Keywords are nothing more than the most common terms people use to describe something. But choosing the right keyword can mean this difference between success or failure for your website.

For example, we almost called our website “interactive copywriter.” But a keyword search revealed that “interactive copywriter” was not anywhere near as popular a search string as “online copywriter.” Whew! Good thing we looked.

Keywords can be single terms or multi-word phrases (like “online copywriter”). Using a keyword tool gives you objective data about different words and phrases, an easy way to compare their popularity, helps you discover alternatives and gives you more surety about the words or phrase you choose.

We recommend the Google keyword tool for all online copywriting which involves the creation of keywords and phrases.

For example, in our last post (Capitalizing Internet), the MSW dictionary didn’t recognize the following as legit words in the English language:

• Google
• Permissivist

How about this one?

• Blogged

Sure, we can all customize our own dictionaries, but that’s really just an invitation to chaos.

To be fair, dictionaries embedded in word processing programs have always been weak. But just because it’s been a chronic problem for two decades doesn’t mean we have to endure it forever.

In our Web 2.0 world, why can’t MSW’s dictionary link to a reputable online source? User-generated dictionaries could still be an adjunct to the main, authoritative source.

As personal publishing explodes, online writers everywhere need the proper tools to create credible content. The alternative is an increasing babelization of the English language.

We suggest the good folks in Redmond do all writers everywhere a big favor and fix their dictionary once and for all by hooking up with the Oxford English Dictionary or another recognized authority.

This is an issue of some importance to all online copywriters. It’s bothered us for some time that Internet remains a proper noun – after all, we don’t capitalize Cable or Water or Electricity. But, like the Internet, they are all piped to the house by a utility.

Internet is not associated with the name of a person (like pasteurization or Darwinism) or a trademarked brand name (like Kodak and Kleenex). It’s not even a singular entity – I get mine from Earthlink. Maybe you get yours from Time Warner.

Furthermore, Internet has become the commonest of common words, reflecting its importance in contemporary society. Its rising usage parallels the decline of words including hi-fi, pager and fax.

All the major reference sources show Internet with a capital “I.” These include:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
American Heritage Dictionary
Merriam-Webster

Microsoft Word always underlines in green our attempts to use internet instead of Internet. Interestingly, many dictionaries allow Google in lower case, as in “I googled it.”

So what’s up with the Internet? Maybe it’s the word “the” that sometimes precedes it. Makes the Internet feel all special and important. But even that’s fading away. We could correctly say (or write):

Kids today have always had the Internet.

Or:

Kids today have always had internet.

Here at Online-Copywriter, we think the Internet should get off its high horse and admit its commonness. Call it the price of popularity. The sainted William Safire would probably call us permissivists.

Other online copywriters are invited to weigh-in with their own heavy thinking about Internet.

1. GET YOURSELF A BLOG READER ACCOUNT. There are lots of options. We recommend Bloglines. Basically, your blog reader account collects all your blogs in one convenient place.

2. SEARCH FOR BLOGS. What interests you? Gardening? Politics? French wine? Use the Search box in the upper right of your Bloglines page to find blogs that might strike your fancy.

BOOMER BLOG MYTH

Blogs have nothing to do with email. You read new posts on your browser at your blog reader (Bloglines or other).

 

 

 

3. SUBSCRIBE TO BLOGS. Read a few of the blogs that appear in your search results. Subscribe to the blogs you like (you can unsubscribe at anytime with just a click). Most blogs include a link that says something like “Subscribe to this blog.”

4. READ YOUR BLOGS. Just go to your Bloglines page anytime to see new posts. Bookmark it and stick it on your bookmark bar.

Reading blogs isn’t a chore. Search around and you’ll discover lots of great stuff you won’t find in print, on TV or the radio. Pretty soon, you’ll start thinking about starting your own blog.

But that’s a topic for another day.

Favicons (pronounced fave-IKONZ) are the tiny pics you often see preceding a web address in your browser bar. Here’s ours:

In this post , we’ll tell you how to create your own favicons– it’s so easy, you’ll wonder why you waited.

