It’s that time of year again: time to look back at the previous year and the great ideas that were generated in the areas of copywriting and online marketing. I regularly peruse the blogosphere for articles on copywriting and online marketing, and this list represents the best of the best that I read in 2011–truly helpful, insightful articles about how to take your copywriting and online marketing to the next level. This “must-read” list includes pieces on such key topics as website copywriting, brand building, clarity, and content management. I urge you to read all those that pique your interest. Happy reading, and happy 2012!

1. 125 Tips for Building an Irresistible Brand (Copyblogger)

Summary: 125 questions to ask when building a brand. Divided into sections about brainstorming and implementing.

My 2 Cents: Branding is virtually inseparable from writing and online marketing. You must have a robust brand to use as you market your company and develop content to support promotional efforts. Because your brand provides a platform for how you interact with customers and prospects, establishing one is foundational for sharing your offerings with the world.

Read It Because: Creating a brand is not a simple task, but this post provides many excellent ideas for tackling it.

2. Five Copywriting Errors That Can Ruin a Company’s Website (Smashing Magazine)

Summary: Website mistakes that can impede, rather than further marketing objectives.

My 2 Cents: I love how the author of this post put it: “All too often, content is handled as an afterthought, hurriedly completed to meet a project’s deadline.” When you rush a writing job, it’s too easy to lose track of your purpose (converting site visitors to customers) for the sake of “getting something up there.”

Read It Because: This post offers thorough, clear tips on correcting errors that even experienced website copywriters sometimes make.

3. 26 Ways to Enhance Your Blog Content (Social Media Examiner)

Summary: An in-depth list of tips for making your blog the best it can be.

My 2 Cents: Blogging is central to many online marketing plans, and can be useful for a variety of uses, including building community, sharing expertise, improving SEO, and generating leads. But, no matter why you blog, readers are always key. Improving your blog will only improve reader experience, and better your chances of meeting your blog-focused marketing goals.

Read It Because: This post is presented in an A to Z format, and offers valuable advice for each of the 26 letters. It addresses both writing and mechanics, touching on such topics as keywords, voice, comments, headings, and readability.

4. Internet Marketing Basics: 10 Tried and Tested Tips Plus 1 (Level343)

Summary: A basic guide to internet marketing for beginners, but also a refresher for those who have been doing it for awhile.

My 2 Cents: As the author puts it, “When you put your business online, you have to act as if you have no ‘brick and mortar’.” And you have to know the principles that make online marketing different from offline marketing. Understanding these ideas will help you with one of the most important pieces of every type of marketing: planning.

Read It Because: How easy would it be if we could take our traditional marketing efforts and simply “convert” them to an online version? Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way; online marketing is a separate activity, and it’s smart to learn (and occasionally review) the basics.

5. Job One: Be Clear (UpWrite Press)

Summary: A discussion of the importance of clear writing, and a summary of the Plain Writing Act of 2010.

My 2 Cents: While the Plain Writing Act was designed for government employees, clear writing is important for everyone, especially business writers. With so much information out there, your readers are less tolerant of writing that is muddy or meandering, or doesn’t quickly get to the point.

Read It Because: The guidelines for plain writing are a great reminder, even for experienced writers, of what it means to write in a way that readers can easily understand.

6. Creating Valuable Content: A Step-by-Step Checklist (Aha Media Group)

Summary: A checklist to help you make sure each piece of content you put out is findable, readable, understandable, actionable, and shareable.

My 2 Cents: You can develop all the great content in the world, but if it is not well thought-out and well executed, then it probably won’t help you meet your marketing goals. If you’re not already, get in the habit of thinking about the mechanics of a piece, not just the information it presents. Before creating any content, be sure to think about where it will be distributed and how you want it to be used.

Read It Because: This smart, thorough checklist will help you before, during, and after you write each piece of content.

7. 20 Easy Ways to Generate New Blog Topics (eReleases)

Summary: From Twitter alerts to trade publications to “taking inspiration from daily life,” this post offers many useful ideas for overcoming Blank Page Syndrome.

My 2 Cents: If you write content on any kind of consistent basis, you know that, no matter how carefully you’ve planned, it’s inevitable that at at some point you will run out of topics. And, even if you don’t, it’s smart to have a supply of fresh ideas, in case one of yours doesn’t work out, or to replace one that went stale by the time you got to it.

Read It Because: While this post is about blog ideas, its solid suggestions can be used to generate ideas for any type of content you might be thinking of developing.

