Website Optimization for Retail Custom Frame Shops SEO Copywriting By: Maureen A. O Connor, Tru Vue Marketing Associate Introduction We have already covered some relevant information in the first two articles in this series on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you haven t already, please read the first two articles for an introduction on how search engines work (Article 1), and how to develop a keyword list specific for custom framing (Article 2). To ensure you get the most from this article, it would be best to complete the following: Read How Search Engines Work Read Keyword List & 4 Simple Steps for Implementation Considered the needs and wants of your target audience Defined your keyword list based on the above needs and wants Determined what web page you will utilize certain keywords If you have completed the above checklist - now it s time to really get into the nitty gritty and dig into SEO copywriting. Because SEO copywriting is a large subject, in this article we will first look at the general flow of SEO copywriting using a framework to give you a structure to work from - one page at a time. To illustrate best practices for writing SEO copy, I will provide you with examples using a fictitious webpage for Any Framer USA at www.anyframerusa.com throughout this article, based on the following keyword phrases custom framing, picture frames, and sports memorabilia. Keyword Selection For this article, I chose the keyword phrase custom framing to develop a keyword seed list using the Wordtracker keyword tool. As you can see from reviewing the chart (on the proceeding page), custom framing as a keyword phrase came up in 3600 searches (within the past 30 days) with a keyword effective index (KEI) of 75, so it is a good keyword phrase (i.e. not much competition). What also stands out when reviewing this chart is that the most popular keyword phrase is not custom framing but picture frames. Picture frames had a total of 28,334 searches for the month with June 2014 www.tru-vue.com page 1 of 7
CHART 1: WordTracker Keyword Tool Results As of 5/16/14 for prior 30 days of searches Keyword Seed List Searches Competition KEI Picture Frames 28,334 40 71.43 Custom Framing 3,600 31 75 Sports Memorabilia 3,544 15.15 70.05 Total Searches 35,478 KEI of 71.43, by a lead of 24,734 searches within the past 30 days over custom framing. Hence, this is a good keyword to target because there is very little competition compared to the number of searches. This also gives us the insight that most people, when searching for custom framing services, are not searching for custom framing precisely. Instead, most searchers are using the phrase picture frames. This is great information to utilize when deciding the keywords to target for your SEO strategy, which is why I highly recommend using a keyword tool (see more in article 2). Then, for the purposes of giving a full example, I picked the custom framing theme of sports memorabilia as the webpage subject. I chose sports memorabilia because this is a popular custom framing product theme that many can target. As you can see from the chart example, there were 3,544 searches and a KEI index of 70.05. If you were to have been targeting this grouping of keywords together, you could have showed up in over 35,478 searches within the last 30 days - not bad. Let s get started! What Is SEO Copywriting? SEO copywriting is the strategic copywriting you create for your website that will help you increase your organic listing on search engines. To be successful in this strategy, you must have (1) a solid understanding of how search engines work, and (2) know what keywords or terms your target audience may use in their search queries when looking for the products and services that you offer (this is your keyword list). By having a solid understanding of the topics above, you can then begin to write your SEO copy for your audience. SEO copywriting is writing in a way that will not only enable search engines to rank your page highly on the search engine results page (SERP) so potential customers can not only find you, but it is also copy that will persuade visitors to take action. It is important to note that keyword stuffing is not SEO copywriting. SEO Copywriting is the strategic copywriting you create for your website that will help you increase your organic listing on search engines. Putting a bunch of keywords on your website does not help the relevancy of your website, persuade your target audience to visit your site, or follow through with your call to action. Therefore, please, if you have heard the fallacy about keyword density (the SEO Myth about the percentage a keyword needs to appear on the page), forget about it. This practice of stuffing keywords any place you can on your site to attain a better search engine results page (SERP) standing is not ideal. Create your website copy in the best way to represent your brand and what you offer to the visitors of your site not the search robots. Web copywriter and author Karon Thackston gives a great definition of SEO copywriting in The Flow of SEO Copywriting. This definition is, Copy that includes keywords in such a way that someone who is unfamiliar with search engine optimization would not be able to tell it had been manipulated (Thackston 3). Basically, SEO copywriting is about writing keyword optimized copy, which is readable and persuades visitors to take action, without the visitors realizing that you have written the copy strategically for SEO. Sounds simple, right? Probably not but don t worry; in this article we will discuss a strategic framework you can use to get started one web page at time. SEO Copywriting Framework To Get You Started To simplify the process, I recommend using the framework structure provided below to outline and develop your copy strategy. Taking this one webpage at a time will help immensely. Understanding and using the structure below in your SEO copywriting will enable you to create persuasive SEO copy in a consistent flow that will help entice your target audience from the beginning of their search to the end, which should be the call to action. You take searchers from step one, which is the title tag, their very first exposure, and you guide them through to the call to action, which happens to be on the webpage itself (Thackston 13). The Framework Work Structure: Title Tag Description Tag Web page headline Web page copy Title Tag -The First Impression According to Moz.com, [t]itle tags technically called title elements define the title of a document. Title tags are often used on search engine results pages (SERPs) to display preview snippets page 2 of 7 a publication of Tru-Vue, Inc June 2014
