Despite living in a virtual age there are still many businesses out there resisting the urge to have a website.

Some of the common arguments about not buying into virtual real estate are:

• It wouldn’t suit our customer base
• We get enough customers without having an expensive website
• I don’t understand all that computer stuff
• It’s too expensive
• I don’t want to sell online
• I don’t have time for one of those

The problem is just about everyone else is online, especially your customers. So when they search for a supplier they’ll be choosing from your competitors – you won’t even be in the picture.

To convince you it may be worth taking the plunge, here are 4 reasons why you should consider a website for your business:

1. 24/7

Do you really want to have to be physically there for your customers all the time?

Achieving the ultimate work/life balance is tough but when you own your own company it can be impossible.

Unlike you, a website doesn’t need to eat, drink or sleep and is open for business 24/7. Your customers can browse it whenever the urge takes them. By giving them all the information  they need they can research at their leisure. Plus if you offer a comprehensive FAQ section, you’ve practically got your own online customer service team.

2. Credibility

People research before buying. Your website and its content will help instantly build rapport and credibility with perspective customers. Talk to them directly through your copy and they will be more inclined to do business with you as they will already feel as though they ‘know’ you.

If you don’t feel confident enough to create your own website copy, hire a professional copywriter to write it for you. That investment will ensure your website contains copy that is powerful, search engine friendly and will convince your customers to get in touch and buy.

3. Money

As I mentioned before, a website is open 24/7 so you’re not restricting your trading times. People can shop with you in the middle of the night if they really wanted to. With over half of all UK consumers now regularly shopping online (Forrester UK Online Retail and Travel Forecast 2008-2014), if you don’t have a website you’ll be turning your back on a vast untapped marketplace.

4. Widen the net

Your website will widen your marketplace. You won’t have to rely on local customers and word of mouth anymore. With a website you can reach national and international markets. This could lead to business growth, diversification…the opportunities are endless.

Budgets are tight for everyone at the moment so if you can’t quite run to a full blown website try some of the alternatives. I’m thinking of websites such as BT Tradespace and myProspot. Both of these offer the opportunity of utilising their powerful platforms and extensive social marketing tools to market your business.

So as you can see, there really are no barriers to getting a website.

Blogging is an excellent way to boost your business’s online presence.

Yes it takes time but, believe me, it really does work. I’m a copywriter and have been blogging for several years now and it has really helped be cement my position within the Google rankings.

Blogging means you are constantly putting fresh content out onto the web. This constant content feeding generates traffic which is vital for your search engine optimisation strategy.

As you know SEO is all about getting found on the web for your chosen keywords. So by writing your blogs in line with your SEO strategy (i.e. using the keywords you want to be found for), you’ll attract readers and as a result, visitors to your website.

To help you get the most out of your blog posts and their SEO potential I have put together the following 5 tips.

1. Quality content

People want quality. They want to spend their time reading something interesting, informative and helpful. By adding value to them in this way, you’ll strengthen your relationship with them . That will keep them coming back for more and help build those very important back links.

2. Keywords

Of course great quality content is useless if you’re not targeting the right audience. Once you’ve written your post, read it and think about what terms your reader would use to search for it. The primary keywords tend to be quite obvious, but other terms are not so clear-cut.

There are various tools you can use to identify your keywords such as Google’s keyword tool. To find associated words, tools such as the Google Tilde search are useful but there is also another more visual tool you can use.

Try Google Wheel. When you’ve entered your search term into the Google search box, if you look to the left of your screen you’ll see Wonder Wheel.

If you click on this it will produce a wheel diagram with your main search term in the centre (in this case ‘dog training’) with associated terms around it:

You can then click on any other outer terms to receive further results:

3. META Titles and descriptions

The META title and description are there to tell both the reader and search engine spiders what your posts is about. If you use the WordPress.com platform for your blog you can use the All in one SEO Pack to specify these fields.

When writing your titles and descriptions make sure your keywords are near the beginning. There is also a character limit for each (Titles – 72, Description – 165) so you’ll have to carefully plan your words.