8. Own Your Content. And Keep Grizzly Bears at Bay. (Brain Traffic)

Summary: An argument for content ownership and maintenance.

My 2 Cents: So much emphasis is placed on content development that we forget that content lives on after it’s been deployed. The author of this post entertainingly likens content maintenance to truck maintenance, which turns out to be an apt analogy. A year after your blog post has been published, it can still be found online. But is it still meeting your marketing goals? The practice of content maintenance ensures that you can make sure all your content stays fresh and relevant.

Read It Because: You need to be convinced that all content needs an owner.

9. The Five Worst Ways to Title a Blog Post (Problogger)

Summary: Advice to NOT follow when titling your next blog post.

My 2 Cents: Titles are key, because they attract readers to your blog posts, and other content. So they need to be compelling, but they also need to be accurate. They can be clever, but not at the expense of clarity. And they should never promise anything that your content doesn’t deliver.

Read It Because: Other people have already made these titling mistakes, so you don’t have to.

10. 100 Whimsical Words (DailyWritingTips)

Summary: A list of 100 words you’ll definitely want to work into your conversation or writing.

My 2 Cents: A big part of writing is personality and voice. Not to mention that it can get dull using the same old words all the time. A list like this can give you synonyms for some of your worn-out favorites, introduce you to new concepts, and maybe even give you an idea or two for a new post or article.

Read it Because: It’s FUN! You’ll find old favorites like “ragamuffin,” “hoodwink,” and “doohickey,” but also some you might not be familiar with, including “effluvium,” “farrago,” and, one of my personal favorites, “perspicacious.”

Do you have other suggestions for helpful copywriting and online marketing articles from 2011? Let us know in the comments!

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter and grant writer who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need assistance with your copywriting or online marketing? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. 10 Must-read Copywriting and Online Marketing Blog Posts From 2010
2. 5 Ways to Use Articles for Marketing
3. Tips for Successful Copywriting on a Marketing Team

This month’s post is from guest blogger Nadia Jones. Nadia offers some great reasons for breaking out of the business writing bubble and helpful tips for stretching your creative writing muscles.

Let’s face it. As professional writers, whether you’re a copywriter, a technical writer, or a general corporate writer, you most likely got into the business so you could pay the bills as you wrote the next American novel on the side. If you weren’t aspiring towards greater heights in fiction, you wanted to be the next Charles Bukowski or the Robert Frost of your generation. But with a seasoned (or budding) career in professional writing, the prospect of writing creatively for the sake of pure enjoyment might seem farfetched, if not time consuming.

Work and time constraints notwithstanding, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of cultivating a healthy relationship with your creative writing ambitions. It exercises imaginative proclivities in your mind that may not be realized during regular work writing assignments. Creative writing allows you to approach writing uninhibited by guidelines, word counts, keywords, etc. Even small forays in the form of short stories, brief poems, or even sketching out TV show pilots will work wonders on your writing in and out of the office.

Keep a notebook to jot down ideas.

We all have great ideas that flash in our minds during the writing process, but we usually dismiss the ideas as soon as they come if they don’t pertain to the work at hand. In order to give yourself ample ideas to work with when you attempt writing creatively, I recommend having a small journal or notebook handy at all times to log ideas to be developed later. Say you’re working on some copy for a tech blog, when all of the sudden you envision a character and setting for a story. Take about a minute or two to write as much as you can about the character and setting for the story in your idea log, writing as descriptively as possible so you’ll better remember your idea when you come back to it.

This seems like an obvious tip, but soon you’ll find that writing out your ideas as they come to you encourages you to think more creatively. Putting your ideas to paper gives them more legitimacy; you may not ever remember an idea if you simply make a mental note of it and move on with your day. And if you can, try to make your idea journal a real bound notebook. I find that my most creative writing occurs when I’m using old fashioned pen and paper rather than typing on a computer.

Set aside time to flesh out ideas.

Once you’ve logged away several ideas, set aside some time to investigate those ideas for a potential work of fiction/poetry. If your work schedule leaves you exhausted and drained at the end of every weekday, you might want to consider setting aside time to write in the morning. Morning writing may sound immensely unappealing, but it’s the time in the day when you’re at your most refreshed and rested. You’ll be surprised at your progress if you set aside a mere 20-30 minutes every other morning to write. Your logged ideas should save you from facing the terrible blank page without any inspiration to draw from; just pick an idea that seems appealing to you at the time and get to work on it. You might feel self conscious about your efforts at first, but press on and write as if no one is watching you (because no one is). Eventually you’ll become more comfortable with writing and developing your ideas, plots, and characters.

