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!