10 ways of generating interest in your readers

Nov 03, 2009 Comments

If both the roads are safe and the drive smooth, would you take the shorter way or the longer one? Time is short and sweet, definitely the shorter one, most of us would agree. Longer distances are good if you are on a vacation, you want to tune yourself with the nature and spend some quality time driving. Now, think your reader is the driver of the car and the roads the writing. If you are penning down something for the daily news, columns about technology, climate, retail etc, reports, etc – your reader will like the short road. For novel, thesis, poetry, stories or sometimes elaborate literature articles – the longer route with minute details, flowery language is the key. It’s as simple as GIVE WHAT THEY WANT. So, here we go, giving you what you are looking for – 10 ways of generating interest in your readers:

1. Identify your reader – If you know your reader well, you can work in that direction.
2. Interesting headlines – If you have a nice headline in tune with your article half the battle is won. Headlines should be appealing and innovative.
3. Opening batsman is important – A good start is as important as the opening batsman to his team. A good start will ensure that the reader begins to read your work.
4. KISS – Keep it short and simple. We all know about this golden rule, but do we always follow it? This is the key to the shorter route.
5. Avoid jargons – Only when absolutely necessary use jargons and technical terms.
6. Visual appeal – Break your article into short paragraphs and use a readable font. Readers, usually lose interest in long winding paragraphs.
7. Flowery language – Again, if this is what your article and reader demands, put it to good use.
8. Give facts – State facts and numbers as much as you can; as it gives your reader the real picture.
9. Examples – Oh, my personal favourite. Give examples and try to relate the subject with the reader. Examples help them to identify with the topic and generate curiosity and interest.
10. Closing paragraph – It is the general tendency to read the start and end; and glance through the middle of the article. Write an impressive closing paragraph, which will the hearts of your audience.

Use these golden rules as per your need, just to correct as per the need of your reader and you sure have a winning piece.

A good list of killer headline creating formulas

Oct 07, 2009 Comments

You have won half the battle if you’ve created a good headline for your website or blog post. It’s all the more important in the times of social media and social bookmarking where your well-prepared headlines can attract lots of attention. Having said that, do pay close attention to the following when you are creating your next killer headline:

Don’t create a headline just to create attention

This proves counter-productive and incites lots of WTFs if your headline doesn’t match your content. Make sure your headline truly represent the message of your blog post or web page.

Use your main keywords in the headline

It not only helps your search engine rankings but also helps you better represent your message. Take for example the headline of this blog post — it clearly tells you that the post intends to tell you some good ways of creating highly effective headlines.

Enough of my ruminations, head to this excellent post on Copyblogger titled 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work.

Is your content a noise or a voice

Sep 09, 2009 Comments

There is content, and there is content. In the conversation economy (fueled by social media and social networking websites) the content you publish on your website can make or break your business. It depends on what direction you want to take, whether you want to be a noise, or a voice.

Low-quality content turns your content into noise. What are the traits that tell you that you’ve got low-quality content?

• Your search engine traffic doesn’t increase.
• Even if your search engine traffic increases, your conversion rate remains poor.
• Nobody finds it useful, relevant or topical.
• Your repeat traffic is very low.
• Nobody promotes your links but you.
• Not many people link to your blog or website.
• Nobody talks about what you publish.
• Even if people promote your link, it is due to some controversy regarding your views or opinion.

High-quality content on the other hand gives you a voice. Whereas people tend to ignore a noise, they pay attention to a voice. So what features of your content make it a voice?

• It improves your search engine rankings for relevant keywords.
• Your visitors find your content useful and they subscribe to your RSS feed updates or email newsletter, if available.
• People share your links with their visitors, followers, friends and colleagues using social media and social networking websites and they respect your opinion.
• The other bloggers and publishers love to link to your content as valuable reference.
• You are eventually able to establish your authority.