Approach writing with a fresh set of eyes.

Creative writing will give your brain a break from the usual writing that you carry out during your day time job. I’m sure every professional writer can relate to feeling a little burned out on the job; some industry professionals write the same formulaic content day after day, with little opportunity to put a unique stylistic spin on the material.  Your writing mind could use the stimulation offered by some out of the box writing. What’s more, your personal writing endeavors could affirm your own writing abilities and encourage you to continue developing your technique. Perhaps you can work out your material to the point where you could shop your work around for publication. But even if your attempts at fiction don’t make it beyond a spiral notebook, at least you’ll be giving yourself a chance to stretch your creative muscles beyond the limiting parameters of your day job. And whenever you approach another monotonous writing assignment at work, you can rest assured that you have a host of fantastic ideas to write on at home.

About the Author: This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at accredited online colleges about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. How to Choose the Right Writer
2. Guest Post for Red Kite Creative: How to Write Content for Your Own Website
3. How to Find and Use the Right Writing Tone

Even a mediocre copywriter knows how to analyze his audience to ensure what he writes is relevant to his readers. But, many mediocre–and even expert–writers forget to take into consideration an even higher-level concern: whether the audience is composed of consumer or business customers. Determine whether you need to do business-to-business (B2B) copywriting or business-to-consumer (B2C) copywriting, as this decision will shape the direction of your marketing piece, and even your entire campaign.

It’s easy to understand why this step is often overlooked. After all, both individuals and those who make purchases on behalf of companies are people, right? Yes, but they are people with very different purchasing challenges, motivations, trust filters, and processes. Use the following tips to ensure you have this critical component covered.

Understand the similarities…

Both consumer and business customers make purchases because they’re trying to solve a problem or fulfill a need. Both are motivated by varying degrees of emotions and logic. Both need to be convinced of your credibility. And, both go through a purchasing process. Let’s take a look at each of these factors….

…and the differences.

Challenges

Consumers come to the marketplace with individual, household, or community-minded challenges, such as, “I need my teeth to be not only clean, but also white,” “It’s time for a new roof,” or, “It’s my household’s turn to host the annual block party.” Business representatives, on the other hand, have business-related challenges, such as, “We need to hit next quarter’s revenue goals,” “Productivity is low,” or, “Our marketing efforts aren’t generating enough new clients.”

Motivations

Consumers are motivated by things like comfort, security, status, and convenience. Business customers are motivated by an increase in profit, productivity, exposure, and market share. In decision-making, consumers tend to bring more emotion into the process, while business customers use more of a problem-solving approach.

Trust

Individual consumers will trust you if your products or services are used by people they know; your packaging appeals to them; and you provide personalized customer service. Business customers will trust you if you are recommended or referred by others they do business with; you provide the information they need to help them make an informed buying decision; and you indicate you are prepared to do business on a relational, not just transactional basis.

Purchasing Process

The purchasing process for a consumer may look something like this: Susan is standing in front of the rows of toothpaste at her neighborhood grocery store. She knows she wants something that will whiten as well as clean her teeth. She starts with the brand she already uses and scans the packaging to see if they have a whitening formula. They do, but she checks the other brands to compare prices. Her original brand has the lowest prices, so she grabs a box and adds it to her shopping cart. This process might have taken less than one minute.

For a business, the process may look more like this: The same woman, Susan, in her role as Executive Assistant for a CEO of an electronics manufacturer, at the request of her boss, researches marketing agencies to create a new website for the company. She narrows it down to companies that are local, and that have worked with electronics firms in the past, and carefully reviews their websites, including their portfolios and approaches to make sure they match other important criteria, such as a capacity to eventually become an outsourced marketing department. She presents her findings to her boss, Kelly, who thanks her, and tosses the paperwork into her “to-do” file, where it sits for several months.

Kelly is cleaning out her email in-box one day, finds a message pertaining to the website matter, and rifles through her to-do file to find the paperwork. She asks Susan to set up meetings with each of the marketing agencies identified. With her busy schedule, Kelly has limited time to meet with the agencies, and the meetings are completed several weeks later.

The choices are narrowed down to two candidates. Now the accounting department is consulted to ensure the company can afford these services (based on the return on investment they hope to see), and the executive team is consulted about expectations of the finished website. While the details are being ironed out, one of the agencies goes out of business, and the other one informs Kelly and Susan they are booked solid for several months out. Kelly asks Susan to do some more research, and, after almost a year, the whole process starts over again.

After another several more weeks, a suitable vendor is finally identified and hired.

