Entries Tagged 'online marketing' ↓

Marketing your business involves a lot of writing.

Whether you do this in-house, or by hiring in the expertise of a copywriter, you’ll need one very important thing – lots of ideas for content.

Ideas can come from anywhere at any time, so here are a couple of tips to make sure your ideas keep flowing.

1. Paper and pen

Because you never know when inspiration will strike, make sure you have a pen and paper with you at all times (or a digital voice recorder).

During your working day, ideas will come at you from all directions:

• Comments from customers
• An article you’ve read
• A news item
• Mail shots
• Emails…

So when an idea strikes, write it down. It could be the start of a blog post, article or newsletter item.

Customer feedback is particularly important. If you’re scratching around for an idea for your next blog post, or newsletter, where better to look for inspiration than your customers?  If they contact you with a question, you could create a ‘how to’ or ‘top tips’ article based around their enquiry.

By keeping a record of ideas like this, you’ll never be scratching around for inspiration.

2. Swipe file

One word of warning – a swipe file doesn’t mean you are free to plagiarise other people’s work.

Every day you are subjected to hundreds of sales messages. You probably subscribe to several newsletters, receive loads of direct mail and read magazine and newspaper articles. Some of which you’ll read and some you’ll ignore.

But with the ones you read, think about what it was that made you take notice of them:

• What was in the headline that made you read on?
• How was it written?
• What type of information did it contain?
• What tone was used?

In other words, what was it that captured your attention? Once you discover that, you can reproduce that effect in your own marketing materials.

What it comes down to is this – online marketing is a continual process. We’re talking about newsletters, emails, web copy, blogs and articles – all things that have to be done regularly to keep your business in your customers’ line of sight.

By regularly jotting down notes, you’ll never be short of ideas for your online marketing.

In the wonderful world of website marketing, there are a number of things you must have if you are to leave your readers fulfilled rather than frustrated.

As an avid online shopper and researcher, I’ve come across a number of websites over the years that have simply left me cold.

There’s nothing worse than landing on a site and having no idea what to do next; or finding a site that makes you go round and round in circles just to find the simplest of information.

So, I decided it was time to form a list of website must-haves. 

Below are 5 things that your website must have, but I am sure you can come up with many more, so please leave a comment below with your list of website must-haves.

Website Must-haves

1. Photo

Whether you’re a freelancer, sole trader, partnership or larger company, make sure you get some photos of you and your team on your website.

People like to know who they are dealing with, especially as they will be (more than likely) doing business with you remotely. It helps to add a personal touch and makes your company appear more approachable and accountable.

2. Contact details

The FAQ page on a website is very useful, but it shouldn’t replace the contact page.

It is so frustrating to click on a ‘contact us’ link only to be taken to a forum or FAQ page. Don’t make your readers jump through hoops just to get in touch with you. Make sure your phone number, email and postal address are plainly visible.

If you use a contact form, make sure you have staff monitoring the incoming enquiries. I’ve lost count of the number of companies I’ve wanted to contact, filled out the form and never heard from.

3. Benefits

If there’s one thing your readers want to know, it’s what are you going to do for them.

They don’t really care about you or your company; they just want to know that you can solve the problem they have.

Your website copy should be firmly focused on your reader, their needs and the solutions you can offer.

4. Clear navigation

 There’s nothing worse than being on a website and having no idea where to go next.

Make sure your navigation is very clear and that your users can move between pages easily.

5. Call to action

If your web pages don’t include a call to action, your reader will simply wander off and look at a competitor’s site that does tell them to ‘buy now’, ‘call now’ or ‘sign up now’.

You might think that any intelligent person would know that you want them to get in touch, but if you don’t spell it out, it’s unlikely to happen.

Over to you

So they are my 5 website must-haves – what are yours?

Let’s see how many we can come up – leave a comment below listing your top 5 must-haves.

Let’s clear one thing up straight away, yes, I am a copywriter and of course I’m going to say you need someone like me to write your website copy for you.

But, as you read on, I hope you’ll begin to understand exactly why it’s essential you use a website copywriter to get the most out of your online marketing strategy.

OK, so you’ve just spent a small fortune on your website’s design. It looks really cool, but it’s full of Lorem Ipsum so you now have to start thinking about content. Your web designer is champing at the bit to push your site live, but you’re dragging your feet because you have no idea what to write.

That’s when the suggestion is made…”why don’t you hire a professional copywriter to create your text for you?”

So, to explore the possibility you start getting quotes and then nearly fall of your chair when they start talking in the thousands of pounds (by the way, this fictional website is quite big).

