Traditional Copywriting vs. Internet Copywriting

Traditional copywriting and internet copywriting have a common goal. Both have the purpose of generating sales for a business. Because profits are involved,and online shopping is becoming increasingly popular, it is  crucial to put a lot of attention to copywriting for the internet. Even those however who already have well established online businesses don’t always do this. 

There are many reasons why online copywriting and SEO aren's a main priority for some business owners. One reason is that business owners think they can just run an internet business using the same offline tools. This is not completely true.  Sales writing for the internet in particular has to take SEO strategies into the equation and that's why I'm writing this blog for you! =)

Unfortunately, entrepreneurs online need to create and manage websites and web pages. Part of these tasks involves getting around some technical web specific approaches and methods to attract attention, which are not all taught in "business school." 

The traditional way of marketing used to involve using the phone, booking sales presentations and networking with contacts. You can still use these principles but effective online copywriting can actually already take care of much of what these offline techniques cover. Lucky for internet businesses, you have the potential to accomplish a lot with just the use of appropriately constructed web copies containing the right KEYWORDS. 

The requirement for keyword insertion is what makes web copywriting more difficult. Not only do you have the challenge of using language in just the right way to persuade clients to learn about or buy a product, you also have to insert keywords in such a way that seamlessly blends into the copy and makes sense!

Most marketing or copywriting professionals will have to incorporate traditional and internet copywriting skills into their position, a double wammy!

A Search Engine Optimization Secret Every Writer Needs To Know!

Did you know that you need to have enough SEO copy so that the search engines can find you.?

Basically, you need to have a sufficient amount of text on your main page and in the other important sections of your site in order to create an effective SEO copy. Ideally, the engines need at least 300-500 words per page in order to accurately analyze your keywords and to understand the relevancy of your overall site.

Wow! I didn't even know that, and now I am seeing why some of my blogs might be doing better than others.  You know a great part of being a writer is the fact that you are constantly learning! =) 

4 Secrets To Improve Your Writing

College is a great place to learn because you are practicing practicing practicing your copywriting.  This same principle should be applied in the real world over the duration of your career as a professional copywriter.  Here are 4 secrets you MUST know to improve your writing and ensure you are benefiting from your hard work and time spent. 

1. Reference Others

All marketing experts need a references file. This is a file containing sales letters and convincing copywriting samples by others that you think are effective and persuasive. You should not plagiarize them but you should refer to them and include their ideas in your own copywriting. 

     2.  Practice Practice Practice

It is okay if your not seeing millions of dollars right away. Practice is the perfect way to improve your skills and find out which styles suit you best and make you the most money. 


     3.  Understand your product, and your audience

Before you start, you should get to know the people who are involved in creating your products and your potential customers. You need to know what they want so that you can improve your killer copywriting and your sales pitch efforts to convince them your product is something they NEED. 

     4.   Have others critique your work

When writing your first attempt at new copy, get someone else to take a look at it. You need to check if they get the "I want to buy this" look in their eyes. If they do, you are successful. You need to know where their feelings are so that you can persuade them to purchase your products. Emotional appeals are the essential for successful Internet marketing. You need to know what your customers' hopes, aspirations, fears, dreams and likes and dislikes are in order to motivate them to buy your product.

It's also very important to have multiple people from different expert backgrounds to view the same piece of copywriting.  That way you can get different points of views in order to ensure your copy is as motivating as possible!

Overcoming Writer's Block

After choosing a subject to start a blog or website about, there are going to be times that you are going to get writer's block.  Especially since you should be writing new content at least 3 - 4 times a week.  Seems like there's only so much you can write about right?

Well alot of times its just about inspiration! Whether you get inspiration from other people, other websites, or by signing up for google alerts, it can still get difficult. 

A great way to get some daily inspiration is by signing up for free software like Zemanta Ltd.  Downloading this software is like downloading your "blogging assistant."  Not only do they help you with content, they also help you with your Search Engine Optimization! yay!

Zemanta is a tool that looks over your shoulder while you blog and gives you tips and advice, suggests related content and pictures and makes sure your posts get promoted as they deserve to be

 

Their job is to make Blogging easy for you by:

Offering photos and articles based on what you are writing about.  After downloading the software a little box will pop up on the size of your new posts and while you write, they will pick up on your keywords and provide you with informational articles and photos. 

