Copywriting tricks to turbocharge your meta data for conversions

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Copywriting tricks to turbocharge your meta data for conversions Posted: 19 Jun 2013 01:45 AM PDT Welcome to another of my mammoth-but-hopefully-useful blog posts! This month I've been reminded of the challenge (and dare I say it, enjoyment) of writing title tags and meta descriptions, having written them for a couple of clients in the past few weeks. Meta data puts the skills of even an experienced copywriter to the test. With such a small character limit, the writer must combine impact with brevity (the latter, I fear, not a quality present in this post) to achieve what is effectively a strong advertising message designed to drive traffic and ultimately increase conversions. I thought today I'd share some of the things I've learned from my experience as a copywriter that should help you craft better meta data for your website or that of your client. So that you can skip the bits you might already know if you're pushed for time, here's a list of what I'm going to cover in this post: A new way of looking at meta data What makes great copy? Best practice for title tags and meta descriptions What to do before you begin writing your meta data Tricks of the copywriting trade Looking at the bigger picture – branding SEOs or copywriters – who should write meta data? A new way of looking at meta data Meta data should not be viewed as just another field in your code or CMS that can be ignored, or worse, stuffed with keywords. Meta data is an advert for your site and will often constitute the first impression someone will have of your brand – and online or offline, first impressions count. Meta data plays a pivotal role in driving traffic to your site, and as such, it should be approached as a way of introducing your brand to your target audience. It may help you to imagine meta data as being a bit like a shop window. A set of search engine results pages is like a huge street full of shops all selling the same thing, with numerous brands all competing for the attention of potential customers. When you look down the list of results, you are effectively window shopping. Which of the brands on display has a good enough offering to tempt you in? Retailers hire window dressers to lure customers in with attractive window displays and banners advertising deals. Online, you effectively take on the role of a window dresser; writing your meta data is just as much a form of advertising as a shop window, clearly communicating your USP in a compelling way to entice visitors onto your site. In the example above, M&S neatly highlights a primary USP in its window display – its longevity:  "125 years of deliciousness", backed up by "Food for the nation since 1928" and other statements such as "quality you can count on". This engenders trust and combines with the colourful display to tempt visitors into the shop. In the search engine results pages we don't have the luxury of an attractive space to display our products (unless you count Image search), but we do have a reasonable number of characters in which to convince potential customers of our benefits. Why should a customer enter your shop and not the one next door? What makes great copy? The art of successful copywriting lies in communicating a core concept clearly and concisely, preferably in an original way. Meta data is copy – it's just very short copy. Great copy does the following: Appeals to its target audience, making them feel comfortable and good about themselves. Communicates a clear message, quickly. Sells the product benefits rather than the product features – people don't care if product A is X times longer than product B. They want to know how that extra size will make their life easier. Avoids cliché – your potential customers have seen hackneyed phrases such as "ticks all the boxes" many times before, so it will have little if any impact. Is easy to read, avoiding long words, jargon and complicated sentence structures. Is consistent, maintaining and conforming to a clear brand identity. So, now we've established the basics of good copy, let's run very briefly through the basics of search engine best practice for meta data, just to be clear about the limits within which we're working when we write it. Title tag best practice Title tags are currently a pretty significant ranking factor, as they help Google understand the content of a page and the search terms to which it is relevant. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Google places less emphasis on them in the future, as they're open to over-optimisation. I would aim for a balance of including a keyword and a USP or call to action, for example "Cheap Italy Holidays – Book Your Trip Today". Title tags should also conform to the following guidelines: 70 characters or fewer. Should contain a keyword at the start of the tag that accurately summarises the content of the page. Maintains a consistent structure throughout the site, with the brand name at the end separated by a pipe – for example, | SEOptimise Places the brand name at the start of the homepage tag. Meta description best practice Unlike title tags, these aren't a ranking factor. However, they play a significant role in click-through rate, and as such, should ideally conform to the following best practices: 160 characters or fewer, otherwise they'll unceremoniously get cut off in the search results. Compelling, giving users a reason to visit your site. Should contain a call to action – encouraging users to take the action you want them to take, e.g. "book your winter holiday online now". Contains keywords if natural and appropriate, because they will be emboldened in the search results and will therefore appear more relevant to what a user is searching for, as in the example