April 19th, 2010 by Mike

Many journalists supplement their offline media careers by providing content for internet sites. However this does not mean that they understand how search engine optimization works, when providing copy to clients. Often, it is better to use SEO companies who also offer web building and search engine reputation management help to e-Commerce sites.

Much of the writing seen on the internet is of low value. It is keyword stuffed and full of errors. Many of the articles are openly plagiarised from other sites, then respun using commercial or online software. The result is often barely readable – but to the site owners, this doesn’t matter. All they’re interested in is getting up the page rankings. Luckily, this is becoming rarer, thanks to internet features like Google’s PageRank. Today, the search engines put great score on site trustworthiness. The browsing public, too, are less likely to open links in sites that are obviously not interested in giving them valuable information about a product, so such sites quickly drift off the SEO radar.

Quite often, the sites themselves are trustworthy, but are built and furnished by unqualified webmasters who are content to buy sub-standard content – often from bidding freelance sites where amateur writers are paid a pittance to submit plagiarised and poorly rewritten articles. Writers’ CVs are usually backed by dubious “testimonials” from non-existent “satisfied customers”, and rarely include any genuine quality examples of their own work. This is why new site owners are best off going to a search engine optimisation company. Often, the first advice they’re given is, “Sack your copywriter!” swiftly followed by the suggestion that they spend a bit more, to find someone who can do the job properly.

Luckily, there are plenty of well-qualified SEO companies around, working both on and offline, who can provide quality web copy that will enhance your internet reputation management. These companies certainly understand the concepts of SEO and can combine them with writing skills. Whether it’s a magazine or an eZine, the aim is to provide quality content, and ensure that the public is easily able to access it.

Social media marketing plays a large part in controlling the quality of Google listings. News sites like the BBC and Sky get a large amount of traffic from Google, so news content on other sites must get there first. If you intend to use social news sites like Digg as part of your SEO link building strategy, employing the services of a news journalist to write your copy will be a great help.

Often, new websites are installed by successful “bricks and mortar” companies, who may well have successful trade magazines or newsletters. To maintain continuity across the two genres, and to build a strong online reputation management plan, those newsletters can be embedded on the website. They can also be used for search engine optimization purposes, although generally this will involve altering the headlines and initial and final paragraphs. This is usually the job of an SEO sub-editor rather than the writer or site owner – another reason why employing the services of an SEO company is a good idea.

Link to us

If you want to link to this blog, copy and paste the following HTML code to your website.