Copywriting in an SEO World

Written by: Phillip Nones

It’s rather common in organizations:  the colleague in the marketing or PR department with a journalism background who tries to shoehorn website content into the AP Style Book.

While “textbook” grammar and style may be fully appropriate for press releases and official communications, they’re counterproductive when communicating with customers and prospects – or with employees for that matter.

Web content in particular demands a different approach.  Not only are you attempting to increase your relevance to the search engines, thereby achieving a higher SERP ranking, you’re also competing for the viewer’s attention and interest in an increasingly time-starved world.

If your content doesn’t fit with these two realities, it’s going to accomplish less than you hoped.  What’s more, you’ve probably drained much of the personality out of your message.  Bad move.

Grammar isn’t useless or unimportant when communicating with your audience.  But the degree of “correctness” should speak to your readers in a way that registers.  In the age of SEO, don’t be afraid to break the “rules.”

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