As a professional content writer and online copywriter I’ve observed client fall into the "noise" content trap when they quickly want to improve their search engine rankings without putting sufficient emphasis on the quality. Sure, noisy content does increase your search engine traffic, but then that traffic is simply a crowd. Only quality content, content that carries a voice, gets you customers and clients, and loyal readers.

The importance of microcopy

Jul 16, 2009 Comments

Here’s an interesting blog post I was just reading. It talks about the importance of microcopy. Microcopy is something my clients never pay me to write and in more than 99% cases they skip the pages the require microcopy, for instance, the contact us page, or some other page requiring one or two sentences. But I remember a client, a long time ago, making me write small sentences on the contact us page to succinctly explain the purpose of individual email addresses. He paid for it like a normal page.

The post I have linked to above gives some examples of miscommunications that may occur due to a missing or a wrongly expressed sentence. A good example is, “To pay by PayPal you don’t need a PayPal account”. This is an important message and if you are accepting payment through paypal then you should inform (the ones not already informed) because many clients and customers may not do business with you if they think just for a single transaction they may have to register at a 3rd-party website.

Microcopy constitutes of tiny, seemingly innocuous expressions we assume our visitors are already aware of and that is why sometimes we skip them. For instance, while you are asking people to subscribe to your electronic newsletter, sometimes you forget to tell them that you are not going to spam them or their email addresses will never be sold. This is given, and you know that you are never going to spam your subscribers, but telling them makes them more eager to subscribe. Or if you want your customer to create an account before he or she can purchase from you, you forget to mention that after creating an account they can track the shipment or make the next purchase more easily.

As the blog post rightly says, microcopy alleviates small concern that might not look monumental but may become a deciding factor when they are thinking about doing business with you.

So should you pay your copywriter for taking care of your microcopy? It depends, but to be frank, whatever helps you do your business better, has commercial value.

Sometimes you don’t get paid for your online copywriting job, big deal!

Jun 25, 2009 Comments

Once in a while clients don’t pay the remaining amount once I’ve delivered all the content. While trying to find the folder of a repeat client on my PC I came across a few folders belonging to clients who simply vanished after getting their online copywriting job done. The only saving grace is that I rarely start work without taking an advance. As mentioned on this advance for copywriting work link, I charge 100% if the total estimate is less than or equal to $100, 50% if it is between $100 and $200, and 40% if it is more than $200.

So does it make me bitter when clients vanish without paying the remaining 50% or 60%? Of course I feel bad, but no, I don’t become bitter and consider other clients suspiciously. First of all, it rarely happens. Ever since 2004 (when I stopped designing and developing websites and started writing content for websites) I have served more than 300 clients (according to the number of folders I have on my laptop currently) and among these it must be just 15-20 clients who didn’t pay the money they owed. So it is hardly a worrying trend. I wasn’t worried even when I think my 3rd client used the content and never paid the remaining amount.

Second, it gives me a psychological level playing field. Some clients are suspicious: what if I take the advance and never deliver? Most of the clients are overseas and it will be very difficult to chase me (legally or physically) in case they pay the advance and then I vanish or stop responding. Very valid fear and I try to assuage it by encouraging them to go through my website, my various blogs, my social networking profiles and search for my name on Google. I couldn’t have survived by taking advances and not delivering content. About the level playing field thing – if they are still doubtful, I tell them that I too have the same fear. What if I deliver the content and they don’t pay? Just like them, even I cannot chase them, and like me, they don’t even have an extensive profile on the Internet. So I’m at a greater risk.

Why did I start writing this post? It’s because of the writers I work with. Almost all of them are so cautious about getting paid that it begins to sound cheap after a while. They don’t ask what sort of work I’m going to give them and what must be their level of writing skill. They ask, “When are you going to pay, how you are going to pay, are you actually going to pay?” Imagine if I start asking such questions from my clients. Will I get work from them? Fat chance.

