Your headline is the make or break of your article. If it doesn’t immediately grab attention, a reader is unlikely to read your article  - regardless of how many hours you slaved over it.

Many online marketers write articles because they know they are a great way to build backlinks which are vital to any SEO strategy. So a steady stream of them (written either in-house or by using a professional copywriter) will boost your visibility on line and position you as an expert in your field.

But because it’s such a popular marketing tool, there are an awful lot of articles out there. That means, if you want yours read, you’ve got to get it noticed.

Below are 6 tips to help you create article headlines that will make a reader stop and take notice.

1. !!!

Don’t use exclamation marks in your headings, it looks like you’re shouting at people. The language you use should convey its importance without using this rather annoying punctuation mark.

2. Relate it to your article

Now that might sound odd, but how many times have you been drawn in by an amazing headline only to be confused because the body of the article bears no relation to it at all. Or the headline promises to reveal an amazing secret, but even after you’ve read it, you’re still non the wiser.

Your headline must reflect your article otherwise you’ll lose the trust of the reader – and  that’s bad.

3. Don’t exaggerate

If your headline claims to “Unearth the secret that will make you a millionaire by lunchtime” people aren’t going to read it. Making claims that are obviously far-fetched will do you more harm than good.

4. Be imaginative

Headlines that intrigue and are eye-catching are more likely to draw people in. Have fun with language and use a pun to create something memorable.

5. Don’t say secret

Let’s get one thing straight, you are unlikely to be writing about anything that is really secret. If you did, you’d end up having men in cars with blacked-out windows parking up outside your house monitoring your every move.

6. Have a giggle

People read mainly because they want to be entertained. If you can inject a bit of humour to get your point across you will strengthen your article. Of course, you won’t be able to use this for every subject you write about.

For many people, the headline is the after thought. They concentrate far more on the article. I have been known to ponder for hours over a heading and that’s how it should be. It is your one chance to get someone to stop and read your article.

First off, do you know what your conversion rate is?

If your marketing is to be effective you not only need to know your conversion rate, you must also understand your conversion goal.

Everyone’s conversion goal will be different. It could be:

• Newsletter sign-ups
• Brochure downloads
• Sign-ups for a free trial
• Email enquiries
• Phone enquiries

As soon as you know what it is you’re measuring, you can begin to track the effectiveness of your website or landing page through Google Analytics.

But there is one vital element you need to get conversion and that’s traffic. You can’t have one without the other. Using your analytics you will be able to instantly see how many visitors you are getting, where they are, how they’re finding you, even the keyword that’s pulling in the most.

However, it’s not just a numbers game. Even if you are getting thousands of visitors to your website every week, if they are not being converted into sales and leads, there’s something wrong.

Why is my website not converting?

1. Traffic jam but no takers

If you’ve got lots of visitors but few conversions, you have a problem. First, check your keywords to make sure you are targeting the right ones.

Every page of your website should target a different keyword, so if you have a high bounce rate, your may not be attracting the right audience.

2. Empty promises

Staying with your keywords for a moment, if you are targeting the wrong ones, people are landing on your website expecting to see one thing, but being shown another.

This mismatch is caused by poor keyword choice. Review them and refine them to reflect the exact market you are after.

4. Call to action

Your lack of conversion could simply come down to a missing call to action.

You must always tell your reader what you want them to do next – call now, email now etc. Make sure it is clear, commanding and above the fold.

5. Your website’s copy

In fact, not just your website copy, but your website too.

Your website has to be fast to load, easily navigable, pop-up free and pleasant to look at. Then, your copy has to be interesting, relevant, benefits-led and it must address your reader directly.

If  you can tick all of those boxes, your products are good, you’re targeting the right keywords and you have strong calls to action, you stand a great chance of achieving that all important conversion goal.

Press releases are a valuable marketing tool for any business. So how come so few businesses use them?

They are fairly easy to write, you can even publish them online so avoiding the impenetrable newspaper editor. Yet many companies turn their backs on them in favour of other forms of marketing.

Whether you write them in-house, or you bring in a professional copywriter, creating an eye-catching, informative press release will get your company noticed.

Writing powerful press releases

Unlike other marketing forms, press releases have several elements that must be present if they are to be successful.

1. Temptation

If you want someone to read your press release, you’ll need a hook to tempt them to read on.

Before you start, think about why you are writing and who you want to read it. As with any marketing, tying it into your readership will boost your chances of it being read.

If it is for a local market, try to tie it in with local events. Arouse their curiosity so they’ll want to know more.

2. Headline

As with everything, your headline will be the deciding factor in whether your press release is read or not. If you just head it up ‘News from [Company name]’, no one is going to be interested. But if you design your headline around a concept that is a bit more creative and piques curiosity, you’ll give it the edge.

