Let me quote from recent experience (identifying details changed). I have a client, Philip, who built a website to promote his holiday cottage in Cornwall, UK. Let’s call the domain www.oldmillcreek.com. He also advertises his cottage with a large ’aggregator’ called Holiday Properties who list homes all over the UK (again, name changed). Holiday Properties gives Philip a whole web page in order to describe all details of his cottage and Philip gets quite a lot of leads from HolProp, so he’s keen on them.

Now Philip wants to have a link on his page that points back to his own website. HolProp says “No problem, so long as you give us a link back. Once we see your link we will activate the link on your page.” Read carefully the conditions that HolProp state:

Personal Website Link

If you have a personal website and would like us to include a link to this, please provide your URL here. You must include a link back to Holiday Properties on your website – please cut and paste this code on to your page:<a href=”>Holiday Properties apartment rentals<a> Note that we do not accept links to websites which advertise other properties or to commercial/business websites. We reserve the right to refuse or remove these links at our discretion. If you remove the link to Holiday Properties from your website then the link to your website will be removed from your listing.

Fair enough!  So Philip puts a link on his website that says ‘Our site is also featured on the Holiday Properties website - Ref: E1234 Old Mill Creek’. The hyperlink contains the name of the company. Also the link is a ‘clean’ one - www.holidayproperties4U.co.uk. He waits for the return link and is delighted to see it added to his HolProp page. But then his webmaster does some extra checking and finds that there’s been some ‘monkey business’ at play.

This is what Holiday Properties arrange for themselves:

1) Holiday Properties gives Philip a link that says ‘Owners website – click here’. There’s no use of the property name in the hyperlinked text. The words ‘click here’ could refer to anything!

2) The URL given to Philip does not say www.oldmillcreek.com. It says instead www.holidayproperties4U.co.uk/property_redirect.asp?property_id=34523. Here’s another plug for HolProp on the Internet.

Here’s what Philip’s webmaster does in response:

1) He makes the HolProp link on his own site much more general -  ‘Our site is also featured on the Holiday Properties website – click here - Ref: E1234 Old Mill Creek’. Now the text with the link has the same general wording.

2) He changes the URL that he gives to be a ‘redirect’ as well – in this case www.oldmillcreek.com/oldmillcreek_redirect.asp?affiliate_id=145. Now there’s no mention of Holiday Properties AT ALL - but they still get the return link that they asked for. Nobody can argue with that!

The principle of this story is simple. Only give to other people links of the same value as you get in return. You (or your webmaster) can control every part of the link. A ‘clean link’ (i.e one that shows your own domain) together with a hyperlink using your keywords (i.e ‘See website of Cornwall Holiday Cottage’) is a useful asset.

When you understand that, you’re less likely to be taken for a ride by Holiday Properties and their kind.

As a copywriter and project manager you’re responsible for getting the information from your client and then shaping it around a site map (that you probably need to define too). Your first base is to confirm agreement with your client on this point. Once you’ve built the ‘base information’ and the key messages, you’re now ready to brief your designer/webmaster.

The need for constant guidance

The project then follows a dual track – developing the content on one side while building a visual concept on the other. You find yourself guiding the designer all the time. It’s harder because this is a new person who hasn’t worked with you before and doesn’t yet understands how you work – or what your standards are. Typically, there are many more iterations before you feel that there’s something good to show your client. Even though you should be tracking carefully the management and attention time you’re spending on all this, you don’t.

The project moves ahead in the general direction that you want – but it’s a bit like driving a car with unsecured steering. You have to make adjustments all the time, unlike work with your regular suppliers – where you can use ‘autopilot’ much more because they know what they’re doing. You get drafts or revisions of the work and find yourself having to check and recheck all the time to make sure that all points are covered. You’ll get a mail from your supplier telling you “Everything’s done” and when you inspect it you find that half a dozen things are still missing or poorly executed.

Evaluating the real gain to you

Eventually you deliver the product to your client – a nice looking website that’s visually stimulating and contains the right amount of content. There’s enough to generate interest but not so much as to overwhelm. Your client is delighted! He or she has received a website that does an excellent communications job for a low-budget price. But is it WIN-WIN for you?

On the one hand you’ve earned your copywriting fee and won a new (and satisfied) client. On the other hand you’ve invested perhaps three times the management and attention effort on your new designer/webmaster than you would have done with your regular team. That doesn’t make economic sense, because it puts you in a losing situation at the end of the day. What’s the solution?

