I am slowly, ever so slowly, pulling together my "marketing is like dating book." The irony of being a freelance copywriter is you spend all your time writing for other people and don't seem to find time to do your own writing! 

But I've said enough in this copywriter blog about marketing is like dating to have, of all things, dating websites find it and post comments to it trying to get links back to their own sites. OK, this makes me laugh, but also draw two lessons from it:

My freelance work often involves website copywriting using keywords for SEO, but I know that's only one part of getting your website indexed and ranked by search engines. Links into your site are the other. So going out looking for blogs to post comments on to link back to your website is one way to do that. But, and this is a big but, you have to make sure you're posting in an appropriate place! 

Obviously anyone who things a link to a dating website is appropriate for this professional copywriter's blog didn't read the blog. Dumb.

The other lesson, well, it's not really a lesson, is something I hadn't considered: Here I've come up with 9 ways to improve your copywriting based on the idea that marketing is like dating, and people are coming to me via my freelance copywriter blog saying dating is like marketing. LOL! Yep. It sure is! 

I'll make sure to make that part of the book...when I get enough free time away from web copywriting and email copywriting to work on it...

2010 is the year I figure out how my role as a freelance copy writer will change in the age of social media. Blogging I got down. I've been pushing blogs as marketing tools for a long time now, and even teaching small business blogging. I think I have a pretty good handle on LinkedIn as a marketing tool. Twitter I'll never figure out. So I've primarily been paying attention to Facebook as a social media marketing tool.

But my friend Jeff just summed up how to use Facebook as a small business with his Facebook page for his painting business.

Jeff did an excellent job applying the principle of KISS: Keep it simple, stupid. And he zeroed in on what people want to see: before and after pictures and real-life painting success stories. And in a format that's easily shared!

This freelance copy writer says kudos to Jeff for harnessing the small business marketing power of Facebook in a way that's a great--simple--example for others! 

I'm a professional copywriter. That means it's my job to know words and how to use them, for websites, email, SEO, print, ghost blogging, press releases, etc.

But I've also made it part of my job as a professional copywriter to know about the tools and means used for serving up the copywriting that is my craft. That means learning about online press rooms, for example, or keeping up with changes in search engine optimization (SEO) copywriting. And much, much more! (You'd be shocked how much I know that has nothing to do with being a professional copywriter!) 

My embarrassing ah ha moment happened when I realized blogs would make perfect press rooms. I happen to know a little something about online press rooms (again, not related to being a copywriter, but related to knowing how to present my work). We did a presentation andarticle on online press rooms few years ago.

But that was before I really understood blogs as online marketing tools.

Using a blog for your pressroom is brilliant because it's easy to upload your content, the search engines will find and index those press releases faster (because they prefer blog content over static website content), it's easily searched, you can add static pages with your contact information and company bio...I honestly can't think of a reason NOT to use a blog for your online press room! 

If you've been thinking, yeah, we really need an online press room, but you haven't wanted to put the time and money into it, try a blog. I bet you can be up and running with your press room in less than half an hour. For tips on what to include, definitely read our article at http://www.weknowblogs.com/blog/sharons-marketing-missive/0/0/you-dont-have-to-be-an-online-copywriter-to-market-your-business-online-use-press-releases.

Fridays are a fast day for me. Not all day, just until dinner. But I just made this Friday harder buying salivating over the toasts and bagels pictured at the Global Toaster blog.

It's not that I'm obsessed with toasters. I'm obsessed with blogs as marketing tools. And by that I mean blogging for SEO.

The Global Toaster blog is the best blog I know of for showing how quick and targeted blog posts can be.

For me as a copywriter, it's kind of funny, because I love words and I love to write and I love to market...and that all adds up to wanting to write longer blog copywriting blog posts. Even the ghost blogs I write for clients tend to be longer. I rationalize that I get to be more verbose because it gives me more room for the SEO keywords too.

But Jane Toast, the clever and witty author of the Global Toaster blog, puts this SEO copywriter to shame. Her posts are short and to the point, but still entertaining and keyword rich.