3. Forget jargon

Jargon is for chatting with your colleagues, not your marketing materials.

If you fill your press release with jargon it will instantly turn off your reader because you are limiting your readership. Granted, someone in the same industry as you will understand what you’re saying, but potential customers may not.

Keep your language simple. And if you have to use technical language always provide an explanation so your meaning is clear.

4. Link out

If there are any outside sources (such as video, articles or images) that will help add clout to your press release, link out to them.

If you’re publishing online it will add value to your reader. If you send your press release to a magazine editor, it will help  them put a story together as you would have effectively done their research for them.

5. Proofing

The last thing you want to do is send out a press release full of errors. Make sure you get someone to read it for you to check for any typos or grammatical slip-ups.

A sloppily put together press release will reflect badly on your company.

6. Sharing and distribution

If you want people to read your news, you have to make it accessible by:

• Sending it to local publications and newspapers
• Distribute it to online outlets
• Email it to your mailing list and other interested parties
• Promote it through social media
• Turn it into a blog post

The key to writing a good press release is to make sure it is something newsworthy. Then make sure you push it out to as many outlets as necessary.

And don’t forget the SEO aspect for online publications. Get your primary keywords into the beginning of your headline and the first paragraph of your text.

Next time something newsworthy happens, make sure you issue a press release – what have you got to lose?

Once upon a time, customers could only get in touch with you by telephone, letter or by visiting your premises. If they were unhappy, they’d probably moan about you to a friend or two and you’d be non the wiser.

How times have changed. Now, if they’re unhappy they’ll tweet about it or post in on their Facebook page. Before you know it, the whole world will know they received bad service.

That’s why, as a business, it’s vital you’re using social media.

How social media can be used to your advantage

If there’s one thing everyone loves, it’s to talk. By listening to social media channels, you can learn a lot about your customers’ likes and dislikes. So you need to use that to your advantage.

1. Sales Department

The optimum time to sell to someone is when they’re ready to buy. Hitting on that golden moment isn’t easy. But monitoring social media channels will give you the advantage.

If you’re an electrical retailer and someone in your Twitter feed is asking advice on buying a new radio, you can respond and offer advice. That puts you in the right place at the right time.

2. Marketing Department

Listening to your target market will tell you whether your marketing materials are addressing the questions your customers are asking.

3. Customer Service

We’ve already looked at how an unhappy customer can use social media to vent their frustration. But imagine if you were monitoring Twitter for anyone mentioning your company name. You would be able to pick up the fact that there’s a problem and deal with it straightaway.

Then you would go from a disappointment to the best company in the world because you listened and put it right.

4. Research and Development

Eaves-dropping will tell you a lot about what people really want. But you can also use social media as a way of conducting customer research. Ask your customers what they want and give it to them.

5. Human Resources

Can social media really help with HR?

Yes, users fill out profiles showing their skills and experience (e.g. on LinkedIn). If you’re looking for someone with a particular skill, just search for them.

It’s amazing just how many ways social media can help businesses today. If you’re not already there, start using it today – your competitors are.

Yes I know, you’re a start-up business so money’s tight. But, you still need engaging marketing materials and an effective online presence to get things off the ground.

More often than not, copywriting is the one thing that gets crossed off your set-up shopping list.

Why?

Because you think you can do it yourself.

Granted, you can write pretty well. But can you write something that makes people think “Yes, that’s exactly what I need”?

Going it alone without a copywriter

This is a familiar scenario:

The task to write your sales copy is passed to someone in your office. They already have a full workload so it gets pushed to the bottom of the pile.

Eventually, the need for the copy becomes urgent so they spend their lunch hour quickly writing something that ‘will do’.

The problem with this is, writing about your company is difficult because you’re too close to it. It is incredibly difficult to stand back and look at what you offer through the eyes of your customers.

The result is you end up with copy that tells your reader all about your company and absolutely nothing about what your company can do for them.

What a copywriter will do for you

When you bring in a professional copywriter they will ask lots of questions to learn about:

• Your company
• Your product or service
• Your audience (i.e. your ideal customer)

This helps them understand you, your product/service and, more importantly, the person you are trying to sell them to.  Through this process, they can place themselves in your customers’ shoes and discover what it is that your readers really want to know.

The copy will talk directly to the reader, address their problems and sell them the benefits of your product/service.

The result?

• Your website copy will be optimised and will convert visitors into paying customers
• Your brochures will sell, not just inform
• Your case studies will entertain, inform and sell
• Your press releases will engage and generate new enquiries
• Your email marketing will be effective because they will be opened, read and acted on

Do you still think copywriting is a waste of money, or something you can do on your own?