below:   What to do before you begin writing your meta data Given the fact that most people skim-read the web, you have precious little time to capture someone's attention, so it's important to get it right. A little preparation will go a long way, so start by laying the groundwork. Write down your USPs – what makes you different from your competitors? Get into the mindset of your target audience – what will be going through their heads when they search, and what will they be trying to accomplish? Do you have any audience personas written down? If so, have a read of them before you begin writing. Take a look at your Analytics data to see which pages are driving good traffic from the SERPs. Then look at the meta data for those pages and see what may be helping to drive traffic. Also in Analytics, identify any keywords that are sending decent amounts of organic search traffic. Talk to your sales team – they're the people in the business who probably have the best idea of what it is about your products that appeals most to customers, and what's the best way of convincing them to buy. Take a look at the SERPs and get a sense of what your competitors are doing – do any stand out particularly, and if so, why? Some tricks of the copywriting trade You're now ready to start writing, so here are a few techniques that you may find useful. They won't all be appropriate to your brand, but they should at least get your creative juices flowing. Solve a problem – the staple of the copywriter's repertoire, this technique shows how your product improves the customer's life, focusing on its tangible benefits and not the features themselves. For example, rather than saying that a pack of crisps contains 50% less saturated fat, describe it as "helping you get that perfect beach body". Fear, uncertainty, doubt – this involves making readers question themselves. It's effective in that it draws readers in, but it can come across as scaremongering. For example, posing the question, "Cybercrime – do YOU know all the risks?" makes readers ask themselves whether they do and then click to find out what risks they may not know about. Word play – clever word play can be memorable, witty and make your copy stand out, but make sure you don't alienate your target audience and don't go for anything too obscure (for example, a literary reference that nobody will understand). From a Birmingham-based murder mystery party company, the strapline "Dying to entertain you" is a good example of clever word play. Being provocative – how many girls out there started buying Yorkie bars as a result of their "it's not for girls" packaging? Be careful with this technique though, as the playful can easily cross the line into the offensive. Knocking the competition – not generally advised; most brands want to avoid this because it makes them look mean and may get them in trouble with the ASA. However, done subtly it can work well. The warm and friendly Innocent Smoothies brand does this on its cartons by saying that its products don't contain "any weird stuff" – implying that competing products do. Intrigue – imply a secret waiting to be told and you'll find that people won't be able to resist clicking to find out what it is. This can be done simply by using words and phrases such as "find out more", "discover", or "see what everybody's been talking about". Gimmicks – special offers, use of capital letters (in moderation!), a boldly short description – anything that catches the skimming eye. Other copywriting tips I've found useful include: Rhetorical questions can be used to appeal directly to your audience – for example, "Looking for a great deal on your car insurance?" (in their head, they answer "yes, I am" and click to find out more). Use the language of your audience, if appropriate. If there's more than one way of referring to something, research monthly search volumes in Google's AdWords Keyword Tool to find out which is more searched for. Avoid jargon; if you sell consumer finance products, for example, use the language your customers will think in, not the financial jargon you use internally. As you write, ensure you look carefully at each and every page to ensure you're summarising its content accurately. The language on the page will also give you a starting point for what to write in the meta data, which may end up becoming a condensed form of the content on the page itself. Proofread and sense-check your meta data thoroughly when you're finished. Looking at the bigger picture – branding When you're chipping away at hundreds of title tags and meta descriptions, it's easy to lose site of the fact that meta data is only one part of a much bigger body of content associated with your brand, spanning a variety of media that is likely to include on-site web copy, off-site web content, offline publications, advertising and more. It's important to remember that although meta data serves a specific need, it's still vital to create a sense of unity across all forms of content to achieve a strong brand identity. It won't do to write meta data that's markedly different in style and tone from the business's other written content. It's also important to consider the user's experience after they click to view your website. Don't overpromise in your meta data. It must be an accurate reflection of what customers will find when they click to view the page, or they will simply go straight back to the SERPs and find another site. To maximise conversions, ensure that the on-site copy guides them further into the site and that the messaging on the page supports what they've read in the meta data. SEOs or copywriters – who should write meta data? I'll end by emphasising the importance of not skimping on quality when it comes to meta data. I’ve always argued that it should be written by copywriters, who know how to write