This SEO Copywriting 2020 blog is created to give business and authors tips on what to look out for. Read on to see what you should be wary of and why.
In this SEO Copywriting 2020 blog article, you will find advice in these areas:
- Which good practices I have noticed which can help you when analysing firms’ services, helping you spend money wisely,
- Which bad practices I have witnessed that you can look out for as warning signs before you even call a firm, saving you time,
- The ugly practices where you see offers that are too good to be true, helping you by not wasting money,
- Understanding the true cost of good SEO copywriting can help you gauge what it costs to get a job done right, which can transform your business.
Read the rest of the SEO Copywriting 2020 blog article to learn what to look out for as a businessperson.
When I started this SEO Copywriting 2020 blog, I was trying to think of ways that I could go about it without being mean about any other SEO copywriter out there. Realistically, there are many excellent SEO copywriters out there who do fantastic jobs for their clients, but there are also some who are not.
When we look at the current business climate, there are extreme pressures on the financial viability of millions of companies around the world. There is no getting away from it because that is a fact. However, there will be a time in the coming months when businesses will need to promote their products and services again – this is where SEO Copywriters come in.
Authors may read this and think this blog has nothing to do with them, but I beg to differ. If you understand more about what to look out for when you ask someone to compose copy for your website. If you produce the text yourself, you will be able to read my SEO Copywriting 2020 blog and understand what good copywriting practices are good, bad & downright ugly.
If you are looking at the letters SEO and are like, ‘SEO? What does that mean? It stands for Search Engine Optimisation. On-page SEO means that all of the words and images on a web page are optimised for Google. Off-page SEO means all of the work behind the scenes that help a website rank (but I won’t be talking about off-page much here, so don’t worry!).
To understand why I wrote this blog, and get tips on what best to look out for, read the rest of the article and comment with your thoughts.
SEO Copywriting 2020: My Morning Routine
Every morning, I have the same routine. It’s not exciting and it’s not filled with lots of exercise and yoga, but it is what it is.
My mornings consist of:
- Up for a cup of tea and the news,
- Kids get up, and I sort breakfast,
- Kids leave for school/childminder with their mum,
- I get up onto the computer and check emails,
- I check all analytical data for my website,
- Finally, I start into my planned work for the day.
This is the basic run of my morning, but the bolded point in my list is where I get my ideas for my blogs for the content plan I create for SG Fiction.
When I analyse the data, I also like to check the keywords for my website on a Google Chrome Incognito window. This is where I get to see where my pages rank locally as the rank tracking software I use focuses on a London search. As I do this, I get to see some interesting Google Ads that pop up for other copywriting companies or freelancers that make for compelling reading.
My friends, it is here where I got the ammunition for my SEO Copywriting 2020 blog and felt I should share my thoughts to ensure you guys weren’t caught out. Whether you are a business or an author, you may pay for an SEO Copywriter to help your website or blogs get found online. By understanding specific points about SEO copywriting, you will hopefully know where to look out for those who may waste your time and money.
If you have been caught out by some of the points I make below, share them in the comments section.
The Good
As I said above, there are some excellent agencies and freelancers out there who create amazing copy for their clients’ websites. Like myself, these guys and girls are professionals and understand the requirements for an SEO Copywriter to:
- Write copy for a blog or website that reads well,
- Compose copy that engages and promotes a company’s products or services well, and
- Ensure the blog or website copy that is written adheres to on-page SEO best practice.
The first two points are essential, of course. However, when you pay for an SEO copywriter, the copy needs to be written with specific elements that help blog articles or website pages appear on Google.
When I scroll through the internet and research websites created by larger agencies in Northern Ireland, I see some excellent work. I also know that the site has cost the company who bought it a lot of money, but it is worth every penny/cent.
The website created by ‘The Good’ agency has followed all of the on-page SEO and off-page SEO correctly. Therefore, the hope would be that the website will rank well on Google in time (the process can take months).
I love looking at the best websites for examples because I learn what good practice looks like. As someone who worked in education for almost 15 years, I love to learn, and I understand the importance of continually evolving my practice to stay up to date – something that was drilled into me my ETI and Ofsted.
If you are a business looking for a new website, ask specifically about how your website developer hopes to achieve the SEO for your new website. A website needs to look good and has to be functional – here, the function is to appear on Google without paying for paid Google Ads or social media ads.
This is where the SEO Copywriter comes in. They need to ensure the on-page SEO and keywords are enveloped within the copy written for the web pages. There then needs to be a detailed SEO blog content plan for you to know precisely what is written, what terms are being targeted, and that the blogs will help drive traffic to your website.
What are your thoughts on ‘The Good’ websites as a business or as an author? How important is it that you are found on Google? Comment below.
The Bad
When researching competitors’ websites for my clients and other author websites for SG Fiction, I see some examples of excellent work. This is especially notable when I see some of my fellow Indie writer or self-published author website.
Considering that many authors look after their websites, it should be praised when we create something that not only looks good but also ranks well on Google. Bravo, those people!
When I look at some of the weaker examples, especially when researching websites of businesses, there are some real red flags. These include:
- Insecure connection – This can lead to issues with site integrity, data encryption, and online transactions. Also, Google doesn’t like it and can penalise your rankings,
- Title Tags – The most basic form of identification for your website needs to be filled out appropriately. If you have ‘Home’ as your homepage, you could optimise the title tags,
- Not Enough Copy – Yes, the copy needs to fit the page, and it also needs to be well written, but you also need to have enough of it. It is recommended that the main landing pages on a website should have between 6-700 words of copy, so they are not ‘thin’.