I hope you caught these key purchasing process differences:

1. One decision maker versus many
2. Brief versus lengthy buying cycle
3. Response to different input: packaging and benefits versus information and “fit”
4. Consideration of price versus value

Recognize that you may have several audiences.

The business purchase example above is complex, and could be even more so. In large companies, some purchases have to be approved by several layers of management, each with their own concerns and preferences. With B2B copywriting, your job is to identify them all and provide information that could lead at any point to a sale.

But, here’s the tricky part: Upper levels of management may never look at your materials (website, white paper, data sheet). Instead, others (marketing department, admins, HR) may represent you to those who have the final say. So, you need to provide the right information for others within a company to advocate for you with decision-makers. The key here is to provide information that addresses each audience that might be viewing your materials, and each audience that might need to convince others of your value.

Provide the right types of information.

With B2B copywriting, the focus should be on education. Give readers the opportunity to learn about you with less hype and more facts than you would use when writing for consumers. Consider developing the following types of documents:

• Data sheets with little fluff and lots of straightforward facts and figures about features and benefits.
• Websites and brochures that include specific information about how your product or service addresses your reader’s specific problem or challenge.
• Case studies showcasing how you have helped others.
• White papers describing a superior back-end technology or process used by your company
• Ebooks that demonstrate your company’s expertise

These documents should be written with a professional tone, as opposed to the casual tone you might use with B2C copywriting. They should play on emotion, but rely more on logical ideas. Use simple language to get the point across quickly and directly.

Deliver fresh content.

Because of the lengthy buying cycle for B2B customers, there may be a period in which they are getting to know you. Use this time to strengthen the relationship by regularly updating your blog, interacting through social media, and publishing fresh white papers and case studies.

Did I miss anything about B2B copywriting? What has worked well for you? Let us know in the comments.

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need assistance with your B2B copywriting? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. How Credible Is Your Copy?
2. Tips for Successful Copywriting on a Marketing Team
3. Business Writing: When NOT to DIY

I recently finished reading Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works, by Janice Redish. I was impressed with the book, and feel it has much to offer anyone who develops Web content. Here’s the rundown of what you’ll find:

The Quick & Dirty

Overall, I found Letting Go of the Words to be highly useful and educational. The topic of usability is hot these days, and this book ties in well with it. The author helps readers understand what they can do as Web content writers to make websites easier to use. In short, this book does a great job of helping readers understand how writing for the Web is different, and why we should care.

What I Liked

This book does a clear and thorough job of explaining the reasoning behind Web content writing strategies. The author introduces us to HOW people use the Web, and what they expect to find there. She points out: “Most uses of the web are for gathering information or doing tasks, not for the pleasure of reading” (page 3) (emphasis added). So, we must create content accordingly by making it easy for people to get their questions answered, and get the information they need.

In order to know what types of tasks and information readers will want when they visit your site, you must know something about them, and typical scenarios that bring them to your site. Redish conceptualizes Web content as conversations people want to start with you. For example, “My husband’s birthday is next week. What kind of gift would a Trekkie like him enjoy?” You should be ready to continue those conversations in the most helpful way possible.

Redish uses several chapters to help readers understand the components of effective home pages, as well as what she calls “pathway pages” and, finally, information pages.

Other useful information includes when to use PDFs; how to “layer” your information for easy reader understanding; using lists, tables, headings, and links; and making good use of editors and reviewers.

Clear, colorful illustrations and examples throughout the book help to illustrate these points beautifully.

What I Disliked

There wasn’t much to dislike about this book, but a couple chapters seemed out of place to me: “Designing Your Web Pages for Easy Use” is about Web page design. While some content developers may also be designers, many aren’t, and the book would have been stronger without this section. I’m not saying it was poorly written or contained useless information.  Just that it might have been more appropriate for another book. “Using Illustrations Effectively” is another example of a section that contains helpful information, but that doesn’t quite fit with the overall topic. Because some elements of design and illustration are relevant to content developers, these two chapters could have best been combined into a brief one on “graphic considerations for Web writers.”

The only other problem I found is that there is little mention of SEO in this book. It was published in 2007, and I’m not sure about the history of SEO, but it’s one topic that I feel would have made the book more complete. After developing a high level of respect for Redish as a result of reading Letting Go of the Words, I would be very interested to know her thoughts on effectively incorporating keywords into Web content.

