The ebook ‘SEO for writers and bloggers‘ is now on sale at the awesome price of $7.95. (That’s an ironic use of the word ‘awesome’ by the way*).

The book is designed for writers and bloggers who want to master the basics of writing for search engines, without mangling their prose and stuffing their copy full of keywords.

• Learn to write for both readers and search engines, and attract more visitors to your website
• Discover how to research and use keywords – and precisely where they should be placed for maximum effectiveness
• 50 pages of facts, tricks, strategies, tips and essential information, explained in clear English, and structured to take you from the basics through to mastery of writing SEO copy.

Not sure how long the sale price will last. Safest thing is to get your copy now.

(*And that’s also an ironic misuse of the word ironic).

Related posts:

1. Ebook launch: SEO for writers and bloggers
2. Stop writing! That’s enough ‘content’ already
3. What is SEO?

A guest post by Katherine Ploeger.

The homonyms of there/their/they’re (covered in a previous post) have their plurals, which also cause problems for writers, specifically there’s and theirs.

THERE’S

There’s is the contraction for there is (even my grammar checker flagged the second is in this sentence). The apostrophe is the clue that this word is a contraction because the apostrophe replaces the i in is.

There’s frequently is used in speech as a shortcut to expression, but when used in writing, it can be misused because the writer does not realize the word is a contraction with a singular verb. 

Often you’ll hear people say, and see as written, ”There’s too many people here today.” If the contraction is expanded, the sentence would read: “There is too many people here today,” an obvious subject-verb agreement error. (A subject-verb agreement error identifies a situation when the number — singular or plural — of the subject does not agree with the number of the verb.)  The spoken and written sentence should be “There’re too many people here today” if a contraction is used.  Then the subject and verb agree with each other.

Beginning writers have a problem with this construction because they start their sentences with There’s, as they do in speech.  However, with the written word, using this construction to start a sentence is a lazy and vague way of giving information. 

As discussed at length in the previous article, using There is or There are to start sentences should be avoided because the two words give no information and usually substitute for the actual subject and verb buried in the sentence. Only when discussing existence can you use There is or There are to start a sentence, but even then, you can probably think of a better way of expressing that idea.

As shown in the examples below, There’s starts a sentence or a clause and so is often at the beginning of the sentence.

THEIRS

Theirs is the plural of the possessive pronoun Their.  Note that no apostrophes are used with possessive pronouns (also discussed in the previous article).

As shown in examples below, theirs can be placed anywhere in the sentence that makes sense.

HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES

1. Theirs was the biggest yacht in the marina.

2. There’s going to be a big storm tonight. (Note this sentence shows that something exists.)

3. The best pies at the county fair were theirs.

4. Most of the time, there’s always enough. (Again, this sentence states an existence.)

Related posts:

1. There, Their, and They’re
2. The difference between it’s and its
3. The difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’

A copywriter is someone who writes sales copy. It’s part of marketing and advertising, part of business, and persuading people to part with their money.

Like all of business, however, there are good, honest elements to copywriting (persuading people of the real value of a product or service) and there are the less savoury aspects (conning people into buying c**p).

I’ve been lucky, in that most of my work is done in the business-to-business field, where the less savoury side of copywriting doesn’t rear its head too often. I also turn clients down if I don’t trust them or approve of their business methods.

One area of copywriting that I’ve always steered clear of is the ‘get-rich-quick’ scheme. I’ve just today had to turn someone away, who was pleading for help in getting his business venture off the ground.

He’d already been rejected by 55 other copywriters, and he was desperate for me to help him.

Don’t throw good time after bad money. Move on.

Now, swallowing my pride, and refusing to get narked at being number 56 on his list (as you can see, he needs help with his marketing…), I offered to take a quick look at what he was planning to do. My worst fears were confirmed. He is involved in selling products offered by one of the many internet marketers out there. He is selling information products about business opportunities. He insists this is not a get-rich-quick scheme.

I can’t be bothered arguing with him. And I wished him every success. But I had to say ‘no’. Partly, this was self-preservation. He wanted a sales page like this. In return, he was offering 5% of sales, with no up-front payment. That’s not very generous, to be honest.

But I also have a problem with this whole area of business.

There are so many people out there on the internet selling information products about how to set up in business. They sell this information to their customers. All the information seems to amount to is a guide to doing exactly the same thing – the student is encouraged to set up their own business, selling information products about how to set up in business.

