Though I originally wrote this article six years ago (yes, I said SIX), I found the contents to still be relevent to today’s internet marketing strategies. I had written the article after teaching a seminar titled “Marketing Your Website.” The topic of Net Copywriting was an integral part of this seminar.

Net Copywriting is the “art” of writing copy heavily weighted with key words and key phrases.

There were a number of people in the room that had that amazed and astounded look on their face as I explained the theory and rationale behind “Net Copywriting”. I realized that, although I have been at this for what was then over five years (now, over 11) there are, and will probably always will be, a great number of people that are just getting their feet wet in the World Wide Web.

What is the point of “Net Copywriting”? The more keywords you have in your copy the more search engines legitimize the subject of your site. For example, if the title of your site is “Widgets” but the copy on your site mentions nothing about widgets, search engines will assume your site isn’t any more about widgets than it is about any other word you used ONCE (or maybe twice) in your site. But when you use a word several times in your site, the search engines start thinking, “Hey, this site is about this subject!” and then when someone searches for that subject, BAM! the search engine gives them your site. And the more frequently you cover that subject on your site, the higher-ranked you will be when someone searches. (This applies to FREE listings on search engines only.)

What does this mean to you? Maybe you are now starting to connect the dots. Through effective Net Copywriting, your site will be ranked better with search engines. When your site is ranked better, your exposure on the internet increases which has the potential to increase your bottom line, depending on the nature of your business and your business plan.

Your first goal should be to write EFFECTIVE web site copy, then take that copy and turn it to Net Copy. Keep in mind that your website is your 24/7 customer service representative.  You are not only trying to build a relationship with the person that is visiting your site, you are also trying to inform Search Engines the subject of your site so that the people that do browse your site are people that have actually come to the right place.  (How disappointing it is to try and shop for shoes in a hardware store!!) 

I like to make the first step of Net Copywriting gathering a list of keywords and key phrases. If your web developer hasn’t already done that for you (if you are Ginasis clients, chances are, this has been done for you), here are some steps to help you out:

1. Write down your main product and/or service – this will be your main keyword or key phrase. For example, if you sell widgets, then widgets would be your first keyword. You should be SPECIFIC. If you only sell maple wood widgets, then narrow it down. Get even more specific. If you only sell maple wood widgets in Timbuktoo Kansas, or if the wood is a special wood that you can only find in Timbuktoo, then use that.

2. Find out what your competition is using as their keywords – Go to your competitors sites and find out what keywords and phrases they are using to get ideas on what you might want to use. This is not a HUGE help, but it does keep your creative juices flowing. From your browser window, choose “view source” to look at their “META keywords”. Don’t panic if they don’t have any. It’s amazing the number of people that still don’t use META tags. (And that’s a whole different subject.)

3. Use a keyword selection tool – Overture has a great FREE keyword selection tool that can help you with derivatives of your keywords. It will give you keywords and phrases that people are searching for that are related to the term that you input. Just visit www.overture.com and click on Advertiser Tools.

The next step is to write your copy, and include those words and phrases as much as you can, and still make it pleasant to read. Don’t SPAM the words in your copy. 

If this sounds too complicated or like something you don’t want to mess with, not to worry.  Ginasis is happy to help you make your copy work for the internet.  Don’t have copy?  We can help you there too!