I think you have to focus on the colleagues with whom you work the most efficiently – and who understand you best. Have the discipline (yes, I know it’s hard when you’re looking for work) to stick by them for all projects. Try to get the best deal you can with them for all new work opportunities, but avoid looking for new and cheaper suppliers. If your quotation for your potential new client can work out by using your regular team, that’s great. If not, be prepared to let the opportunity pass.

Tell your client: “I can deliver my quality because I also work with the right people. That has its own cost. I cannot downscale my prices if it means having to downscale my quality.”

Clients, especially those in large companies, have learnt to exploit this weakness by dangling a large work contract in front of your eyes. They may say something like “We have six brochures to upgrade PLUS our website PLUS our company presentation. We want a good copywriter with whom we can grow.” And of course the punch line…”What special package price can you give us for all this?” 

You think about the number of times you’ve had to invoice for small individual jobs and compare it to the prospect of a substantial payment flowing into your bank account every month and you’re prepare to jump through hoops for this. As a copywriter of over 30 years experience (who has also fallen several times into these traps) I say ‘Beware’: 

1) Acclimatization Period

It’s going to take a while until both sides learn to work together, trust each other and recognize each other’s unique qualities. I would say that if you are in close contact with your client (several calls per week) it is still going to take a few months before you can map out where this relationship is going. So don’t rush things too quickly, even if you urgently want to improve your finanancial situation.

2) Manage Expectations

The quality of service you provide may not be what your client has in mind. More specifically, the amount of work detail into which each side enters may be different. It’s worth having a written agreement between you and your client so that as much as possible is stated in black and white. This is also a reason to ‘start slow and small’. 

3) Small nibbles before big bites

Even with a large ‘shopping list’ of items to be done and an urgent timetable (“We need to deliver 6 new brochures this month, can you commit to 90 hours this month?”) you should insist on dealing with one or two items from beginning to end first. You have to check how many drafts you’ll have to do and what is the approval cycle within the client’s company. How many people will be contributing their inputsand will you can consistent or conflicting feedback? I have found that an apparently simple job of around 10 hours has inflated to 50 hours because of all these factors.

4) Beware of the ‘Client-Copywriter’

Some clients take your work and reform it in their own style – or add so many amendments that you feel you’re battling against another copywriter on the same job. I find that this is particularly apparent when a job needs to be fitted into a defined space – such as 400 words for a 2-sided flyer. You work hard on the text to trim it down to the required size and then the revision that you get from your client expands the text to 600-700 words again – with copywritten texts that were used before. What are you here? An editor? A prooofreader? A quality-control person? Dealing with the ‘Client-Copywriter’ can be very frustrating for you and perhaps lead to you leaving the project in the end. You need to watch out for this.

5) Show goodwill, but with care

The prospect of working on a large contract and over an extended time may prompt you to be generous with your time. You may feel that you should fund some of the ‘learning curve’ yourself in terms of unbilled time. Let’s say it takes 10 hours to review all the company’s old material and competitive information. You might suggest charging for only 5 hours and absorbing the other 5 hours yourself – especially as an additional incentive to get them to sign your work contract. There’s nothing wrong with this – I’ve done it many times and it’s generally appreciated. But I have a proviso.

Don’t include the financial adjustment in the first or even second payment period. Save it for later, when you’re sure that the whole relationship is going the way you hope. If you’re being paid monthly, suggest the financial adjustment at the end of the first quarter. In this way you’ll guard against your client taking all the benefits you offer and then shopping for a better deal after you’ve done all the donkey work.  

If all these recommendations help you to put your copywriting business on firmer foundations, I’ll feel that my words have done their job.

All of us in the copywriting business welcome rising to a challenge. So when a client comes with a document that he/she has written and says “It’s boring and gray…give it creativity and bring it to life”, it’s something that really gets us going, right?

Starting with good intentions

A large high-tech company, with thousands of employees worldwide and several international offices, asked me to help them with a marketing-oriented version of their Product Support information. The Product Support Director had written a 16-page document about  being innovative in the product support world – a treatise that reached close to 5000 words. The request on the table was to make his information far more engaging for readers by turning it into an interesting e-book.  At the first client meeting I said that in order to achieve this, the word-count would have to be cut down to about half its original volume. My client nodding at this point but added ’Yes, but I want to include what I’ve written’.  My antennae should have been tuned better!

Brainstorming for the right ‘trigger’

The next step was to find an interesting analogy/story line that could work with the product support services and products offered at various levels. The creative team (copywriter/graphic designer) was asked to focus on the innovative ideas being offered in the industry and to imply that the customers of such product support services would be more attracted to companies that showed a novel and proactive approach.

