Anyone can say they’re an expert. So how do you make your claim believable? This was DK Innovative’s concern. They partnered with us recently to build a new website, and our top priority was to make sure their clients understood – and believed – the breadth of their expertise. Their clients, pharmaceutical marketing teams, are often stretched thin for time and resources.  DK Innovative helps them fill those gaps, with over 20 years of pharmaceutical marketing experience. The problem is that sentence sounds like a lot of marketing hooey. Our client needed to do more than just talk about their expertise. They needed to prove it.

Solution

There’s an old mantra in writing: Show, don’t tell. We set out to show real-life examples of how DK Innovative has applied their expertise to solve client problems. In other words, we created case studies.

We started by identifying recent projects that met two criteria:

• DK Innovative made a significant difference for the client, and
• The project would be of great interest to other potential clients.

We settled on three projects:

1. A multi-tiered online marketing campaign that tied a specialty product in with an episode of the TV medial drama House
2. The development of an iPad application that a client’s sales force could use in the field; and
3. Smart strategic recommendations that helped position a client as an attractive acquisition target.

Length was also an issue. DK Innovative’s clientele is busy; they want quick answers to their questions, so we kept the case studies as short as we could – about half a page. This let us hit the important points with just enough detail to make the stories memorable.

And finally, we focused on quantifying the results. The first project resulted in 10,000 clicks on the product’s website. The second project saved the client thousands of dollars. The third project helped the client double profits on one product and double sales on another.

After all, without results, expertise alone is meaningless, no?

As we set about writing the three case studies, we also made sure they were easy to find on the website. Each case study has its own page, under the general heading of “How We Work.” They’re also called out on the homepage with links, encouraging the reader to click and learn more.

See how we proved DK Innovative’s expertise >

Results

With the instant credibility these case studies give DK Innovative, they’re playing a starring role in DK’s lead generation efforts, too. DK recently embarked on an email campaign to warm prospects. The email starts out with a teaser sentence or two from a case study, and then refers the reader back to DK’s website to read more. The response so far is encouraging. By showing how other businesses approached and solved a problem, DK shines light on how they can help the reader solve their problems, too.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Truthfully, it’s not rocket science. You just have to understand these six simple rules of publishing…

1. Know which publications are right for you. Not all publications are relevant to your market; others are extremely competitive and might not be likely to accept your ideas if you’re not already a published author. Be smart in targeting publications for your article.

2. Know what topics will interest the readers. Remember, you’re trying to provide helpful information – which is NOT a sales pitch for your business. You can usually find readership statistics on the publication’s readership under the About Us section, or sometimes under the Media or Advertising sections. Read this carefully, and consider how you can you target your article (or your idea for an article) to appeal more directly to the publication’s specific demographics.

3. Know what the editor wants to see. Look on the publication’s website for a Guide to Submissions (or something similar); you may have to conduct a search to find this, as sometimes it can be buried on a website. If you can’t find it, email the editor and see if he/she can email it to you. Read through this Guide very carefully; it will tell you precisely what to do. For example, what topics is the editor interested in? Does the editor want to see a completely written article, or does the editor only want to hear the idea for the article (called a “pitch” or a “query”)?

If the editor wants to see a query letter, this should include the general idea of your article, why your article will interest the publication’s readers, the approximate length of the article, and why you’re the right person to write the article. On the other hand, if the editor wants to see your complete article, know if you should attach a Word document to an email, cut and paste the article into the body of the email, or send it via snail mail.

Also, look on the publication’s website for an Editorial Calendar. Not every publication makes this public, but if yours does, you can see what topics the editor has planned for upcoming issues and you can try to target your pitch to one of those topics.

4. Know the timing for certain articles. Editors typically are looking fairly far out into the future. If there is a seasonal aspect to your article, then you need to start marketing that article at least 6 months in advance – or even earlier, to be on the safe side.

