Category Archives: Blog

SEO web page target

Using SEO Web Page Content to Increase Profits

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By Rhonda Campbell

writing on target
Pic by Chassutt – Wikimedia Commons

Although adding SEO content to your website can help your company to rank higher in search engines, if you focus on too many topics in your website content you might miss the mark. It’s a reason SEO article and web page content writing may best be approached with your company’s brand and mission statement in mind.

Reaping the Rewards of Content Focus

In its June 26, 2012 “Increasing Conversions and Leads through SEO” article Media Post puts it this way, “When it comes to content, ensure that each page on the site focuses on one logical topic and easily identifies the company.” Plainly stated, if you don’t focus your content you may end up attracting visitors who care next to nothing about your business products and services. Or .  . . you may only attract a few visitors.

When I refer to content I’m including SEO articles, web page copy, videos and images. I include images because to optimize your website you want to make sure your images are accompanied by descriptive text. For example, if you use Word Press as your content management system (CMS) make sure you add targeted keywords in the image URL and the image description box. Doing so can help to further distinguish your company from the masses of other online businesses.

SEO Can Increase Your Company’s Profits

To increase your company’s profits your SEO web page content should also be written with crisp action verbs. The good news is that these and other online content strategies are fairly easy to learn. The not so good news is that writing engaging content takes time, especially when you consider the fact that companies with a prominent online presence have thousands of pages of well crafted and topic focused content

It’s also a reason that professional experienced writers are worth their weight in gold. Professional writers who have experience writing for the Internet, can offer suggestions to improve your customer traffic. They meet deadlines, are open to feedback and take pride in their work. In a nutshell, they are assets, excellent business partners. However, and perhaps most of all, professional writers love communicating with words. Writing for them is more than a job; it’s a reward.

Contact me to start fulfilling your writing and project management needs.  I look forward to hearing from you! 

Sources:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/177618/increasing-conversions-and-leads-through-seo.html?edition=48500#ixzz1zDYJuwVz

Why You Can’t Turn Away from Those Pesky Email Subject Lines

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By Rhonda Campbell

titles in email subject lines

If you’re like me, you receive hundreds of emails daily, many of the emails coming from other entrepreneurs. Where you and I might differ is how we view and consider subject lines in the emails we receive.

Why Some Email Subject Lines Scream “Open Me!”

As a professional freelance writer I regularly scan and ponder email subject lines, not because it’s my job. I do it because I’m curious as to which subject lines, which play on words, grab my attention . . . enough to cause me to click several (admittedly, some days it’s only a few) of the many emails I receive.

One thing I’ve noticed about email subject lines is that, when written for effect, they follow a business’ intent and provide clear clues as to what the body of the email is about. What do I mean by this?

If an email is sent to inform recipients about a company policy change recipients may not want (but that honest business owners need to alert recipients about), subject lines in these emails use few, if any, action verbs. For example, one such subject line might read “Information about our discount rates.” That’s a less than “punchy” subject line. It’s written to soften a blow. Open the email and you might discover that the discount rates you received when you became a first time customer of a cable company have expired.

On the other hand, when seeking action from readers, email subject lines might read “Purchase Your Laptop Now; 50% Off Sale Ends in 12 Hours” or “Get Free Shipping on Books Thru Midnight”. Those subject lines pack more punch than the email subject line about discount rates. They’re meant to. After all, the intent (e.g. to inform, to inspire immediate action) of the emails is different.

It’s these and other nuances that people often over look that I pay attention to. I can’t blame it all on years of writing. The fact that I majored in psychology comes into play as well.  I’m curious about what motivates people to take certain actions, choose one option over another.

After all, each of us could just hit the delete button on all the emails in our in-bin, but we don’t.  And we don’t for a reason. Good, effective writing is a huge part of that reason.

Contact me to start fulfilling your writing and project management needs.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Harness the Value of Writing Research

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By Rhonda Campbell

writing research
Pic by Julo – Wikimedia Commons

By working with a professional writer you can achieve your goal to regularly connect and communicate with your target audience. You can also save yourself hours, if not days and weeks, of research time. This, of course, can translate into short and long-term financial savings.

This is possible because experienced writers, like technologists, have skills that allow them to drive your business forward in ways you may not have previously been aware of. Research, being aware of valid online and offline resources to access for the best facts and information, is amongst a talented writer’s skills. Furthermore, hiring a professional writer to conduct the right research for you can give you:

  • Deeper insights into trends impacting your target audience
  • Awareness of shifts in your industry
  • Opportunities to build and maintain consumer trust
  • Chance to distinguish yourself from other business owners
  • Wealth of quality written content to use to continue to expand your online and offline presence
  • Confidence in the written content that you publish
  • Knowledge of other types of content being published by other business leaders in your industry that you were previously unaware of

Hire a professional writer to create well researched articles for you and readers may come to see you as an expert in your industry. Include the author’s byline with the online articles and your business can get picked up by Google News, generating even more customer traffic for your business. Once articles your business publishes are picked up by media outlets like Google News, readers can create subject (e.g. marketing, writing, green living) or business name (e.g. Disney, Chistell, Pep Boys) alerts so they receive email notices when your company is mentioned in new articles, press releases, etc. It only takes seconds to create the alerts; however, the benefits your business can receive if hundreds or thousands of people create alerts on your company name may extend for years.