What could work with Product Support? Perhaps Fitness Training. After all, in product support you rely a lot on experts guiding you to understand and apply your systems better. At higher levels there’s a great deal of Personalized Support. Similarly in Fitness, you move ahead by adopting a more methodical and planned approach. If you want to participate in competitive sports, then you’ll need the help of a Personal Trainer. You can see how the two stories – the two tracks – can be interwoven.

I also had the benefit of reading some of the Straight Talk booklets produced by Deloitte Consulting (for example: a booklet dealing with Customer Relationship Management called ‘How To Eat The CRM Elephant’) http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/us_consulting_stbk2_crm_290806.pdf. I didn’t plan to go as far as this, but felt that the general light-hearted direction was good.

Making it all fit together

What followed was an intense creative writing session where I developed an interesting story line for the company’s ‘innovative product support’ information on the one hand and in parallel made the connection to the Fitness world. The balance was slightly in favor of the product support story but there was enough on the Fitness side to support the graphics side, which showed all kinds of Fitness activities. Looking over my shoulder at the CRM booklet, I applauded Deloitte for embracing their creative idea and having the guts to follow through on it without feeling the need to cram it with technical details of every kind (i.e avoiding the typical high-tech trap!).

‘Fine tuning’ that became a total re-write

Up to that point, the feedback that I’d received from my client was: “we think it’s a great idea and has been well developed”. Then the whole project got derailed. The client said “We want you to fine-tune the texts a little: instead of the story being 55% Product Support and 45% Fitness, we want you to make it 80% Support and 20% Fitness. We also want you to include all the information we had in our original document.” Forget about ‘fine tuning…this was a complete ‘rewrite’! I should have junked the project at that point, but I had agreed to payment upon completion so I had to finish it.

Draining away the creativity

In gradual stages, the creativity that I had instilled was systematically drained away as we aligned ever closer to the client document that had started the whole process. I felt that the client was paying lip-service to the idea of a refreshing and original e-book. He simply wanted to dress up his document in e-book clothes. Moreover, at a final word count of over 3000 words we had achieved little in making it more succinct, readable and interesting. What a great shame – when one considers what ‘might have been’.

Lesson to be learnt from all this

I think that running an ambitious and creative communications project needs a great deal of understanding and commitment, particularly by the client. It’s very easy to slip back into the ‘comfort zone’ of purely technical information which is the standard (if boring) approach. Copywriters who are asked to deliver highly creative work need to be very aware that this will consume far more time than normal, and charge accordingly. If such a quotation isn’t accepted, it’s clear that the client doesn’t understand or appreciate what’s involved. So be on your guard.

(Postscript: About a week after I finished the job I was asked to do one last proofreading pass on this e-book text. It gave me an opportunity to look at everything again from a wider perspective. Was the client team happy with the outcome? Sure! Was the graphic design team happy? Yes. Was the originator/content writer happy? Far from it!! Why? Because he felt that the whole thing was far too heavy and client-serving and would have minimal interest for prospective readers not inclined to wade through tons of text to find the main points.) Sadly, it’s one of those jobs that I can’t use as a good reference, despite the ‘big name’ client.

1) Understand that there’s a gap

You’ve spent years getting to know the technicalities and market appeal of your business niche. You talk to customers who have also spent years in the same field. Now you’re  inviting a new person to help you pitch your advantages to these customers. It may take some time until the copywriter reaches your level of understanding. He or she will need help in closing the gap of understanding. So you need to be patient and realize that climbing the learning curve in any business cannot be done overnight and requires significant joint effort.

2) Prepare a good Brief

It’s a great help to your copywriter when you’re clear about your objectives and expectations. Prepare a briefing document that gives as much background information as possible – about your company, your philosophy, your projects and achievements, your key people and your target audiences. If you’re dealing with a website, give examples of other websites which you think are good and have the right approach. Include other materials such as presentations and articles about your company that can help to give a ‘top-down’ explanation to a newcomer.

3) Follow the process

Copywriting follows a process where each Draft of the copy moves closer to the final acceptable version. Normally three drafts should be sufficient to reach this state – where Draft 1 may be 50% correct, Draft 2 will probably be 80% correct and Draft 3 is 95-100% correct. If Draft 2 is still only 50% correct then some fundamental messages have not been properly understood and further guidance is required. It’s an error to suppose that after a detailed explanation and one draft, the final copy will emerge. You and your copywriter need to be synchronized on many things – the tone of voice used, the amount of details included, how many words will be included on a page, and other factors.