Who Should Read This Book & Why

Naturally, content developers should read this book, as it provides very complete information. Anyone reading this book would be well equipped to start writing Web content, or improve their existing skills. Letting Go of the Words could be useful for others as well, including designers, programmers, content owners, and anyone else who works with Web content writers. Having this background information would eliminate some of the conflicts that arise when these parties work together. For example, a content owner might want lengthy descriptions or her product; yet good Web content writing means using brief “chunks” of information. The content owner would understand why after reading the book.

Final Comments

As a Web user, I’m always dismayed to find poorly executed Web content, which it is still all too easy to do. Clearly, many Web writers have not yet caught on to  the fact that writing for the Web is different from writing they’ve done in the past. As its title implies Letting Go of the Words truly provides a terrific foundation for Writing Web Content that Works!

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? What are some of your strategies for writing web content that works? Let us know in the comments.

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need assistance writing web content that works? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. Writing an E-book to Showcase Your Expertise
2. How to Get the Most Mileage From Your Content
3. Tips for Writing a Nonfiction Book

Writing a good press release is not hard, but there are specific conventions you should understand and follow.

Think Like a Reporter

A reporter’s job is to find newsworthy information to share so readers will purchase or view their publication. You can make a reporter’s job easier by writing a good press release that provides the foundation of such information. When you offer this valuable information, it’s a win-win-win: The reporter gets the information she needs to build a compelling story; readers get news they can use; and you get publicity for your organization or company.

Part of thinking like a reporter is knowing what makes information “newsworthy.” It’s easy to think that everything your organization or company does is newsworthy. However, things like simply coming out with a new product or service are not. Yet, a new product or service likely to change readers’ lives or somehow tied to a celebrity, recent trend, or upcoming holiday just might be worth sharing. PR Fuel provides a great list of newsworthy press release topic ideas.

Get to the Point

Reporters are busy people who work under tight deadlines, so don’t waste their time building up to your news. Part of writing a good press release is letting reporters know immediately exactly why they should consider your story. Use the first paragraph to summarize your story and convey why it deserves to be shared.

Provide Additional Details

After the first paragraph, provide additional details that help reporters imagine how they would build the story for their readers. In writing a good press release, consider including the following information:

• What readers can expect from the product, program, or event
• Background information
• Direct quotes from people in the know
• How to get involved

Tell Who You Are

Include more about your business: a brief history, what products or services you provide, customer examples, how you’re different from your competitors, and contact details. This information is commonly known as boilerplate text. It can be used for various purposes, whenever you need to include basic company data.

Use Proper Formatting

Reporters are used to seeing press releases formatted in a particular way. Follow standard formatting (see diagram below) to make your press release more likely to be considered. Keep your press release to under one page and be sure to include these other formatting elements:

• Date – Current date
• Contact info – Make it easy for reporters to reach you on their schedule
• Title – Summarize and draw attention to the story
• Location – The “where” of your story
• The 5 Ws and 1 H – Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How
• Details – Information for people who want to know more
• Company or organization information
• Hashmarks to indicate the end of the press release

Press Release Format

What do you consider to be some other keys to writing a good press release? Let us know in the comments.

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need assistance with writing a good press release? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

No related posts.

When I talk to people about my work, they often ask how I know what to write when dealing with industries, companies, products, and services I initially know very little about. My response is, “I ask a lot of questions.” The follow-up response is typically, “Yes, but how do you know what questions to ask?”

Last year I wrote a blog post on just that topic: How to Ask the Right Questions. Since writing it, and talking to several people lately about the art of asking questions, I have come up with some additional tips worthy of their own post. Here they are:

Begin With the End in Mind

When starting a writing assignment, you usually know what type of document you want to end up with: a blog post, a brochure, a case study. Right there, the questions you ask can be narrowed. For example, with a blog post, you will want to ask something like, “What is the most important thing readers will want to know about this topic?” or “What do readers have difficulty with regarding this topic?” While a blog post is meant to narrow a topic, something like a white paper is meant to expand on it, so you might ask your subject matter expert (SME) to give you an overview of the topic.

Review Previous Documents

Try to find a document already developed, by you or someone else, that looks close to what you want. Write down the qualities you like: “to the point,” “nice rhythm,” “does a good job of outlining benefits,” “strong call to action.”

You now know what qualities you’re going for. Direct your questions to subject matter experts in ways that will produce answers to help you achieve them. For example, if your target document is a website with a strong call to action, ask the website owner, “What would you like readers to do after viewing your website?”

Analyze Previous Documents

Just because you have the end in mind doesn’t mean you know how to get there. The next step is to take out your red pen and go through the document, section by section (line by line if necessary) to analyze just what the author did to make it so brilliant. I find this exercise particularly useful when I’m dealing with a type of document I haven’t written before, or when a client provides vague instructions.