for different audiences, not by SEOs, who may be brilliant at SEO but don't know much about adapting to different writing styles. It also reflects poorly on an agency or consultant if they send meta data to a client containing grammatical errors such as errant apostrophes, not to mention that such errors will give a very unprofessional impression of a client’s business if they make it as far as the live site. Meta data should be seen as part of the website's copy and branding, and as such, should be left to the copywriter. What do you think? Who writes your meta data? Do you have any tips to share for writing better title tags and meta descriptions? Share your thoughts in the comments below or get in touch on Twitter @RachelsWritings. Further reading Copywriting – Successful writing for design, advertising and marketing by Mark Shaw is a great introduction to the subject for those who want to learn more about copywriting. Image credits Typing on a MacBook by Hakan Dahlstrom on Fotopedia.com M&S shop window from Geograph.org.uk Yorkie bar by Leo Reynolds on Flickr © SEOptimise Copywriting tricks to turbocharge your meta data for conversions

SAScon 2013 – Our Top Takeaways Posted: 13 Jun 2013 06:25 AM PDT We really enjoyed our two days up in Manchester at SAScon 2013. Unfortunately, with three tracks going on and only two of us, we couldn't get to every talk. However, we did our best to attend as much as possible. So here are our top takeaways from our favourite talks. Day 1 Keynote – Alistair Thornton, Marketing Director thomsonlocal.com The big focus of this talk was on local businesses and local search. Some quick stats: £1 in every £3 spent in the UK is spent in small businesses 20% of UK business revenue comes from SMEs 20% of desktop search and 40% of mobile search has local intent In total, 61% of local searches result in a purchase As such it's more important than ever for small businesses to optimise themselves for search. However, it can be hard to balance the volume of leads they need to generate in order for it to be worthwhile with the costs of doing so. To provide anything of real benefit to local businesses, you can't use organic, paid, or local search alone. In isolation they don't drive enough search volume at a low enough cost. Self-service isn't a good option either, as it requires too much time and effort for the business owner, which they won't get back in terms of leads or revenue. The best option for local businesses is a solution which is as automated as possible and which will deliver multiple benefits. It needs to combine local, organic and paid results and deliver the maximum amount of benefits at the lowest possible cost per lead. Small business owners are more interested in leads and conversions than they are in search rankings, so that's what your focus should be. It can be best to find areas where they have already made some investment and build on it, rather than start from scratch – it'll help lower overall costs which is essential. The bottom line is to drive as much traffic as possible for the lowest possible cost. Small businesses can't afford to spend too much time or money on search, but clever strategies can help to drive lots of traffic, improve conversions, and generate revenue. There is a huge market for local search, you just have to tap into it effectively. Big Industry – Big Data – James Murray, Hitwise & Richard Rowley, Mindshare Users nowadays expect a seamless, consistent interaction with brands – regardless of what channel they're interacting through and whether they're offline or online. As such, it is essential that businesses don't silo their departments too much. All areas of the business need to join together in order to provide this unified brand experience. An example used was of NatWest's "NatYes" campaign. Advertising encouraged viewers to search for "NatYes" online. However, the SEO team hadn't been involved in this decision by the marketing team and, therefore, the "NatYes" search didn't yield any results. With the vast amounts of data that are being generated online every day, there is a huge amount of information which brands can use to get to know their customers, find more people like them, and keep them. However, it is the understanding of this data that is vital. Use big data to analyse trends and behaviours – in other words, use it to gain insights. It is these insights which are truly valuable and which can make a real difference to your ability to capture and retain customers. Use these insights to provide an integrated, optimised, interactive customer experience. The more you know about your customers the more individualised and targeted your messaging can be, meaning it will be more effective. Use your teams together within your company in order to create a consistent multi-channel approach which makes use of your data insights in order to target customers more effectively. In case you doubt how much brand matters, Richard Rowley showed us some data on how brand awareness affects click through rates. Normally, we expect the top organic results to get the most clicks, with the top three results gaining the most. This is generally true; however, there are some industries where it isn't. For example, in the finance sector a search for "current accounts" provides more clicks through on the second result MoneySupermarket, than the top result Barclays. A search for "compare loans" resulted in more clicks on the fifth result GoCompare, than the fourth result Tesco. This demonstrates clearly how brand power can affect click through rates, and further drives home how important strong, consistent branding is for businesses. Ranking at number one doesn't guarantee you traffic – you have to ensure you are targeting the right keywords and that you are picking terms which you are both recognised and relevant