The reason they give is that they have had a “bad” experience. Well, when you work on your own you do have bad experiences but it doesn’t mean you carry your frustration out on the person who is trying to give you work. I don’t work with such writers unless they are exceptionally good.

Online Copywriting: difference between features and benefits

Jun 23, 2009 Comments

Recently I needed to prepare two documents for a client selling a software product: one describing features and the other, benefits. When I delivered him the documents he said I needed to get clear about the difference between the two, and I had basically written the same thing in both the documents. Ever ready to learn more I eagerly agreed to re-write the documents and do more study on the differences between features and benefits.

While working on an online copywriting project my main focus is understanding features, and then communicating the most compelling benefits. Below I’m trying to lay down the basic difference between features and benefits

Features

Let’s suppose you are selling a desktop blog editing software. It’s features would be:

• Ability to add multiple blog accounts.
• Inbuilt word processor, thesaurus and spell-check.
• FTP functionality to upload images.
• Support for offline and online editing.
• Support for CSS formatting.

These are the features, things that the software lets you do. But how do you benefit from these features?

Benefits

• Post blog posts extremely fast and conveniently.
• Work in a familiar, world-processor like environment.
• Reduce spelling and grammatical errors.
• Upload images easily.
• Format your blog posts to your heart’s content.

All in all, become a better, prolific blogger.

Not all features are equally beneficial to all, but we use products and services for their benefits and not for their features. This is why it is very important to highlight the benefits when you are preparing the copy to sell a product or a service.

SEO copywriting – what it really means

Jun 10, 2009 Comments

I was just going through this interesting blog post titled SEO Copywriting is dead! Here’s Proof…. I often come across articles and blog posts bashing up terminologies and work-related phrases. For instance recently I came across a report that tried to prove that outsourcing could be disastrous for your work, despite the fact that more and more work is being outsourced to save time and money. Anyway, since I provide SEO copywriting services I thought I should write a quick post on what SEO copywriting actually means and what are its benefits.

So what exactly is SEO copywriting?

It is definitely not repeating keywords and key phrases umpteen times, as many clients mistakenly understand. As I’ve previous explained in a blog post titled SEO tips you should know as an online copywriter, every well-written copy that properly handles the topic can qualify as an SEO copy.

Keywords? Yes, they are important, and if you totally ignore them in your copy, then definitely the search engines are going to find it difficult to rank it well for those keywords. For example, if I want to optimize this blog post for SEO copywriting, but I write about SEO content writing and SEO writing, then definitely the search engines will not show this blog post when people search for SEO copywriting. That is why it is very important that when you’re writing about a subject on a particular page or blog post, stick to it. If I want to get traffic for SEO copywriting, then I should better focus on this particular phrase, rather than trying to be esoteric and cryptic.

SEO copywriting involves writing the copy in such a manner that it judiciously talks about the subject, while taking care that the keyword or the key phrase appears sufficient number of times, at appropriate places, without sounding silly or repetitive. There is no point getting the first position on Google by creating content that means nothing to your visitors.

Does SEO copywriting improve your search engine rankings?

It definitely should. Even if you don’t immediately improve your search engine rankings (it depends on lots of factors, not just the copy), it is a step in the right direction. It’s like, if you require n steps to reach B from A, then a well-written page by an experienced SEO copywriter definitely makes the number of needed steps n-1.

Does SEO copywriting improve your conversion rate?

The underlying rationale behind every copywriting exercise, ultimately, is to improve your conversion rate. Your search engine rankings shouldn’t be improved at the cost of your conversion rate. In fact this is why good SEO copywriters are in such a great demand: they are copywriters in the conventional sense, and they also create you copy that improves your search engine rankings.

SEO copywriting may not bring you instant results, but it is indisputably the focal point of your SEO effort. Nothing precedes it. No amount of tweaking and hacking is going to give you lasting results. Once you obtain decent rankings through proper, legitimate SEO copywriting, no amount of search engine algorithmic changes are going to be able to take that away from you.