You should notice things like the type of information (e.g. description, benefits, ordering info), the order of the information, the tone, use of certain terms or phrases, styling and position of subtitles, paragraph length, and level of detail.

Now you have even more questions to ask. For example, if the sample document offers a detailed description of each product, ask your interviewee, “What are the exact measurements of the Deluxe Widget X-347?”

Draw on Past Experience

No one has experience in every industry. But, the professional and personal experiences you have had can help you develop insightful questions. For example, one of my current website clients initially told me that he repairs digital signs. I know nothing about digital signs, but I do know from experience with other technician types that when they can repair, they can also typically install; so one of the questions I asked him is, “Do you also do digital sign installations?” And, while I don’t know much about what goes on in a digital sign repair session, based on my professional experience, I know that the process of each service provider is unique; so I also asked this client, “Can you describe a typical engagement, from start to finish?”

Listen Carefully

Part of mastering the art of asking questions is good listening. Often, the answers a content owner or SME gives you can lead to additional questions. For example, say you are interviewing the owner of a business to put together a brochure. You ask: “What are the primary services you provide?” She responds: “Well, on the software side, we provide consulting, training, and educational video development.” You, being the savvy interviewer, think, “Hm, she said ‘software side.’ That must mean there is another side.” You ask: “What is the other side of your business and what services do you offer there?”

How have you cultivated the art of asking questions? Please tell us in the comments.

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need assistance developing great questions? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. How to Ask the Right Questions
2. 10 Questions to Ask Before Writing Any Business Document

I recently had the pleasure of writing a guest blog post for the Red Kite Creative blog. Red Kite Creative is a Northern Colorado web design agency that creates custom websites for small businesses. Owner Debbie Campbell asked me to put together a piece to help her clients and readers who want to write their own website content. The result was a two-part post, titled How to Write Content for Your Own Website. I’d love for you to click over and read both Part I and Part II, but I’ve included the highlights here:

When you develop a website for your business, there are four essential elements:

1. Design
2. Programming
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
4. Content

Most people do not have experience with the first three, so will typically hire someone else to do it. But, most people do have experience with writing, so may try to write content (otherwise known as copy, or text) themselves. While this can work well, there are some pitfalls to be aware of: You may be too close to your subject to write about it objectively, and you may be tempted to write in terms of features, rather than benefits, a common error for those writing their own content. But, there are some strategies professional writers use that you can too:

Understand the Difference Between Features and Benefits

A feature is something about your business, products, or services. A benefit is how that feature helps your customers. To turn a feature into a benefit, try the “so what” trick. Say your feature is “My toaster oven has three different settings.” Now, ask, “So what?” Your answer might be, “Food is cooked perfectly every time.” There’s your benefit! For best results, present a balanced mix of features and benefits.

See Features and Benefits 101 for more on this topic.

Gain Audience Awareness

When you write content for your own website, be sure you know who you’re “talking” to. See if you can come up with a composite description of your typical customer. The more specific you can be, the better. If you don’t know much about your customers, try offering a free product or service if they fill out a questionnaire asking about their interests.

Now that you’ve identified your target customers, focus on their concerns. Think about what they want to know, and provide that information. Promote your services in a way that responds to their needs.

See Get in Tune With Your Readers for more on this topic.

Offer a Call to Action

Different customers will be at different points in the sales cycle. This means some visitors to your website may be just lookie loos, while others may be ready to purchase. At every opportunity, offer customers a way to move from the step they’re at when they come to your site to the next one.

Make Your Content Web-Friendly

Web users want to get the information they need quickly, and easily take action. So, you should write content for your own website with this in mind. There are many formatting options to use for making your web writing readable and scannable:

• Brief paragraphs
• Bulleted and numbered lists
• Bold and italic text
• Headings
• White space

See Effective Web Writing for more on this topic.

Stick to the Basics

A website doesn’t have to be complicated to be helpful to customers. If you’re not used to writing, or not used to writing for the Web, start with just a few pages. But, make sure your site is complete; your website should have at least the following pages (you can always add more content later):

• Home – an introduction to your company
• About – who runs your company, how it got started, your philosophy, etc.
• Products or Services – what you have to offer
• Contact – how to get in touch with you

Know When You Need Help

Think about hiring a professional copywriter if:

• You are struggling to get the words out
• You are taking time away from other important matters to try and write content for your website
• You run the content by friends, family, customers, or coworkers and get only a lukewarm response
• Your process is holding up the launch of your website

A good copywriter will be familiar with all of the elements mentioned, and will make it easy for you by interviewing you about your business and your offerings, then creating web-friendly copy to promote them. Though hiring a copywriter does increase the cost of your website, it may be worth it to get this task off your plate and quickly get your information on out into the world where it can do what you need it to do: bring you more business!