4) Be specific in your comments

The best way to progress is to make specific annotations  and comments on the copy already sent. If  you just say ‘I don’t like it’ or ‘it’s going in the wrong direction’ then it becomes difficult to understand what needs to be changed. Sometimes it’s worth focusing on a small text section with your copywriter and making sure that the text has the right approach and tone of voice before you both move to larger jobs.

5) Avoid having too many inputs

If  many people are giving inputs to the copy as it develops, you’ll find it hard to reach an acceptable version since it will be tend to be amended all the time. It’s much better at the start to establish who will be reading and evaluating the copy in your organization and stick to this small team.

6) Don’t try to squeeze 600 words into a 300 word space

Many times I’ve had problems by getting a large body of text, cutting it down to fit an available space and then had revisions from my client that doubled the amount of words again with no consideration for the space limitations. So I cut down the text again and then saw it being expanded a further time. Frustration all around. Note that in the end, people prefer having shorter and more concise texts, with an option to get more details if they choose.

7) Stay faithful to your creative concept

In your Job Brief and the job definition that follows this, you’ll have stated what is your creative concept for the promotional piece that you wish to create. Your copywriter will be following this track. It’s important to keep faith with this creative direction and accept that not every technical detail can be mentioned. Much of what we read can be classified as a ‘me-too’ product with nothing to differentiate it from the rack of other products. If you cannot be different and memorable, why promote yourself?

Let me close by again mentioning the point with which I opening this posting. Copywriters are good communicators but not necessarily experts in your particular field. You should follow an evolutionary process with them, allowing enough time so that they can understand more about your business, embrace your values and vision, and work closely with you to give the marketing texts the most convincing expression.

What’s this all about?

However that’s not the message I got when I visited her Home Page. The opening sequence of the Flash film, together with the content below that (headings like ‘Best Technology’ together with tiny body text) was very technical and went completely over my head! I couldn’t figure out what this company was trying to sell me. So I decided to investigate.

I sat through the whole of the Flash film. I read the body copy below that. I visited the inside links and YES, I DID find out what the company was now offering me. But the question is: “Why should I have bothered”? Why should I have made the effort? A regular visitor would not have done that. He or she would have decided that all this was in the ‘TOO HARD’ department and moved off to another Internet place. What a shame for all the collective corporate effort that was invested! So where’s the problem?

The wood and the trees

Often when you’ve been working inside a company for a long time or been a long-term supplier, you tend to see the wood rather that the individual trees within it,  i.e you stop looking at things from an outsider’s perspective. You should not assume that other people will know what you know and will immediately ‘catch on’ to what you intended. That’s why it’s always a good idea to show communications ideas to total strangers and ask them “Do you understand what we’re offering here”?

As a professional English copywriter, I often find myself in this situation. I have to take a body of content and keep travelling back and forth over it until I really understand what the core messages and benefits are. Once I’ve done that, I feel qualified to give the company’s essential story to a stranger in an imaginary 30-second elevator ride. Only then do I have the tools to compose a series of messages that’ll ‘get to the point’ fast for every web page.

A sense of distance

Before we can get close to something we need to get the right perspective – what I call a ‘sense of distance’. I like to hear people say “Aha, THAT’S what you’re talking about”. Good and professional Marketing Communications (MarCom) deals with this central issue: how to squeeze the essentials out of any subject and present them in the most appealing and easily-understood way. That’s also why we have websites – so that we can get the key benefits at the start and ‘drill down’ to the details later on. Yet too few of them follow this elementary discipline: they drown you with facts from the start.

Today’s world is a paradox – the more information we have, the less time we have to absorb it. So messages have to be simple and to the point, or they won’t work.

I’m talking about the silence that follows making an offer or following up on a job half-done. Do you feel that you are more serious about a project than the person you are communicating with? Perhaps this person does not consider things in the same priority order as you do – or the job is less urgent than you suppose.

The question is ‘How long should you wait for a response’? One month, two months? What is reasonable if you are mid-way through a project and suddenly you are faced with a wall of silence and inaction? I usually try to ‘check back’ at intervals of a month, but if this lasts over 6 months then I begin to think that the project has just ‘died’ and I try to wrap things up as best I can. The problem for a copywriter is that the subject matter has to be fresh so that the creative juices can flow. What’s the point in picking up an old project, dusting it off, trying to remember what it is all about and then adding a new burst of creativity – only to see this new input languish for several more months.

