Marketing to women: gain more website visitors... effectively

Increase your website traffic—and convince visitors to buy after they arrive

Most customers use the web to research products or services before buying. Getting them to your website and persuading them once they arrive can involve a delicate balance in the use of keywords and coding strategies... but it's difficult for most search engine optimization (SEO) experts to do both well. We can help.

A full 60% of consumers use the internet as their primary way to search for local businesses, according to a 2007 survey by Internet data firm comScore... and 60% of these searchers go on to make a purchase from a local business. It's not just local, either. According to an eMarketer survey of more than 27,500 internet users worldwide, 63% use the web to research a product or service before buying. Search engine optimizationdefined Search engine optimization is a constellation of techniques designed to boost your website's rank on Google and other search engines, making it easier for customers to find you online.

Writing keyword-rich content is one of the most powerful components of effective SEO, but there are other tactics as well. This page focuses only on the writing component of SEO.

These are just two reasons that SEO has become a buzz word these days. According to marketing research firm Marketing Sherpa, companies that optimize their website in-house see a 38% jump in traffic; companies that hire SEO experts see a 110% jump.

The Achilles heel of many SEO companies

The typical search engine optimization company focuses much effort on bringing high numbers of visitors to your website through the strategic use of keywords in the content (text).

Unfortunately, the Achilles heel of many a search engine optimization expert comes into view once a visitor arrives at your website and finds keywords repeated excessively and unnaturally throughout the content. Far from persuading her to do business with you, the awkward writing drives her away. After all, the next website is only a click or two away.

We've all seen it—web content like: "We sell pens, black pens, blue pens, red pens, a red pen, the best pens, pens of the highest quality, and pens you'd find at your office supply store but at the lowest prices you've ever seen for pens." (While this is admittedly an extreme example, even a milder version is likely to send someone running—and not to your place of business. Why invest good money in attracting website traffic, only to drive them away when they arrive?)

Sound far fetched? Larry Bailin, author of Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?, estimates that you have 5 to 8 seconds to convince your web visitors you can help them. A great many things have to be right in order for that to happen... and poor writing isn't one of them.

The smartest search engine optimization experts know this and plan around it. Eric Enge, a regular contributor to Search Engine Land's Industrial Strength column, says, "We don't hire SEO copywriters to work with us and our clients. We hire writers. ... Hire writers and let them write good stuff. Great content, on a site that is search engine friendly, and that is effectively promoted, will always do well."

How we can help

What's the solution? While it would be great to offer a free tutorial on writing effective SEO content, in reality writing is a talent that is not easily taught. Like art or design ability, if you have the talent, you can learn new techniques to hone it, but if there isn't an artistic gene in your body, significant improvement is unlikely.

Instead, we offer to you what we can: our SEO writing service. If you're working with an existing SEO company but the content just isn't cutting it from the standpoint of human readers—it's unnaturally packed with keywords or simply isn't compelling enough to prompt your website visitors to want to buy from you—we'll rewrite your website's content so that both goals are achieved.

In a sense, we'll partner with your SEO company to make sure we use the keywords they've chosen in the places they want it to appear, and you'll have the best of both worlds: a high-ranking website (assuming your SEO firm does the rest of its job well, of course) and content that attracts and convinces your prospects.

This is one of the few services we offer to clients who have not also hired us for web design, and we offer it only because we're sympathetic to the cause—we've seen too many frustrated business owners and executives with otherwise well optimized websites! If you'd like our help, contact us today.

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