Category Archives: website

Sell Yourself with a Website

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Posted by admin on July 31, 2008 – 2:01 am
Filed under Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Uncategorized, online marketing, web traffic, website

Websites are extremely beneficial to authors. Say you’re shopping your novel. Give agents and editors your web address, and they can easily find you online, read your bio, view your previous work and awards, and learn more about you. You can only put so much in that query letter, and your website can sell you a lot better than a one-paragraph bio. 

 

Agents and editors are looking for writers with marketability. A professional website shows them that you are serious. It says that you know how to connect with people, that you are a go-getter and won’t sit back and expect someone to do it for you.

 

Laura Benedict, author of Isabella Moon (Ballantine Books, 2007), wasted no time in creating an online presence. Within two weeks of signing a two-book contract, she hired a designer to create her website, http://www.laurabenedict.com. 

 

“There is a mythology built up among writers that a big publishing house will do all kinds of promotions for its authors,” says Benedict. “While that may be true for some very big names, it is not true for the vast majority of a house’s authors.”

 

“I do not regret one dime I’ve spent on web promotion,” she says. “My website is unique, and it presents a professional, public face for me that a publishing house could not give me if it tried.”

 

And publishers know this.

 

For the freelance magazine writer, having a website is a great place to market yourself and your work to potential editors. It also makes the querying process a lot less messy. No more attachments. Simply query with a link to your samples.

 

In early 2007, I decided to build my own website to display my magazine feature samples, my resume, and my bio. The challenge was to create a site that was professional, easy to navigate, and captured my personality. I figured the last thing an editor wants to see is a boring writer.

 

And I was right. But the results weren’t what I expected; the benefits of building a website surpassed my expectations. Not only did I sell more magazine jobs, but editors also started to call me. Yes, you read that correctly. Editors looking for solid, experienced writers in the Charleston area googled “freelance writer Charleston” and up popped my website. I even had a small publishing house call and hire me to write a coffee-table book on Charleston.

 

**The above is an excerpt from the article “Why an Online Presence Is Vital to Your Writing Career,” which was published recently in the Missouri Writers’ Guild newsletter.  

Are You Sure Customers and Businesses Can Contact You?

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Posted by admin on July 25, 2008 – 11:34 pm
Filed under Business Communication, Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, web traffic, website, website navigation

One of my biggest pet peeves is going to a website, which contains minimal contact information.

The internet is too vital a place to neglect this important information, as virtually all people use some aspect of the internet to communicate with others. It’s crucial to give customers options for contacting your company.

Customers love options because it allows them to choose the most convenient way for them to contact your company. Many people use email everyday, and it might be easier for them to send your company an email with an inquiry, comment, or suggestion rather than picking up the phone and waiting through a recorded message and being on hold for five or ten minutes.

Items that should be on your “contact us” page:

·       STAFF: I can’t tell you how many websites don’t have a list of their most important staff members listed. This is important because it adds a personal flare to your company and allows the customer to feel as though they are contacting an actual person and not just a company. People may be discouraged from contacting your company via email if they do not have a specific name or title to use.  

·       PHONE NUMBER: Provide a phone number for those who want questions answered immediately and who want to speak directly with a person.

·       EMAIL ADDRESS: Provide an email address for general questions and staff email addresses for more specific inquiries and comments.

·       MESSAGE FORM: Provide a form so that the customer can fill in questions and comments right there and not go through the trouble of creating an email. A message form should have boxes for customers to fill in their name, company name, cell or business number, email address, and their questions or comments.

·        EMAIL AND MESSAGE FORM COMBO: Sounds like a meal at a fast-food place, doesn’t it? An email address and message form would add even more options for your customers to contact you. 

Want more small business marketing advice? Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips and informative articles.

 

How-to Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Website

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Posted by admin on July 14, 2008 – 8:26 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, ezines, increase site traffic, online articles, online marketing, press releases, small business marketing, web traffic, website
Every company wants more website traffic. Here are a few tips to get your numbers up and get more customers. Three tips to drive more traffic to your website:
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1) Place or swap ads with other ezines in your niche
Seek out other ezines in your niche whose publishers might be interested in swapping ads. In addition to, or instead of swapping ads, you could also purchase ad space in an ezine in your niche that has a large circulation. If you pay to place an ad, for the best results, run it for a minimum of three consecutive issues.
2) Write articles and post them online
An excellent way to drive traffic to your site. It’s simple: write an article that offers people useful information. Often times, people will use these articles in their ezines or post them as content on their websites. People read online articles and click the link to your website provided in the author bio box.
3) Write a press release
Press releases are another way of getting targeted traffic to your site. It’s important that the release be newsworthy and not an advertisement / plug for your service or product. There are numerous press release directories online where you can post for free. Also, don’t forget the power of your local media. Research the proper person at local papers and magazines, then send them a release.

