| By :
Derryck Strachan
The Usual Suspects has got to be one of the most influential films of the last few years - and that final twist is one of the most talked about movie moments of all time. Who is Keyser Soze? And why is Kevin Spacey playing such a loser? 'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.' Just like an SEO copywriter. For not quite as diabolical reasons a skilled SEO copywriter is also adept at merging into the background, blending with the page and concealing their true identity. Those that really understand SEO copywriting are almost like spirits, a good web copywriter barely even exists. The search engines are all about relevance. They exist to deliver the very best, the cleanest, most useful and most meaningful search returns on user queries. The better they are at doing this, the more people use them and the more money they make. Relevant search returns equals increased profits. Relevance is the currency, the capital of the search engines. The second they think you are manipulating their returns you are history. Good thing too. Does anyone want Google or Bing jammed up with spam sites? Any SEO copywriter worth their salt understands the importance of relevance and can create carefully crafted copy for the target customer. A high rank on a search engine isn't the only thing that a copywriter should be delivering. Once at the site the copy MUST engage. It must inform, it must interest, entertain and most of all, through appropriate calls to action, it must work to modify the behaviour of the person reading it. That's what it exists for. Your copy isn't just there to fill space - it has a job to do. It's there to get stuff done. The thing is, in most cases loud, in your face or overtly salesy copy fails. Why? People hate, absolutely hate feeling like they're being sold to. You keyword spam a message or bend it so far out of shape that it condescends and not only do you turn off the engines but your readers will likely throw themselves off your site just to get away from you. No surprises. We're hit with thousands of media messages every day, many of which are loaded with the sole intention of parting us from our cash. At best you can just shrug them off. Bounce from a web site for example. In extreme cases they can really annoy people. So why the Keyser Soze analogy? People aren't stupid. You see the signs and develop ways of counteracting the pitches, largely by ignoring them and trying to manoeuvre to less irritating environments. Advertisers aren't stupid either. Some people will do anything to get their sales pitch across, frequently by crossing that invisible line of trust between business and consumer. That applies to search engines too. As an SEO copywriter if you want to be in the sweet spot, you'd better be soft, frictionless and subtle about it, or your message will soon be thrown out. A creative copywriter can entertain, and empathise with wit wisdom and civility; they can influence you without detection its almost as if they never existed. Because an SEO copywriter knows that what they write isn't about them at all. It's all about YOU. You the reader are the only reason that this copy even exists. Experienced web copywriters know how to communicate with you by understanding what you really need. In the unlikely event that you haven't seen the film, check it out. You're in for a great ride. And if you have? Then you'll know very well... all is not as it seems.
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