Hey, I’m a copywriter so I know exactly what my audience wants, right?

All they want is an incredible offer and they’ll be putty in my hands.

If real life was like that it would be amazing and my job would be very easy. But sadly in the real life creating copy that sells isn’t quite that easy. Sometimes there is a problem with your sales pitch—they simply don’t want to buy your product.

You can’t lead a dog of a tablet…

Well that’s a well known saying in my house anyway.

I have two dogs—one very large chocolate Labrador that’ll eat absolutely anything you give him, and a Springer Spaniel. The latter is not the most intelligent animal in the world but when it comes to identifying medicine he’s a real Einstein.

Try and put the tablet in his food bowl and he’ll eat round it; put it inside a lump of cheese and he’ll eat the cheese and spit out the tablet.

So, use your imagination here and think of the dog as a customer and the tablet as your offer (come on, hard to imagine but try), you’ll have to tailor your sales pitch to him in order to get him bite.

The only way to get him to eat is by disguising the ‘offer’ (or tablet) by grinding it up and sprinkling it on a piece of bread thickly spread with Marmite. Now when he’s offered it he eats it (and practically takes your hand off too).

The moral of this rather doggy story is research your market.

At the end of the day if you tailor your pitch to your audience you’ll end up with a loyal customer base. But don’t be upset if you don’t always manage the sale. No campaign will have a 100% success rate as there are too many other factors out there that will have an impact on your conversion rate.

Every marketer’s dream is to come up with a piece of collateral that markets their business forever.

Wouldn’t that be amazing?

Well, not only is it an amazing thought, it is also possible to achieve.

Don’t believe me?

Read on.

Eternal online marketing

In years gone by most of your marketing would have been done off line – so we’re looking at things like leaflets, brochures, magazine adverts…that sort of thing.

The main problem with these are they only reach a limited audience and they are soon forgotten about. Once your brochure is binned or the magazine recycled, your content is lost forever.

But the beauty of online marketing means your article, website or blog post is there forever. Plus if you weave a little SEO magic into it, it can continue to attract traffic for eternity. How powerful is that?

Make the most of your online presence

You might think “Yeah great, but where am I supposed to get the material from to create all these amazing online posts?”

The simple answer is your computer. If you have a trawl through your files I bet you’ll find a stack of old articles, blog posts, PDFs…all sorts of things that can be repurposed into SEO rich new articles and posts. With regards to the PDFs just adding them to your website won’t really help as PDFs have limited SEO abilities. But changing the content into an HTML format and incorporating within your website will give you loads of opportunities to exploit their SEO potential.

The world on online marketing is all about owning as much of the web as possible. The easiest way to do that is blog and submit articles. This will attract  links, expose your company to a vast audience and position you as an expert in your field.

You don’t have to be a copywriter to achieve great things through online marketing. Writing interesting, informative posts and articles will add value to your readers. With a splash of search engine optimisation magic, they’ll continue to add value for years to come.

Writing your own copy constantly can lead to a problem—how long is it before you run out of things to say?

Before you know it all your marketing materials look and sound the same. Customers start getting fed up seeing the same old messages again and again.

So how do you overcome this?

What can you do to freshen up your approach and offer something more innovative, eye-catching and exciting?

Doing a 180

Keeping your marketing collateral fresh and exciting is vital if you want to remain at the forefront of your industry.

When things start to get a bit stale it’s time for a 180 degree rethink by looking at your products and offers from a different angle.

Let’s look at an example to see how this can work.

Bob has a company that makes washing powder. His normal marketing ploy is to show a glamorous model walking along the street, smiling in a brilliant white trouser suit. This shows the product not only cleans superbly but it will also enhance your confidence and attractiveness (at least that is the underlying suggestion).

But Bob’s clients are getting tired of seeing superwoman with her unnaturally clean clothes, so he had to come up with a new angle. This time, rather than showing the whiteness of the finished article, he took a step back.

His new advert shows a shabbily dressed woman in stained clothes. Her hair is a mess and she seems invisible to everyone else and quite introvert. The message this time is that drab whites lead to a drab life. This time viewers see an image they don’t want to be associated with and buy his product to ensure they don’t end up that way.

A rather cheesy example but I think it makes my point.

Choose a different angle

So if your marketing approach needs a revamp move away from the pleasure angle and sell it from the other side of the fence—and visa versa.

The fresh approach will attract attention and get people talking about your brand again. Do something unexpected and create a buzz.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

Many people would have you believe that SEO copywriting is a mystical art that you can only do after many years of training high on a remote Tibetan mountain top.

It’s not—but that’s not to say it is easy. It does take time to get to grips with because you have to learn how the search engine spiders read a web page before you can learn how to write one.

A favourite phrase for many writers who claim to understand search engine optimisation is keyword density. Here’s a tip for you—if anyone throws that one at you run for the hills.

In the olden days, it was thought that keywords were the be-all-and-end-all of SEO. They are very important but the idea that the more you could cram into your website the better is completely wrong. If it was that easy, every web page would be filled with the keyword that person wanted to be listed for which would generate an internet full of gobbledegook.

Sadly you still see websites today created by people who still think cramming is acceptable.

