Category Archives: web copy

Business-Centric Marketing vs. Viral Marketing

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Posted by admin on October 7, 2009 – 7:26 am
Filed under Marketing Strategy, attract clients, increase online sales, online marketing, web copy

In the above video from WebProNews, Ben Huh, CEO and founder of the Cheezburger Network, describes the essential elements involved in viral marketing. The concept is to focus on your target market, not just your company. Whether you’re using your website to market to prospective customers, a television commercial, or print collatoral, it’s essential you focus on the customer and express the benefits your products / services can provide for them.

Too many times businesses put the spotlight on themselves in their web copy and other marketing materials. Customers don’t really care about how creative you are or how many awards you’ve won. What they care about is what you’re company can do for them and whether or not your products / services will fulfill their needs. When you take the focus off of yourself and shift it to your target audience, you are going to attract the clients you desire.

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?

10 Reasons Your Website Doesn’t Work

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Posted by admin on March 13, 2009 – 7:27 am
Filed under SEO, attract clients, increase online sales, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, online buying behavior, professional web design, web copy, web traffic, website navigation

Award-winning designer and owner of Bourn Creative, Jennifer Bourn, shares her top 10 website design tips:

10. You Hired Your Friend’s Kid.
You’ve heard all about how he is great with computers and is a tech genius. He took a design class in high school or maybe a couple courses at the local community college and he has done a couple websites. Your friend mentions this a few times and you see a chance to get your website done and save some money. At first you’re excited, and then you start to realize that developing a professional polished website that works isn’t as easy as you thought. Soon you’ve spent hundred of dollars and you’re unhappy. You don’t even want to tell people your have a website because you’re embarrassed. So not only did you waste your money, but you wasted your valuable, billable time and lost out of some potential new business.

9. You Used Free Do-It-Yourself Software.
You knew you needed hosting of some sort and you decided to buy it before consulting with your web designer/developer. In the process of buying hosting you saw a cool tool to design your site yourself. Awesome, right? I mean how hard can slapping together a website be? So you used the free tools, maybe took a class on HTML, or you bought a template to work on. Good for you. But then you start to wonder why the search engines aren’t finding you – in fact why no one is finding you. And you begin to wonder why your site isn’t converting visitors into customers. The bottom line? Go ahead and dabble with HTML and put together a website for fun, or learn enough to make some quick edits on the fly. But when it comes to your business, if you want a site that will attract attention, get remembered, bring in new business, and get the results you want, you should hire a professional. I mean you wouldn’t cut your hair yourself would you? Heck no! For that head-turning, double-take, fabulous cut, you go to a trusted professional.

8. You hired a Marketing/PR/Advertising Consultant Who Does Websites.
Ok. The title of this one alone sounds ludicrous. Would you hire a gardener to take care of your pool? No! Yes, they are in similar fields, but no they are not the same. Most marketing professionals who offer design services do so because to make more money. They outsource the work to a designer, mark up the project and then sell it to you. And then you’re left getting advice from a pseudo expert and the not actual expert. Plus if you hire a good designer who understands the marketing aspect, you’re duplicating costs! Now, in some cases this works great. I subcontract for select marketing professionals because I am brought in on the project from the first day and work directly with the client. The problem arises when the consultant is the intermediary. First, you must be careful your consultant is not outsourcing design work to third-world countries because they can make more money on the project with a cheap subcontractor (Remember the saying you get what you pay for). Second, you want to make sure your message, desires, goals, etc. are not getting lost in the translation from person to person. Don’t let your communications end up like the game telephone we all played as kids.

7. Your Website Design is Awful.
Kym Yancey commented from the stage at the eWomenNetwork conference in 2008, If you don’t take your business seriously, if you don’t value your business enough to have it designed by a professional visual communications expert, then how can you expect anyone else to take you seriously and value what you offer. If your website looks like it was done by a high school kid, was slapped together in a weekend or is just pain unprofessional people will not want to give you their money.

6. You Are Using A Splash Page.
Splash pages with maybe some Flash animation may have been considered cool when they first came out, but they are not anymore. If you’re using one of these on your website, you are loosing out on potential new business every day. Splash pages actually do more harm than good. They add clicks the visitor has to make to get to your information, they usually have no content the search engines can index, and they interrupt the flow of information.

