excess voice: nick usborne's blog

I love it when companies online do the work for me.

Until recently I stored and had my digital photos printed through FuturePhoto.com, a service of FutureShop.com.

A few months ago they sent me an email saying they were going to close down the service. No more photo storage and printing.

With most companies, this would have been step one in a painful process of transferring my photos elsewhere.

But the folks at FuturePhoto did things a little differently.

They did a deal with Kodak.ca. A free transfer of my photos.

That sounded like a good thing, not leaving me in the lurch. But I would still have to do the transfer.

Not so. They then told me they would do the transfer automatically. All I had to do was say Yes.

Plus Kodak would give me 100 4x6 prints free.

Nice incentive.

So I clicked the Yes button and anticipated spending a little time on setting up my new account at Kodak.ca.

Didn't have to.

I just clicked one button and was then told my photos were being transferred, my account had the same login and password as my old one at FuturePhoto and that I should remember to claim my 100 free prints.

Do I feel good about the experience? Sure I do.

So how come most websites make me work so hard to get what I want?

Nick Usborne's Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting

I can now tell you about the online copywriting course I have written. Finally, it is ready to ship.

It has been seven years since I wrote my book, Net Words. And in hindsight, writing the book was a lot easier.

This course takes a "how to" approach. So rather than just tell you how I think a web page should be written, I actually go through each web page step by step and write it.  I go through that exercise for a number of different types of web page, and for emails and e-newsletters too.

Interestingly, while I was ready to write my book back in 2001, I haven't been ready to write a complete course until more recently. How come? Because to take a "how to" approach, I needed more test data under my belt.

Writing a book about how I think things SHOULD be done online is one thing. Writing  a "how to" course depends a lot more on knowing what is actually proven to work, based on valid data.

Unlike most online copywriting courses, this one isn't all about writing single-page sales letters. Instead, I focus on the kinds of sites you and I work on every day...10-page sites, 100-page sites, 1,000-page sites and so on. 

In other words, I address the full complexity of writing for the web...writing single pages, page sequences, link text, keywords, a variety of different kinds of email, e-newsletters and more.

The course comprises my complete body of knowledge on the subject of writing for the web. This is the whole ball of wax, presented in a sequence that makes sense from beginning to end.

Should you get a copy?

If you want to know everything I know about writing for the web, I think this course will serve you well.

I have written it in a way that will work for anyone who writes for the web, whether you are a freelancer, entrepreneur, webmaster or part of an in-house online writing team.

My intention was to write the first "professional grade" course for online writers and copywriters.

I think, and hope, I have achieved exactly that.

The course is being published and marketed by American Writers and Artists Inc and is available through the link below. You might find the title a little exotic, but between the covers it's all me.

Find out more about "Nick Usborne's Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting" here...

Some thoughts about enjoying your work as a freelance writer.

Working as a coach to help freelancers develop and grow their businesses raises a wonderful variety of concerns and interests.

Recently, I had to give some thought to the issue of enjoying one's work as a freelancer.

Here's what I concluded:

There are different ways to look at this. There is the "realistic view". This is where a copywriter might say to me, "Sure, I try to stick to work I'll enjoy. But hey, there are bills to be paid, so sometimes I take what's on offer, even if I'm not going to enjoy it much."

I can relate to that view. But the flip side of it is that every aspect of your business improves when you enjoy your work. You will work faster. Your writing will be better. Your expertise will grow faster. Clients will love to work with you, because it will always be a positive experience for them. Word will spread. Etc.

So while bills do need to be paid, I am also very strict in my own business. Here's what I say to myself, "If I save 16 hours not working on this project I won't enjoy, surely I can use that time to find a different project, for a better fee, that I will enjoy."

This approach helps keep me focused and on track.

That said, I know I am very susceptible to being "pulled down" by work I don't enjoy. Project like that really depress me. For copywriters who are not impacted that way, it may not be such an important issue.

Goal Setting Rituals – a new guide for freelance writers and copywriters.

I have been busy. A couple of months back I published Writing Rituals, a guide to help writers and copywriters increase their productivity. And now I have just completed a second guide, Goal Setting Rituals.

The goal setting guide is also written for writers and copywriters, but with particular focus on freelancers.

As a freelancer one either has clear goals, or one simply drifts around hoping some work will come our way. I have noticed this in my coaching work a great deal. The freelancers with clear goals are moving forward with purpose. Those without, float around and just hope they pick up enough work to pay the bills.

More on Goal Setting Rituals here...

When words are deliberately misleading.

I was listening to the radio yesterday and learned something interesting.

Up here in Canada some products carry a label that says, "Product of Canada".

It's nice to know when something is made or produced in Canada, particularly if you are buying fruit or vegetables. I buy Canadian produce because I like the idea of supporting local growers, and I don't like the idea of buying "fresh" fruit that has been flown half way around the world to get here.

So imagine my surprise when I discovered that "Product of Canada" doesn't mean what I thought it meant.

Here's what it actually means:

At least 50% of the PACKAGING for this product was made in Canada.

