Wouldn’t it be cool if you could produce a piece of marketing collateral that will promote your business forever?
Do you think that’s impossible?
Think again, not only is it possible, it’s something that many people are already doing. They just don’t realise it.
The legacy of online marketing
In the past, most of your marketing materials would have been off line – things like brochures, leaflets, magazine adverts and direct sales letters. The main problems with these are:
They only reach a limited audience
They are soon forgotten
As soon as your brochure is binned, the magazine has been read or your sales letter shredded, their contents are lost forever.
But if you market online, the beauty of the internet means your collateral is there forever. If you create it so it’s SEO friendly, it will continue to attract an audience for eternity – or at least for as long as it remains on the internet.
Imagine the power of that.
Using SEO techniques your blog posts, articles and web pages will draw new readers like a magnet. So are you making the most of it?
Boost your online presence
Take a look through your computer files. What information do you have that you’d forgotten about? I’m willing to bet you’ve an untapped gold mine of suitable marketing material just waiting to be uploaded onto the web.
It could be turned into articles, blog posts and even web pages. You’re bound to be harbouring a small flotilla of PDF files that could be utilised. But rather than simply adding them in their present form to your website, restructure the information into HTML web pages. The reason for this is a PDF has limited SEO abilities whereas changing into an HTML format will give you countless more opportunities to exploit SEO.
Why you need to know this
Online marketing is all about owning as much of the web as possible. Writing articles and blog posts not only provide you with valuable back links it also exposes your company to a vast, eternal audience.
After watching Pretty Woman for the umpteenth time the other day, one line hit me – in the scene where Julia Roberts struts her way over to Richard Gere’s car, her room mate Kit De Luca shouts: “Work it. Work it, baby. Work it. Work it. Own it.”
Well, that’s the only way you’re going to make a ripple in the pool of blogging – by working at your structure and presentation.
Writing a good bog isn’t just about having an idea and running with it. Of course, great ideas are important but so is how you execute them to produce informative, well written posts that people are going to want to read.
I’ve been blogging for several years now. Coming up with a fresh batch of ideas is tough, but inspiration can come from anywhere – films (like above), conversations, letters, images, experiences etc.
So what do you do when you’ve got an idea?
How to shape a great blog post
As I see it, there are five main steps you have to go through to create a great blog. It’s a system that works for me; this is how it goes:
1. Title
The title of your post is really important. It has to grab the attention of your reader – if it doesn’t they aren’t going to bother wasting any time over it. The best titles are ones that are very specific. Tell them what your post is about.
2. A great beginning
Many people think a blog is just about writing. I would disagree with that which is why all my posts are preceded by an image. Using an image that is related to your post in some way introduces an instant link in your reader’s mind. But not only that, the beginning of your post must grab them immediately.
You can either dive straight in or, like this post, begin with a personal experience. But if you do, make sure you also explain what it has to do with your subject matter.
As with any form of writing, the initial paragraph or two is what will make or break your post. Make it interesting and your reader will stay with you until the end.
3. Importance first
Pick the most important aspect that you are talking about and tackle it first. Explain concepts simply to your reader using simple terms and sentence structures. If you bamboozle them with jargon they’ll lose interest and go.
If your subject has more than one point, repeat this stage again until all your points are covered.
4. Tell them what to do
There’s no point in writing about a concept and then not telling them how they can put it into action. Give an example of how it can work for them. Take this post for example; if you’re still reading it you’re learning how you can utilise these techniques on your own blog.
5. Summarise
At the end of your post tell them why the information they’ve just read is relevant to them. Explain that when they put your tips into practice they will enhance their lives.
So as you can see. Being careful about how you create your posts paying attention to the heading, images and initial paragraph will help you write informative and enjoyable blog posts that people will want to read.
If you are a follower of this blog, you’ll know I have been championing the art of blogging for quite some time now.
I have written numerous posts that extol the blog as a form of expression, a way of driving traffic to your websites as well hints and tips on how to blog and generate fresh ideas.
The content is obviously key to the readership you attract, but the look of your blog is also important.
Use a design that is over fussy and you’ll put people off. Loads of advertising can also be a turn off – so you have to be careful about the look you go for.
You can also use a number of plugins on your blog to make it work harder for you. This blog post from Social Media Examiner identifies 24 Impressive Blog Plugins You Should Consider. Why not take a look and see which ones you want to add to your blog. They relate to the WordPress platform and illustrate how you can customise your blog to suit your needs perfectly.
Once you’ve taken a look at that, why not have a browse through these posts to help you make the most out of your blog:
Your writing has to perform a number of functions simultaneously:
It has to attract traffic
It has to be interesting
It has to capture your readers’ attention
It has to persuade
It has to convince
It has to make your reader buy
As I said, it has to perform a number of tasks which is why you must create powerful website copy that is capable of satisfying all of these needs.
If you merely start writing about your business, awards you have won or your premises you’re not going to capture your reader.