No, sometimes you have to make a decision about investing your time in projects and judging whether they are dead or alive. Let me share two experiences with you.

1) I had a client in France who was happy with the work I had done. She launched a new website and I contacted her about it, suggesting certain areas to develop. Despite responding to me on previous subjects, this time she just did not respond at all – even when I mailed her a second time. Silence in this case signified a message of ‘Don’t bother me any more’. She could have responded with a brief polite email but she chose the more brutal method of total silence. End of story.

2) My brother introduced me to a friend of his who was setting up a website and asked for my help. I was glad to pitch in and in fact arranged for her a very inexpensive solution to a problem she had. I did not charge her for my own time (even though I had undertaken some work to push her project along). About two months ago, she just stopped communicating with me and did not answer my mails, phone messages or even a letter that I posted to her – all asking how we could move ahead. My brother advised me ‘Don’t get offended, just put this on the back burner until she decides to contact you’. Wise words.

The problem is that I do feel offended. I really put myself out on this job and at the very least I would have expected a brief response, such as ‘Sorry, cannot talk right now, will be in touch in X months’. But to freeze me out and then to ‘unfreeze me’ at some future unspecified date? I just went very cold on this job and decided to opt out.

That’s the thing with ‘communications projects’ – it’s the communication that’s the lifeblood! If somebody maintains communication with me, I’m ready to jump through hoops for them. But if they freeze me out, I go ‘cold’ and then there’s no turning back.

How much of what I’ve described here rings true with you? How do you deal with situations when people ignore you? I’d love to know.

Looking for specialist guidance

I was approached by Arik, a potential client (who found me on the Internet), and asked whether I could help write content for him in a particular field. This field was not very familiar to me but was well known by David, a business acquaintance of mine who had spent many years undertaking such work. I therefore advised Arik that I could help him provided that I worked with David too (who could help me to get up to speed). We arranged a meeting between the three of us. David charged Arik a consultation fee for the meeting.

The meeting went on for longer than planned and we found it difficult to guide Arik along a practical and feasible track. Many options were eliminated as being too expensive. However in the end we felt that at least we had defined a proper beginning for the client’s project. A key factor was that David would be able to guide all developments since he was the person with the greatest knowledge in this field. Unfortunately things started to unravel after that.

Looking at the wallet rather than the wish-list

David was upset that he collected a fee smaller than what he felt entitled to – because the meeting went on for longer than the prescribed hour. He said that he would agree to continue only if his (rather high) hourly consultation fee was paid. In other words, what interested him was firstly the client’s wallet and only secondly his wish-list. I did not take any payment for this first meeting. It upset me that I had brought Arik to David, hoping to start an interesting and productive interaction between the two and to progress to a defined project – only to find that the main specialist felt little empathy to the client. Without letting the client know of the situation I decided to look for an alternative specialist in this field – someone with a more understanding and generous approach.

Getting into the other person’s shoes

If you work in the communications business and especially if you’re a communicator for Internet projects, you must firstly have strong feeling of empathy to your potential client. He or she has an objective to realise and it’s your job to start off by putting yourself in your client’s shoes. Try to find a solution and dispel the foggy clouds of indecision and lack of direction. Perhaps your clients can only achieve 10% of what they had planned but at least you should identify with that 10% and seek a good professional way forward for them. At the most fundamental level, I had the strong feeling that David lacked empathy and simply said that ‘the client does not know what he wants’. He took the consulting fee, however!

A sense of purpose

Each of us turns to a specialist because we don’t have the answers. Often we don’t have the questions either: we just have a general intention and goal. I can understand what Arik is trying to achieve and I am sure that with professional help he can at least get part of the way. I admire David’s professionalism and I know he’s a responsible person. However it’s the empathy with a potential client, before he or she becomes an actual client, that makes the difference between one supplier and another. How much are we willing to put ourselves out of our way for them? What steps are we willing to take to help them find the right path? 

I think that these are ingrained values that either you have or you don’t. I always try to go the ‘extra distance’ because that’s simply me. I also look for work partners who have a similar approach to me. None of us will ever be millionaires – but we’ll be rich inside.

Impossible to do

 ———————————————————————–  

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, expert says 

No crap, really? Ya think? 

 —————————————————————————

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers 

Now that’s taking things a bit far! 

———————————————————– 

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over   

What a guy!   

 —————————————————————  

Miners Refuse to Work after Death

No-good-for-nothing, lazy so-and-so’s! 

 ——————————————————  

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant

See if that works any better than a fair trial! 

   ———————————————————- 

War Dims Hope for Peace 

I can see where it might have that effect! 

