SEO Copywriting: Benefit or Compromise? ()

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The contention out there over SEO copy writing is astounding. With good cause, writers and SEMs alike are exchanging scuffles over the topic on a regular basis. Even established professionals like Heather Lloyd-Martin face staunch opposition in tactic.

“The most fundamental [strategy] is key phrase research. Learn how to put those key phrases into copy to have it make sense.”

This philosophy, to write write copy with search engines in mind, is the key offender. Bob Bly, the well-known author of “The Copywriter’s Handbook” is a vocal opponent and has even written an article titled “Why I Don’t Believe in SEO Copywriting.”

In this article… as if in response to Heather’s statement, Bly remarks, “When I write copy, [the] audience is the prospect, the potential buyer of the product I am selling. However, with SEO copywriting, you pander to another ‘audience’ – the search engines – and not the reader. And by creating copy that’s optimal for attracting search engines, you are, to some degree, weakening that copy’s power to sell. You dilute its strength because you are worrying about two audiences – the reader and the engines – instead of focusing every word on the customer.”

It would seem that Mr. Bly is, understandably, concerned about preserving the power of words… that by “pandering” to a spider, this is somehow compromised. Perhaps he’s correct. The argument is certainly strong. Yet let us consider Heather’s defense of such.

“SEO copywriting is still copywriting. It’s not changing the concepts of regular, direct response copy writing. What you’re doing is adding those key phrases in to make your copy more specific. You might not get to be as flowery as you’d get to be in a print catalog or you might not be able to describe things in fifty words and expect that page is going to position well. SEO copywriting is controlling the controllable on your website…. but to be able to walk that line between writing good content but making sure that you have keywords in there.”

Sounds innocent enough. Who’s to say that a careful craftsman couldn’t weave a poetic “compromise?” There’s certainly wisdom to be spread about in both camps… and that’s not even to consider other varying opinion.S

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18 Responses to SEO Copywriting: Benefit or Compromise?

  1. Erika says:

    This is a great read. ACM Records- to answer your questions EVE, you can surely use some good SEO copy on your site. If you need help, email me, or check out my companies blog.

    Nice site too! Rock on.

  2. Nicolas says:

    We wait for the same interview in France

    It is really interesting

    Nicolas Bermond

  3. Joseph Riden says:

    SEO copywriting is a complete waste of time and money. I challenge anyone who is taking a client’s money to write SEO copy to prove that it is worth the cost. C’mon, show us the business case. There are much more robust SEO methods that don’t compromise the selling. Bob Bly has the right take on this. Write to sell. Let the geeks do the SEO trip.

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  5. Aaron Rivera says:

    Heather Loyd Martin what a innovator!
    Seo copy writng,
    the key phrasing issue is very fundamental! the sites that have the best content wins! tweakin the content is an element bolding the head lines and the title is more than enough : very true Grammer was a weakness that most don’t realize until they build a site! “the rule of thumb is common sense” people should interms use a better editor like http://www.mozila.com did you copy your content? follow up’s can be the place where you find your weak link always monitor the sites traffic yeah!
    Hey web pro” great video more from Mike Murray Fathom SEO please

  6. Aaron Rivera says:

    webpro has the bull by the horns at this segement I feel they need more news on web design

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  8. Aaron Rivera says:

    I would like to here more Heather martin on seo & sem
    .
    I agree the copy of your site is a label that gives your name a long standing in the search engines.
    Heather really has a good thought when it comes to seo over kill like Mike Murray, bolding is not the way to go? okay one question is the bolding issue about the engines or your traffic?

  9. Elton says:

    I believe well written content is the bread and butter of ranking well in the search engines these days.

  10. I was told that search engines are looking for well written content that is relevant to the site’s purpose and have always tried to write my content to fit that statement. Keyword density is important as well but well written content can make or break you site.

  11. Aaron Rivera says:

    Very informational ” the part about witting great content for a replicator website is crucial amongst competition

  12. Aaron says:

    using key phrases and long tail key word structure is truly the new way to get traffic into your site be unique

  13. Aaron says:

    very good interview with Heather Loyd Martin….Mike McDonald you brought out the best in top quality information regarding SEO COPY WRITE. Building a good web presence is all about how to tweek that content and phrasing your words repeatedly. You forget one area,” what about writing content for different browsers? that’s not easy,” as a expert web copy writer the element is niche factor. When ever I write seo web copy I never bold everything….use strong not blod. I like the theroy of seo rapper on uTube.com

    Hey Mike when is the next interview with heather up next,” you guyz are awesome keep up the great work in seo relevancy………….keep me updated with web pro news I singed up for the news letter already …………..

  14. Aaron Rivera says:

    I believe viral marketing and social media is very important to the dynamics of blogging. Blogging is definitely one of the most successful online revenue income streams.
    Social media the search engines such as Google.com Yahoo.com and MSN.com work off of fresh content…..that means social media bloggers cash in off of writing unique content.
    Heather Lloyd Martin is definitely an innovator of unique was I would suggest watching Heather Lloyd Martin’s interview by Mike McDonnell on unique SEO copywriting at Web Pro news media broadcasting system. writing unique content meaning the way you phrase in bold is highly anticipated by a bloggers ability to do excellent writing. what ever bloggers intend to write about my beliefs to structure should be relevant to the title of each blog. Writing unique content for the search engines is definitely a valuable asset – bloggers keep in mind if you’re writing for business profiles you should focus on business meaning writing excellent contentfor your client. the element of SeO copyright surrounded by the bloggers ability to be very relevant and resourceful… thanks again Web Pro news

  15. Grand article about SEO. I’m honestly very flabbergasted that this has not really been alleged earlier to such an extent.

  16. Excellent video, I really needed to be reminded about writing for my website visitors by keeping in balance with search engines. Sometimes i get too focused on SEO.

    Building unique content is easy, it’s finding search-able keyword phrases that’s getting tougher with each day.

    Now with the larger sites like eHow and Youtube it’s tough to get above the sixth position on the front page of Google.

  17. kabelky says:

    OMG, this stuff is so funny. I need to share this.

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