However, good writing is original so you have to figure out how to read something and then put into your own words and your own perspective.  If you are still having trouble with that aspect of your writing try watching a DVD like this one:




Upgrade Your Writing: Overcoming Writer's Block



or like to read interesting material?


Try a book:





Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within (Shambhala Library)

Keywords are The Key to Easy Search Engine Optimization

                                        Image via CrunchBase

                     After being in school as long as I was, it has taken me a while to really understand the importance of keywords for successful search engine optimization.  When you are a student, people are FORCED to read your work.  Now in the real world you have to actually have an audience in mind and figure out how to attract them to your site or blog. 


That's where keywords come in! Keywords are the words people use to search for something they are looking for.  So here are some ways I am personally working on my own search engine optimization:

1. Like anything worth doing, you have to do your research.  There are sites that can tell you what keywords are most possible like:

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

http://www.selfseo.com/keyword_suggestion_tool.php

http://www.submitexpress.com/keytracker.php

http://www.wordtracker.com/

http://www.freewebsubmission.com/keyword-popularity.html


      2.  Use your keyword(s) in your post title. From left to right, the closer to the left your keyword is,
           the greater value it is given for SEO.  Remember to make it something that will catch peoples' 
           attention.



      3.  Create an SEO friendly permalink. Hopefully you’re using custom permalinks in Wordpress. If not, 
      don’t. If so, make it your title minus the fluff words (and, the, if, etc) with dashes (not underscores) 
      between each word.


     4.    Use your keyword(s) as tags or labels in blogger. Use no more than 2 tags per post. Use your tags 
        as file folders for your content topics. Don’t spam tags for all your posts.

     5.    Use your keyword(s) in your first and last paragraph, or a restatement of your title. As well, make 
         sure to use your keyword(s) throughout your copy when applicable.


     6.    Bold your keyword(s) and relevant statements/words throughout copy. Format for SEO
          (bold/emphasize) the first and last instances or reasonably throughout your copy.


     7.    Use your keyword(s) in the ALT text of every image on the post. ALT text is entered when you
           insert an image. Make sure you use a descriptive, short sentence similar to your title that includes your
           keyword(s).


     8.   Link to relevant content.  Create internal links within your own blog to posts you have written on 
          similar topics,  Create external links to relevant sources outside of your blog with your keyword(s) as 
          part of the anchor text in the link.

Common Copywriting Mistakes You Can Not Afford!

Remember in school when they taught you about KISS?

No, not HOW to kiss, the Keep It Simple Stupid "KISS." 

Well this is a lesson that can last a lifetime.  A common mistake some copywriters make is writing too fancy and complicated.  It is important to remember that only about 5% of Americans have a college education, and therefore might now have the same intellectual language skills that you do. This also means excluding word and industry-only "lingo."  Keeping your copy simple and straight to the point is KEY to success.


Here's another status quo phrase you might want to follow: "Less is More"

Yes, the more information you provide your reader the better right?  Well not if you are rambling on and on to the point where you lose your reader entirely.  Unfortunately we live in a time where people have VERY short attention spans.  You might even see yourself doing this, but when most people see ALOT of text on a topic they are not necessarily all that interested in to begin with, there's no chance they will even START reading your copy.  It is very important to only provide the necessary information that will grab your readers attention and keep them interested enough to want to look up more information on your topic.

This book is a great tool you might want to consider if you are starting out or find it a little bit harder not to repeat the same words over and over or to write in a more concise way that will attract your readers.  As a writer a thesaurus should be your bible!

Why You NEED Criticism!

When it comes to your personal work and writing style, you will automatically have some type of blindness. Since the words you are typing are coming straight from your head, it is hard to catch things that might not make sense or might sound funny, etc.

Look at something long enough and you’ll stop seeing it altogether. After a while, it will be almost impossible to identify how your copy can be improved.