Really. I’ve never bought one of these, so tell me I’m wrong by all means. But from what I can tell, that is the whole of the business model. They make it sound exciting (that’s why they need copywriters), and they sell a dream. But the poor student is left out of pocket, and trying to get a business started in a hugely competitive field, with a second-hand, third-rate product.

My advice? Don’t throw good time after bad money. Move on. Because there’s a name for that particular business model. It’s called a pyramid scheme. And even if you do make money out of it, it won’t be good for your karma, your peace of mind, or your reputation further on down the line.

Related posts:

1. How to write your own sales copy: a 5-step formula
2. Keep your copywriter happy
3. Is your idea of copywriting too narrow?

A guest post by Katherine Ploeger.

One set of homonyms (words that sound the same but are different words) that cause trouble is the triple of there, their, and they’re.   Each has its indicator as to its function in the sentence, but for the most part, you are simply going to have to memorize these words and their proper usage.  If these are a problem for you, eventually you must learn them so their proper use becomes automatic, and you only have to watch for them slipping in while in the heat of drafting, which happens to the best of us.

THERE

There has two functions in a sentence: one good and the other to be avoided whenever possible.  The first function of there, the good one, is to indicate a location previously stated or described.  Since the word itself carries no real information, it can only refer to something already written.

The trick with there is to see that within the word is the word here, which indicates location.  You can use this trick with other location words, such as here, where, there, somewhere, everywhere, and so on.  If you see here within the word, the word relates to a location.

So if you are writing about a noun’s location, you can safely use there if you have already told the reader the location there refers to.  For example, “Joan and Frank had been there before.”  Assume that the location referred to has already been stated so that the sentence can make sense.  Without that previous information, the sentence is too vague to make much sense to the reader, leaving the reader confused.

The second function of there should rarely be used, as it is a lazy way of writing.  The lazy way of starting a sentence is to write “There is…” or “There are…” finishing the sentence with real information.  For example, “There is a flock of geese grazing in my backyard.”  Because there stands in for the subject, without giving any real information as to who or what is doing the action, it is really an empty subject.  The is or are usually attached is an empty verb for the same reason.

So the reader must decipher the sentence’s real meaning from the words included.  A better sentence would be: “A flock of geese are grazing in my backyard.”  This sentence is clearer, cleaner, and tighter.

The one situation in which you should use There to start a sentence is when you are discussing existence.  “There is a dog in my front yard” would be an appropriate use of There.  Otherwise, avoid it unless you want to appear to be a lazy or beginning writer.

THEIR

Their is the possessive for they.  Note the lack of an apostrophe with possessive pronouns.  With this homonym, you will simply have to memorize it, as I don’t have any identifying tricks to help you.

Let me use it in a sentence:  “Their house sold for the asking price. ” To be really wordy yet convey the same information, I could have written, “The house that they owned sold for the asking price.”  Using their in the sentence decreases the number of words used and conveys the same idea, so the writing is clearer and tighter.

THEY’RE

This one is fairly easy to guess because of the apostrophe used — it is a dead giveaway for a contraction.  They’re expands to They are.  Make sure that using the contraction coincides with your using a plural subject (they) and plural form of the verb (are).  They’re isn’t misused in this way as much as There’s, which will be discussed in a future article in this series, but you can become confused, especially when drafting.

So let’s play with these three homonyms in a few examples.  Note how each word functions and relates information in the sentence.

1. There are several abandoned cars on their block, so they’re going to have them removed.

2. They’re really excited about attending their graduation ceremony there.

3. Their house sold for the asking price, so they’re going to go to Hawaii and stay there a while.

Once you get the hang of it, these three words shouldn’t cause you too much trouble although one may slip in for another during drafting.  So if these homonyms cause you problems, make sure you add them to your ‘Favorite Errors’ list and watch for them specifically when editing your writing.

Related posts:

1. Get to know the difference between “There’s” and “Theirs”
2. The difference between it’s and its
3. Add rhetoric to your writing – with the periodic sentence

A guest post – the first of a regular series on grammar, punctuation and spelling issues – by Katherine Ploeger.

One of the most frequent errors made with homonyms (words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things) is the issue of using it’s and its.

IT’S

It’s is the contraction for it is. The apostrophe indicates a missing letter, in this case the i in is.