for. Making it Personal – Barry Adams, Pierce Communications & Matt Roberts, Linkdex Google are making search increasingly personalised. They use location, search history, browsing history, social circles, and known interests to try to provide the search results that they think are most relevant to users. Of course, they aren't entirely altruistic. Google's users aren't customers, they're products, so Google will deliberately promote the things which are most beneficial for them to promote. All of this means that search rankings will become increasingly useless, as every user will receive personalised search results. This links with and highlights the importance of points made in the "Big Data" talk, such as ensuring your search results provide relevant, useful information which has been tailored to users based on your insights into them. In order to create better marketing and content, you need to ensure that it is personalised. This is really just another form of direct marketing, and Google is the world's biggest direct marketer. They use the principle of analysing three data points: recency, frequency, and monetary value. You can do this too. Great content is important because it can help you to influence people – by which we mean alter their behaviour. You can change what they chose to buy and directly affect their actions. When looking to influence people, the people to target are those who are influencers in their own networks. Everyone is part of a network, so the easiest way to start doing this is by influencing networks which you're already a part of. You can then move into different circles, and start building relationships there. It is important when forging relationships to invest time and to treat people as individuals. It may take longer, but finding and making friends with online influencers can bring in big benefits, so it's worth the time and investment. Make people feel good about themselves, and demonstrate how you can be of value to them. Also, don't forget to maintain these relationships properly and keep them going – you never know when someone may become useful again. Finally, ensure the content you're producing is really good quality, as even your best friends won't share rubbish content. It has to be good quality – something you're proud to share and which people will genuinely want to read and talk about. Stalking the Zebra – Life After Panda and Penguin – Dixon Jones, MajesticSEO, Paul Madden, Manual Link Building & Dave Naylor, Bronco This was done as a panel session. The discussion focused on the latest Penguin update. The general consensus was that it had all been a bit of an anti-climax and that Google hadn't actually changed that much, which was surprising. Even with the perceived lack of an effect of Penguin, it was agreed that it is still worthwhile to clean up back link profiles. However, not everything was so straightforward. The three of them felt differently over the topic of Google Authorship. Dave Naylor was strongly against authorship saying, "If I want a local plumber I don't want the guy who can write the best content. I want the guy who can fix my leak". Each speaker was asked for one tip for the future: "Try and be an authority on your subject" – Dixon Jones "Understand your link profile" – Paul Madden "Evaluate where your site sits today and where it will be in 6 months. If it will cost too much to resolve the issues, sell the domain and start again" – Dave Naylor Maximising Brand Reputation Online – Nils Mork-Ulnes, Beyond & Robin Wilson, McCann Manchester As we've heard in several of the talks, brand awareness and brand reputation play a big part in click through rates and user search behaviour. As such, managing your brand reputation online is vital. A few key tactics for this are: Constantly monitoring what's going on and what people are saying about you Thinking things through properly – including worse case scenarios Knowing your audience inside-out and tailoring advertising to them Responding quickly and consistently to any issues raised Going direct to detractors in order to find the root of any issues Being human and using common sense in order to deal with problems Remembering that everything you say is on public record and acting accordingly In order to help maximise brand awareness, coordinate your PR, SEO, social, and advertising departments to ensure you're all delivering the same, powerful, brand message. If you can make use of word-of-mouth recommendations then do – they are the most powerful, most trusted type of recommendation. People like to share good experiences more than negative ones, so encourage them to do so and utilise what they say. A top tactic with brand marketing is to find areas where your brand propositions can overlap into your customers' daily lives and emphasise them. Online Consumer Psychology – Bas van den Beld, State of Search It is essential to remember that all customers are different and to treat them as individuals. To find out more about them you can use social media – it can provide a huge amount of insight into people. Social media can act very effectively as a mirror of the offline world. One of the best ways to engage with people is by finding out what they enjoy and what makes them happy, and going through that. You can feed their egos by allowing them to offer solutions and help, which makes people feel good about themselves. You should also be highlighting the benefits of whatever you're selling – people are ultimately interested in fulfilling their own needs, so using the word "you" can be a powerful tool. People are also heavily influenced by those around them. As such, finding people who are key influencers can be a fantastic way to spread awareness of your brand and find new customers. For example, Universal Studios in Florida marketed the launch of their