As a copywriter in the digital space, you’ll be responsible for producing the written content for webpages. You could be working in an advertising agency full time. Or, you could be a freelancer who is hired by people as and when they need a piece of digital copywriting done.
You may also write copy designed to convey valuable information about a brand, industry, or issue. Besides, a digital copywriter can also be known as a digital content writer.
What is SEO copywriting?
As a digital copywriter, you’ll need to be very clued up on what SEO copywriting is.
The term ‘SEO copywriting’ refers to a specialized form of online writing which:
- Has key phrases in it — these are wording your target reader types into a search box to find the information she or he wants.
- Helps content online rank higher in search results (such as Google.)
- Drives qualified traffic to your website.
SEO copywriting is quality writing, period. There are some mistakes good content writers never make. The key phrases shouldn’t make the writing hard-to-read, sound repetitive, or lose its conversion focus, for example.
How do you do SEO copywriting?
There are some elements of SEO copywriting that should matter to every single digital copywriter:
Site Speed
A study conducted by Akamai revealed the following interesting stats:
- 40% of people will leave a web page if it takes more than 3 seconds to load fully.
- 47% of end-users demand that a web page loads in two seconds or less.
Site speed has been a factor that determines ranking since 2010. If your load time comes to more than 2 seconds, which is the standard load time for websites, then you should take steps to improve it.
Even if your content is useful and exciting, but the site takes a long time for the page to load fully, your visitors will leave. This is because visitors’ attention spans are short and feel that your site offers a bad user experience.
Headline
Your content may be helpful; however, if your headline is mediocre, your click-through rate will be lower than other similar sites. In SEO copywriting, your headline should draw people’s attention. Then it must prompt them to click and read further into your article.
Headlines that carry a specific message or idea work best with search users. According to experts, headlines with numbers are always winners. This means that if it makes sense, you should include a figure in the headline.
Do you want to be a digital copywriter?
Great! If you want to be a digital copywriter, do what a copywriter does – write.
- Conceptualize ideas for this space you’re interested in and write articles on this.
- Write up scripts for video content. Shoot it and edit it. Put it on YouTube to showcase your work.
There are also other types of content you could use. Next, grab a buddy who knows how to code. Conceptualize and create a website that could win you an FWA [Favourite Website Awards] award.
The point is this. Don’t wait. No one is going to get down on their knees and beg you to develop your online portfolio. You don’t need anyone’s approval to get it going. Just jump right in and do it! Get messy every single day, and you’ll become better through doing it.