For example, “It’s going to be a lovely day today.” You could also write it as, “It is going to be a lovely day today” if you don’t like contractions. Both sentences express the same idea.

When you are editing your writing and come across a usage of it’s, in your mind unpack the contraction, saying the two words (it is) and make sure those words make sense in your sentence. If the words don’t make sense, you probably meant to use the possessive, its.

ITS

Its is the possessive for It. When using possessive pronouns (a pronoun expressing possession), don’t use the apostrophe, as that would duplicate its use with contractions.

Here is a list of possessive pronouns: My, mine, his, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs, your, yours, whose.

For example, “Its propeller failed to work due to a crack in the mechanism.” You could replace Its with the noun it refers to: the airplane, written as “the airplane’s…).

When you are editing your writing and come across its, make sure you read it as a possessive.

Related posts:

1. Get to know the difference between “There’s” and “Theirs”
2. There, Their, and They’re
3. The difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re’

I have no intention of debating irony. I’m leaving it to this this guy.

Related posts:

1. Hypnotic writing: a beginner’s guide

Here’s the fastest way to improve your writing, or master any writing style

If you want to master a particular writing style, there’s one proven technique said by many to be the fastest and possibly most effective method going.

It’s a technique that can be used to master anything, from writing in the style of a particular author, matching a writing voice, or learning how to create copy for specific purposes, such as sales pages or advertising.

What’s more, it’s possibly the simplest and cheapest method you could ever hope to find. You don’t need books, or courses. It takes only minutes to learn. And you don’t even need a computer.

You don’t need books, or courses. It takes only minutes to learn.

All you need is a pen and a piece of paper, plus some text that you would like to emulate. That could come from one of your favourite writers, or from a great sales page, or from a newspaper, magazine – any piece of writing that you really admire.

You take the original text, and you write it out by hand. Again and again. As many times as seems necessary. Once is helpful. Doing it five times or more is better still. If you really want to master the secrets of how a piece of text was put together, you keep going, writing it out by hand until it seems like its part of you.

It’s great way, for example, to learn the rhetorical tricks and techniques used by master writers, or to get a feel for how they express their ideas using a unique voice. This technique won’t necessarily give you full conscious awareness of the writing techniques being used in the original. But you will learn the lessons on a deeper level.

Write it out by hand. Again and again.

If you want to emulate one of the great writers of fiction, or a master prose stylist, then this is an immensely rewarding, and enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

It’s also one of the fastest ways to learn how to write effective copy for use in advertising, sales and marketing environments. It is method recommended by Ted Nicholas in his book Magic Words That Bring You Riches, and by Maria Velosa in Web Copy That Sells. Maria writes:

In web copywriting, the best way to model success is to select a website that you admire greatly and that you know has produced tons of sales for its owner. Start copying it by hand. Write the entire sales letter out in your own handwriting. Write it out two or three times over the next week. Depending on how fast you write, this will take roughly five hours—less if you write quickly or if the sales let- ter you choose is short.
This takes a lot of discipline, not to mention time, but I assure you, it is worth the effort. You will not know the value of this until you do it. It’s positively eye-opening.

So, if you want to emulate any writing style, from the directness of web sales pages to the high rhetoric of the greatest prose stylists, the shortcut is to take out your pen and paper, and get copying by hand. Give it a try, a let me know your thoughts if you can. I’d be interested to hear how you got on.

Related posts:

1. Democracy, dictatorship and anarchy: who makes the rules of good English?
2. 3 places you can start writing
3. Write like a pro: seven top hints for new writers

If you’re selling your own products on the web, or promoting affiliate products, then you need to produce compelling sales copy.

Ideally, you would hire a professional copywriter to do this for you. But what if you can’t afford one, and simply have to produce your own sales page?

How hard is it? Not too hard, providing you can write a decent sentence or two.

In this post, I’m going to give you a five step formula for producing sales copy for use on the web. It’s not the final word in copywriting, but if you simply want to produce an effective sales page, this will get you started.

You’ve set out the problem, shown why other attempts to solve it went wrong, painted a picture for what life could be like if only it would go away, and demonstrated that your product is the true solution. Now tell them to buy it.

To start with, why would you write your own sales copy instead of going to a professional? Because copywriters are expensive. I should know, I’ve been working as a freelance copywriter for more around 13 to 14 years. Most of my work is for large companies, businesses with marketing teams and budgets and such like.