for a given page, and are important both for SEO and social sharing (moz.com). The title tag is the first exposure searchers have to your page, because it is the title tag that appears most prominently within the SERP. Below is an example of how a title tag appears on SERP. Example 1: SERP - Title Tags Custom Picture Frames: Custom & Discount Frames and Framing... www.anyframerusa.com Custom Picture Framing Canvas Art Prints. Poster Frames. Sports Memorabilia Picture Framing Supplies at Wholesale Prices from anyframerusa.com in Because the title tags have such a high visibility on the SERP, it truly is a prompting mechanism to get searchers to click through to learn more. There is only room for 69 characters to show, not much real estate, so many do not give the title much thought. Do not make this mistake, utilize this small but valuable property and use it wisely. The title tag is your first impression and really the initial bait to get surfers to click through to your page. If you have noticed, I have been referencing to your web page, not your website. This is purposeful; you should have unique tags for each page of your site. In fact at the very least, for every product category you have, you should have a webpage that has (1) the chosen keywords for that page and (2) follows the framework structure for SEO copywriting. This is something many websites do not do, especially within the custom framing market, and this theme will come up throughout the article. Consistency is Key -for Keyword Copywriting Having a unique and descriptive title tag for each page of your website that has consistent topics and keywords chosen, that runs from your title tag through to your description tag, headline, and copy helps internet search providers track and rank your page. Hence, it makes Google s job easier and they like this. The below information is from the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide: A title tag tells both users and the search engines what the topic of a particular page is. Ideally, you should create a unique title for each page on your site. [Sic] Words in the title are bolded if they appear in the users search query. [Sic] This can help users recognize if the page is likely to be relevant to their search (Search Engine Starter Guide 4). It s good for Google and especially good for searchers. If your title tag has the word(s) the searchers used within their query, the word(s) will be bolded so your potential customers can see the relevance of your page to their search Just The Facts Please What can make this even better? Limit your title tag to descriptive, enticing copy that intrigues them to click through to your page. It is a small amount of space, so many experts believe that you should leave room to include descriptive text for the topic of the page, and leave your company /brand name off- unless it is a very recognizable name. As Karen Thackston puts it, Writing tags is the starting point of the entire flow of your keyword optimization. Because you have limited VISABLE space in the title tag, I recommend you only include the name of the company or brand name up front if someone types in your company name (Thackston 4). There are varying opinions on this, so this is a determination you need to make yourself. Think about your SEO copywriting strategy for the webpage. If you ve conducted your keyword research for your webpage, you should have a good handle on the subject and the keywords you should be targeting. Meta Description Tags - A Second Chance to Make a First Impression They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression - but with Meta description tags, I believe you do. Meta descriptions are HTML attributes that provide concise explanations of the contents of web pages. Meta descriptions are commonly used on search engine result pages (SERPs) to display preview snippets for a given page (moz.com). Look at the first example below, to see how both the title tag and the Meta description tag are grouped together on the search engine Example 2: SERP - Meta Decription Tags Option 1: Custom Picture Frames: Custom & Discount Frames and Framing... www.anyframerusa.com Custom Picture Framing Canvas Art Prints. Poster Frames. Sports Memorabilia Picture Framing Supplies at Wholesale Prices from anyframerusa.com in Option 2: Custom Picture Frames for Sports Jersey & Memorabilia www.anyframerusa.com experts. Contact us to protect & showcase your team pride with our archival custom picture frames June 2014 www.tru-vue.com page 3 of 7