I understand your needs and I can meet them

Jun 02, 2009 Comments

This statement should be the core strength of your website copy when you are trying to promote a product or a service. You need to empathize with the visitor and provide the solution in the most convincing, truthful manner.

To be frank, your visitor doesn’t give a damn what a great product or service you’ve got, because he or she has probably, already visited scores of websites offering the same thing with little difference. How do you stand out, even if you have nothing unique to offer? You need to strum the emotional chords of your visitor. Let him or her know that you totally understand what he or she needs. Make it your sole purpose to solve a particular problem people have, and then convince them that you can solve it. More than products and services, people are looking for solutions and gratifications. But does it mean people never search for products and services?

They definitely do. Let’s suppose I want to improve my search engine rankings and for that I’m searching for a good SEO company. Even if I’m looking for an SEO company, I’m basically looking for a solution: improve my search engine rankings. I may have budget constraints and I may not. I may have a tight schedule and I may not. I may be eager to work with an inexperienced company or I want a highly experienced company with lots of client testimonials. These are my needs. When I visit a website, even if I’m not consciously looking for these traits, they will be a deciding factor.

That’s why it is very important to be clear about whom you want to target through your website copy. Targeting helps you define the needs and the solutions to those needs.

Instilling confidence and trust with your copy

May 29, 2009 Comments

This excellent post at Copyblogger talks about imaginary trolls that stop your customers and clients from doing business with you.

It is a bad, bad world isn’t it? Especially so on the Internet where every unscrupulous element can quickly set up a website and start executing his or her spurious activities to deprive you of your money. The situation is worsened by the fact that the Internet has no geographical boundaries and it is not bound by local jurisdictions. So someone in America can easily cheat someone in India and vice versa.

As rightly mentioned in the Copyblogger link, we are all haunted by our previous experiences whenever we want to buy something or subscribe to something. The imminent fraud is amplified when money is involved; you feel more stupid when you pay for something that you don’t get.

A person trying to sell a product or service on the Internet has to overcome a greater challenge compared to the actual world. On the Internet the only mode of communication is your website. You are not just fighting with mistrust you are also fighting with a zillion distractions. In order to the business on the Internet your website copy has to:

• Engage the prospect
• Dispel his or her fears and apprehensions
• Lead him or her to carry out the transaction

How can you do that?

Have lots of quality content

The first thing that you can do is have lots of quality content on your website. Having lots of quality content on your website means that you are really putting your money and effort where your mouth is. You will put so much effort only if you are serious about your work and feel confident about delivering.

Aside from establishing a sense of confidence high quality content also helps you attract targeted traffic from search engines, blogs and social media websites.

Provide all possible solutions

When a prospect arrives at your website he or she is full of questions not only regarding what he or she wants but also regarding how well you can deliver. You need to answer all the questions your visitor can possibly come up with. Take for instance these questions:

• Are you for real? Display your contact information prominently. A photograph may also help. A regularly updated blog is quite reassuring and if you are constantly interacting with your visitors, nothing like it. Create a strong social media presence so that your customer or client knows that your reputation is at stake if you don’t perform.
• Is my money safe? How do I make sure that I will receive the product or the service once I have paid? Properly explain this procedure on your website and also clearly specify what your refund policy is in case something bad happens and the customer is unable to receive the product on the service.
• Are you easily reachable? Make sure that you are just one call away in case the customer or the client needs to call you.

There might be many more questions; it depends on the kind of product or service you are providing.

Put visitors’ interest first

Okay, this reminds me to change my copy to (I am constantly learning and sometimes I teach myself). Highlight benefits instead of features. Handle the most pertinent question in the very beginning: what is the greatest benefit of your product or service? For instance, if I write your copy how is it going to benefit your business or your presence on the Internet? There are two things I am confident about:

• Increasing your conversion rate
• Writing search engine optimized content to increase your search engine rankings

Now, a person shouldn’t be bothered about how well I write and how I can juggle around words and how well-read I am. Can I really solve your problem? If you want to increase your conversion rate can I achieve that for you through my copywriting services? If you want more traffic from search engines can I do that?

