a shame, because better sites would mean more people find them.

So I bought a bunch of webspace, and a couple domains, and I am going to help them. I am creating some sites to showcase a lot of their work, and will include calendars for where they are playing, and pix, videos and whatever else they want. I am helping them for nothing - simply because I believe in what they do.

So while most of the time, being a freelance seo writer means getting paid, in this case, it means using what I know to give back. It is like speaking to college students, or mentoring new writers. I just believe that these are important things to do, and am glad I have the chops to do something of value. You don't always have to get paid to get paid, if that makes sense.

So don't think that doing one thing for a living means that every time you do it, you always have to charge for it. Branch out a little. Do what feels good, just because. Balance your zen.

In the end, I know it will make me a better writer. If not, it will at least make me a better person - so how can I lose? When i get the sites up and running, I will post about here, so you can see why I care. Cheers!

Is SEO the Secret Sauce?

With the economy doing slow laps around the toilet bowl, many business owners are starting to panic. They look at a shrinking income coupled with rising costs, and they realize there is trouble ahead. Many of them are looking for any answer to try to breathe new life into the business. So is SEO the secret sauce that will save the day for businesses now struggling?

It sounds weird to hear me say this, but most often, probably not.

I believe SEO work is important for any business seeking to gain web traction. As a freelance writer who specializes in SEO, you know I believe that content is king. But SEO is a part of a web business, not a magic pill to suddenly turn the tide of the badgered economy.

A Little Syrup for the Eggo Above.
Ok, I know that probably sounds mighty waffle-like. On the one hand I think that every business on the web should be doing some SEO work, but on the other, I don't want them to think it is magic.

In actuality, for many businesses, organic SEO might be magic. A little SEO work by a professional can have some pretty quick results, and quick results make anything easier to swallow.

But for many businesses, it won't. Chances are pretty good that if the current state of economic affairs is the thing that is driving you to now consider SEO work, you likely have bigger issues to iron out. Does this mean you should rule it out as a strategy? No...not by a long shot. But it should be a strategy that works with others to improve the entire financial picture of the business.

One way to think of it, is say your business is like your arm (stay with me here...). Your arm gets cut, and starts bleeding. The cut is deep, and you need to think of a way to fix it.

• The Band-aid. One option is to go to the bathroom and put a band-aid on it. This may help a little with the bleeding, but since the cut is deep, it may not help much. Using only a band-aid you might also have some issues trying to get your arm to heal correctly because you are dealing only with the result of the cut - you are treating a symptom, not the issue.
• Getting Stitched up. Another option is to go to a Doctor for stitches. With stitches, you will invest a little more, trust a professional, and take a little longer to see the full effects of how it helps your arm heal. It may slow you down a little, but the professional is interested in the long-term healing of your arm. They want to close the wound, stave off infection, and help you get back to 100% use as soon as possible. If the professional knows what he or she is doing, you won't even have a scar.

So if you are thinking about how SEO might be used in your business, don't think of it as a band-aid that will allow you to survive a rough economic slide. It may work for you this way, but it also may not...and this is a dangerous bet for many businesses.

Instead, think of organic SEO as a careful, deliberate and ongoing effort to keep your business strong and healthy.

A freelance SEO writer is not a rainmaker. A genius, perhaps. A wizard or miracle cure, probably not.

So if you are freelancing for some businesses, make sure not to blow smoke up their collective dress about what SEO will do for them right now. If you are a business owner looking for a way out of tough economic conditions, think of organic SEO as a good tool, but certainly, only one of many. Be sensible.

True organic SEO work takes time. It takes effort. The work really never ends. It can be insanely profitable, while bad SEO work can be insanely expensive.

And the Beat Goes On

I am amazed at how truly easy it is to get a website going now.

In the past few weeks, I have done some projects for people, and have been reintroducing myself to some of the bountiful world-o-plenty out there these days.
I started building sites right before the Internet bubble burst, back in 1998. Horrible sites, they were indeed. But there was a fair amount of complexity in getting an html site to render properly everywhere. So we got hired to make it so, and things were good.

Always Changing
In the early 2000's, I started to see a rise of better coding, better websites. I learned .asp, and tried to keep up - but it was getting increasingly hard to stay on top of new things, they were simply changing so quickly. But we were all busy, because someone had to do it.

Cut to this week. I start a hosting account for a client, and literally have 3 sites built and live within 2 hours. Granted, they were blogs, and from easy one-button installations, but that is exactly the point. It was soooo easy.

Another thing I have wanted to do for my clients for years, is to connect a CMS to their site so that they can maintain it themselves. But, the technology behind all that was fairly expensive back in the early 2000's, so I kept little bits of code here and there when they were appropriate. But I never did get a full-fledged CMS tool out of it - those that could do the coding, wouldn't unless there was a lot of money involved.

Cut to this week. I build a template of a couple page designs in less than one day. These will be the framework for a 70 page site, that is built to grow over time. I will be able to migrate all the existing content into this format in a couple of days. Using a Dreamweaver page template and connecting the owners with Adobe Contribute, they have 100% editing power. A CMS that works like a charm.

Change is As it Is
Point is, the only constant is change. All these things involved in creating and maintaining a website change the way I can offer value to my clients. The more I know about how to save them money and still deliver a strong product (very important) the more valuable I am. So I look for things like the Contribute set-up, and I know what to recommend to my clients so we both get what we want.

Stay on top of as much of this stuff as you can. Web technology, coding standards, options and opportunities. It is always changing. If this aspect of freelance seo writing is more frustrating than energizing, you are probably in the wrong line of work.

Frankly, I love being able to offer more to clients, even if I have to rely on new open-source, or "borrowed" technology to do it. In the old days, people who built things were very protective and anal about it. My old coding buddies would berate me for saying so, but I like the shortcuts out there these days - it's nice to have better, out of the box solutions that are affordable.

Blogging Tips

Though I don't employ any blogging strategies in this blog, I actually do know quite a bit about doing it well...I have been studying them for years.

I am not very experienced in using them for PPC/adwords kinds of strategies, but I do know how to create materials and get involved in communities that get you out there. I know some simple things that can make your blog successful.

I am not going to leak these tips out here, but I am writing a pretty detailed document on how to do some of it, from the ground up. I want it to cover most everything you need to know to get a blog up and humming. While it won't be here, it'll be infused in some way on http://www.articulayers.com/ in 2009, which is when I will finally release a new site for my own company.

In the meantime, if you are considering blogging and want some good, basic tips on getting it going, feel free to give me an email, and I will be happy to send this document to you.

Please - Look at the Spam Posted in the Comments of the Last Post

Here's a link: http://freelanceseowriter.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-non-optimized-blog.html

I just don't understand why some people think this will work.
"Dan" (or Sanjay) worked so hard on finding a simple contextual connection in my post to advertise his business, he disregarded the most basic rules of blogging...add to the topic, silly.

Normally, I would just kill it.
But Dan (or Sanjay) makes a good point--no wait, he doesn't.

