Posts

Showing posts from September, 2017

What’s the ‘Best’ Word Count for Google? [Updated for 2017]

Have you wondered how long a blog post or landing page should be for Google? Over the years, that number has been a moving target. Once upon a time, SEO consultants recommended that every page has at least 250 words. Amazingly, some people considered 250 words “too much content.” “People won’t read all of it,” folks complained. “I don’t http://ift.tt/2yM07pr

It’s 2017. Is SEO Copywriting Training Still Needed?

Have you shelved SEO copywriting training for your in-house writers, figuring the money was better spent elsewhere? That strategy may put your company at a competitive disadvantage. Conductor recently reported that half of all content jobs require some SEO skills. That means companies (like your competitors) are valuing SEO copywriting knowledge more than ever before. Are you ready? This statistic shocked me. Yes, http://ift.tt/2x3f3SM

What’s the Best Keyword Research Tool to Use?

Are you looking for the best keyword research tool out there — but there are too many confusing options? You’re not alone. A popular thread in the SEO Copywriting LinkedIn group is “what’s your favorite keyphrase research tool?” People recommended 11 different tools, ranging in price from free (if you’re willing to forgo search volume information) to http://ift.tt/2yN5tAK

Win a Webinar Spot with a #SEOCopyHaiku

Here’s a fun game to play — and your answer may land you a free spot in my upcoming SEO Content Writing:Step-by-Step webinar series starting September 19th. You know I like writing haiku, right? I even wrote 14 SEO writing tips in haiku (check out this blog post for the geeky goodness.) Now, it’s your turn. Tweet me your SEO writing haiku (@heatherlloyd) and http://ift.tt/2x2LKjm

52 Questions to Ask Your New Copywriting Client [Updated for 2017]

Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to ask a lot of questions…. Why? Because that’s how I learn. When you’re onboarding a new copywriting client — whether you work for yourself, or an agency — asking lots of question is the key to success. Sure, that means that you’ll be spending an hour (or more) on http://ift.tt/2yNjhLK

Quit Obsessing Over Your Freelance Writing Niche. Do This, Instead.

Right this minute, someone out there is wondering, “how can I find my perfect freelance writing niche?” (Maybe even you.) I receive heart-wrenching letters every week from writers trying to find their true path. These folks have heard they need to “find a niche” — and that’s where they get stuck. Because people aren’t focused on finding a http://ift.tt/2x1SZZ7

Danny Sullivan, You Changed My Life. Thank you.

Last week, I read the news that Danny Sullivan is shifting away from his role as Chief Content Officer of Third Door Media, and is taking an advisory role. I was shocked. Sure, Danny isn’t the first “first generation” search marketer to step away from the industry (I believe my first business partner, Jill Whalen, was the first.) http://ift.tt/2yNJbPC

3 Ways SEO Can Ruin Content

Do you think keyphrase usage destroys well-written content? Well, you’re right. Up to a point. Way back in 2011, Lee Odden wrote “Content Strategy and the Dirty Lie About SEO.” At the end of the post, he posed the question – the question that’s been debated ever since “writing for search engines” started: Do you think SEO ruins content? My http://ift.tt/2x2Znz8

Learn SEO Content Writing for Under $100 (for a Limited Time)

Do you want to dip your toes into the SEO writing waters, and you need a low-cost course to teach you the basics? Are you tired of trying to learn everything yourself, and you’d love a webinar series with live Q & A and a place to ask questions? Are you confused by conflicting SEO writing “rules,”and you’re wondering if you’re http://ift.tt/2yNJ0DW

How to Find Easy SEO Copywriting Opportunities

Did you grow up hearing, “If it’s easy, there must be something wrong with it”? Yeah. Me too. Instead of looking for the easy way out, we often look for the most challenging, brutal way to do things. We work harder. We work longer hours. If we’re not suffering, we aren’t trying. It’s all about the hustle. Granted, this http://ift.tt/2x42cQB

CBM092917

Image
Here are the notes from the Chris Brogan Media broadcast for xx/xx/xx. (You can watch this on my Facebook account ). This live video was all shot using Ecamm Live (client), the best way to do Facebook Live for Mac . http://ift.tt/2wo5Ct3

SEO Hacker’s Content Strategy for SEO

Image
In today’s online landscape, an effective SEO content strategy is what most SEO professionals yearn for. But where do we find it? Is there a blueprint for an effective SEO content strategy that would improve your SEO indefinitely? Yes, there is. Here are the main factors we monitfor for our SEO content strategy : Easier Topics Content Layering and Internal Links  Linkability Content Updates Having an effective SEO content strategy can help you improve your site’s overall ranking. Let’s get started. Easier Topics The first step in any SEO content strategy is topic ideation. The process begins with your keyword research – analyze and inspect keywords or topics that are relevant to your brand. You can use any keyword research tool that you’re comfortable with, however, there are three factors you must take note of. They are: Search Volume Traffic Value Keyword Difficulty The best thing that could happen is that all your desired keywords have high search volume with ...

Ask Yoast case study: SEO for a property inspector

Image
In this new Ask Yoast case study we’ll focus on an Australian real estate company: Building Properties Inspections Melbourne. This company specializes in building and pest inspections and provides its customers with reports, containing all the details of those inspections. What kind of customer makes use of these services? You could think of people who consider buying a property and therefore want to know if it’s in good condition. Or people who have already bought a new home and discovered timber pest afterward. Optimize your site for search & social media and keep it optimized with Yoast SEO Premium » $89 - Buy now » Info People search online first Of course, services like these are offline services. After making an appointment, someone of the company will actually come to your house for the inspection. However, to make this appointment, people need to find the company first. Some visitors may find the company thanks to the advice of a friend who has already used thei...

