Why hire an Internet savvy, professional writer?

Many potential clients ask me what the benefits are of hiring a professional writer, who specializes in web site content and keyword writing. This is a valid question, considering up until a few years ago mainstream America barely knew what search engine optimization was. However, in 2007 competition on the Internet has become just as cut throat and intense as competition in the real world of business. Professional web site content development and keyword writing are now essential components to the success of a web site and its ability to perform on the search engines. These days companies pay tens of thousands of dollars for web sites that are highly interactive. Web sites can present real time market information, collect and organize databases, allow clients to manage their own accounts online and streamline information for large mobile sales teams.

Protect Your Online Investment

Building a web site is a financial and professional investment. You want to represent yourself in the best way possible. Just like traditional marketing, Internet marketing is a serious endeavor. A business associate of mine, Jason Syzdek, president of Jaymunda www.Jaymunda.com, asks his clients an important question, “If you are going to invest your money in a high end web site, why wouldn’t you pay to include professional writing services?” Even if you have someone on staff who can write well, it is essential to have a keyword specialist complete some research about keywords that will be useful for achieving your web site marketing goals. It is also good to have a web site content developer review and edit any content you or your staff have created for your web site. They will generally review the marketing voice, offer formatting suggestions and go over basic grammar and spelling.

Choose Your Web Design Firm Carefully

When it comes time to choose the right web site development firm to manage and maintain your Internet investment it is essential that the designers you choose also offer content development, keyword research and search engine optimization services. If they do not then begin looking for a search engine company that can partner with them to assist on search engine strategies. Remember, the website design itself is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to being successful and profitable on the Internet.

At Sidhe Communications we offer a variety of services including web site content development and keyword analysis. We also offer web site design services, web site programming services, search engine optimization packages and more with the help of our strategic partners around the country. If you are in search of a firm that can handle all aspects of your web site development project call us for a free one hour consultation. If you have a web site but are unhappy with its performance contact us for a free one hour evaluation.

Until next time…

Sarah Benoit

Dear P:

I haven’t heard from you in a few years and running into you the other day at that search engine marketing conference was quite a surprise. You look great. Though you seem a bit unhappy, too.

Where have you been hiding? Have you been squirreled away in a cube or corner office, a spare room of a house or basement, writing code for years on end? Do you find people like me, versed in communication of all sorts, a bit boring? Or am I, like me friends say – just -challenging? Do you need a techie to talk to? Or can you actually still hold a conversation with me, your long lost lover, the professional writer. I was wondering, since you’ve mastered these other programming languages, when you might like to try to master English again?

I mean, I know you know how to write standard written English. You’re just out of practice. And you’re creative like me – so you have some great ideas that could easily translate into our common language – English. But since you’ve been writing code for so long, it has mingled with the language centers in your brain. You’ve changed. You’re not the same guy I knew in college, who had to write essays and some history papers, or get up in front of a class and speak. Now you write practically nothing. And you’re speaking is beginning to sound a bit like html, too. Sorry I had to be the one to tell you that, but it’s true. Even the people you work with find it hard to understand you sometimes.

If only we could be back in each other’s lives again, back in each other’s arms. You hardly ever call me. And, I’m a professional writer who could actually help you reinvent yourself and your website. Is it because you don’t have the money to take me out for a nice dinner? Or are you just too proud to admit it gets lonely out there on your own? Or, here’s a famous excuse you’ve used before — you’re just too buried in code to get out anymore.

Honestly, P, let’s cut through the B.S. I’d really like to see you. I make my own money, so I could take you out. My website is jamming, because I’ve got content, and the phone is jingling off the hook with new clients reaching me everyday. You know you can’t do it all on your own. We’ve been through this before.

P, you’ve become reliant on code to communicate and transmit information on the internet for too long. In the late Nineties and for the first five years or so of the new millennium, your code made your website a star on the internet – good for you. You say you pocketed some cash from selling that tech company and now you’ve started a new website project.

You’ve used the same old tricks and a few new ones to land your website on the first page of Google. But then, things started to change, as they always do. Now that Web 2.0 is in full swing, it’s different, isn’t it? People with real content, not programming expertise alone, are landing on page one of Google — not your site. It’s so unfair.

I hope that we can at least get together for some coffee and chat. I’d like to catch up, see that winning smile on your face again, and just flirt a little bit. It’s springtime. So, why not? I’d like to help you remember that you CAN write, you can DIY, with a little coaching from me or others like me. While you’ve been learning to write new code, I’ve picked up a few tricks myself. I know about marketing and PR. And I’ve done it before with other brilliant minds — I can find great ways to translate your ideas into bait for the press or content that yields more traffic.

P, you need to change your attitude just a teensy bit, if you want to go out with me again. Get real, first of all. I mean, the way you handle the back end of sites is awesome. Without your skill in crafting the code, the search engines wouldn’t even bother. But real people don’t read the back end of sites, they read the front end. Your website needs to have a voice — an identity – to get noticed and keep the visitors returning.

P, if you’re interested, give me a call (828-258-0222), and we can ‘just talk.’ You might not want to get involved right away, and that’s O.K. There’s no harm in talking, or coffee right? P, I really miss you. So, let’s not waste anymore time. Life is short and we might not be here tomorrow, if the whole world continues to go to hell in a hand basket. Let’s get together, real time, not just on the computer.

