Don t Sell Yourself or Your Business Short I m all about helping people get the results they re seeking through the written word. That s especially important when it comes to promoting a business. If you re trying to sell yourself, your product or your services (and who isn t these days?) you need strong messaging that hooks potential clients while consistently reflecting you and your business across all your platforms. In short, you need a topnotch copywriter. If this year s budget just doesn t allow for that expense, here are some DIY tips to get you through until you can afford to hire a pro. Is Your Website Copy Doing Its Job? The last thing you want to do is spend the time and money to get people to your website only to lose them because your content is second-rate. Here are the elements you want to consider when evaluating or revising your web copy: Branding Most people think about logos and perhaps overall design when they think of branding. But the feel that your logo and overall look evoke needs to be reinforced by the written word. The tag line and/or mission statement on your home page are what will either keep people reading or compel them to furiously begin stabbing at their back button. You want both your mission statement and your tag line to distinguish your business from your competition by letting your clients know what makes you or your company special. In the process, give a sense of who you are, your reason for being and what you bring to the client. Ditto for your elevator speech. Say what? I hear some of you asking. Okay, for those of you who aren t familiar with the terms: 1
A tag line is a pithy and hopefully memorable line that helps identify your company. My favorite is probably Nike s Just Do It. I wish I had written that. A mission statement gives potential clients the Reader s Digest version of who or what and why. My mission statement reads: Welcome to the One Stop Writing Shop! I'm a bestselling wordsmith and acclaimed writing coach. [That s the who.] My team of specialists and I turn your ideas into words and your words into winners. We can write, publish and market whatever you need or help you do it. [That s the what.] We believe that every writer, every business and every project deserves a little incubating and a lot of success. [There s the why.] Your elevator speech is basically the verbal equivalent of your mission statement. You want to be able to convey a sense of who you are and what you do in just two or three sentences or in the time it takes an elevator to reach the next floor. If you can titillate your audience into wanting to know more even after those elevator doors open, you have a winner. Branding doesn t stop there when it comes to the written (or spoken) word. The tone of your messaging is just as important as the actual words you use since that, too, is a reflection of who you are. My tone, for example, is deliberately casual, because that s who I am and how I want to work with people. If you re looking for a super efficient, super talented writer who is also down to earth and approachable, I m your gal. If you prefer working with a corporate suit, you ll know at a glance that you need to keep looking. I ll talk more about the importance of showing your true colors later. Now let s move on to content, which, as always, is king. Bounce Rate You have just five to eight seconds to catch readers or lose them. This is called the bounce rate. If you fail to engage potential clients and hold their interest, you re sunk in the time it takes to sip a cup of coffee. How does your copy stack up? Is your lead catchy enough to grab someone s attention? 2
Are you providing useful information that s appealing to people as well as to search engines? Or are you just trying to sell yourself with keyword-heavy copy? The best website content provides just that: content rather than filler. You want your copy to inform your potential clients. The more valuable the information, the longer they ll stay and read. That not only helps your credibility on the people front. It turns out that search engines have become discerning. The more informative your copy, the better they like you (or at least your site). SEO Contrary to popular belief, cramming as many keywords into your copy is not the best idea. Websites that are overloaded with keywords fail for three reasons. 1) Your prospective clients will balk since the copy was written for search engines rather than them. 2) The search engines won t like you because they ll interpret the preponderance of a particular keyword or two as spam. 3) If you throw out a ton of different keywords, the search engines won t like you because they won t be able tell what the page is about. Three strikes and you re out. The key? Smart, appropriate content that provides solid information and that s studded but not stuffed with topic-specific keywords. User-Friendly Organization The art of writing involves more than words. The organization of ideas and material is at least as important. Proper flow will either make or break the user experience. Translation: you will either land or lose a client. So ask yourself. Is your copy clearly organized or do your prospects have to hunt around for what they need? 3
