module one: seo copywriting certiﬁcation...

SuccessWorks Search Marketing, Inc., © 2013 | www.seocopywriting.com page 1

Module one:

SEO Copywriting Certification Training

Heather Lloyd-MartinFourth Edition


Measuring your SEO copywriting success

Congratulations - you’re on the last lesson.

During the last seven modules, you’ve developed a content strategy, learned how to write for keyphrases and discovered fun ways to leverage new content opportunities.

Need to write a new article? No problem. Releasing a new product? You know exactly how to write the product page, send out the press release and write the blog post. What’s more, you can cap everything off with a killer Title, meta description and keywords tag.

To quote an old commercial: You’ve come a long way, baby.

But you’re still not done.

Probably about 75 percent of companies stop right here with their SEO copywriting knowledge. The company might have hired a freelance writer or an in-house writing expert. They might even check their site rankings and crow about their top positions. But they aren’t focusing on a key question:

How can we make our copy even better?

After all, you (or your client) aren’t creating this copy “just for fun.” You’re creating it to attract new readers, drive conversions and build trust – whatever meshes with your conversion goals. In short, you want the copy to work.


But, how do you know if your copy is working if you don’t test what you’re doing?

This is where measuring your website’s success comes into play. At the end of the day, you want to know one thing: How much money did you make, and how could you have made even more?

Let’s find out, right now.

So, what does SEO copywriting success even mean?

Quick, what’s your definition of a successful SEO campaign? If you said, “higher rankings,” you’re in the majority. Most folks equate top search engine rankings with the ultimate SEO success.

But actually, there are two different ways to measure success:

• Searchenginerankings–areyoupositioningforthekeyphrasesyou’retargeting?Doyouhavevisibilityforyourmainkeyphrases?

• Conversionmetrics–areyoumakingsales,gettingleadsandseeingROIfromyourcampaign?

Here’s the deal. Search engine rankings are important. Sites on page one are seen much more often than sites that position on page five. However, as Google has learned to provide us better targeted information, the definition of a top ranking has slightly changed.

For instance, Google provides personalized results based on prior search history and geographic location. Depending on what you’ve searched for - and where you’re based - your search results will be different than mine.

Additionally, if you’re logged into Google (say, your Gmail or your Google+ account,) you’ll receive what Google calls “more relevant results.”


That’s why we look at rankings in terms of overall search engine visibility – and look to conversions to see if your content is actually working. Some sites report higher conversions when they appear on page two. Some sites position really well for a keyphrase – but it doesn’t bring in a dime. A healthy campaign looks at rankings and conversions holistically.

Here’s how to do it.

Search engine rankings as a success metric

Once upon a time, measuring search engine rankings was all we had. Even if Google specifically said in their Webmaster Guidelines, “No SEO firm can guarantee rankings,” clients still begged for a position guarantee, thinking that it was the be-all, end-all of their SEO campaign.

Now, SEO experts think about things a bit differently.

The tricky thing is that people get hung up on the ranking and not on the result. Here’s what I mean.

After speaking for more than 15 years on SEO copywriting, there’s one question that rears its ugly head every time I’m on stage. During the Q & A section, invariably someone pipes up and says, “I’m only number three for my main keyword, and I want to be number one. What’s wrong with my site?”

If I’m on a panel, this is the time that the other panelists would subtly look at each other, raise an eyebrow and give each other “The Look.” OK, it’s THAT question again.

Our answer? If you’re number three – or even anywhere top ten – for your keyphrase, you’re good. Yes, you can do things to possibly push it up a few more positions (which might or might not be worth it in terms of ROI.) But there is nothing – nothing – wrong with a top-ten ranking.

Needless to say, that answer doesn’t go over well. But it’s true. Although, granted, people do see the first results more often than lower results. But people don’t automatically click on the first search result. They scan the search engine results page, looking for the “right” result.

According to Google, “Based on eye-tracking studies, we know that people tend to scan the search results in order. They start from the first result and continue down the list until they find a result they consider helpful and click it (italics mine) — or until they decide to refine their query.”

