6 Mistakes to Avoid at all Costs When You Hire SEO Copywriters
Websites are designed to bring in money. That’s the cold, hard truth. Whether you’re a pet shop owner, a celebrity or a stay-at-home mom with a handmade small biz, you don’t create a website unless you want it to bring in some cash. Sadly, a simple presentation page won’t bring in too much of that. So you think about what every rational business person would: it’s time to hire SEO copywriters.
Websites don’t exist in a void. Their performance is strongly influenced by the market, the quality of your content and…the latest Google algorithm changes. The sheer amount of content you need just to stay afloat nowadays makes it close to impossible to produce it on your own. This is where outsourcing your content writing comes into play.
So you hire SEO copywriters. But you don’t want to hire just any copywriter, do you? You want a person or a digital marketing agency that has ROI in mind for every piece of content they create.
I know, the process is strenuous. But we’re here to help.
6 Mistakes to Avoid at all Costs When You Hire SEO Copywriters
The SEO game has changed quite a lot in recent years. And it’s bound to change some more in the future. This is the main reason why you need a team of skilled SEO writers on call. You can no longer “publish and forget.” You need to stay on top of your content strategy at all times, always polishing, rewriting and adding more valuable copy.
Here’s how to hire SEO copywriters that can play the game like pros, no matter what the next Google algorithm change will bring:
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Never Hire SEO Copywriters that Aren’t Familiar Content Marketing
Hundreds of articles stuffed with keywords and barely readable by the human eye? No, thanks! Search engine developers have worked hard to put an end to the $1 article era. Today’s copywriters aren’t as detached from their work as they used to be.
Why?
Because now we have tools that can actually measure the effectiveness of their copy. And SEO ranking is just one of them. Take a look at the KPIs below:
Image via Search Engine Land
Notice how most of the parameters are related to sales? That clearly illustrates that marketers and business owners have realized that it makes no sense to hire SEO copywriters unless they can support sales and bring real revenue.
It’s not the first time I’ve argued this: SEO vs content marketing is a useless debate. If you want results (and by results I mean ROI), you need both of them to work together.
All the SEO copywriters who work for Idunn are periodically trained in the latest Google algorithm updates, as well as in content marketing trends.
This is how we can come up with content that is:
- Able to convert leads into paying customers
- SEO-friendly
- Engaging
- Evergreen
Yes, all of these simultaneously! How else could we help our clients convert the readers of their websites or blogs into paying customers? Even if the website ranks for tons of keywords, the content has to be engaging and helpful to our human readers. If the user finds the website via Google search, clicks on your link and then bounces off because the content is poor, your professional SEO copywriter hasn’t been doing a good job.
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Never Hire SEO Copywriters who only Speak about Keyword Density
I’ve seen it happen with a lot of the writers we wanted to hire for Idunn, but ended up looking elsewhere. They might have had great penmanship, but their techniques were completely outdated.
I’ve said it in the point above: keyword density is not what drives search traffic. It was 6 years ago, but not anymore.
Every time an SEO copywriter’s first question is: “what keyword density do you want?”, it might be time to take your business elsewhere. If you’re uncertain, ask them what their opinion is. If the writer says anything above 2%, it’s definitely time to pack your bags.
You may think that the higher the density, the higher your chances of ranking for that keyword are, right?
Wrong!
Google now perceives keyword-stuffed articles as spam. After all, think about it: how many times can you shove “best pet shop LA” into an article without making it sound unnatural?
This is why search engines now look for more factors when assessing a page’s ranking: Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords are just one of those factors. They refer to synonyms of the keywords you’re trying to rank for.
Also, the more terms connected to the subject your article has, the better. For instance, an article trying to rank for “best pet shop LA” should also have mentions of cats, dogs, rabbits, and types of food pets prefer.
I have a discussion about the right keyword density whenever I hire an SEO copywriter or onboard a new client. While the copywriters should know that a 5% keyword density is a HUGE no-no, clients aren’t supposed to.
That’s what we’re here for!
I’ve learned (and not the easy way) that, before getting to work, it’s advisable to speak to clients about their expectation and get a grasp of their knowledge in the field. I heard “I read an article that says (insert outdated SEO technique)” way too often.
This is why I always start by recommending the right keyword density and offer a brief explanation of the latest Google algorithm updates. Otherwise, I risk having our SEO copywriters get their work rejected because they didn’t use the main keyword obsessively.
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Steer Clear of SEO Writers Who only Write Articles
Yes, having awesome blog posts is paramount to SEO. But there’s so much more to content writing than articles. Webinars, podcasts, infographics, press releases, even white papers can help you boost your ranks a lot.