He offers nothing of value, but wants to do it on my blog instead of his own. Although I am sure he has plenty of like-minded gunk on MANY blogs of his own, as well as many thwarted efforts to offer these wonderful comments on others' work. When you really think about it, getting something for nothing is a long, easy road of try and try again. He (they) have lots of failure to look forward to, I am sure.

So I left it there instead of deleting it like I normally do--and I sincerely hope this schizophrenic author figures out a better way to make a living. In the meantime, be sure to never visit his site, or the one being hawked. He'll be unemployed soon enough, reflecting on "the good old days" when he was a web "professional."

And NEVER, EVER think that comment spam is an SEO strategy worth pursuing.

What he does on my blog is similar to what the rest of us do in the bathroom.
Grunts and all.

My Non-Optimized Blog

I assume most people seeing this blog realize pretty quickly that it is not optimized at all. I am doing this on purpose--everything I do outside of this blog usually means intensive SEO, so I am not interested in it for this blog.

What?
I know, an SEO writer avoiding SEO on his own stuff makes no sense. But there are many reasons to do something, and in this site, optimizing does not serve my purpose as much as simply writing when I have time. It is like a focused diary for me...a way for me to simply keep writing, but in a much less formal way than I do for my clients.

If I were going to optimize this thing, I would:

• Link specific words and ideas to other sites
• Strategically blend in my keywords
• Become more verbally active in related blogs (to pull in readers)
• Quote other bloggers
• RSS feed it to the world
• Put social media links in it
• Target my subject matter
• Monitor traffic patterns
• Use my titles as linkbait

I am sure I'd do more too, but you get the point.

I had someone ask me directly this past week why I am not optimizing this, so I thought I'd explain.

I actually started this blog because I wanted to sort through some ideas I had for redoing my own site, http://www.Articulayers.com It has served this purpose for me already--I know I want to do 2 new sections of content on my site when I rebuild: one on SEO tips, and one on topics of interest for college students working on an English degree. I have been testing some ways to do this both on this blog, as well as on a couple websites I have out there, hidden from the world. It is slow going, because my workload has been very demanding this year...and my own site is perhaps not quite what I want it to be anymore, but it is still fine--for now.

Rest assured, when I do move this blog, it will be optimized.

And my site will be better because of it.

Multiple Sites or One?

I have been implementing some new strategies for some folks this week, and sometimes, I get asked which is better - to do many sites (like a microsite strategy) or simply putting more power behind one.

Like everything in SEO, there is no really simple answer here, but I will offer my own advice and experience.

Why Have Multiple Sites?
You might wonder why you'd even want to have multiple sites. Here are a few good reasons:

• More potential SERP results. In most cases, a single site won't have more than 2 results on any SERP. I sometimes sneak in a few more, but rarely. Yahoo is for some reason a little easier on this than Google, but neither one is very consistent. But, add a few more unique sites into the mix, and your potential for term domination increases. I say this, but ask you to be sure to note the rest of this post as my qualifier in saying it.
• Isolate tracking. On one gig I have right now, I manage about 70 sites. Of these, 2 are open for search--the rest are copies (that I intentionally block from search) on unique URLs, placed there to isolate the results of specific initiatives. It helps the business to track ROI on an effort without complicating things--I built out a few templates, so that I can enter in graphics and phone numbers but otherwise leave everything else as-is. Sometimes there are better ways to handle this, but for this client, it makes sense and works well.
• Try different approaches. Let's say you have a successful site, but want to see if you can do better by trying something new. If you start another site, you won't have to risk what the first one is doing to create a new avenue for exploration. Rather than split-test a site that is performing, you can take an entirely new direction with a new site and see what you can do with it. If it too becomes successful, you are in a great place. If it flops, no biggie...your main site is still there thumping away. Pitch the dud, and try again.
• Zero-in on a tiny aspect of the big picture. Let's say you have a site on fishing. You can launch another one on fishing boats, another on fishing gear, another on great fishing destinations. Each one is smaller, but more focused on the info it offers...can result in better SEO saturation, and better user interaction with each specific property.

There are many more reasons I am sure, but that is enough to help you see why this is sometimes a good idea.

What are some Problems with Multiple Sites?
While it may seem like a great idea, there are some things to be careful with if you are launching multiple sites.

• Duplicate content. Don't think that putting the same site out on different URLs will work...it won't. Don't think you can lift pages, swap a few words, and make all of it work. The engines are only getting better--and believe me, it is not hard at all for them to find and penalize duplicate content.
• Same Host. If you host all of your sites on one server, the search engines see it immediately. This can make them look more closely at what you are doing, which in turn, may make them decide to only show some (or worse, even none) of them.
• Same Site Structure. Same as above--if every site you launch has the same code "skeleton" (even with unique content in each), it is easy for the engines to see this, and possibly penalize you.
• Same Registered Domain Owner. Ditto to above.
• Updates/Management. The more you have out there, the more you have to update. The more you have to pay. The harder it is to maintain exceptional content across the board.
• Loss of Strength. If you have multiple sites and the engines see it, they may reduce the overall value of any one of these sites. I have seen this happen, but it is not something I can directly put my finger on - like "this" caused "that" positively. But I do think it is true--one site, one host, one registered owner can actually help you to rank a little bit. More so in Google than Yahoo or MSN, in my experience...I think it is because Google tries to be pretty proactive in thwarting spammy stuff.

Again, these are but some of the potential drawbacks--but the possibility of potentially harming your efforts should be enough for you to reel it in a little, and make sure you do things very carefully.

So What's the Best Thing To Do?
I don't think you should blanket this question with one answer. Handle it uniquely for each situation. I usually suggest at least 2-3 sites for any business - but some are handled perfectly well by expanding on one. It simply depends on what you are facing.

If you do decide to look at multiple sites as a strategy for a business, consider these tips for better results:

• Use multiple hosts if you have more than 10 sites.
• Use the privacy option when you register each domain. It costs a little more, but it is worth it to disassociate yourself from them completely, or at least, make it harder to draw a straight line between them.
• Use various site structures and different coding methods.
• NEVER duplicate/share content between them.
• Limit your links between them (may eventually hurt you, sometimes, penalizing all of them as a result).
• Make each one legitimate for its targeted audience...create real value in each site on its own.

Not the be-all-end-all on this subject by any means, but hopefully, you get the idea.

It All Starts with the Keywords

This week, I have taken on a couple of new clients. It made me think of how important the keywords are to any SEO project.

The most common thing I see is someone thinking a keyword will work, when it won't. Guilty of this one myself--I often think people will search on something specific when they in fact, don't. This is why you should try to limit your guessing in choosing your targeted keywords.

Start With a List

A business owner, or a freelance SEO writer on the job needs to free-associate some terms with the way they want the business to be perceived. List them out--that's what whiteboards and legal pads are for. Think of what you want the website to do, what the company offers--simple, basic ideas or more specific ones. Write them out and don't edit them. Do as many as you can.

