Have you always been led to believe that SEO copywriting is a complex beast that only a few ‘chosen ones’ can master?

Well, it’s not that difficult so long as you remember one important thing, it’s still web copy, so it should be written primarily for your reader and not the search engines.

Yup, that’s right, your reader should be help aloft on a pedestal because they are far more important than the likes of Google.

Really?

Yes, really – it is your reader who will buy from you, not Google. Granted, you have to get Google to like you a bit to make sure you appear in the appropriate search results, but good SEO copy won’t do that alone. To make that happen it has to be combined with good web design, link building and making sure your keywords appear in the correct places (if you’re confused by that one, any good SEO copywriter will be able to explain it to you – if they can’t, you’re speaking to the wrong writer).

OK, back to SEO copy. In the bad old days it was decided that SEO copy should look like this:

I am a highly successful SEO Copywriter. I’ve been working with my SEO clients for many years providing them with SEO copywriting that really works. Through SEO copywriting my clients get great rankings and my SEO copywriting skills have been applauded the world over with my SEO clients being the first to recommend me. “SEO is the way forward” said Jo, “SEO helps my clients get in front of their customers. Without SEO copywriting many didn’t get great online sales but now I have worked on their SEO copywriting they are getting more traffic…

Urgh – in the olden days that may have got a site ranked but it sure wouldn’t get anyone to buy.

The sad thing is that there are still people out there who think this kind of things works. Well, if you write like that you’ll certainly get noticed, but for all the wrong reasons.

If you want your website to get ranked and you want people to read it and buy from you, here are a few things you need to bear in mind.

Getting your content read

1. People come first

When writing about a particular product, service or subject, your keywords will crop up naturally so there’s no need to stuff them in every single sentence.

Your writing has to be natural and focused on your reader, not your keywords. You have to engage them, interest them and encourage them to take the action you want (get in touch, email or buy).

2. Inject some interest

Once you’ve written your copy, if you go back over it and shoe-horn a few extra keywords into it, you’ll end up with something repetitive and boring. If the number of keywords was the secret to getting ranked, the world would be full of unreadable websites.

Write something interesting that will add value to your readers.

3. Boosting your onscreen SEO

The most important areas for your keywords are in your headings (H1 tags) , sub headings (H2 tags) and ALT tags for images.

Using plenty of headings and sub headings will not only help your SEO, it will also enhance readability as it breaks up your text and helps  the reader find the information they want.

4. Links

You should of course be looking to generate plenty of inbound links to your website. But don’t forget to link out too. If you’ve written an article and, during your research, you came across an interesting related article, link out to it and add extra value for your readers. Plus, it might also generate another link back to you.

5. Go natural

As mentioned at the beginning, being natural in your writing is the only way to go.

If you fill your copy with keywords, jargon and industry speak, you’ll turn off readers in their droves.

Write in simple language and in the second person because natural copy that’s easy to read will always beat keyword-stuffed ‘poor excuse for SEO’ copy every time.

What is your brand?

A simple enough question, but one that leaves many people scratching their head.

If you think you know, write it down as simply as possible and put it to one side. After reading this post take another look at it and see how close you were.

What is your brand?

When you started out, you probably spent a lot of time thinking about your brand. For many people, that meant sitting with a graphic designer to come up with a really cool logo.

Once you had that, you probably visited your web designer who put together a fab website with loads of cool gizmos on it – and that was it; your business was launched.

So, is that right? You have a logo, therefore you have a brand?

It’s not really that straightforward because branding isn’t just about your logo – its about:

• Colour
• Graphics
• Images
• Words
• Design
• Perception
• It’s about you

What are your values?

Taking a step back, do you really understand your values, who your customers are and what their needs are?

Granted, that’s a lot to get your head round, but it’s vital if you are to position yourself correctly in the marketplace.

Your products and services must be ‘packaged’ to meet their needs and expectations and include:

• Your website copywriting and look
• All your marketing materials
• Business cards
• Logo
• You

Yes, that’s right – you are your brand. After all, when in front of a potential customer you are representing your business and your brand. If you don’t match the professional image you’re trying to portray, your customers will feel uneasy about  the mixed messages they are getting.