Now, I know that government at every level has a habit of playing with words and their meaning. But this little gem has to take the prize for misleading people.

50% of the PACKAGING?

Maybe I could try something like:

Nick Usborne – born and bred in the USA!

(Actually, 50% of my clothes were made in the US. Which probably means they came from China.)

The pleasure of unsubscribing.

Over the years I have subscribed to dozens of different e-newsletters. I suppose I am a little impulsive. I find a writer or marketer I think might be interesting, and sign up on the spot.

The problem is, most of them then take my subscribing as a sign that they are free to deluge me with increasingly breathless demands that I not only read what they say, but also click on all their links and buy something.

At this point I sigh and mark them as Junk. I don't mark them as Spam. That wouldn't be fair. I did subscribe after all. But I don't want them filling my inbox.

A few times a week I'll take a peek in my Junk folder and maybe read one or two emails.

I thought I had things made with the Junk folder option. I figured I could still view these emails if and when I wanted, but wouldn't be distracted by their appearance throughout the day.

But I was denying myself a huge pleasure.

Today I opened my Junk folder and unsubscribed from a dozen or more lists.

What a glorious, liberating experience that was. It felt great and I highly recommend it.

Now I won't even be tempted to waste time looking through Junk.

Do you segment your email subscriber lists?

Segmenting your list means you can customize your messages in many ways.

How about those subscribers who always click on the links, but never buy anything? Write them a specific sequence of emails to tip them over into purchasing. Maybe send them a survey and learn a little more about them.

How about the group who clicked on and purchased Product A last year? Maybe they would be a perfect match for Product E which you are about to launch.

List segmentation gives the opportunity to speak with different groups of subscribers with carefully customized messages. It not only makes every email directly relevant to each reader, but also results in much higher conversion rates.

If your email delivery service doesn't enable you to drill down and segment in this way...you might want to consider upgrading to a new service.

What is an urgent pain point?

One of my coaching clients asked me that question this afternoon.

Here's how I replied:

If you haven’t been to the dentist in two years, it’s important that you make an appointment and go. But it’s not urgent.

If you get a blinding toothache, it becomes urgent.

If you weigh too much it’s important that you shed a few pounds. But that’s not urgent. When your doctor tells you your blood pressure is way too high, then it becomes urgent.

When a company knows that its home page isn’t expressing its core value proposition very well, it’s important that they fix it. But not urgent.

When their top salesman calls in and says he lost a major prospect because the prospect read the site, but misunderstood the company’s value proposition...it becomes urgent.

In life and business, nothing becomes urgent until we actually feel the pain or fear.

The dangers of testing copy.

I have a love/hate relationship with testing.

I love being able to do an A/B split test on a headline, block of copy or call to action.

It's great to be able to judge the writing according to actual conversions and sales.

In other words, I'm a big fan of what testing actually delivers.

What I don't like is when test results are poor interpreted.

Let's say I wrote two versions of a headline for a client. And we then tested them.

#1: Sign up NOW and save 37% on the regular subscription rate.

#2: Save 37% on the regular subscription rate when you sign up NOW.

Let's say that #2 outperforms #1 by 15%.

That's a great discovery. And by conducting the test the client make a lot more money from that page.

But here comes the bad part...

A few months later I write some more copy, but for a different product, with a totally different sales page.

But when I submit the headline and copy, the client says, "No, no! Testing PROVES that if you put the savings at the beginning the headline you'll make more sales."

Not true!!!!!

That test didn't prove any such thing. The result was valid only for THAT sales page, when viewed at THAT TIME, with THAT page layout, THAT supporting copy and THAT call to action.

At best, it provides a clue at to what MIGHT work best for similar products under similar circumstances.

It drives me crazy when people take the results from a single test and then extrapolate them across all their future marketing efforts.

That's bad science and bad marketing.

When clients want your skills, but not your brain.

Companies generally hire me because of my experience and skills as an online copywriter and optimizer

Let's say they want me to rewrite a home page.

Before I start writing the page, I'll spend a lot of time thinking about it. I'll think about the people arriving at that page. I'll think about what those visitors are looking for. I'll think about what their first impressions might be as the page loads for the first time. I'll think about how the page connects with every other page.

Then I'll think of the business owner's goals for the site. I'll think about what he or she wants new and returning visitors to do.

Finally, I'll look for the point at which both the visitor's and the site owner's interests intersect.

I'm in good shape now to start writing and making a few design recommendations.

I might even be quite pleased by what I have done.

Then the client takes a quick look at it and says something along the lines of, "This isn't what I had in mind. I'll need you to make some changes."

I'll explain my thinking, but to no avail.

Now, I'm not suggesting that the client is always wrong. But I have had numerous experiences where I realize, too late, that my real job - for which I'm being paid - is not to find that intersection point where visitor and business interests intersect.

I'm being paid to give the client what he or she wants.

I really hate it when that happens. I try to sniff out these kinds of jobs before they start, and back away. But I still get caught sometimes.