I check out her blog on a regular basis to inspire me as the SEO copywriter to do a better job with my own blogging.

But I just learned not to do that on Fridays. Because now my stomach is grumbling and I have about 8 more hours of fasting to go.

It was really the egg and muffin toaster that did it...man, that makes me hungry! 

If you're using blogs as marketing tools and SEO is a big part of it, definitely check out the toaster blog for inspiration. Just make sure to do it on a full stomach, OK?

As a freelance copywriter who helps out clients with small business marketing, I am constantly on the lookout for new information to pass along to copywriting clients, especially as social media takes center stage.

I'm already pushing blogs as marketing tools, but these days I'm looking out for nuggets on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, trying to wrap my head around how these tools can be put to use for small business marketing.

So this article of using Facebook for your small business caught my eye when someone retweeted it, but it's more of the same: talking about the how, but not the why, and definitely not about the "how to make money" part of the how.

I'm a copywriter, yes. Words are my business. Web writing is my business. Email copywriting is my business. But I also owe it to my copywriting clients to be up to speed on other marketing channels, so I can make sure my work as freelance copywriter fits with their other marketing efforts.

What small business folks lack more than anything are time and money. What they need more than anything is sound advice.

And that doesn't mean telling them how to set up a Facebook page, and to make sure they have lots of friends and family to get to follow them. That means telling them how to make money, how to market their business and convert prospects to customers using Facebook.

But sadly that means looking beneath the surface of the shiny new thing that is Facebook. And articles like this only encourage more small business folks to jump on the Facebook bandwagon, wasting precious time on a tool they don't know how to use let alone necessarily need.

Am I simply grumpy because I didn't get to ride my horse today? Or am I grumpy because I too am a small business owner and I wants facts, not Facebook.
 

Last night we went bowling, something we rarely do so I'm not very good at it. I'm definitely a better freelance copywriter than bowler! In the middle of the second game, my friend said "Hang on to the ball a little longer." I did...and bowled two strikes in a row.

That one little split second change improved this copywriter's bowling game dramatically. Which got me thinking about tweaks, and how one little tweak can make a big difference in copywriting, whether it's web writing or small business marketing or blogs as marketing tools.

What can you have your freelance copywriter tweak to improve your company's marketing? How about email subject lines? The heading on your website's home page? The cover of that postcard? Maybe it's even your staff's signature block in their emails, or the title of your next blog post. Or your call to action? How you word your registration form on your landing page? Your banner ad, the executive summary for your next whitepaper, the CEO quote in your next press release...the possibilities are endless.

Copywriters work with words. But not just any words. The right words used in the right way. Tweaking those words can make a big difference. Never stop looking for places to tweak! 

You might end up bowling a strike instead of a spare.

I like Vertical Response as a lower cost small business email marketing platform, and I usually like the CEO's blog, but my feathers got a little ruffled when I read the 2010 checklist of 10 things small businesses should do this year.

As a freelance copywriter, I do work for small businesses. And the two things practically every small business owner have in common are: lack of time, lack of marketing knowledge.

This checklist of 10 things made me squirm in my seat...and I work in marketing! 

I pity the small business owner who reads that, gulps, and throws his or her hands up in the air in despair. These folks are too busy running their businesses to implement even half of a list like this.

Years ago in my early days as a copywriter (yikes, that was 10 years ago!), I read this marketing advice: Do a few simple things. Do them well. Do them consistently.

For me as a freelance copywriter, I confess I started out with a three page marketing plan when I started my business. Hey, I'm in marketing! I should have a long, convoluted marketing plan, right? Over the years as I got busier (i.e. had less time) and smarter (i.e. had more experience), my marketing plan shrunk to less than a page.

Small business marketing has to be simple, easy and affordable. There's no one-size-fits-all plan for it. It might be small business email marketing. It might be blogs as marketing tools. It might be networking.

But it has to be a short list of simple things a busy guy or gal can do well and consistently. Not a list of 10 pie-in-the-sky ideas.

