Your boss just walked in to say that you have to write copy for the company’s website. It must be compelling and convincing while triggering the customer to respond. The problem: you’re a Dutch technical expert, not a writer. And, the technical product copy must be in English. Technical product expert, novice writer Your first reaction is ‘huh?’ You were hired for your knowledge and skills in an entirely different...

Press releases over the past years have played an important role in improving search engine rankings. The game rules for press releases and copy in general have changed since the introduction of the Google Hummingbird update in 2013 (see my blog on how Hummingbird affects copy). New press release game rules Instead of focusing on keywords, provide content your readers seek. Try to figure out what the reader is searching for by putting yourself...

Oil & gas companies can make a big leap forward by embracing a good content marketing strategy. ‘Many in the industry refuse to “meet people where they are at” and demonstrate the true (and nearly miraculous) value oil and gas brings to the world.’ As Vice President of Marketing and co-founder of Castagra Products Tatsuya Nakagawa remarks in drillinginfo ‘there are still only a handful of companies in the oil industry that really push the...

Want to write better online product and service descriptions? Here are some helpful writing tips I received from Dutch SEO trainer Bob van de Vooren. This article handles the building blocks of good web copy. Much more is involved in writing for the web, but these tips will get you started.

I follow a number of copywriters and one of them is well-known American copywriter Bob Bly (www.bly.com). I certainly enjoyed Bob’s last piece on “Should you write your own copy?” Bob explains that business owners and marketing managers who fit three criteria often produce copy which is better and more successful than professional copywriters. You are an excellent copywriter. You enjoy writing copy. You have the time to write...

SEO copywriting continues to evolve. SEO copywriters have already had to adjust to Google’s Penguin and Panda updates. How will the most recent search algorithm update, Hummingbird, impact SEO copy? Why the Hummingbird update? Google anticipates that more people will use mobile devices for voice search and natural language queries. Why? Smartphone use is growing rapidly. In some countries mobile traffic has already surpassed desktop and...