Category Archives: update webcopy

Hills of Africa Travel Launches New Website: Case Study

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Posted by admin on March 20, 2009 – 6:49 am
Filed under SEO copywriter, increase site traffic, professional web design, update webcopy, web copy, website copywriter

Michelle Salater Writing & Editorial, LLC, is so excited to announce the launch of Hills of Africa Travel’s new website. We headed up the creative content direction and wrote the web copy while Sunni Chapman of Bella Fiori Art & Design worked her design magic.

new-screen-hofa1

 

Below is an interview with owners Meredith Hill and Sandy Salle.

Why did you decide to bring on a copywriter?

Before hiring you, our website was more of a brochure and not doing what it needed to do to attract target customers and increase sales. The message was muddled in too much copy. And the copy did nothing to excite and draw in the viewer. Because Meredith and I are so involved in our daily operations and with building our company, it was extremely hard for us to see clearly and create a clear business message—one that spoke to viewers and one that created an experience for them. We needed a professional web copywriter to create an awesome story about Hills of Africa Travel and about what we do. We also needed someone with exceptional SEO knowledge.

How do you think this decision has affected the success of your business online?

We’ve seen a huge increase in customer attraction and even better leads from the website. Hiring Michelle to write our web copy has been the best investment we’ve made in our business. Now, our website is not only optimized for SEO purposes, but our web copy is also exciting and encourages visitors to browse the site and to contact us. Michelle went above and beyond, offering suggestions on design, how we could convert more visitors using photos and video, and even offering advice on content for our new blog and advice on press releases and Social Media.

What are the top three benefits of working with my company? And why?

• It saved us a ton of time and energy. We were able to focus our energy on the other aspects of our business and on our clients.

• We knew we were working with the right person to get the job done the way we wanted – Michelle understands our target market and our business goals, and she has done everything possible to make sure she knows everything about our business.

• Whenever we need advice on other aspects of our business, Michelle is there.  We regard Michelle as a partner in our business, and from the client attraction we’ve seen from copywriting work on our website, it’s clear that she’s on our side.  What better partnership is there?

Branding Your Company Online: What Message Are You Sending Online Viewers?

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Posted by admin on February 16, 2009 – 5:09 pm
Filed under SEO, SEO copywriter, client attraction, increase online sales, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, marketing in bad economy, online marketing, target market, update webcopy

Are you concerned about how customers perceive your brand image online? Perhaps your website currently isn’t a strong branding tool for you. If not, it should be.

Many businesses find that their message isn’t clear, effective, and targeted to their correct market. It can be extremely difficult for businesses to project an accurate message, encompassing a combination of their company’s products, beliefs, mission, and goals. The message is a mixture of several key elements, including effectively placing keywords to increase SEO, which makes the task of projecting company image quite precise and complicated.

Crafting your brand image online is an extremely important client attraction tool. With a result-driven business message, your targeted website visitors will understand the language and tone of the web copy, and the client will feel a stronger connection to your brand. Once this bond is established, the customers will be more inclined to take action and purchase from you.

The customer wants to feel compatible with all your company stands for. For example, if your brand image is high-end, a high-end client will be attracted and comfortable with this image and, in turn, will want to buy from you.

Since fashioning a company message online is both complex and important, it would be highly beneficial for your company to hire a professional copywriter.

A professional copywriter:

·         Interviews the company to pull out key elements vital to the business message.

·         Recognizes the company image and puts this image into the written word—the message.

·         Creates well-crafted copy that speaks the language of the target market.

·         Strategically places keywords to increase SEO.

·         Facilitates a connection between the brand image and the client through the use of a creative tone in the copy.

If you’re uncomfortable with the message you’re sending potential customers online, it’s time to change this message and solidify a strong brand image.

 

SEO Efforts: Rank #1 in Search Engines with Effective Web Copy and Website Design

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Posted by admin on February 13, 2009 – 4:40 am
Filed under SEO, SEO copywriter, client attraction, increase online sales, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, marketing in bad economy, online marketing, update webcopy, web traffic, website navigation

Designing a company website requires some compromising. It involves the perfect balance between visually appealing and functional elements. It’s important that one element doesn’t dominate the other. This is where many companies go wrong.

 Many times company websites are polluted with too much flash, pointless graphics, and unnecessary copy. The combination of these elements is a major risk factor for decreasing website SEO.

In order to ensure your website ranks #1 in search engines, you must adhere to some kind of compromise. Make sure your entire website isn’t in flash. Many people might think flash is more appealing—and it is at times—but it greatly reduces your SEO if overused. Flash limits the amount of copy you can have on your page. Great copy is your best chance at ranking #1 in search engines and should never be substituted for unnecessary elements.

Result-driven copy . . .

·         Increases SEO with effective keywords placed throughout. It’s important that these keywords add to the message and mission of your company.

·         Converts leads into sales and motivates visitors to take action on your website.

·         Increases site traffic.

·         Targets your company’s specific market and keeps them on your website.

