SEO Hosting Blog

As a freelance copywriter, I’ve worked on several projects where I was hired to clean up the mess left by the last copywriter. For one reason or another, the copy they wrote wasn’t working, and of course, the client wasn’t happy with it.

Most times, this happened because the client tried to save money on hiring a copywriter. They hired the cheapest copywriter they could find, and as a result, they got what they paid for.

When cleaning up the mess left by rookie copywriters, I’ve noticed there are 3 common mistakes they tend to make. 

• Rookie Mistake #1: Focusing on the wrong benefits—My good friends over at The Write Blog, wrote a post a while back titled “Don’t sell the car. Sell the Nissan.” The title sums it up perfectly. You need to write copy that focuses on the benefits specific to your products and services. It’s all about identifying your unique selling point. Like Wintress says in her post, you wouldn’t sell a car by telling the reader that “it’s a faster way to get around town than riding a bicycle.” Instead, you would probably focus on the miles per gallon the vehicle gets and the unique features specific to the vehicle (and more importantly, the benefits of said features).

• Rookie Mistake #2: Not asking the reader to take action—At the end of the day, the success of the copy depends on whether or not the reader takes action. All copy has a purpose. It could be to close the sale on the spot or to get an email address to gather leads. Identify the purpose of your copy, and ask the reader to take the action you desire. If you don’t ask for an action, your readers will never snap out of their passivity.

• Rookie Mistake #3: Using too much fluff—I’ve seen some copywriters make a living out of saying nothing at all. Oh, they write a lot of words, but they aren’t actually saying anything. Their copy is nothing more than a bunch of fluff that takes up space but never gets results. Here’s a tip. Print out your copy, and cross out non-essential content that doesn’t add to your main message. Just be careful not to go overboard as you don’t want to strip the personality and conversational tone from your copy.

Which rookie copywriting mistakes would you add to this list? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Routine website maintenance is essential for making sure your website is up to date and functioning properly. Unfortunately, website maintenance is something that often gets overlooked, and as a result, companies aren’t getting everything they should be out of their website. Here are 8 essential website maintenance tasks you should perform on a regular basis.

1. Test your forms—Contact forms have a nasty tendency to suddenly stop working. That’s why it’s important that you test them out as often as possible. If you notice a sudden drop in email list subscribers or other conversions, immediately test out all contact forms to ensure they’re working as they should.

2. Check all links—Check out all of your navigation links as well as internal links throughout the body of your website copy and blog posts. This will help to make certain your visitors are able to go down the path through your website that you want them to travel.

3. Ensure contact info is up to date—Over time, phone numbers, email addresses, and physical addresses might change. Visit your contact page to double check that all info is accurate.

4. Make certain the search function works—Today’s internet users are in a hurry. That’s why many people immediately use a website’s search function as soon as they land on the page. This allows them to find the info they’re looking for as quickly as possible. Use your website’s search function just as a normal visitor would to make sure it works properly.

5. Update your copyright—Your copyright should technically be updated any time new content is added to your website. Beyond protecting your content, updating your copyright lets your visitors know that your website is current and active.

6. Keep product descriptions and prices accurate—Have you changed your products or services in any way? Have your prices been altered? If so, update your website to reflect these changes.

7. Test your checkout process—The worst possible scenario is for a visitor on your website to decide to become a customer only to be denied by a shopping cart that doesn’t work. Check your shopping cart and overall checkout process regularly to make certain your customers are able to get in and out quickly.

8. Check your search engine rankings—It’s a good idea to check your website’s search rankings at least once a month. Don’t panic over tiny month-to-month fluctuations, but be on the lookout for developing trends. The sooner you can act on drops in search rankings, the less damaging they will be.

Would you add any tasks to this list? Share your thoughts in the replies.

Getting interviewed on a blog, podcast, radio show, or even TV show is an excellent way to gain exposure and to build your authority. But being a great interviewee is often easier said than done. I listen to talk radio quite a bit (mostly sports talk), and I’ve heard my fair share of interviews that made me cringe for the person being interviewed. Nervousness and unpreparedness can turn this golden opportunity into a damaging situation for your company.
Thankfully, there are several things you can do to prepare for a media interview. Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Know your s*#!—Showing up to your interview unprepared reflects poorly on you and your business. You need to be ready to answer every question the reporter throws your way, but at the same time, if you truly don’t have an answer for a question, don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know.” Do your research and have some statistics and facts ready to support your answers.

