Website visitors don’t buy products or services; they invest in what the products or services will do for them.


What’s a feature? A descriptive fact — what the product or service is or has.

What’s a benefit? What the product does.

In other words, a benefit is what the customer gains as a result of the feature. If done right, benefits provide compelling reasons the website visitor should purchase the product or service.

Plus, benefit-driven web copy tends to be more customer-centric than feature-driven web copy, which is usually company-centric. Customer-centric web copy speaks directly to a person’s needs and wants, and does a better job engaging individuals on an emotional level, which is key to turning visitors into customers.

Good copywriters know how to convert features into benefits. It’s not an easy feat. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons so much content on the Web focuses on features. Digging into and defining benefits is a challenging, time-consuming task that many copywriters are not able or willing to do.

For instance, in a Web Designer Depot article about self-centered web copy, we noted content promoting binoculars might focus on certain features, such as:

• Oversized lenses
• Rubber coating
• Ergonomic design

That can score points with website visitors in terms of credibility, but the web copy should include the benefits:

• Low-light performance
• Bright, crisp and clear images from dusk until dawn
• Durability to withstand harsh weather and conditions
• Easy handling

So ask yourself what benefits do your features provide customers. How do these features make the product or service more useful, helpful, enjoyable, attractive, affordable, etc. to the customer?

It’s worth the effort because features tell, benefits sell.

There are now more than 14 billion Internet searches made each month, according to comScore. Moreover, Google has noted its index comprises more than 1 trillion pages.

To view for yourself just how competitive the Web is, Google a term like website design New York, NY which brings up 13.8 million search results. That’s for a website design search specifically geared toward New York, NY! Even a search surrounding a much less populated Canadian city like website design Winnipeg generates 704,000 search results.

Going global gets even tougher. Professional web copy, for instance, produces 48.8 million competing pages.

What makes today’s SEO copywriters’ jobs even more challenging is the fact that about 70 per cent of searchers only click on the first page of results—of which many will only peer at the first few results.

Getting to the top is tougher than ever. But getting there reaps lucrative results. It can make the difference between a website that floats aimlessly in cyber space—kind of like a brochure buried in a landfill—and a website that actually generates leads and sales (even as the business owner and staff vacation or sleep).

That’s why it’s important to lean on a team of consultants and firms that specialize in select areas of the Web. Jack-of-all-trades can no longer stay abreast of all the latest search engine algorithms, strategies and technologies.

While hiring a small team of specialists can require a larger budget, it opens up opportunities for options, creativity, results and profit.

The fact is that 85% of all new traffic to websites arrives via search engines. And it’s no secret that Google owns close to 75 per cent of the market. Hence, if SEO copywriting services get you to rank top 10 on Google, you’ll achieve a powerful return on your investment.

On the topic of investment, website owners often ask what do SEO copywriting services cost. Some supposed ‘SEO experts’ make themselves available for as little as $150 a project, while large SEO agencies can charge tens of thousands of dollars per month.

However, Webcopyplus’ systematic approach provides businesses highly-effective SEO copywriting services for smaller websites starting at about $1,500, which includes a keyword analysis, meta data development and optimized web copy.

What makes our SEO copywriting services different is that we optimize website content for both search engines and visitors. Hence, based on experience and studies, our SEO copywriting services promote traffic and conversions.

Another common question surrounding SEO copywriting services is how much time it takes to complete a project. While the amount of research can vary, our web writers usually complete small- to medium-sized projects within two weeks.

Finally, what can SEO copywriting services do for your website? Lots. While it can take several weeks or even months to get top rankings for a new website, SEO copywriting services can help existing websites achieve lucrative search engine rankings in as little as three weeks.

Feel free to check out our web copy case studies, or learn more about our web copywriting services. To discuss your website, simply contact us.

Google typically indexes a new website, lists it for a few search terms and then the web pages drop from the search engine result pages for some months.

Generally, brand new websites with new domain names need about six to eight months to get top rankings on Google.

How Do You Get Out of the Google Sandbox?

While some waiting is required, you can prompt Google to speed up the process.

When you register a new domain name, create a temporary page immediately as the six- to eight-month delay appears to start with Google’s first contact with your web site. The sooner Google knows about your web site, the better.