·         Works to reinforce your brand image. Compressed, informative, and concise web copy is easy to read, gets to the point, and expresses your brand image in merely a few sentences without compromising important details.

It’s important to hire a web designer and web copywriter who work toward expressing your brand image online. An excellent web designer will ensure your site is attractive and functional, while an effective web copywriter will guarantee your company message comes across accurately and thoroughly.

The functionality and visual elements of your website may require a slight compromise, but you shouldn’t compromise on a web copywriter and web designer who don’t understand your needs and message. Grow your business. Grow to success. Hire the right copywriter and web designer.     

 

Top 5 Website Design Myths

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Posted by admin on February 8, 2009 – 9:47 pm
Filed under Marketing Strategy, SEO, increase online sales, market in economic crisis, marketing in bad economy, update webcopy, website navigation

Is your website design stopping you from ranking higher in the search engines and getting the traffic you want?

Are you frustrated that site visitors aren’t contacting or buying from you?If so, then I have a treat for you.

Join me and my special guest Nina Menezes, professional web designer and owner of InterDream Designs, for a 60-minute, free call on the “Top 5 Website Design Myths.”

Register now at http://webcopywritingqueen.com/designmyths.html

On this call, you’ll discover . . .

 

  • What you are doing that’s preventing your website from ranking #1 in the search engines.
  • What a great site entails—from visuals to functionality.
  • What to avoid on your website and what you need for a successful site.
  • Why your website might be turning away customers instead of attracting them—and how to steer clear of this.  
  • The tools you need to grow your online presence.

If you are in the process of creating or revamping your current website, thinking about redoing your site, or just want to change a few things on your site . . . then you need to be on this call Thursday, February 19, at 8 Eastern  /  4pm Pacific.

Register now at  http://webcopywritingqueen.com/designmyths.html

Nina Menezes works exclusively in the area of web design for women who are small business owners. She understands the challenges small business owners face when building a strong online presence and works with clients to create custom websites that bring in new visitors and convert them to paying customers.

And she’s kind enough to share her expertise with you. For free.

Don’t let your website turn away customers. Register for our free call, and discover how to make your website work for you. The call is being recorded, so if you can’t make it, you can still listen later.

Succeed online in 2009 and sign up today — http://webcopywritingqueen.com/designmyths.html

Are you struggling to make your website work for you?

Nest Realty Website Launches

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Posted by admin on February 6, 2009 – 4:05 pm
Filed under update webcopy

We are very excited about the launch of Nest Realty’s website. We worked for weeks with Blue Ion to make this site a one-of-a-kind real estate website.

nest

Nest is the new breed of broker and the website had to reflect the company’s brand and their unique business model. We oversaw the direction of the creative content and wrote the web copy. It was a great project because we worked closely with Nest owner Jonathan Kaufman and the awesome team at the brilliant crew at Blue Ion to create the end product. And we had a blast writing the copy.

nest-bird

We interviewed Jonathan on why he decided to build a strong online presence immediately after he launched his new company.  

Here’s a excerpt from our conversation.

How do you think the decision will affect the success of your business online?

The Nest web site is the face of the company.  Therefore, I had to have a site that was head and shoulders above the competition in all respects.  Within the last 10 years, real estate has shifted from an offline industry to one that is starting to become dependent on technology and the web.  In fact, 87% of   home buyers now begin their search online.  I believe that having a strong web presence will set apart the winners and the losers in the real estate world.  Hiring Blue Ion to design and develop the Nest site to be aesthetically pleasing and functional is helping to set me apart. 

Having great copy was really the icing on the cake. If the site was beautiful and functional, but the copy was clunky, I would lose prospects and the site wouldn’t be as appealing to visitors.  Michelle took pages and pages of business plans and company beliefs and consolidated them down into simple, concise, and easy-to-read copy.  Since Nest is different than your typical real estate brokerage, so it was important for me to be able to express those differences in a clear and concise manner.  And from a search engine standpoint, great copy will help me attract visitors to the site so that I can then convert them to clients.

I knew I wanted a top-notch web site and actually started researching real estate web sites and design firms almost 12 months ago.  However, just before I launched Nest Realty this past summer, I began interviewing different web designers throughout the country.  Blue Ion had been on my radar because I stumbled across another web site they had done after picking up a real estate flyer while I was visiting Charleston in 2006.  I ended up interviewing 4 different firms, but chose Blue Ion because I felt confident in their abilities and developed a good rapport with them. I decided to bring on a copywriter at the suggestion of Chris and Robert at Blue Ion. 

I have been involved in large web projects in the past, but never considered a copywriter.  However, I felt it was important to have professionally-written copy not only to enhance the visitor experience, but also from a search engine optimization standpoint.

Handsome Properties Website Launch Is Here

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Posted by admin on January 30, 2009 – 12:48 am
Filed under update webcopy, web copy, website

Handsome Properties

We are excited to announce the launch of Handsome Properties new website. We headed up the creative content direction and wrote the web copy while the Charleston-based design firm Studio Blur worked their magic.