That’s why we write Titles that are both keyphrase-rich and highly compelling. Even if we’re not number one or two, our awesome Title allows our site to try harder. This is especially important now that Google is serving up on-the-fly search results with Google Instant. The better your Title, the more opportunity you have to “get the click.”


Yes, it’s important to put your (or your client’s) website on the search engine short list – and the way to do that is to get a top ranking for your main keyphrases. But stressing out because your page is number five in Google – and you want to be number one – is pointless.

At the same time, there’s no better feeling than knowing you used to be on page four – and now you’re on page one. Here’s how to measure your keyphrase ranking success:

• MakenoteofyourkeyphrasepositionsbeforeyoustartyourSEOcopywritingcampaign(orbeforeyouworkwithanewkeyphrase).

• Checkyourrankingsweekly.Rankingsfluctuatefromdaytoday–evenfromdatacentertodatacenter(that’swhyIcancheckasearchrankingfrommyofficeinOregon–andafriendcancheckthesamerankinginNewYork–andwe’llseeaslightlydifferentsearchengineresultspage).Thelessyouweirdyourselfoutoversmall,temporaryrankchanges,thebetter.

Sound overwhelming? Some people choose to purchase a tool (like SEOmoz PRO) to monitor positions.

Does hand-checking your positions sound overwhelming - but purchasing a robust SEO tool isn’t quite in the budget? Google’s Webmaster Tools can help.

Learning to love Google’s Webmaster Tools

Believe it or not, Google’s Webmaster Tools will become your best friend.

Google, bless their automated hearts, created a host of cool tools that you can use to streamline your SEO copywriting campaign. By placing a bit of code on your site, Google will crawl your site and return some great data for your geeky perusal.

This isn’t just “how many people visit my site” data, like you’ll see from some hosting companies. This is a total insider view of your website, which was previously only accessible for hundreds (or thousands) of dollars each month.

Additionally, if Google spots an issue (such as malware or suspicious links that could hurt your site rankings,) They will also notify you (or your client) via Webmaster Tools.

In short, you will learn to love Google’s Webmaster Tools. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up at Google.com/webmasters/.

http://www.google.com/webmasters/


Once you’re signed up and Google has verified your site, you’re ready to rock. To check out Google’s ranking report, simply go to Traffic > Search queries. You’ll see a screen like this:

And voila, a ranking report!


If I click on an individual result, I can see all the pages positioning for that, as well as their average search positions:

Webmaster Tools can also return some great technical data about your site, such as 404 error pages, pages with duplicate Titles and some site errors. It’s definitely worth checking out. Additionally, you can also view stats for pages where you (or your client) are the verified author. This is a great way to see if having your picture next to the search result helps to increase click through (short answer: it should.) Currently, this option is found under the Labs section.

Take some time exploring Google’s Webmaster Tools. You can easily slice and dice the data to get the information you need - it just takes some time to learn how you can filter it. Clients can give you access to this data by adding you as a “Restricted User.” This gives you access to the data, but you won’t be able to change anything.

You will find this setting under Configuration > Users

Please note that Google adds new features to Webmaster Tools and changes the layout from time to time. Just like with their keyphrase research tool, if you log in and see a different layout - don’t panic. The information you need is still there.

For more information about Webmaster Tools, this Search Engine Land article will be helpful:

http://selnd.com/17pZ11d

http://searchengineland.com/the-seo-guide-to-getting-started-with-google-webmaster-tools-150345


Sales/leads/ROI as a success metric

Yes, getting those top ten rankings is nice. But pairing them with profits is even better! As I’ve said before, the name of SEO copywriting game is increasing conversion rates and engaging your readers. This could mean:

• Generatingmoreleads

• Increasingtheaverageordervolume

• Increasingreadership

• Increasingdownloads

Good copywriting helps you meet your conversion goals. But how can you tell if your site content is actually performing?

One low-tech way to measure conversions - especially for local businesses - is simple: Include a unique local phone number on your website that’s different than what you use in your other marketing campaigns. This way, every time the special “website line” rings, you know to count those leads towards your overall site success. Easy!

