The reading level for this article is All Levels
Ahh, so you bought some keywords and keyword-phrases. How about a game of “Let’s all guess what keywords you bought” — and I’ll bet the SEO champs and more astute copywriters will take home first and second prize for Most Correct Answers.
Dear Copywriter: if your web copy is starting to sound like a sixth grader wrote it, that means you’re repeating a few too many keywords.
Are you getting a little keyword greedy? You are if you’re so tuned in to fitting those silly keyword phrases in, that you’re missing obvious goofs like periods at the ends of sentences. You are if you’re sacrificing your once-poetic professional web copy voice in favor of repetitive keyword drivel.
You know that word variance is the buff in your copy shine. Yet, to trip the search engines and land on that first Google page, they tell you to be a keyword stuffer. What’s a web copywriter to do?
Here’s my opinion, and you can take it for what it’s worth: Keyword fanatics can take their keywords and stuff them. (Okay, I really have nothing against keyword fans – I just felt like punning on “keyword-stuffing.”)
Even though the web stats report that Keywords A, B, and C are the most popularly researched terms, and you can bid on these keywords so that your Adwords ads appear here and there and everywhere… it doesn’t mean that in the end people are going to want your business.
Being visible helps. It really, really does. But let’s not forget that before keyword cheats came crawling out of the woodwork, the web was driven by Content Au Naturale.
Even if you calculate and plot it all out, web traffic is still pretty random. You cannot control what the ideal client is looking for when he goes to that search engine box. You just don’t know what he’ll type in there. We simply cannot predict what route that person will take to land on our websites!
If you want to buy keywords, that’s cool. It works for people. But really now, as a pro copywriter with an image to maintain, the last thing you need is for your copy to sound like Hooked On Phonics.
Think about this. You’re paying more and more money to own the most popular words on the web. But they’re so popular, that all the dumb and unimaginative people are typing them. And, and, and… many of the people who type these keywords are on such a generic type of information hunt, that what you offer may not even fit their needs anyway.
Buy SOME keywords. But good lord, don’t be a keyword hog! This is your professional reputation. You carved out a name for your your big, bad, beautiful and talented self. Your keywords didn’t do it for you, bro. YOU DID IT.
So stop using your keywords as a crutch, and start writing kick-ass copy again. Please. We are your copywriting audience, and we want to love and respect you and be in awe of you. Ease up on the keywords. You’re starting to sound dumber than you are.
Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.
Dina Giolitto is a copywriting consultant and ghostwriter with 10 years of experience writing corporate print materials and web content. Trust her with your next e-book, article series or web project, and make a lasting impression on your audience of information-hungry prospects. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for more information.