For more information, read the entire post! Feel free to share your comments there or below!

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need help with your website copywriting? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. Guest Post on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers: The Harvest Time Management Program
2. How to Write Content for a New Blog
3. Features and Benefits 101

It’s inevitable: If you create content, either as a freelancer or within a company, somewhere along the way, someone is going to come to you with a writing job that needs to be done YESTERDAY!!!!! (My formatting here is intended to indicate the sense of panic with which you will no doubt be approached with this request.)

In the past, I have gotten on the panic train and responded to these types of requests, but over time I have become more reluctant to do so. I realize there many be times when you don’t have a choice in the matter. But, if you do have a choice, avoid rushing a writing job. If you don’t, your quality of work and quality of life will both decline. Here’s why:

Spotty Research

When you don’t have enough time to go through your normal process, research is one area that can suffer. Sometimes it takes awhile to get in touch with subject matter experts, to find just the right statistic online, or to receive pertinent reference materials from coworkers. When bombarding people with voice mails and e-mails doesn’t work, you end up developing your piece with missing information, which leads to….

Lackluster Drafts

When you don’t have all the information you need, you don’t have much to base your writing job on, and your piece becomes lackluster, unconvincing, and useless to the target audience. For example, let’s say you know the widget you’re writing about helps manufacturers increase production. You’ve sent frantic messages to your marketing manager to get you the specific percentage, with no response. You also don’t get the data sheet with the relevant features and benefits, and you can’t reach the customer contact who promised to provide you with a testimonial. You’re left writing in generalities and maybe grabbing content from your own company’s website. Doesn’t sound like the makings of dynamic promotional writing to me.

Insufficient Reviews

Another stage of the writing cycle that can take a hit if you’re rushing is reviews. It may be tempting to go through fewer review cycles, run it by fewer people, or skip this step altogether. This is bad. In the initial review, subject matter experts, managers, clients, and other reviewers will find things to change. In the second review, they make sure you implemented those changes accurately. If that second step is skipped, faulty revisions might go unnoticed. If you don’t run the document by everyone who needs to see it, you can bet those people will contribute edits…after the document is published. And, if you skip the review process altogether, you miss the opportunity to get additional sets of eyes on your work, which no writer can really afford to do.

Loss of Incubation Time

Incubation time is something writers and those who work with them don’t always consider, yet it is so important. Being able to look at a document with fresh eyes is critical for catching errors and inconsistencies. Even when I’m working on a tight deadline, I include this step–if only just for an hour or so while I focus on something else. Also, clients and managers may not realize it, but they often need to “sit with” ideas you’ve presented before they provide feedback. This is especially true when new ways to express ideas about their company, product, or service are being presented, as with a branding platform or tag line.

More Work Later

When you are forced to do shoddy work, you or someone else will likely end up doing that writing job over again. I say, do it right the first time: Probe to find out why something needs to be a rush job. Is the deadline negotiable? Do you REALLY need a whole new brochure for the convention, or can you use last year’s flyer? Is your client truly OK with so-so copy, or are they willing to delay the launch of their website a few weeks in the interest of better quality?

What is the last time you rushed a writing job? How did it turn out? Let us know in the comments!

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need help organizing a writing job? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

No related posts.

As someone who writes for business, you probably know how important it is to have a solid brand. But, what do you do with that brand once you have established it? The answer: Weave it into every promotional piece developed by your company. Here are some tips for integrating your brand in marketing communications materials:

High-level Message

Ask yourself how the message you intend to convey in your website, proposal, e-book, tweet, article, grant, case study, brochure, or blog relates to your overarching brand. Using the hypothetical design agency mentioned in my post, How to Build a Better Brand, let’s say they want to create a company brochure specifically about their web design services. At a staff meeting, they decide it’s most important that people know they have won awards for their web design. But, in referring to their brand statement, they see the main message is about their personalized service. That’s what differentiates them from other agencies. So, while the awards could (and should) be mentioned in the brochure, the primary message for the brochure should be around how they offer personalized service within web design.

Low-level Messages

Look at what you’re saying indirectly, and make sure it doesn’t clash with your high-level message. If the main message for the design company’s brochure is that they offer personalized service within web design, yet they also say they have a standard process they use for all clients, readers will wonder just how personalized their service really is.