This is an especially smart move if your prospects tend to want to talk to you rather than fill out a “contact us” form (this is common in certain industries such as legal, medical and construction).

But what if your customers don’t typically call and you want to see how individual web pages are performing?

That’s where Google Analytics comes in.

Does the word “analytics” gives you hives? Relax. Although it can be initially overwhelming, learning the analytics ins-and-outs will make you a better copywriter. You can see what works and what doesn’t work. And you can use that data to make intelligent tweaks to your copy (or your client’s content.)

You will have to put a little snippet of code on your site - this is so Google can open up its box of geeky goodies for you. But once that box is open, you’ll be amazed at the information at your fingertips. Some tempting tidbits for you to check out are:

• Howmanyuniquevisitorsareyougetting,andhowdoesthatcomparetolastmonth–orlastyear?

• Howmanypeopleareonyoursiterightnow-andwhataretheydoing?

• What’stheaveragetimespentonyoursite?Ifpeopleareleavingyoursiteafter30seconds,youknowyouhaveaproblem.


• Whatpagesdomostpeopleexitfrom?Ifabunchoffolksareexitingyoursitefromaparticularpage,youmightwanttorewritethepageandseeifyoucandecreaseexitrates.

• Whatlinksarepeopleactuallyclicking?Wonderingifpeoplearereadingyourcopyblockwaydownatthebottomofyourpage?Iftheyaren’tclickingonyourbottomlinks,maybenot!

• Whatareyourmaintrafficsourcesandkeywords?IsyourspecialTwittercampaigndrivinganytraffictoyoursite?Nowyoucanfindout!

• Isakeyphrasethat’spositioningwellhelpingyougainanyleads?Orshouldyoubefocusingonother,higher-valuekeyphrasesthatactuallyconvert?

• Howmanypeopleareaccessingyour(oryourclient’s)siteviaamobiledevice?Thisdataisespeciallyimportantifyou’reworkingwithlocalcustomers.

Google breaks down the data into three main sections:

Traffic sources: Where is the traffic coming from?Content: How are the individual pages performing?Conversions: Are people taking this desired action step? (Measuring this information takes an additional step.)

For instance, let’s say you wanted to learn what organic keyphrases are driving traffic.

To find that information, you’d go to Traffic Sources > Search > Organic - and you’d see a screen like this:

Notice the first result?

Unfortunately, if the searcher is logged into Google (for instance their Gmail account) or using a Google Chrome browser, Google “hides” the keyword information. You will still see some keyword data, but you won’t see all of it.


And no, Google probably won’t change this anytime soon.

If you wanted to see how people are interacting with the site, you would choose Content > In Page Analytics. Google will load the page within Google Analytics and show you how many people are clicking on the links.

You can even learn what people are doing on your (or your client’s) site right now. Google’s Real-Time reporting tells you what pages people are viewing, if they are new or returning visitors and what device they’re using to surf your site.

See? Learning how to work with Google Analytics isn’t that hard. It’s just spending the time to run some reports and see how everything pulls together.


Having a handle on your (or your client’s) analytics, knowing exactly where the traffic is coming from, and understanding what people are doing once they visit the site is incredibly powerful.

If a keyword isn’t making you money – you’ll know.

If a link isn’t getting clicked, you can delete it or swap it out for something else.

And if a campaign isn’t driving traffic, you can slice it from your marketing portfolio before it costs you more time and cash.

I highly recommend that you read the Google Analytics help section to learn how to install the tracking code, collect and analyze your data.

https://support.google.com/analytics/

Other recommended Google Analytics resources are:

- George Passwater created a two-part Google Analytics tutorial for Certification students. (You’ll find it in the conference call section of the member site.)

- Ian Lurie’s book, The Fat-Free Guide to Google Analytics.

- Jill Whalen’s post, Measuring SEO Success Via Google Analytics

http://www.highrankings.com/measuring-seo-success-340

- Avinash Kaushik’s book, Web Analytics: An Hour a Day (Avinash has a remarkable talent for making analytics fun and easy!).

