19
Internet Marketing and SEO
SEO Article Posted by Internet Marketing Speaker on 19-03-2007
Lee Oden has a post today on Monday Online Marketing Links. One of the links was a mention of Cat Seda’s new book, “How to Win Sales and Influence Spiders” which focuses on leveraging SEO and online PR. Well, of course I went over and took a look at how she might suggest we leverage SEO and PR. I was surprised and disappointed when I was face to face with that long toilet paper roll page that goes on forever…but wait, there’s more! Yes, after you scroll down and see that the book is priced at $24.99 you get the standard not one or two but three bonus offers-enough already!
Maybe it was because I had just read a post by Russell Kern titled “Achieve success by adhering to the fundamentals.” He reminds folks to write compelling, clear and concise copy! Catherine Seda is well known and respected in the Internet Marketing and SEO industry-but for me this long copy letter is so Corey Rudl-he died, hopefully these Internet marketing letters will die as well. What do you think? Are you prone to order Seda’s new book after reading her letter?
Steve Mertz
Short and Sweet!
I hear ya, Steve.
Coming from corporate marketing, I went into the world of long sales copy kicking and screaming. I was sure it didn’t work. But it did. And it still does. Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero, a copywriting expert, just posted a good article about long copy vs. short copy:
http://red-hot-copy.com/2007/03/are-we-still-arguing-about-long-copy-vs.html
Long copy works—well, for some. I wouldn’t tell a retailer to ditch its online catalog for long sales copy instead. That would be silly. But surprisingly, several corporate marketers have told me that in their copy tests, long copy kicked short copy’s butt. Many of us from the corporate marketing world hate hearing that. Sure, we can stick to what we want. Or, we can figure out what the majority of our customers want—long copy or short copy.
As soon as I typed my last word, my book was published in about four weeks. If I had more time, I would have done an A/B test for my book landing page. And secretly, I would have hoped that short copy would kick long copy’s butt.
Cat
Hi Cat, Thanks for your great input and the article of Lorrie’s-the facts don’t lie! I hope you sell millions of copies of your book because I’m sure its great information. Since you and I both also come from the SEO world it would be interesting to take your copy and maybe put up some Headlines and great keyword copy all above the fold! Anyway, thanks much for your input and great success with your book! steve
Thanks Steve!
I’m sure you’ll agree: testing is key. It’s on my very long To-Do list. (the shoemaker never has any shoes, right?)
Cat
I’ve watched the conversion of ’90’s writing styles to shorter copy - I need to dig up the polls that basically found that long copy sales letters are instantly recognized to be, well, a long sales letter with the “imagine being rich” and “what would you do” - all the emotional triggers that worked. Problem has become that people are numb to these styles as we see the format all over - usually a way to make money.
As this technique was proven to work EARLY in the web, spammers adopted the style and polluted the web with MILLIONS of auto-generated pages that look the same.
More than anything, people want respect on the web today - a price right away so they don’t waste their time. Copywriters will say that we should keep the price a secret while we try to hit them with more sales copy, but more and more people click away from it to find something else - something that explains ABOVE the fold - what it is, why you want it and what is costs. When it looks like an ad - it usually is.
I know steve wasn’t picking a fight but sparking the idea, does the old style still work?
With her book targeting “non-techies” I bet it would for that. But, with an ever growing user base of tech-savvy surfers that are used to the infomercial style they seem to be “done with that” the acceptance of them is waning.
BUT, Catherine has something that we don’t - her picture. That helps!
A time will come when copywriters and technical seo will actually merge, and when it does you two should team up!
Darn it, didn’t mean to hit submit.
Again - there are actual SEO reasons the long copy needs some thinking. In Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero’s article at http://red-hot-copy.com/2007/03/are-we-still-arguing-about-long-copy-vs.html she has a section called:
“Objection Number Three: It Should Be Broken Up Over Several Pages!”
The problem with this lies in seo as well. One page allows ONE set of meta-data and long copy isn’t always completely spidered. This should make you wonder - will I reach as many people to convert with my long copy if it isn’t shown to them in search? Lots of these one pages have a title, and usually nothing else in the header- and at that point where is the seo anyway? The site get found by click-through from others, not SERPS.
Tracking the users on a one-page letter leaves hardly any information to us to indicate what may turn off a user. Breaking it up will show us through tracking where we lose the visitor and can amend the copy at those areas. (maybe that would be good for testing then do a long version, hmm)
If I find a site like that and don’t click away, the writer MUST at least entertain me or say something quickly that is different. By different I mean not the same old “make money”, “what if” or “Warning” - that doesn’t grab me. I want something new. Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero IS right - a short letter will out-perform a poorly written long one.
Just my 2 cents. Good post.
So, after my LONG COMMENT:) (glad this is a blog) I will hit Submit intentionally.
Good thoughts Knox! Cat is sending me a copy of her book to review and I’m looking forward to reading it…long copy and all
Thanks for your comments, Knox.
Actually, we marketers don’t have to break up one long copy page into shorter copy pages to find out where we lose people. Eye tracking to the rescue!
Companies like Auragen Communications, Eyetools, EyeTracking and Nielson Norman Group use focus groups to find out what people are, and are NOT, seeing on your landing page (you’ll get a heat map or eye-flow report).
Eyetools’ research blog has some interesting studies and stats: http://blog.eyetools.net
Hope that helps!
wow, I was just reading about that - cool stuff. I want your book from steve. But, that’s all AFTER someone finds your site, eye-tracking doesn’t get them there through google. (or does it??)
Really, I’m not argueing with you, Cat - but wondering. SEO’s can get people TO the site (without buying ads), and you KEEP them there I guess. The merge needs to come.
Eye tracking is a great tool. I’m familiar with http://www.crazyegg.com It allows you to track visitors using a heat map and the best part is it’s free! May be a good start for some one page sites. Thanks for your comments Cat and Knox!
Oooooh. Good one, Steve.
Knox, you’re correct. Eye tracking is about converting more visitors once they’re already on your landing page (or blog or e-mail message). True, true, everyone still needs SEO.
Cat
Final tidbit:
According to MarketingSherpa’s Landing Page Handbook, (http://www.sherpastore.com/Landing-Page-Handbook-Raise-Conversions.html) longer copy is generally more appropriate for higher-level sales (over $500). Several case studies show that shorter copy works best when marketing free offers (white paper downloads or business information offers).
I think stats and case studies are helpful jumping off points; but testing is best.
Good tactic but once you’ve written the article, why restrict your publication to generic article sites? Why not submit your articles to topic specific sites as well?