Tag Archives: SEO content

Misspelling On Purpose

Joe Wallace Freelance Social Mediaby Joe Wallace

Some of my non-writer friends and some of my colleagues who write more for print or television try to razz me when they see something apparently poorly worded or otherwise mangled in some of my online content.

And then I have to point out to them that I have not accidentally screwed up the use of a hyphen or suddenly reverted to second grade English. SEO and keyword issues sometimes lead you and your clients down roads that make copy editors shudder. “The client made me do it” is one of my favorite lines.

While I try to warn my clients away from using bad word combinations for SEO’s sake like “jobs freelance” or “musician gear concert PA”, sometimes you do have to bend a little bit. I personally cringe when removing the hyphens in “debt-to-income ratio” but it’s a search term consideration. The finance blogs I write for need that extra edge and it doesn’t read poorly, so I’ll write an informative blog post about applying for a home mortgage using both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variations.

Technically, my headline was a lie–I NEVER mangle the actual spelling of a word for SEO purposes. Anytime people have asked me to do that I gently remind them that the content is for HUMANS to read even when tweaking for Google. Badly spelled words make you look like either an idiot or a very hasty smart person. Neither one is good.

But sometimes you have to give a little, so in some of my copy instead of simply using the phrase “Is whole life a bad investment?” in the context of an informed consumer article, I’ll have to resort to the far clunkier, “Are whole life insurance policies a bad investment?”

Does this offend my inner grammar teacher as much as the idea of “investing” in whole life insurance itself? Yes it does. Is it good for search engine discoverability? When done with the right keyword research, yes it is.

Half the battle for me is finding the balance between making my inner grammar nazi happy and staying in the top Google results. There’s no such thing as Dramamine for fussy writers, sadly. My struggle continues.

JUST SAY NO

freelance writing

by Joe Wallace

I posted “Just Say No” on Twitter recently in response to some freelance writing “gigs” I spotted on one of the more popular job sites. The employer was offering a buck fifty for 500 word articles. When I got done laughing I realized that the reason people offer these prices is that there are armies of people waiting to take those jobs. A clear cut and dried case of supply and demand.

Personally, I think writing jobs are worth far more than that, but on the other hand many of these 500 word article jobs are likely sausage factory SEO content anyway. Does it matter if they read like 5th grade homework?

So many new freelancers have a hard time setting freelance rates–there is often a lack of confidence at work in the early days. But I can promise you this–even as a rank amateur or, worse yet, a dilettante freelancer, chances are you can find work that pays better than a dollar and a half for 500 words. FICTION pays better than that.

Don’t let anyone fool you about SEO work. If you think you have to accept that buck-fifty (which can’t even get you a decent cup of coffee these days) because you’re an SEO noob, think again. In many cases, SEO is about following the client’s instructions about using the right keywords, combinations of keywords, and appropriate density. If you are seriously lacking an education about SEO, do a Google search and read some articles. Now get yourself an SEO writing gig that pays TEN dollars four roughly for up to 300-500 words. There are lots of SEO gigs paying that much for content. It’s not what you SHOULD be earning, but it’s a lot better than a dollar fifty.

Many people take SEO gigs while trying to develop a list of clips in “legit” publishing (read newstand mags and their web equivalents)–haven’t we all? But do yourself a favor–don’t take a gig paying desperation wages unless you yourself are truly THAT desperate. The time investment you make on that dollar fifty could just as easily be spent looking for a higher-paying SEO gig.