It is critical that you have people who are familiar with sales copy and who have strong writing skills, look over and critique your work.  Like the old saying goes, two head are better than one, and you will find that working with others in a team atmosphere is when you will write your best work! Other people are great for inspiration and simply for bouncing ideas off of each other!

Educate and Inspire Yourself

Every writer needs inspiration to produce innovative and original writing.  Alot of times this means "thinking outside the box" which also means educating yourself and learning about new things. 

Some easy ways to do this are:

READ READ READ! Read books, read blogs, read articles, magazines, etc.  

Participate in Forums or other social websites.  Hearing and reading what other people say can help spark something. 

Talk to your Friends.  Most likely, your friends have varying views on life and can give you a different perspective on certain topics.  

Del.icio.us.This popular bookmarking site is a great place for great articles, blog posts and other resources. Browse through these links to find examples of great writing by others. While you can't copy what they say, you can often use ideas to spark something of yours. 

Brainstorms. This is a GREAT way to get ideas and there are many ways to brainstorm which will be a blogpost of its own shortly. Just let your craziest ideas out!

Flickr.  Flickr.com, is a website dedicated to amazing photography. Just browse through to find some inspiration with an image to go with it.   

Breaking your routines. This one is HUGE! This will also get its own blogpost, but basically that means doing something, going somewhere or talking to someone DIFFERENT.  

GOOD LUCK! 

Marketing Yourself! It's OK to be Self-Centered!

I've basically started my blog out pumping information to you in order to ensure you have the basics to understand what I'm talking about and be able to apply what you are learning.   This blog WILL NOT be as boring as it was all last week =).  Now that you understand what SEO is and how to promote your work, you can now focus on what exactly you are going to write about.

Unfortunately, it can be really really difficult to find inspiration.  It is extremely important to know that in SEO and Internet Marketing, (just like Advertising and Product Development), you HAVE to be creative, fresh, and innovative. Not only do you have to write about something that the person wants to know about (keywords keywords keywords) you also have to keep them in suspense and enjoying what they are reading.

Successful copywriters are great at relating what they are writing about to each individual reader.  Wow! Talk about pressure! Most importantly, as a copywriter, it is important to do some self marketing and getting your name out there as a credible source for information.  A great way to do this is to write some Informational Articles and post them up on sites like:

http://ezinearticles.com/

http://www.1888articles.com

http://www.articlefeeder.com

Even if you are working for someone else, chances are you won't be working for them forever. Therefore, as a copywriter it is your job to prove yourself to be a credible source and writing articles is a great way to do this while also promoting your company, service, or product.

I'd like to use my blog to offer out writing tips, SEO advice, and short diary like stories about life. 

Feel free to leave a comment with topics or questions you have!

What The Hell is Twitter?

What Twitter Does

Whether it’s breaking news, a local traffic jam, a deal at your favorite shop or a funny pick-me-up from a friend, Twitter keeps you informed with what matters most to you today and helps you discover what might matter to you most tomorrow.

The timely bits of information that spread through Twitter can help you make better choices and decisions and, should you so desire, creates a platform for you to influence what’s being talked about around the world.

Just remember, how you use Twitter is completely up to you. Follow hundreds of people. Follow a dozen. Post every hour. Post never. Search for your favorite topics and create lists. Or not. You are in control on Twitter.

Twitter for Businesses

Twitter is a simple tool that helps connect businesses more meaningfully with the right audience at the right time.

Businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes are now able to stay connected to their customers. It can be used to quickly share information with people interested in your company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about your business.

For real world tips and case studies from businesses that have effectively used Twitter to build their brand and connect more personally with their customers, check out Twitter 101 for Businesses, which is Twitter's guide to doing business on Twitter.

3 Tips for Better Copywriting or Blogging

Tip #1 -  REMEMBER your target audience

One of the most important parts of copywriting is addressing your intended audience. This is true for absolutely every type of writing out there, without exception. Consider for example that you’re a writer specializing in culinary writing. No matter how good your writing is, it means nothing if the person who is reading it has no interest in what you are talking about.


Tip # 2 – Keep it Short and Sweet

The web is a fast-paced environment. Technology has increased the speed at which machines can present information, and as a result people expect to be able to process that information faster. With so much out there available so quickly, why would anyone linger on an article that takes too long to get to the point?
Write concisely, focusing on your topic and keeping the content to a targeted word count. Ensure that each section is no longer than necessary, to prevent boredom and disinterest.