A consistent and well thought out brand image will instill trust.

Brand fluidity

As your business grows, your customer base will probably change so your brand must also reflect that change.

That’s why it’s a good idea to take a look at your brand image every few years to make sure it’s still reflecting a true picture of your business.

For example, this is what I saw last year when I carried out  this exercise:

As you can see, I discovered that the balance had gone and my image was no longer consistent. Although my website had served me well, it no longer reflected my client base.

Stripping yourself bare and analysing your business in this way can be a painful operation. Over the years you become attached with images, logos and websites (however ridiculous that may sound) and the thought of change is scary.

What happens if your new look isn’t accepted by your customers?

My new site (the one you’re looking at now) is more social, contemporary and as such my logo fits better now than it did in my old site. I had a number of sleepless nights before the new site went live, but I needn’t have worried. It’s been accepted and is more in line with my business today. As a result, it’s attracting the new market that I was aiming for.

So, don’t forget. Branding is so much more than your logo – it’s about you, what you say, how you say it and how you and your marketing materials look.

Take a look at the answer you wrote down at the beginning. How close were you?

Is it time you took a good 360 degree look at your business?

If you run a business, marketing is a necessary evil.

For larger organisations, their dedicated marketing department will take care of everything for them, leaving the boss to concentrate on the more important things such as lunches, golf days and seeing how many tickets to the major sporting events he can get his hands on.

What happens when you work alone?

Like many entrepreneurs you have to do everything. You have to be the Operations Director, Financial Director, Marketing Director, Office Junior and tea boy/girl. It is highly unlikely that you’ll be an expert in all these areas, so how do you cope?

Marketing madness

Promoting your business can take on a number of forms, such as:

• Brochures
• Website
• Emails and newsletters
• Case studies
• Press releases
• Blogs and articles
• Direct marketing

But do you really understand each of these fully?

Your marketing materials are vital for the survival of your business.

For most people, graphics is what first springs to mind and happily pay a small fortune for great designs. Grantes, a great design will grab your customers attention, but it won’t make them buy.

It is the words on your marketing materials that will convince someone to buy your product so you need to invest in both – graphics and copywriting.

To make the most of your materials you need to hire a professional copywriter – and that means someone who knows what they’re talking about and charges more than the cost of a tea bag. It’s very tempting to  thing Oh well, it’s only writing – this person charges £20 an hour, they’ll do.

But if you think like that you’ll be left with disappointing copy that won’t sell a bean.

Good copywriting that works doesn’t come cheap, but investing in it will pay you dividends. After all, your marketing materials are representing you, your brand and your business. Do you really want something substandard out there? What sort of message will that give potential customers?

Marketing Merry-go-round

The problem with marketing when you work alone, is that it never stops.

As soon as you’ve revamped your website, your brochures are out of date. Once you’ve sent out one newsletter you have to start thinking about the content for the next one. A new product launch means press releases and emails.

What happens one morning you wake up and can’t face it anymore?

Do you give yourself the day off, or do you find something else productive to do with your time?

Making a difference

There is one area that will set you apart from your competitors – customer service.

So, if you really can’t face another round of marketing, why not concentrate instead on your customer service?

When thinking about what it is your customers want. it’s probably the same things you want when you’re dealing with a company:

• A company that’s pleased to be working with you and welcomes you
• One that offers great advice
• One that isn’t pushy
• One that will go the extra mile
• One that offers great after sales service and support

Exceptional customer service

Providing top-notch customer service will encourage people to come back time and time again and bring their friends with them.

Keeping in touch with opt-in emails, sending a ‘how are you’ card no and then, shows you as a company that values its customers.

So. when you next have one of those days when you really can’t face any more marketing, review your customer service instead – small changes can make a huge difference.

When using social media within your marketing strategy, should you automate it?

That question usually divides opinion. There are those that think it’s fine to automate and schedule a stream of updates so they always have a presence on Twitter. But there are those that believe that social medis should be social and an activity you take part in real time.

