SEO. Search Engine Optimization.Utter these words and you will hear all about traffic reports, traffic sources, traffic increases and so on.And that is great.We all love traffic and we all go to extensive efforts to get more of it. Organically, if possible.But (and this is one big BUT) traffic alone doesn’t pay the bills or the employees. Sure, popularity is nice. It’s great, in fact, to see that people flock to your website or blog and that they can’t get enough of your content.However, that feeling passes and you’re still left with bills to pay. Sadly, you can’t pay them in traffic reports.So you need SALES.(Don’t we all?)A lot of the clients we have onboard at Idunn, the digital marketing agency I run tell us about investing in both AdWords and SEO. While that is a good plan in the short run (until you get that SEO juice properly running), it should be pointless in the long run.Why bother with SEO if you’re selling via AdWords?Why invest in AdWords if your SEO is working as it should be?I have come to realize that a lot of people treat SEO as something that has to be done, but they don’t really expect any sales from it.And this puzzles me greatly.Why would you invest in something with no ROI?If you’re a regular on SiteProNews, you must already know that a lot of my articles speak against vanity metrics and urge marketers to think of all their tactics in terms of sales.Will this tactic bring me more customers?If the answer is “yes”, then go ahead and implement it.If it’s “maybe”, go ahead and test it.If it’s “no”, don’t do it at all.And when it comes to SEO and content marketing, you should expect a lot of sales.Here’s how we do it.
Sales through SEO: the fundamental guide
When I hire SEO copywriters for my agency I make sure that they have a marketing background. To me, this is by far more important than knowing the most recent Google algorithm updates.Why?Because the latter can be easily learned. For someone with a marketing inclination, it can take mere days to learn all they need to know about optimizing an article or web copy.But to learn how to see everything through the inquisitive and critical eyes of a marketer takes a lot more time.The combination of the two, however, makes our copywriting services very successful. You see, we always tell our clients that we don’t do SEO writing for SEO’s sake. We do it to help them to get the right eyes on their content AND convert visitors into paying customers.No compromises, no in-betweens. SEO-friendly and conversion-friendly content rests on two main pillars:Targeted content
Oscar Wilde once said that “All art is quite useless” (in the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray).While that may sound incredibly romantic (and true), web writing isn’t supposed to be art.Therefore, it should serve a purpose.Before writing anything (blog posts, white papers, e-books or web page copy), we always think of whom we are writing for. And why.This goes beyond “our client is the owner of a medium-sized business”.Targeted content takes into account detailed buyer personas and their pain points, so that the writing can help them find a solution (or sell your solution). When personalization and relevance fail, the results can be as much as 83 percent lower than those of a well-targeted piece of content or campaign.Aside from going in-depth and closely analyzing buyer personas, targeted content must also take into account their buyer journey.Image via HubSpotLet’s look at a practical example. If you were to sell a social media management tool (like Sendible, Buffer or Hootsuite), how would you address buyers in all these stages?In the awareness stage, your goal is to create demand generation. Educate prospects, if you will. Thus, your content will tell them about the time and money they could save using such a tool instead of posting manually. You can also mention your advanced reports feature that not only helps them save time, but justifies social media investment, too.In the consideration stage, your prospect knows what they are looking for, so they’ll be searching for options. It’s time for you to tell them how they can benefit from each feature and why they should never settle for a lacking solution.In the decision phase, your goal is to make sure you beat your competitors. Case studies, testimonials and comparisons between your solution and those of your competitors are your best friends. The time to educate has passed. Your prospect now knows exactly what they need. You need to prove you can offer it.This is the phase where your content should get truly promotional. Don’t be afraid of big claims (as long as you can support them) and of telling the world about your past success and amazing plans for future development. Where does SEO fit in all this?Glad you asked!Enter the second pillar.
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