Entries from October 2011 ↓

You’ve finally done it.

It was a job that remained on your to-do list for months, but finally, you’ve completed your new website copy or brochure content.

Your copy is error free (well, as far you can see), reads superbly and most importantly, can now be crossed off your to-do list.

Once it’s been uploaded or your shiny brochures have been received back from the printers (smelling divine), you sit back and wait for your phone to start ringing and the deluge of emails to pour into your inbox.

Strange, nothing’s happening…

Dogs can teach you a lot about copywriting

These lovable rogues are my dogs – Jerry and Scooby.

As all dog owners will understand, they love to test my patience every time we go for a walk.

Jerry (the Springer Spaniel) is 11 now and slightly hard of hearing. Therefore, the commands he obeys are the ones he hears – and that’s not many.

Scooby (the Chocolate Labrador) on the other hand is only 5. He can hear and see me perfectly well, but that doesn’t mean he’ll always do as he’s told.

You see, Scooby has a condition known as ‘Intelligent Disobedience’. In other words, he’ll only do what I want him to do if there’s something in it for him.

The fields around us are littered with rather unpleasant dead rabbits (myxomatosis seems to be rife this year). There is nothing Scooby loves more than to find these rabbits and either play or attempt to eat them (dogs will be dogs).

If I tell him ‘no’ in a stern tone, his thought process goes something like this:

Hmmm, she wants me to put this rabbit down. But I found it so it’s mine. She’s not going to run across this ploughed field after me so, no, I’m not going to put it down.

A prime example of his Intelligent Disobedience – he’s thought about the command, decided there’s nothing it for him and therefore chooses to ignore me.

However, if I shout ‘no’ as I place my hand in my jacket pocket – the one he knows contains his favourite doggy treats – this is more likely to be his response:

I don’t want to put my rabbit down. Hang on, her hand’s in her pocket…hmmm, do I want a smelly rabbit or one of those delicious treats she buys me. No contest, goodbye rabbit – I’m coming mum!!

This time, even though Scooby didn’t really want to put his rabbit down he knew that if he did he would be rewarded with his favourite treat.

What on earth does this have to do with copywriting?

You are probably beginning to think I’ve finally lost it.

Bear with me, all will become clear.

Let’s go back to the copy we talked about at the start of this blog. Something’s wrong because it’s not converting readers into customers. Your readers are displaying their Intelligent Disobedience.

The most likely cause is that you haven’t written it for your reader. Everything you write must be aimed at your customers. It has to tell them what they want to know, not what you think they ought to know.

In a nutshell that means writing about the benefits of your product or service.

For example, if you were writing about a sofa and told your reader it comes in 6 colours, seats 3 people and has wooden casters, the most likely reaction would be ‘so what?’ That could relate to any sofa, you haven’t given them any good reasons to buy yours, therefore they have made the decision not to buy.

But if you told them:

• It’s made of hand stitched fine Italian leather
• It’s the latest design, so this is your chance to be the first to own such a luxurious piece of furniture
• It will transform any room, creating an air of chic luxury
• The same sofa is currently gracing no less than 3 movie star homes

Your reader is more likely to think ‘yes, I must have that sofa!’

Why?

Well, the first scenario simply tells them what the sofa is and doesn’t offer them anything in return for their investment.

Yes, I know, they will get the sofa – but’s that all.

In the second scenario, you are not only selling a sofa, you’re also selling a life style. Basically, it’s telling your reader that not only will they get the sofa, they’ll also own the latest design, a piece of furniture that will create an air of luxurious chic in their home, in fact a movie star life style!

An extreme example I grant you, but it serves as an illustration of how selling the benefits of your product will make your reader decided to buy.

Over to you

If you want to avoid Intelligent Disobedience in your customers, always make sure your copy sells the benefits of your products or services.

That means concentrating on what your product/service will do for your customer. Whether it’s aesthetic like the above example or more tangible (i.e. saving them money etc.), your customers will want to know what’s in it for them if they buy from you.

How do you sell the benefits of your product/service? Have you come up with any innovative techniques that really work? If so, leave a comment below and share them with us.