5. Know how the publication handles rights. Is it okay if the article has been previously published? Do you retain the rights to the article after the editor publishes it – for example, can you post the article on your own website, or can you see if other publications will accept your article also? Once the editor publishes your article, does the publication retain the rights to publish it again elsewhere, for example, on their own website or in a newsletter? Every publication handles rights a little bit differently, so it’s critical for you to understand what rights you’re keeping and what rights you’re giving away.

6. Know how to work with the editor. First, understand that editors are overworked and underpaid. Second, understand that editors have to work with many, many other writers – so make sure the editor finds it easy to work with you. If the editor asks for changes to the article, do so graciously. And third, understand that every publication is like a jigsaw puzzle, where everything has to fit together smoothly for it all to work.  Your article may be wonderful, but if important breaking news means that a new article needs to be included last minute, which means there’s no room for your article, well, that’s life in publishing. Don’t take it personally, and don’t take it out on the editor. Simply buck up and try again next time.

That’s it – six simple steps. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying that rush of pride that comes from seeing your name in print. Good luck!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

How do you know these are really your company’s biggest selling points? Do they really make your company unique?

Or do they just sound like something you should be saying?

Marketers like to talk a lot about the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The problem is that not enough companies understand what makes them unique.

I used to ask new clients what they saw as their USP…but I’ve stopped, because I was often dissatisfied with the answers. It’s just too easy to rely on a shallow USP, which isn’t particularly effective. So I changed my strategy.

Instead of asking my clients point blank “What’s your USP?”, now I ask a series of questions that I believe generate more honest answers. By combining the best parts of the various answers, we can fashion a more accurate, meaningful USP that resonates better with your clients. Could asking these questions of your own company give you a stronger marketing message, too?

Question 1: What about your products/services is most attractive to your customers, and why?

In other words, what is it that attracts people to buy what you sell?

Question 2: How do your products/services compare to what the competition offers?

There’s a surprising difference between asking a client how their company differs from the competition, versus how their products differ from the competition. By focusing on the product, the question becomes a little less personal – and the answers become a little more honest.

Question 3: What have customers said about your product/service?

Similar to question 2, but gets even deeper and lets the customer’s own words do the talking.

Question 4: What do customers say about your company?

Now we’re starting to get personal here, but because we’re using the customer’s own words, the answer has a bit more meaning.

And for the single most important question…If you ask yourself only one question, this is the one…

Question 5: Can you describe a time when you really made a difference for a customer?

Your answer to this question will lead you directly to the start of an amazing, strong, honest USP. Combine the truths of this answer with your responses to the other four questions, and you’re ready to go.

Since I’ve created this process, I feel the quality of the marketing communications I produce has skyrocketed. I’m always fine tuning things, however, and I’d love to know how you came to understand your own USP.

What questions do you ask yourself? Do they give you an honest answer?

And most importantly, how has a stronger USP impacted your marketing?

Send me an email and let me know!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

One piece of advice frequently tossed around is that people won’t read a lot of copy on websites. Put everything into bullet points, they’ll say, because the less copy the better.

To this advice I say, “Hogwash.” People absolutely will read copy on websites, as long as you’re smart about what you say and how you say it.

What are your visitors looking for?

Visitors to your website are there for a reason; they’re not there just to browse around, they’re looking for specific information.  Maybe they’re trying to determine if you offer the particular service or product they need.  Maybe they want to know if you have the credentials to back up your claim.  Maybe they want to know where you’re located or your hours of operation. These are specific goals.

Your job is to help visitors easily accomplish those goals – with as much copy as it takes to get the job done, no more, no less.

The best websites are like newspapers

Consider the low-tech newspaper. Most people don’t read every single article. Instead, we pull out the sections that interest us (Sports? Business? World News?), and from there, we skim through the headlines until we find an article that interests us – and then we stop and read that article.

No one expects every reader to read every word on every page.  Instead, the newspaper is intentionally designed to make it easy for us to jump in, find specific information, and jump back out again.

