Freelance Copywriting, marketing and social media tips

This is something I’ve been harping on about for years.

Writing – in every form, but especially copywriting – should always be written in its simplest form.

The assumption that big, complex words make you appear more intelligent and wise is false. They have the opposite effect and here’s academic proof.

The study, written by Daniel Oppenheimer (a psychologist at Princeton), took a handful of writing samples and used a thesaurus to replace each noun, verb and adjective with the longest synonym he could find. Then these highly complex versions were given to 71 Stanford undergraduates to evaluate the writing samples

Although in an academic setting, this kind of “writing by thesaurus” is rife in the business world where writers believe it makes them sound knowledgeable and important in the false belief that using simple language will make them sound lightweight or unimportant.

It’s a constant battle I have with some clients. They insist on using dreadful managerial speak, talking about incentivising, touching base, holistic cradle-to-grave approaches, core competencies and blue-sky thinking.

No, no, no.

Your readers want straightforward English that simply tells it as it is, a view backed up by Oppenheimer’s study^*.

His experiments showed that people rated the intelligence of authors who wrote essays in simpler language, using an easy to read font, as higher than those who authored more complex works.

“It’s important to point out that this research is not about problems with using long words but about using long words needlessly,” said study author Daniel Oppenheimer.

“Anything that makes a text hard to read and understand, such as unnecessarily long words or complicated fonts, will lower readers’ evaluations of the text and its author.”

So please, when working with your copywriter, listen to what they are telling you and trust their judgement. They make their living writing and so understand what it takes to create something your customers will want to read and act on.

As Oppenheimer sums up: “One thing seems certain: write as simply and plainly as possible and it’s more likely you’ll be thought of as intelligent.”

Author: Sally Ormond.

^*Follow this link for Oppenheimer’s full study: Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly.

One strategy?

Surely they’re three different disciplines, aren’t they?

If you believe that, you may be experiencing issues with all three.

Taking content marketing first, how did you get started with that? I’m guessing it was a blog.

When you started out online, everyone and their dog were telling you that you had to have a blog. So, never one to turn down advice, you set one up and started churning out articles.

Probably, after a month or so of regular posting, you found your ideas drying up. Not only that, but you realised no one was really engaging with you. Perhaps one or two comments were posted and one or two people shared the odd post, but there certainly wasn’t the flood you’d expected. Demoralised, you gave up.

Sound familiar?

The mistake you made was viewing your content marketing, social and SEO strategies as three separate entities. They’re not. They must all work together if they are to survive.

Three cornered marketing

Have you noticed that old school SEO is no longer effective? Gone are the days when SEO companies could achieve fantastic rankings by building a few links here and there. Today, SEO is content driven. It’s all about feeding Google the high quality content it craves.

In the same way, your social media strategy is nothing without great content. If you don’t have anything to share people aren’t going to follow or engage with you.

Planning your content

With high quality content being the driving force behind your marketing strategy, it’s essential you plan what you’re writing carefully.

As with your web copy, brochures and other marketing materials it’s important you understand the audience you are reaching out to and, most importantly, what problem they want solving.

Only then can you be sure your content will resonate with them and lead to the sharing, engagement and traffic generation you want.

Of course, there are millions of blog posts published every day, so yours has to stand out.

A great way to make sure yours is head and shoulders above everyone else’s is to search the keywords you want to write about and see what your competitors are saying about the subject. Then all you have to do is write something that’s better than theirs.

But I’m not just talking about churning out a flurry of 500 word articles. You must produce linkable assets; content that people will see as authoritative work, that they’ll share and talk about.

A great way to do this is to create something longer than the average post that also cites other relevant work within your niche. Not only will this enhance your readers’ experience, it will also boost its chances of being shared.

How?

Well, take a note of all the experts and external material you’ve cited and email them (or contact via social media) to tell they you’ve included them in your piece, asking them to share it with their audiences.

Once published you’ve also got to do some promotion. Share it with your social audience through all the channels you use. Plus, if you’re part of any forums or groups (such as LinkedIn groups), push it out to them too.