  —————————————————————- 

If Strike Isn’t Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile

Ya think?! 

 ———————————————————————–  

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures  

Who would have thought! 

  —————————————————————- 

Enfield (London) Couple Slain;  Police Suspect Homicide  

They may be on to something! 

 ———————————————————————— 

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

You mean there’s something stronger than duct tape?  

   ———————————————————- 

Man Struck By Lightning: Faces  Battery Charge

He probably IS the battery charge! 

 ———————————————-  

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks

Do they taste like chicken?

**************************************** 

Local  High School Dropouts Cut in Half

Chainsaw Massacre all over again! 

  *************************************************** 

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors

Boy, are they tall! 

  *******************************************  

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Did I read that right? 

————————————–

I picked up this collection of headlines and comments somewhere. What can I say? Proofreading is important!

Real-life example

Let me place the Landing Page in context by sharing with you a real-life example. I contacted a nice fellow in the UK recently who is launching a Pest Control business in the Lancashire area (let’s call it ABC Pest Control). He had somebody build a 4-page website for him, which was simply an electronic calling-card and nothing more. It was not upgraded for Search Engine Optimization in any way. I gave him a price for turning his 4-page site into a 15 page fully optimized site for the main keyword ‘pest control lancashire’.

Unfortunately, he was not able to move ahead. Expenses were just too high and he had no spare cash to invest further in his web site – even if it could drive a lot of business to his door. What could be done in such circumstances?

Playing in a small field

When you search for ‘pest control lancashire’ in Google.com you find about 200,000 search results. In other words, the playing field is small. Is there any reason why ABC Pest Control should not be on Page One of search results if the business optimizes its web presence? Not at all, thanks to the Landing Page!

How can one web page make a difference?

It certainly can, if it’s prepared by a specialist in writing and preparing Landing Pages. Consider these advantages: 

• You communicate with your audience in clear and professional language
• You focus focusing on specific and interesting information
• You optimize the web page for important keywords that your potential customers use
• You convert your visitors from ‘passers by’ to ‘active enquirers’

See an example of an actual Landing Page

Take a modular and tested approach to Landing Pages

Going back to ABC Pest Control, let’s assume that the owner decides to launch one Landing Page (about general Pest Control services). It starts working on the Internet, building a Web presence for him and attracting visitors.

The owner then decides to add other Landing Pages, focused on particular problems – Getting rid of mice, Eliminating ant colonies etc. The initial cost is for setting up the first page and further pages are just variations on the first one, so added costs are low. Each page is optimized for that particular keyword, so ‘eliminate mice lancashire’ – 663,000 search results. The advantages here are: 

• You can build a series of Landing Pages at low cost
• Give each page a code so you can track performance
• Each page has a form inviting direct response

The response form on the page

Every Landing Page has a response form that the visitor has to fill. Generally there is no other way of making contact, so you are sure to catch all the details. A ‘closed’ page like this is also called a Squeeze Page and Search Engines don’t like them too much because there’s no way out to other web pages (to the regular website pages, for example).

The solution is to add what are called ‘reverse squeeze pages‘ where you include another few pages of Content (let’s say a variation of ABC Pest Control’s regular information about mice, pigeons and ants). You don’t give any contact details, just the background information. After the visitor has seen a set number of pages, he or she is passed back to the Landing Page for action.

Having a Landing Page or two (even if you’re not running an Adwords campaign) is a smart way to get moving on the Web, also if you’re short on cash. I hope that ABC Pest Control sees this blog, so that I can help him too in these hard times!

We’re living in difficult times and it’s important to understand that a lot of what happens to you depends on YOU and YOUR ATTITUDE. Rather than use the crutch of “It’s a bad market”, “Everybody is complaining”, “All my friends are in the same situation as me” , you should ask yourself “What can I do that will make a difference?”  There’s a lot!

The sense of self-worth stands at the center of all branding – whether it’s for a large corporation or an individual. You’ll probably agree that [supply a singer's name] is one of the most popular singers in [supply your country]. This singer is a strong brand in his/her niche the way that Mercedes Benz is with cars. You’ll want to buy tickets to this singer’s show even though the price may be high.
 
You’re not a commodity
Each of us has something special and extraordinary to offer, if only we can define our target market correctly and package ourselves properly. Your talent, skills and added value should make price a minor consideration in the game. If people are just comparing your price or fees to others without checking what you’re capable of doing, then they’re not your target audience anyway. There’ll always be somebody around offering a cheaper price, and you’re not a commodity. You need to say: ‘Yes, that’s my price and I’m worth it!”
 