Your website should work like a newspaper. Visitors should be able to scan through your site until they find what they’re looking for. When they find it, your answers should be complete and thorough and satisfy their questions.

Pay attention to formatting

Of course, as with many myths, there’s a kernel of truth to this one about short web copy.  Long pages of densely packed paragraphs are hard to read and don’t work well on websites. Whether your web page has 500 words or 50, you always want to format the copy to be reader-friendly.

Again, think about how newspapers are set up.  Short, informative headlines.  Short articles, with the most important information located in first couple of paragraphs. East to scan. Easy to read.

Feel free to use bullet points and graphics in as many places as you can.  Just don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater in your drive to keep everything short.

Let the answer determine the length

This is the heart of why the short-web-copy myth is so dangerous.  Different visitors to your website will have different questions.  Your challenge is to anticipate those questions and thoroughly answer each one with just enough copy.

This is important. If you’re too hung up on trying to cram a 500-word answer into 50 words, you’ll compromise your ability to provide the answers that your visitors are looking for.

And please, don’t fall into the “we want people to call us to find the answer” trap.  The truth is that visitors are not going to call you. They’re going to hit the back button on their browser and keep searching for their answers, until they find what they’re looking for – probably from your competitor’s website.

So stop worrying about keeping web pages short, and start worrying about providing enough information. It’s imperative to the success of your website.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Wondering why you need to optimize your press release?   If you’re planning on using an online distribution service like PRWeb.com (my personal favorite, for being cost-effective and generating good results for my clients), you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck and make sure that people can actually find your press release.

Here’s an overview of how the process works:

1. You upload your optimized press release to the service website.  Be sure to include a link to your website when it asks for your contact information.
2. The service gives your release a page on their website.
3. The service also sends out an automatic feed to subscribing journalists and bloggers.
4. As bloggers pick up your press release, they’ll add it to their blog.
5. This is where it gets interesting.  Because your press release includes a link to your website, every time a blogger adds your press release to their blog, Google counts another incoming link for you.
6. Incoming links are one of the key criteria Google uses to rank websites.  When Google finds a lot of links to your website, it decides your website must be well-written and therefore popular, and so it ranks your website higher.

So while you thought you were just writing a press release to let the local newspapers know that you’ve moved your offices, lo and behold – you’ve actually created a tool that can improve your website in the search engines!  I’ve actually seen press releases place higher in the search engines than the corresponding website.  Not a bad return on investment, eh?

And like I said, optimizing the release is super simple.  Here’s what you need to know:

Step 1

Choose one strong keyword or phrase.  Not sure if you’ve got a strong keyword?  Visit Google’s keyword tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal), type in your keyword or keyword phrase, and see what comes up.

Resist the urge to choose more than one keyword phrase.  A one-page press release is just not long enough to truly optimize for more than one phrase without your writing sounding ridiculous.

Step 2

Put your keyword phrase in your headline, as close to the beginning of the headline as possible.

Step 3

Put your keyword phrase in the first sentence of the press release, preferably within the first 90 characters.

Step 4

Add your keyword phrase one to two more times anywhere in the body of your press release.  Make sure it sounds as natural as possible, since you don’t want to sound weird to your readers.

And that’s it!  I told you it was simple!

Now that you know how to optimize a press release and you understand how this tool fits into your overall search engine strategy, be on the lookout for opportunities to create press releases.  Have interesting company news to share?  Write a press release!  Want to comment on a hot news item?  Write a press release!  Affected by developments in your industry? Write a press release!

Keep writing those press releases, and start planning for all that new website traffic they’ll bring!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

The press release is the first step toward getting your company name printed in newspapers, trade magazines or online industry websites.  But well-written press releases follow a particular set of journalistic rules.  Here is my simple system, so that you too will know how to write a press release like the pros.

Define Your Angle

Why will anyone take the time to read this press release?  You have to have a news-worthy angle.

Company news – things like a move, a new hire, expansion into new services, or winning an award – are frequent reasons to write a release.  But what if you could tie your company news into what’s happening in the broader world?  Suddenly your press release becomes relevant, not just promotional pap.