Integrating Your Business

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Posted by admin on July 11, 2008 – 11:24 pm
Filed under Marketing, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online advertising, online marketing, small business marketing, website
Ways to integrate yourself into the online community:
• Write a blog and comment on other blogs
• Post audio and video on Youtube and look at other Youtube videos related to ones you post
• Take videos and photos of your products or services and post them on a photo sharing site (Flickr or Buzznet)
• Join a website that allows users to post reviews for local businesses, such as yelp.com
• Join a social bookmarking site, such as del.icio.us or stumbleupon.com
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Two great ways to get more traffic to your site is through www.yelp.com and www.stumbleupon.com. These two social media sites, although slightly different, can easily integrate you into various online communities.

Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips, market trends, and informative articles.  

 

Double Sales with Web Copy

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Posted by admin on July 8, 2008 – 3:13 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Small Business, Uncategorized, online advertising, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, website, website navigation

Selling products and services online can be a tricky task. Don’t shy away from it though because it could be the most effective way to sell your products, doubling and even tripling sales.  

The key element in online sales is to know how to promote your products in the best light. One of the greatest problems small companies have with their websites is a lack of traffic. Translation: there are not enough potential customers viewing their products or services online.
 
Many of the sites having these problems are ones created by companies that have only a basic knowledge of web design and web copy. A website with a few pictures and a couple of words describing a company and its products isn’t going to cut it.When people visit a website, they are attracted by the aesthetics of the site, such as layout, design, and photos. People reach these sites by typing keywords or phrases into their favorite search engines or clicking on links from other sites.

Websites with effective web copy will bring these people into their sites from search engines, increasing traffic. Once potential consumers are at a site, their attention must be grabbed immediately with the words, also known as web copy. These words can persuade a viewer to make a purchase from your site, subscribe to a newsletter, subscribe to an RSS feed, and or bookmark your site.

The harsh truth is, if a customer’s attention is not grabbed within the first few seconds of viewing a site, he or she is on to the next one that will keep his / her attention and evoke a response.

Web copy is also important in promoting navigation through the site. Your goal is to have the viewer click on certain links, such as contact information, newsletter subscriptions, and the company’s blog. You need to have well-written web copy to motivate viewers to further investigate your site.If your company isn’t getting the traffic you need to further your business, then it would be a good idea for you to hire a copywriter. Many freelance copywriters who specialize in web copy. Copywriters investigate the most beneficial ways of marketing your company and design web copy to reach the right target market, pushing more traffic to your site.

What a good copywriter will do for you:

• Create a profile for your target market
• Utilize key words in the web copy (tags and links) that will push your site to the top of search engines
• Write a smooth and fresh web copy that contains no fillers, just vital information
• Create a personal and approachable style of writing, which connects to the viewer
• Put a creative spin on your marketing approach, making your site stand out above others
• Edit the web copy, so there are no mistakes

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Drive Traffic With an Ezine

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Posted by admin on June 23, 2008 – 8:44 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online marketing, small business marketing, website

Ezines are a great way to drive traffic to your website. Writing ezines can establish credibility because it shows your target market the span of knowledge you have toward a product or service you are trying to promote. Ezines are successful because when customers sign up to receive them, they give you permission to contact them via email.  The more subscribers you have, the more products and services you will sell. Ezines are a great tool for familiarizing your customers with the products and services your company has to offer. They are ways to promote your knowledge of business, products, services, demands, and the marketing world. Tips, “How To’s,” lists, and articles are great ways to inform the viewer about what your company does.  
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Ezines are becoming a popular way for many companies to gain customers because it’s inexpensive and it’s free for the subscriber. Be informative and creative so that clients begin to trust your words of wisdom and put more faith in your company. Don’t have time to write an ezine? Hire a copywriter to do it for you. Ezines are so important in building your clientele and are great ways to pass updated information to consumers. A copywriter helps to eliminate the burden of trying to reach out to the most people while being creative at the same time.
 
 
 

 

No Time To Write a Blog? No Problem.

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Posted by admin on June 20, 2008 – 7:45 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Small Business, marketing trends, online marketing, small business marketing, social networking, website

Small business owners often take on more work than they can handle. The little things always seem to take an hour or more and it’s too easy to get behind. The progression of the internet has provided more options to market a company with the use of audio, video, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, email, articles, etc. One person is incapable of performing all of these functions for his or her website . . . at least not without going crazy.  

What is the best option for minimizing the amount of work one has to do without eliminating media that will benefit marketing for a company? 

The answer: Hire a copywriter. 

An excellent way to use a copywriter to a company’s benefit is to hire a professional to write blogs. Blogs are rising in popularity, and many companies are utilizing them to share new products, ideas, services, and offer an area for customers to comment. These comments allow potential customers to get an idea of what other consumers think of a product or service. Comment areas can also be used by potential clients to ask questions about a particular product or service and can serve as a guide for what the topic will be for the next blog.