Tip # 3 –  Catchy Headlines

Attention spans are reducing even as our ability to process information increases. People want quick, catchy information and they want it now. Too late, they’ve moved on. A headline is a key point in catching someone’s attention. A good headline should convey just enough information to let them know what you are talking about, yet be vague enough to generate their interest to want to read further. Humorous headlines can be very effective, as can dramatic or ironic statements. Practice with headlines, and make them an essential part of your writing, rather than an accessory.

#1 Secret To Googling

Did you know that you can avoid sorting through thousands of pages of search results?

It’s easy and it's called:  Google Search Modifiers.

To find reports that are often meant to be hidden away, but Google still has found and indexed, simply add “filetype:pdf” to any search term. Looking for a Powerpoint presentation? Add “filetype:ppt” to any search term.

Example: Internet Marketing filetype:pdf

Basically, Google will return only pages that have PDFs or PowerPoint Presentations. Usually these files are easier to find rather than going through a bunch of commercial website pages. PDFs and PowerPoint Presentations are a great way to get a quick overview of a specific topic, and a way to discover great bullet points that you can rewrite and use in your copy! 

Bonus Secret: Even if you don’t own Microsoft PowerPoint software, you can download a free Windows PowerPoint viewer.


And for help finding definitions or synonyms, you can use the “define” query.

Example: Define: Internet Marketing 

The SEO Importance of KEYWORDS!!

When it comes to internet writing, blogging, marketing, etc., KEYWORDS are extremely important.

Keywords are basically the words in your copy that match what people are searching.  As you know, millions of searches are conducted each day on popular search engines by people all around the world.

Fortunately for you, most major search engines provide a way to glimpse into the web's query stream to discover the most popular search keywords or topics. These are just a few:

• Ask IQ: See top searches at Ask.
   
• Dogpile SearchSpy: Choose to see either a filtered or non-filtered sample of top, real-time search terms from this popular meta search service. Sister site MetaCrawler offers a similar MetaCrawler MetaSpy service.
   
• Google Trends: Allows you to tap into Google's database of searches, to determine what's popular. View the volume of queries over time, by city, regions, languages and so on. Compare multiple terms, as well. See our review: Google Trends: Peer Into Google's Database Of Searches.
   
• Google Zeitgeist: What people are searching for at Google and its associated specialty services in a variety of categories. There are versions for various countries, as well.
   
• Lycos 50: Long-standing service showing top searches at Lycos each week.
   
• Yahoo Buzz Index: Shows you what's hot and what's not in terms of search topics at Yahoo.

 
 It is important to actually search a couple of these sites before even starting a new blog post or whatever copy you are planning on doing.  That way you can ensure you are writing about something current and interesting in the minds of the majority of people.

DOING THIS COULD EVEN SUPPLY YOU WITH SOME INSPIRATION! YAY!

I also found this GREAT site http://www.seomoz.org which has some very helpful SEO resources you might want to check out as well. 

This particular page is actually telling you where the search engines are "crawling" or searching for keywords the most, which is basically where you want to focus your keyword attention on. 

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#on-page-keyword-specific-ranking-factors

Promoting Your Blog Through Social Media and Networking

Promoting yourself, your business or your blog on social networking can be extremely profitable if done right.

Before you can find your customers on a social networking site, you have to be involved in that social networking site. Which means establishing a page on Facebook, My Space, You Tube, Twitter etc.  Adding a photo so people get a sense of who you are. Just basically introducing yourself, your interest and your business.

For example, every time you write a new post, post the link on facebook.  This way it will come up on your friends' "news feed" and there is a very good chance someone will click on your blog from there! 

Now having "friends or followers"

• Let the networking site go through your email list and see who else that you know or have had communication with also has a page on the site. You can then decide if you want to link up with that person.

• Put an announcement on your website with your social network site information and ask people to join you.

• Join groups that have been established on the site that are relevant to your business interests.

Why you "Need" Friends: 

• Your email list will generate a list of people you already know that you can link up with.