Can you link your company news item to a current event?  Is there an issue that the public should be aware of?  Or even better, are you doing something controversial?  The media love these kinds of stories.

For example, a local business management and marketing consulting firm recently appeared on a local business news program, and they wanted to publicize this in a press release.  In creating our angle, we focused on some provocative comments he made on the show – which gave us a much more compelling story to tell than simply relaying the fact that he appeared on the program.  As a result of this angle, our release was picked up by more media outlets than we would have seen otherwise.

Make the Title Strong

The title of your press release should clearly explain your angle.  Try to grab the reader’s attention, and never be cutesy.  Keep it short if possible, particularly if you intend to email the press release to an editor since most email inboxes will display only the first 50 characters of a subject line.  If you’re planning on submitting this press release through on an online submission, you’ll want to optimize your title for the search engines – a topic I’ll discuss next month.

What’s Your Lead?

Also written “lede,” your opening sentence engages your reader and encourages him or her to read more of your piece.  There are a few standard types of leads, such as:

• A descriptive story or an anecdote.  If you do this, save the end of the story for the end of the press release, in order to build a little suspense.
• A compelling fact or statistic.  Even better if it’s surprising.  Just make sure it’s accurate.
• A counter-intuitive statement.  This can arouse curiosity and engage your reader.
• A statement that reinforces your reader’s beliefs.  Get people nodding their heads in agreement, and they’ll keep reading.

Make Your Point Quickly

However you start that first sentence, make sure to quickly segue into the meat of your content.  Explain the five W’s – Who, What, Where, When and Why – within the first two paragraphs.  Get to the heart of the matter quickly, and then use the remaining space of the press release to elaborate.

Journalists refer to this as the “inverted pyramid.”  The content of your press release should be like an upside-down triangle – with all the important details included up top, and the fluffy supporting stuff down at the bottom.

Keep It Simple

In the “olden” days of faxes and snail mail, the mantra for press releases was “one page only.”  With the prevalence of emails, it’s easier to fudge a little on length.  Just don’t fudge too much.  One page is great, two is the limit, a page and a half is common.

How do you keep it simple?   Avoid round-about, confusing sentences; get straight to the point and eliminate every single unnecessary word.  Wordiness doesn’t make your piece better; it simply shows the reader that you have no idea how to write a press release.

Provide a Call to Action

Always tell the reader what to do next.  Your call to action might be to visit your website at www.YourWebsite.com, it might be to call your office at 555-5555 for more information, or it might be to look for your product in the household goods aisle.  Tell people what to do!

Know the Formatting Rules

Provide contact information (name, title, phone, email) and note whether the contact is available for interviews.  I usually provide this information up top, although some companies place it last.

Next, state whether the item can be released immediately (“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”) or after a certain date (“FOR RELEASE MAY 1, 2011”).

On the next line comes the title.  Bold the title, and if you prefer, put it in a larger font.  Any formatting beyond that is unnecessary.

Now you’re ready for the body of the press release.  If you’ll be sending the press release to publications outside your immediate geographic area, it’s common practice to start the body with your location (“NAPERVILLE, IL – Today, Freelance Writing Solutions announced…”).

At the end of the document, provide notation to let the reporter know there is no more to the press release.  Three hashmarks – “###” – or the word “- END -“ are most commonly used.

And there you have it – a well-written press release!  Now that you know how to write a press release like a pro, stay tuned for next month’s article where I explore how to optimize your press release to get noticed by the search engines!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Not all of our marketing speaks to our clients and prospects.  This business plan will be a purely internal document; no client will ever see it.  And yet, it may be the most important piece of marketing communications I’ll write the whole year.

If you need help writing your business plan, here’s the simple template that I’m using.  I hope you find it helpful.

Business Plan Template

Cover page.  Even though it’s an internal document, it still needs to feel “official”.