I've just returned from a meeting in Seattle with a copywriting prospect. And earlier today I had another meeting with a copywriting client. Both times, I was called upon to be knowledgeable about much more than copywriting. I've long viewed that as part of my job, to know about all kinds of marketing, so I know where I fit as the Seattle copywriter, and to give the best advice to the client whether we're talking websites or email or (now) social media.

But starting with the new year last Monday, I see my role changing... from being able to give advice to doing certain marketing tasks myself.

I already work as a ghost blogger, something I plan to do even more of in 2010. But I'm still figuring out my place in social networking, as a content provider.

And maybe that's where I'm not sure? I'm in marketing, but my role in marketing is as Seattle copywriter. I have to know marketing to be a good copywriter. But what do I need to know to be a good social media content provider? Maybe it's even too early to say? 

I know how to be an SEO copywriter. I know how to use blogs as marketing tools. I know small business email marketing. I know how to do all these specific things that require specialized knowledge.

But what is the specialized knowledge required for copywriters in 2010? Are we now faced with copywriting 2.0? Or even 3.0 (if I missed the boat the first time around)? 

As I told the copywriting client this morning, it's my job to stay ahead of the marketing curve, in order to be the best freelance copywriter I can be. But I've yet to figure out my place in the new marketing world order.

Something to think on. Any thoughts on it, from other copywriters or people who hire copywriters?

Today's MarketingProfs email newsletter has a quick read on the best and worst company names of the past decade. As a freelance copywriter who is occassionally hired to help with naming and who works daily with words, I enjoyed the read through of the best and the worst. I don't just know words, I love words! 

Never underestimate the power of a word. One word can change the power of a tagline, a handful of words can change the power of a Website, a sentence can change the power of an email. (And in your personal life, one word can change everything.)

Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, and the success of some of the winners likely has to do with other marketing factors, luck and trends as much as with the name itself. As the Seattle copywriter who considers herself a marketer first, a word person second, I really believe that to be the case. Is Twitter a success because of its company name? Or because it was first to market, or so new, or whatever it was that made Twitter a household name (if not a household technology). Ditto for Flickr, and Wikipedia, and the other winners named in the article.

Marketing is a mixture of art and science, I think. And there are certain factors one has no control over, those kinds of factors that make something go viral...or make it flop. If you've read Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point," you know what I mean. If you haven't, put it on your reading list for 2010.

I really feel this mixture of what I can control, what I can't. Sure as a copywriter there are certain rules that apply and factors I rule over. How I approach Web writing differs from my approach to blogs as marketing tools differs from my approach to email copywriting and so on. But all I can do is study the target market, work with the copywriting client to determine a message, do the copywriting...and then wait to see what the client does with my work. And it has been butchered many a time, trust me, either by change, or by being used in a totally ineffective way.

So it is with marketing in general. There are some things we can control--like the name of a company--but there are others we can't--like why something becomes a trend overnight. That's why I don't want to read too much into why these company names are winners. I think it has more to do with outside factors and inside marketing prowess than the name itself, although a good name definitely helps! But it's more like one more ingredient that makes your recipe for success even more tasty than the key ingredient itself.

My thoughts anyway.

 

You can market your business on the Internet without being or using an online copywriter. Use press releases  and an online press room. And here’s how, in an article written a couple of years ago by Marina Parr, when she worked for We Know Words as a copywriter. It’s great advice for anyone with a Web site who wants to improve their SEO! So here it is again…

 

Who needs on online press room? You do. But the reasons go beyond reaching the media and gaining coverage in next day's newspaper. These days a press room is just as much a "customer room" as it is a place aimed at journalists. Build one correctly, and you're able to use online press releases to tell your company's story directly to whoever is searching on the Web, boosting your credibility with both media and your potential customers. And with customers shopping online for everything from flowers to shoes to cars to enterprise management systems, they are just as likely to end up researching you at your press room as the reporter at the local paper.

Fact is, your online press room's real power is in boosting your visibility on the Web, a cluttered place where search engines crawl through content everyday looking for new, updated information. It's the kind of information that you can naturally add to your press room through online press releases, recent articles and awards, and much more without using and online copywriter or SEO copywriter. So not only are you telling your story to Wesiteb visitors and journalists alike, but your press room's fresh, search engine friendly content is helping people find you in the first place by using press releases for SEO.