• The site announcement gives people the opportunity to be part of your list.

• People who have joined a group have announced their interest in speaking with other people about the subject of the group.

• Use a search query that searches the interests people have identified in their profiles.

Give your social media creativity a try. It will help you build knowledge of your market and who is out there, it will give you closer connections with potential customers, and hopefully higher sales or hits as a reward for all of your hard work!

Promoting Your Blogs on Other Sites

A great way to promote your blog is to link to other sites and blogs.

For example, if you like to Do Things Yourself (DIY) there are a bunch of Crafty / DIY sites you can post your work and share it with others.  These sites also let you put a link to your blog or website up which will bring you referrals and will also bring you up in Search Engines.  (Two great DIY websites are http://www.craftbits.com  or http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com )

However, it is important that you link to other sites with a better "traffic ranking" then you do.  This is just another confusing part about Search Engine Optimization.  Depending on how many hits your blog or site gets, the internet Gods give you a ranking.  A few sites you can use to check your ranking or other people's rankings is:

http://www.alexa.com/

http://www.quantcast.com/

http://www.prchecker.info/

These sites are great because they also provide keywords that are frequently used to search your sites, and other important statistics. 

Here's a secret:  Some of these sites also provide contact information for site owners which is great if you are looking to snail mail something out to a potential customer.

Promoting Your Blog in Blog Directories

A great way to promote your blog is by listing it on a bunch of different blog directories.  While some directories charge a small fee, there are many that are free.  Here are just a few free ones that I have listed mine on:

http://blogtoplist.com/

This is a blog directory that is sorted by the score each blog has received during the week. 100 unique visitors will generate the same amount of score as 1 unique vote. To get a vote your blog needs to send the vistior to them through the voting button and then the visitor needs to click on the button to vote for the blog. The tracking button tracks the blogs visitors and give the blog score without requiring the visitor to interfare. You can use both methods to get a good rank in the directory. The score is updated every 15 minutes and resets back to zero each monday. 

http://www.blogged.com/

Blogged is a place where you can get reactions to major news events. No more tired old newspapers! With Blogged, you can actually interact with other people.  You can start a profile and a network of friends and it is an opportunity to share your blog with like-minded individuals. 

http://www.bloghub.com/

Bloghub.com is an online directory and community where members from around the world gather and exchange ideas. It is free to add your site to their blog directory, and to search for blog templates, blog skins, create blog or chat on their online Blogger forum.

http://www.blogcatalog.com/  and http://www.globeofblogs.com/ are also very similar. For a list of the top 50 go to: http://www.avangate.com/articles/blog-directories-95.htm

http://www.blogpulse.com/  is a great site because BlogPulse is an automated trend discovery system for blogs. BlogPulse applies machine-learning and natural-language processing techniques to discover trends in the highly dynamic world of blogs.  This is IMPORTANT because as a blogger you want to write about popular topics.  Popular topics are topics that people WANT to read about and therefore will WANT to read your blog =)

Whenever it comes to listing on a directory, most of them will ask or require a recipricol link.  Most will provide you with an html code that you can insert into your blog and a small little advertisement will be present.  To add the html code to your blog, just choose where you want your html text widget to go, add the code and save!  The recipricol link is actually a way for them to rank how well your blog is doing and the more people you refer to them, the more they will promote your blog on their site and refer to you.  It's a win win situation.

A Job That Allows You to Work From Home

As I mention in my About Me section, the reason I have decided to become a professional blogger is to have the option to Work from home. Perhaps the best reason to become a writer is that it allows you the option of working from home. Not having to drive to work daily or be set to a particular schedule, writers can plan their days as they please. Working from home has its many advantages as well as disadvantages but in my opinion the advantages of working from home as a writer far outweigh the disadvantages as long as you are the type of person that can motivate yourself. 

This also means you can Be your own boss!  Being your own boss is great as you will never have to worry about getting fired or upsetting someone besides yourself ahha. However, again there are advantages and disadvantages to this depending on how organized you are and your ability to budget your money.