It’s not enough just to write something, publish it and hope for the best. Your three-pronged content marketing strategy is something that must be worked at. If you want people to read what you’re putting out make sure it’s written well, it’s relevant to your audience and that you’ve done everything you can to encourage people to share it.

Only then will you have a strategy that drives your business forward.

Author: Sally Ormond, Copywriter at Briar Copywriting Ltd.

You know how offers work.

You have to hit the spot if it’s to have any effect.

But how do you make sure you find the right spot and hit it?

It all comes down to understanding your audience.

The following 7 tips will help you work out whom they are and what you need to say to make them want to buy.

7 ways to create an irresistible offer

1. Audience

If you don’t know who your audience is, your offer is dead in the water.

Let’s face it if you’re trying to sell acne cream, you’re going to have more luck with hormonal teenagers who are desperate to find a wonder product that will leave their skin blemish free, than if you were addressing senior citizens.

Understanding your audience, the problems they have and what it is they really want is essential when formulating your offer.

2. Value

The next thing to think about is the perceived value of your offer.

To make it irresistible it must be greater than the cost of the item. That’s why offers from companies like Groupon work so well. Who’s going to turn down a spa break that’s 80% off the normal price?

3. I want one!

Have you noticed that when the latest games console, iPhone, or designer outfit is launched there’s a sudden buying frenzy?

The reason behind that is twofold. Initially, you have the ‘I must be the first to own it’ crowd who rush out and queue up at an ungodly hour just to be one of the first to have it. Then, as all your friends who fall into that category use the item and tell everyone how great it is, you don’t want to be left out. After all, if all those people bought it, it must be good – right?

This is one of the strongest buying motivators – if hundreds, thousands or even millions of people have bought the product, the perception is that it must be good resulting in even more people buying it.

4. Take away their pain

Most of the time, people are looking for a solution to a problem.

But more than that, they also want to experience pleasure in its place. So not only does your offer have to take away the pain they are feeling, it also has to make their life better.

Holidays, as an example, just offer pleasure. But an offer for balding men to help them regain their lost lustrous locks and so become more attractive to women not only solves their problem (hair loss), it also comes with added benefits (extra female attention).

5. Keep in simple

The one thing you don’t want to do is make your offer so complicated it puts people off.

Stick with the good old ‘2 for 1’ or ‘become an expert at the Waltz in a week’ – something that is easy to understand.

6. Guarantee

Your offer is nothing without a great guarantee.

Money is tight, so people will be more inclined to buy your product if they know they are covered should it turn out not to be what they wanted. Plus, it will help build trust. After all, if you’re happy to give a no quibble money back guarantee you must have confidence in your product.

7. Incentives

The buying public are a canny bunch and might need a bit more persuasion to part with their hard earned cash.

That’s where incentives come in. There are 2 main types:

• Exclusivity – only a certain class can afford it
• Scarcity – stock is limited in number, or the offer is only available for a certain time period

Both of these have the effect of dangling a carrot in front of your audience, giving them the final nudge they need to buy.

Coming up with a winning offer takes a lot of thought and research and key is how well you understand your audience.

Author – Sally Ormond, copywriter, mum, cyclist, chief dog walker and cook.

You hear it all the time: if you want to sell you have to engage with your customers; your content must engage your customers; or your blogs must be engaging.

OK, I get it. My writing must be engaging, but what exactly does that mean?

Well there are 2 types of content: that which asks the reader to take an action (sign up, buy now, click on a link); and the type that encourages interaction, comments and social sharing.

That second type of content is the engaging one because it starts a conversation.

How to write engaging content

Before you can learn how to write engaging content for your blog, you must first take some time out to understand what it is your audience wants.

After all, if you don’t give them stuff they’re interested in they’re not going to spend time reading it. And if they’re not reading it they won’t comment on it, share it, like it or anything else.

So, if you’ve set up your blog as a thinly veiled cover for lead and sales generation, you’re in trouble because your readers aren’t stupid and they won’t keep coming back to read your content.

Your writing has to give them what they want – that means ideas, great information, tips and hints, in fact anything that will start a conversation and give them something for nothing.

Types of engaging content

Although you can generate a lot of traffic by writing top tens of this and top tips for that, they don’t tend to be the posts that generate the engagement you want.

