Search engines read text, not pictures. (OK, Google reads the names of pictures and has a nice image search feature, but you know what I mean.) Having lots of unique, relevant text in your site is an advantage in attaining a higher ranking in the search engines, both because they will index your site and find all that content, and because if your site becomes a respected resource, others in your field will link to it, increasing your link popularity and thus your search engine rankings. The best way to come up with original content is to write it yourself. If you know your subject and are a good writer, that shouldn?t be a problem. Still, you will probably benefit from the advice in the following copywriting resources:
- I-Copywriting: A weekly email discussion list moderated by Nick Usborne. Send in your copywriting questions or answer other people's questions. Nick also has his own newsletter, Excess Voice.
- NetWords - A guide to creating copy that connects with customers and increases sales.
- Copywriter's Roundtable: This is a weekly newsletter put out by professional copywriter John Forde.
- Writing for the Search Engines Guide: This is a free online guide put together by Heather Lloyd-Martin. It's the precursor to her book that should be published soon.
- Step-by-Step Copywriting Course: An excellent course by Karon Thackston for learning copywriting from scratch. Also see Karon's email newsletter, "Business Essentials."
- Words That Work: This link is to Jill Whalen's interview with Karon Thackston on the Words That Work reports she uses to understand the minds of her target audience when she writes her copy.
- WritersWeekly: A weekly newsletter by writer Angela Hoy for freelance copywriters. Geared towards writing for all different kinds of media, including books, ebooks, magazine articles and more. Includes freelance job offers.
- Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines - Jill Whalen's excellent resource on the topic.
If you don't want to write copy yourself, there's a lot of relevant material on the web that can be added to your site that's free for the taking, usually in exchange for a link to the author's site. Here are some sources for this material:
Yahoo Groups:
- Article Announce Business - Writer and Publisher Exchange - Free articles for publication
- Free Content - Web editors looking for articles for their small business newsletter, list or website can post their needs, or their own complete articles for free distribution here.
- Article Announce Writer & Publisher Exchange is an article announcement list providing free content to hundreds of ezines, newsletters, magazines and web sites.
- netwrite-publish-announce is an article announcement list to provide free content for ezines, newsletters and web site owners.
There are also hundreds of web sites that collect and distribute articles. Web publishers and authors join these lists to exchange content on popular topics. Writers make their articles available to ezine, newsletter and web site publishers in exchange for that publisher running a small bio at the end of their article with a link to the author's web site. This exchange benefits both parties. The publisher gains content while the writer gains a web link which increases his site's visibility and link popularity. These sites' policies and practices vary widely so you'll have to find those appropriate to your site's subject matter. Here a few good ones:
- GoArticles - "An article search engine and directory, updated daily."http://www.makingprofit.com
- Amazines.com - "The ultimate ezine publisher's database."
- IdeaMarketers.com - "Your source for online content."