2. Learn about the interviewer—First, learning about the interviewer is important because you don’t want to call the host Jim when his name is Tom. But that’s not the only reason it’s important. You need to understand what type of podcast, blog, or show the interviewer runs. Who is his target audience? What do they care about? What’s the tone of his content? The more you know about the interviewer, the better you’ll fit in.

3. Practice key points of your message—Make a list of a few (3-5) key points you want to address during your interview. Simplify them as much as possible, and practice talking about them so that you’ll be comfortable addressing them. Crafting your message can help you stay in control of the interview, making you appear calm and confident. (more…)

A growing number of businesses are using podcasting as a means to increase brand awareness, to connect with their target audience, and to grow their online presence. But to get the most out of podcasting, you need to make sure you’re doing all of the right things to give your audience a professional show every time. Here are some easy things you can do to improve your podcast.

• Get a decent microphone—Let me first say that I’m not an audio geek by any means. However, I will say that a cheap mic can make your entire podcast sound unprofessional and difficult to listen to. You want to find a microphone that cuts out a lot of background noise and eliminates static. In short, you want your listeners to be able to clearly hear you without getting distracted by other noises. Visit your local music shop or electronics store to find a good microphone for your podcasting needs.

• Add intro and outro music—Whenever you listen to a talk show on the radio, each segment always begins and ends with about 10 seconds of music. This is called bumper music, and it can add a professional, finished touch to your podcasts. You can easily find royalty free music online that you can use in your podcasts.

• Speak clearly—Recording a podcast isn’t as simple as plugging in a microphone and blabbing away. There’s something known as “proper microphone technique.” This includes everything from properly positioning the microphone to speaking clearly. Speak slowly, and make sure not to mumble. Enunciate every word properly, and always have water on hand so that you can stay hydrated. Always go back and listen to your podcasts before publishing them to make sure every word can be clearly heard. (more…)

In addition to the official blog, Google has a lot of other blogs they maintain. For a long time I’ve been wondering how many blogs they operated. I have RSS subscriptions to a few of them, but every day it seems like a new blog surfaces. And that’s ok, but it’s just a little difficult to keep up. However, if you’re interested in learning more about Google and keeping up with what’s going on, reading and discovering as many of their blogs is important. That said, here are a few of the Google blogs that I enjoy reading.

First one is obvious, it’s the main blog. Everyone should read and subscribe to The Official Google Blog. This blog does a great job at bringing forward some of the most eventful news pertaining to Google. It acts as the main channel and many times is used to tell people about the many other secondary channels of communication available.

The next blog I recommend reading and subscribing to the Google Webmaster Central Blog. This blog is essential to read if you’re trying to keep up to speed with Goolge SEO. In fact, I wrote and published an article on SeoHosting.com yesterday based of information discovered on Google Webmaster Central.

Are you crazy about Mac Computers? If so, then Google wants to engage with you on their official Google Mac Blog. On the Google Mac Blog you can keep up news about Mac computers and even learn about and download Google software specifically made for Mac computers. All in all, if you enjoy Google and Mac computers, subscribing to the Official Google Mac Blog is a must.

Another blog that I place a lot of value in is the Google Online Security Blog. This blog keeps people up to date and provides them with breaking news regarding viruses and online security. This blog provides information such as how to improve browser security, which then points to their Browser Secuirty HandBook, and the Top 10 Malware Sites. You can’t go wrong with subscribing to this blog. The information published is geared towards helping keep your online experience more secure.

To learn about all of Google’s blogs, they have a complete Google Blog Directory available. The directory is broken down into five sections: Google-wide, Product, Ads, Developer, and Region. You can easily search their directory to find additional blogs that interest you. The more blogs that you subscribe to, obviously the more you can learn about Google.

In addition to the Google Blog Directory, Google has made reading their entire line up of blogs easy by also creating a very handy iGoogle Gadget and Tab for your personalized iGoogle homepage.

What Google blogs do you enjoy reading and why? Share these blogs in the comments below.

P.S. What kind of SEO articles do you like to read? Contact Me with your article ideas.