Search engines are automatic programs that “index” the material on the web, and store this information in a database. These so-called spiders crawl out on the web and search the text on a site, so the copy in your site or blog is very important to the web crawler. SEO or search engine optimization requires that unique copy be written for each page of your site. However, copy that is written solely for search engines can be difficult for a human viewer to read. If a search engine does land a human searcher on one of these pages by accident, he will soon get disgusted and leave. Everyone is spam-sensitive these days.

The SEO or search engine optimization game is to try to get at the top of the search engine’s list of relevance or ranking for each keyword search term. Marketers have tried various ways to fight their way to the top of this heap or words: repeating a keyword in the text, including it in the title of the page, using metatag keywords or metatag descriptions, hiding the repeated words on the page in copy the same color as the page, or in the alt tags descriptions. Some of these are still valid marketing tools, others are now disqualified as “spamindexing” techniques. Search engine developers try to stay one step ahead of the marketers who hope to trick them. Therefore, it is best to prepare copy that truly represents your product or service, while including the more obvious keywords that people may naturally use to find you.

Good copy depends on saavy and honest marketing skills, and should be written for the target audience. Copy that is pertinent to your product or service makes it easy for the user to buy from you. This has always been the best way to advertise, and makes your copy “evergreen” because you are not trying to stay ahead of the constantly evolving search engine algorithms.

Many websites deliver content that is badly written, or they deliver too much copy on each page, resulting in a confused and overwhelmed viewer. This is where good site architecture can be combined with good copy for outstanding bottom-line results. Editing, organizing, shifting, and redistributing your content enhances good communication, which results in happy clients and increased profits.

For more information on how to write copy, read this entry in my other blog, FreshAsylum:

http://freshasylum.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/promotional-copy-that-sizzles/

– Copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr

http://www.freshasylum.com