Category: Web Copy

Content Writing Hire a Freelance Writer Web Copy

Can AI Blogs, Product Descriptions and Other Web Content Be Copyrighted?

Your SEO blogs and other website content must be unique to bring traffic to your site. When you use AI, they SEEM unique enough. Does that mean AI blogs, or any other AI-generated content, falls under the same copyright laws as other writing?

The short answer is “no.”

Essentially, there is no copyright protection for anything created by non-humans, even machines created by those same humans. So, your blogs, product descriptions, or website content developed with a generative AI model can’t be copyrighted.

Why That Matters

It may seem unimportant. It’s not like you’re off to the copyright office to protect your SEO blogs or product descriptions. Then again, when created by human hands, your SEO blogs are automatically protected.

What would the impact be on your organization if suddenly all your blogs were copied by a competitor and put on their website?

  • If you use AI blogs, there is nothing you could do.
  • If you use human-written blogs, you can take legal action.

Will Your Content Be Stolen?

It happens all the time. The more valuable your content, the more likely it will be stolen.

Content aggregators scrape and repurpose content to generate traffic and revenue for themselves without doing the writing, typically without attribution.

Content thieves target product descriptions from e-commerce and classified ad sites because copying your content is easier and cheaper than creating their own. They copy huge volumes of online content with scraper bots called web crawlers. This automated software frequently scans your site and copies the content they want.

What Can You Do to Protect Your Unique Content

To combat internet thieves, you’ve got to prepare. First, you need to know if your content has been stolen, know the laws, and decide when it’s worth pursuing. Then, you must know how to get the content removed and prevent it from being stolen again.

None of that is possible, though, if your content is AI-generated.

This HUBSPOT blog talks about what steps you can take to protect your content. Neil Patel offers pretty much the same advice.

Why Unique, Human-Written Content is Vital

Honestly, I think there’s a place for the cheap, quick creation of AI content. Well, probably. Mostly, it seems best to use AI tools (like Grammarly), with expert human oversight.

That said, I’ve recently had a client come back after several months for human-written content after trying to implement AI-generated content for SEO. Apparently, even posting up to 10X as much AI content as human content, their rankings dropped. I’m no expert on Google algorithms, but I think search engines recognize and seem to be penalizing AI-generated content. We’ll see as time goes on.

AI content, of course, lacks emotional influence. If your product or brand voice requires a consistent, non-robotic impact, stick to human-written content, or come back, if you left.

Contact me at melodyswright@live.com or on Freelancer for a quote on your current projects.

 

Content Writing Web Copy

Don’t Hire a Writer for Your Website!

You need professional content, and you know what you wrote yourself (or what the developer added) is not good enough. You might know how to optimize your content for SEO, but will it impress your clients?

Every day, clients ask me for new “subtly persuasive” content. By definition, “content” is informative, and “copy” is persuasive. When you read a newspaper, the articles are content, and at the bottom of the page is ad copy.

Yet, many audiences are tired of old-style, aggressive marketing messages. In some industries, clients tell me their customers (especially B2B) could actually be immune to the in-your-face ads of yesteryear. At the same time, simply informing these same clients with content marketing creates solid relationships, but there is some evidence of lower sales.

So, why do I say, “Don’t hire a writer?”

Writers – the kind you can hire to write your website, blogs, whitepapers, guest articles, etc. – are usually skilled at one or the other style. Some write engaging content that informs and maybe even entertains readers – but seldom does that translate into conversions. The others, the copywriters, are often more skilled with B2C copy with a rather direct approach. Any copy with the line, “but wait, there’s more!” is probably too aggressive for most B2B clients.

The Balance Between Content and Copy

To reach B2B clients and many modern consumers, a balance between information and persuasion builds a foundation for conversions. Essentially, everyone deserves to know enough about the benefits of your product to decide to buy. Subtle persuasion works in every industry, but it works best when your target persona is already well-informed, has high expectations, and you have significant competition.

Of course, I offer subtly persuasive content/copy for my current and prospective clients. I hope we have the opportunity to work together (again) soon.