As for me, I don’t think it should be automated – well, at least not all of it.

Understanding social media

Social media is about being social, so if you don’t really like people, it’s not for you.

To be effective you must listen, engage and chat. When the opportunity arises, you can offer help and advice or join in with a debate. But if you automate everything,  you can’t do that.

That’s not to say you can’t automate at all. As a rule, if you see me tweet, then at my desk, but my blog posts automatically feed into my Twitter account via RSS. So when a new post is published my followers get to hear about it straight away.

Nope, I’m not here

Just think about this for a moment – if you automate 95% of your tweets you’re not engaging with people.

If you’d set up a weeks worth of tweets and someone comments on one of them, but you don’t respond, they’re not going to take away a great impression of you. Of course, they won’t be inspecting an instant response, but something within an hour or so would be welcomed.

One way of spotting an automated tweeter is by the repetative nature of their tweets. You might think  that’s a great way to get your message out there, but really it’s just a great way to turn off your followers.

Basically, what it comes down to is that if you want to automate keep it to the bare minimum. Getting the most out of social media means listening, engaging and chatting to show your followers you are a real person.

If you automatically answer to the question – why do you have a website? – is…

Because everyone else has got one

…you could be in trouble.

Yes, being in business today means you are expected to have a website, but that shouldn’t be the only reason for its existence. Your website must have a purpose; one that will be of benefit to you and to your customers.

The benefits for you

Being on the web with an effective website (that means one that actually works rather than one that just looks nice) means you can:

• Save time because it should provide the answers to most of your customers’ questions therefore freeing up staff
• Be a source of information 24/7
• Be optimised so people can find you online
• Use it to publicise your latest news and events
• Show off your products and service to one and all
• sell online

That’s just off the top of my head – your website should make your life easier by having a constant presence within your marketplace.

The benefits for your customers

Your website provides a 24/7 link to your company. Therefore it should address them directly, provide them with all the information they need and show them exactly what you can do for them.

It may also be the first contact they have with your company, so it’s essential they get a great first impression, a first rate service and the desire to return again and again.

That’s why it’s essential that your design and copywriting:

• Reflect your values
• Matche your industry
• Shows your contact details prominently
• Talks directly to your reader
• Sells the benefits of your products and services
• Give social capabilities (i.e. links to Twitter, Facebook etc.)

If you are still of the belief that your website is just an online brochure, think again. Your website must work for you. It is your primary marketing tool and it should be there to sell, not just inform.

Take a look at your website – is it really working as hard for you as it could?

You’ve spent a long time on your new corporate brochure.

I bet you’re really pleased with it, aren’t you?

It’s glossy cover makes you want to pick it up and flick through its crisp pages.

Will your readers feel the same way, or did you give into temptation?

The dark side of the corporate brochure

When compiling the content for your new brochure, did you give in to temptation?

If you did, your content probably looks something like this:

• It’s all about you and how great you are
• It’s full of your opinions
• You talk about your future plans

In which case, the only person who will find it interesting is you.

Although some of what you say is probably quite valuable, your readers aren’t interested in what you think about yourself and your company’s performance, they want to know how you are going to help them.

Getting it right

To start with, investing in a glossy brochure shouts volumes, especially the way the economy stands at the moment. It shows you as a company that’s doing well.

Your new brochure will help you:

• Garner investor confidence
• Attract new clients
• Show your existing clients what you can do for them
• Impress one and all

The problem is, there are very few companies out there getting it right.

To get it right, you’ll need a team around you of professional photographers, graphic designers and (most importantly) a great brochure copywriter.Even though you think you can easily put some text together, remember what we said above.

It’s too easy to fall into the trap about writing about what you’ve done.

Your brochure should be free of corporate speak and jargon. It should be written in simple language that everyone can understand. And the main focus of it should be placed firmly on your customers and how your company will benefit them.

The design should be understated and tasteful and should reflect your brand identity. The professional photographer will produce superb shots that are reflective of your business and you can use photos of your team rather than dodgy stock images that are meaningless.