If you’re promoting a new business, or simply setting yourself up to sell some stuff online, bringing in a professional copywriter is likely to be one expense you’d rather avoid.

Don’t worry, I understand. I won’t take it personally.

So, you’re going to write your own sales page. Where do you start? With your audience.

1. Hey, what’s your problem?

Your product or service has been designed to solve a particular problem, a pain or a predicament that your audience faces. They may not know they have this problem, in which case you’ll need to let them know that they do. Or they may need reminding what a pain in the **** the problem can be in their lives.

As the writer, you should jot down what these problems are. Your headline and opening paragraphs are going to address this problem.

2. Why hasn’t someone solved this already?

So, your audience has a problem. Hopefully, (for your sales and marketing efforts), there are lots of people who share this pain, this predicament. So why hasn’t someone done anything about it yet? Why have previous efforts to solve this fallen by the wayside?

What’s wrong with those previous efforts? Why does the problem persist? Why won’t it go away?

3. If only

The next step is to ask what life could be like for your audience if this problem could be solved. Could their teeth be whiter and their smile brighter? Could they become smarter, richer, happier? Generalisations are OK, but it’s better if you can be more specific.

As the writer, you should make notes about all the ways your audience could benefit from your product or service. Think broadly. Think visually. Picture how the person’s life or circumstances could change for the better. Are there ways you can paint that picture with your words, so they can see it too?

4. What’s new?

So, the audience has a problem, it won’t go away, but if only it would, then life could be so much better. What’s new? Your product or service, that’s what. Now is the time to explain what is new and different about what you have to offer, how it can help them to finally overcome the problem and reap the benefits you set out in step three.

Make a note of what is truly different about your product, and why it changes the game as far as this particular problem is concerned.

5. Do this

You’ve sold them by now. You’ve set out the problem, shown why other attempts to solve it went wrong, painted a picture for what life could be like if only it would go away, and demonstrated that your product is the true solution.

Now tell them to buy it. Really. Don’t be shy about this. Tell people exactly what you want them to do. Do you want them to sign up, give your their email address, press the buy button, ring you? Whatever it is, make it clear.

How to write sales copy – a few more pointers

So there you have it, a five point plan for creating your own sales copy. But before you go, I’d like to point you in the direction of a few other posts I think you should read before you start to write.

First of all, be sure to read my post on how to write scannable web copy.

Check out some advance techniques for writing to persuade

Brush up your sales psychology with how to motivate anyone

And once you’re done, make sure you review the techniques for checking that your sales copy is on target

Incidentally, if you’re writing sales copy for someone else and need to interview them to get at the information you need, then this five point plan can also be a good way to structure an interview.

You can also use this as a way of testing the marketing viability of a product or service. For example, if your product doesn’t really solve a problem for someone, or doesn’t have anything new or different about it, then that’s a major obstacle. Maybe you have the wrong idea. Or you might need to change your product, adapt it to make sure it meets real needs and solves a problem that no one else is tackling.

Related posts:

1. Don’t get robbed blind on the internet: 8 tell-tale signs of hypnotic sales copy
2. 7 golden rules of marketing – how to be sure your copy works
3. 7 surefire ways to write an opening paragraph

The secret to writing a great press release is simple: don’t.

Don’t set out to write a press release. Create an article, one that will grab the attention of the readership you are targeting.

You don’t have to actually write the whole thing, but you need an idea for an article, you need a story or idea that will grab those readers.

Once you’ve done that, selling the idea to the media should be a piece of cake. Because you are giving them what they are really looking for, which is content that will appeal to their readers.

Don’t set out to write a press release. Create an article, direct for the end readership you are targeting.

If you can make this leap, to stop thinking about what you want to say, not even thinking about the journalist, but think about what the reader of the newspaper or magazine might be interested in, then you have material which can make for an excellent press release.

If a journalist or editor picks up your press release, and immediately sees something which he knows will interest his readers, then you have a hit. If not, it will be discarded.

So, ideally you need to come up with a targeted press release for a particular publication. Clearly, this is not always possible because of time constraints. The more you target your press releases, however, the more likely they are to be used.

Once you’ve got a killer idea, you now need to make life as easy as possible for the journalists and editors, by giving all the information they want and need, with none of fluff and blatant self-promotion that they loathe.