 

An online press room, at its heart, is all about you. It's your best chance to use online press releases to tell your story from all angles, whether it's facts and figures, photos and bios, or logos and slogans. Configure it correctly and fresh content will build your web presence, help the media "get it right" when writing about you and help you connect directly with customers who may not have been looking for you in particular, but will be glad they found you! And you'll be glad to find out you can achieve that kind of SEO without using an online copywriter.

 

Now that you're convinced you'd benefit from online press releases and a press room, here are nine tips to help you build one relatively quickly and painlessly (really).

 

Nine tips for building an online press room that builds your online presence

Tip 1: Consider your online press room as an extended About Us page. This is your opportunity to present facts and figures-from when you started your business to where you're located to how many people you employ. It's also a place to flesh out your company's philosophy, give kudos to key employees, note awards you've won and post articles that have been written about you-or in some cases, for you.

 

Tip 2: You can pump up your online presence further by using press releases for SEO, sprinkling keywords that people naturally search on into the online press release copy you post. It's a simple way to boost your search engine rankings-and get found.

 

Tip 3: And when you suddenly have a story to tell, your press room positions you to communicate directly with the media, giving journalists instant access to critical information about your company. In addition to being used in online press releases, that information can be boiled down into two to three sentences for journalists to copy and paste into their own stories with little editing. It makes it that much easier for you to help the news media define who you are, rather than them defining you.

 

Tip 4: Even though you're using press releases for SEO, this is still online PR. Make sure your press room includes all the ingredients the media needs to write and report their stories. That means including key contact information--both email addresses and phone numbers--so reporters on a deadline can reach the right people right away. Also be sure to include a corporate bio and include basic data, including when the company was founded, the number of employees, location, gross annual revenue and other objective, background information that can be dropped into a story.

 

Tip 5: Think in terms of pictures when thinking about online PR. Nothing tells your story better than pictures that add a human element. So be sure to include photos of founders, directors and other key players. It also helps to have a jpg of your logo, as well as a scenic shot of your operations. Again, you help shape your story by providing reporters with the photos you choose.

 

Tip 6: Both in your online press releases and your press room, offer easy-to-find links to other information customers or reporters might be looking for: information about the company and its principals, information about your product or service such as product sheets or case studies, recent articles written about your company, etc. An online press room has to be straightforward and not overly salesy. Reporters will spot the hard sell and click away, and so will regular customers who happen to wander into the press room, either on purpose or by chance.

 

Tip 7: To use press releases for SEO, regularly create online press releases and submit them via an online service like PR Newswire. Or simply add them to your site as separate pages, and link to them from your press room. Regularly can be just twice a year, if necessary, just make sure it's regular (keeping in mind that they more frequently you update content on your Web site, the happier the search engines will be with you). And even if you don't spend the money to submit them online, still add them to your Web site. It shows both prospects and search engines that you keep your site current. After all, these days your online press releases about getting covered in the New York Times; as they're about telling your story to a potential customer as much as to a journalist.

Tip 8: Include a descriptive sentence or two with links to your online press releases, so journalists and regular folks know what they're clicking on. Too many press rooms provide long lists of press releases without enough supporting information telling someone why they should click on a link and what they'll find if they do. Without that summary information, visitors won't bother to click-and you miss the chance to enhance how you're viewed and written about.

 

Tip 9: Don't treat your online press room as a last-minute afterthought. Think of it instead as a portal to the rest of your Web site-and your company's credibility. Your press room can be-and should be-one of your most information rich, keyword loaded, always changing sections of your Web site. Your press room is also your opportunity to provide visitors a more personal look at you, your employees and your company. And because people don't always enter Web sites through the home page, prospects searching online for information might find your online press room first. So make the most of it by giving it plenty of your attention.

 

In short, your online press room is really a full view of you and your company, as well as a tool for SEO. Think of yourself in front of the dressing room mirror and take advantage of every angle-from the pictures you post to the articles to the press releases you use for SEO to a three-sentence corporate summary that can be quickly copied and pasted. You're in charge of how you present yourself…and how you get found online in the first place. The power is in your hands. Use it!

