(I first ventured into digital marketing as an SEO article writer. At first I did it on a part-time basis; eventually I got into an office job writing exclusively for a Japanese client. It seemed a good idea at the time—it was an easy job for me, and a welcome break from a former career that I realized was not making me happy anymore. The BPO company I worked for had several other writers, and every now and then we would have lunch together to share our frustrations that come with having to write in a strict office environment.)
One morning as I was preparing to go to work, I reflected on my job and proceeded to write this in my handy notebook. It may sound melodramatic, but I hope you'll indulge me because this was how it felt at that time. I read this out loud to my fellow writers, who thankfully agreed with my sentiments. I wasn't alone, so that meant I didn't have to wallow on my own. Haha.
One morning as I was preparing to go to work, I reflected on my job and proceeded to write this in my handy notebook. It may sound melodramatic, but I hope you'll indulge me because this was how it felt at that time. I read this out loud to my fellow writers, who thankfully agreed with my sentiments. I wasn't alone, so that meant I didn't have to wallow on my own. Haha.
SEO Writing.
You don’t go to college (and grad school!) to learn how to write articles for Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. SEO writing is something you can do because you learned to do a lot of other things: research, logic, semantics, reading comprehension, speed reading. SEO writers are fast learners. We write about random things that we don’t know much about at first. Soon enough we become experts at our respective topics—accident law, office supplies, used cars. Whatever account we handle, that’s our specialization. We didn’t really want that but because of circumstances in our lives we chose to do it because writing (in general) is something we could do, and do really well. That’s why we got accepted, right?
But what goes on in the writing process? Research, fact-checking, grammar and spelling checks (American or British English?)--everything we do in all kinds of writing we make. Nothing less, because that would be a disservice to the language we have learned to respect, the language that, in a way, feeds us.
You don’t go to college (and grad school!) to learn how to write articles for Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. SEO writing is something you can do because you learned to do a lot of other things: research, logic, semantics, reading comprehension, speed reading. SEO writers are fast learners. We write about random things that we don’t know much about at first. Soon enough we become experts at our respective topics—accident law, office supplies, used cars. Whatever account we handle, that’s our specialization. We didn’t really want that but because of circumstances in our lives we chose to do it because writing (in general) is something we could do, and do really well. That’s why we got accepted, right?
But what goes on in the writing process? Research, fact-checking, grammar and spelling checks (American or British English?)--everything we do in all kinds of writing we make. Nothing less, because that would be a disservice to the language we have learned to respect, the language that, in a way, feeds us.
SEO writing is frustrating because you don’t even see it published with your name on it. We understand why this must be so but are frustrated nonetheless—we have been taught to write articles that have useful, entertaining, informative content, even if we have awkward keywords such as “Toyota Corolla NZE 121” or “used car for sale Japan exporter”. Dear employer, when we groan about keywords, it’s not because we are complaining or loathe what we are doing. We’re actually challenging ourselves and our ability to put those into articles that make sense, and use them five times without sounding like robots. We poke fun at language because we know there’s always a way to get around the tough stuff.
What we do isn’t just SEO writing in front of a computer. It’s practicing years of reading, research, news writing, graph analysis, feature writing, and editing, and turning all those years of experience into a singular effort of coming up with 600 words that hopefully get posted on a website that people actually read for the articles.
What we do isn’t just SEO writing in front of a computer. It’s practicing years of reading, research, news writing, graph analysis, feature writing, and editing, and turning all those years of experience into a singular effort of coming up with 600 words that hopefully get posted on a website that people actually read for the articles.
We have creative blocks too, for sometimes when you see the same keyword again and again and you have no idea what to write about this time. Writers cope with this in different ways. I like taking a stroll to clear my head and fill it with new visuals, observations, and movement. These are what stimulate me. When I sit in front of the PC again I’m ready to go.
It’s different for others, but we all agree that it feels so good when the words come flowing back. SEO writers make use of a lot of imagination and they—we—need to recharge after. This doesn’t make us unproductive nor bad writers; this is just how we write. This is why writers hang out: we share experiences, frustrations, thoughts. We can’t just share our writing frustrations with our partner link builders and other team members and expect them to understand right away, and (sometimes) we don’t really want to spend a lot of energy trying to explain, Link builders have their own jargon and concerns; writers banter about words and the process of stringing them together.
Writers understand each other. We build up one another, support each other, help each other out when we encounter awkward keyword phrases. We share the things we’ve learned through research, laugh about the topics we come up with, and move on to our next tasks. We talk about things that have nothing to do with work but are helpful to our work process just the same. We browse through websites that aren’t related to our clients’ products but these help fill our brains with stimuli, new words, news, writing styles, puns—things that make our creative minds work and come up with quality articles for high-standard SEO, because despite the frustrations that make us want to punch our computers in the face, we actually love writing.
It’s different for others, but we all agree that it feels so good when the words come flowing back. SEO writers make use of a lot of imagination and they—we—need to recharge after. This doesn’t make us unproductive nor bad writers; this is just how we write. This is why writers hang out: we share experiences, frustrations, thoughts. We can’t just share our writing frustrations with our partner link builders and other team members and expect them to understand right away, and (sometimes) we don’t really want to spend a lot of energy trying to explain, Link builders have their own jargon and concerns; writers banter about words and the process of stringing them together.
Writers understand each other. We build up one another, support each other, help each other out when we encounter awkward keyword phrases. We share the things we’ve learned through research, laugh about the topics we come up with, and move on to our next tasks. We talk about things that have nothing to do with work but are helpful to our work process just the same. We browse through websites that aren’t related to our clients’ products but these help fill our brains with stimuli, new words, news, writing styles, puns—things that make our creative minds work and come up with quality articles for high-standard SEO, because despite the frustrations that make us want to punch our computers in the face, we actually love writing.
Now, I still write, but in a more challenging but flexible environment. It’s demanding but fun, and I can take a stroll as often as I want. :)