In my experience, the initial list you develop here is seldom the list of keywords you will actually target in SEO.

Not to say you can't target them, of course...and you usually do. But the list a business owner and another web professional creates, and the list a street-level web user creates may not line up. They will usually intersect through obvious keywords, but many business owners are surprised to see the really odd things people type in an engine to find them.

There is often a gap between how intimately someone on the inside considers the business, and how a potential web customer sees them, or more accurately, searches for someone like them.

An SEO copywriter steps in here, to help bridge this gap.

Use the Tools

Take the brainstorming list, and run it through some really basic keyword analysis.

There are some great free tools to use to get a look at search volumes for specific keywords in various engines. Some even offered by the engines themselves. I suggest to try a couple out to see which one you like. I use more than one usually...simply because they all offer something different, and no one of them is perfect. I also like to gather as much data as I can before making a decision on keywords.

So get a few tools you like to use. Plunk in your keywords, and a good tool will not only show you the search volume on that specific term, it will list related ones. This helps you see things clearly from a user's perspective. Don't think of a keyword report like this as the Bible, or something carved in stone...try to see it as a direction.

I usually export out these lists in full, into Excel. Then I manually cull the lists, tossing out duds, and non-target worthy results. I sort the data by search volume, and the list starts to take shape. I combine the best words from the initial brainstorming list (because these are important to the business) with keywords from the analysis (because these are important to the web users) and I am able to map out a clear strategy where everybody wins.

Everything I do, depends on this list. I need to create pages that answer needs...a user's and my client's. I depend 100% on the research and data behind the keywords that make this all click together in our favor.

Take the time to really understand the keywords and search habits of your audience. Don't guess, dig deeper. The results are always worth it.

An English Major Doesn't Mean You Have to Teach

Talking with a new friend this week, she expressed some angst over being asked, "Oh, you're an English major...so are you going to teach?" and it reminded me how much that used to bug me too. Not that it's their fault for asking, but it is a little frustrating to hear time after time.

But make sure this sinks in: an English major creates a LOT of potential career paths. It's up to you to decide which one to choose.

My friend didn't quite know what she wants to do yet, but she knows she doesn't want to teach. I was pretty much the same--I liked a lot of the ideas of teaching, and respect teachers a great deal. But as a career path, it wasn't for me. I was in my early 30s, and wanted something more. I wanted to write, and not really limit it to any one thing--I wanted to tackle lots of different types of writing. So I looked into commercial writing, and soon started to land copywriting gigs. Over time, I got into web work, and soon my career path found me, not the other way around.

I didn't think, "I want to be an SEO writer." Google was just starting out when I was getting out of college, and since it was in the late 90s, the Internet boom was imploding all around me. So web work was kind of sketchy as far as a future was concerned, and I didn't really go that route at first. It was intriguing, but so much money was lost that the market was a little shaky for a while there.

But within a year or 2 right around the year 2000, I started seeing what the Internet boom and bust had done to a lot of people's sites. There were a lot of things out there that needed some attention, and I started to look at the web in a different way. I saw the potential for its greatness, and tried to help people make the sites better. It's proven to be a great thing because now I have been doing this for over 6 years, and I still like working every day. In fact, it is hard to think of a job I could like much more than this--it feels perfect. I consider this to be pretty lucky.

The point is, for a time there I didn't know what I really wanted to apply my English Degree toward. Lots of people around me were trying to get me to look into teaching, but it just didn't feel right for me. Not to say that I won't look in that direction at some point, but not for a while anyway. I knew that an English degree could be worth more to me than that if only I could find the right way to market myself and my talents.

I learned that many businesses need good writers, but don't necessarily want them on payroll. They may not need them all the time, but they need them. This led me into freelancing, and the rest, as they say, is history, or maybe my-story.

So I told my friend, like I am telling you, don't let someone convince you that to use your English degree, you need to teach. You need to teach if this is what makes you happy, and what excites you. For me, this wasn't a path I wanted to travel on...yet.

I love that fact that I am a word nerd. I love being a writer. I don't mind that I write sales stuff and what some might think is boring--I find it challenging to be creative and effective--it is a true art form if done correctly. I don't even mind trying to explain what I do...because believe me, not very many people out there really know what an SEO writer does. But if this is the price I have to pay to do what I want to do for a living, so be it. There are much worse fates.

My English degree doesn't come up any more unless I am talking to students, or those looking to break into the business. And when they hear that I too, was peppered with this question repeatedly, they find solace in the fact that I have an answer. And my answer was (and still is) "No, I am not looking for a teaching career...I am looking to creatively help businesses with my utilitarian corporate communications."

That usually says enough--or, it is enough to make me feel better anyway. And with all those big words shoved together, it usually makes the questions stop too.

Avoiding SEO Traps, Part 2 of 2

Link Farms, or Getting Something for Nothing
One of the most common ways that I see some questionable SEO firms operate, is to cash-in on a farm of sites. In an email, they will offer something like "We have hundreds of sites, and we will focus and harness them to improve your website's rankings..." In a nutshell, they are offering you a paid link back to your site from their own farm of established websites.

I am relatively sure this works right now because there is such an emphasis on backlinks, but feel this is a tactic that will have a very short shelf life. It is too easy, and it will not last forever.

How and Why it Happens
Things like open source code, Wordpress, Blogger and social media have made it much easier and quicker to get a bunch of web properties out there.

So people launch site after site, looking for the ideas that stick. They may cycle through hundreds to arrive at ten that get some decent traffic. So they jettison all but those that work, and then start over and do it again and again. In time, they build a farm of a few hundred or even a few thousand sites. This is all about the numbers, so the sites all look pretty much the same, and they'll usually function pretty much the same.

Scraping content is simple, so someone can get lots of these sites going and not really have to do much as far as ongoing development. There are scripts that populate sites so no human ever gets involved in what the site says. So you can create it with a script, populate it with a script, and use another script to change the content dynamically. It's hands-free developing--which is why it is so popular.

Then, once a few sites are established, the owners sell space on these sites where they create links to other sites. Sometimes, depending on the skill and knowledge level of the SEO offering these links, they are niche-targeted. That's a best case scenario--like a farm of financial-related sites leading back to your financial website.

But more often, the SEO provider isn't as concerned with the link quality as the link quantity...which is actually something that could hurt your efforts as much as help them. This strategy may show some immediate and impressive short-term gains, but the engines aren't stupid. They will look at who, and what is linking to your site, and why. And if everything is not kosher, they remove the link juice. Worse still, they may penalize a site for using these so called "Untrustworthy" links.

Even though this flooding of content through "cookie cutter" sites is a strategy that is working right now, I don't see this surviving for very long. It is too easy to game the system using these link farms, and it has never really been the intention of a search engine to reward this kind of thing. My prediction, based only on what has worked in the engines (and why) for the last 6 years, is that these simple-to-game farming strategies will soon lose all power.

Links are meant to offer strong juice to content. So create more viable content, and as the value of link juice diminishes, the content will resurface as the pinnacle of truth. Amen!