Every piece of written marketing could be the first impression the reader has of your company. Make sure it gives the right impression – that you are a company that is professional and understands what its customers want.

Everyone uses social media these days – or at least it seems like it.

As a copywriter I use it a lot. Whether it’s tweeting for help (usually IT related problems), offering advice, promoting my blog posts, or just general chit-chat, I love using it as a way of connecting with other people.

Did you see that? I said I used it for connecting with people.

The problem is, some social media users out there don’t connect, they spam. And that’s not something you want to do – especially if you want people to follow you or ‘like’ your Facebook page.

What’s spamming?

Well, if you constantly tweet about promotions, your products, news about your company and what you’re doing, without actually engaging with people, you’re spamming.

Granted, social media is a fabulous marketing tool through which you can:

• Encourage newsletter sign-ups
• Promote your blogs
• Promote offers and give-aways

But, if that’s all you do and never respond to questions, share information, or join in with conversations, you’re not going to get a lot out of social media.

Why? Because it’s all about conversing and building relationships and that’s a two-way street, and that means you have to:

• Listen to others and help if you can
• Engage with your followers to see what they are looking for
• Build relationships with people
• Give advice and ask for help

Plus, if you listen to what people are talking about, you can use it as a valuable market research tool.

It’s not all about you

Another great way to build relationships is to promote other people.

If someone tweets that they’re looking for a great designer, and you just happen to know one, put them in touch with each other.

Marketing – Connecting – Reciprocity : The 3 pillars of social media.

If you remember that, you’ll start to get the most out of social media.

Go on, join in, it’s fun. For starters, why not follow me on Twitter –here I am, @sallyormond.

Are you being tempted by the dark side?

Are you looking for great results without the hard work?

If you are, you are heading for a very big fall because the grass most certainly isn’t greener on the dark side.

As an online marketer, search engine optimisation is vital for your survival. But the only effective way to boost your visibility is through an effective, white hat SEO strategy.

It’s not a quick fix, it’s a long term solution that needs constant nurturing. So if that sounds like too much like hard work to you, perhaps you’d better rethink your online marketing  career.

Creating a winning SEO strategy

If you’re hoping that I’m now going to say I was just kidding and you can achieve great rankings really easily – you’re going to be disappointed.

To be an SEO winner you’ll need the following on your shopping list:

• Well researched keywords
• A professionally designed website by someone who understands SEO
• A professional SEO copywriter to create reader-friendly copy
• A link building strategy

SEO is a slow burner – overnight results are unlikely (but not impossible, that depends on the competitiveness of your keywords) but if you keep at it and maintain your strategy’s momentum, you’ll get long lasting organic results.

And organic results means no hefty pay per click bill every month.

Creating a losing SEO strategy

If all of that seems like hard work to you, there are some techniques you can adopt to cut corners.

Of course, if you do that you will also encounter the wrath of Google which is never nice. Plus, your website will probably look shocking, read abysmally and will never convert a visitor in a month of Sundays.

Those lovely people at SEOmoz have produced a list of 32 SEO tactics to avoid. These are all black hat techniques which must be avoided at all costs.

Grab yourself a coffee and have a read through them and make sure your strategy is above board and whiter than white.

Some of the comments are really interesting too.

Over to you

What has been your most successful SEO strategy?

Please leave a comment and share your experiences.

Most people will either love social media or hate it – with the odd few thrown in who simply don’t ‘get it’.

But the problem is for those who hate or don’t ‘get it’, social media is here to stay and it will continue to grow. We’ve already seen Google join the party with Google+ so your days of keeping it at arms length are numbered.

It’s time to join in.

Personally I love it. Working as a freelance copywriter it has helped me not only gain new clients but its also enabled me to meet great people, boost my online exposure and find people to help me in my hour of need.

If you think to be effective you have to sit on Twitter or Facebook all day, you don’t. Having said that, an occasional look in when you feel like it won’t help either. You must have a regular presence but that doesn’t mean it has to rule your life.

What social media is all about

Have you ever been guilty of saying:

“I can’t see the point of Twitter”

“Why do I want to know what a complete stranger’s had for lunch?”

“It’s not as if anyone reads that stuff anyway.”

“None of my customers use it so why should I?”

The strange thing is, people view social media as some sort of ‘new age’ passing fad and yet it’s just traditional networking that is carried out online. It makes people more accessible so you can actually get to speak with those people who normally hide behind a wall of stern secretaries.

It’s a social activity so it’s just about chatting, building relationships and being interested in other people – just like face to face networking. The only difference is you don’t have to get into your car and drive to an event (which in itself is a God send considering the price of petrol these days).

