Content Writing & Copywriting Blog

The art of teaching copywriting

Jun 24, 2008 7 Comments »

It seems lots of "copywriting gurus" on the Internet are selling copywriting courses that promise to make you a six-figure earning copywriter within a few months. Maybe they speak the truth but I wonder why so many people are doing the same thing, in different words, with the gargantuan claims of their own. Most of these gurus have supposedly made millions of dollars in a few months for their clients. I wonder then why these copywriting gurus sell all those "copywriting secrets" in a few dollars or maybe in a few hundred dollars?

This thing caught my attention due to two reasons: I recently subscribe to Google alerts for "copywriting", "writing", "online copywriting", etc. to get some ideas so that I can generate more content for my online copywriting website. In these alerts I come across lots of such offers. I’m not saying that you cannot make $100,000 or more in a year copywriting, but how do you teach people to not only write great copy but also get lucrative assignments without having an ability to write well? It’s quite interesting. This way I think if I keep working for my clients the way I am these days than very soon I will have my own "copywriting course" and I may share the biggest copywriting secrets that make my clients millions of dollars in sales and leads. This means I should always keep in touch with my clients. In fact I should also do this to get repeat work from them, on a serious note.

The second reason is the onslaught of messages that I get from my contact form by people highly eager to learn copywriting. The general tone is, "I wonder how this Internet content writing stuff works; I love to write, can you teach me how to write on the Internet and earn lots of money?" I will certainly teach when I start making lots of money.

But seriously, is purchasing one of these copywriting courses worth the investment?

What sells more: loud copywriting or subtle copywriting

Jun 13, 2008 No Comments »

Brian of Copyblogger has sharply reacted to this blog post(?) terming the thoughts expressed in the blog post as a manifestation of narcissism. I’ll be frank here, even I loath the kind of example used in the Editorial Emergency blog post, but I do agree with Brian that using numbers and using action words, and different prompts (buy now and get so much for free etc.) does work, and you can see it working even at the general store. At the grocery store my wife gladly buys a bit extra to qualify for that free bag of wheat flour.

There’s another extremely silly-sounding headline I often come across: “Who else wants to earn $nnn in two weeks?!” or something like that. Amazingly, this headline does work.

The fault is not with the style, but the way you use it. I agree that calling your customers “opportunists” does show where your values lie and the copies that sell million-dollar secrets are anyway mostly crappy, but the concept of laddering does work well in marketing. For incentive, there is no harm in offering incentives for early birds. There is nothing wrong telling your customers that they are getting a product cheaper because they are doing something desirable, for instance, buying the first 400 copies of an e-book. There is also nothing wrong in prompting your readers to buy something more valuable once they have shown interest in the less valuable option.

When you are writing copy you are always catering to the deepest desires of your readers. Forget about writing for your client; when you are writing a copy, you are actually writing for the readers, you are talking to them. To write for your readers, you need to know what they are really looking for. You need to know whether a reader looking for a mattress for his bed wants it for brand value or a peaceful sleep. If a person wants to earn money, try to know whether he or she wants the money to spend on luxuries or on some social causes, and then write your copy accordingly.

As a copywriter, when you are writing copy, you are trying to achieve three things:

1. Improve your customer’s bottom line.
2. Communicate to the readers.
3. Make sure your copy performs well so that it can establish your credibility as a copywriter and hence get you more lucrative projects.

It’s up to you as a copywriter where to draw your boundaries, but as long as your copy is benefiting your clients and their customers and clients, you shouldn’t let your own prejudices come in the way. Doesn’t matter if the copy style sounds trite and cliched, if it works, if it benefits your client and his or her customers or clients, you should use it.

Benefits of consistent SEO copywriting

Jun 10, 2008 5 Comments »

The importance of targeted search engine traffic can never be under-emphasized. Although there are many sources from where you can generate traffic for your website once you start publishing on the Internet the majority of your traffic will be coming from various search engines. Your SEO copywriting skills can help you to a great extent. But how is SEO copywriting different from normal copywriting? My clients often ask me this question because I charge extra for SEO copywriting. Is more skill required for SEO copywriting? It depends but the purpose of this post is not to talk about SEO copywriting skills but to discuss the benefits of consistent SEO copywriting.

The meaning and purpose of SEO copywriting

Just as content writing is different from copywriting, normal copywriting is different from SEO copywriting. When you write for SEO purposes you pay special attention to the way the search engine crawlers access your content. When you are writing copy for SEO you try to convey to the search engines for what keywords and key phrases the particular webpage should be ranked higher on search engine result pages. You don’t have to do this if you’re not bothered about how the search engines view your page. The central meaning and purpose of SEO copywriting is writing search engine friendly copy without obscuring the inherent meaning for your human visitors. Most SEO experts fail to achieve this; they get too obsessed with generating content merely for the search engines. What purpose does your copy solve if it draws tons of traffic from search engines but makes no sense to people who want to do business with you?

Now we move on to the benefits of consistent SEO copywriting

SEO copywriting brings you lots of targeted search engine traffic

The search engines don’t merely send you random traffic: they send you traffic based on the search terms used by their users. Their ranking algorithms decide where your link should be displayed for a specific search term or whether it should be displayed at all. Once you have optimized a particular page for your selected keywords or key phrases and once that page begins to appear higher on the search engine result pages your website gets lots of targeted, highly relevant traffic. And once you have incurred cost on SEO copywriting you pay no more because when your links appear naturally on the search engine result pages and when people click on those links you don’t have to pay for them as in the case of sponsored links. Whether your links generate a single click or millions of clicks you don’t have to pay for them.

