Don’t be scared of SEO
It sounds more complicated than it is. I mean …
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION?
It would be as though we used SMOOTH TERRAIN INITIATIVE to describe a brazilian wax.
So, your first lesson in SEO … don’t let it scare you too much.
(But, also … don’t let me talk myself out of a job as a copywriter who knows SEO better than you do.)
Here are the basics.
WHAT IS SEO?
SEO is a method that helps search engines (i.e. Google) serve up content to its users.
A typical Google user types in the bare minimum to find what they want.
“why does my husband”
“who would win between”
“what happens if you eat”
“apple bottom”
“titanic guy”
Google’s job is to scour the internet and find the best match for you. In order to do that, it searches for articles that use those words.
So, a copywriter’s job is to use those words.
HOW TO FIND KEYWORDS FOR SEO
You need two things:
Research
+
being a normal(ish) human
That second part is the most important. Don’t overthink your content. If you know your target audience, you know what they’re searching for.
YOU, for example (MY lovely target audience) probably came upon this blog because you searched for something like:
“what is SEO”
“how to find keywords for SEO”
“titanic guy”
And now you realize that I used all of those in this blog post.
The research part is where copywriters are (typically) experts, especially when it comes to writing websites and blog posts. They’ll use free and paid platforms to refine your list of keywords so you’re likely to show up for both common and specific searches.
Think:
common: How to write for SEO
specific: How to optimize copy so titanic guy will find me as the best copywriter option for his christmas cards
One of my favorite free SEO tools is answerthepublic.com. If you like an overwhelming interface, check it out.
SHOULD YOU PAY FOR AN SEO TOOL?
Nah. If you’re a business owner who’s doing it all yourself, it’s very likely *not* worth the money.
But if you really want to be a pro, I like Semrush. (Note to self: become an affiliate.)
DON’T LET SEO BE MORE COMPLICATED THAN IT IS
If you’re writing a cohesive piece of content … that actually provides value to your audience … SEO will happen naturally.
You’ll naturally use the keywords that your audience is searching for.
GOOD WRITING IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN SEO
Your goal as a business owner is to write content that people actually want to read. If you focus on nothing else, you’re doing really, really, really, really well.