Vision Statement.  Clarify why you’re in business, what you offer, and to whom, with a simple statement.

Business Environment Overview.  Identify your target market, and explain their needs and problems.

Competitive Analysis.  Identify your main competition and create a basic SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

• Competitor Strengths
• Competitor Weaknesses
• Opportunities for Your Success
• Threats to Your Success

Operating Plan.  Explain what you do and how you do it.  If you’ve been providing the same services for years and don’t expect to change in 2011, this section could be short.  If you’re considering changing in 2011 the mix of services you offer, this is your opportunity to flesh out your plan.

Marketing Plan.  Look at your marketing and sales at several levels:

• Value Proposition.  What’s unique about your company, and what benefits do you give your clients?
• Sales Goals.  Set targets, both hard and soft.
• Sales Plan.  Map out everything – your branding (New website content?  Print ads?), your marketing (Direct mail?  Cold calls?  Networking Events?), and your client-relationship building (Regular newsletters?  Social media?  Holiday cards?).

Management Plan.  Include your bio and the bios of any partners/associates.  Click here for advice on writing your bio.

Financial Plan.  Include P&L statements from the last 2-3 years, as well as year-to-date, and identify the financial goals, beyond the sales goals from your marketing plan, that you’d like to achieve in 2011.

Following this template for writing a business plan will give you a thorough, meaningful document that will guide you through the next twelve months.

If, however, you need more than an internal document – if you need a business plan suitable to share with your bank or investors, please consider hiring a professional.  A writer with experience in business plans has the right skills and an impartial, arm’s-length distance from your organization.  This allows the writer to ask the tough but critical questions your plan needs to address – which can make all the difference in the success of your plan.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

With a nod to the growing demand for green products and the unfortunate rise of “greenwashing” as a marketing practice, the FTC wants to make it harder for marketers to broadly claim they are “green” or “eco-friendly”.

However, three popular phrases – “sustainable”, “natural” and “organic” – are not covered by the proposal.  The FTC says these terms are already covered under Department of Agriculture regulations, even though earlier this year the FTC did send warning letters to 78 retailers, including Wal-Mart and Target, for incorrectly advertising rayon clothing as made of bamboo.

As for the current proposal, the FTC has both clarified existing regulations and added some new ones as well.

More importantly, they want to know what you think of them.  They’re asking the public for comments until December 10, 2010; they’ll issue their final guidelines in the first half of 2011.

Here is a summary of the proposal.  A link to the website to submit your comments follows at the bottom of the article.

Proposed Revisions to Guidelines

General Environmental Benefit (e.g., “Green”, “Eco-Friendly”)

• Marketers may not make unqualified general environmental benefit claims.  They are difficult or impossible to substantiate.
• Qualifications must be clear and prominent, should limit the claim to a specific benefit, and the context may not imply deceptive environmental claims.

Certifications and Seals of Approval

• Certifications and seals are endorsements covered in the FTC’s Endorsement Guides, but the proposal provides new examples illustrating how those Guides apply to environmental claims, such as that marketers must disclose material connections to the certifier.
• If a certification/seal does not state the basis for certification, marketers must use clear and prominent language that limits the claim to the particular attributes they can substantiate.
• Third-party certification does not eliminate a marketer’s obligation to have substantiation for all conveyed claims.

“Degradable”

• For solid waste productst that will not go into landfills, incinerators or recycling facilities, complete decomposition must occur no more than one year after customary disposal.
• Marketers may not make unqualified degradable claims for items destined for landfills, incinerators or recycling facilities because decomposition will not occur within one year.

“Compostable”

• To use the claim “compostable”, all materials in a product/package must break down in approximately the same time as the materials with which it is composted.

“Ozone-Safe”/”Ozone-Friendly”

• The proposal contains minor updates to examples to reflect changes in regulations concerning ozone-depleting chemicals.

“Recyclable”

• Marketers must disclose the limited availability of recycling programs, according to a three-tiered analysis:

1.       If a “substantial majority” of consumers/communities have access to recycling facilities, marketers may make unqualified recycling claims.