Yes, keywords are important, but it’s where you put them that counts. Writing naturally will automatically insert the optimum number of keywords within your copy without your content sounding ‘forced’. It is far more important to have well written, interesting and relevant copy that will be of interest to your reader.

In other words think of SEO being about relevancy and popularity—your writing has to make you into an authority within your field.

Links and their importance to SEO

To get great rankings you have to attract links from other sites. They are like gold dust to Google. But before you can get your content linked to, you have to get it noticed.

Generating fresh content is vital which you can publicise through social media such as Twitter, Digg, Stumble Upon and Delicious (that’s only a few). Utilising social bookmarking sites and social media will help you spread the word.

You can also create blog posts, Squidoo lenses and Hub Pages through which you can generate more links back to your main website. Basically the more links you have pointing to your site from other websites (relevant to your field), the more authoritative Google will see your site and the higher in the search engine rankings you’ll appear.

SEO hot spots

So basically, to help improve your on page SEO you must concentrate on:

• Creating interesting and relevant copy
• Include your keywords in your title tag, heading tags, META descriptions and ALT tags
• Use social media marketing to spread the word
• Use Twitter, blogging and Squidoo to generate links

Not ready to go it alone?

It  takes time to fully understand SEO; it  takes time to create customer-focused copy that is relevant and interesting; it takes a lot of skill to combine the two.

There are times when it’s worth investing in  the expert skills of a professional SEO copywriter. They have already spent many hours mastering SEO techniques so you don’t have to.

You already know how important it is to maintain regular contact with your customers through a regular newsletter—but how easy do you find it to come up with interesting content?

Whether you create your own content or hire the services of a freelance copywriter, your newsletter has to provide information that your readers want to read—so that means you mustn’t fill every issue with amazing facts about you.

If your newsletter isn’t providing useful information, your readers will unsubscribe. So how can you ensure your newsletter is…well, news-worthy, interesting and giving your readers what they want?

How to create a bad newsletter

Fill your columns with news about your achievements, your products or services, and your readers will unsubscribe. That’s not to say these can’t feature at times, but the main thrust of your content has to aimed at your reader to help you generate business and strengthen your relationship with them.

How to create a strong newsletter

Make your content full of useful information, the latest industry news, tips to help your reader in their work and articles that are relevant to their industry.

By providing them with information that will help them with their everyday lives, you will strengthen your relationship and keep them reading.

The ultimate balance

You might think that by constantly offering information and tips to your readers, you won’t actually sell anything. But you can. All you have to do is weave references to your products and services within the content.

By incorporating the information in this way, the ‘sales’ pitch will appear as though it is being included as being of service to your reader rather than self-serving.

Your leading article

The start of your newsletter is crucial. By having a strong lead article you avoid the temptation of cramming your newsletter with numerous subjects which will just lead to confusion. Go for something like:

• Breaking industry news
• Helpful tips and advice
• Analysis of a new product
• How-to article
• Case studies which can be used to illustrate the effectiveness of your products and services

The rest of your newsletter can be made up from product updates, news about forthcoming events and general information and teasers for the next issue.

What are the advantages of email marketing?

Well for a start its a quick and cheap way of reaching out to thousands of customers instantly. In a relatively short space of time it as revolutionised marketing. But as with everything, there are some people out there who want to spoil it for everyone—the spammers.

Spammers are those people out there who think it’s fine to fill our inboxes with unsolicited emails. But thanks to them, genuine businesses now have a much harder time.

If you want your email to get through the spam filters and be opened and read, your message has to be strong and eye-catching.

What is spam?

It is basically unwanted (and unwelcome) emails sent to thousands of recipients simultaneously. I’m sure you receive shed loads of it every day.

I want to use email marketing, but when should I use it?

The best time to use email marketing is when you want to:

• Let your customers know about new offers or products
• Give advice or information you think would be useful
• Keep in touch
• Follow up contacts

Each of these will help you build relationships with your customers. They add value and useful.

How not to use email marketing

If you want your customers to read your emails make sure you don’t use this method of marketing to:

• Prospect for business, it is very impersonal
• Generate leads
• Send unsolicited sales emails to rented or bought-in lists

How to I create a mailing list?

If you want to use email marketing, your best bet is to build your own opt-in mailing list. Yes it takes time to build but the response will be far higher than buying one in.

You can attract people to your mailing list by making it easy for them to sigh up for your news through your website. Offer them a free newsletter, email only offers, or free report.

Don’t ask them for loads of information, keep it simple:

• Email address
• Get their permission to send emails
• Tell them what you’ll send
• Give them your guarantee that you won’t share their email address with anyone else

One more thing. When you send your emails make sure there is an opt out link clearly visible. So should they decide they don’t want your newsletters any more or marketing messages they can be removed from your list easily.

Don’t expect to get thousands of sign-ups over night because it won’t happen. But over time you will create a good, responsive marketing list to help generate income for many years to come.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

How is your website doing?

Does it get a lot of traffic? If so, is that reflected in your conversion rate?

What I’m asking is, if your site gets thousands of hits a week is that converting into sales?

