nick usborne's blog

A total upgrade for my primary business website, nickusborne.com.

nickusborne.com has been up for almost ten years now, and this is the third major re-design.

But this is the first time I have departed entirely from the original purpose of the site – which was to promote my services as an online copywriter, consultant and speaker.

A great deal has changed over the last decade, including my basic business model and my longer-term goals.

If you have a moment, take a peek at the new site and let me know what you think. It’s still a work in progress, and I have a lot of articles to add over the next little while.

Also, if you are a freelancer, or have any kind of business website of your own, you might want to pause and think about whether your own website is due for an update.

Here are three reasons your website might need attention:

1. If the goals for your business have changed significantly.

2. If the focus of your products or services has changed significantly.

3. If the look and feel of your website has become “old”. Yes, website design goes through fashion cycles. Also, the availability of larger monitors has driven a shift away from narrow websites.

Nothing stands still online, and you need to make sure your website is still supporting your strategy, and pointing clearly in the direction of your goal.

Check it out...nickusborne.com

Further confirmation that you should seriously upgrade your online copywriting skills.

Numerous studies and surveys this year have shown that marketing budgets are moving away from print, radio and broadcast – and into online media.

In an article published by MediaPost this morning, the figures reported are confirming the same trend.

Here is a portion of that article:

“A regional survey of 8,500 senior advertising, marketing and media executives by Round2 Communications found that 72% predict they will increase their spending on digital media in the coming year. Justifying this apportionment, 33.9% said ROI for new media is "somewhat" better than traditional, and 28.2% said new media's ROI is "significantly" better.

Along with the good news for digital media, the survey (which focused on executives from companies headquartered in the Western U.S.) delivered some bad news for traditional: 86% of the respondents say they expect their spending on traditional media -- including broadcast TV and radio and print newspapers and magazines -- to remain even (45.7%) or decline (40.3%) in 2010.”

If you are a freelance writer or copywriter, you need to take notice of these figures. You can’t expect offline media alone to support the growth of your business over the next few years.

Sure, there will always be a demand for print and broadcast copywriters. But the demand is shrinking fast, and the competition will heat up.

If you haven’t done so already, you need to develop your online copywriting skills. And I don’t just mean you should learn about writing single page sales letters online. The real demand right now is for skilled copywriters who understand the full complexity of online media and can write any kind of web page, in addition to email and e-newsletters.

The faster that marketing budgets move online, the greater the opportunity for freelancers who can offer a full range of online copywriting skills.

As far as I know, my online copywriting course is currently the only course of its kind, providing professional-grade instruction on all aspects of writing and copywriting for the web.

Learn more about my course, Copywriting 2.0...

I'll help you start your own money-making website.

For a few years now I have been writing hobby websites as a way to create some separate and passive streams of income.

Actually, I plan to retire once the income from these money-making sites reaches a strong and consistent level. I’m about half way to achieving that goal.

For me, this is my favourite source of income. It doesn’t matter if I take a few weeks off, the money keeps flowing.

A while back I wrote a program to share what I have learned. It’s called How to Write Your Own Money-Making Websites.

Plenty of people have bought the program, and many of them are now making money from their own websites,

BUT...

There are a lot of other people who would really like to do what I have done, but haven’t got started.

Maybe they think they don’t know enough about a topic to write a quality website. Or they just don’t feel they are “expert” enough. Or they feel intimidated by the whole idea of creating and promoting a website.

Or maybe they just need a reason to get started.

Regardless of the reason, I want to help those people get over the hump.

So...starting in January 2010 I’ll be working with a group of people, and we’ll all be starting a new website of our own, all at the same time.

The way I figure it, if we get started as a group, and keep in touch through teleseminars and a forum, we’ll all have the support and encouragement we need to move forward.

How can you become part of this group?

1. If you already have a copy of the program.

2. If you purchase a copy before December 16th, 2009.

If you like the idea of having your own money-making website, think you could use a little nudge to get started, and have yet to choose any other New Year’s resolution, learn more about my plan here.

A much more direct statement from Accenture: "Given the circumstances of the last two weeks ... the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising."

There are times when I feel embarrassed to be a commercial writer.

Predictably, Tiger Woods’ sponsors are feeling nervous. And they are spinning the truth like crazy.

Here is a statement from Gillette:

"As Tiger takes a break from the public eye, we will support his desire for privacy by limiting his role in our marketing programs."

I wonder who came up with that one.

More honestly, they might have said something like:

“When Tiger Woods behaves badly, it makes us look bad too. To protect our own image we will be removing any mention of him from our marketing communications.”

Why couldn’t they have said that? Why do they have to spin everything? What’s wrong with telling the truth about a tough situation?

Companies and politicians pay big money to create a positive spin on a negative message. And there are writers out there who make a good living by crafting these ridiculous distortions of the truth.

Is it any wonder we don’t trust what companies, celebrities and politicians say to us?

If only they understood the damage they do to the relationships they have with their customers, fans and constituents.

One of these days a celebrity or politician will have the courage to tell the plain truth. They will show their spin doctors the door and tap into the power of communicating with integrity and honesty.

Content modeling – one more reason why your weekend website can beat the big guys.

People ask me whether it is really possible for someone at home to beat big media in the search engine results.

Yes, it is. Your own part-time website can beat a big company website for all kinds of reasons.

Here is one of them:

Writers in big organizations have their hands tied behind their backs. They can’t just sit down and write in a way that comes naturally. They have to please their bosses, follow an in-house style guide and fit their words within the confines of a rigid content management system.

They also have to deal with a weird, but growing profession – content strategists.

Content strategists have their own wonderful language, including terms like content modeling, content engineering, information science and information management.

Imagine the poor writer trying to craft a page of content that delivers exactly what a reader wants and expects.

Sadly, the writer can barely spare a thought for the reader. He or she is too busy trying to please and accommodate a dizzying variety of “stakeholders” within the company.

This puts these big companies and big websites at a huge disadvantage when it comes to pleasing their readers.

You, however, do not have to deal with these barriers. You can write directly to the needs and wishes of your readers.

This is why websites written by regular people -- experts next door -- can so often outperform their larger competitors in the search engine results. Google knows good content when it sees it, and rewards you accordingly.

Better still, readers also know good content when they see it. And if they like what they read on your website, they will return, and they’ll tell their friends about you.

The ascendance of the expert next door is a key part of the message in my book, New Path to Riches.