Once you’ve gathered your dream team, let them get on with it. They are experts in their own fields and know what they are doing.

The ideal formula

A good brochure will be read, a bad brochure will be covered in coffee mug stains because it will only be used as a coaster.

Its content must be engaging and contain elements such as:

• A personal letter written by your Chairman or CEO
• Photos of your staff
• Customer testimonials
• Engaging case studies to show how you’ve helped customers overcome typical challenges
• A profile of your company
• Benefits driven copy
• Full product/service descriptions and images
• Full and correct contact details

Before you begin, make sure you have a plan and desired outcome. Then gather together your team of experts.

Once you have briefed them, sit back and leave them to it.

A corporate brochure is an investment as the expertise you need isn’t cheap – but you only get what you pay for. Trying to save money on one element (photography, graphics or copy) will undermine the whole project.

But your company is worth it – isn’t it?

When you employ email marketing as part of your overall marketing strategy, you are bound to experience some level of churn (the number of subscribers lost over a period of time).

Your churn can come from a number of reasons:

• Unsubscribers who are bored of your emails
• Those who no longer require the information you send
• Those clearing out their inbox and you just happen to me on their ‘cut’ list
• Emails bouncing back
• Spam complaints

It’s a fact of life and all businesses will experience it to some degree. You’ll never escape from it completely, but you can take steps to reduce it.

1. Trust and honesty

The strongest relationships are built on trust and honesty. So, when someone signs up for your emails, make sure you tell them what they will receive and when – and stick to it.

If you provide a range of products or services, it may be an idea to offer your subscribers a choice as to which email they would like to receive. That way, they’ll only get information on something that’s important or relevant to them and therefore are more likely to remain on your mailing list.

It’s also important to reassure them about your privacy policy and have a clear link to its page.

2. Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy

The easier you make the opt-in and opt-out process the better.

Although you don’t want to lose anyone from your list, making it difficult to opt-out won’t win you any fans.

3. Ooops

The chances are that at some point something will go wrong. When it happens apologise – this could also be a good time to get some feedback on  your communications. Find out what they like or don’t like and revisit your strategy to see if there is any way you can improve it.

4. Encourage engagement

A lot of your subscribers won’t read your newsletter. Many of them will never click on a link, so what can you do to tempt them to interact?

Well, an occasional great offer could so the trick – perhaps you could place them in a prize draw in return for their views on your emails.

You will always experience some level of churn, but these tips will help you reduce it.

Over to you

If you engage in email marketing, what has been your experience?

Do you have a high churn rate?

What have you done to try and encourage engagement?

Leave a comment below and share your experiences.

If you run a business, you like many others, have probably set up a Facebook Page. But what are you doing with it?

It’s great when your employees, family and friends all track it down and ‘Like’ it. But what do you do when the ‘Likes’ start to dry up?

How do you go about getting more fans?

The difference between ‘Likes’ and engagement

It’s great when people ‘Like’ your brand, but you reallyyou want customers who are going to buy from you. If you’re going to have a Facebook Page, you are going to have to put a bit of effort into it – just like you would any other form of marketing.

Customers will engage with your page if you engage with them. It’s not enough just to have a presence in Facebook, you have to be active – it will take a while to get the ball rolling, but once it is, you’ll start to see results.

So, what can you do?

1. News

Your Facebook Page must be constantly up dated. So, when you publish a new blog posts, mention it on your page. If you have an event coming up, new product coming out etc., post it on Facebook.

Your fans will want to be kept in the loop with what’s going on, so don’t disappoint them.

2. Real

Even though a Facebook Page is for your business, your fans still want to interact with a real person. So make sure you inject some personality into your posts.

3. Talk

One way posting isn’t very interesting. Even though you must ‘talk’ to your fans, you must also take time to listen to them and strike up conversations. Regardless of whether they write good things about you or bad, never ignore their comments.

4. Encourage them

It will probably be down to you to get the ball rolling, so make sure you post lots of open questions. Ask for your fans’ opinions and stories. Why not run a competition?

All of this activity will help you generate a sense of community and encourage them to keep coming back. This interaction will help build trust, and with trust comes paying customers.