Document Type

Make sure you use a document type that matches your brand and your target market‘s preferences. In addition to offering personalized service, another primary message for the design agency is that they are hip. They are innovative, flexible, creative. So, maybe a traditional paper brochure is not the right kind of document to convey their message. They might consider using a flash drive with a slick presentation on it, or a stack of cards in a funky box to give to potential clients. The flash drive idea might work especially well if many of their clients are in the tech industry.

Writing Style

Use a writing style that is consistent with your brand, yet appropriate for the document type. Some types of documents will allow much more flexibility. Documents like brochures and websites offer an opportunity for more creativity, such as edgy language, incomplete sentences, and whimsical references. A press release, on the other hand, requires a more “just the facts” approach. A press release could incorporate some quotes from the CEO with a bit more personality, but the style for this type of document should be primarily straightforward.

Design

Consider design as it relates to how much space you will have to write, and what that space will look like. Let’s say the design agency uses the box of cards approach. Cards can get lost, or taken out of context, so each card must make a statement on its own, meaning the brand should be incorporated pretty completely into each one. (A traditional paper brochure would allow for brand elements to be scattered throughout and still make a solid overall impression.)

What are your strategies for integrating your brand in marketing communications? Let us know in the comments!

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need help using your brand in marketing materials? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. How to Build a Better Brand
2. 5 Keys to Writing Project Success – Part I: Planning

Sometimes the easy part of writing is writing, while the hard part is usage and formatting. When you run into usage or formatting questions, you can refer to a general style manual, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, or The Gregg Reference Manual. These manuals are all very thorough and authoritative, but there are some situations when a general style manual can’t help. Here are a few examples:

• You have an acronym for your business name, but only want it to be used in certain situations.
• You disagree with particular topics in your chosen style manual.
• There are text segments that reappear often in your writing that need to be italicized, bolded, or otherwise emphasized in a particular way.

To maintain consistency in your company’s writing–which is key in communicating professionalism and trustworthiness–you may want to create an in-house style guide. A style guide doesn’t have to be complicated. It could be a one page document, or a simple multi-page book. Here are some tips for making it something everyone in your company or department will use:

Determine Your Standard Authority

Determine a general style guide that everyone in your group should use in most instances. The Chicago Manual of Style is meant for use in publishing, while the AP Stylebook was written for journalists, and The Gregg Reference Manual is a general business style guide. Any of them are a good choice; choose based on preference and past experience. (Personally, I refer to Chicago in most cases.) Once you have a standard style guide established, peruse it to find areas where your in-house style will differ.

Settle Common Usage Rule Wars

Do you prefer “website,” “Website,” “Web site,” or “web site”? Pick one and make it a rule. What about sexist language? When referring to a person with unknown gender, do you use “he” as the default? “She”? Do you switch between them? Match the gender of the writer? Or use “they”? What about a comma before “and” in a series of three or more? To use or not to use? I’ve seen writers I respect employ all of these options, and would argue that none are really wrong. The important thing is to pick one and stick with it.

Address Formatting Issues

Do you use traditional title capitalization, or sentence capitalization? Or each in different circumstances? How about bullets? Is there a specific bullet style you prefer? Do you want page numbers to appear on every page? Every page except the first? Every other page? At the bottom, top, middle, left, or right? Which font styles and sizes do you prefer? You might want to refer to your industry to get ideas for common usage, but, again, consistency is key, so pick something and stick with it.

Demonstrate Preferences

In your style guide, demonstrate the rules by integrating them into the style guide copy, or by providing examples. Ideally, demonstrate both correct and incorrect versions. For example:

• Correct: The report outlines customer trends, preferences, and opinions.
• Incorrect: The report outlines customer trends, preferences and opinions.

Have a Formal Introduction

If you just point your colleagues to the new style guide on your intranet, they will probably glance at it politely while you’re standing there, and never use it again. So, have a meeting to introduce the style guide and how to use it. Preface the introduction by explaining the importance of clear, consistent communication and a common voice throughout the company.

Have you had good (or not so good) success with an in-house style guide? Let us know in the comments!

About the Author: Karen Marcus, M.A. is a Northern Colorado copywriter who has been helping clients in a wide range of industries to put their best word forward for 13 years.

Need assistance developing an in-house style guide? Karen can help! Click here for contact info.

Tweet

Related posts:

1. Are You an Idea Thief?
2. Should You Follow Writing Rules?