SEO? What about SOR?
SEO, or search engine optimization, can help draw people to your site. You load up your content with key words by which people search for what you offer, and voila, your hits increase.
But what happens once they get to your site? Does your marketing writing create a connection? Have you clearly communicated what you offer? And have you achieved this before your visitor has clicked on to the next site his search turned up?
That's where SOR, or Speed of Relevance is so critical. Speed of Relevance refers to how quickly and efficiently you connect with your reader. Because if you don't connect and do it fast, they ain't stickin around anyway.
Relevance is achieved through correct content and tone. Are you speaking to your audience’s needs and interests? Are you writing in language they can relate to?
SOR is not about being in a hurry, it's about getting to the point. Which requires you to know what the point precisely is--not for you, but for your readers. For example, engineers despise writing that concerns itself with anything other than factual information. They consider everything else fluff. So if you're writing for that audience, you better lead with facts and figures. Teachers, on the other hand, care deeply about purpose and values. So if you're writing for that audience, you want to touch the heart in fairly short order.
There's really no point in piling up keywords on your site, if those words become an obstacles to getting your message across. On my site, for example, no one wants to wade through a thousand references to copywriting, ghostwriting, and marketing writing. They are already well aware that they are looking for a writer. The question is: what can I do for them? And the answer? Establish and improve their SOR.
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