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1. First, need to create your own favicon artwork. Any graphics program will do – Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, etc. The dimensions need to be 16px square. Yep, it’s small. So keep it simple.

2. Save your art according to these specs:

- Supported file formats: gif, jpg, png, and bmp.
- Use a gif or png with transparency if you require it.
- Maximum file size: 150.00 kB.

3. Now go to Dynamic Drive’s Free Favicon Generator.

Follow the instructions (browse and create icon). The generator will create a file called favicon.ico from your artwork. The generator will also create some html code for you to use on your webpage.

4. Upload your favicon.ico file to the same directory on your website as your index.

5. Add the code to your web page as instructed (just cut and paste it into the head section).

You’re done!

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Special thanks once again to Dynamic Drive for the free favicon generator.

David Pogue, the technology guru for the New York Times, talks about trying to install software for some new fancy 802n routers - article here. Bottom line: the UI is so confusing, opaque and legalistic that Mr. Pogue never gets the routers to run correctly.

Mr. Pogue goes on to do an amusing “installation audit,” detailing where the installation process runs off the tracks (just about everywhere it turns out).

The real problem here is that manufacturers spend untold millions developing high-tech products and bringing them to market, but then let Bob the engineer write the installation process.

Online copywriters, designers and UI architects are skilled at lowering friction and raising the conversion rate in interactive processes. These are precisely the skills that are needed for successful installation design.

Or you could let Bob the engineer do it. I’m sure Mr. Pogue has more columns coming up.

Search was a 6 billion dollar business in 2006 and is projected to grow at 12% in 2007. Over 1/3 of all purchases of goods and services starts with an internet search. Optimizing your Home Page for natural search helps potential customers find your info on the web. In this post, we’ll tell you how to do it yourself in half an hour with basic web skills.

Briefly, search falls into two categories:

• Paid Search – this is where you bid on keywords and pay (usually) by the click
• Natural Search – also called organic search. This is where search engines (like Google, Yahoo and AOL) display your info based upon relevancy.

We’re going to focus on natural search in this post. These recommendations are based upon guidelines from Google and other search engines as well as our own experience with SEO. No fancy skills required – just basic HTML.

Here are 7 things you can do to optimize your Home Page for natural search.

1. KEYWORD SEARCH TOOL – The first thing to do is pick your keywords. There are both free and paid tools on the web that can help you research words or phrases that describe your business or service. We use the Google Keyword Tool (which is free). Decide which keywords best match your product or service. We usually pick two or three keywords and concentrate on those.

2. PAGE TITLE - Many people concentrate on the body copy or esoteric measures like keyword density, but search engines also look at the page title (<title> tag). It helps your “relevancy” score to use your main keyword in the page title.

3. HEADLINE - Search engines also pay attention to the headline or <h1> tag. The same is true for subheads <h2>. A common mistake is to use image text (i.e. a gif or jpg) for headlines, but search engines can’t index image text. Use plain text (html) or your headlines won’t be indexed.

4. BODY COPY – Now weave your keywords into the body copy. The hard part is making it sound natural.

5. META TAGS – Search engines also pay attention to Meta tags. You can find these are in the head section of the html. We recommend using both the “description” and the “keyword” meta tags.

6. AT LEAST 100 WORDS - Many search engines don’t index pages with fewer than 100 words. Some “experts” insist that longer pages perform better in search rankings. While this may be have the whiff of truth, we think over-long pages make deadly reading and ultimately turn off the audience and undermine the message.

7. USE LINKS - Linking your keywords between pages on your web site can also help your search ranking (once again by boosting relevancy).

Search is incredibly complicated and it is evolving everyday. But the recommendations listed above will bring your home page into compliance with the major search engines and lift your search ranking over time.

If you have more questions about search, please contact us.

Merci bien for all the comments on my linking post.

Back in the saddle again tomorrow. Gotta get some sleep.