results page (SERP). Because of this grouping, I believe that people read these pretty much as one. Therefore, the 160 maximum characters allowed for descriptive tags along with the title tag you have a total of 229 characters to entice your target to click your page. That is, they read both the title tag and then the description tag to get a complete picture of what you are offering. For your web pages, you want to ensure that you follow these 5 steps: 1. You have chosen the topic of the web page. Tip: Showcase a topic you do best (your competitive advantage). 2. Find the best keyword or keyword phrases from your seed list that helps describe the above theme. 3. Use those keywords or phrases for that particular page. 4. Ensure you then put them in the title tag and Meta description tag. 5. And, you want to make sure the descriptive tag is, well descriptive. This may sound redundant, but many forget to do this. To give an example of how important steps 3-5 are, please review the two examples again (Keywords that were typed into the search will be bold in the SERP). They both are targeting the same keyword phrases custom framing, picture frame and sport memorabilia, but one is much richer and descriptive than the other. Which one would you click on if you were looking to frame your valued sports memorabilia? I would think it would be the latter, as the copy is directly expressing what the searcher may be looking for I want to display and protect my prized sports memorabilia and I want expert help to get this done. Not only is it more descriptive and intriguing than the competition, but there is also call to action (Contact us) enticing the searcher to click through all under the 160 character mark. The Merits of the META Description Tag Now, it is true that since 2010, Google no longer uses the META description tag for ranking proposes, but it is important because it helps you sell your page to the searcher i.e. your potential customers. Anything that you can do to help differentiate yourself from the competition, and can get potential customers to click through to your webpage, you should do. There are also a few other reasons to include the description tag when writing your SEO copy. One important reason is that the description tag gives search engines a summary of what your webpage is about. Below is a great explanation from The Google SEO Starter Guide: A page s description meta tag gives Google and other search Engines a summary of what the page is about (1). Whereas a Page s title may be a few words or a phrase, a page s description Meta tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Description Meta tags are important because Google might use them as snippets for your pages. Note that we say might because Google may choose to use a relevant section of your page s visible text if it does a good job of matching up with a user s query. Alternatively, Google might use your site s description in the Open Directory Project if your site is listed there. Adding description Meta tags to each of your pages is always a good practice in case Google cannot find a good selection of text to use in the snippet. Words in the snippet are bolded when they appear in the user s query. This gives the user clues about whether the content on the page matches with what he or she is looking for (Search Engine Starter Guide 8). As you can see from the above quote, you need to carefully consider your web page s Meta description tag. As the Meta description tag informs both search engines and users what your site s page is about. And if you do not write a Meta description tag for each page that Google finds relevant they may pull other information from your site or (sometimes) rewrite it all together. Tips on Writing Description Tags Remember that only up to 160 characters will show in the SERP, but you really can write the description tag as long as you want just keep your hook, the most enticing copy, before the cutoff point. The here are 5 key tips for writing your description tag: 1. Ensure that you use a complete sentence for each keyword or keyword phrase that you are targeting for a particular web page in the copy for the description tag. For example, if Any Framer USA is targeting the three keyword phrases sports memorabilia, picture frames, custom picture frames then they would write a sentence for each, like in the example below. Example 3: Full Sentences for Description Tags experts. Contact us to protect & showcase your team pride with our archival custom frames. Come into any Framer USA and select from an exceptional assortment of picture frames. 2. Remember to be as descriptive as possible to entice the searcher to click through to learn more. If you can fit in a Call To Action (CTA) that is even better. 3. Differentiate yourself from your competition. Look at the SERP. How does your competition s copy read? Does it all sound the same? Make sure your copy stands out. 4. Write unique descriptions for each page of your site. This best practice is not currently widely used by other custom framing retailers. 5. Remember, consistency is key! Remember to pull the same theme through from your title tag, to your description tag, to your headline, and to your page copy. The Web Page Copy- Keep On Topic! As we just stated in tip 5, as well as earlier in this article, you should stay consistent with your SEO copywriting throughout the framework page 4 of 7 a publication of Tru-Vue, Inc June 2014
structure for each page of your website. You want to ensure that the topic of the web page uses the keywords you used in the title tag and the description tag, so once the searcher clicks through to your page, the topic of the page reflects what they are expecting to find based on the SERP. For Any Framer USA, the webpage copy topic must be about custom framing sports memorabilia. There is nothing more frustrating when you are searching for particular items or services and you believe you found the perfect vendor from the search engine results page, and then you click through to find a hodgepodge of items or services on one page with very little on the topic you were searching. Your visitors want and expect to find some great information on the topic they are searching once they click through to your site. You need to stay on topic and sell your services. Your copy should paint a picture to the audience; let them know you have what they are looking for, and stand out from the competition. If you lead them to a jumbled page of items, they may not believe you are the expert you claimed to be in your title and description tag. Write for Your Customers, not Search Engines All the SEO copywriting strategies in the world will not be worth a thing if the searchers get to your site and don t find the content that they want. Your webpage should