4. Links

Both internal and external links are important when writing your posts. Your internal links (utilising related keywords) link out to other posts, while external links take the reader to other related websites. In both cases make sure you use keyword rich links rather than something like ‘click here’ which has no value.

Your external links can also be used to encourage inbound links from other websites as ‘trackbacks’ inform that web owner you have linked to  them. Therefore they may in turn link to your posts.

5. URL

The last item on my list is your URL. This I the web address used to link to your post. Make sure you use your keywords within this as it will instantly show the relevance of your post.

Make sure it is meaningful.

By utilising each of these techniques and tools, you will produce meaningful, interesting blog posts that will be found through the search engines. Not only that, but by ensuring you create quality content you will attract links and build your reputation as an expert in your field.

Blogging is an excellent way of getting your voice heard.

The first thing your website has to do is engage your reader.

Granted, the design of your site and its copywriting will go a long way to persuade your reader that you are the company for them. But how about getting a bit more personal?

Be visual with video

More and more companies are using the power of video within their websites. It seems to be one of those things you either love or hate. But if you’re undecided here are a few things to think about.

1. Getting personal

A corporate video (especially if you’re on it) is a powerful way of conveying your (or your company’s) personality to your viewer. Many videos use images and a voice over which are good but nothing beats a video showing you talking to your viewer.

By directly speaking to your customer, you will make an instant connection and they will feel as though they already know you when they decide to do business with you.

2. Product insight

Videos are also a great way to introduce people to your products and services.

Instead of having to read all about them they can simply watch your video. You can also use them as ‘How to’ guides which will add value to your relationship with them.

3. Innovative

Video is also still seen as a fairly forward thinking kind of marketing, making your organisation look cutting-edge and innovative – one that thinks beyond the normal limits of marketing.

4. Search engine optimisation

Of course, one of the main benefits is that Google loves video so incorporating it within your website will give your search engine optimisation a boost. Whether you host it directly on your website or bring it in from YouTube, utilising the descriptive element of your video will enhance your online visibility.

Warning

That all sounds amazing but using video does come with a few warnings:

Music – not everyone will be thrilled if your website begins to blast out music as soon as it’s open. Make sure there is an obvious icon to click to mute or reduce the decibels.

Auto play – don’t have your video on autoplay. Have it plainly visible so your reader can decide when (or if) they want to play the video.

Load speed – video can affect the load time of your website so be careful. When browsing the net people aren’t going to want to hang around while your site loads.

Video can be a very powerful sales tool. It makes an instant connection with the viewer, offers an innovative way to market your products and a valuable tool through which you can offer help and guidance to your customers.

What is content marketing?

It’s all about building your reputation as an expert online. That doesn’t mean posting loads of mediocre articles and blogs in the vain hope that someone will read them. Content marketing is about providing quality, informative and interesting information that will add value to your readers.

The 3 elements of content marketing

If you want to excel at content marketing there are 3 things you have to do:

• Create content that sells you
• Write content that’s optimised for the search engines to increase its longevity
• Repurpose your content and spread the word

Are you sitting there thinking – “What’s the point? It’s not as is anyone reads stuff like that anyway.”

If you think like that you’ll never get anywhere. Instead you have to think of your content as a huge loud speaker that will tell  the world how great you are, what an expert you are and that what you have to say is worth reading.

Once people start to see your content plastered all over the web they’ll think of you as a market leader, a giver of great information and will be more inclined to give you a call or drop you an email when they need your services.

In a nutshell - Content generation means you’ll get found

So what is content?

It can be anything: white papers, reports, articles, blogs, videos, FAQs, audio etc.

Creating content in a variety of forms will make sure you appeal to a lot of different audiences. Not everyone likes to get their information through reading, some prefer to listen or to watch – offering a range of formats will provide something for everyone.

Making your content great

1. Should it be promotional?

Nope – be subtle. If you are obviously selling something it’s going to come across as an advert rather than advice. Offering information positions you as an expert who is open and approachable. 

2. Be relevant

Make sure you know what your reader wants and give it to them.

3. Well-written

Engaging, well-written, interesting – get those 3 things right and you’re practically there. 

