by Charlotte Mielziner

Created on: July 30, 2009   Last Updated: April 12, 2011

Before starting her own SEO copywriting home business, Donna did her homework. After all, research is something a good freelance writer can do. The kids were old enough to cart themselves around, so Donna went back to school to update her skills. Her interest in website design led to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO unites the keywords of a particular website with typical search content to better channel customers to the site. She realized SEO writing could unite her writing skills, lifestyle and interests. 

SEO copywriting requires greater finesse than simply inserting lots of keywords into the web pages. H1 and H2 tags, keyword placement and bold type all affect Google and Yahoo ranking. Readers still want pages to be concise, smooth and fluid. A good writer knows how to think like a customer who wants what the business has and how to phrase it. Demographic studies, business plans and even focus groups may all play a part in optimizing search engine results. An adept SEO copy writer may make $75.00 per hour and more.

Gain proficiency.

A good SEO writer can marry sales letters, pod casts, blogs, social networking, product descriptions, follow up, maybe even cartoons with tags that the customer is likely to use. Donna already had excellent writing skills and knew basic HTML code, but attended classes at her local community college to learn how to apply them to website design. She read and researched books and articles on SEO.

Gain experience.

An internship at a public relations firm served to further both her education and resolve that this was the right move. Donna started with sprucing up her own website and blogging about the SEO world. Then, she contacted a few of the local small businesses she frequented and showed them a portfolio of what she could do for them. A local chocolate candy store was the first to use her services. This early work was paid in Donna's favorite dark chocolates and she looked at it as a sweet way to "pay her dues." Donna was able to show increased ranking, traffic and conversion rates to each of her sites. She asked for references and parlayed these into her first paid business.

Network, network, network.

Donna joined local business womens organizations, webmaster groups and built her contacts and links. She spoke at marketing meetings on her area of expertise. Years of freelancing had taught her to be her own best advocate. She believed in grassroots marketing and cold called more local businesses. She left no stone

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