Three of the most critical elements of digital marketing
By: Ben Schultz
Tags: SEO, Digital Marketing, Copywriting, Marketing, Copywriting Tips

Digital marketing is not a one-dimensional approach; here are three essential points to keep in mind when marketing online:

1. Write for the person, not the keywords

While hitting the occasional keyword in a blog post or article can help get search hits, you must be careful not to shoehorn in terms that feel contrived or unnatural. Over the past few years, digital marketing agencies have realized that writing for the audience (rather than for the search engines) is generally the best approach for making your content reach a wider audience.

Think natural phrases, not stuffing

At the end of the day, you want people to read your articles, not web crawlers. Moreover, Google (and other search engines) have developed sophisticated algorithms that help its users find the content they are looking for by considering more sophisticated metrics besides keyword stuffing. If your content is relevant and engaging, the big search engines are going to feature your site more heavily than those that are purely trying to game the system.

Social media equals fewer keywords

As for writing for the person, this piece of advice might seem like common sense, but it is far too often overlooked in favor of trying too hard to fulfil SEO criteria. Don't treat your readers as mindless drones; instead, treat them with respect. At the end of the day, it's people that click on ads, not web crawlers. Another critical feature of writing for the person first and foremost is that people are social. Keywords used to be a major factor in search rankings, but the rise and rise of social media means that more people are finding content (and sharing it themselves) through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Propagation of content through social media is the driving force behind what makes an article go viral, not spamming in keywords for the sake of getting hits. Keyword dependence is a rat-shot approach; any hits via this method will generally involve an element of luck. Writing for the person means that your content will get shared time and time again, giving your article a chance for exponential exposure.

2. Avoid these cheap tactics when trying to improve your SEO

Keywords aren’t what they used to be. Back when search engines were in their infancy, backlinking and keywords were two of the biggest factors in determining which sites a search engine should hold in higher regard, functionally speaking. Why have these metrics fallen out of favor over the last decade or so? Well, as it turned out, it didn’t take long for people to realize that keywords and backlinking could be gamed. By setting up dummy sites or pages stacked with hundreds of keywords, webmasters could get sites to move higher up the search listings. Naturally, these problems were curtailed over time, but many companies still erroneously believe that stuffing keywords is a wise choice.

Stuffing keywords

As mentioned in the introduction, stuffing keywords isn’t just lazy; it’s ineffective and even detrimental insofar as content marketing is concerned. Don’t even bother trying to game the system, because Google’s search algorithm is much more sophisticated now, and these cheap tricks don’t work anymore.

Don’t force keywords where they don’t belong

When writing an article, shoehorning in keywords where they don’t fit is bad for a number of reasons, including making it awkward to read. At the end of the day, people want to read well-written content, not nonsensical drivel that was designed to ensnare web crawlers instead of actual people.

Ignoring other search engine optimization techniques

While keywords still do have some impact on search results, there are many more SEO techniques that are simply overlooked or ignored. One such example is metadata. Simple things like using text descriptions for your images will do wonders for your SEO. Why is this? Well, while it does help give your post another way of being found, it also enables those with visual impairments to get a sense of what the image is, enriching their browsing experience. Sites like Google reward sites that put text descriptions for their images; conversely, they will tend to punish those that don’t bother.

3. Use professional copywriters (or pay the penalty)

A website that has no useful content is of no use to anyone. That should be obvious, but it’s amazing how often this is overlooked. Simply filling in pages with poorly written text can tarnish your company’s image, too. Many businesses, especially smaller ones, will tack on some written content to their site as an afterthought. Here are four major reasons why some site owners neglect to use a professional copywriter (and why each point is invalid):

a) They try to do it themselves, overestimating their own writing ability, or they palm off the task to an equally unqualified writer within their organization.

Say, for example, you run a software company with dozens of software titles available for sale. You may well be an expert in each title you sell, but your ability to write about the product in a way that puts your product in its best light might not be as polished as a professional copywriter. By explaining what your products serve to do in simple terms, a skilled copywriter who is familiar with the field can then concoct robust descriptions that will make your product irresistible to the customers you hope to attract.

b) They outsource the job to the cheapest person they can find, leading to broken or poorly written English.

This is usually worse than if you wrote it yourself (assuming you’re not a well-practiced writer, of course). Taking the software example from the first point, we can see that at least you (as the hypothetical software company CEO) have the knowledge about what you’re writing. Copywriters who only charge 2 or 3 cents per word and going to be terrible — there’s no sugar-coating this fact. Writers who charge paltry sums often don’t speak English as a first language, will frequently make mistakes, and will routinely skip over putting in the hard yards to accurately reflect your product. You might think you’re saving money by skimping on upfront costs, but you’re actually damaging your brand’s reputation.

c) They think it’s too expensive.

Copywriting doesn’t need to cost thousands of dollars if you don’t want it to. However, it’s important to invest in a good writer, as this will be the first thing your audience reads when they enter your site; you don’t want it to be full of nonsensical punctuation and embarrassing grammatical errors. Like mentioned in the second point, spending less will actually end up costing you more in the long run.

d) They simply figure they don’t need any writing at all.

Even a website selling art should have some accompanying writing. Besides giving a text-based description for the vision-impaired users as well as those who want to learn more about the art itself, the text will significantly improve your site’s SEO, driving more visitors to your site. Additionally, routine blog posts help engage your audience. Nothing’s more boring than following a site that remains static indefinitely. Even the occasional blog post will help your audience feel comfortable that your company is active.