Content Is, and Remains King
The search engine algorithms are at their core, all about content...and the best content will not lose long to the sites that are better at manipulating links. Links are much much easier to fake than good content...so mark my words, in time, the value of backlinks will diminish or at least refine itself to a point where these strategies have much less value, if any at all. Creating a million websites and passing out the links is free and easy--so a better content filtering system will need to be employed to separate the men from the boys, as it were.

If you are investing in SEO, invest in content. SEO is a little about manipulation. But it is more about understanding, and creating good, solid reasons for continued website interaction. In a word, SEO is about content. If someone promises anything more than this, expect to pay a lot. And good luck to you...you'll likely need it.

Avoiding SEO Traps, Part 1 of 2

I got another one of those emails today, offering "expert" SEO services. For a hefty premium, these guys promise first-page results and all kinds of beautifully esoteric things. Of course, I am not interested in this stuff...at least not from them. But it made me want to warn people about falling into one of these all-too-prevalent SEO traps.

Promises, Promises
The first thing I notice in these ads, is that they are quick to point out how the face of business is changing. True, true. The Internet has changed business...and this means, you must take advantage of new business methods like SEO to succeed. These authors tap an existing pain to offer a remedy.

Then they go on to promise that if you pay them, they will guarantee your first page ranking. It's the remedy. This is also a warning flag as big as a house. Why? Because they are sending this email out to hundreds or even thousands of "marks" so how can they possibly promise legitimate results for all of them?

They can't. They can promise page one rankings, but they can't offer any specifics around what that means. In the 6 years I have done this, I have a learned few tricks that can get most pages onto the first page of a targeted SERP pretty simply. It ain't rocket science. Whether or not they stay there on page one, is another question entirely. Getting there is one thing. Staying there is completely different. Getting there is easy, staying is not. So a promise of first page rankings may be truthful, but may mean less to you than you think.

Also, it is important to recognize how competitive your keyphrase is. This makes all the difference. Ranking for "Viagra sale" is going to be infinitely more difficult than ranking for "South Milwaukee chain saw repairs" so this is not really comparing apples to apples. It is more like looking at an apple and a watermelon, and calling both "fruit."

So when someone promises to do something for your business, the first page sounds very alluring...but you have to also know what that means. It may be first page ranks for long tail keywords that never convert. I also sell siding, bridges, shoes, and used office equipment if you are interested.

Researching and understanding keywords that convert is waaaaaaaaaaay more important than being on the first page for ones that don't.

Use a promise of a first page result as a warning. I have dealt with some of the best people in the field of SEO, and they are hesitant to promise things like this, and I never do either.

Make it Real
I am realistic about the engines. I know a lot about what makes a site or a page or a file attractive--both to a user, and to a search engine. That doesn't mean I'll promise you first page rankings--even though I know how to get them. Don't trust people that do--more often than not, they game the system. My method is simpler and just as available--I (or other ethical SEOs) will improve your site, and how it is viewed by both the user and the engines. I'll promise progress, and promise to deliver better content...but promising something that is completely out of my control (like a SERP ranking) is silly. SEO can be offered in realistic terms. Demand it.

See Part 2 of Avoiding SEO Traps

Freelancing Independence: the Trade

Since yesterday was Independence Day, it seems like a good time to address one of the lures of freelancing--the freedom.

There is no doubt that freelancing can free you from the routines and necessities that others (those with regular jobs) must face. You don't have to go to a single place to work, you don't have to follow anyone else's schedule most of the time. Technically, you don't have a boss. In most cases, you alleviate the repetition and the "big picture" demands that cause professional boredom.

What you get in return is (among other things) projects in many different situations, the power to determine and set your own schedule, and an uncapped earning potential.

Pretty sexy.

But it is important to realize that this trade-off has some requirements. It also means that a freelancing lifestyle is not for everyone.

3 Things You Trade for Your Independence as a Freelance SEO Writer

1. Stable Paychecks. Getting paid every two weeks has its perks. I can definitely say, as a full-time freelancer there are times when the money gets very tight, and others when it seems to fall from the sky. But paying your own bills won't wait for you to collect from a hard-to-reach client, so how does a freelancer deal with stabilizing their cash flow?
   Freelance Solution: Scheduling work and billing cycles accordingly. A freelance seo writer should realize that they need to stagger projects and payments to always have work cycling through. Look at pending work, existing projects, and outstanding invoices. You should keep all 3 at a nice steady churn to keep things moving forward smoothly. Also understand that completing a project and getting paid are 2 completely different aspects to a project. If you know it takes 6 weeks to collect from a client, you had better know what you are going to do for those 6 weeks to pay for gas and groceries. It means knowing how to schedule your time and balance your workload, how to save money when needed, and how to follow a personal budget. Knowing that some times are going to be stronger than others, you need to work as much as possible when the work is there and save that money. You may need it later in the year if things slow down. Create a weekly budget, and adhere to it. Be careful--If a client takes 3-6 months to pay for a project, receiving an unusually large check can be very tempting. But remember that larger sums of money represent a lot of time during which you likely had to use other sources of income. This aspect is very hard to understand or manage when you are first starting out, but as time goes on, you will see how proper project scheduling and balancing your budget wisely plays into your overall success rate as a freelance seo writer.


2. Company Sponsored Benefits. One of the reasons you are attractive to a company is they don't have to pay for your benefits like they do with their full time employees. But what happens if you get sick and need a doctor? What about saving for retirement?
   Freelance Solution: Finding individual plans to meet your needs. Talk to a couple insurance agents and find a plan that answers your needs. True, this will create a monthly obligation...but you don't want to get caught in the lurch by something. Nobody plans to get sick, or have an accident. But smart freelancers have insurance plans and leave less to risk. Similarly, planning for retirement is something that a freelancer should take seriously. Talk to a financial planner to investigate CDs, 401ks, stocks, bonds, or other investment opportunities. Freelance seo writing can be a very hand-to-mouth kind of existence, so don't be short-sighted. Take control of your own future, and plan for it. Be realistic, and be aggressive. See part of every paycheck as an investment in your future.


3. Coworkers. A lot of freelancers I have talked to start freelancing as a way to get away from people at work. Though some people can definitely be a challenge to deal with, others make every day more fun. A work environment offers a lot of opportunity to develop new friendships and get to know new people, so what does a freelancer do to increase socializing and relationship building?
   Freelance Solution: Networking. Like I have stated many times, relationship building is a big part of freelancing. Since it is not as easy to make new friends without a structured environment to encourage it, you simply have to be a little more proative and conscious about making connections. Join professional networks in your area. Look into the Chamber of Commerce. Look at industry-specific organizations to which you might belong. Find some bloggers to engage with or forums to join. Reach out however it feels best. Most freelance seo writers are really busy writing and finding work. Make sure to take time to come out from this little shell, and get personally plugged-in--both to your local business community and to the industries you serve. By doing so, you can surround yourself with forward-thinking professionals who are great resources to share with and learn from on a regular basis.

