excess voice: nick usborne's blog

Monday Copywriting Tip #65: Keywords are not a Short-Term Fix

From time to time I receive emails from people asking me how to identify the best keywords to get their sites a higher listing on the major search engines.

Here, more or less, is what I say:

It’s a good thing to know the best keywords for your home page and the other pages of your site. But changing keywords, or adding a new page with great keywords, is not going to create miracles with regard to your listings.

As with all aspects of SEO work, using the best keywords correctly is part of a long-term strategy.

Yes, make sure that your key pages are well optimized, with keywords that are used frequently by searchers, but are not served well by your competing sites.

Then make sure that your site is very clear, very simple and very intuitive for your readers. This means having a simple site architecture, a clean sitemap and text links that are descriptive and genuinely useful in helping people find the pages they are looking for.

Use your page headlines to clearly describe which topic is being addressed on that page. Try to keep each page focused on just a single topic.

While you do all this – the creation of simple, intuitive pathways through your site for you readers – you will naturally be optimizing your site for the search engines at the same time. Your best keywords will find a natural place in links, headlines and subheads.

Put the needs of your readers first, then make sure you have got the basics right with regard to the keywords.

When your whole site undergoes this kind of user-centric SEO upgrade, then you have to wait. Google and others time their time when it comes to raising your listings.

Be patient. If it’s speed you want, for whatever reason, you’ll need to invest in some pay-per-click advertising. Getting it right with organic search takes time.

More web copywriting tips...

Where Copywriters work when working at home

In the last issue of the Excess Voice newsletter I asked everyone to say a few words about how they had their workspace set up for working from home.

A lot of people replied, and I was fascinated by the variety in the responses. Some people have a formal home office, others float around with their laptops. Some work in the kitchen, others like to go to their favourite coffee shop.

I have listed most of the responses on a new page.

See where freelance copywriters work while at home...

Sales tips for those who don't like to sell

Most freelance copywriters I know are not great salespeople. They love to write, but shudder at the thought of picking up the phone and pitching their services. Help is at hand, with a new article by Peter Bowerman, author of the Well Fed Writer.

8 Sales Tips for Non-Salespeople

Monday Copywriting Tip #64: Write Intro Copy at the Beginning of Your Emails

In direct mail it’s called a Johnson Box, and it looks like this:

********************************************
Sign Up for Widgety News Today and
we’ll send you 3 FREE Widgety DVDs
********************************************

The format doesn’t matter, but the purpose does.

And here’s the purpose: Let people know what the core message and offer is within the first two seconds.

Why? Because more and more people are reading their email in a hurry. Emails which are not filtered or deleted are scanned.

If your subject line is good enough and your email is opened, the reader will then scan the first screen of the email and make a quick decision as to whether or not to keep reading.

If your core message and promise is hidden half way down the first screen, it will likely be missed.

So bring the “meat” of your offer to the top of the screen.

That’s where the Johnson box comes in. It goes at the top, above the salutation. The example above is very short, with a fictitious offer. They can be a little longer than that if need be.

Here are the ingredients you want to include:

1. Identification of a problem that needs solving
2. Presentation of a solution
3. Make an offer

Here’s an example:

**************************************************
Dry skin in Winter? WidgeyCream banishes
dry skin with just one application a day.
Buy one tube and get a second one FREE!
**************************************************
That’s not the finest copy every written, but you get the idea.

Remember, the purpose is to get the reader engaged by presenting the key elements of your email message within a couple of seconds, right at the top of the email.

More online copywriting tips...

E-Newsletters for Small Business Marketing

I just completed a review of Michael Katz’s Do-It-Yourself E-Newsletter System.

It’s a big, fat program, comprising a binder, a bound “best of” collection and two CDs. Aimed at sole proprietors and small business, it is a step-by-step guide to writing, formatting, delivering and managing a great e-newsletter.

The whole point being...if you publish a quality newsletter, that is all the self-promotion you’ll ever need to do.

And he’s right. I have always used my own newsletters to promote my services, and never had to spend a penny on any other kind of promotion.

Read my review of Michael Katz’s Do-It-Yourself E-Newsletter System

Business Jargon Fun

In the last issue of the Excess Voice newsletter I invited everyone to send in lines for my “Business Jargon Protest Mugs”.

The response was amazing.

Here’s my all-time favorite, from Marli Murphy:

“Shift my paradigm before I’ve had my morning coffee and I’ll core your competencies.”

You’ll find the full list of business jargon lines here.

Monday Copywriting Tip #63: How to Write a Multi-Page Pathway

There are places on your site where the task you want your users to complete may extend through a number of pages.

Maybe you are making a sale, pitching a free trial, offering a subscription.

If you can start and complete the whole process on a single page, so much the better. But in many cases people need to make selections from multiple product and service choices, then be taken to specific offer pages...and finally on to the final submission or payment pages.

When constructing these pathways, here are a few tips to consider:

- If you must use more than one page, try to reduce the number of pages by as much as possible. Two is better than three. Three is better than four. The more pages you have, the greater the number of people who will abandon the process along the way.

- Keep each page simple. Ask only for the information that is essential for your prospect to complete the task in hand. You can collect other information later on.

- Design each page so that it is clean and uncomplicated. Make the ‘action” buttons stand out clearly.

- Write copy that is short, clear and active. People hate to read “instructions”. They just want clear directions to help them speed through the process.

Use short, relevant, active, positive verbs and words to generate momentum.

If you find yourself having to write long, explanatory copy in order to help people through the process, it’s time to step back and redesign the entire pathway.

You need a sales pathway that is simple, clear, intuitive and “barrier-free”.

More Web Copywriting Tips here...

Think Twice Before You Upset Your Customers

A few thoughtless words can do tremendous damage to the relationship you have with your customers.

This morning I wanted to upload a newsletter to my newsletter delivery service provider. I went to the usual URL, encountered an error at their end, and here's part of what they said to me:

>> The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, admin@the.guilty.party.net and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. <<

Oh, sure. I caused the error on your server.

What a foolish, ill-considered thing to say.

Damage done.

Monday Copywriting Tip #62: How to Format Long Copy on Web Pages

Here’s a simple starting point: make it as easy as possible for your readers to scan, understand and read your text.

Perhaps the simplest choice you can make is to keep longer copy or content to a single column. In other words, keep the copy sequential in a single, vertical copy. This may sound obvious, but on many sites the core information a reader wants to find is spread across two or more columns. This just makes life harder for the reader. Keep it simple.

Next, make sure you keep your column width reasonably narrow. The wider the column width, the harder it is for the human eye to track from the end of one line to the beginning of the next.

Make sure you use plenty of subheads. This is important for visitors who want to scan a page before committing to reading it. Subheads give them an outline of what you are talking about. Your subheads should guide the reader through the key points of your “story”, and should also convey strong benefits.

Indent key elements in the copy. This helps add emphasis where it is needed, and break up what might otherwise seem to be a scary block of text. The longer your copy on a page, the more important it is to use subheads and indents. The last thing you want to convey is that your copy is going to be hard work to read.

Basically, however long the copy is, you want to convey, visually, that it’s going to be an easy, effortless read. If the page looks like “hard work”, a lot of visitors won’t even bother to read the first paragraph.

Formatting is essential to increasing the performance of long copy pages.

More web copywriting tips...

Three Things You Should Achieve with a Thank You Email

I have addressed this issue a few times over the years. But it's worth saying again -- pay more attention to your acknowledgement and thank-you emails!

Here's my latest article on the subject of writing great thank-you emails...