by Karon Thackston
In part 1 of this two-part article, I introduced a client of mine (AEwebworks) that suffered from some copywriting traumas.
The basic diagnosis was a lack of synergy within the copy,
ineffective use of testimonials, a lack of focus on the target
customers’ buying process and the inability of the current copy to
support the search engine goals of AEwebworks.
After doing some research, I created a plan of action for writing SEO copy that would impress the engines and AEwebworks’ visitors. (You can view the original copy in PDF format here.)
The Rewrite
After arriving at the revelation that most of those who were
shopping for online dating software were already familiar with the
features (and the associated benefits) of the software, I decided that
focusing on those elements would simply make AEwebworks sound like
every other developer of dating scripts. That would definitely not get
the results I was looking for.
My probing uncovered that almost all dating software customers have
three primary concerns: installation, upgrade policies and support. It
just so happened that AEwebworks had phenomenal offers for each of
these.
The headline was changed from this…
Get into Internet dating business with reliable, effective and profitable online dating software
…to this:
Customizable, Full Featured Dating Software Complete With Free Installation, Lifetime Upgrades & Outstanding Support
The body copy began by making an emotional connection with the
customer. It recognized the frustration the customer faced when trying
to choose between the different dating software programs and dating
scripts.
The copy then continued to connect by stating that AEwebworks
developed its software with the help of clients by listening to their
complaints, needs and wants. It also merged quickly into a section that
offered firm, proven solutions to dating site owners’ most pressing
problems.
As the customers continued to read, they found out about specific
benefits of buying software from AEwebworks as opposed to other
developers. And, of course, scattered throughout the page were links to
the ordering section of the site.
In addition to the emotional connection and the problem-solving
aspects of the copy, it was also search-engine optimized. You’ll notice
the subtle use of keyphrases throughout the copy: enough to promote
good search engine rankings, but not so much that the copy is stiff or
forced.
Every other word is not a keyword. The copy has a natural flow to it, but it is fully optimized to do its job where rankings are concerned.
You can view the current copy here.
The Results
It’s best to let the client handle this part of the article:
I wanted to tell you the good news! It looks like our rankings
are improving. We are back in Google and traffic has doubled. We have
record high sales for the last two weeks… about 70% higher than our
next best-selling two-week period ever!Overall, running our site got much easier after adding your copy
because people ask fewer questions about where to find information…
they are able to sort it out for themselves from the site copy. We
previously had about 5-10 emails a day on average from prospective
customers; now we get AT LEAST 15 A DAY! WOW!!
They are now back in play on Google and also have exceptional
rankings with other important engines, such as Yahoo!, MSN, and
AltaVista.
Another happy ending!