The good news is that loads of businesses understand the importance of content generation. Whether it’s through blogging or article marketing, they appreciate that constantly producing great content boosts their online presence.

Yay!

The bad news is that unless people can find it, it won’t get read and won’t generate the constant stream of traffic to your website that you were hoping for.

Boo.

How do you make sure people can find your stuff?

There are several things you can do to make sure your hard work isn’t wasted.

1. Research

Before you start writing anything, take a good look at your target audience. What is it that they want? What interests them? What issues do they have that they might want help with?

Only when you can answer those questions can you be sure you’re writing focused, informative articles that they’ll want to read.

2. Call to action

If they do happen to find your articles and posts, but you fail to ask them to do anything once they’ve read it, they’ll just go away again.

The whole point of generating content is to drive people to your website, so make sure you tell them to visit your site, or place relevant links within your article to take them to the page on your site that holds all the answers to their questions.

3. Forget the search engines

OK, don’t write them off completely, but make sure you write for your reader. Make sure your information is interesting, well written in simple language (no jargon) and easy to read.

It is your readers who will (hopefully) be buying from you, not the search engines.

4. Keywords

Yes, I know I just said don’t write primarily for the search engines, but you still need to get your keywords in your headings and body copy if you want to be found. But that doesn’t mean stuffing it with keywords.

Keep your writing natural – the keywords will drop in automatically without you even realising it.

5. Social media

Make sure you promote your writing. Send out links through Twitter and Facebook, but make sure you add value and engage rather than just blatantly self-promote.

Social media sites (such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) are a great way to spread the word and to get your article. Plus, promoting them will encourage people to share your content with others.

Over to you

Do you content market? What has your experience been? Leave a comment below and share your tips too.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter, blogger and social media addict

Briar Copywriting – T:@sallyormond – F: www.facebook.com/freelancecopywriting

Landing pages are a great way of creating a web page that is totally focused on one thing – buying, signing up for a newsletter, or collecting email addresses in return for free reports.

The key word in the paragraph above is focus – so the content of your landing page will be dependent on what you’re trying to achieve.

So, as an example we’ll look at…

Landing pages for freebies

Offering free reports or white papers is a great way to build your marketing list.

If you want to capture email addresses, you have to give people something (of value) in return. Information is the cheapest option and, let’s face it, people love to get free advice.

So, how do you make sure your landing page remains focused on its task – getting people to enter their email address in a capture box in return for your report/white paper?

1. Above the fold

I’m sure you’ve heard that phrase before. Above the fold basically means keeping all your important information in your readers’ immediate eye line.

After landing on your page, they are unlikely to want to start reading reams of text, scrolling down until they find out what they need to know.

Therefore, it is important all the vital information is above the fold, including your opt-in (data capture) box.

2. Don’t confuse

Your landing page has one reason for existing, and that’s to grab hold of your readers’ email address. If you add unnecessary navigation and links to your page, you run the risk of them wandering off before they’ve signed up for your report.

All you need is a single page, without links, directing them to enter their email address into a box. That’s it, nothing else.

3. Benefits

Simply adding the title of your report/white paper next to your sign up box isn’t going to convince anyone to enter their email address.

Add some short, benefits-led copy above the fold. List the benefits in a bulleted list to show them, quickly, why they should sign up.

4. Quick!

If you give your reader time to think, they’ll probably wander off without signing up. Tell them the offer is limited to a certain time period. If they don’t sign up straight away they’ll miss out on this vital information.

5. Make it scanable

People don’t have time to read every word you write, so use white space, bulleted lists and sub headings to make it is easy for them to find the information they want. A graphic pointing the way to the sign up box is also a great idea.

Landing pages are great if they remain focused on the task in hand. Giving your readers too much choice is like showing them the door. Tell them what you want and make it easy for them to comply, without distraction.

Over to you

Do you use landing pages in your marketing? If so, leave a comment below and tell us your experiences and what you’ve found works.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter, blogger and social media addict

Briar Copywriting

T:@sallyormond

F: www.facebook.com/freelancecopywriting