Also, ensure you acquire some quality inbound links from other websites, and get your meta data optimized. The meta data, which comprises title, keyword and description tags, can make a big difference. In fact, this factor has helped some Webcopyplus clients attain desired rankings in as little as six weeks.

So get a page or two up as soon as you can, and take your links and keywords seriously. It can make a world of difference to your new website’s search engine rankings and online presence.

Search engine optimization is a cost-effective and far-reaching marketing, lead generation and sales tactic that reaps lucrative rewards. Yet, so many business owners miss the most basic SEO elements that can improve online presence overnight.

Two common SEO errors:

1. Making Your Website Invisible to Search Engines

Search engines index what they can see, i.e. HTML text. So ensure your web designer uses text format for your web copy. Be weary about overuse of graphics and Flash, which can hurt your search engine rankings. If you absolutely need to use graphics instead of text, use alt tags.

2. Neglecting Votes in Cyberspace

Think of the Internet as a huge democracy in cyberspace. When other relevant and credible sites point to your website, Google and friends see this as votes for you. The more votes, the more credibility you build, thus, the higher the rankings. Start requesting links from your vendors, customers, partners, associations, friends and family.

Remember, well planned, developed and implemented search engine optimized web content doesn’t require any monthly fees. And, unlike paid marketing campaigns, you aren’t stuck with fixed budgets.

As a result, organic (a.k.a. natural) SEO can provide an exceptional ROI.

Use the right ones, and your business can thrive. Use the wrong ones, and your website will reap you few rewards, if any. The trick is to ensure your web content writer or writers use the same language as your target audience.

Business executives and managers are often surprised when they find out internal lingo isn’t used by prospects and customers. “Talk shop” with consumers and you risk alienating them.

For instance, airline executives religiously use the term “reduced fares.” But that term is used in search engines less than 10 times a day — and that’s on a global scale.

Meanwhile, “cheap flights” is plugged into search engines by Internet users more than 10,000 times a day.

If you were running an airline, which search term would you want to target?

Search Engines send these programs, also known as robots, to ‘crawl’ and ‘index’ web sites to help determine their relevancy and ranking.

If your copywriting is not spider friendly, you’re missing out on one of the most powerful, cost-effective ways to achieve online presence: search engine optimization (SEO).

Consider these facts:

• More than 500 million web searches are made daily (source: Google)
• Search engines account for more than 85% of all new visitors to a website (source: GvU)
• Studies indicate only seven per cent of Internet users surf beyond the first 20 listings of a search engine
• The Internet is home to more than 100 million registered domains (source: Netcraft)

How to achieve SEO

While online marketing strategies such as inbound links score points, many industry experts are of the same opinion: content is king! This is reinforced by the search engines themselves. For instance, Google advises webmasters one of the keys to a high ranking is to “create a useful, information-rich site.”

Essential ingredients to effective SEO copywriting:

1. Determine the best keywords for your business and target market
Choosing and using the right keywords within your SEO copywriting can make the difference between a top 10 and top 500 search engine ranking. To maximize targeted traffic to your web site, you need to establish:

• What your potential customers are likely to enter into a search engine
• How often that search term is used
• How many web sites and pages you are competing against
• What keywords your direct competitors are using, and with what success

Depending on the nature of your business, your SEO copywriting might need to be ‘regionalized’ to reach your target market. For instance, a bicycle repair shop in Seattle, Washington might use the keywords: “Bill’s Bikes bicycle repairs Seattle” as web traffic from another city would have little or no benefit.

2. Assign one to three keywords per page
Increase your chances of appearing on search engine results by using one to three keywords or keyphrases per page. For instance, a Toronto-based web developer might have the following keywords on his home page: web design Toronto, web development Toronto, websites Toronto.

3. Create keyword-rich copy
Once your keywords are established, you need to incorporate them into content-rich SEO copywriting. Search engine spiders look for pages that are relative to a search phrase, so they like to see phrases repeated. As a result, your SEO copywriting should comprise a keyword density ratio of 3% to 7%. This is calculated by dividing the keywords by the total number of words on the page.

If your keyword density is too low, search engines may overlook your web site. Meanwhile, overly aggressive SEO copywriting can get you flagged as a “spammer” and result in ranking penalties.

Put your SEO copywriting to the test

To determine your keyword density, you can use a free Webcopyplus keyword density tool.