Forum Moderators: not2easy
AdSense Sites: Everyone knows “content is king” when it comes to AdSense. Crank out as much content as fast as you can with little regard for the writing itself. In fact, some say poor writing increases CTR. So it would seem quantity over quality is the rule of thumb. Is there a place for good copywriting here?
Ecommerce Sites: Does great copyrighting improve your sales? What’s more important? Clear, precise writing that directs your users to the “buy” button? Or loads of keyword saturated copy that finds it’s way to the top of the SERPS? Can the two coincide? Is one more important than the other? Is there a place for excellent for copywriting on the web? Or is really all about content?
Depending on your goals and strategy, one is better than the other. My personal preferences is always to create long lasting contents - evergreen with qualitative values.
Quality, of course has nothing to do with quantity as this old quote from some famous person once said.
"I would have written a shorter letter, but it would have taken too long to write."
Instead of worrying about which stupid little saying is "correct", worry about writing good content for your user. Write the quick blurb pages for those users that just want the bullet points, and write the indepth pages for those users with an engineering bent.
There is always more that you can say on just about any subject, but that does not mean that you should say that to everyone, on a single page. Don't ruin your "less is more" pages by loading them up, but you should provide links to "more information"
I also consider "less is more" to be misguided.Really? I'm a firm believer in this. Have you been to any manufacturers sites lately? You might change your mind;-)
Instead of worrying about which stupid little saying is "correct"Ya, but I'm not really worried about which is "correct", I'm concerned about what works.
worry about writing good content for your user.Exactly. Maybe I wasn't clear in my post, but that's part of what this is about. What is good content? Isn't it good copywriting? If so, where is it? Who's using it? Is it working for them?
Less is only more once it passes sufficient, otherwise less is just that, less. The problem is that sufficient is a moving target.
What it comes down to a lot of the time is not really how much is written, or even how good the writing is, but how it is presented and made available to a huge variety of users.
One widget buyer may know exactly what he wants and have come primed to hit the button within seconds, the next may have no real idea how a widget works or what one is best and want a tutorial first. You cannot satisfy them with the same copy, so you have to find ways to present information so that everyone gets as much, or as little, as they need.
Crank out as much content as fast as you can with little regard for the writing itself. In fact, some say poor writing increases CTR. So it would seem quantity over quality is the rule of thumb.
That may be the model for many AdSense sites, but certainly not universal and I would question its long term viability.
Is there a place for excellent for copywriting on the web? Or is really all about content?
Again the assumption that they are somehow mutually exclusive. They aren't, they are complimentary.
1) Tomatoes.
2) Tomatoes are a member of the nightshade family that produces an edible fruit used in the cusines of many cultures.
#1 is certainly less.
Red, ripe and luscious, tomatoes were once considered poisonous, then later used in medicines and aphrodisiacs. Considered taboo by Puritans, sold as quack curatives by charlatans, the humble tomato is now one of the world's most popular fruits.Used in soups, sauces, salsas and salads...
And yes, less can be more. Someone interested in purchasing some tomatoes probably doesn't want the history of tomatoes.
>> One of the golden rules to good copyrighting is “less is more”.
Yes it is. The red pen is your friend. If you turn out three pages on a subject, after editing you should be left with one page. Build on the working words, eliminate the slackers. Murder your darlings. Then edit again.
I could actually write hundreds of pages on tomatoes, and believe it or not, there is a small but significant percentage of the population that would consider it to be good content. Someone buying tomatoes may not care about the difference in flavor and growth habit between Hillbilly and Brandywine, but there are probably around 20 million gardeners that do.
But to get back to the "less is more", you then say "less can be more", which I can totally agree with. Adding those two little words make all the difference. There is a hell of a lot that you have to do in your editing process before you start in with that red pencil. That red pencil comes in after you make sure that you have sufficient content.
There's a delicate balance to be found wirting copy for the user and for the search engines, that balance is usually destroyed when content is written specifically for Adsense-driven sites. It's the herding cattle approach. Get them to the site, only to move them off via Adsense.
Granted, some sites have great copy that is perfect for Adsense. Some sites have great copy but the subject matter doesn't work for Adsense. But the boom of scraper sites illustrate perfectly that Adsense lends itself well to mediocre content, or worse, drivel.
At any rate less is usually more. I could write 300 pages on tomatoes, but I'm willing to bet the copy would be better if I trimmed the word count and ended up with 100 pages.
