The ‘death’ of traditional content writing has already come and gone if the pundits that warned blogs would spell doom are to be believed, but they failed to realise that there is already a great force that is influencing how we write on the internet; Google search. Search engine optimisation is finally gaining recognition as an art form to many internet experts touted as the genre of writing algorithm-friendly, highly clickable content.

Just as Prometheus stole the fire from the gods, so too has Sean Gallagher unleashed InboundWriter on the World Wide Web and time will tell just how different it will make the landscape of online content writing.

InboundWriter is a WordPress plugin designed to rate the SEO-friendliness of an article automatically and now it’s been made widely available to all consumers.

Just as our speaking voice is unique to each of us and our tone varies depending on our situation, so brand voice is unique to the brand and must reinforce it. Search marketing specialists explain brand voice as putting the company’s personality and positioning into a writing style, and are consistent but adaptable.

It is important that companies define their brand tone of voice and that the writer creating their copy applies it in all of their communications. In business communications one wants to come as across as an expert in their field, so we expect their tone to be one of confidence and authority. This must come across through the copy. Here are some guidelines all writers, including businesses offering search marketing services, can follow to implement brand voice correctly.

Being a copywriter isn’t always as easy as people make it out to be. “But you just sit there and write, it can’t be that hard”, which is fine until your mind goes blank. Writer’s block anyone? And as the deadline for the content writing looms closer, the mind gets emptier – if that’s possible. But I find the following tips help me come up with some ideas for the content writing jobs I’ve been given, which means I make my deadline and keep the client happy.

SEO copywriting is a creative process that involves the skilful manipulation of words to ensure that the content of a website is easy for search engines to crawl, as well as relevant and informative to Internet users. However, any SEO agency will tell you that when poorly executed, SEO copywriting is regarded as nothing more than that dreaded 4-letter word… SPAM.

I’ve been lucky enough to gain some experience as a writer in the SEO industry in recent months, taking tips from the professionals and developing my writing style. The Internet is just brimming with advice about how to produce quality SEO content, but based on my experiences over the past months, I’d like to offer a few guidelines for copywriters, from one beginner to another:

Think about why you write blog posts – is it for personal records, do you get paid to write blogs or are you writing because you want someone to read it? When it comes down to how to write a blog post there are a few guidelines you should follow to make your blog more accessible. While you may ask an SEO consultant for advice on how to write a blog page, these tips will help you whether you write blogs for money, an SEO agency or for the sheer enjoyment of crafting copy:

I’m cringing as I write this article because I know that I made this mistake plenty of times. I knew very little about search engine optimisation (SEO) when I started doing SEO copywriting for a search marketing specialist company, and was under the mistaken impression that inserting keywords was the most important part of the process. Needless to say my copy contained plenty of keywords, but it didn’t read very well. The concept of search marketing solutions, search engine optimisation, SEO copywriting, linking and so on can be overwhelming to a fledgling copywriter. Keep in mind this important SEO copywriting tip; you are writing copy so that someone will read it.

Though SEO is a vital ingredient in the recipe for successful web copy, quality is also very important online. Whether it’s for your blog, website, e-mail newsletter or Facebook page, the words that communicate information about your company are significant in shaping your brand image and how customers/users/clients relate to you.

The most important thing to know about producing written web content is that the manner and context in which copy is consumed online is not the same as reading words on paper. If you consider the reasons people use the internet you’ll see why applying certain principles to the way you write web copy will get a more positive response from users.

Reading off a screen is 25% percent slower than reading off paper and Jakob Nielsen recommends that anything written for the web should be 50% shorter than it would be in print. This is to do with various factors such as the shorter attention span of online readers and the glare of computer screens.

The following is a Guest Post from ABC Copywriting based in Norwich, Norfolk, UK. You can also find Tom Albrighton on Twitter.

Imagine you’re creating a web page to promote one of your products or services. You have been given infinite resources and the chance to carry out an A/B test on two versions of the page. There’s just one restriction. Page A can only include images and graphics, no text. Page B can only include text, no images or graphics.

Page A would be tough to build. But with careful use of icons for buttons such as ‘buy now’, you could probably put together a decent page. With a product, you could show an attractive image – although services might be harder to depict. But how persuasive would your page be?