focus on having high quality valuable content that answer the questions the searchers are looking for and solves their problem(s). Write webpage copy for the solution your potential customers are looking for, connecting to the topic you have chosen for the webpage based on your frameworks structure outline. Also, it is crucial to write a Call To Action (CTA).This is often overlooked, but every page on your website needs to have a CTA. Remember the quote from Karen Thackston; You take searchers from step one, which is the title tag, their very first exposure, and you guide them through to the call to action, which happens to be on the webpage itself (Thackston 13). Therefore, with the webpage body copy, never target for keyword density ratios. As mentioned previously, this is an outdated strategy. Stay on the topic and if it sounds natural, then fit a keyword or two in a paragraph. But, if it sounds forced and unnatural, take it out. Do not sacrifice the quality of the customer experience for the search engine. Below is an example of webpage copy for Any Framer USA that uses the above tactics, sounds natural, and makes sense for the sports memorabilia webpage. This example includes a few of the chosen keyword phrases in the copy (bolded), but it is not keyword crazy. We continued the topic introduced from the SERP, positioning Any Framer USA as an authority for custom framing sports memorabilia, and included a Call to Action. Example 4: Webpage Body Copy Looking to showcase and protect your valuable sports memorabilia collection? You have come to the right place. For over 30 years, we have been turning collections of sports mementos into home showcases using only conservation custom framing practices. We use only the best materials and have an extensive assortment of picture frames, mouldings, and glass options to choose from. We customize every frame project giving our clients a personalized design they will enjoy for years to come. experts. View our gallery to see our portfolio of sport related picture framing projects, ranging from hockey to basketball, to see for yourself. Simply call us and set up a consultation bring your collection to us or we can come to you. Call us at 1-800-123-1234 to make an appointment. This is what you want to do: pick a topic, create a webpage selling your services as an expert on that topic, and include an action you wish the audience to take. As far as the keyword placement goes for the webpage copy, it is essential to get keywords into the body copy in certain strategic areas on the webpage. Areas on the webpage where it counts the most are where you really want to try to fit in the keywords you are targeting. These places are headlines and sub-headlines, anchor text (page links), and image names (or alt tags). Headline & Sub-headlines This is an area on the webpage where the font is bolded larger and capitalized or conversely the H1 tag in the code. It is not essential to have a keyword or keyword phrase in the headline or sub head, but it is usually a pretty simple and natural thing to do, and you usually get a good jump in the search engines ranking for utilizing this tactic. Therefore, this is an easy practice to put into place, in order to further increase your page s ranking. For our example, it could be something as simple as writing a headline such as the example below. Example 5: Headlines & Sub-headlines Let Us Custom Frame Your Sports Memorabilia Anchor text According to moz.com, [a]nchor text is the visible characters and words that hyperlinks display when linking to another document or location on the web (moz.com). Hence, anchor text is the clickable copy on your page that takes the audience to another location. It is a good idea to include keyword rich descriptive anchor text June 2014 www.tru-vue.com page 5 of 7
within your webpage copy whenever possible, instead of using a simple click here or follow this link. Ensure that the links are relevant and easy to read - this makes it easy for your audience and the search engines to understand what the page is about and helps with the navigation. Below is an explanation from the Google SEO Starter Guide: This text tells users and Google something about the page you re linking to. Links on your page maybe internal pointing to other pages on your site or external leading to content on other sites. In either of these cases, the better your anchor text is, the easier it is for users to navigate and for Google to understand what the page you re linking to be about (Search Engine Starter Guide16). In the example below the blue highlighted text is an example of good, rich, and descriptive anchor text that uses one of the keyword phrases and can be easily placed into our webpage body copy: Example 6: Rich, Descriptive Text experts. View our gallery of custom framing projects to see our portfolio of sport related picture framing projects ranging from hockey to basketball for examples. Or simply call us and set up a consultation to bring your collection to us, or we can come to you. Call us at 1-800-123-1234 to make an appointment. In this example, the text, gallery of customs framing projects, is clickable and will take the reader to a gallery of framing projects where they can view the portfolio of work from Any Framer USA. Not only is this a smart way to use a keyword to get a decent bump in the rankings, but it also takes us to the next topic (what I feel is a very important subject) for this article on SEO copywriting for custom framing - the use of image names or alt tags. Images, SEO, and the Custom Framing Website The subject of alt tags was brought up in the second article, Keyword List & 4 Simple Steps for Implementation. In case you have forgotten, below is a paragraph taken from that article. Alt-tags are the file names, image captions or descriptions for images contained on your website. These are useful when search engines index or spider your website; Remember spiders are not capable of reading images. The engines automatically turn