2.       If a “significant percentage” of consumers/communities have access to recycling facilities, marketers must qualify recyclable claims (e.g., “This package may not be recyclable in your area.”).

3.       If less than a “significant percentage” of consumers/communities have access to recycling facilities, marketers must qualify recyclable claims (e.g., “This product is recyclable only in the few communities that have recycling programs.”).

“Free-of”/”Non-Toxic”

• Free-of: 

1.       A claim may be deceptive if the item has other substances that pose the same environmental risk as the substance not included.

2.       A claim may be deceptive if the substance has never been associated with that product category.

3.       A claim may be appropriate if the item contains a de minimis amount of a substance.

4.       A claim may convey additional environmental claims, including general benefit or comparative superiority claims.

• Non-Toxic:   A claim likely conveys that an item is non-toxic both for humans and for the environment generally.

Proposed New Guidelines

“Made with Renewable Materials”

• Marketers must provide specific information such as what the renewable material is, how it is sourced, and why it is renewable.
• Marketers must qualify if the item is not entirely made from renewable materials.

“Made with Renewable Energy”

• Marketers must qualify their claim if the power used to manufacture any part of the product was derived from fossil fuels.
• Marketers must specify the source of the renewable energy.
• Marketers must qualify if any of the significant manufacturing processes involved in making the product or package were powered with renewable energy or conventional energy offset by renewable energy certificates (RECs).
• Marketers that generate renewable energy but sell RECs for all of the renewable energy they generate should not represent that they use renewable energy.

“Carbon Offsets”

• Marketers need scientific evidence to support carbon offset claims and must use appropriate accounting methods to properly quantify emission reductions.
• Marketers must disclose if the offset they’ve bought will not reduce emissions for two years or longer.
• Marketers may not advertise carbon offsets if the offsets are required by law.

It’s important to note again that these changes are not final, and that the FTC wants to hear your opinions on them.  Visit https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/revisedgreenguides by December 10 to submit your comments directly to the FTC electronically.  The FTC will issue their final guidelines during the first half of 2011.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

I know, as a marketer, it’s critical for me to nurture the leads I get.  These leads may not be ready to buy from me right now, but if I can stay in touch with them on a regular basis, then when they are ready to buy, I’ll be front of mind.

Luckily, I have a secret weapon that makes creating this newsletter breathtakingly easy.

It’s my editorial calendar.

Magazine editors have been using editorial calendars for years.  Before each year starts, they plan out every issue for the next 12 months.  It keeps them on topic.  It helps them avoid writing too much about any one subject.  And it makes executing each issue a piece of cake.

Creating an editorial calendar will eliminate half the battle of regularly staying in touch with and nurturing your leads.  Here’s how.

Consistency is key to successful lead nurturing

I’ll be much more successful as a marketer if I can stay in touch regularly.  I don’t want to pester my prospects so much I become a nuisance.  I don’t want to contact them so infrequently they forget about me, either.  I have to create a schedule that’s appropriate for my prospects and that I can stick with.

(For me, I can handle about one article a month.  You, on the other hand, may prefer to go with short blog entries once a week or bigger newsletters every quarter.  It’s your choice.)

Selecting the schedule is relatively simple.  Knowing what to write about, however, is not.  In fact, it’s the biggest challenge most of us marketers face.

How do I know what to say?

My editorial calendar solves that problem.  Rather than waste time staring at a blank computer screen trying to come up with the perfect topic, I just look up the next article I’ve already listed in my calendar…and I get to work.

It’s actually almost silly how easy it is to create an editorial calendar.  And it will save you so much work in the long run, there’s virtually no reason not to set up your own.  Here are 3 super-simple steps to follow:

1.  Think about the questions customers ask you most frequently.  This is the best place to start; each question becomes the topic of an article.