5. Your Website Content is Missing.
If you have a basic website with maybe three pages and barely any content, you’re telling your visitors that you only have a site because some told you that you had to have one. You’re sending the message that you don’t think your site is worth paying attention to and you don’t really value what it can do for you, so you posted something pretty and just left it to sit there. What you need is valuable timely content the user can relate to. Deliver content they want and include information they need on a regular basis

4. Your Website is Boring.
Your site is your opportunity for you to educate visitors on why they need you, what you offer and how you can help them. Answer the questions: 1) What can you do for me and; 2) Why should I care? Make sure the content is interesting and fun and add some personal touches too. People do business with other people they trust. Use your site as a launching ground for building new relationships, invited communication and interaction and have fun doing it.

3. You Forgot SEO and Traffic Building.
You can have the most amazing, fantastic, gorgeous website design ever seen, but if no one can find the site, it was a waste of money. Don’t forget to include in your budget various Search Engine Optimization (SEO), site marketing, and traffic building techniques.

2. Your Website is Too Generic.
You can have the most amazing, fantastic, gorgeous website design ever seen, but if you don’t stand out from your competition, you will not be remembered. A pretty site is completely different from a memorable, “sticky” site that stands out among the rest. A branded site communicates a completely unique selling proposition. It communicates why you are different, what sets you apart, and why your visitors need you. The worst thing a small business is to do is compete on price and that is what your visitors will default to if you don’t give them something else to focus on.

1. Your Website Didn’t Begin at The End.
The absolute first thing you should do when planning your website is to identify the primary and secondary goals of the website. Define exactly what you want to get from completing the project, what change or difference you want to see and what action you want the visitors to take. Be sure to clearly guide your visitors to take that action by communicating with “you” communications instead of “me” communications. If you jump right into the design and development of the site without addressing these issues, it more than likely will not give you’re the return on your investment you were hoping for.

About Jennifer Bourn
Award-winning designer, Jennifer Bourn of Bourn Creative works with entrepreneurs to build their business, generate leads and make more money by effectively communicating their unique message and personality with proven marketing strategies, beautiful attention-getting design and organic search engine optimization techniques. Specializing in Internet marketing and brand development, Jennifer can not only deliver the results you want on time and in budget, but she can help you build a brand everyone else will envy. http://www.bourncreative.com/

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.

5 Steps to Attract All the Clients You Want

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Posted by admin on January 10, 2009 – 8:01 pm
Filed under Marketing Strategy, SEO copywriter, attract clients, client attraction, grow your business, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, online marketing, target market, web copy
  • Have you considered reworking your marketing message to better reach and speak to your target audience?
  • When was the last time you updated your website copy?
  • Revised your services brochure?
  • Revisited the email sales letters you regularly send?

If the answer is “It’s been a while” or “I don’t know,” then it’s time to give your marketing copy a makeover.

With the economic downturn, it’s important—now more than ever—to take a look at how you can improve your marketing message.

Why?

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.

Many companies are unaware their marketing message is driving customers away—both new and repeat business. If your current website copy or marketing materials aren’t bringing you the profits or the clients you want, the good news is that a change in your copy can drastically increase sales.

Step 1: Know Your Target Market

Before you write a word of marketing copy, you need to understand who will be buying from you. Knowing and understanding your target market is crucial for any company—from the one-person shop to the large corporation. Why? It’s simple. You can’t market effectively if you don’t know whom you are speaking to.

The key is to narrow down your target and get as specific as you can. There’s a big difference between the following:
a) My target audience is new mothers who want a career change; and
b) My target audience is new mothers in their late 30s who are interested in leaving their corporate jobs and starting their own businesses. They are married, most have master-level degrees, enjoy an active lifestyle, and are members of a gym.

Take this a step further and make a list of where your target market likes to shop and dine, what they do to relax, where they go for their information, what magazines they read on a regular basis. The more specific you get, the easier it will be to write marketing copy that will speak to and attract your target market. 

Stay tuned for Step #2 in the next blog post. If you can’t wait, check out www.webcopywritingqueen.com

Keep Your Target Market Hooked to Your Website

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Posted by admin on December 9, 2008 – 10:18 pm
Filed under Copywriting, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tip, attract clients, client attraction, market in economic crisis, online marketing, online sales, small business marketing, target market, web copy, web traffic, website navigation

Keeping your target market interested in your website can be a tricky task, but when done correctly, it can attract thousands of potential clients, increase sales, and improve business recognition. There are several elements for an effective website—elements that can create extraordinary benefits for your company.

It’s imperative for any business website to keep information and aesthetic elements fresh and updated.

No one likes to visit a site that appears neglected.

