Wow Visitors AND Search Engines with Your Web Copy – Part 3

Part 3. Create a master web copy template.
In my ongoing series on crafting the perfect copy for your website, this week I’ll discuss creating a master copy template. I recommend you setup a master copy document in a word processing application. I create a new page for each web page and insert a table with the following headers at the top of each page.

Page Name
Call to Action for this Page
URL
Title Tag
Meta description
Keyphrases to use

Here’s how to complete each field in the table. I will use the Clarity Quest outsource marketing landing page as the example.

a) Call to Action for this Page – Earlier you determined the overall goals for this site, now it’s time to figure out what you want the visitor to do as a result of visiting this page. In the case of the Clarity Quest outsource marketing page, I want the visitor to either request a proposal or  investigate our other marketing service offerings.

Clarity Quest’s Outsource Marketing Page
Call to Action for this Page: Go to request proposal form, check out our clients or additional services.

b) URL – Use your primary keyword phrase in the URL. In this case “outsource marketing” is the primary phrase for the page. If you do not already own a domain name, it will help your search rankings if you can obtain a domain containing the keyphrases such as www.outsourcemarketing.com. However, since we already owned a domain, we just used the keyphrase at the end of the URL separated by underscores. There’s debate in the search engine community on whether dashes are better separators than underscores. The consensus seems to be dashes are better, although we have not seen a detrimental effect using underscores.

Clarity Quest’s Outsource Marketing Page
URL: https://www.clarityqst.com/services/strategy/outsource-marketing/

c) Title Tag – Although visitors don’t often know where to find the title tag, it’s one of the most important pieces of information in the eyes of the search robots. It’s located at the very top left of your browser window and it’s the first line you will see in a search engine results page listing.

• Use the title of your site or your company brand at the beginning or end of every title tag. If you are working with a nationally-known brand such as IBM or Apple, put the company name first for brand awareness. For all other companies, I recommend the putting the brand at the end of the title tag.
• Limit the length of the tag to 65-70 characters (including spaces) or less. The search engines limit the number of characters they display on the results page listings.
• Use keyphrases in the tag. Incorporate your primary and secondary keyphrase in the title tag without keyword stuffing.
• Use different keyphrases or variations in every page’s title tags. This is one rule we see violated all the time. If you use the same tag on different pages you’ll force the search engines to decide which page is more relevant. For example, on the Clarity Quest site we use “technology marketing agency” on one page and “high-tech marketing firm” on another. This way I’ve fulled used each page of real estate to my advantage.
• Use a divider symbol to separate your brand name from the rest of the title tag. We like to use the “|” (pipe) symbol but the forward arrow “>” or hyphen “-“ also work effectively.
• Use the title tag keyphrases in your headlines. Re-using the keyphrases in your H1 and H2 header tags makes search engine robots happy because it is confirmation you didn’t falsely keyword stuff the title tag. More importantly, it makes visitors more comfortable when they land on your page and it actually has something to do with their search term.

Here’s my example incorporating the above:

Clarity Quest’s Outsource Marketing Page
Title Tag: Outsource Your Marketing with our Services|Clarity Quest

d) Meta description – The meta description tag is most often seen as the descriptive text in a search engine ranking page listing.

If you do not provide a meta description tag, the search engines will scrape the content off your page that most closely matches the search terms. However, if you provide the meta description you can target your keyphrases within the descriptive text.
This tag is not so important for the search rankings, but it makes a big difference in click-through rates. Here’s where you can write the eye-catching, ad-like copy that is compelling and gets attention. Remember there are approximately 9 other listings on the search engine result page and you want your site to stand out.
The meta description tag should describe your page clearly and accurately. Google allows the fewest number of characters at 160, so use this as your limit. There is controversy in the internet marketing world on whether or not you should always provide a meta description. Here’s a general rule. If you are targeting 1-3 high-volume, highly-targeted keyphrases on the page, then write one. If your page is a blog or product model catalog with many possible long keyphrases, then let the search engines scrape the best descriptive text off the page. As with many aspects of web copy, it’s always best to test for the best conversion rates.

Clarity Quest’s Outsource Marketing Page
Meta description: Clarity Quest provides outsource marketing services serving as the virtual marketing department for technology companies across North America.

e) Keywords to use – I like list primary and secondary keywords to use on the page just so I have them staring me in the face when I go to write the body copy for the page.

Clarity Quest’s Outsource Marketing Page
Keywords to use: outsource marketing, outsource marketing services, outsourcing marketing, marketing outsourcers

Once you have your template, check out our  blog post covering Step 4: Writing Headers and Body Copy with Anchor Text Links.