Should Anyone Even Care If Google Now Powers SIRI Results?

Image
Now that Apple has switched from Bing to Google for SIRI’s web search results, I have been trying to wrap my head around the implications for our clients. In keeping with Apple’s secretive ways, it’s not exactly clear there are any. Here’s a voice query result for “outdoor seat cushions”: The results are typically presented as a set of five results in an iOS tile showing the title, description snippet and URL. These are the same as you would see in the Google SERP for this query. Note, they are stripped of any ads, featured snippets, instant answers, knowledge panels, etc. Google is not making jack off these queries. Neither was Bing btw. And local voice searches such as “gas station near me”, some of the most valuable queries, still show Apple Maps results. But I imagine the traffic and data Google gets from being the default search engine in Mobile Safari makes up for it. Scrolling to the bottom of the tile reveals a small “Show Google Results” link that takes you to the Google...

How to improve WordPress search

Image
The default WordPress search functionality is certainly lacking in areas. Although changes were made in 2013 to improve it, there are still a few areas where WordPress could use some help. It is, however, relatively easy to improve WordPress search by adding a few pieces of code. Here, I’ll list some of the methods you could use to make WordPress search better. Optimize your site for search & social media and keep it optimized with Yoast SEO Premium » $89 - Buy now » Info Sort by relevance In older versions of WordPress, search results were sorted by date and not much else. Because this is (at the very least) annoying for websites with a lot of posts, WordPress core introduced a patch that would change the way search results are sorted. The changes are as followed: Results with a full sentence match in the post title are listed first. Search results that include all search terms in the title, but not a full sentence match, are listed next. Results including any sear...

CBM092817

Image
Here are the notes from the Chris Brogan Media broadcast for 09/28/17. (You can watch this on my Facebook account ). This live video was all shot using Ecamm Live (client), the best way to do Facebook Live for Mac . http://ift.tt/2ftVAj4

SEO for non-profits

Image
SEO is important for every website that wants to attract traffic. SEO for non-profits, in that regard, isn’t that different from SEO for other businesses. For non-profits -often struggling to make ends meet- it can be a cheap and effective way of attracting traffic. Making sure your website is findable in the search engines increases the chance that people will find their way to your non-profit organization. So, what SEO challenges are the most urgent for non-profit organizations? I’ll tell you all about those in this post. Optimize your site for search & social media and keep it optimized with Yoast SEO Premium » $89 - Buy now » Info SEO is a must for a non-profit organization It’s important for your non-profit organization to rank well in Google. Why? You want your audience, the people you’re aiming to help, to find their way to your website. When you’re findable, it’s much easier for them to get in touch and receive your information. Also, you want potential donators to fi...

What’s the Best Keyword Research Tool to Use?

Are you looking for the best keyword research tool out there — but there are too many confusing options? You’re not alone. A popular thread in the SEO Copywriting LinkedIn group is “what’s your favorite keyphrase research tool?” People recommended 11 different tools, ranging in price from free (if you’re willing to forgo search volume information) to http://ift.tt/2hublL9

Managing access to Yoast SEO with SEO roles

Image
With the release of  Yoast SEO 5.5 comes a great new feature: SEO roles. A site admin can now determine in the backend of WordPress who gets access to the various settings and features of Yoast SEO. This makes for a more fluid and flexible access protocol for different kinds of users on a site. It is no longer a one-size-fits-all solution, but a more tailored one. SEO roles make Yoast SEO even more powerful for every type of user. Here, we’ll explain why these roles are so awesome. Optimize your site for search & social media and keep it optimized with Yoast SEO Premium » $89 - Buy now » Info Managing user roles in Yoast SEO 5.5 It’s always been a challenge to use Yoast SEO in a larger site environment. As an admin, you’d have to choose between offering users full access to the plugin or just access to the SEO post editor part. That means a regular user couldn’t use the redirects manager, for instance, and had to ask an admin for help every time ...

Yoast SEO 5.5: Introducing SEO roles

Image
We’ve got good news for site managers and site owners: Yoast SEO 5.5 now supports SEO roles. It’s no longer all or nothing for users of Yoast SEO because two new roles with several capabilities let you make more deliberate decisions about who has access to what SEO settings in the backend. By using a WordPress permission plugin, you have even more fine-grained control over roles and capabilities. Let’s dive right in! Optimize your site for search & social media and keep it optimized with Yoast SEO Premium » $89 - Buy now » Info Managing SEO roles with Yoast SEO 5.5 The most prominent feature of Yoast SEO 5.5 is SEO roles. Let’s say you have editors working on your site and you want them to be able to manage redirects for themselves. Previously, these editors had to ask you as a site administrator to do this for them because they didn’t have access to the redirects manager. Now, you can grant them access to these particular parts of the plugin. Two new roles, the...

SEO Competition Analysis Guide + Tools

Image
SEO Competition analysis is an essential aspect of any SEO campaign. Aside from your link building campaign , content writing and publishing, and keyword research, you must be mindful with how your competition performs in the online landscape. SEO Competition Analysis Competition analysis is not as easy as it sounds. You have to be critical in knowing every aspect of your competitor’s performance and how you should adapt your strategy accordingly. If you follow just a single strategy all throughout your campaign and you were never aware of how or what your competitors were doing, then you will be missing out on important things that could have improved the circumstances of your website if you had taken advantage of them.  Having the ability to analyze your competitors can help you improve your strategies, and be enlightened on opportunities that can take your campaign to even greater heights. Another benefit of knowing your enemy is being able to know the areas where you could ...