Copywriting OnlineBeen awesomely busy this last while, but I wanted to take a minute to thank all my clients and friends for the referrals, business and interesting projects they’ve invited me in on.
Thanks for an awesome summer!
Here’s a link to a great post on blogging, by Jay Baer of Convince & Convert. It includes a valuable worksheet to get you started. Especially good for the company blog. Take a read.
Cam
You’ve hired the web design company. Approved the quote. Set the timelines. And you’re ready to roll on the design and delivery of your company’s new website. But wait! Who’s going to write the copy? Many web design firms do not offer this service, so it falls to you.
In many cases, that’s not a problem. Writing your own copy is the right solution for many companies. You know your target audience, their pain points, and how your products and services meet their needs. You understand sales, product lines, mission statements and 30-year plans. Why hire out, and pay for all of those hours just to get someone up-to-speed on your company, when you can do it faster and more efficiently yourself?
I’ve watched many marketers miss deadlines, run up costs, and drive themselves and the rest of their department bonkers trying to write the copy for their website. So here are 5 important questions to ask yourself as you plan your new career as a copywriter.
Do I have time?
Writing a website takes many hours of clear, uninterrupted time that is free of phone calls, meetings, drop-ins, or a screaming to-do list. Missing copy deadlines is one of the main reasons web site launches fall behind. Set aside most of your to-do list and block off several hours a day for gathering materials, writing, rewriting and approvals. And remember, you’ll have to include Red Folder time. That is, time for your legal, research and technical departments to review copy. Estimate about 2-3 hours per page plus approvals.
Will it be about our customers? Or about us?
Effective copy starts with a good understanding of your customers. This involves deep insight into their pain points, what their day looks like, how busy they are. When, where and how they buy. You probably know this all very well. But how will it affect your copywriting? Short bulleted copy that’s easy to scan is often best, with the benefit value clearly stated. It takes discipline, but you must stay away from talking about yourself. Talk to your customers, instead.
Can I speak web?
Your writing must work with the site’s navigation and integrate into the site design. You’ll need to develop alt tags, meta descriptions and error messages. Your writing will also need to be search engine friendly, but still convey your value proposition. There are lots of articles out there on how to write for the web. About 3,170,000 the last time I searched.
Will the site fit with the rest of our collateral?
Your site is part of your overall voice, and it needs to fit seamlessly into the rest of your print, email, TV, radio, sales and internal communications materials. Like any branding effort, consistency is rule number 1. As part of your web plan, you’ll need to review your overall communications strategy to ensure it’s integrated effectively.
Can I keep the content fresh?
You’ve had your site designed so that it’s easy to update. Perfect. It’s very important you keep fresh content available, or people will stop coming. How quickly do you jump site when the content is dated 2009, 2010 or even last month? There are also many additional materials needed for an effective site: Case studies, white papers, testimonials, press releases. You’ll need to prepare a steady stream of content to keep your site relevant. Did we mention a blog?
Writing your own site is very possible, and may be the best answer for a slim budget. It will take creativity, discipline and perseverance.
The best place to start is with honest answers to these questions.
The April edition of Reader’s Digest is must reading for all those involved in marketing, advertising or customer service of any kind.
In its Most Hated Phrases in Canada article, Reader’s Digest notes that the top two most annoying phrases come from the world of customer service. Now that’s almost funny. The business area that should keep us engaged and happy is the very area whose language irritates us the most.
Topping the list of phrases we can’t stand is:
“Your call is important to us.”
What makes this phrase so annoying, so disgusting, that it does exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do? Is it because we seem to hear it so often? Do we really believe our calls are so very important? I suspect that, if I was all that important, someone would be talking to me by now.
Here’s the entire list of the top 12 phrases:
Today, I received a call from the Disputes Department of a credit card that we use. The Disputes Department. I told the guy from the Disputes Department that his department needed a new name. He agreed. How can someone from the Disputes Department agree with me? If that call was to be used for training purposes, he was headed for some serious reprogramming.
From the Disputes Department, it’s a short walk down the hall to the Argument Clinic.
So what are the phrases that bug you the most? Let me know and I’ll post the results, shortly. After all, your opinion is important to us.
Sarah Palin is an easy target for critics who, among other things, greedily chronicle her mis-uses of the English language. Recently she gave critics and spectators another Palinism. In an interview on Fox, she wondered how to characterize the military activity in Libya:
“Are we at war? I haven’t heard the president say that we are at war. And that’s why I too [don’t know] do we use the term intervention, do we use war, do we use skirmish?”
But that’s not how it came out… she turned skirmish into squirmish. Let’s see what we can do with this word. The Urban Dictionary describes squirmish simply as a verbal stoush between two or more parties that is so petty, pointless, misinformed or ill-conceived that it makes witnesses wince with embarrassment, or so uncomfortable that they don’t know where to look.
Did you hear those two going off at each other across the table? I just don’t want to get involved in these squirmishes.
Let’s decide that Squirmish is a combination of skirmish and squeamish, an act of grammar called a portmanteau: described by Merriam-Webster as a word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from a blending of two or more distinct forms (as smog from smoke and fog).
Her mistake has created a perfectly useful word that can be used on a global scale to describe any of a hundred such events around the globe. It’s an ideal way to describe these types of conflicts. An act of military aggression that isn’t all out war, but still, somehow, makes you nauseous as you consider it.
Squirmish. I love it.
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