Visits to Tech Hubs for Updates on the Tech Boom

Tech Boom in Washington D.C.
I’ve visited some tech hubs this year, beginning on January 3rd, when I spent some time in Washington D.C. speaking to a partner at Tech Assist. This wireless communication company also has a burgeoning web site development department. I was discussing the possibility of our firm partnering with the web site development department to offer web site writing and web site promotion services to their client base.

Tech Assist was interested in offering search engine marketing plans to their clients. However, like many tech companies, Tech Assist had some organization and expansion issues to deal with first. Speaking to a partner at Tech Assist is where I first caught wind of the fact that the organic search phenomenon was getting ready to explode. Although many companies still bank their web site marketing on Pay-Per-Click, other companies are more interested in coming up first in organic search engine placement. Sidhe Communications has specialized in the development and dissemination of keyword rich text for our clients for four years. Our organic search strategies have been effective in assisting small to medium sized companies compete with larger companies in the Internet marketplace. Organic search was about to become ‘popular.’ Hooray! In my discussions in D.C. that day, I realized that organic search’s popularity hit the Internet airwaves with a blast because Google finally changed its algorithms to search for content that is both relevant (keyword rich) and recent.

Tech Hub near Atlanta in Alpharetta Georgia
By the end of February I was ready for another trip, this time to Atlanta Georgia. Sidhe Communications met with one of our creative partners, Go Media Solutions, a web site design and programming firm. Sarah Benoit and I had lunch with Go Media Solutions CEO David Griffith. His firm builds high end, high performance web sites with tight web site programming on the back end. When we apply our organic search methods of content development and promotional text to his client web sites, they see results and ROI.

Search Engine Marketing Collaboration
Go Media Solutions is located in Alpharetta, Georgia. Just inside the perimeter, Alpharetta is a tech hub in the midst of a boom. David Griffith asked Sidhe Communications to partner with Go Media Solutions in presenting educational seminars on search engine marketing. We agreed.

Text Based Internet Marketing Strategies
At one time, Griffith promoted his own web site properties with Pay-Per-Click. Now he understands that content development and text based promotional techniques such as article writing, press release writing, and blogging, are longer lasting and, in some cases, more effective then Pay-Per-Click. Griffith was also keenly aware of the algorithm change in Google. He agreed there was a groundswell of need now to develop professional content and text based strategies to promote client web sites.

Raleigh Durham Tech Industry Boom Town
In late February, I had the opportunity to visit the Raleigh Durham area of North Carolina, the great ‘think tank’ of the tech boom in the East. I plan to return to a CampD South event in May that will hopefully be held in or near Carrborro.

Tagging Ecommerce Products With Text
On my visit to the area, I met with a company that owned several E-commerce sites which were producing millions of dollars in revenue through Pay-Per-Click. But suddenly, at the beginning of this year, the company was no longer showing up under the organic search terms for their brand. Only Pay-Per-Click ads were showing on page one of Google. The company was interested in speaking to Sidhe Communications about developing more content, tagging their products with actual text, and promoting their sites with blogs, forums, and articles.

It was not yet time for this company to embark upon content development and web site promotion for their web site properties. Some compelling programming problems needed to be fixed first. There was also some reference to an archaic server that needed to be updated.

Print Media Squares Off with Web Site Marketing
I felt the company stakeholders’ apprehension about web site content development and their subtle but noticeable guilt complex about too much dependence on Pay-Per-Click income, without much stability or security. There was also that old familiar clash between old school (print media) and new school (web site marketing) brewing within the company. All in all, it was a productive visit, and I was grateful for their Southern hospitality. I noticed they did take some income to invest in a well-appointed new office space. During the three-hour ride home, I was wondering, deep inside, why there was resistance to organic search methods of marketing a website.

Back to Organic SEO in Asheville, North Carolina
I finally returned my road weary self to Asheville, North Carolina where Sidhe Communications offices are located. As spring approached, I studied my own thoughts on content development for web sites and web site promotion for weeks on end. I conversed with my business partner. I reached out to my colleagues in SEM and Information Architecture listserves and groups.

Sidhe Communications: A Voice in the Wilderness in 2004
I reflected upon the history of Sidhe Communications and its connection to the tech industry. First, there was this feeling of loneliness and isolation when Sarah Benoit and I began experimenting with text based web site promotion strategies in 2003 and 2004 with smaller companies. Nobody seemed to care. Some professionals thought we had lost our minds. Except programmers, of course, who for some reason, understand the inherent madness of writers. Programmers applauded our work, and continued to educate us about other possibilities. It took some time, but by 2005, our clients were seeing real solid returns on their investments and they were willing to reinvest their cash flow into more website marketing.

Build Quality Content into a Website
Building quality content is a commitment for any website owner. Website content development takes time, resources, and a continued commitment. The partners and writers of Sidhe Communications are experts in doing this work. We don’t go keyword crazy or produce material only a computer can read. We produce keyword rich copy that is relevant, sales oriented, and easy to read and digest.

For a free consultation, or to simply discuss what is on your mind regarding organic search methods of marketing a website, call me direct at 828-258-0222.

Elizabeth Kirwin
Partner & Co-Owner
Sidhe Communications