Having said that it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them, just don’t use them exclusively. You must mix them up with other types of content.

Try writing opinion pieces, but be genuine. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Yes, you might offend some people, but others will be inspired by your honesty and respond to you with their own thoughts. If they do – bingo – a conversation has started.

Believe it or not, people do actually want to know about what you think, especially if you’re seen as an expert in your field. They’ll keep coming back for your opinions and, because you’re being open and honest, they’ll feel your blog is a safe place to air their views too.

The conversations will grow, the sharing will increase and before you know it you’ve got a shed load of engaging content.

So, if you want traffic and just traffic go for top lists and tips. If you want engaging copy that is shared, commented on and keeps bringing people back, write questioning posts and opinion pieces.

Author: Sally Ormond, copywriter at Briar Copywriting, blogger, tweeter and wine lover.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos/Graeme Weatherston

Sprucing up your website doesn’t have to mean a full redesign every few years. There are some less evasive things that can be done to freshen it up and make sure it is performing well.

Just like spring cleaning your house, an annual dusting of your website will make sure it remains responsive, SEO friendly and continues to give your customers what they want.

Here are 9 things you can do to keep your website in tiptop condition.

1. Code

If, like me, you have no idea what all those strange letters, numbers and symbols mean behind the scenes, you may want to get someone in to help you with this one.

Cleaner and more organised code means a faster website that loads in a flash and is easier for the search engines to crawl.

2. Title tags and META descriptions

If you have an SEO strategy, you’re probably already tweaking these on a regular basis.

Your title tag lets the search engines know what your web page is about, so make sure you review this regularly. Likewise with your META description, although not a factor in SEO, it must be relevant and appealing to your customers. If you’re not sure what it is, the META description is the short piece of blurb that comes under your URL in the search results. It’s important that it speaks to the reader, highlights the benefits you offer and contains a call to action. The only issue is you have just 160 characters to play with, so you’ll have to get creative.

3. Alt tags

Yes, more tags. The Alt tags are the ones you find behind the images you use on your website. During your review, make sure every image has a tag, but that doesn’t mean you should be stuffing them with keywords. Every tag should be relevant to the image.

Plus, where you have your logo on your website, make sure it’s Alt tag contains your company name or website.

4. Images

Once you’ve reviewed the coding behind your images it’s time to look at the image itself. Are your photos and graphics still relevant? Are they looking a bit dated? What about the size of them? The file size will have a huge impact on the loading time of your website, so if at all possible compress them to give your users a better, faster experience.

5. Call to action

Take a look at your calls to action.

Are they working?

Are your website visitors being converted into customers? If the answer is no, or you’re looking for a high conversion rate, your call to action is a great place to start.

Did you know that Dell increased sales by $25million just by changing their “Learn more” call to action to “Help me choose”? So if you’re not already doing so, test different calls to action to find the one that works best for you.

6. Navigation

The navigation bar on your website is the map your visitors use to find their way round. Check to make sure it is clear and easy to follow. It’s also a good opportunity to make sure it aligns with your SEO strategy.

7. Compatibility

More and more people are accessing the Internet through their mobile phones, so it’s essential your website is mobile friendly.

8. Refresh

While you’re reviewing all these aspects, why not add in something new. How about an explainer video or infographic? Adding fresh content to your website is a must whether it’s a video, graphic, article, report or series of blogs.

9. Does it work?

One of the main reasons websites fall short of the mark is because they are designed and written by people within the business.

Think about it – you’re business is your baby and you’re going to want to shout about it to everyone. But what are your customers looking for? Certainly not your euphoric ramblings about how great you are.

They want to know what you can do for them, which is why it’s a great idea to get someone from outside your company to read your content, follow your navigation and generally ‘play’ with your site to see if it tells them what they need to know.

This exercise is also a good way to check for broken links.

Creating and publishing your website isn’t a one off activity. It’s vital you revisit your site regularly to make sure it’s keeping up with technology and the needs of your customers.

Bookmark this article and diarise regularly to review your website and keep it in tiptop condition.

Author: Sally Ormond, copywriter at Briar Copywriting Ltd, cyclist and Big Bang Theory fan.