If you are reading this and are interested in becoming a writer, you might want to consider starting up a blog.  I personally prefer blogger over wordpress because blogger is easier to design and customize the look of your blog.  Don't worry, it seems complicated at first but like anything practice makes perfect! I will use this blog to help you and provide tips on how to use blogger since I believe I was born to do this =)  Please feel free to post any questions you have about blogger on here!

But back to the making money from home part! Blogger makes it very easy to make money from home by offering Google Adsense.  This basically is a program that you sign up for and choose where they place Google Advertisements on your blog.  It's also called "Monetizing" your blog.  Ofcourse, with the more people going and reading your blog, the better your chances of making money.  However, don't get discouraged, its all about being persistent and writing writing writing.  The more content, the more chances Google will "crawl" over your blog and the better you will rank in the search engines. 

Tomorrow I will talk about ways to promote your blog for free and get more hits that way.  But for now it's time to go out and have some fun.  Good Night!!

What is Online Marketing and SEO?

Copywriting is the most important element for effective online marketing. With Search Engine Optimization in the picture and the need to be creative to catch people's attention, copywriting has now become both an art and a science that involves strategically writing words to promote a person, product, business, opinion, or idea.  You do this of course, with the intention of having the reader take action, like buying your product, commenting on your blog post, or changing their life decisions. 

SEO (search engine optimization) copywriting is the art of writing web page copy that is attractive to readers, but also ranks well for specific searching terms that people are using to find whatever you are writing about.  For example, if you were looking for a new restaurant to go to, you would probably go online and Google: “restaurants, providence RI” and then make your decision from the first couple of search results pages you get, right??  Do you ever search for something and look through all 2,385,000 results? Who has the time? Well the better your ranking the higher you will come up on the search engine's results pages. 

Well because of the overwhelming popularity of “googling it” search engines have now become more sophisticated, making good copy writing and SEO a crucial part of doing business. The great part about SEO is that the internet allows for already interested customers to find YOU.  Thus eliminating the need for smaller businesses to spend large amounts of money on advertising.  And saving money is a great thing! 

What is CopyWriting?

Copywriting is the art of writing sales and marketing related materials and is used in every major area of business.  It is basically the communication between your business and the outside world. 

I absolutely love this definition from google: Copywriting is writing content for creative executions. 

The most important word in that sentence is CREATIVE.  What most people do not realize is the fact that we live in a world where conformity overpowers the creative mind.  We are brought up to listen to our teachers and parents and “follow the rules” the majority of our learning lives. 

Unfortunately with the mania that is the internet, conformity is not what is going to make you big money.  Standing out in the mass internet crowd is what catches attention and gets people interested in what you have to say.  Being creative, fresh and innovative are the words you must live by.   

This blog will be creative, fresh and innovative in itself by offering short and simple tips as blog posts rather than long and confusing article type reading.  We live in an age of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) where if you are not an expert on what you are reading and what you are reading is too complicated to understand, you are not going to have the patience to figure it out! 

In my opinion (and I'm pretty sure some experts would agree with me) taking in information in small amounts is the best road to learning, understanding, and retaining what you read.

Welcome To My Diary

Growing up as a little girl I knew I had a great writing talent.  Going through my "I think I can" Book in half the time as others, it was quite apparent.  Spelling and putting my thoughts into words was easy pie for me.  As I got older, I also realized I wasn't the best at Math or Science (how surprising!).  So I continued my way through school focusing on my strengths and struggling through my weaknesses.  My decision to go straight from Undergraduate school to Graduate school I believe now to be a smart one.  I did it because I new I wanted to be very good at what I did and I wanted to make ALOT of money doing it.

I knew with a M.A. my chances for success were greater. Unfortunately when I finished with my degree it was during a down economy and job market.  That's Ok! I kept looking for work, took what I could, and now a year later I am very happy with my life. As I get older (I'm turning 25 in 1 month) I am starting to think about having a family and children.  However, I feel skeptical about how long I will be able to enjoy working in the corporate world if I have a small child growing and learning at home without me.

The great thing about my job and career choice is that I do have the option to work from home.  Just hand me over my trusty laptop and I am golden.  As I ride the ride that is my life, I am making my first attempt at the chance to make money from home.  And we shall see where that road brings me..............