It’s no surprise that customers are tired of being sold to, particularly across the internet. The deluge of content that has appeared on the web over the past few years has reached almost terminal velocity. Already, more video content is being created than can ever be watched, more text is being written than can ever be read and more podcasts are being recorded than can ever be listened to.
Today, people tend not to look for products; instead, they’re looking for information. Your customers are looking for answers to questions, or resolutions for problems they’re having. That is why features like Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana are so extremely popular; they give the user the opportunity to actually ask a question and have it answered (most of the time).
Today’s content can’t afford to be boring, mundane and useless. Everything you create needs to be dynamic, search engine-friendly and, above all, useful to your reader. That’s why you need a professional SEO company to ensure that you don’t fall into copywriting bad habits and start to take the easy route to a weak ROI.
Search Marketing Isn’t About Selling!
Now, industries and specific businesses all over the world have been operating under the assumption that search marketing is all about sales. You only need to look at the recent article by eConsultancy to see that potential customers aren’t looking for products just for the sake of it.
Customers are looking for answers to their questions – it’s that simple. Buyers have a problem, and they are looking for something to solve that problem. The advertisers of recent history knew that, but it somehow seems to have been forgotten along the way to modern digital marketing. Somewhere, amongst the responsive web design and the pay-per-click marketing campaigns, advertising has lost its effectiveness.
Who’s to blame? Is it the customer, tired of being sold to every time they open a web browser, or is it the digital marketer themselves, who has forgotten that creativity is just as important as technical know-how?
Why You Need To Understand Search Behaviour
A lot of so-called SEO companies may understand the technical side of SEO, but they rarely take the time to create content for their clients which appeals to the latest topics and trends. If your content reflects the needs and desires of your viewers and directly addresses their requirements, then they are more likely to engage with and share it across social media.
If you fail to understand your customers’ search behaviour, you are missing one of the most important parts of your audience. If you don’t know your audience, you won’t be able to create great, shareable and relevant content, and you may as well not bother creating blog posts and article at all.
There are several main types of search behaviour when it comes to online retail, and you need to make sure that you are appealing to at least one of them with every piece of content you create:
- Locate – This is all about finding a known product, and is only really used after a customer has decided that they want to purchase an item;
- Verify – This is where a shopper needs reassurance that a particular item will meet their needs. This is a great behaviour to target for content;
- Comparison – In many circumstances, there will be multiple products available offering a similar service. By creating content which actively compares several items, you can quickly and easy answer viewer queries;
Diversity And Creative Copywriting
Whilst it is absolutely essential that you understand your audience and their search behaviour in general terms, your viewers will never be exactly the same. With that in mind, it is always best to create posts and articles which target different behaviours.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a general customer journey to buying a product or a service today. Customer lifestyles, budgets and needs are all completely unique and you cannot afford to target one single archetype. Always consider how diverse your target audience is into your content creation strategy; this can really help to boost engagement across your audience spectrum.
Remember; Creativity Equals Uniqueness!
The amount of regurgitated content on the internet is one of the major reasons behind low levels of customer engagement and satisfaction. If the blogs and articles that you create for search engine optimisation purposes are little more than rehashed versions of other website content, your customers aren’t going to find any use in your site.
Not only is similar content terrible for SEO (and duplicated content can really destroy your online authority), it can be damaging to your brand identity as well. You need to create a real sense of personality with your brand if you want to engage with customers on a personal level.
If you’re approaching your content marketing from a creative perspective, your content will never be the same as another. Write everything in your brand’s unique tone of voice, approach a subject from your own point of view, or link a trending topic to the products/ services that you offer.
Six Tips On Creative Copywriting
If you’re just getting started in content creation, it can be quite easy to fall into bad habits without realising it. By following these great tips, you can create fantastic content without spending days pulling your hair out over the idea:
- Treat Copywriting Like Screenwriting – As if you were writing a play, consider creating your content in Acts. This can be divided between a single piece of content - with Act 1 being your title and introduction text, Act 2 being your primary point and so on – or across your entire campaign, with different posts and articles in a series being treated as distinct Acts.
- Edit, Edit And Edit Again – Just like any great writer, you’ll probably find editing your content the hardest part. Like Hemmingway, don’t waste your time with unnecessary words and focus on the important parts of your content. The best copy is long-form, but doesn’t waste a word, meaning that every sentence is designed to drive your argument forward.
- Would Your Content Work On You ? – Often overlooked as an editing strategy, put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Pretend that you didn’t write your concept and try to identify the point of the article. If you can’t convince yourself, then you need to ask yourself if the content is really worth posting.
- If You Get Stuck, Hit Reverse ! – If you a reach a point in your writing where you just can’t continue, don’t be afraid to back up. If you can’t get off a train of thought, cut your losses and hit that backspace. The important thing is that you’re constantly moving and developing your own unique piece of writing.
- Don’t Be Afraid To Try New Things – If you see new ideas cropping up, don’t be afraid to try them! Whether that’s related to your content itself, where you post or market your writing, or just the latest SEO techniques, never be afraid to experiment. At worst, it won’t work but at best you could present your business to an entirely new, interested audience, or find a new way of presenting content completely.
- Know How To Market Your Work – Remember to research the best social media sites for your work. Without a strong social media presence, it can often be difficult to get your content the viewership that it deserves. A great idea is to create dedicated content for syndication, which can drastically improve your own authority as an industry-expert, provide backlinks to improve your site’s SEO and allow you to engage with a new audience.
The Real SEO Benefits Of Unique, Creative Copywriting
Essentially, the real benefit of personality-based copywriting is that it is unique, engaging and informative. This makes it ideal for SEO, particularly when combined with technical optimisation, and essential for driving social media engagement. It can target a diverse range of people, even within your target audience, and can actively meet the search habits and behaviours of your customers.
Most SEO agencies find it difficult to create truly unique content, and so it is extremely important that you choose a team with extensive experience, who actually understand the need for unique copy. For more information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the UK’s leading SEO company today on 0118 380 0203. Of course, you can always email us at sales@seojunkies.com with any concerns or questions you have, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!