Put your visitors’ interest first instead of blowing your own horn and feeling gung ho about what a great offer you have got.

What do your existing customers and clients have to say about you and your business?

For this you need a testimonials page where you publish all the great things your customers and clients have to say about you and your business. In fact your testimonial page is one of the most important aspects of your website.

The basic idea is that your copy should communicate a sense of trustworthiness and accountability.

Is email marketing content different from web marketing content?

May 22, 2009 Comments

Of late I’ve been getting plenty of assignments that involve writing content for email marketing campaigns. Intermittently a few clients want to know what is the difference between writing content for marketing on the web and through e-mail. I’m sure they want to know whether I know the difference or not and I am writing this blog post to share my thoughts on the subject of writing content for email marketing as well as web marketing.

Fundamental difference between e-mail marketing and web marketing

Let me tell this at the outset that I am not writing this as a marketing person; I am a content writer who knows a thing or two about Internet marketing. Most of the things that I know have been learned by constantly working and interacting on the Internet with other professionals and also with clients hailing from different fields.

Marketing, as we will all agree, is an exercise to promote a product or service in order to increase business. It may involve running advertising campaigns, organizing events and distributing content that makes the recipients aware of the product or the service and its features. Of course I will be talking from the perspective of a content writer.

Content for an e-mail marketing campaign cannot be easily reused

An e-mail marketing campaign is most of the time a one-time affair, or there have to be long intervals before you send the same e-mail to the same recipients. Do it with regularity and it becomes spam. E-mail marketing is kind of push marketing even if you are using an opt-in e-mail list. It normally survives on numbers unless the targeting is phenomenal. The content for an e-mail marketing campaign, most of the times, is not reusable – you cannot send the same e-mail again and again. Every time you send an e-mail, there must be something new in it.

E-mail marketing content must always be to the point

Content for an e-mail marketing campaign must be concise, to the point, and use as direct a language as possible. Say your thing and get done with it. Remember that the person opening your e-mail would be having scores of unread messages in his or her inbox and it just takes one click to open another message.

This makes it more important to highlight the greatest benefits of your product or service at the top of the message. There should be minimal scope for confusion and misunderstanding.

It is debatable what should be the length of an e-mail marketing campaign. It depends upon what you want to convey and who is your target market. For instance if you are a real estate company selling real estate property then your customers will naturally prefer to read more and more before deciding to call you. On the other hand a less important product (for instance, an MP3 player) may not demand that much attention to detail. So write your content according to your market and the product or service you are offering.

E-mail marketing content should be personal

Content for an e-mail marketing campaign also needs to be personal because an e-mail is a personnel message. It is like knocking at somebody’s door in order to convey something. So the least you can do is address that person by his or her name. Even if the e-mail is going to a business e-mail address it will be opened by a person. Create a sense of familiarity.

Content for a web marketing campaign

A web marketing campaign stays where it is as long as you keep it. The content written for a web marketing campaign performs for a longer time. I am not implying that you don’t need to update your web content; I just mean to say it can stay up there for a longer period of time.

You don’t need to be as personnel as in the case of an e-mail marketing campaign because when it comes to your website it is not you who are knocking at people’s door but the other way round. People coming to your website are already inclined towards reading what you have published on your website. They have either found you on a search engine or have clicked a link on another website.

According to me the greatest difference between e-mail marketing and web marketing is that web marketing content is re-usable and it performs for a longer period of time whereas e-mail marketing content is usually created for a one-time affair so you have to make the maximum impact in the very first attempt otherwise it all goes waste. Web marketing content can be altered and tweaked according to the response you are getting; you cannot do this with e-mail marketing content, it’s like the bullet that has been fired and now you can do nothing about it.

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