5. Call to action

As you begin to build engagement with your fans, make sure you make the most of them by asking them to do something – whether that’s to buy from you, sign up for a newsletter etc. You wouldn’t have a website without a call to action, would you?

6. Have a plan

If your reasoning behind setting up a Facebook Page is simply because everyone else has one so you though you ought to as well, think again. If it’s going to work for you, you must have a plan. Understand how you’re going to use the page and how you’re going to interact with your fans – then make sure you carry it out.

Facebook is a great way to interact with people and build trust. It can be a forum, customer service tool and information source. Use it well and it will bring in new customers, but make sure you have a plan.

Search engine optimisation isn’t a great mystery. Yes, it will help you get found in the search results, but when it comes to copy on your website, the most important thing to remember is to write for your reader and not the search engines.Blogging is a great way to promote yourself and your business, but making sure your blogs get found by searchers is a whole different ball game.

That’s why it’s important to remember the power of your page title.

The problem is that many people get confused about the difference between a page title and a post title.

The post title is as it would suggest, the name you give to your blog post. Your page title is automatically generated when you write your posts and therefore tends to be the same, as shown in  the image below:

But if you want to optimise your post further, you should amend your page title to something that will carry a bit more SEO clout.

A lot of blogging platforms, such as Word Press, make this task easy for you by providing plugins (such as the All in One SEO Pack plugin).

How can you make your page title more SEO friendly?

Well, by making sure your main keyword is in the first section of your page title, you’ll give it an extra SEO boost. But you must remember that you only have 65 characters to play with.

However, it’s important to make sure that you don’t sacrifice meaning for SEO. Use the word(s) that are most relevant to your post (or web page – don’t forget this should also be done for your website pages) and create something that answers the searchers’ questions.

For example, if someone has a dog with behavioural problems, a listing that states: “Dog Behavioural Problems – Advice and Training Videos” highlights that it is a website that is highly likely to have the information you’re looking for.

Your page titles are one of the most vital aspects of your SEO, so it’s essential you get them right.

It’s a simple thing to do that can make a huge difference.

A funny thing happens to some people when they start using social media – they forget who they are.

People still seem to believe that they have to be corporate and cardboard-like when interacting online – but there lies the problem, many aren’t interacting.

The people you’ll ‘meet’ through social media will reflect the usual personality types:

• Confrontational
• Shy
• Opinionated
• Funny
• Those who think they’re funny
• Confident
• Flirty
• Sarcastic
• …

That’s why you have to be human when using social media, which means interaction – you have to talk to other people just like in real life.

Making friends

Just as you would chat and mingle at a party, if you want to make an impression on social media you have to start conversations.

The great thing about doing this in an online world, is that no one can see you. If, in real life, you’re less than confident in a group of new people, on social media you can pretend to be outgoing because you don’t have to do that very awkward ‘trying to break into a group conversation’ thing. You can chat to your heart’s content because no one is going to see how nervous you are.

One word of advice though, when you start chatting make sure it is just that, chat. If you march in with your sales hat on you’re going to look like a spammer. Join the discussion, add value by offering advice (if you can) – become a valued member of the community.

Become popular

If you’re not usually the person everyone flocks around at gatherings, simply by offering advice, tips and information will draw people to you in the online world.

Ask other people questions, show interest in what they’re saying. Engaging in conversation in this way will make others want to talk to you.

Beat the bully

As in real life, you’re bound to come across a social media bully sooner or later.

They are the ones disagreeing with everyone and trying to pick a fight by being controversial.

If you can avoid them, do so. But if you can’t stand up for yourself, but try to avoid:

• Antagonising the situation – always think before you type
• Writing in haste – always re-read your comment before pressing send
• Flimsy responses – if you can qualify your position with facts and figures, do

In a nut shell, social media is a lot like real life. All sorts of people use it. You’ll find people who want to engage in chatter, those who want to make friends and contacts and those who really don’t get it at all and overly promote their products and services.

Above all, be yourself, chat and engage with others and you never know where your new social media relationships will lead.