Content Writing Hire a Freelance Writer Web Copy

Readability Scores

Readability Scores

Choose Your Level

This week readability scores came up more than once. A few complex topics needed simplifying. My clients want to simply inform their current customers about complicated topics, without condescension. So, we discussed the concept of “Readability Scores” and what that really means.

Some of what goes into web content or blog readability is about image placement, subheadings, bullet points and other things on a page that make it easier to read. That’s not what I am talking about here.

The Flesch Readability Scores Test

People mostly scan content on the web. Posts that are easy to read and scan make sense. The Flesch Reading Ease test scores the complexity of copy and rates it on a scale of 0 to 100 (see below). Generally, a score between 60 and 70 (8th to 9th grade) is considered typical for most industries.

Then again, many industries easily support more difficult text. A government website I worked with this week scored at a 20 to 30 level. The client preferred that the information from that website be rewritten for his customers in that 60 to 70 range.

 

Score

School level

Notes

100.00-90.00

5th grade

Very easy to read. Easily understood by an average 11-year-old student.

90.0–80.0

6th grade

Easy to read. Conversational English for consumers.

80.0–70.0

7th grade

Fairly easy to read.

70.0–60.0

8th & 9th grade

Plain English. Easily understood by 13- to 15-year-old students.

60.0–50.0

10th to 12th grade

Fairly difficult to read.

50.0–30.0

College

Difficult to read.

30.0–0.0

College graduate

Very difficult to read. Best understood by university graduates.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Why Readability Scores Matter

Your readability scores influence how much time your visitors spend on your website. It may seem counterintuitive, but the easier readability scores tend to keep website visitors for longer. Readers bore easily. (Thanks for staying with me here!)

When your visitors stay on your website longer, your SEO ranking goes up. Google watches how long people stay on your site. If your nearest competitor engages readers for longer than you do, they are ranked above you.

Deliberate Choice is the Key

If you know me at all (and if you don’t, here’s a clue) you know how strongly I believe in deliberate choice. So, just like anything else, choose your readability score to fit with your audience, your subject and who you are. It is that combination that will make for successful web content.

Melody

P.S. The Flesch Readability Score of this post is 71.1

The picture is the view out my window. The mare’s name is Paloma (Dove), and the colt is Luz (or often Lucita, which means “Little Light”). The bushes are a salak (snake fruit) and mangosteen in my tropical fruit orchard here in Ecuador. 

Content Writing Hire a Freelance Writer Web Copy

SEO Content Writing This Week

SEO Content Writing This Week

One of the best things about SEO content writing is the variety of topics I encounter every week. This week included everything from peridontal research studies to Christmas. There was more ongoing work in the financial industry, and even some on interior design and alternative medicine.

The SEO Content Writing Niche

One of the most common pieces of advice a freelance writer will receive is to “find your niche”. They choose narrow subject areas like “cryptocurrency” <blech>, or “fashion”, or “travel”. Seldom do these niche writers venture forth to write outside of their niche.

My niche is business. My talent/skill is seeing what your client needs to take action.

How I Developed That Talent/Skill

For more than 2 decades, I instructed an internationally acclaimed sales course. There were 55 professional B2B sales reps in each class. In each of the 12 sessions of the course, I had to fine-tune the sales concept to every product/service. That meant that, on the fly, I was developing examples for hundreds of products.

If you have ever worked with professional B2B sales reps, you probably know they can be rather tough minded. I had the ability to quickly adapt the material to their unique situations. This was the foundation for my award-winning sales and graduation levels.

What Does That Have to Do With SEO Content Writing?

SEO content writing is much easier. This same skill, adapting sales/marketing techniques to unique situations, is required. Now, I can sit behind my computer and do these adaptations at my leisure. I can revise and rework each line. When instructing the classes, I was public speaking, and had to do it all at light speed. No revisions.

So, that’s why SEO content writing for business is my niche. I have written for accountants, and funeral homes, on the same day. From my point of view, the same principles apply. Solid SEO content writing requires convincing, persuasive language, on informative topics. You give me your topics, and leave the copywriting to me.

Melody