Any online business knows how important it is to make sure that their written material ranks high on search engines.
There are a few opinions that exist about how to go about doing this. Some claim that making sure the keyword is present throughout the written material is a good method to boost SEO rankings. Some claim that if the content is good enough, no keywords will be necessary.
While mentioning keywords is necessary, repeating them will not make writing appear genuine and organic. Doing this will not boost SEO rankings. The algorithms of search engines will recognize that keywords are being repeated.
Writing good content that rarely mentions the keyword is much more genuine and organic. But this also may not rank high on search engines because keywords are not being mentioned enough.
Sales writing marries the best of both worlds, and has proven to be effective in boosting SEO rankings.
Why “Keyword Stuffing” Does Not Boost SEO Rankings
What does “SEO” mean, anyway?
It stands for “Search Engine Optimization.”
Pay close attention to the last word of that description: Optimization.
What does it mean to “optimize” something? It means to get something to operate at the best of its ability.
If a keyword is mentioned every third line in something written, would that make the written material “optimized” in and of itself?
It wouldn’t, and it would not be engaging either.
Another reason why repeating the keyword does not boost SEO rankings is because many do the same, causing oversaturation.
When it comes to creating businesses online, one of the biggest complaints is about oversaturation. This makes everything look the same because everybody is doing it.
This is why repeating keywords does not optimize SEO rankings. Too many content writers are doing it, which causes search algorithms to not recognize anything.
Why Quality Content Alone Does Not Boost SEO Rankings
Just because keyword stuffing should not be done does not mean mentioning keywords should be ignored outright.
Many claim that as long as articles and descriptions are very engaging, tell a vivid story, and emotionally grip the reader, it will lead to clicks and conversions.
In the abstract, this is not an accurate statement.
If an amazing story does not include any keywords, it will not be discovered by search algorithms. It might yield a very high conversion rate, but very few will discover it in the first place.
Because the goal of writing is to boost SEO rankings and conversions, writing engaging content only solves half of this problem. Good storytelling solves the latter but fails at the former.
Writing good content will boost conversion rates, but it will not get others to find whatever is being sold.
This is where sales writing comes in.
What Is Sales Writing?
There seems to be a misunderstanding between “SEO writing” and “sales writing,” implying that there is a difference between the two.
An uncomfortable truth that needs to be understood is that because starting an online business has become so popular, SEO writing and sales writing are slowly becoming one and the same.
Sales writing is also known as copywriting. This kind of writing combines the art of selling something by telling a compelling story that brings out the emotions in the reader, and the art of marketing by mentioning the name of the product or service.
Copywriting weaves the narratives of SEO writing and storytelling by concentrating on both at all times. Good copywriting combines organic storytelling that constantly refers to the product or service that is being sold, explaining how the product and service can solve problems.
How Good Sales Writing Is Done
Say that we want to promote contractor software for small businesses. In order to do this properly and in order to get the best SEO rankings when writing about this software, a number of things should be done.
First, notice that each paragraph in this article has been less than five lines. This is called the “five line rule.” No paragraph in sales copy should be longer than five lines.
Think of how movie trailers are presented. In order to get the viewer excited, they have a lot of pauses. Sales writing needs to have similar “pauses.”
Because our attention spans are a lot lower now than ever before, it is now much more effective to separate paragraphs into shorter lines. This holds the attention of the reader, as a paragraph that is longer than 5 lines will not hold attention too well.
Another good sales writing technique is to tell a story that pumps emotions.
The best methods of storytelling, when it comes to copywriting, are methods that make the reader curious. Of the emotions that you want to elicit, curiosity is the one that you want to “bring the reader back to.”
For example, good copy of contractor software for small businesses would mention a problem that no other forms of software could solve, the journey of finding proper software, then ending with finding the right software.
The longest part of sales writing needs to be about the journey about finding the product or service you are presenting. This needs to be the longest part because it will pump the readers’ emotions the most. It will get them to constantly ask “so what did you do about it?”
It is very important to have readers ask this question as long as possible.
What Good and Bad Sales Writing Looks Like
Here is a small example of how a sales letter for contractor software for small businesses would not look like:
Our contractor software for small businesses is really good. It helps small businesses with everything they need when it comes to tracking their numbers and keeping their staff happy. It only costs ___ per month, is really easy to use, and will solve everything related to your business. When you set up our contractor software, you will not be disappointed. Our company has been in business for 40 years and we are very knowledgeable about contractor software. It is our passion and it will help you a lot.
This is what you do not want to do. What you see above is a boring wall of text that does nothing to get the reader curious about anything.
If there is not a boring wall of text, there are glaring mistakes in bad copywriting, as you can see here.
What you’ll see next is a better example:
Owning a small business has never been easier these days.
But just because it’s easy to start a business does not mean it is easy to maintain a business.
You’ve used all kinds of things to track the right numbers: You’ve used spreadsheets, created charts by hand and posted them all over your office, but no matter what you do, it’s seemingly impossible to reduce the “time overhead” involved in your business.
It seems like no matter what you do, you need to dedicate way too much time when it comes to tracking the numbers of your business.
The frustrations continue, as you go through program after program finding no solutions.
What if there was contractor software that would solve this problem?
Notice how this tells a story and brings out emotions.
Take a look at how this author is selling his book. This is how good sales writing is done – it gets people interested and emotionally invested.
Another thing to know is that the longer sales writing is, the better. Longer sales copy gives you more opportunities to organically insert keywords, present testimonials, and provide information.
Conclusion: The Do’s and Don’ts of Sales Writing
Here is a short list of things you should and should not do when writing with the intent to sell something or increase its SEO rankings.
DO:
-Keep paragraphs short, under 5 lines
-Mention the keyword once every 10 lines or so
-Tell a compelling story revolving around the keyword
-“Cliffhang” your audience, keeping them guessing about what happens next
DO NOT:
-Be too informational. Information is “boring.” Stories are exciting.
-Mention other keywords, even if these keywords are part of your brand
-Contain just one story when writing about the journey involved with finding the keyword. Your sales copy will be much more believable if there is variety
-Be afraid to make sales copy long. In most cases, the longer the sales copy is, the better.