SEO copywriting enhances your credibility

The search engine users click more on naturally appearing links rather than on sponsored links. Anyone with money to spend can pay for the ads but only those people who build their content page by page working over a long period of time appear naturally on the search engine result pages. This increases their credibility in the eyes of search engine users. It also means that you have lots of content on your website or blog and lots of people eagerly link to you (that’s why you rank higher in the first place).

SEO copywriting gives you user-friendly content

At the crux of SEO copywriting lies user-friendliness and this is what differentiates and SEO copywriter from a normal copywriter and even from an SEO expert. In fact and SEO copywriter first writes for your users and then tweaks the copy for the benefit of search engines. Efficient SEO copywriting automatically increases your conversion rate because right words are used to express your ideas and your content is organized to facilitate convenient reading.

SEO copywriting increases your conversion rate

Everything boils down to conversion rate eventually. In the end of the day what matters is how effective your copywriting has been. Did many people buy from your website? Did enough people subscribe to your RSS feeds or e-mail alerts? Were you able to convince many people to link to your website or blog posts? What I mean to say is did your copy achieve what you intended it to achieve for you? SEO copywriting can really help you increase your conversion rate by forcing you to write your copy in the right manner. You not only write well you also draw relevant traffic from search engines.

So where does consistence come in? You need to indulge in SEO copywriting consistently for it to take effect. Search engines love it when you have tons of high-value content and even your competitors know this. Consequently, they are continuously generating search engine friendly content. To stay ahead of your competition you need lots of content that is not only subject-relevant but also search engine optimized.

The importance of attention

Feb 09, 2008 No Comments »

Attention is scarce on the Internet and the reason is there is so much there to give attention to. For every kind of information requirement you can find thousands of websites. For instance, you will find scores of excellent blogs telling you how to write and how to promote your online copywriting career. Similarly there might be hundreds of websites teaching you webdesigning and SEO techniques. With so much to see it is very difficult to stay at one place unless you have an overwhelming reason to stay there.

This creates a very big challenge for people who have to generate content to generate business and revenue. In order to generate business you have to make people stay longer on your website. For that you have to make sure that you hold their attention. If you think that loud and hyperbolic copywriting tactics can hold the attention of your readers then you must know that your readers have already gone through hundreds of such copywriting manifestations and have been totally bored by such gimmicks. How can you make your readers stay longer on your blog or website and get their attention  so that they do what you want them to do while they are on your website?

Create compelling headlines

Although this subject has been beaten to a pulp its importance can never be underestimated and especially more so when it comes to writing content for the Internet. Since everybody is in a hurry due to one or the other reason people skim through your web pages instead of reading them. Moreover, they know that there are already tens of other pages waiting to be read or rather skimmed.  They probably have different pages opened in different tags and it’s a matter of just a single moment of boredom or distraction and they are gone. Your headlines keep them glued to your page.

Highlight the greatest benefits that your website or blog can offer at the outset. Even when you are creating blog posts have titles and headings containing expressions your readers are looking for. For instance if your readers want to know how to write better online content then it makes sense to offer them something like “How to write better online content” rather than simply having “How to be a better writer”.

Subject-specific headlines also make it easier to skim through your content quickly. Just by reading your title and your headlines the reader should be able to get the gist of your content. Your headlines and titles can make your regular text irresistible.

Create shorter paragraphs

Since it is often difficult to read on computer screens and even on laptop screens it is advised that you use shorter paragraphs so that they can be read easily. Long streams of text blur the vision and this sends your readers away to other websites. Shorter paragraphs also help you organize your thoughts better. Try to express every new thought in a separate paragraph.

Make use of appropriate formatting and coloring

Format your text in such a manner that the expressions that should attract your readers get highlighted. Make your important expressions bold and if possible even make them appear bigger but don’t overdo it. You can also use colors but try to follow the color theme of your website.

Hyperlink wherever possible

Since the nature of the Internet mostly consists of clicking the hyperlinks people instinctively click them. Whenever you feel that a topic requires further, prolonged narrative, create a separate page and then hyperlink to that page. This also benefits your SEO efforts.

Use images and videos wherever possible

Visual impact is easier to make then textual impact. Complement your written content with well-suited images. If you think that your readers can view videos easily include them too but just keep in mind that it will prove counter-productive if you visitors have to wait long for your video to buffer.

Use a personal tone

Impersonal content makes people indifferent towards you. Write in the first person and directly address your reader. Instead of saying, “one should do this” it is better to say, “you should do this”. You also sound more convincing if you talk to your readers directly.

The Internet economy is often referred to attention economy. The competition is cutthroat but you can make a difference by highlighting certain portions of your content and writing it in a compelling language.

Do your readers remember what you write?

Feb 08, 2008 No Comments »

Some writers generate content just to fill their websites and blogs (or their clients’ websites and blogs) and some write to genuinely communicate. Why do you write? Do you want your readers to feel enriched after reading what you have written? Do they feel encouraged to think about things you have written? Do they feel enraged? Do they admire you for your writing?

All this helps your readers remember you and your website or blog. If your writing has no voice and it generates no feeling it doesn’t register with your readers and they very quickly forget about you and consequently don’t revisit your website or blog.

Your readers don’t remember you for your exceptional writing skill — although this certainly helps — they remember you by the way you write, by what you say and how you mean it. It doesn’t always need to be problem-solving or providing something overwhelmingly unique; you just need to communicate with your readers on a one-to-one basis and they remember you.

Involve your readers; make them a part of your entire writing process. In fact they ARE an integral part of your writing process: there is no meaning in writing if there are no readers. And there is no meaning in writing if you writing does not connect with your readers. Each time you write make an impact.