These three things are only some of the trade-offs you'll encounter when choosing freelancing as a career path, and they illustrate the point that this is not the right path for everyone.

The trade-off is something you must welcome or freelancing is going to be tough. The benefits of freelancing certainly look sexy, but contrary to what people think, a life of freelancing is never easy. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of preparing to be able to balance everything properly. But when it feels right to do so and to make the trade-offs necessary for success, you honestly rarely think about the effort you are putting in.

Keep your eye on the target. Research and understand as much as you can before starting something. Don't take things too seriously or too lightly. Relax, and enjoy.

Screen Capturing the SERPs

If you are an SEO writer, it can help to keep track of your wins. One way I do this is by taking screen captures of some rankings in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

The SERPs change all the time. In the case of Google, there are many different data centers serving up information. This means you could technically be seeing different results depending on which data center you are pinging. It also means if you win a good SERP position, it may likely be fleeting. So if you want to share this win with your bosses, you need to take the time to know some methods of capturing this information as it happens.

I have some SEO tools that automatically ping some terms for me and they create a spread sheet I can analyze every day. But no one else should have to look at this--they don't care about it on this minute level. This is why I am there--to care. What I do for them is to capture images of good things, and imbed them in an email.

How you do a simple screen capture of a SERP
I used Google and a PC for this example.

1. I perform the search. In this case, I used "Freelance seo copywriter tips"
   
2. The SERP appears, with my results in the top 2 positions. Hooray!
   
3. Since I have multiple screens, I use the mouse to make sure it is on the right screen by clicking in the background of the SERP. I then hit "Ctrl"-"Alt"-"Print Scrn". The "Print Scrn" button is located just over the insert button on the far right of the top level of this keyboard. This saves the screen capture to my computer's memory.
   
4. I open PhotoShop, and create a new image. It has a size of about 1200 by 1000, to acommodate the screen capture. If you don't have PhotoShop, you can use Paint...just start a new image in whatever program you prefer.
   
5. In my new image, I hit "Ctrl"-"V" which pastes the screen capture from my computer's memory into the image I am creating.

At this point, you have something that looks like this:

Now this is fine, but I like to highlight a little further what it is I want them to see.

So I crop it, and then use the paintbrush tool in PhotoShop to highlight the search term, the number of results, my position, and sometimes offer other information.

I typed in the date in the sample below to give you an idea:

I might have circled them or whatever--I use the paintbrush tool because I think it looks funny, and it is simply meant for a quick look at what I am doing. If it needs to be more formal, I can make the lines more definite and precise.

But see how easy it is to give them a little bite of what you are doing? If you want to keep them happy, every once in a while offer one of these for a competitive keyphrase.
If you can show a high rank for the same thing in Yahoo and Google, you are showing about 80% or more of the search volume out there.

Nothing makes as much sense as something that works.

Old Clients, New Work

I was reminded twice this week why as a freelance seo writer, I always try to keep relationships healthy.

I had two older clients come back to me this past week seeking long-term engagements. This is great--I can offer more detailed service and they get more work...which means more money!

But I didn't seek these new engagements--they found me. And I am doing SEO work for both, but have not done SEO work for either client before. They were both copywriting clients who learned of my specialty while I worked for them. When their needs came up, they remembered me positively, and I got the call.

I've said it before, but it is worth repeating. Freelancing is a lot about making and maintaining good relationships. You never know who is going to one day be in charge, and what that means to you.

So if you are just starting out in this field, make sure to keep your relationships solid. Meet your deadlines, and do your best to resist any weirdo tendencies. Keep your personal tweaks personal. I have lost some good relationships because I was too casual, and offered too much. I regret this, not just from a work standpoint but as a personal failure. It's fine, and all part of the learning curve--but I wish I would've been smart enough to be able to keep some relationships stronger.

And those are of course, the exception. As a rule, I make myself easy to find and easy to talk to...and my clients appreciate it. And they return, sometimes months or even years later. Which feels pretty cool.

SEO Copywriting Tip

Been a while since I have offered a genuine SEO writing tip, so ...

Synonyms and SEO
If you have been in SEO for any length of time, you can see algorithms trying to improve. And they do improve, but sometimes in weird, slow-moving ways.

Over time, one thing I have seen is contextual results becoming more and more important in search, and I see this only increasing as time rolls on. Using synonyms, variations of your main keywords (like plurals), and any related terms should help you build contextual domain strength for your root keywords.

It makes perfect sense.
You are selling widgets. So you, as an SEO writer, go after both the short tail and the long tail keyphrases for widgets. This will include many synonyms, plurals, related terms, and longer strings.

You research what you can about the searches being made. You create a master list of targeted keyphrases, search strings, synonyms, and any related terms that people associate with widgets. Map it all out before you start writing anything--it is much easier to make it flow naturally as you write if you know clearly what you "need" to say.

Nail Down the Short Tail and Grab the Long Tail
Answer to the short tail in navigation/informational architecture (when you can). So you might have a page titled "Widgets" with a main navigational link also named "widgets" leading into the page. This creates a solidly anchored link, making the main keyword an integral part of your site. Great!

Within the page itself, you'll of course want to add some depth to the widget information--you can't simply repeat widget a million times and expect it to work. But here is where your research and knowledge of long tail search habits, as well as your mastery of synonyms and contextual referencing comes into play.


Example: Let's say that "wuggles" is a synonym to widgets. In your widgets page, you can think of wuggles as a second-tier keyword. You'll want to infuse your primary and secondary keyphrases seamlessly into your body content. In addition to the main sentences you write, look at the metadata, the page titles, your headers, bullets, and ordered lists.

Switch back and forth between wuggles and widgets pretty liberally. Connect them to words that comprise potential long-tail searches, like "get a widget" "buying a wuggle" "finding a widget provider" "wuggle information" and so on. By using your main keywords alongside some related synonyms, you can create a deeper contextual meaning to your content.

This doesn't mean you should focus on wuggles opposed to widgets. It means that you should display your understanding that in talking about widgets, wuggles make sense. The user will appreciate it, because they also associate wuggles with widgets and will spend more time reading what you have to say. And, since the algorithms are getting smarter and will want to see wuggles mentioned on a widgets page, it will also make the engines happy...a win-win, as they say.

DON'T STUFF
I've said it before, and will always say it: don't cram keywords into a page. Make it flow naturally, or don't do it...stiff, forced content is hard to read, which goes against the number one rule for SEO writing. You are writing for a user, not a search engine. And over-saturating keywords makes your content crappy, your intentions transparent, and your SEO efforts much less likely to work. Synonyms are no exception.

But honestly, I find that the shifts in the algorithms are actually making it easier to write well. It may be a little tougher to get the rankings you want as quickly, but it is MUCH easier to write a good page and not have to sweat the keywords as much as the writing itself. I consider that progress.