As a copywriter I come across lots of websites. Some look good, have a decent amount of content and even rank quite well. But they don’t convert.

So how can you get your website working efficiently for you? What is the secret that successful website owners know that you don’t?

How to make your website convert every time

Before you do anything to your website, you have to go to the beginning of the process and study how people use the internet.

Generally if they’re looking for something in particular they’ll enter their search term into Google and start opening tabs – a new one for every website that looks interesting. That way they can compare companies easily.

That should give you a HUGE clue as to what the secret is that will make your site convert.

Have you worked it out?

You have to identify your unique selling point (or unique value proposition). But if you don’t make it the first thing your reader sees, there’s no point in having it in the first place. Shout about it – it’s what makes your company so amazing; it’s why they should do business with you.

If you are having a bit of trouble working yours out, your unique selling point is basically your main benefit—something that sets you apart from your competition.

Be proud and make it bold

If you hide your USP within your text you reader won’t find it.

It is well known that when searching the next and looking at websites, readers only scan the information. Therefore your main benefit must be upfront and bold so they can’t miss it.Make sure it’s in your headline so it’s the first thing they’ll see.

That really is all there is to it.

If you want your website to convert, make it interesting, make it relevant and make your USP stand out.

In my last post we looked at the Home Page and About Us page.

Now it’s the turn of the Products/Service page and FAQs.

Products and services

1. A company selling products

Quite often when you look at a website, the product pages are full of images showing you what you can buy with very little copy.

That’s a real shame as it’s the copy that sells the benefits to your reader and gives you the opportunity to get your keywords into your page. That doesn’t mean there has to be a massive amount of text here, just enough to tell the reader why they should buy your product.

But make sure it is the benefits you are telling your reader about and not the features.

2. A service based company

If you provide a service rather than a product then much of what I have said still stands.

Your copy must tell your reader what you will do for them and why they will benefit from your service. If your service is a commodity (e.g. legal services) your copy will be fairly general (but benefits heavy) and will direct the reader to contact you for more information so you can sell in a personal way tailored to their needs.

But if your service isn’t a commodity (e.g. window cleaning), your copywriting will be more detailed to show your reader exactly what your service offers.

It is also important to get your keywords into your text. Plus regardless of whether you are offering a product or service, you’ll still need a strong call to action on your page.

FAQs

This is a brilliant page as it will save you money. By providing a comprehensive list of FAQs you’ll negate the need for a phone customer help line (although it’s still a good idea to have a customer number for those that want to speak to someone).

To make your page user friendly, keep your answers short and simple. Your reader is likely to scan this page so either list the questions and answers clearly (with the questions in bold) or, if you have a large number of FAQs, list the questions at top of the page and link them to the relevant answer.

Although these four pages – Home, About Us, Products/Services, FAQs – are frequently seen, you may well have a need for other pages. But however many pages you have, there is one more that is vital; the one all your calls to action will link to.

Your Contact Us page should be clear and provide several options – phone (land line and mobile), fax, address, email. You may also use a data capture form. By providing a range of contact methods like this you will come across as an open and transparent company. Hide your phone number or address and your reader will wonder why.

When creating your website you have to consider several things – your design, its functionality, your message etc.

Your unique selling point and the products and services you offer are going to be very individual. But one thing that is fairly standard is the important basic range of website pages.

Every page will have a Home Page, About Us, Products/Services and FAQs.

They may appear under different names, but each must be optimised for your main keywords.

Each page should be optimised for a different primary keyword to maximise your website’s chances of ranking highly.

In this post I will take a look at the Home Page and About Us page.

Home Page

This is where most of your traffic will land and so is the make or break page of your website. If you want this to rank well it must have great content. How much is going to depend on what you have to say but a good format is:

• A strong headline (including your keyword)
• Paragraph of about 150 words
• Bullet list stating benefits
• Sub heading containing a secondary keyword
• Another 150 word paragraph

Of course that is not to say any other format won’t work, but this is quite a good one if your message fits.

This format helps when readers scan your page (which most do). The keywords are in bold in your heading and sub headings and your main benefits are in the bulleted list (to which your readers’ eyes will be drawn). Therefore within a few seconds your reader will know who you are, what you do and (more importantly) what your product/service will do for them.

This page must also have a strong call to action. Without that, how will you reader know what to do next?

About Us

You may have noticed on the Home Page I omitted any details about you. That’s what the About Us page is for.

People do like to know who they are dealing with, so it is important the copy on this page connects with  them. Your writing should be warm and friendly not distant and overly corporate. Keywords are not quite so vital here but it is still an opportunity to optimise your text to boost your keyword coverage.

This is your opportunity to show the human side of your business. If you had a shop you’d greet your customers and shake them by the hand. That’s the kind of approach your writing has to convey.

Creating content for the web isn’t as easy as it sounds. It has to sell but be engaging; it has to create an emotional response; it has to be appealing to your reader and the search engine spiders.

It is essential to get all these elements right which is why investing in a good SEO copywriter is essential. Get your website copy wrong and you’ll just have an expensive digital brochure very few people read. Get it right and you’ll have a sales tool that works for you 24/7.

In my next post we’ll look at the Products/Services Page and FAQs.