All of the above is driven by quality content. In addition, if your business hires a professional writer to research, write, self-edit and publish quality content that is written in an engaging style, you can build a following through social media channels and RSS feeds.

Contact me today to start fulfilling your writing and project management needs.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Writing for the Right Target Audience

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By Rhonda Campbell

Do you read all of these magazines regularly:  Outdoorsman, Romantic Times, People, Auto Racing, Essence, Ladies Home Journal, Guitar, Teddy Bear, Vogue Knitting, Track and Field News, Computer Weekly, Ad Busters, Art Doll Quarterly Wax Poetics and Parabola? My guess is that, even if you have a broad range of interests, you don’t read all of these magazines each month. In fact, I’m guessing you’ve never read all of these magazines. . . . Brace yourself. The same way you don’t read every magazine or slick that’s on the market, not every consumer wants the products and services that you develop and sell. The sooner you accept this fact, the sooner you can start developing content that attracts and retains the attention of your company’s target audience.

So, who is your target audience? Is your target audience comprised of college students who knit two or more days a week or is your target audience made up of middle aged men who pay a hundred dollars a month to buy tickets to NHRA drag races?

If you’ve been managing your business for two or more years you have enough information with which to create a composite of your target audience. For example, let’s say you own a restaurant – receipts can show you when your busiest hours are. If your customer traffic picks up significantly Monday through Friday at mid-day, there’s a good chance that a large part of your target audience is comprised of retirees or stay-at-home moms. You could easily verify this by coming to your restaurant during peak hours and observing your customer base.

Keep these people in mind as you create content for your newsletters, flyers, websites and social media accounts. You also want to work with a professional writer to create content of interests to the type of people living within a certain radius (e.g. 12 miles) of your restaurant. For example, if your restaurant was located close to a college, you’d want to hire a writer to create content that peaks the interests of this demographic as well.

The fact is, even without the Internet, as a business owner you benefit greatly when you create content that speaks to and resonates with your target audience. The value of content cannot be overstated. You need content to create radio ads, television ads, press releases, magazine articles, job descriptions, books, etc. Furthermore, the Internet provides additional tools with which to create and distribute your message, which can make this a very rewarding time for you as a business owner if you understand and appreciate the role writing plays in serving as a bridge you can cross to reach buying customers.

Once you understand this you’ll realize how important it is to describe your target audience and your business objectives to the professional writer you hire. An effective writer will also ask you questions about your business in order to get a clear image of your target audience. This, in turn, equips a professional writer to develop and write content that satisfies you and your customers. And you know what’s said about happy customers . . . they come back and give you more business.

Contact me to start fulfilling your writing needs today.

Using Articles to Build and Grow an Online Business Presence

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By Rhonda Campbell

Take a look at your Alexa (www.Alexa.com) website rankings to quickly measure the strength of your business’ online presence. Unless your business website has the Number One ranking I suggest that you continue to tweak your website. In fact, you might want to add a blog to your business website.

To get the most out of your blog you’re going to need to add new content or new articles to your blog about four to five times a week. About three months into doing this don’t be surprised to see that your business website receives spikes in search engine traffic on the days you upload new articles. This is what happened at Write Money Incorporated (www.writemoneyinc.com), a website that I create content for.

And it’s true. You will benefit from including targeted keywords in your articles. However, my experience as a professional freelance writer has been that just by writing naturally, certain phrases will appear in articles organically. When this happens articles flow smoothly, making them easier to read.

After all, the point of writing is to communicate with others. Writing is merely one tool available to you with which to communicate. Other tools, whether you are communicating with friends, family or customers, include speaking, illustrations, cooking, dancing and body language. Use two or more communication tools effectively and you can build a sizable following.

As a business owner you may be clear about the importance of connecting and communicating with your current and prospective customers. What you might find challenging, especially when you consider your jam packed work schedule, is writing hundreds and thousands of articles to post to your company’s blog. This is where the value of hiring and working with an experienced freelance writer surges.

A talented and experienced freelance writer can do more than drive traffic to your business website, introducing new customers to your products and services. A talented and experienced freelance writer can also help you increase your search engine rankings. If you place ads on your website, hiring and working with a freelance writer can also help you generate more ad revenue. Furthermore, if the freelance writer you hire and work with has valuable social media marketing experience, the benefits you receive broaden even more.

This article was written by Rhonda Campbell, an experienced freelance writer for hire at www.writerrhondacampbell.com