What’s there not to get?

If you’re an avid face to face networker all you have to do is transfer those skills to the online community. You already know that a sales pitch never goes down well at networking events so you’ll know that’s not how to conduct yourself on social media either.

Build a strategy

Just as with traditional networking, you won’t get results overnight. You have to devise a long term strategy that’s right for your business.

If you decide to blog you’ll need a plan, lots of ideas and a blogging schedule. When you start to tweet you must build time into your day and make it part of your routine if you want it to be effective.

Becoming part of the growing online community is a great way of getting your business known. Be generous with your information, have conversations, ask and answer questions – by participating and engaging you will draw people to you and start to see results.

Over to you

Have you started using social media? If so leave a comment and tell us how you’re getting on.

Perhaps you’re still resisting – what’s stopping you from joining in?

Leave a comment below and let’s start a conversation.

If I asked you to give me an example of powerful copywriting what you say?

• Something that catches your attention immediately
• A headline which draws you in
• Simple to read copy with lots of headings

Hopefully your answer was something along those lines. Powerful copywriting is all of those things.

The problem is when some people try to write strong copy they get it all wrong. Bear with me and I’ll explain.

Shouting copy

A few days ago, I was writing some web copy for a client and my husband was working from home. He works for a German company and deals with a lot of customers located around Europe.

That particular day he was engaged on a phone call to one such customer. Instead of his usual voice, I heard a rather strained conversation being conducted in very slow, broken English.

He, like many of us, is guilty of adopting the technique of speaking very s-l-o-w-l-y and loudly when speaking to a non-native English speaker.

What does that have to do with copywriting? Well, it is something you also see in print in the mistaken belief it is getting your message across strongly.

The problem is, people try to replicate the ‘hard sell’ type of copy for their own websites, newsletters and emails. You know the kind of thing I mean – long copy, bright colours, bold text and lots of highlighting. Don’t get me wrong, that type of copy has its place and (believe it or not) works – but it isn’t a style that should be used for everything.

Building confidence

The problem with that type of text on your website, or in your newsletters, is that it doesn’t instil confidence.

Your words have to convince rather than your font size and colour.

Your copy has to resonate with and engage your reader so they are drawn into your copy. Then, by focusing on the benefits, you will convince them they have to have your product or service.

Don’t use brash and in-your-face sales techniques – chose your words carefully and:

• Create a strong headline
• Capture their attention immediately with benefits led copy
• Keep your font uniform and only change size for headings and sub headings
• Use only one colour for your font (preferably black or white)

Your copy will look professional and readable.

Would you want to look at a site full of colourful text of varying size? I doubt it, and neither would your readers. If you want to be taken seriously, make sure you approach your marketing materials in the same way.

Be professional, be clear and concentrate on your benefits.

Finding out what they really want

There is one sure fire way of finding out what your customers are looking for – ask them.

They can tell you if your products/services are providing what they’re looking for, whether your customer service is hitting the mark and how they would prefer to interact with you (email, social media, telephone etc.)

So what’s the most effective way of conducting your research? Here are a few ideas you could try.

1. Ask them directly

Talking to your customers – scary thought but quite effective.

Whether it’s face to face, on the phone or using social media ask them if they were happy with your service. Have they enjoyed using your product? Do they think it could be improved in any way?

You’ll come across as a company that cares about its customers. In fact they’ll probably be so flattered you asked them they’ll be happy to tell you what they think along with any suggestions they may have to improve and strengthen your business.

2. In your newsletter

If you already send out a regular newsletter why not run an opinion poll? You could offer a discount to anyone who fills in your survey or even make it into a prize draw.

This would also be a great opportunity to survey your customers about their social media habits to find out where they hang out so you can discover which channels will work best for you.

3. Case studies

People love real life stories which is why case studies are so powerful.

How can it help with your customer research? Well by asking the right questions such as:

• What problem did they have?
• Why did they approach your company?
• What they thought about your service?
• Whether your product/service solved their problem

You’ll find out loads of valuable information. It’s important though to make sure it’s not written as a thinly masked advert so you may want to find yourself a good professional copywriter to write it for you.

So that’s customer research and a great promotional tool all rolled into one.

4. Humble feedback

So obvious it usually gets forgotten about.

Whether you make or miss a sale find why they did/didn’t buy from you and how they found you in the first place.

People won’t mind you asking because, as I mentioned earlier, it shows you as a company who cares and who wants to continue to improve

Over to you

How do you conduct your customer research?

Do you use any unusual or innovative approaches?

Leave a comment below and share your ideas and tips.