Words to the Wise

If you’re lucky enough to have $5 in your pocket right now, read on.

I got an email the other day from someone who wanted an SEO article written. Here’s the initial query:

“Hi,

I would like to know how much is the price for one common SEO article?

I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.

<name>”

I just happen to be somewhat busy right now (don’t let that stop you from contacting me for SEO content projects), so it took me a full 24 hours to get back to this person about their query. I offered what I thought was a decent price for 500-to-600 words - and left a little room (not much) for haggling.

It turns out the person was just price shopping. You see, they were already spending the astronomical amount of $8 per article and were searching for something more in the $5 range.

Because I know that you miss every chance you don’t take, I just HAD to ask this person if they would send me a sample of a $5 keyword article they had paid for.

I got exactly what I asked for:

“Thinnest, lightest and yet the strongest is what describes the best of the new Mac Air Book. “Whether to or not to - take your laptop with you” - the usual dilemma is a thing of bygone days with the ultra slim Mac Air Book weighing just about 3.0-3.4 pounds and 0.76 inch thick. Mac Air Book has been deemed as revolutionary by the standard of designs that people with lots of extra cash would like to add yet another eye-candy laptop to their collection. It comes along with an Aluminium chassis which is much more fingerprint resistant than the usual standard Macbooks. Apart from it the aluminium body lends the Air book a very sturdy and robust construction much in line with the kind of games Apple engineers likes to play with any of their products.

The 13.3 inch display, fitted with a built-in iSight camera, mic and an LED-backlit display has certainly taken the innovations in laptops to a new level. The LED-backlit display is controlled by the ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the screen brightness in response to the light in the room. The apple trackpad has also got quite a facelifts. The new Air book’s trackpad measures 5 inches diagonally making it comparatively larger than any of the Mac book’s trackpads and has features that lets you use three fingers rather than the usual two fingers.

This multi-touch gestures enables the user to go forward and back within their Web browser history, and just like zoom-in and zoom-out features in the iPhone, one can do the same with Mac Air Book. “

I’ll spare you the rest of the 661-word cluster-fick-of-an-article.

Ok, so a few things to note here - besides the fact that the above article is wrong on soooo many levels:

1. This person who sent me the SEO article query got what they paid for. Maybe less. And I doubt the copywriter had change for a $5 bill.
2. The content writer did zero research. It’s a MacBook Air, not  Mac Air Book.
3. The effects of this article will be negligible beyond filling the Internet with even more shitty content.
4. You can find a better way to waste $5 at Starbucks (with tip).

People who think a $5 SEO article can be as effective as a $100 or $200 SEO article are only fooling themselves. If your customers are buying in English, then you better market in English - coherent English.

Speaking of $5, I’m grabbing lunch.

Creative briefs can be long and intricate, and they often take up precious time that could be spent actually creating something. However, there is a place in this world for the creative brief as it does help agencies (and freelancers like myself) better understand the task(s) at hand.

The creative brief typically involves questions. Lots and lots of questions. Now, I don’t always use a creative brief. If I believe that a client and I are on the same page about the scope and goals of the project, then I forge ahead. But when I think a creative brief will clear up some questions and help both me and the client better understand objectives, these are some of the questions I ask:

1. Who are we trying to reach? If you’re a real estate agent, are you trying to reach people selling their homes? Or are you trying to reach people in the Raleigh, NC area who are selling a home worth between $300,000 and $900,000 and has been on the market over 120 days?

2. What’s your objective? Is your objective to simply reach them? Or is your objective to send them to a special landing page on your website that gives them a unique offer and information that is tailored to their situation?

3. What are the obstacles? Does your audience have a belief that precludes them from thinking your product or service is for them? Are you one of a dozen companies sending similar offers?

4. What’s in it for your prospect? Will you solve a problem? Will you save them money? Will you MAKE them money? Will you save them from embarassment?

5. What feeling or personality will your communication take on? Will you be the voice of authority? Will you speak to your prospects’ emotions? Will you be out-and-out human?

6. Is the timing right? Some messages are more effective at certain times of the year. Do your prospects need your service right now? If you send them a message now, will they forget about you when they truly do need you? Can your message be used in more than one medium? For example - can you turn your blog posts into articles that can be distributed via the Internet?

7. How does this project fit in with your overall brand? Will this be one piece of the marketing mix? Are there other agencies working on other parts? For example, if I’m writing web copy, I like to be in touch with the web designer to see how my copy will be laid out in the page.

8. Are there any creative mandatrories? Is there a phrase or paragraph that must be used? An image? A logo?

This is just the start. Often, these questions lead to more answers. Fortunately for me, more questions lead to more answers and a better product in the end.

When done correctly, article marketing is a cost-effective way to drive traffic to your Website, help your site rank higher in search engines, and turn you into a subject-matter expert. And, with a little editing, each article can be re-used as original content on your site, which also boots your search engine rankings, thereby increasing your visibility, which, for me anyway, leads to more sales. In other words, articles are a VERY versatile tool for your online marketing.

My article marketing services include:

• Creation of one HTML and one plain text version
• Keyword and key-phrase-rich content
• Unlimited article revisions prior to submission
• Creation of usernames and passwords to article submission sites as necessary
• Manual submission to 50+ sites
• Detailed article submission report
• Re-write of article for use on your website including the addition of title and description meta tags

I work together with each client to decide on the topic and focus for each article.

Turnaround time from the start of writing to submission is roughly two to three weeks after deciding on each article topic and focus. This turnaround time can vary with the number of articles being submitted and is usually shorter.

I offer between one and five articles at a time, and will submit articles at the rate of one per week, mostly because I submit to article submission sites manually, since I find that software can be unreliable.

The more articles you order, the cheaper it is. For example, if I write one article for you, it’s $275. When you order all five articles , the cost is $195 per article. And keep in mind that you get the version that’s submitted to the article sites along with the version I edit for YOUR website.

Thinking about article marketing the next time you want a good way to put relevant content on your site and drive traffic.