The easier you make it for a journalist or editor to use your press release, the more likely they are to include it in their publication. So, if you’ve included all the information they need; you’ve quoted someone, supplied their name and details; and given any other supporting information, they might be able to write up your press release without having to do interviews or make follow-up phone calls.

In a busy news room, such as those typically found on a local paper, or trade publication, this can make all the difference between having your press release used, and having it thrown in the bin, or put into a pile of papers never to be seen again.

You should also aim to write your press release in the style of the publication you are targeting as much as possible – since this makes life easier for the hard-pressed journalist. If your copy is good enough that they can use it as it is, then they might just do so. That means you get your words going directly into their publication. And that’s a good thing.

What to include in a Press Release

Attention grabbing headline

Include a headline, one that sums up the story as a whole. It doesn’t have to be a work of genius, as the publication will not want to use your headline (in case someone else does the same thing – and partly out of professional pride). Make it no more than five or six words if possible.

A first paragraph that sums it all up

Tell the whole story in the first paragraph. Of course you can’t include everything. But give the major overview. If this was the only sentence you could include – what would you say?

Tell the story

Get as much narrative and story-telling elements into your press release as possible.

Back it up

Use facts and figures to back up your headline and first paragraph. Give them all the relevant facts.

Provide quotes

Quote at least one person, preferably more. Make the quotes read like something someone would actually say. Make them conversational. Provide the name of the speaker, their job title, and any other relevant information. (You may even need to include their age – newspapers are obsessed with people’s ages – and even their marital status: is she a Miss, a Mrs or a Ms?)

Provide a contact

If the journalist wants extra information or additional quotes, they will need to able to get hold of someone, often in a hurry. They don’t want to hang around for days. They want to get if off their desk, one way or another. That means turning it into copy or putting it in the bin. So make sure they can get to speak to someone if and when they need to.

Notes to Editors

This is a place you can dump the more boring or background information, so that it won’t detract from the impact of the story.

Think of the reader, not yourself, and not the reporter

Most importantly of all, remember to include the information that will engage and interest the reader, and leave out the inward looking internal focus stuff, the things the boss wants everyone to hear even though they’re not interested. Get to the heart of the story, the thing that will grab the attention of your target audience. That is the sure fire way to grab the attention of an editor or journalist.

Related posts:

1. A case study is a story – and that’s powerful marketing
2. 7 surefire ways to write an opening paragraph
3. Write better email

Some years back, I knew a guy who started a business making puppets. This was long before the ‘Being John Malkovich‘ movie put puppets on the map (even if it didn’t really set out to make them cool again).

To this day, I don’t know how he hit on the idea. But making puppets was something he could do, and he seemed to enjoy. So he thought he could turn his hobby into a business.

Guess what? He didn’t sell any puppets. They weren’t bad puppets, you understand. That were probably pretty good, hand made and all that.

But there just isn’t a market for hand made puppets. Or any kind of puppets really.

He had made the classic business mistake: make something because that’s what you want to make, and then try to sell it to someone.

In business, you do market research, find out what people want, what they will pay money for, and provide it. That’s a business.

Making puppets blindly, then hoping there is a market, that’s a hobby at best, or more likely, a recipe for disaster.

Years later, the guy is an architect, so he’ll probably do OK in life. I think the experience really, really put him off puppets as well, which is probably a good thing.

So, writing? Well, similar principles apply. And I’m not just talking about writing for money, or in professional environments. Even if you write only for pleasure, you still need to consider the reader. In fact, scratch that. You don’t just consider the reader. You have to put them first.

Whatever you are writing, it’s not about you. It’s not what you want to say that matters, it’s the reader that’s important. How will they benefit from reading this? What insights will they take from it? What will they learn? Why should they care?

Take poetry. You know what marks out the ‘amateur’ poet? Emoting. Writing about their feelings.

Now, a ‘professional’ poet uses words to recreate a feeling, to help the reader share that experience. The poet creates an emotion, a feeling within the reader, using words. Everything is geared towards creating that effect: it’s all about the reader. Whereas the ‘amateur’ is just writing about himself.

So, in business, writing, or most other areas of life, it’s not about you. It’s about them.

Related posts:

1. When is a ‘business opportunity’ really just a pyramid scheme in disguise?
2. Is your writing a waste of time?
3. Beware the curse of ‘zombie’ copy: does your writing lack the spark of life?