Define yourself with three questions
In order to convince others that you’re ‘worth it’, you firstly have to define exactly what’s your appeal for them. I’ve formulated three conversational questions to show you why depth is vital:
 
Who are you?
“We’re Plastex, a multinational provider of specialist plastic sheeting for agriculture” (an easy question to answer)
 
What do you do?
“We make agricultural sheeting – and we have a line of industrial sheeting too” (harder to start pigeon-holing yourself)
 
Why does it matter?
a) “Well, we make really good plastic sheeting” (not good enough, everybody says that!)
 
b) “We sell the widest selection of agricultural plastic sheeting” (still too general and unspecific – what if it’s not on your potential customer’s target?)
 
c) “We have the best people”
(again, it’s a general claim that many can make – nothing special here)
 
d) “We can make any kind of agricultural sheeting you need, to order”
(OK, now you’re talking…)
 
Can you see the process you need to follow to really explain yourself well? It’s something that I always find myself doing in my copywriting projects: peeling away the layers of my client’s story until I find something of unusual value.
 
We all belong to a tribe and a niche
It’s hard to convince somebody when you’re being too general in approach. Focusing on a niche and talking to your own ‘tribe’ is a key step. What do I mean? As I mentioned above, my niche is English copywriting and my ‘tribe’ consists of people who understand what good English copywriting can achieve. If a potential client calls me and says “I’ve heard you write English copy – how much will it cost to write a 4-page brochure?” (without reviewing what I’ve done before), then I’m pretty sure that he or she is not a member of my tribe and it’ll be futile to pursue him or her.  
 
When you’ve served enough people in your niche and they start to say positive things about you, or send you referrals without you looking for them, then you know you have Brand Value.  
 
The value of being different
Our brain acts as a filter to protect us from the mass of irrelevant information that surrounds us every day. It learns how to tell things apart, to pick out the differences. Imagine a design of black polka-dots on a white background and one red polka-dot. That’s you: the red polka-dot.
 
The other point to remember in ‘being different’ is that so much today is similar: products don’t have a great gap in quality. Even service (on the face of it) sounds similar. That’s why you need to look for points of difference and amplify them. Good marketing communications is an essential element for success today. The way that we communicate is the core to how people see us, how they recognize our brand and how they value our reputation.
 
You can be a successful brand for your target audience/niche provided you define/refine your message, be clear about what you’re proposing and present some convincing sales arguments. So don’t worry about what’s happening to others – just focus on yourself.

To finish: a relevant joke:

An American and a Japanese are being chased by an angry Grizzly bear. Suddenly the Japanese stops to put on running shoes. The American looks at him in amazement and says: “What, do you think you can outrun the bear in those shoes?” “No” replies the Japanese “but I can outrun you!”

Be the Japanese in the running shoes!

I got a comment this morning and – to be honest – it bugged me. Here it is:

“You wouldn’t believe it but I’ve wasted all day digging for some articles about this. You’re a lifesaver, it was an good read and has helped me out to no end. Cheers!“

The first time I got it, I was pleased. My blog had actually helped somebody to move ahead in life. That made me feel good and encouraged me to continue writing. Of course I approved the comment. But then I started getting the exact same comment a 2nd, 3rd and 4th time! Clearly the person writing the comment was not genuine and just wanted to advance his/her own narrow interests. The person was also dumb enough to think that I would not pick up on this as a repeated and non-genuine comment.

I wanted to ask the Spammers within my reading public this: why would you waste your valuable time (you only have one life) on this kind of pointless activity when you could be writing something positive, productive, honest and genuine? What does it do for you to Spam in this way? Why don’t you respect the intelligence of others?

I remain convinced that 95% of the people who send me Comments do so honestly, with genuine feedback. I have no problem in approving those comments and allowing their link-backs. To the Spammers I say – I’m tracking you! 

At the most fundamental level, when you’re writing for others you’re really telling them a story. That’s SO IMPORTANT to remember. It may be about your company in general, or about some specific product or activity. If you’ve ever listened to a professional storyteller, you’ll notice the intonation of voice and the emphasis on certain things. Well, on the screen (or the page) you can’t do that, so you have to focus on headlines, opening sentences, logical flow and good conclusions.

A couple of examples

There’s so much stuff flying around these days, especially on the Web, that you really have to sharpen and refine your content. I came across the ‘About Us’ page of a wine-producer the other day, stuffed with almost 1200 words. While the page contains a lot of interesting information, it is ‘buried’ beneath this weight of words. The overall effect is to show readers a ‘wall’ of text – and who’s going to be motivated to read all that? 