It's all about the purpose of the site. Does every site need great copy? As mona, DG, et al note, you may make more money with bad copy on an Adsense site since the visitor will be more inclined to click an ad.
On the other hand, high quality content can have very beneficial effects:
- lengthens visitor time on site and pages viewed
- increases bookmarking and return visits
- gets more unsolicited links
- increases site credibility
For ecommerce sites, great copy can have a huge impact on conversion rate and may be used to justify high margins. (The old Copy That Sells [webmasterworld.com] thread talks about this issue, and how to sell a flannel shirt for $150 using elegant copy.)
IMO, ecommerce firms often overlook the power of excellent writing. There's a real tendency to list product features and specs, and perhaps a few benefits. There's nothing wrong with all that, but getting the customer to WANT the product even if they didn't come looking for it is another matter entirely. Some catalog firms understand this, and feature copy that is a pleasure to read and does a great job of selling, too.
This does not mean more words but better words. Quality over quantity .. the key to success is quality content which interests the users but only so much that they are compelled to finally buy what you are trying to sell.
If the purpose of you site is to help people decide how or where to spend their money your website is likely a good match for AdSense.
"Help" is where it consistently falls apart.
The failure to help starts with a failure of structural design of websites: Clutter, jumble, unclear navigation, you name it. Most of us are poorly schooled in design.
It tends to go downhill from there.
Help, itself, is corrupt. There is help as the Red Cross might approach the issue of "help" and the new version of AdSenseHelp, as in "help myself, mostly by getting visitors to click, by whatever means or methods". AdSense is the driving force behind the schlockitization of the WWW.
When it comes to effective copy I think a lot of effort goes into "filling the space". That fails to satisfy the dictate that more - often - is less and less can be more. However, less is more takes on a new meaning in the AdSense era, doesn't it?
Even in those cases where the M.O. of the webmaster appears to be more than "get the click" it often appears that little effort goes towards addressing the question: "What is it that this copy communicates?"
It's all about the purpose of the site.
Hurrah!
The sites I work on are about attracting first-time visitors and encouraging them to come back again - solely by the merit of the content.
Obviously, I must be old fashioned and don't see the other purpose of making content solely to lull/confuse visitors into clicking on ads just because 'your' serps content didn't live up to their expectations!
Syzygy
AdSense: Is there a place for good copywriting here?
Yes ;) And I have tried to drill it into publisher's heads when I have spoken to them at various conferences and at the Google hosted publisher event. Short term, crap content is easier. But looking at it long term, quality will pay off much more.
AdSense: Is there a place for good copywriting here?
Adsense: for those sites that can't write good copy and don't care what happens to their visitors unless they earn a 'buck' out of said visitors who have no option but to click on an ad they hope - with complete naivety - will take them to something close to the meaning of their original search.
Syzygy
ecommerce sites:
1. content helps attract visitors via "natural" SERPs.
2. content helps convert visitors into buyers.
ad-supported content sites:
1. content helps attract visitors via increased links and higher positions in the SERPs for more keywords.
2. content helps increase the amount of time visitors spend on your site (during their initial visit and during future visits, if they bookmark your site), which can lead to higher ad revenues.
WRT content sites, there are tradeoffs. Rather than trying to retain visitors, some content sites want users to immediately click an ad and never return; in that case, poor quality content may serve the business plan better than high quality content.
Of course, there are difficult tradeoffs -- should you put your resources into quantity or quality, or both?
If you try to develop a large amount of high quality content you won't have as much quality, or as much quantity as if you focused on just one or the other (within a given level of time and resources).
In most cases a strategy that is primarily focused on quantity runs the risk of building a house of cards -- one that will eventually collapse as competitive forces and improving technology allow the Search Engines and users to more easily separate good sites from bad sites.
In today's environment a site with poorly written content may seem to maximize profits since it can be built very cheaply (e.g. without spending money on writers) and because users want to leave the site immediately, and some will click on an ad rather than hit their "back" button.
But, I'm betting that this situation won't last forever. Within a few years these sites will tend to disappear from the SERPs. Once the SE's figure out how to filter them out, they will do so because users prefer high quality content, and they will gravitate toward the SE that does the best job of filtering out the garbage.
Bottom line: I think content is king for most web-based business plans; quantity may be more profitable in the short run, but quality will be more profitable in the long run.
Less is more and Quality is King to me.
Anna