4. Relevant to your company

For arguments sake, let’s say you’re a copywriter. If you suddenly start writing about the latest engineering practices your audience is going to be left wandering what on earth’s going on. Make sure you write on topic within the realms of your expertise.

5. Shout about it

If you’re going to spend time creating content you have to promote it. Use everything you can — social media, PR, search engine optimisation. That way you’ll make it stand out so your audience can find it.

At the end of the day, if you want your content marketing to work make sure you:

• Write regularly
• Write well
• Write relevant material
• Promote it.

The power of a blog is a wonderful thing.

It gives you the opportunity to get your personal view of things out there in the open where others can read them.

You can share tips and advice. Engage your worldwide audience and share your knowledge to position yourself as an expert in your field.

You can create a buzz and a following that gets your name and your business noticed by potentially thousands of people.

Of course there is one downside that puts many people off:

A blog is for life, not just for Christmas

If you want to make an impact with your blog you have to be dedicated, blog regularly and come up with an endless stream of content.

Dedication

A good blogger is a dedicated blogger.

They live to engage with their readers and provide them with an endless stream of quality content.

Their posts generate debate and a following. Sounds impossible but you too can achieve this through regular blogging. Posts that are relevant and interesting to your audience will get you noticed. People will come back to your blog time and time again and share it with others through social media.

Adding value

Regular blogging is all well and good but only if it adds value which means you must generate great ideas.

Inspiration for topics can strike anytime so make sure you always have pen and paper close by so you can write down your ideas when they strike.

Be useful

Long posts, short posts. Each topic and your own preference/writing style will dictate here. But if you keep your posts relatively brief, the information is more likely to be easily absorbed and will get them to come back for more.

Mix it up

People absorb information in different ways.

Some like to read, others prefer to listen and some like to watch videos. Offering a range of posts that use all these methods will widen the appeal of your blog.

What it comes down to is this – if you want to build a blog that draws in readers you have to write regularly, well, with variety but always it has to have interesting content.

Blogging really can help your business – it doesn’t matter if you’re a copywriter, a plumber, a solicitor or an accountant – a well written blog can help you by positioning yourself as an expert in your field.

How to brief effectively

The beginning of your relationship with your chosen copywriter is vital.

You’ve done your research; you’ve asked the right questions and you’ve found the perfect writer to help you with your project.

So what’s next?

Your copywriting need could be anything from website copy or brochure content to newsletter content or case studies. Whatever it is one thing remains the same – you must give your writer all the information they need to create your content.

I use a detailed pro-forma to extract the information I need. Sometimes my clients are so great they email me immediately with everything I could possible want to know about their company and product or service.

Other times I’m only given the barest of instructions. But that’s not enough.

What your copywriter needs to know

First up let’s take a look at what copywriting is.

My job is not to know your business better than you do. My job is to present your company, it’s products or services in the most eye-catching and compelling way possible.

Home grown copy (that which businesses write themselves) has a tendency to be all about the business and its achievements. The problem is, that’s not what your readers want. They want to know what you’re going to do for them.

Basically your copy has to be written from your customers’ point of view which is why investing in a professional copywriter is a must. Not only do they understand how to write powerful marketing copy, they can also view the company and its products/services from the customers’ perspective.

Just write it

The problem is, to be able to create the copy  your writer will need as much information as possible about your company, its services and products, its ethos as well as the tone you want to convey.

I have, on occasion, had clients that were aghast when I asked them for that type of information. They seem to think that providing me with it would equate to them doing my job for me.

Not true.

So I have explain that I’m good but I don’t have a crystal ball, I don’t know their company intimately so I can’t write fabulous copy just from their company name.

To illustrate my point consider this. You’re planning on getting married. You’re going to have your dress made for you, found the perfect designer and go and see them to get it started.

When you sit down with them you just say “Make me a wedding dress.”

They are unlikely to “OK”.

They’ll want to know:

• What your measurements are?
• Whether you want short or long
• Do you want a straight dress or one with a full skirt?
• What colour do you want?
• Do you want a train?

And that’s just for starters.

