By Gloria Rand
Are you planning to launch a new small business website? I have some advice for you. Take search engine optimization into account BEFORE the site is built. Too often a small business owner will call me to optimize their website after it has already launched. This is one of the most common SEO mistakes. But the best time to optimize your site is when you’re still in the planning stages.
Do keyword research before you write web content
Ideally, an SEO copywriter should work hand-in hand with the web designer to create the overall look for the small business website. Once the copywriter completes the keyword research and writes the copy, she can let the web designer know how much space is needed for headings, sub-headings and body content.
Doing SEO after the site launch creates added expense
If the SEO work is done after the website is launched, the web designer may have to be called back in to make adjustments. For instance, the web designer may have to lengthen the page if additional copy has been written to include the necessary keywords. Now you’re paying a second time for work that could have been completed the first time around.
How I work with small business owners
When a client hires me to write copy and optimize their brand new website, the first thing I do is send them a “web creative brief.” This document asks a series of questions including:
- What is the purpose of the website?
- Who is your target audience?
- What are your products or services?
- What is the main unique benefit that your product or service offers?
- What keywords do people use to search for your product or service?
Once I have that information, I can do keyword research and then start writing copy, incorporating those keywords. I also will write the meta tags for each web page. Once the client has approved the copy, I will forward it onto the web designer so that she can adjust the spacing of the site to fit the words. The web designer can also add the meta tag information to the site’s code. Once all the work is done, the website is ready for launch!
If you need copy written for your new small business website, contact Gloria Rand for a free consultation.
© Copyright 2011 Gloria Rand
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Gloria Rand is an Entrepreneur, Speaker, Copywriter & Marketing Consultant who works with entrepreneurs and small business owners to implement SEO strategies and social media marketing for online visibility, profits and success. Leveraging her background as a writer and producer for the award-winning PBS news program, “Nightly Business Report,” with her own experience as a small business owner, Gloria helps professionals turn great ideas into cash cows. Link up with Gloria at www.gloriarand.com or www.fb.com/gloriarandcopywriter.
Hi, I really enjoyed visiting your site and reading the interesting articles and comments that are posted here. Nice job, keep up the good work. 🙂
What you said makes sense. Having your website optimized as it is being built not only saves money, it also saves time and reduces site downtime. Thanks for featuring this.
Website makes strong impact on the image of your company. It is very important when you are promoting your product. More viewers more customers, and getting known is the goal in each company!
Good tips for beginners. Having read this, it added knowledge on how to make it big and successful in this kind of business. Thanks.
Right, and I believe that the main key thing is to look for the best keywords, then you can start with your SEO plan.
Planning for SEO is definitely a good thing to do before launching a web project thou meta tags are not that important any more. Good advice!