As the engines try to find new ways to get the best content to the user, they are getting better at realizing that keyword density is not the best answer (thank GOD!). The best answer is content that flows well, and speaks authoritatively...content that liberally and naturally uses a variety of related, contextual words. So bust out the Thesaurus, know your topic, research, and write!

Week in Review

So I thought it would be fun to do a little post about what I did this week, just to offer some input into a typical week/day for a freelance SEO writer.

I Dedicated Time to Getting New Business
I spent about 1 full day answering inquiries and making connections with potential new clients. 1 is a student asking for mentoring, and 2 new businesses inquired from referrals this week.

I find that setting aside some time every week to pursue new stuff is a good plan to keep the work flow at a manageable pace. I get lucky, and usually get by more on referrals now, so I don't have to look for work--it tends to find me. Knowing this, I am usually quick to take advantage of time off, and I go fishing or do something fun while I know I can.

If I didn't have some pretty strong prospects and a few working projects, I might make a few calls, or send out some emails as a way of reminding folks that I am here, and can help them make some money. Cold calling is far from my favorite thing to do, but it is effective if you are diligent. I more often have a tendency to just cherry-pick projects where I like the people and like the work. Once someone is happy and is seeing some results, it is easy to justify another project and another and another...meaning only that cold calling is not as necessary.

I Dedicated Time To Research
I spend at least 2-3 hours every day reading blogs and other websites...very often much more than that. My line of work is quickly changing, which is part of why I like doing it. But this requires me to be up-to-speed on new things like different coding practices, different media uses, new strategies--all kinds of related stuff. I am lucky because I like doing it--but this is a necessary part of my job.

Research does not have to be boring. It rarely is to me--no matter what subject matter I am looking at. Which is good of course, given my field. But I never know what I am going to learn, or how...and that is a big part of what makes life on the Interweb exciting and challenging. So if you are pursuing this as a career move, realize that you will spend a lot of time researching...learn to love it, or it will be a big hurdle for you to cross.

I Stayed on Top of My Deadlines
This week, I had 2 press releases, 2 blog posts, some product information, and two sales rep sites to optimize for a client. Done. It was in-hand and approved 12 hours ahead of schedule.

Meeting deadlines is perhaps the single most important thing to master as a freelance SEO writer. Most everything else can be forgiven--missing deadlines can have a very expensive ripple effect that will typically end with you looking for a new client. Miss a crucial deadline or two and you will be fired, no matter how good your work is.

It may not seem like much to you when you are just starting out, but often in a project, many different moving parts are coming together for a single impact. You might have a radio spot coordinating with a press release, a webpage, and a TV commercial for example--that is a lot of budget being focused on one project. If your copy is the thing slowing it down, none of the other parts can function properly until you are ready. This means that if you slip and miss a deadline, by the time you get the copy to the client they will already be angry at you being late. Believe me, if they are mad at you, they will very likely translate this feeling onto your work...seems petty, but it is true.

So avoid this. Be on time. If a ridiculously short deadline is asked for, you might try to push back and get more time. But do use caution. It can easily come across as you being slow or weak or a whiner if you need more time or resources than they are budgeting--so tread lightly here. You may be 100% justified, but you have to present it to the client so they can understand why you need more time. As a rule of thumb, I try not to ask for an extension unless I absolutely need it. So yes, this means I sometimes have to work crazy gorilla hours to get a project done. But that way, when I do ask for something extra, my request carries a little more weight because it is unusual.

One thing in my favor, is that I have done this a long time, and I know basically how long it takes me to get something done. So when I get a weird deadline, I know very early on that it is weird. I can often nip it in the bud, by resetting the expectations during the planning phases. It is ALWAYS easier to ask for more time before something starts--once the project is underway, it is like a train hurtling down the tracks.

I Spent Some Time Billing
My absolute least favorite part of this work is trying to get paid. I don't have to argue with anyone about it, but just coordinating invoices is a big pain to me. But I like getting paid, so this is a necessary evil.

I have a whiteboard in my office where I monitor my flow of invoices. I found that having it on the wall made me look at it all the time, and spend enough time to keep it full and flowing. If I notice I don't have enough invoices working, I try to complete some projects to get them billed out. If one or more of the invoices is lagging, I can make a call or shoot out an email to see what's up.

If you are new at this, do try to understand, that you getting paid really matters only to you. The client wants to get the project done. The bigger the client, the more convoluted the process to get paid can be. I now spend a few minutes when starting a new project to handle any billing questions. I find out who I should send them to, and who needs to approve them. When necessary, I introduce myself to the person in the billing department that I will deal with--I like making friends with these people for obvious reasons.

That was About It
Very basically, these were the elements of my week. The days divide up around these tasks however they do--it depends on what kind of priority everything has. But by knowing what my work weeks should more or less entail, I can keep enough work in the door and enough checks coming in to keep me fat and happy.

What is meant by Blackhat SEO?

If you are not familiar, there are generally thought to be 2 schools of SEO work--whitehat and blackhat. I am a Whitehat guy--meaning I don't do too many risky things, and I try to follow the established "rules" of SEO. So what is blackhat, and why would someone do it?

It's all about the Benjamins
Blackhat SEO is done for one of 2 reasons--the first (which is rare) is purely for malice. Much like some people like to create viruses and things that simply clog up or destroy machines, some blackhatters just like to throw a wrench in the system. Again, this is likely pretty rare, but I can't help but believe it to be true.

But much more common, is to use some risky techniques to get LOTS of traffic fast--and try to capitalize on it. Web work is all about traffic, and conversions are essentially a numbers game--throw enough people into a site, and sooner or later, some are going to click through an ad...and each click means $$$ to the site owner. So in a nutshell, blackhat SEO is about making money off traffic--typically, by any means necessary. So a blackhatter is going to try to figure out the loopholes that allow them to drive huge numbers of visits quickly, and they work the numbers to their financial advantage and then move on--preferably before getting caught. Stick and move, stick and move.

What do they do?
I can't by any means claim to be an expert, but I have studied some blackhat techniques. What I have seen, more than not, is that it is about writing clever scripts that quickly do something that would otherwise take a long time to accomplish. If blog comments are a good tactic for SEO (which they can be), a blackhatter will write a script that auto-finds and auto-populates as many blog comments as possible. Each comment has a link back to the main site, so run it a few nights in a row, and bingo--you have lots and lots of backlinks without ever really visiting a single blog.

Or, let's say that blogs themselves are the ticket to happiness. A good blackhat will create a script that creates and populates many blogs, so by running this a few times, they suddenly have many many web properties out there linking to the real site they want to promote. The content is obviously auto-generated, as it rarely makes sense--think of a spam email, and just make it larger, and more complex. To give you a sample, I just went out and found this little gem on some crappy auto-gen blog: "My study is Rolando and I am today 1 meg proportionality earnest most this change gifting possibleness that I am fortuitous sufficiency to hit been offered. I chose my intellect sagely and am today sight my dreams become to fruition. "

I hope you too, sight your dreams become to fruition.