Website appearance and web copy can sometimes be a consumer’s first impression of your company. It’s important for customers to associate attentiveness and success with your business. You can establish this by keeping up with industry news, site content, and site graphics on the company website.

If customers see a website that is frequently updated, they’ll most likely make the assumption that customers will be tended to as well. It’s essential for all companies to show the customer you’re there to provide constant company updates, great customer service, and dedication to customer satisfaction. Another way to express this is to have an area on your site committed to frequently asked questions by customers, testimonials, and business contact information.

One of the greatest chances you have in keeping the attention of website viewers is through compelling and concise web copy. Address your target’s need immediately, and assure them you’re there to help. Provide them with direct benefits they’ll receive from purchasing your product / service. Your customers’ needs and how your company meets these needs should be captured in engaging and informative web copy presented on your homepage. The marketing message must capture their attention and persuade them to take the next step in purchasing from your company.

For more helpful tips on marketing in economic crisis and to learn about our many marketing services, visit Michelle Salater Writing and Editorial, LLC.

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.

Increase Holiday Sales by Revamping Your Business Website

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Posted by admin on November 25, 2008 – 7:09 pm
Filed under Marketing Tip, attract clients, client attraction, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, marketing trends, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, web traffic, website

According to the United States Census Bureau, e-commerce sales have increased 5.7% during the 3rd quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

With the holiday season upon us, now is the perfect time to ramp up your online selling efforts.

The holidays mean prime time for shoppers to surf the web with credit card in hand. More people are shopping online to save gas, view various products from competitors at the same time, save time driving to the store, and looking for the best deal. Having full confidence in a well-crafted, effective, informative, and easy-to-use website is a must.

Even though the holiday season promotes increased consumerism, many business owners are still uncertain about generating marketing strategies during this economic downfall. Don’t allow the unstable economy to deter you from improving online marketing strategies and website promotion. If anything, it should improve your marketing efforts.

It’s an important time to place your company in the spotlight and to show customers you’re still successful when times are turbulent.

Tips on how to increase conversions, SEO, customer loyalty, and industry recognition with an effective website during the holiday season: 

·       Offer discounts on purchases and / or shipping in an obvious location on your homepage. When people see slashed prices, they’ll more likely stay on your site to shop.

·       Make sure your web copy is fresh and up-to-date with company goals, policies, products / services, and industry news. Effective web copy—copy that generates desire and calls the viewer to act—should not be overlooked. Web copy is as important as the design of the site. It’s worth the extra money to find a professional web copywriter who will get your exact message across in the most effective way possible.

·       Reevaluate website navigation. Make sure your website is user-friendly, unambiguous, and speedy. Being unique with your website navigation can backfire since it may confuse customers on where certain information is on your site. Be concise and to the point when it comes to navigation.   

For more tips on how to market your business, sign up for Your Business Marketing Solution, a biweekly ezine filled with marketing stats, news, and tips.

 

 

How to Grab Your Target Market Online

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Posted by admin on November 25, 2008 – 12:55 am
Filed under Copywriting, Marketing Tip, client attraction, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, online marketing, small business marketing, target market, web copy, web traffic, website, website navigation

When creating or revamping your website, set aside your personal tastes. Instead, think about what your target market wants to see and know. They’re the ones who have to get something out of it in order for you to gain profits. Your website must speak to your target market and grab their attention within the first five seconds of their arrival to the site.

How to grab your target market in those first crucial seconds and keep them:

·       Use words, phrases, and a tone they’re familiar with and that speak to their wants and needs. Web copy is essential in gaining client interest and keeping them on your site. Quick and witty web copy attracts a much different clientele than smooth and seductive copy. Know what style will appeal to your target market and focus web copy around it.

 

·       The personality of your website must be attractive and satisfy a need your target market has. For example, if you own a luxury destination spa, your site design should look much different from a teen clothing company’s site. A sumptuous spa website needs to exude a feeling of lavishness in pictures and essence. It should appear calming, with photos inducing a sense of tranquility, accompanied by soothing colors and maybe even peaceful music in the background.

 

·       Visitors like to see a fresh website with web copy and design updates, news updates, company improvements and changes. This shows potential clients your company is constantly working to gain customers and is up-to-date with advances in the industry.

 

·       A user-friendly website is an absolute must. Potential customers will move to a competitor’s site as soon as they are frustrated and lost in navigating your site. Be simple, obvious, informative, and to the point.

Hiring a professional web copy writer can get your website on track and increase sales. Visit Michelle Salater Writing and Editorial, LLC, to learn more about our many result-driven writing services.