Effective writing for search engines : excellent book available

Success with search engine ranking means striking a balance between applying search optimization techniques to web pages and creating high-quality, meaningful content says Chris Sherman of Search Engine Watch in a review of Heather Lloyd-Martin’s book Successful Search Engine Copywriting.

Chris says writing for the search engines means “…[W]riting for a computer that’s looking for patterns that can be detected by an algorithm, while simultaneously crafting the same language for a human being who’s looking for meaningful information is not an easy task.” Lloyd-Martin’s book is a comprehensive guide to creating such search-friendly web pages according to Chris.

Here’s some highlight’s from Chris’ review of the book, which he calls an easy, fun and compelling read.

• The searcher/web user ultimate target of effective writing. Never, ever sacrifice your tone, feel or usability for the search engines.
• Create content that inspires readers to take action. Getting users to ‘convert,’ whether it’s buying a product, signing up for a newsletter, or bookmarking a page is the ultimate goal of almost all web sites.
• Offers concrete, specific examples, both of effective writing and of mistakes to avoid.
• Interviews with several industry experts, including Danny Sullivan, Greg Boser and Andy Mindel (creator of the valuable Wordtracker tool).
• Case studies, detailing how several sites went from virtual invisibility in the search engines to being highly successful, well-trafficked destinations.

Bottom line, from Chris Sherman, who is highly respected in the SEO industry, Successful Search Engine Copywriting is an excellent book.

It’s packed with solid, reliable information and techniques that can help improve the visibility of any site in search results. Perhaps more importantly, applying its lessons can also improve the overall success and increase the conversion rate and return on investment of a web site. The book should be on the must-read list for anyone wanting to hone their search engine optimization skills. It’s also an excellent insight into an important part of the mechanics of search engines that’s valuable for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of how these mysterious information-finding tools really work.

Sounds like I’m off to Amazon. Thanks Chris.