Blogs are often times overlooked by a company because owners do not have the time to post three to four blogs a week. Avoid overlooking this important commodity by hiring a copywriter to write a blog. A copywriter will persuade your customers to be active with your company through their knowledge of the target market.

Blogs are conversational in nature and allow customers to feel a stronger personal connection with a company. Copywriters use creative ways of developing this connection and can express this through blog writing. Hire one now and get more time to do the other things you have been putting off.

Do you have questions about how a copywriter can help your business? Contact Michelle Salater Writing & Editorial to learn more.

 

 

 

Website Navigation: The Key to Gaining Customers

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Posted by admin on June 19, 2008 – 4:23 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online advertising, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, website, website navigation

The main goal of your company’s website is to initially attract the potential customer to the web copy. Web copy is placed on the homepage of your site, and from there a viewer must click on tabs in the tool bar to navigate to other areas of your site.

CAUTION: This is where many businesses lose their customers. Easy navigation is crucial. Eliminating any ambiguity about where to look for information within a site is important.

Easy navigation tips:
• Homepages are used as the link between all the tabs. It’s the place people will return to as the easy way to navigate to other tabs.
• Tabs need to guide visitors to information they are looking for quickly. Therefore, be specific and clear.
• Tool bar should be obvious at the top or left side of each homepage.
• Drop down menus from tabs are a great way to show viewers what information they will come across from clicking on that tab.
• Pictures can be used next to a word in the tab bar to better illustrate the information it will provide and to add visual aesthetics to your site.
• All parts of the site can be reached by using the links on the homepage.

Important tabs for navigational bars:
• About Us
• Contact Us
• About Our Products and Services

Being creative on a site can be beneficial for the customer because it adds more “zest” to your company, but when it comes to navigation tab titles, try to be as generic and clear as possible. Once the customer becomes confused about what your tabs provide, he or she will already be looking at a competitor’s site. This is easy to avoid, so don’t lose customers to something this simple.

Make it simple. Make it fast. Make it clear. Make it work. 

 

Want more marketing tips? Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips, market trends, and informative articles.

A Credo of Values Is Essential in Any Successful Business

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Posted by admin on June 16, 2008 – 4:01 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online advertising, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, website

One of the greatest strengths a company can utilize in order to gain new customers and keep current ones is through strong company values and a clear credo. Websites are a great source for consumers to learn about your products and services. They are also an excellent way to convey what your business stands for.

Consumers want to know that your company is advertising truthfully and ethically. Many businesses use puffery and deception in their advertising, which leads customers to be dissatisfied and unwilling to make repeat purchases. If you clearly convey that you care about the consumer and establish personal values, potential customers will be more likely to buy again from you as well as refer other customers to your products or services.

Repeat customers benefit your business because they cost less to attract than new customers and they require less service, while buying more. As a small business owner, you must first gain the customer’s trust in your company—a tactic many businesses disregard or place at the bottom of their lists for attracting customers.

Things to emphasize in your credo:
*Empathy and compassion towards the consumer’s wants and needs
*Effort to keep costs low and establish practical prices  

*Benefits your company wishes to gain from doing business with consumers

*Internal and external goals of your company
*Customer service satisfaction

*Care you provide for your employees both on a personal level and in the work environment

The important thing when creating a credo of values is to include information about your company—information that people would not know from just purchasing your product or service. Consumers like to be let in on internal business affairs, such as your ideas for new products, purchasing, merging, etc. The more you let your customers know about your company, the more they will feel a part of it and trust the goods and services you can provide for them.

More Tips:

1. Don’t put your credo in a place that is difficult to find on your site. Place it under the category “About Us” or “About Our Company.”
2. Brochures, email marketing, and press releases are other excellent ways to express your values and are not to be overlooked.

 

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Why Hiring a Ghostwriter is Beneficial to Your Marketing Strategy

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Posted by admin on June 13, 2008 – 7:27 pm
Filed under Business Goals, Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online advertising, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, website

Ghostwriting is extremely beneficial for any business. Ghostwriters will take your idea about a book, article, or blog and write a clean and thorough form of this idea on paper.

If you’re a small business owner and don’t have great writing talent or the time, a ghostwriter will credit you with his/her talent. Usually ghostwriters will record interviews with their clients and edit the material.

Ghostwriting can be beneficial for marketing your services or product if you know what you want to say but don’t know how to say it. Writer’s block happens on a daily basis and it consumes a lot of time. Ghostwriters will cut that time down, saving you the agony of thinking of a creative and thorough way to get your idea across.

Why hire a ghostwriter?

  1. You don’t have the time to write.
  2. You don’t have the skills necessary.
  3. You know what to say, but don’t know how to word it.

Ghostwriters are plentiful these days and easy to find. Save yourself the time and distress. Hire a ghostwriter to write letters, articles, material for your website, books, autobiographies, virtually anything.

 

Do you have questions about how a ghostwriter can help your business? Contact Michelle Salater Writing & Editorial to learn more.