The literary world is a strange one, terraced by varying degrees of acceptability whereon published authors look down with disdain upon mere journalists, and journalists return the compliment by looking down upon the lowest of the low – the web copywriter.

Writing commercial copy is often seen as ‘bread and butter’ work – enough to pay the mortgage until the book deal comes through. In reality the web copywriter and the perhaps more lauded SEO copywriter are the chameleons of the literary world, able to turn their words to any use. And they do it all in front of an international audience with the attention span of a goldfish.

Can your web copywriter speak “interesting”?

Good web content has to engage the reader within a tiny window of opportunity – a mere matter of seconds before the reader ‘bounces’ from the page. The web copywriter has to speak a specific language fluently and eloquently – they have to be able to speak ‘Interesting’.

‘Interesting’ is a difficult language to master and few manage it. The vast majority of pages on the Internet are dull beyond comparison; littered with typos, grammatical errors and erroneous translations. But put these trifling annoyances aside and you get down to the really essential ingredient of ‘Interesting’ – the content itself.

Your audience want more than dull SEO copywriting

Many writers underestimate the intelligence of their audience. The Internet populous is an intelligent, articulate beast that craves information, entertainment and even the occasional glimpse of enlightenment (there’s plenty of god.com sites out there).

It’s not just a matter of ‘hard sell’ when it comes to writing web content. You have to give people a reason to choose your client’s site above all the other thousands of competitors, all vying for the attention of the reader. A good SEO copywriter will speak fluent ‘Interesting’ and be able to capture the attention of a fickle audience and reel them into the depths of the site, where the hard sell lurks, waiting, interminably waiting…

Suddenly, those good web copywriters seem like quite talented people, don’t they?

In the current economic climate everyone is tightening their belts, pulling up their bootstraps, adjusting other bits of clothing and generally hunkering down for the long haul back into a ‘positive growth economy’ (estimated to kick in some time next year. Probably. Hopefully…). But through all the dark times that lay ahead, there are still those dedicated souls, beavering late into the night to deliver a message to the masses on behalf of beleaguered businesses everywhere.

The web copywriter

Who is this mysterious figure, hunched over a keyboard? How do they know about PageRank? Do they practice ‘black hat’ or ‘white hat’ techniques? And just what exactly is LinkJuice?

SEO web copywriters in the UK and across the world are like Internet Druids. They speak many technical languages and know how to communicate with the otherworldly ‘bots’ of the search engines. Some web copywriters even claim knowledge of the sacred algorithms of the almighty Google (don’t trust these mountebanks – no-one except Google knows!)

They can conjure up copy that will create an alchemy-like reaction of turning a line of text into a widget and causing website’s cups to runneth over with LinkJuice. All of this ethereal power makes the SEO copywriter the master of the web, sitting in the middle spinning out silken lines of text that bind easily into the framework of the ‘net itself, connecting your page to thousands of others across the globe.

Web copywriting is the devil?

In more basic terms, a web copywriter can produce copy that will optimize a website’s performance on the search engine listings. The higher the listing, the more chance a site has of being read by the masses.

But the devil is in the detail, and an SEO copywriter knows how to produce copy that appeals not only to humans but also to the spiders that trawl the Internet, looking for pages to recommend for listing. It is this ability to produce copy that appeals to all page visitors – both human and electronic – that puts the SEO copywriter in a strong position at the forefront of a business community relying on the promotional power of ‘New Media’.

As a freelance SEO copywriter, the majority of your time will not actually be taken up with writing. That’s the easy bit. The majority of your time will probably be taken up with staring for hours at page after page of Internet research.

A good brief will include URLs that you can refer to for research or to get an understanding of the client that you are working for. However, much of the time the research aspect of a brief is down to the individual SEO copywriter. It is up to you, as a professional UK copywriter, to do your own research.

Where do good little SEO copywriters start their research? Online of course!

Start by learning how to use search engines properly. Typing in a single word as a search will yield pages and pages of results, of which 99% will be completely useless. The best way to narrow down your research field is to type in a specific question. An example: if you have been asked to do some SEO copywriting on the use of Pay-Per-Click advertising as an SEO tool, then instead of just typing in the phrase Pay-Per-Click, be more specific, such as ‘how does Pay-Per-Click compliment SEO?’ The more information and keywords you give the search engine to work with, the more accurate your results will be.

The vast majority of information on the Internet is rubbish, hearsay or unverified opinion*. Wikipedia is a particular favourite of web copywriters everywhere, and is often the first port of call for information about a given topic.

However, Wikipedia is written by everybody and anybody, so the information contained on this extraordinary site is often subject to ‘verification’. Verification translates as ‘it could be right, but hey, it’s anyone’s guess if it actually is accurate!’ Wikipedia can be a useful tool, but the best advice when using it as a resource is always cross-reference with other sites, preferably verified sites specific to the topic.

Be particularly aware of sites that have been translated from other languages. The Internet translation software can be quirky to say the least, and yes, things do get lost in translation.

To conclude, our advice to any SEO copywriter is never rely solely on one site for your research, no matter how much you may think you’ve hit the motherload. Check, check and check again. Then you can start writing.

*Just our opinion.