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Are Keywords always King?

by AnotherWay
11 replies
Copy writers often come to me for help with awkward key words that are market by clients as "esseential". Most of the time I can guide them to appropriate structures that keep the content natural but in the cases when it's really not possible, what are people's thought?

Is sacrificing sentence structure to incorporate awkward keywords something to avoid at all costs or sometimes a necessary evil?
#keywords #king #senntence structure #sentence
  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    Originally Posted by AnotherWay View Post

    Copy writers often come to me for help with awkward key words that are market by clients as "esseential". Most of the time I can guide them to appropriate structures that keep the content natural but in the cases when it's really not possible, what are people's thought?

    Is sacrificing sentence structure to incorporate awkward keywords something to avoid at all costs or sometimes a necessary evil?
    This is your first post here, so hopefully you won't get scorched.

    This section is about writing sales copy, not content and definitely not SEO content.

    My advice: write for humans.
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    Brian McLeod
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason_V
      Originally Posted by BrianMcLeod View Post

      This is your first post here, so hopefully you won't get scorched.

      This section is about writing sales copy, not content and definitely not SEO content.

      My advice: write for humans.
      Brian,

      There are copywriters that specialize in SEO copy.

      Google "seo copywriters"

      To answer the OP question: As someone who has written a lot of SEO content articles, I would highly suggest you try to work the keywords into the copy naturally. I've managed to work some crazy SEO phrases into articles in a natural way. However, there has to be a delicate balance. With articles you could get away with a few awkward phrases here and there, in sales letter, no, you can't.

      You want your sales letter to pretty much act as a "greased slide." You want the prospect to go down your sales letter smoothly. However, if the prospect hits a "bump" in the form of a distracting sentence because you're forcing SEO keywords into the sales letter, you can jolt them out of the frame of mind you spent so much time trying to get them into. If you distract them with an awkward sentence, you may not be able to get their full attention back.

      You can definitely work SEO into a sales letter, but you have to make sure it flows smoothly. It kind of goes back to what Brian did say. Make sure it's human readable.
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      • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
        Originally Posted by Jason_V View Post

        Brian,

        There are copywriters that specialize in SEO copy.

        Google "seo copywriters"
        Jason,

        Thanks but we've been through this here a hundred times over the years...

        Sales letters by their very nature already have tons of LSI keywords and a natural density in terms of onsite SEO.

        Compromising your sales messages for search engines is a fool's errand. That's what feeder sites are for.

        Imagine a salesperson stopping their presentation to a prospect so they can shout at random passersby "Hey, we've got Blue Widgets here - come over and have a look!"

        SEO and writing persuasive sales copy go together like peanut butter and tunafish.
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        Brian McLeod
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        • Profile picture of the author Jason_V
          Originally Posted by BrianMcLeod View Post

          Jason,

          Thanks but we've been through this here a hundred times over the years...

          Sales letters by their very nature already have tons of LSI keywords and a natural density in terms of onsite SEO.

          Compromising your sales messages for search engines is a fool's errand. That's what feeder sites are for.

          Imagine a salesperson stopping their presentation to a prospect so they can shout at random passersby "Hey, we've got Blue Widgets here - come over and have a look!"

          SEO and writing persuasive sales copy go together like peanut butter and tunafish.
          Brian,

          Oh, yeah, I think you and I overall are in agreement. As I said to him, you can't force awkward phrases into your sales copy. That doesn't mean you couldn't try to fit some keywords in, if you can do it smoothly.

          I even mentioned in my post, that yes, it comes down to what you said, make it human readable first and foremost.

          Love your posts by the way, just wanted to take a second and say that too.
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          "When you do something exactly wrong, you always turn up something."
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          • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
            Originally Posted by Jason_V View Post

            Brian,

            Oh, yeah, I think you and I overall are in agreement. As I said to him, you can't force awkward phrases into your sales copy. That doesn't mean you couldn't try to fit some keywords in, if you can do it smoothly.
            Yep. But I wouldn't even let "keywords" into my consciousness while sitting down to write a sales letter.

            I even mentioned in my post, that yes, it comes down to what you said, make it human readable first and foremost.
            Right on. But again - throw away the qualifier. The ONLY thing you want to be concerned with is HUMAN READER.

            Love your posts by the way, just wanted to take a second and say that too.
            Thank you, man. That felt good. Appreciate it!

            Best,

            Brian
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        • Profile picture of the author AnotherWay
          Thanks guys, especially Brian for the word of warning.

          I don't handle SEO content myself that much any more and have tended to tell writers to work words in naturally or convince clients not to use them. I just wondered if I was right to take the 100% no stance on awkward sentences or if people accepted the very occasional slip in.

          I think question firmly answered.

          I definitely agree on the write for Human Beings front.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jonwebb
    Focus on making your sales copy as persuasive as possible, the only way to do that is to focus on the person who your sales letter is targeting.

    besides if your target audience is reading your sales copy then chances are you have already done enough SEO work.

    - Jonathan
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Cohen
      Originally Posted by thugpoet View Post

      if your target audience is reading your sales copy then chances are you have already done enough SEO work.

      - Jonathan
      No, chances are you haven't given SEO a second thought.

      You've either direct-linked with paid traffic OR you've presold (presell page, autoresponder series, etc.).

      “If your business model requires free traffic in order to work, you don't have a business.” (Perry Marshall)

      Alex
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      • Profile picture of the author Jonwebb
        Originally Posted by Alex Cohen View Post

        No, chances are you haven't given SEO a second thought.

        You've either direct-linked with paid traffic OR you've presold (presell page, autoresponder series, etc.).

        "If your business model requires free traffic in order to work, you don't have a business." (Perry Marshall)

        Alex
        my point stands if you they have found your sales pitch then the work has all ready been done
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Pescetti
    You can follow a few of the SEO standards - and still talk with your audience.

    Google is said to favor brands. And if you utilize copy to really brand your business, you have the potential of achieving more organic listing prominence. If you can get a branded domain name (not just a bunch of keywords,) that will also help you gain some footing.

    Ultimately though...

    What Alex said is absolutely correct. That Perry Marshall quote is mostly true. You have to test different forms of traffic sources, e.g. Adwords, Solo Ads, JV's, Offline Networking, etc. Depending upon your business model, you might be able to integrate a blog and achieve some level of SEO. I've personally made a substantial passive income by doing just that (sort of by accident.)

    I also just did a sales letter for my wife (not the one I posted here a few weeks ago) and tested it on Adwords. It did so well that we closed the offer after just two days - before even blasting her list; before we even exhausted the $100 I paid for PPC traffic. And one note of significance... I bought a branded domain name just for the keywords I targeted. It brought my CPC down and elevated my quality score to a rare 8/10.

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author DanteRomero
    Stuffing tons of keywords into copy... might get you more traffic.
    Sales letter that reads clumsily and awkwardly due to being full of keywords... does not convert to sales...

    More traffic... likely less sales in the end.

    I'd just fit it in where you can, don't bend the language into strange positions to make it fit. If anything, restructure the way you are saying it so that it still reads like silk... and includes the keyword (a lot more work but this is assuming it means that much to you).
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