Handsome Properties is a boutique real estate firm specalizing in historic and luxury properties in and around Charleston, South Carolina.

Attract All the Clients You Want: Step 2

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Posted by admin on January 12, 2009 – 8:06 pm
Filed under Copywriting, client attraction, grow your business, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, online sales, small business marketing, update webcopy

Your marketing copy has the power to bring you new customers and retain current ones. It connects you with your clients. Entices them to buy. Drives them to call you. Copy makes or breaks the sale.

Now is the time to revamp your marketing materials. It’s a must if you want to survive the economic crunch.

Step #1 was to reach your target market (if you haven’t read it, please click here)

Step 2: List the Features and the Benefits

Once you have clearly defined your target market, it’s important to identify how your product or service will benefit this group. And how you do this is to create a detailed list of features and benefits.

Your ideal customer want to know what’s in it for THEM. They don’t care about your process; they don’t care how long you’ve been doing what you’re doing. They care about how your service or product will make their lives better. Again, they want to know what’s in it for them.

Many companies make the mistake of telling the customer that they need a particular software or they need a spa package. This isn’t going to sell your software or your spa packages. People don’t buy based on what they need. They buy something because they want to. They buy based on emotion, then logically justify why they bought it. And the bottom line is people really need very little. They need the basics—food, shelter, water, love, oxygen. So if you are selling your book based on the idea that your target audience needs to buy your book—well, let’s face it, no one is going to die because they didn’t buy the book.

If you want people to purchase from you, then you need to give them what they want. How you do this is to entice them with the benefits. The benefits are the results they will get when they hire you as a coach or when they purchase your bath product. Will it save them more money or time, cost them less, or reduce their stress? 

Take out a sheet of paper for each service or product you sell. Make a list of the features of the product or service, and on the opposite side of the paper, list the benefits. I suggest creating bulleted lists and posting them in front of your computer when you begin writing your marketing copy. This will help you focus when creating a compelling marketing message.

Prevent Losing Customers Online

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Posted by admin on December 7, 2008 – 10:01 pm
Filed under Marketing Tip, attract clients, client attraction, increase site traffic, online marketing, small business marketing, target market, update webcopy, web copy, web traffic, website navigation

One of the greatest benefits of in-store selling is your ability to communicate one-on-one with consumers. Face-to-face communication is an excellent way to observe a customer’s body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. Selling on the internet is the opposite and, as a result, often poses challenges to companies that are used to doing business in person.

It’s important to anticipate customer objections, questions, and comments when creating an effective website to simulate the immediacy and success of in-store selling. Since your website is working for you 24 / 7, it’s essential to ensure its result-driven capabilities.

Here are some elements of a successful business website, sure to bring in new customers as well as repeat customers:

·       Navigation must be simple and user-friendly. Viewers will get discouraged easily if they click on tabs that are ambiguous and roundabout. Navigation needs to be straightforward and clear without trying to be overly unique.

·       When customers send emails or comments to you, be timely with your response (usually within 24 hours). It will show customers your dedication to your company and to their satisfaction. The sooner the response the better.

·       Intriguing graphics and captivating web copy will keep the viewer interested and eager to continue searching through your site. Express your company’s personality and professionalism through website graphics, colors, wording, lines, and images.

·       Keep your website constantly updated and give viewers a reason to come back. Provide them with new information, products / services, news, and more. A fresh website will be much more successful than a stale one.

·       Make purchasing online for customers easy, safe, and quick. Assure customers your website has a privacy policy, allowing them to feel more secure to purchase products online.  

Hiring the Right Professional Copywriter

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Posted by admin on December 2, 2008 – 4:45 pm
Filed under Copywriting, SEO, SEO copywriter, attract clients, ghostwriting, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, press releases, small business marketing, update webcopy, web copy, web traffic, website

If you’re ready to take your website to the next level and boost sales dramatically, it’s crucial to find the right professional copywriter.

It’s important to hire a copywriter with thorough knowledge of marketing an online business through web copy, website design, blogs, online articles, and other traffic-generating tools.

A copywriter with skills in various areas of marketing has the ability to see the overall picture for effectively marketing your business. He / she can introduce you to innovative, effective, and helpful solutions sure to send your business skyrocketing to success. 

Here’s what to look for when hiring a professional copywriter:

·       He / she offers several writing and marketing services for businesses. Someone who only does copywriting is most likely not as qualified as one who utilizes various marketing strategies through different writing / marketing vehicles. He may open your eyes to grand opportunities for your business, maximizing success and dramatically increasing sales.  

·       He has a reputable list of clients. Look over the list of past clients and what services he provided for them. Note any testimonials he may have from these clients. If he has created successful marketing strategies for one business, he can most likely do the same for yours.

·       View any sample work / websites she has worked on in the past to get an idea of her writing style, spectrum of ability, and thoroughness.

Your website is an extremely important marketing tool for your business. It’s crucial to find a dedicated professional copywriter with the right vision for your company, recognized clients, great work samples, and a list of result-driven writing services.