Finally, you decide the only thing for it is to go it alone and get one of your office juniors to write it for you. The problem is they have no experience in writing for the web.

When your website is finally published, absolutely nothing happens – next to no traffic, no leads, nada, zero, zilch.

Why you need a website copywriter

Once you’ve paid for your new website, why let it go to waste by filling it with sub-standard copy?

Good copywriting doesn’t come cheap, but because you will be paying for a professional writer’s experience and expertise, it will be worth it.

You will save yourself a lot of time and a lot of frustration because the copy will actually work.

Why?

Simply because a copywriter will be able to produce copy that is:

• Written from a unique perspective (i.e. they can distance themselves from your company and put themselves in your customers’ shoes to make sure it offers the information they want to know)
• Written for your customers
• Benefits driven rather than all about your achievements as a company
• Visible to the search engines
• Compelling and persuades the reader to take action
• Designed to sell not inform
• Professional and reflective of your business and your brand
• Simple and unambiguous

Above all, it will provide you with a great return on investment because it will draw targeted traffic to your website and convert those visitors into sales.

If you’re expecting to pay a few pounds per page, forget it.

Good copywriters have been honing their craft for years. They know what works and what doesn’t work. They understand how search works and how to get the most from a page of copy. They have invested a lot in the knowledge they possess.

If you want to portray an image of professionalism online make sure you hire the best people – designers, photographers and copywriters.

It’s your image at stake – think about it.

One of the main barriers preventing businesses from getting stuck into social media is that they don’t believe you can actually sell using it.

Other than the time issue, many people don’t utilise social media because… ‘Why do I want to know what someone had for lunch?’ Yes, people do talk about sandwich preference, but that is all part of building relationships and allowing people to get to know you.

And those that do dabble give up after just a week or two because they aren’t seeing results. Well, first off it takes time for your social media activities to bear fruit. And, if you’re just using Twitter or Facebook to bombard people with lame sales messages, you’re not going to have any success because you’re just turning people off you and your business in their droves.

You see, although it is possible to sell just about anything through social media, it’s not somewhere people hang out who are looking to buy a particular product. They are there to see what people are saying, or looking for information to a particular problem they have, or an expert to give them a helping hand.

How to get results

As more and more people become ‘comfortable’ with social media, they are increasingly turning to it to find out information. And that’s where you come in.

So, if you are going to make the most of this golden opportunity to reach out to a whole new marketplace, you need to have a strategy in place.

1. Test

The only way you are going to find the right approach is by testing.

Which method produces the most engagement?

Once you’ve discovered what works for you, stick to it, but continue to monitor your results.

2. Target

If you want to use social media you have to ensure you are targeting the right people. Use keywords within your tweets and updates and hash tags.

So, make sure you know who your audience is and what’s important to them.

3. Trust

People will only buy from you once they trust you.

How do you get them to trust you?

Giving away great information, engaging with them and making your content easy to share will help to build trust.

4. Engage

Social media isn’t a one way street. If you want people to like you and trust you, you have to engage with them. Ask them questions, post a poll on your Facebook page, do a question and answer session and ask for feedback.

All of these activities will make you more accessible to them. And if you’re accessible, you’ll be seen as approachable – a business they would want to buy from.

5. Call to action

Of course, once you have their trust and engagement you have to ask them to do something – don’t assume they will automatically buy.

Direct them to your website, make them aware of your offers, or ask them to sign up for your newsletter. Whatever it is, make sure it’s clear.

So, can you really sell anything through social media?

Yes, you can if you get your approach right.

Over to you

What successes have you had with social media?

As a copywriter I’ve gained several new clients through Twitter – leave a comment below and share your experiences.

You know how great social media is as a way of promoting your business and building relationships.

You also know that it’s imperative these days for your business to have a website

But how good are you at marrying the two together?

The power of two

In today’s online marketplace, it is essential make the most of your exposure. It’s not enough just to have a website, a Facebook page, blog or Twitter account.  Now you must ensure you’re making the most of all your online efforts by making them work together.

The seamless integration of all your online and social media outlets will maximise your promotion potential, impressions and sales.

So how can you make that happen?

Socialmediaexaminer.com has produced an excellent post that gives you the low down on how to ensure your business website and social media platforms are working together to maximise their online exposure.

Grab a coffee and take a few minutes out of your day to check it out and refer back to what you’re doing at the moment.

Make 2012 the year you integrate all your online activities to give your online presence a real boost.

9 Tips for Integrating Social Media on Your Website