We already know that people are going to spend less than ten seconds on your site unless you grab them from the outset. So how much work can you expect them to do once you have their attention? That s right. None. You need to present your material with your clients in mind. Let their priorities dictate your content and how it s organized. Then feed them the information they need as if they were dining in a five-star restaurant course, by carefully planned course. Start with an appetizer to whet their appetites and make them realize how hungry they are, move into the main course by providing them with the information they need to make a decision and finish them off with the kind of irresistible sweet that banishes any thoughts of looking elsewhere. Client Focus Don t make the mistake of overselling yourself or your product and/or service. The fact is that potential buyers just aren t going to be that into you or what you re offering unless they re going to benefit. What s in it for me? your drop-in web visitors want to know. So like any good romance, at the start you have to make it all about them. Client-centric copy that focuses on solving whatever pain or problem they might be experiencing is going to get a lot more buy-in than immediately telling them why you and your product or services are so great. Remember that joke: So enough about me. How do you feel about me? With web copy, you want to do the opposite. Always stress how your business, product or service benefits clients. When it comes to trying to hook people, it s all about them all the time, even when you re talking about yourself. Transparency Still you need to offer a real sense of who you are and what sets you apart from the competition. Your copy (and your tone) should reflect your language and, if appropriate, your personality, expertise, and passion. Your blog should provide insights into how you think and how you do business. In short, your site should sound like you, only better. A book that s successfully ghostwritten will prompt the authority (who is the author of the book even though he or she hasn t written a word) to exclaim, Wow, this sounds like me! I 4
always answer, That s because it is you. I used your language. I just cleaned it up and rearranged it. Writing in a way that reflects someone else s voice is like weaving a tapestry. The writer uses the original material, but contributes the artistry that makes it work. If you re the writer, you need to do that for yourself. In addition to trying to write a Sloppy Letter (see Linden's Top Tips for Writing Just About Anything at lindengross.com/copy-tips/), you can also talk into a tape recorder, record a presentation you re doing or just tape yourself explaining your business to a friend or colleague. Then transcribe the tape and work from there. In all likelihood, you ll find an authentic, natural and approachable voice that s missing from your current content. Make Your Blog Work for You Not everyone needs to write a blog. If you re selling carburetors, a blog isn t going to do much for you. On the other hand, a copywriter and writing coach like me really needs one. I didn t always see that. Actually, that s an understatement. I vehemently avoided writing a blog for years. Why do I need a blog? I finally asked a web designer friend of mine who had continued to push me in that direction. Because your website tells people what you do and gives them your credentials, she said. A blog gives them a taste of who you are and how you work. Point, set, match. I started my blog the next day. For those of you who have either launched blogs or are about to jump in, a reminder: A blog is only going to work for you if you deliver that personal perspective and voice that introduces you to your potential customers and makes you stand out from the pack. So let er rip! Other blogging tips: You want to set up a regular blog schedule, so that your audience learns to expect new blog posts on certain days. I post a blog every Friday (or as close to that as I possibly can). 5
Write about your own experiences, interests and passions, but only as they relate to your business if that s what you re trying to promote. Either way, you re looking to share content that will come across as entertaining, helpful, insightful or valuable and that uniquely reflects you. Poll your clients to see what interests them about your business or what questions they have and use their answers as fodder for posts. Mix it up to keep things interesting. Share great reads, websites, studies, tips, etc. as you come across them. (These kinds of posts not only keep your blog current, they re easy to write.) Don t forget that you can incorporate video and photos into your blog. Take the time to proofread your blog and run a spell check at least twice once as you see mistakes and again after you ve made all the corrections. There s nothing that spells amateur more quickly than errors in spelling and grammar. If you re hoping that your blog will drive Internet traffic to your site, then you need to think about SEO, especially when you write your headlines. As always, however, remember that your headlines have to catch your readers attention. That s your first priority. Invite guests to post as long as their topics relate to your business and blog. Every guest post means one less that you have to write yourself. Offer to write posts for other people s blogs, especially if they have audiences who might be interested in you or what you have to sell. Yup. Blogging is a commitment, one that s hard to keep even for those who aren t commitment phobic. It can also be challenging to figure out what to write about week in and week out. Brainstorming with a writing coach who is also going to hold you accountable can make the whole blogging experience manageable and even downright fun at times. Don t Sell Yourself Short Too many people spend a ton of time and energy on the website design, only to fall short when it comes to their actual message. Make sure that your words and your message are at least as strong as your design and that both are consistent across all your platforms. Your website, your brochures, your fliers and your business cards should all work together as pieces of the same campaign. 6
Not sure about how well your website, blog or marketing material deliver on the writing front? Wonder what to do next? Shoot me an email (linden@onestopwritingshop.com) and let s talk. 7