In my industry, we do all BORROW ideas from each other.  We look for web design layout inspiration, we look for cool graphics ideas, we look to stay on top of marketing trends, BUT, When it comes to copy and original artwork etc., there is no borrowing, only stealing.

I stumbled across a competitor web site today and was clicking through and noticing all of the similarities to my company web site when something struck me in their copy.  They were talking about all of the wonderful original work that they do at their company, but referred to another company’s name instead of their own.  I got to thinking about it and googled the other company name, and there it was.  Word for word, every page was copied content wise.  So, my competitor decided it would be easier to take the road less traveled and simply copy someone else’s hard work and make it their own. Ethically, I obviously have an issue with this, but further, the search engines could penalize BOTH web sites for duplicate content issues, so it turns into a lose / lose situation.

While I get off of my soap box, please consider this very useful tool to protect your web site copy and content: http://www.copyscape.com. It’s a great idea to check your web site every once in a while to see who is ‘borrowing’ from you. You may be amazed at what you find.

When you hire a web design firm and they ask you for copy, don’t send them 542 Word docs all composed in 8 pt font.  We have a client currently that is inundating us with copy because they want the world to know EVERY single detail about their company, they want every single detail clearly displayed on their web site.  Unfortunately, prolific writers are challenged when it comes to the web: The web is a high paced, quickly changing beast, people are seeking content, information, expertise etc., BUT, they can’t be bothered with reading a sixteen page document on your corporate philosophy.

THEY Skim.  When it comes time to write the copy for your website, keep this in mind: people want to see the highlights, not all of the gory details.  Short and sweet, bullet points, highlight key points and be done with it. Each paragraph should be written with your END USER in mind, they most likely will not hang out for 40 minutes reading your entire site.

We often have clients ask us how they should be writing their copy for their web site, is there a magical combination of words I need to use? How many times should I use this keyword?  How many paragraphs should I compose?

With all things, there is a balance, repeating a keyword fifty billion times will surely trigger spam alerts in Google, your copy needs to be fit for ‘human consumption’ as well as written for organic search engine marketing: be mindful of the way people search, be mindful of the way that you search!  Your copy is one of the most important variables that can ideally lead to organic search engine marketing success.  Web copy needs to flow, be REAL and written for your target audience.

Need help with SEO and web copywriting?  Call the internet marketing / organic search engine marketing experts at On Target Web Solutions and start succeeding online today. Call 407-830-4550!