Even if none of them are actually written on your website, search engine algorithms can pick them up. Plus, the algorithms will automatically value a business that offers more than one type of content. It shows that you really know your stuff!
Here’s a great overview of what content types you should aim for:
Image via Visual.ly
Creating as many types of content can sound like a hassle. But it’s really not, especially if you have the right professional copywriters in your corner.
You can repurpose content – every single line you write can be repurposed and used to attract new audiences, as well as the search engines’ “good graces”.
All you need to do is make sure you hire the SEO copywriters who know how to write all these types of content.
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Avoid SEO Writers Who Use Fluff in their Copy
The typical blog post used to be 400-500 words long. Every marketer recommended that not so long ago. Some would even say that you need to go shorter than that because the average Internet user doesn’t want to read sagas online.
Keep everything short, sweet and to the point.
That sounds awesome. If you’re Seth Godin. But you’re not! You have neither the fame, not the ability to write masterpieces in 200 words or less.
Nowadays, marketers (and professional SEO copywriters, too) are all recommending blog posts that are at least 1,500 words long. Ideally, you should aim for 2000+.
Image via Buffer
What changed in the Internet users, you might ask? Well, it’s quite simple: people got more Internet-savvy and they can easily distinguish between fluff, promotional articles and real information. Plus, the Internet is no longer just for looking at fun videos with cats, it’s also for education.
So it’s natural to ask your SEO copywriters to go long form, right?
Right! But (there’s always a “but”!) only if they have something to say.
The truth is that long form content is quite hard to master without adding fluff to your articles. Especially since the new SEO “regulations” advise us to add outbound AND inbound links.
This means that a good blog post will be based on research, not on the writer’s ability to go on and on about why having the perfect beach body matters.
The good news is that fluff is easy to spot: how many links does your article have? Aim for at least 2 (quality) links for every 1000 words. Does the writer actually make a point? Do your eyes get droopy after the first paragraph?
Fluff brings neither clients nor better page rankings, so avoid it. Better yet, avoid hiring SEO writers who write fluff just for the sake of meeting your word count.
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Never Hire SEO Copywriters Based on Their Fee Alone
Go to freelancing websites and you’ll be able to hire SEO copywriters for as little as $1 per article. Go to an acclaimed agency and you’ll pay $500 for an article.
What’s the right balance?
I’ve written about the cost of good copywriting before. And the conclusion is the same: the middle ground always works best.
Before hiring the cheapest writers, think about this: how much would you work for $2? Then know that they won’t work much more, either.
And it’s not just about the time spent writing an article. It’s also about the research, the link building and the knowledge to integrate everything in a manner that brings good rankings, great traffic and paying customers.
What you should be looking for is transparency and fairness. No matter what you budget is (as long as it’s way more than $2), you will be able to find writers or agencies that can accommodate it. But be sure to ask if there are any additional fees.
Some agencies charge onboarding fees, project management fees, and even revision fees. All of them can be justified; the real problem is that the client doesn’t always know about them beforehand.
At Idunn, we practice a fair and transparent pricing grid. We believe that project management, keyword research and revisions should be included in the price. Which is why our clients never end up paying more than we initially agreed on. Sure, our fees vary according to industry and the amount of research needed for each piece of writing – that’s because our main goal is to make sure all clients get excellent ROI from our work.
This is what you should also be aiming for when you hire SEO copywriters: ROI. Set KPIs and let your writers know they will be evaluated constantly. Offer direction and pointers, but never stick with an agency or a freelance writer whose work doesn’t have tangible results.
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Stay Away from SEO Writers who Promise Instant Results
Speaking of results: no matter whom you hire, you won’t get results immediately after publishing one or two articles. Even if they are the best in their niche, it takes time for the pages to be indexed. And, ideally, you should have a lot more content.
If the SEO copywriters for hire you contact promise to get you on page 1 in a few weeks, look elsewhere. They’re probably into black hat techniques.
Yes, black hat techniques might get you to the first page. But you won’t be there long enough to enjoy it, not to mention make a profit out of it. Search engines will penalize you so much that you may need an entirely new domain to recover.
Bottom line: it’s not worth it.
And if your SEO writers promise it great results almost instantaneously, they’re either lying to get the job or using black hat SEO techniques – neither of which are appealing.
Instead, when you hire SEO copywriters, look for the honest type. The one that promises to do thorough research on the keywords that might suit and then approximate a realistic duration and amount of content you’ll need to get there.
You may not like what you’re hearing, but it will be the truth. Ranking high can no longer happen within minutes after hitting “publish”.
Looking to hire SEO copywriters? You have come to the right place. When you work with Idunn’s copywriters, you’re not just avoiding the mistakes above. You’re also getting the kind of copy that brings relevant traffic and, consequently, more clients.
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