off images and read only the text. Make sure your image file names or alt-tags are informative, descriptive and use appropriate keywords that describe the image. For example, do not use an image filename such as DCP0003.jpg. Instead, rename the image Custom Framed Art Prints.jpg, in order to increase search results (O Connor 4). This is a great SEO tactic for custom framing websites. Because custom framing is an inherently visual practice, in order to sell your expertise, craftsmanship, and skills, online images are very important. Images of your work not only allow you to show your potential customers what you can do, but if titled correctly, the images are also great SEO tools. To optimize your page for the search engines, you must give your images descriptive keyword titles. To continue with the example that we have been referencing throughout this article for Any Framer USA, the anchor text gallery of custom framing projects, when clicked by the reader, should take them to the image gallery of the frame shops projects. But, in order to have more depth in terms of the particular topic we have been focusing on, expert custom framing of sports memorabilia, and to add even more SEO potential, when a reader clicks from the sport memorabilia page, they should be taken directly to a section of the gallery that showcases sports themed framing projects, and each image of a framing project should be titled as descriptively and detailed as possible. It is highly recommended that you not only have a dedicated gallery to serve as an online portfolio of your work, but that you have it categorized by subject and each image should be titled appropriately and as descriptively as possible. For the example we have been using, the above anchor text would go to the sports memorabilia section, and then the image might be titled Shadow box of 2005 White Sox World Series photo with ticket. Having a photo gallery of your works that have all the images titled in this detail has multiple benefits. It aids in the navigation of your site, supports your claim as an expert in your field and increases your Search Engine Optimization. Conclusion I hope this article has helped shed some light on the large subject of SEO copywriting and you can see the many benefits optimizing your website for a strong SEO strategy. Remember, SEO copywriting is writing in a way that will enable search engines to rank your page highly on the search engine results page (SERP), helps you to stand out from the competition, attract (they actual find your site), and persuade them to take action. Works Cited: Thackston Karen. Quick and Easy Keyword Optimization: Setting up a profitable flow of traffic. E-book March 2012. Wordtracker.com. Web. 20 May 2014. Anchor Text - Learn SEO - Moz - Moz: Inbound Marketing and... http://moz.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 June 2014 <http://moz.com/learn/seo/anchor-text>. Meta Description Tag - Learn SEO - Moz. http://moz.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 June 2014 <http://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description>. Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide - Google. http://static.googleusercontent.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 June 2014 <http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google. co.uk/en/uk/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf>. SEO Copywriting Tips: Optimizing For Multiple Keywords On One... Searchengineland. com. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 June 2014 <http://searchengineland.com/seo-copywriting-tips-optimizing-for-multiple-keyword Web source: Maureen A. O Connor is a Marketing Associate with Tru Vue. Please feel free to contact Maureen if you have any questions regarding any of the topics covered at moconnor@tru-vue.com. page 6 of 7 a publication of Tru-Vue, Inc June 2014
Keyword Checklist SEO copywriting is the strategic copywriting you create for your website that will help increase your organic listing on search engines. To help you think through your strategy, use this simple checklist, adapted from Karon Thackston s article The Flow of SEO Copywriting to organize your SEO copywriting strategy for optimizing each webpage on your website for keywords or keyword phrases. Remember, it s important to write for your customers, not search engines. Name your Webpage Pick the webs page name according to what your subject focus and keywords are, and make sure you place this in the URL- ex framing sports memorabilia would be http://www.framewith us.com/sports memorabilia/ Webpage Name: Select your Keywords Pick the top three keywords or keyword phrases you have selected to target. Keyword#1: Keyword #2: Keyword #3: Incorporate Keywords Naturally into Webpage Remember it is a best practice to write the keywords naturally into the webpage copy first. Then have it flow through the other areas such as the, webpage headline, title tag, description tag, and anchor texts. Use keyword phrases on the page and/or in the navigation in various ways such as: As-is (exactly as they appeared in your keyword research - i.e. Framing Sports Memorabilia ) Individually (each word on its own - i.e. Framing, Sports, and Memorabilia own their own) As a synonym (a related word - i.e. Sports Collectables or Athletic Keepsakes) Combine keywords (Merging key phrases with identical words within them - i.e. combining Sports Custom Framing and Custom Framing Services to make Sports Custom Framing Service Use effective punctuation (i.e. End the introductory sentence with a period instead of an ellipsis (...)) Write keywords into shorter sections (i.e. bullet points, snippets of text, navigation menus etc.) Include keywords in Descriptive Alt Tags (i.e. alt tag image with Custom Framed Sports Collectibles 1961 Mike Ditka Autographed Photo and Football Jersey ) Use potentially negative keywords in a positive way (i.e. we offer affordable, but not cheaply constructed custom framing ) June 2014 www.tru-vue.com page 7 of 7