Transforming good website copy into GREAT copy

The problem with learning more about analytics is that you start asking questions. You see a product page conversion rate and think, “I wonder how I can increase sales?” You write a headline, and wonder if it can be even better.

This is what’s called “landing page optimization” and it’s where the power of testing comes in. You can tweak a headline, test again, and see how the conversions fly. This information provides real data and saves you from guessing. Because guessing - ultimately - doesn’t work. I’ve tried a new approach on a whim and found that it increased sales over 30%. I’ve tried other approaches I was “sure” would work – and they weren’t as effective as I’d like.


Testing gives you the knowledge to see exactly what’s effective – and what’s not. Here’s how to do it:

The power of the A/B test

Running A/B tests is as old as direct marketing. Something as simple as changing the paragraph order – or even the font – can make a huge difference in conversions.

In the direct mail world, that means sending two slightly different versions of a sales letter and watching the results. In web terms, it means serving up two slightly different versions of a web page and testing which one “pulls” better.

An A/B test gives you a powerful window into your target audience’s psyche. It takes the guesswork out of copy creation. It allows you see exactly what works – and what doesn’t. And it helps you make more money.

You can start by testing your top sales and lead generation pages and see how you can improve them even more. Once you see what works, you can use that knowledge to tweak and test your other pages.

Additionally, if you are freelancing, setting up a Google Experiment would be a separate deliverable (meaning, you can charge for it.)

The low-tech way to create an A/B test is to write two different web pages and drive traffic to the first page through a PPC campaign. Then, after at least 100 unique visits, make a small change, rerun the campaign and re-measure your conversion data. It’s not a perfect measurement, because people who click on an ad might behave differently than organic traffic. And you have to pay for a PPC campaign to make it happen. But, you can do it.

What if you don’t want to run a PPC campaign to measure conversions - and you’re looking for a more robust option? Google again comes to the (free) rescue with Google Experiments.

You’ll find the Experiments link in Google Analytics by going to Content > Experiments

Setting up an A/B test is fairly simple. First, you’d set your objective, the test duration and the percentage of web traffic you want to measure.


Then, you would configure the experiment by providing Google with the test page URL.


It’s OK to test two completely different versions of a page and collect the results. However, once you have the general page structure, you can go on to test smaller variables such as:

• Headlines

• Photos

• Thepositionofanewslettersignupbox

• Subheadlines

• Colors


The more detailed you get, the more information you’ll have - and the better the conversions!

You (or your client) will need to place a bit of code on the site (which is different than Google Analytics code.) If your (or your client’s) site gets lots of traffic, you can get your data very quickly. If the site isn’t as well trafficked, it may take a little longer to get the information you want.

Sound like fun? Google has some helpful step-by-step resources that will help demystify the process. You can find them here:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1745147?ref_topic=1745207&rd=1

You may also want to read

- Tim Ash’s book, Landing Page Optimization- Brian Massey’s book, Your Customer Creation Equation- Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg’s book, Call To Action

Going forward with your SEO copywriting journey

Congratulations. You’ve officially completed the training!

First, I want to wish you a hearty “thank you.” I understand that your time is tight – and you’re constantly pulled in 100 different directions every single day. By completing the exercises and reading the chapters, you’ve made your SEO copywriting campaign a priority. You’ve grabbed the reins and taken control of your SEO success.

And that’s pretty cool.

Once your rankings start rolling in, please zip me an email to [email protected] or a Tweet to @heatherlloyd and let me know how you’re doing. I’m always thrilled to hear SEO copywriting success stories, and I can’t wait to hear yours.

If you need additional SEO copywriting help – maybe you have a quick question or you require additional resources - just know that my virtual door is always open. And if you’re attending a conference where I’m speaking, please let me know. I’d love to meet you.

Congratulations! Now, you have everything you need to achieve SEO copywriting success – and start seeing those sales and leads roll in.

Go get ‘em!

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