The women’s Rugby World Cup is happening at the moment and the following video illustrates my point. We’ve all seen the All Blacks perform their menacing Haka before every game. Their gesturing, shouting, tongue sticking-out and other shenanegans would certainly make you think twice before approaching any of them.
But I recently saw the Black Fern’s version (that’s New Zealand’s female rugby team) – it’s not quite so scary:
Don’t get me wrong, I still wouldn’t like to face them on a rugby pitch. The closest I get is watching my son on a Sunday morning play for Ipswich – and that’s close enough. But to me it’s more akin to mums at a disco trying to recapture their youth by trying to remember dance steps to the hits of the 80s. Their movements seem to be too gentle to strike fear into the hearts of their opponents.
It’s the same with your web copy. You are competing with a huge number of other businesses on the web so you have got to create copy that will make you stand out from the crowd. And that means just one thing – write about your reader.
Tell them what they want to hear
As people browse websites, they are looking for one simple piece if information – what you’re going to do for them. They aren’t interesting in anything about your company. They are totally self-centred.
So make sure you tell them what they want to hear. If you do, and you address them directly and state the benefits immediately your website will stand out from the crowd.
Why?
Because I see far more sites with bad copy that revolves totally around the company than good sites that address the reader directly and show them precisely how they will benefit.
The easy way to good copy is to find yourself a good freelance copywriter. As they are not directly involved with your company they will be able to look at your products and services from a customer’s point of view. Even if you are the best writer in the world, if you try to write your own copy you will find it very difficult to distance yourself from your company and be completely objective.
Why do you need to know this?
Quite simply because you want your website to:
a) Attract visitors
b) Get people to buy
And the only way you are going to do that is by creating copy that is focused on the reader, tells them what your product or service will do for them (the benefits), and then tells them what to do through a strong call to action.
We all make promises. But how many of those promises do you keep?
Take my teenager for example (please take him). When I ask him to do something the usual response is: “Yeah, I’ll do it in a minute.” An hour later, when the task still hasn’t been done and I start to get annoyed with him I get the rolling eyes followed by “I was just about to…”
How many times has you made a complaint only to be assured by the staff member that “I’ll pass your comments on to my manager”. Do they really do as they promise? Very unlikely.
You’re probably wandering what this has to with website copy. Well, within your copy you’ll make various promises to your reader. In fact the benefits of your business are promises. So they are things like:
Being available 24/7
Smart and polite staff
Getting things right first time
We can’t be beaten
But when putting together your website copywriting, if you merrily add in loads of benefits like this without thinking too hard about them, you could be doing yourself a lot of harm.
When a promise becomes a problem
It’s the small things in life that matter.
You may offer a great guarantee, free postage etc., which you can easily fulfil. But if you can’t get the simple things right, are your customers going to believe your bigger claims and promises?
If you say your service is available 24/7 and when a customer phones they get placed in a queue constantly being told by a disembodied voice “your call is important to us” even though it doesn’t get picked up for 15 minutes, you could lose customers.
I tried to get in touch with a well known UK business recently. I didn’t want to send an email because I needed a quick answer so I decided to call them. Oh boy, what a palaver. The phone rang and immediately found myself in an automated system. After about 5 minutes going through umpteen menus, I finally got to speak to a real person. In all fairness they dealt with my query promptly, but it took some perseverance on my part. The thing that really annoyed me was they gave the impression that they didn’t want to speak to me because the first thing I heard as I entered the automated system was:
“You can find answers to your questions on our website…”
If I could find the answer to my question on the website I wouldn’t need to ring!
This was supposed to be a company that welcomed queries and were ready to help in any way they could – as it turned out, that relied on the customer’s ability to navigate their way through a (seemingly) never ending list of menus in order to speak with a real person.
Customer service is for life not just for Christmas
People are always talking about how good service is a thing of the past.
These days when you’re in a shop, the staff are more interested in discussing what happened to Tracey and Dave the night before than serving customers. And, worse than ignoring you, they serve you while still discussing the latest gossip breaking off momentarily to take your money.
Customer service is vital which is why you must be able to carry out all the promises you make on your website.
Many companies still fail to see their website as being their business. It isn’t a separate entity, and it’s quite often the first impression customers will gain of your business. If you say you answer all calls within 5 rings, do it. If you say you reply to emails within 2 hours, make sure you do – it sounds so simple but you’d be amazed at how many companies get it spectacularly wrong.
Promises like this are made just to look good. But if you can’t fulfil simple pledges like those, how are you going to convince customers you can fulfil your bigger promises?
So when you are writing content for your website think very carefully about what you promise. Ask yourself if you can really live up to what you’re claiming. You have to be able to fulfil every claim – if you can’t you’re leaving yourself open to a barrage of complaints.
Image is everything. Make sure yours is a good one.
If you are a follower of this blog, you’ll know I have been championing the art of blogging for quite some time now.
