Posts Tagged ‘copywriting’

• Improving your web copywriting content

  Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

  

  The Internet is packed with web copy – largely in part due to the massive use of it in search engine optimisation strategies. Just last year it was estimated by Technorati that the Internet was home to around 215 million websites and around 152 million blogs.

  Erez Barak, writing for Search Engine Watch, has produced a list of tips that can be used in web copy writing to ensure more people are reading the content you produce – rather than someone else’s.

  Here is a summarised version of some of the tips that Barak provides:

  Keep your content optimised for social, not just search -

  Regardless of whether your content is fantastic, if it isn’t easy to share, people just aren’t going to bother – seriously limiting your opportunity to have you content viewed within the social sphere. You should ensure that your content is at least sharable – using share buttons – on the most popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

  Don’t go back and update old stories, create new ones -

  When covering a story that is continually taking new turns, don’t go back to the original story to add an update; instead you should link back to the original story in a completely new post – doing this will also ensure that your site ranks better.

  News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.

  Tags: copywriting, Erez Barak, Search Engine Watch
  Posted in Search Engine Optimisation

• Making the most of a blog

  Thursday, September 1st, 2011

  

  More and more companies are utilising blogs as a simple outlet to display their content to consumers.

  Due to successful SEO strategies, many blogs are attracting traffic via search engines; however according to an article published on Search Engine Watch, more needs to be done to ensure that visitors come back for more.

  Kevin Gibbons, writing for SEW, has produced a number of additional strategies that can be employed to ensure visitors engage with other content published on blogs.

  Here is just a selection of those aforementioned strategies:

  • Add links to Related Posts – A very simple tactic that can work to your advantage. If you’ve created content which is entertaining or useful, readers may be interested in reading similar material, so linking to related posts beneath the original article is something users will be grateful for – and will increase the time spent on your blog or site.
  • Create a page displaying all additional content – Blogs don’t always make the most of previously published posts. A sidebar can go a great distance in highlighting older posts, or posts grouped in specific categories – meaning the most can be made of your previous work.
  • Write a series of articles – With this strategy it’s important to know when enough is enough – while a great way of encouraging regular visits, it shouldn’t be overdone. When covering complex subjects in-depth, spreading the content out over a series of articles will have added value when people search for your content in search engines.

  News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.

  Tags: blogging strategies, blogs, copywriting, Online content
  Posted in Online PR (Public Relations)

• Compelling copy – it will actually come to you easily

  Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

  Had an email the other day about how there are certain words that, if you put them in your copy, will help to slip under your reader’s radar and being to influence them into doing what you wish.

  There are several words, apparently, which end in -ly. So, for instance,

  * obviously * clearly * Slowly * apparently *

  certainly * easily * powerfully * evidently * are the examples given in the email.

  So, here are a list of words ending in -ly that you may, or may not, find of some use when writing your copy to stimulate calls to action!

  Personally, as a copywriter, I think there are plenty of words which slip into people’s consciousness that affect what they think and do, and it is more about how you pick the right words for the task and string them together than what they end in, but…..!

  

  Tags: Advertising and Marketing, call to action, copywriter, Copywriters, copywriting
  Posted in Content, SEO, Tips & Tricks

• Don't shop on an empty stomach

  Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

  Actually, this post is not about food, weight loss or retail therapy. It is about how to make your customers buy from you when they visit your website. It is about creating a Call to Action that parts them from their cash.

  Many internet marketers are very good at parting you from your money, using a variety of ‘sales techniques’ that work in subtle but effective ways. You too can adopt these practices on your website and encourage your visitors to travel down the path you wish them to.

  The first tactic to learn is how to play on the emotions. When writing good copy for a website sales page, you need to start with the pain points of your visitor. What are the problems that they are facing which have led them to your page? If necessary, lay it on with a trowel just how bad their life is with the problem they currently have.

  Anyone with a problem is essentially vulnerable and by showing them just how clearly you understand their problem, you begin to have a rapport with them. Or so they think!

  Then, you begin to tell them just how fantastic your product is in solving that problem for them. How it will change their life entirely. Even if 5 minutes ago, they had no idea their problem was quite as bad as they have now realised, all of a sudden they will begin to see the benefits of owning your product to improve their life. It may well be that they have stumbled across your page whilst looking for something entirely different, but if your writing is good,  by now they will be aware that they do indeed suffer from this problem, and that your product may be their only salvation.

  You have triggered their ‘desire’ for the product, and we are now into ‘I want one of those’ territory. This is the time when the purchase decision has not yet been made, but it is close.

  Ah, the crux of the problem they now face is suddenly revealed. You have a sale on. But only until midnight tonight. So, if they don’t buy it now, then when they want it even more badly tomorrow, the price will have doubled, quadrupled, or gone up by 10. The bargain hunter part of their character leaps to the fore.

  Worse, you tell them there are a limited number of these products, the offer is never to be repeated and that if they buy it right now, you will throw in 101 unmissable freebies as a favour.

  The click to buy button fills the screen, and the reminder that the sale ends at midnight, this is a one time offer, exclusive extras are available etc etc is in bold and red and

  large.

  There is simply no way round it, they must have this solution to the problem. It is what they have always been looking for. How could they not realise before that the lack of this item has been causing all of their life, everything they have ever tried, to fail. And it says there is a 100% money back guarantee, no questions asked so what is there to lose?

  Kerching. You just made a sale!

  Try it and see. Once you overcome how you feel about doing this to people – after all, it is tantamount to retail torture – you will discover that pretty much everywhere you look in the world of commerce, the very same games are being played by companies far larger than you, on all of us, in every aspect of our every day lives.

  Tags: copywriting, E-Commerce
  Posted in Content, Small Business Resources