2.  Let Google tell you what your customers are looking for.  Go to Google’s free keyword tool and type in a word that relates to your services.  Google will tell you how often people search on that word, and more importantly, Google will give you suggestions about other words and phrases they also use.  This gives you great insight into what your customers are actively looking for on the Internet.  I also like Wordtracker’s free keyword questions tool.  Choose as many of these keyword phrases as seems relevant to you and write an article around each one.

3. Consider holidays and seasonal article topics.  For example, September is back-to-school time, so last September, I wrote about getting back to the basics of good writing.  During Christmastime one year I wrote about writing meaningful messages on your Christmas cards.  What other seasonal topics make sense for your business?

Now, create your schedule.  I use an Excel spreadsheet that lists every newsletter date for the next 12 months.  Set up your dates, and start plugging the article topics you’ve identified into the schedule.

With this editorial calendar in place, you’ll always know what to write about.  Picking a topic won’t be an issue anymore – because you’ll have done that work already.  You’ll be focused, on task and on schedule with your lead nurturing.  And your marketing will be that much more effective.

That’s all there is to it.  I told you it was easy!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Using keywords is a lot like decorating a room.  There’s a place for everything, and everything in its place.

Keywords are the foundation for every search engine strategy.  Search engines (like Google) use keywords to understand your site.

Imagine your web page is a room and Google is entering your room for the first time.  What will Google notice first?  What stands out the most?  What can you do to draw attraction to something?

Use keywords and phrases to help Google understand your web pages. 

A little strategy in using your keywords can go a long way, because how and where you place them makes a big difference. Here’s a ranking of keyword tactics, in order of importance to Google:

1.  URL:  If you can, select a URL for your website that contains your strongest keyword — something like www.GreenTea.com, www.PlasticScrews.com, or www.NapervilleWebDesign.com.   Think of this as the doorway to your web page; it’s the first thing Google sees, so it’s very important.

2.  Title Tag:  The title tag is the second thing Google sees – sort of like the threshold Google must cross to enter.  It’s also very important, and yet many people overlook this when creating their websites.  Each Page Title meta tag should use a strong keyword for each page.  Order is important, too, so while it’s okay to put your company name in the page title, put your keyword first.

3.  Header:  Now that Google’s “in” your room, it’s looking for things that stand out – like a big sofa or a beautiful fire place.  The header (using the H1 tag) is that sofa.  It’s up front, and it’s also usually in a bolder font or a bigger size.  Google knows that if you’re making something big and bold, it must be important.  Put your best keywords or phrases as close to the front of your header as you can for the biggest impact.

4.  Subheads:  If the header is a big sofa, the subheads (H2 and H3 tags) are brightly colored accent pillows.  Like the header, subheads are also usually bolder or bigger – and therefore attract Google’s attention.  Break up long paragraphs into shorter sections, and start each section with a subhead that uses strong keywords.

5.  Link text:  If Google were standing outside of your room looking in, the link text would be the window.  When possible, use your keywords when you write links to a page.  For example, rather than writing “click here”, try “Click here to read about green tea health benefits”  to tell Google what the page is about.

6.  Alt tags:  The Alt tag is the text that appears when you hover over an image on a web page.  Google can’t read images, but it can read Alt tags.  Not using Alt tags is like having a bookshelf in your room with all the spines facing in; you know they’re books, but you have no idea what they are.  Always use Alt tags, and always use keywords in your Alt tags – so Google knows that both the image and the page are consistently about the same thing.

7.  Throughout the Content:  Think of your content as the pattern made by the wallpaper and carpeting in your room.  Use your keywords consistently throughout your page, but make sure they look nice too.  If you overstuff your page with the same keyword repetitively, Google will penalize you.  If you use too many different keywords, Google will get confused and not understand what your page is about.  And if you use your keywords in all the right places but they don’t make sense to your readers, you’ll never sell your product or service.

Keywords aren’t the only part of an effective SEO strategy, but they’re the easiest to implement.  Follow these recommendations when you choose where to place your keywords, and you’ll be well on your way to solid results in the search engines!

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