You wouldn’t dream of doing this so why expect your copywriter to write amazing SEO website copy from your instruction “I want you to write my website – get on with it”.

A close relationship

The relationship between a copywriter and client should be a close one which is collaborative. You can bounce ideas from each other to develop the perfect copy.

The more work your copywriter does for you, the better they get to know your company. They’ll be able to offer suggestions and help you strengthen all aspects of your marketing.

A great copywriter should be seen as an asset and one that’s worth holding on to.  

What’s the golden rule when it comes to writing press releases?

DO NOT USE THEM TO SELL.

A press release is all about providing the reader with news. If you want to place an advert pay for it like everyone else.

But because it’s not paid for, your press release has to be top notch if you want to get it published.

Every newspaper and magazine editor is looking for genuine news that their readers are going to want to hear about. But it also has to fit the style and tone of their publication.

That all sounds like a lot of hard work and rather a hit and miss affair which is why many businesses shy away from issuing releases. But there are a number of benefits to be had so it’s well worth giving it a go.

Benefits of press releases

First off, they are relatively cheap to produce. Regardless of whether you write them in-house of hire a professional copywriter, they are a cost effective way of promoting your company.

Plus, because they appear as an editorial piece rather than an in your face advert, they’re more likely to read and viewed as being independent from your company and therefore will carry more weight.

Of course, there always has to be a downside to balance the positives:

The downside of a press release

When you write articles for the web, your own web copy, blogs and brochures, you have ultimate control over the content.

But when writing press releases you relinquish that control once it’s been sent to the editor. Just because you’ve written a 2 page release doesn’t mean there’ll be room for it in its entirety within the publication. The editor may have to truncate it and may not carry as prominent a position as you’d like.

The best way to use a press release

Your press release can be used for many purposes, such as announcing:

• A new website
• A new product or service
• A forthcoming event
• Charity work
• Advice
• Community involvement

But whatever the reason for your release, the subject has to be relevant to your audience if you want it to be accepted and published. That means doing research into the publications you are targeting.

The easy way to get your press release ignored

This may seem an odd thing to be including in this post, but if you do any of the following your press release will be ignored and consigned to the rubbish bin:

• Use a bad subject line in your email such as Press release.
• Using a bad headline.
• Filling it with waffle so it takes an age to get to the real news.
• Writing a disguised advert. Editors aren’t stupid, they will spot it. 
• Using sloppy English, dodgy spelling and atrocious grammar.
• Fill it with flowery language, repetitions, waffle and adjectives galore.

Now find out how to get your press release published

OK, we’ve seen what not to do, so now on to what you should do.

Take a look at your story, what makes it interesting? Can you use a local angle to create a hook to grab your readers’ attention thereby making it more relevant to them.

Basically, what that boils down to is using the good old fashioned Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? in your opening paragraph.

Finally, it’s always a good idea to include the word count, release date, contact details, brief company profile (in the notes at the end), notes for the editor and any photo opportunities.

Also make sure you write in the third person and be concise without using jargon. 

Structuring your press release

Here’s a quick run down on how you should structure your release:

1. Write Press release at the top of your page.

2. Write the date either as 7^th November 2010 – For immediate release, or 7^th November 2010 – 12.00 15^th November 2010.

The first shows it can be used immediately, the second shows it must not be used until the specified time and date.

3. Next, your headline should be eye-catching and should grab the editor’s attention straight away.

You can also use a sub heading to flesh out more of the story.

4. The first paragraph is critical and must dive straight into your story. Forget hype and adopt a journalistic tone which sticks to the facts.

5. The second paragraph gives supporting evidence but must still remain focused.

6. The third paragraph is the place for quotes that are relevant to the story. But make sure you have permission to use them.

7. Your final paragraph is your conclusion, briefly explaining the link between the story and your company.

8. Finish with ‘Ends’ or ###

9. Finally add notes for editors and contact details.

That simple 9 point list gives you the general outline for your press release.

Just remember, if you want to be successful it must be about genuine news and not a disguised advert and shouldn’t overly promote your company.

Done correctly, press releases can generate a lot of interest in your company; done badly and they’ll only ever see the recycling bin in the editors office.

