HVO copywriting is the term I propose today to replace our old friend (foe?) SEO copywriting.
HVO stands for … human visitor optimisation. Yes, that person who finds themselves on your site looking for steel-braided, 11mm diameter turbocharger oil feed hoses.
What does it mean to optimise your web copy for your visitor?
It means you focus on the problem they have. In this instance, “Where can I get hold of a steel-braided, 11mm diameter turbocharger oil feed hose?”.
If you know what they’re looking for you’re going to have to use the kind of specific language – the relevant language – that will turn them on and, more importantly, turn them from prospects into customers.
Your SEO won’t suffer, by the way. Because the funny thing is, if you write HVO copy, it’s going to appeal to Google too.
Writing HVO copy is as much about your mindset as your pen and pencil set. It puts the reader of your copy at the heart of your site, not Google’s algorithm.
It forces you to consider the impact your copy will have on your reader, not on a piece of software.
And I know, I know, that 80% of Google searchers don’t get past page 1 (please correct that figure for me if it’s out of date).
Which is why HVO copy is so powerful.
And I’m telling you this because
Writing for your reader ensures you write naturally, compellingly and richly about your products. Which appeals to Google.
It also ensures you use a variety of sentence constructions and synonyms for your subject. To do otherwise would result in the sort of boring, mechanistic copy that attracts visitors but then repels them the moment they arrive.
In short, HVO copywriting replaces spiders with human beings as the natural reader for your web copy.