But this must work sometimes--enough people do it to make me think that it is the monkey and the typewriter kind of thing going on here. Seems like a really sleazy way to make money to me though...

What's wrong with making money?
Nothing is wrong with making money off SEO work. Frankly, I don't have any real problem with blackhat stuff (though the example above does show why I dislike some of their web-clogging tactics)--but I simply won't do it, because it is risky. What's the risk? Being penalized by the search engines...usually, having the sites in question removed permanently from the index.

Black hatters are some of the smartest people on the web, and always have been--they can code circles around most of us (and they do). But they lose sites as often as they gain them, which is why they continually change tactics, and look for new loopholes to sneak into. To me, that is simply too time consuming to even consider an option.

Conclusion
Ultimately, even if you are a whitehat SEO writer, I have found it is smart to learn what you can about blackhat techniques. You don't have to do it, but you should study it, and understand why some of their techniques work. Why? Because you might be able to change it and gain some valuable headway. Besides, these are the guys and gals you will be competing with, so you'd better know what they are up to. Some people consider themselves "greyhats" or whatever--I don't mince words like that. Either you follow all the rules or you take risks...the levels of risk you take color you accordingly.

In the end, blackhat is not illegal. It is simply a game of risk--how much risk are you willing to take to find success? Whitehat techniques will very rarely get you penalized, if ever. Not so for blackhat--if you get pinched for spamming the web, it can have a cascading effect on every site you manage, both now and in the future. The best blackhats have to be very secretive, because if they are identified, they will be lucky to ever get a site to rank again. So they have to hide, and protect their efforts with secrecy and misdirection.

I personally don't like doing things that way. I like being transparent, and above board all the time. It makes it much easier on me, and offers a longer success rate to my clients. But if you are willing to take high risks, there is certainly a lot of money to be made off of mastering the right blackhat techniques.

It is a pretty elite club though--you have to be an extremely good coder, and you have to have a mind that is one step ahead of the pack all the time. Personally, I have a lot of respect for the blackhats...but it stops there. I will study and learn whatever I can from them, but when it comes to risk, SEO work is not where I want to go out on a limb--it is simply not worth it to me. Besides, I like writing--not coding. I want to be able to add something of value to the web, not just cash in. Big difference in approach there.

Hate to say it like this, but essentially my hat's off to anyone finding success on the web.

Studying the Competition

A big part of successful SEO work is studying the things that are working for your competitors. Once you have entered your niche and start to go head-to-head with other companies vying for the same prize, you can study and learn from what they are doing to help improve your own efforts.

Viewing the Number of Pages Indexed
One important measure of a site is the number of relevant pages indexed by the engines. It all starts here, really. Do a "site:---" command in the engines and compare the number of pages in your site to that of your competition. While page volume in and of itself is not the most important element of SEO, it is an important measure to monitor and improve. You should always be adding relevant content to your site--this is a big part of organic SEO. But if you are not getting your pages indexed properly, they might as well not exist...so if you see a competitor has hundreds or thousands more pages than you, look at how they are accomplishing it, and see if there might not be a good strategy in there for you to also employ.

Viewing the Back-Links
One of the most crucial elements of SEO is links into your site, or back-links. You should already know that you can do this by using a "link:--" command in some of the engines. Yahoo has the most extensive list to review, but Google works as well for this command. I tend to use Google first, and then run a check in Yahoo to see what Google is not counting.

But just as you can do this for your own sites, you can also run this check on your competitors. See where they are receiving some of their back-links, and you might be able to identify sites where you too can get a few links back to your sites.

Viewing the Source Code
If a competitor is doing better than you, it sometimes helps to see what they are doing in the code. You can do this by clicking on their page, and using a "view/source" command in your Internet browser. The source code will open in a new window, usually in a text format.

Look at the meta tags, the page titles, and the keywords used within the code that is not immediately visible (such as image alt attributes). Are they saturating the keywords better than you? Are they using headings and bullets that you aren't? The source code is closer to what the spiders see, so there may be things revealed that you can adopt and use in your own building strategies.

Keep an Open Mind
If you think you are doing everything right and you are still not achieving your goals, be open to what the competition is doing. Be ready to admit that they could be doing things better, and be willing to try new ideas. Some things, like age of the domain, are hard to control. But other things, like page volume and back-links, are certainly within the power of any SEO writer.

I always try to stay aware of what my competitors are doing. Some of them have more money than I do, and some have less concern about staying "white hat" and 100% above board to achieve their goals. This means I will sometimes lose a battle, but I typically can hang tough and win the war.

I have a fair amount of tried-and-true tricks up my sleeve to make things click the way I need them to--I spend at least 50-60 hours a week, every week, studying how the algorithms are shifting and behaving. I have sites that I use purely for testing theories...and I am constantly balancing risk against possible (or probable) gains. I read experts blogs, and if I don't use all the techniques, I certainly can get some good info out of them. In my experience, by the time the blogs are chattering about something, the technique is already overexposed and probably short-lived.That's fine by me--it still helps me to see what other people are looking at, and how these people might be applying these techniques to sites I am going up against, head-to-head.

I like competition. I like being challenged to beat someone at what we do. By no means do I always win--but I can certainly give most sites the organic SEO boost needed to improve traffic.

SEO Copywriting Tip : Keep it Coming

Fresh content is an aspect of organic ranking many websites fail to do. My own website (http://www.articulayers.com/) is unfortunately a great example of this--I have not been diligent in doing new site updates. In fact, other than a few very minor tweaks, I have not done much to this site in almost 2 years...simply been too busy.

On one hand it is good, because it made me start to look a little more seriously at blogging and other aspects of the craft, but for the good of my site's organic rankings, it has been the kiss of death. I totally owned my keyphrases for years, and in the last 6 months, have been dropping like a lead balloon.

I am not too worried about it, because when the time comes for me to put more muscle behind it, I will--in the meantime I have been testing some off-site strategies to see what happens. But I do know if I don't do something to improve the freshness of the content in my site, it will slowly fall off the map completely...or at least not get beyond the second page of the SERPs, which for me, is not really ranking at all.

An Easy Sell
I have found that selling the idea of fresh content is usually pretty easy with established clients. They may hesitate at first, but once I can clearly show them (preferably using their site) the value of adding fresh SEO content (as well as non-SEO pages) , they are quickly in my camp, and ready for me to add more girth and pull to their site's content. An SEO copywriter should be able to show a client proof (and I use that term a little liberally here, since you can't really prove much in organic SEO) that this service will have a lasting value. From there, it makes writing and posting new content a relatively easy sell.

Keep it Valuable
Remember that this type of fresh content is an SEO strategy, and like all solid SEO efforts it should be focused on providing more user value per visit. So if you have a client selling widgets, you want to offer content all about widgets--what they are, how they work, what to look out for, and so on. Posting your Aunt's cookie recipes might indeed add content, but this is not adding to the perceived "widgets" value of the domain...so it won't work as you might want it to.