The SEO Low Down

Google is constantly changing. It loves to keep internet marketers on their toes by changing the goal posts every so often.

One of the most recent changes that you’re bound to have noticed is the introduction of Google Instant Preview.

Now, when you enter a search term in the Google search box, each of your results will have a little magnifying glass next to it. Designed to help you search smarter, by clicking on the magnifying glass you bring up a preview of the web site so you can see in an instant whether it’s going to be of interest to you.

So now, rather than having to open a site, scan it, realise it’s not for you, hit the back browser and start all over again – you can scan the results without leaving the page to find the website that’s going to offer you what you’re looking for.

How does that effect SEO?

Well, to be honest, no one is really sure at the moment. But what it does mean is that you have to be sure your website is maximised to attract the click-through. Basically you have to make sure that the preview gives them the information they need to choose you.

Here are a few things you can do to tip the balance in your favour:

Say farewell to flash

As you know, flash is not good for SEO because the search engine spiders have a tough time crawling it and are unable to distinguish between normal text and the more prominent heading text (i.e. H1, H2 tags etc.)

An added complication now arises with the arrival of Google Instant Preview because the Preview can’t render the flash element of your website leaving it looking rather distorted and unattractive.

Basically if you want your website to shine, ditch the flash.

META Descriptions

You already know that your META Description doesn’t have a direct effect on your SEO as far as ranking position goes. But it comes into its own when it comes to attracting click-throughs.

The 150-160 characters must convince the searcher that your website is worth checking out because it offers the information they need to know. If you want your magnifying glass to be clicked make sure your META Description tells them what they need to know by including your keywords.

Headings

The size of the preview means the reader isn’t going to be able to make out all the text on your website. That’s why it’s imperative that you use good, descriptive headings within your site that contain your keywords.

By acting as sign posts, they will show the reader what information is available on your web page so their decision to click will be based on what they can see – your headings, layout and images.

Images and Alt tags

Using the right images can make your website. They should be relevant and interesting enough to lure your reader in. Also, to give your SEO as much of a boost as possible, you must also ensure you utilise their Alt tags and filenames making them descriptive, relevant and contain your keywords.

It doesn’t matter what line of business you’re in - a copywriter, electrician, solicitor or builder – these 4 techniques will help boost the attractiveness of your website.

In the ways of the web, looks and substance are both needed if you want to attract traffic. Remember the preview shows only a reduced scale version of your website so you’ll needs as many visual cues as possible to get the click.

Copywriters are always having to come up with new ideas. Whether it’s for blog posts, client projects or for their own web copy, fresh and original content generation is a part of their daily life.

I’ve been working as a freelance copywriter for several years now and I would be love it if i could just sit at my desk in the morning and create an unlimited number of original ideas without any effort.

Wouldn’t that be great? Just think how easy it would make anyone’s life if they could simply produce idea after idea after idea. Never again would a project stump you, you’d write oodles of great blog posts, newsletter and email content would flow freely.

But the real world isn’t like that. In the real world we all suffer from writers’ block. How many times have you sat in front of your computer, stared at the blank screen only to realise your mind is equally as blank?

We’ve all been there – even me.

So how do you break the spell?

Well one way is to create a swipe file.

Idea generation – the swipe file

Now before you recoil in horror, a swipe file is not a means to plagiarism.

Your swipe file is a way of generating inspiration.

No doubt you get bombarded with emails and mail shots all trying to sell you something. Most of them you’ll bin or delete, but one or two may catch your eye. They are the ones to place in your swipe file.

If they caught your eye the chances are they also caught someone else’s.

Study it – what was it that made you read it? Was it the layout, headline, content, use of images?

This type of analysis will help you understand what techniques make people read something.

Make a note of them and gradually you’ll build up a reference library of great headlines, techniques etc., that will help you strengthen your own copy.

This ideas file (whether in physical form or held on your computer) will help trigger your creativity when the dreaded writer’s block strikes.

Remember though the material in your swipe file is there for inspiration and not to be copied.

Do you already have a swipe file? If so, what piece of marketing really caught your eye and why? Leave a comment and share it with us.