new Wizarding World of Harry Potter park by releasing details to just seven incredibly influential Harry Potter fans. They gave them information, maps, photographs, videos etc. and allowed them to spread the word. It worked fantastically well and cost them very little. However, it is important to remember that people use social media as a space to relax in and talk to their friends. As such, you don't want to be pushing direct sales at them through their social media. In essence: Use data to tap into consumers' interests Tap into and focus on their needs Put yourself in their shoes by being aware of your medium of communication Focus on what makes them feel good. Doing this should help to cultivate a positive image of your brand, increase awareness, and ultimately drive sales. Day 2 Content Outreach – Getting It Right – Bas van den Beld, State of Search, Kevin Gibbons, Blueglass & Lisa Myers, Verve Search Content marketing needs to be about more than just link building. Nowadays, it ought to be a strategy which incorporates all of your content, including your onsite content and social media. In order to satisfy clients you need to be broad ranging and able to cover all areas of content across a wide range of channels. However, it is important to remember that all your pieces need to be high quality – simple quantity won't work. You can use news stories as a way to create new content, but you need to be agile and create topical content quickly in order to leverage the news angle successfully. One way to improve your content outreach is by ensuring everything you produce is top quality. You can also try creating articles which are specifically aimed at the website's target audience. To do this, start by pitching a range of individualised topic ideas to the website you want to publish on, and work with the feedback they provide in order to create something that works for their website as well as for you. This is also a great way to develop relationships, something which are essential to content outreach. Another tip for writing great content is to make sure that, whatever topic you're writing on and whoever you're writing the piece for, you find the human element in the story and bring it to the fore. Thus helps to engage people, making the piece more easily accessible and better for sharing. Understanding the culture and communication methods of the countries you're targeting is also key to successful outreach. Make sure you know how best to talk to the people you are asking to publish your content, as well as what is and isn't appropriate. Great content teams need to be able write engagingly but also need to have a good technical SEO background to ensure what they are producing and publishing will bring in real benefits. They also need to be able to adapt and change quickly as timing is vital, particularly for topical/news stories. Integrating Search and Social with the Wider Marketing Mix – Andrew Warren Payne, Econsultancy, Jon Myers, Marin & Judith Lewis, Beyond Cross-channel market integration is where things are heading. Agencies are starting to understand this, and more and more of them are offering a full range of services. The stats from Econsultancy show that: 52% offer full service 12% offer just SEO 10% offer SEO/PPC 7% offer just PPC 7% offer search/social mix 4% offer just social media 1% offer just display On top of this, content is becoming more and more central to SEO. Nowadays, 59% of companies and 66% of agencies have integrated their SEO and content strategy. Social media is also becoming integrated with search although, currently, only 40% of agencies are doing this. As this integration increases, the importance of determining attribution will also grow. Integration also means there will be a lot more data available, which means there's a great opportunity to gain further insights into user behaviour, so long as you analyse your data properly. This is a key point. The role of the marketer has changed – being able to analyse data is now a huge part of successful marketing. In order to create successful marketing campaigns you need to: Track your data Determine attribution Utilise what you've learnt to optimise your campaign You should make sure you're analysing your data from all channels. This includes social media, in particular Facebook advertising, as there is a huge amount of information you can draw from it. 67% of all offline marketing results in online search. As such, it is vital that you have all your marketing channels working cohesively together. To re-iterate, this means you need to integrate your advertising, social media, online marketing and offline marketing. Integration is important because it helps to engage the entire brain, increasing user awareness of the brand as well as increasing trust levels in it. This is why consistency across all channels is so essential to integration. A great example of this is 3's Dance Pony Dance campaign, which used TV ads, paid search, organic search, and social media, in one coherent, successful marketing campaign. It's also important to try to achieve a balanced blend of owned media, paid media, and earned media in your campaigns. They each have their own benefits and play a role in marketing. For a successful integrated marketing campaign, you need to have one fully developed, overarching strategy which will ensure everything works together to provide a consistent brand message. You should also ensure that you're measuring everything so that if you tweak anything you can be sure all the elements will still work together coherently. So, that's what we felt we learned from this year's SAS con. Which talks did you enjoy? What were your top takeaways? Let us know in the comments section below. © SEOptimise SAScon 2013 – Our Top Takeaways

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