Every niche has a million and one things to talk about. As an SEO writer, it is often my job to dig up the dirt and understand instinctively (or thru trial and error) what fires up the audience. From here, I need to know how I can blend this user need into the architecture of the site without disrupting the flow of information, or impeding the call-to-action. There is a very fine line between providing enough information to earn trust and making a sale..it is an SEO writer's tightrope.

Simple Strategies
In offering fresh, regular content there are some very simple things you can suggest.
Blogs
If you can get a blog infused into the site's architecture, you are opening up a beautiful channel of opportunity. Blogs are easier to write than many other types of copywriting, at least most of the time. The language is a little more casual, the topics can range all over the map (within reason, of course). And most importantly, it is something I can train a person to eventually take over--so my client can reduce their cost by handling this in-house. Though I love people coming back for more of my work, ideally, I am really after finishing a project and moving on. If I can work with a client to make them more self-sufficient, they will appreciate me more than if they depend on me for every word. Blogs offer this platform...and will tend to boost the organic aspects of a site significantly. Discussion boards work well too, but blogs are so easy, it is a shame not to harness them.

Press Releases
Most businesses have a lot going on, so why not share this with the world through regularly scheduled press releases? Writing press releases is pretty much a formula--once you have done enough of them, you see the pattern. Intro paragraph summing up the release, second paragraph highlighting the benefits of the action, third (and fourth) paragraphs offering quotes from the principals, and a summary to close. Bing, bang boom. Blast it out to a free news wire (there are lots who do it for free) or put a little money behind it to have it picked up by a reputable news wire. Note that paying to have it picked up may cost a couple hundred dollars, but in doing so, you are greatly improving the chances that this release is seen by more people. I typically suggest both--using the paid services for the really important releases, and the free ones for the rest.

I will say, if I am doing a "blast" of the release in either manner, I am always very careful to have it on the home site before anyone else can get it. Stronger sites (like major news services) will outrank you for your own press release, but over time, they will typically fall below the original post. pay special attention to the way you word your titles too--this has more juice than many people realize. By not optimizing the title, they miss an easy opportunity for SEO progress.
Tips and Hints
Every business probably has some tips and hints to make it easier to use their products or services. So map out a strategy that adds a new tip every week, or every month at least. Again, the point is showing the engines that your site is actively trying to add to the discussion. Sometimes tips and hints can become the entry pages that bring in targeted customers.

Testimonials and Case Studies
These are excellent sales tools that really work well when properly executed. A case study or testimonial will have a user putting themselves in the situation described--which is perfect! People tend to feel more comfortable making a purchase when they see that other people who have done so are reaping the benefits. Illustrate that for them.

Watch, and Learn
Use your analytics and tracking programs to see how these new pages perform. Look at keyword referrals, entry pages, forward paths and time spent on the pages. When fresh content is working well, not only will these all improve, but so will your SERP positions. If you see something is working better than other efforts, put more muscle behind it--expand the keywords, the subject matter and the amount of information you provide.

There is not set formula to follow: adding X number of pages will not result in Y every time. This is simply another aspect of SEO writing that provides a little job security...and there is no denying the effect that fresh content has in today's organic SEO world. Could change tomorrow of course, but for now, just do it.

A Happy SEO

What makes a freelance SEO writer happy? Success.

This week, for one site, I was able to capture 9 of the top10 spots for my targeted keyphrase. SERP domination like that is what I call success--it made me very happy to line everything up carefully, pull the trigger and watch it all fall into place.

This week, I was able to optimize and launch a new site for a long-standing client. I built it from the ground up to replace the canned Go Daddy template site he had. in doing so, I not only improved his look and feel, but I took his 8 page site and made it into a 60 page site--only creating 3-5 new pages of content. He had extremely long pages full of great information--I simply helped him to re-think the informational architecture, and put the same content out there in smaller, more focused bites. I am writing a case study on this project because his was a very common dilemma, and I think what we did to fix it could help many people.

This week, I was able to look at some traffic stats that showed improvement over last month--slow, steady climbing, which is exactly what I want. While huge dramatic leaps are cool, they also seem to prelude huge dramatic drops as well...when a site continues to build and grow in a steady fashion, it seems to have longer-lasting results.

This week, I was able to mentor 3 up-and-comers, sharing whatever I could with them. We spent a few hours talking about strategies in SEO writing, and what to do or not, and why. They were energetic and plugged-in--I wish them all great success.

This week, the bass started biting...I caught 15 large mouth beauties last night. Looks like freelancing will once again take a back seat to my fishing fetish.

This week, I received 4 Braves tickets as a bonus for doing some good work. Look forward to taking my family out for a nice evening.

And it's only Wednesday!

A Saddened SEO Sigh

So I had an old client, one that I helped about 2 years ago with some SEO work.

At the time, this client was concerned because his company website was not ranking for his targeted keyphrases. I worked with him to help create a new, improved structure, and wrote a bunch of stuff to help him hit his organic goals. The results were very positive--we entered the Top-10 SERPs for most of his targets, all without using anything more than some relatively simple and inexpensive on-page strategies.

So his traffic improved, and the site started doing really well for him. Great!

Here's the Rub
Since his traffic improved and site conversions were up, he decided to upgrade the site. A good move for sure, because the look and feel of the one we had optimized was pretty weak.

He found a new, fairly expensive developer who made him a new site. It was built with some solid UIs (user interfaces), allowing him to update and edit his content on a whim. Sounds great, right? Sounds like he was taking steps toward making the most of his web presence.

The problem?

There was no way for him to build new pages, or add to his basic site structure. Worse still, he had no way to control the meta data or individual page titles in the new site. There was only one page title and one set of meta data--so all of our wonderful optimization and SERP mastery was now for naught.

Sure enough, as soon as the new site was indexed, all of the precious SERP positions disappeared. His new developer was not very SEO savvy, and told him that the single set of meta tags was all any search engine needed (WHAT???!!!)

I wept, quietly on the inside, for my client...I knew he was pretty well hosed by his new, fancy website, and his developer's attitude would prevent him from improving in something very crucial to his success. My hands were tied.

The Moral
Bells and whistles are for trains, not websites. If you want to really service your customer base, make your site appear in the engines when an end user is typing in a search. Help them find you.
For my old client, he came to me imploringly, seeking some SEO juice. I suggested a few things, but told him that he was really missing a valuable piece of the puzzle, and he shouldn't expect it to work as it had for us in the past. I explained why the meta data was so valuable, and suggested some off-page strategies to make up for it. He had spent too much money on his new site to pitch it or start over, so he is doing what he can.

But this caused me to heave a weary SEO sigh twice:

1. My client looked to upgrade a successful organic site, but did not consult an SEO before making a success-crushing decision...and the decision made could have been avoided.
2. My client's new developer was telling my client bad, uneducated and inexperienced SEO information, and my client (though I thought differently) didn't know any better.

These are things I have always dealt with as an SEO writer and web developer. But it still makes me shake my head...and sigh sadly.

Oh well...there's always more to do.