In another case, a Bed and Breakfast hotel in Southern France has invested not only in very nice rooms but also in setting up a local Spa and in a Fitness Gym. Quite unusual you’d say for a B&B! The volume of text in French is almost 9000 words. What does one do for the English version of the site? First of all, assume that the volume of words will be halved. Secondly, eliminate all repetition of information. Thirdly, write each page so that it’s the most attractive it can be for potential guests. Fourthly, try to ensure that each page has about 250-350 words and no more. 

Turning a prospective customer or client from ‘cool’ to ‘warm’ is a tough call, where all the writing and information skills have to be focused to achieve the desired result. Sometimes it takes me many attempts before the texts that I’ve prepared are worthy enough to be called ‘good stories’. The key factor here is to be aware that your job is to tell a good story – and not to give up until you get there!

One important point is the Power of Detachment – the ability to look at your own work as if you were somebody else. For this to happen, you need to put aside your ‘creation’ for a few days so that you can review it with fresh eyes. Is the logical order right? Is there a good connection and flow between one thought and the next? Are you being too technical? Will people understand? Is the main argument supported well enough and does the headline reflect this? So many questions along the way to achieving a positive piece of written communication…

Another point is to Simplify Down. I think it’s good for non-technical people to be asked to explain technical subjects. One of the problems in our advanced society is assuming that the audience already understands the basics, so that one can move on… It’s when you break a process down into its most basic components that you start to understand how the pieces fit together again. Your client or boss may think you’re being slow, but this can be an excellent way to achieve clarity of expression and blow away the fog of half-understanding.

Self-doubt and self-criticism (in reasonable measure) are essential factors of good copywriting. The moment when writers feel that they have really ”got it” is probably the moment when they start to lose it!

Attention Grabbers

“Listen, I’ve something special for you!” If somebody stood next to you and said that, you’d listen, wouldn’t you? Headlines work the same way. The best example is to pick up any daily newspaper. The whole business of journalism is built around headlines, because people ‘scan’ before they read.

Consider the places where headlines dominate: each of your website pages, the beginning of your brochure, the ‘subject’ line of your email – even the opening statement of any letter.

The value of subheads

These are subsidiary headlines that make it easier for the reader to find areas of interest. It helps in the first scanning of the text. Subheads should be arranged so that they can tell a story – and they should have individual appeal as headlines too.

A recent eye-tracking study reported that shorter paragraphs get read over the longer ones. In fact, short paragraphs get TWICE as many overall eye fixations as longer ones. Having a subhead at the beginning of this paragraph makes reading even easier.

Example of headline-subhead use

Let’s say you have an ‘About Us’ web page for Wilcox Rubber Grommets. Instead of just using the headline About Wilcox you can start with this as a subhead (write ‘About Wilcox’ in  the top left hand corner of the page) and instead write Quality Rubber Grommets for over 50 years as your main headline. That’s an interesting claim. The web page will already say ‘Wilcox’ (probably the company logo appearing on each page) somewhere so you don’t need to use it in the headline. Instead you’re making a claim that has some interest!

Now what about the subheads?

Dedicated to quality (some history about the place = 50+ words)

Wide grommet range (discuss professionalism in stocking a large range = 50+ words)

Engineering excellence (team of people in company, special skills = 50+ words)

Special orders (indicate flexibility for embracing unusual projects = 50+ words)

I’ve made all this up, but you can follow the pattern. The expert SEO Copywriter must imagine this kind of ‘messaging sequence’ as he or she is putting the copy together. The headline and the subheads must all work together to present a summary of the whole company story. That creates an interesting Company Profile.

The four functions of headlines

When I teach Marketing Writing I place headlines into one of four main categories. Examples:

 I. Get attention

Why swelter through another hot summer? (GE air conditioners)

 II. Select the audience

We’re looking for people to write children’s books (Institute of Children’s Literature)

III. Deliver a complete message

You can make big money in Real Estate right now (Century 21)

IV. Drawing the reader in

(Arouse curiosity with humor, intrigue or mystery. Ask a question or make a provocative statement. Promise a reward, news or useful information).

A $15 alternative to costly plastic surgery (facial lotion)

Final word

Make a habit of noting down clever headlines and the product that they are promoting. Two headlines that have stuck in my memory for years are:

How would you like a good crunch in the mouth? (snack bar)

Be nice to your date. Belt her. (road safety)