I could go on for ages about some of the fundamental issues I notice on websites made my larger agencies or developers who I know will be charging a lot of money for their service.
I know there are so many businesses who have spent thousands on websites that don’t do the job they were set out to do – look good and are functional (found on Google). Yes, you may not outrank Amazon or Tesco, but you need to outrank your direct competitors, especially locally.
In reference to my author friends, we have no problem writing the words because that is what we do. However, we need to focus on the structure and the type of terms we choose to optimise. That is where we can get our books, poems, and author portfolio out there to others.
If you are an author who can get to Belfast in June (COVID-19 pending), I have several Creative Writing Workshops available to purchase on Eventbrite. You can view the courses on my Author Events Page as one of them focuses on SEO blogs for the author. You can also read my Creative Writing Belfast blog for my other plans in the coming months regarding courses.
What are your thoughts on my SEO Copywriting 2020 blog so far? If you are an author, how have you worked with Search Engine Optimisation on your website? Comment below.
Click on the image to see the fiction books I have released so far. Both Inside Iris and Anna’s Awakening are available for purchase on Kindle and paperback from Amazon.
The Ugly
When I use the Google Incognito window to browse my website’s keywords, I have seen some ugly practices. There are so many people out there who offer Search Engine Optimisation and are an ‘SEO Copywriter‘ offering services that raise many red flags.
If I type in ‘SEO Copywriting Packages’ I appear in the first few results on Google (UK Search). As a guy who creates content from a home office outside Belfast, that isn’t bad going. It is also good that I outrank larger agencies for that term and know that my Search Engine Optimised website copy works – fact.
There are also some Google Ads that appear when I perform searches that read as follows:
- SEO Copywriting Packages | Massive 35% Discount | Packages Only £99
- SEO Copywriter | SEO Copy & Blogs Only £8 Per Page | Contact Us Today
- SEO Website Specialist | £125 For 5 Web Pages | Get More Visitors Today
I have made Frankenstein Google Ads from various examples, but these are the ads that businesses can fall for. There is a good reason too – the price.
When I researched the price for someone of my education and experience, I came to the costs for my SEO Copywriting Packages because I knew I was able to compose content worthy of what I was quoting. SEO Copywriting rates within the UK are easily found online as a guide for those who look to work as a freelancer. However, websites like Fiverr and People Per Hour are a Wild West for people who do not have any qualifications or experience as an SEO Copywriter.
As I worked for ‘agencies’ on freelancer websites, these are some of the experiences I had:
- ‘Agencies’ looking for ‘Samples’ but not getting back to you. I then found my blog posted online – this is fraud.
- ‘Agencies’ moving the goalposts when a brief had been agreed upon so they could get the work for free – again, fraud.
- ‘Agencies’ charging 1p per word for blog content – exploitative of the minimum wage in the UK.
- ‘Agencies’ using article spinners to copy/paste articles and jumble them in 15 seconds. This garbled mess is not even required copy, never mind SEO copy. Therefore, businesses are charged maybe £25 for 15 seconds – this is a costly rate of pay!
There are many other ‘Ugly’ practices out there that I have experienced, and that is because businesses, and possibly authors too, don’t know how much SEO should cost. I work on the idea that the copy is 50% of the fee, and the SEO is the other 50%, as this includes research and additional time-consuming work.
Yes, if you’re a business or an author and don’t care about the quality of the content you put online or where it comes from, that is fine. However, if you want the money you pay to perform on Google and help get you organic website traffic through searches, it’s best to do it right.
An SEO Copywriter can be expensive, but you can also learn how to do it yourself through courses or one-to-one mentoring. These are services I offer to help save local businesses money in the long term. I also don’t want companies I visit having plagiarised, sub-standard content on their websites from ‘agencies’ who don’t provide the services they charge for.
What have you taken away from this SEO Copywriting 2020 blog? Do you look for price over quality? Comment below.
These are the updated website impressions for the SG Fiction website.
SEO Copywriting 2020: The Takeaway
I understand that many of you guys out there may feel worried about who to trust online regarding SEO Copywriting. However, there is no need as long as you do your research and question the company or freelancer before you hire them.
As far as I’m aware, the rates I charge are lower than most considering local SEO agencies can cost £3000 per website and up to £100 per SEO blog for more niche areas – e.g. law and tech.
This is a screenshot from an article regarding the cost for SEO Copywriting 2020. Click the image to read the full article.
As an author who looks after his website, I hope to educate and share what I know with fellow writers who are in the same position as I was a few years ago. By learning SEO, you can help to increase your chances of finding the right people to buy your books or follow you as a writer.
As a business, I have worked with Invest NI to shape what I do to help local smaller businesses. I know rates from larger agencies can he huge and therefore out of reach for many. This is why I want to work with smaller companies to help them with their plans for 2020.
If you are interested in the products or services I offer, view the SEO Copywriting Rates page for further information. You can also email me at scott@sgfiction.co.uk to start a conversation today.
Whether you are an author, writer, or a small business, I can help you grow online with SEO Copywriting in 2020.