And if you find that this sounds too hard and you do want to hire an online copywriter or SEO copywriter to help, go for it. That or use blogs as marketing tools instead!

Note: This Seattle copywriter has been cleaning up a very cluttered We Know Words copywriting Web site. I’ve deleted a ton of files and pages and consolidated and made it much more manageable. I see now what Gerry McGovern means by being a “putter upper.” If blogs had been as easy (and if I’d understood them as well) back in 2002, I would have built a blog to market my copywriter services, not a Web site! Anyway, as I streamline the We Know Words Web site, I find stuff I don’t want to get rid of, so I’m moving it here to this copywriting blog instead. Plus I came across this little plug, and realized I might not have ever plugged my marketing tips ebook in this copywriting blog, oops! OK, enough preface…

 

Most small business owners can't afford professional marketing help. Nor do they know enough about marketing to do it well. That's why I compiled this ebook, "Marketing in a Minute."

 

Small business owners want to grow their companies. But growth requires sales, and sales require marketing, and many small business owners struggle with marketing... and time. So they don't necessarily have the skills, nor do they have the time to learn how to do the marketing.

 

That's where these marketing tips come in. They are short, easy to digest and easy to apply. Without investing in any expensive marketing program. "Marketing in a Minute" offers 104 such marketing tips, written for the realities of small business budget and time constraints.

 

So where does a marketing ebook crammed full of 104 marketing tips come from? Does one just sit down and write it? Not in this case. It took years to create this book...

 

In 2002, I took my copywriting prowess and started writing weekly tips and dispensing them via email to small business owners who desperately needed marketing help but couldn't afford to hire a marketing agency like We Know Words. The marketing tips were deliberately short and basic, but offered new ideas for those too focused on running a business to be a real marketer. The tips were nothing fancy, just text and just enough to fit in one's Preview screen. They covered print, Web writing, email marketing and more. I dubbed them "Sharon's Marketing Minutes" and made sure each one could be read in a minute or less. (Hence the title, "Marketing in a Minute.")

 

I wrote the weekly tips for almost 2 1/2 years until I ran out of time, but not out of ideas. The feedback was always so positive, and more than one subscriber confessed to archiving the marketing tips for future reference. When I announced that I was going to stop writing the marketing tips due to lack of time, many subscribers emailed to say, "Put the tips together in a book."

 

It took years, but most of the marketing tips are now gathered together into one extremely useful resource for small business owners and those in charge of marketing for a small business.

 

See sample tips, learn more about the marketing ebook, and read some glowing testimonials at www.marketinginaminute.com. Or just request the ebook sight unseen by emailing info@weknowwords.com and putting “book” in the subject line.

This Seattle copywriter is finally updating the We Know Words web site. It's a running joke that I need to hire a website copywriter to keep the web site maintained! But a pleasant lull in the copywriting business is making the update doable.

Part of the update is simplifying the site since I now rely more on blogs as marketing tools. (More on that in my next blog.) But I as a copywriter have a tendency to get a little fond of copy. As a result, I'm posting an article on email newsletters here since it's being deleted off the copywriting web site. It's an oldie but goodie and maybe a bit unusal to spot here since I've become such an evangelist for blogs as marketing tools. Why would I be encouraging the use of email newsletters? Granted they are not necessarily the best choice for small business marketing, but for the right size business, and right business, email newsletters are still great for marketing, even in an age of social media. Enough explaining, here's the article...

Market with email newsletters
Perhaps the hardest part of marketing is to keep doing it. The irony is, this is also one of the most important. One contact with a potential customer is less effective than repeated contacts over time. We also live in a world of skepticism and doubt, a world where trust matters more than price when people make buying decisions.

To market effectively, you need to establish and nurture a relationship with a prospect. Ditto for existing customers: Once someone has bought from you, don't assume she'll be back someday. You must stay in touch with her on a regular basis so she'll think of you next time she's ready to buy, and possibly refer you to others in the meantime.

 

So how do you stay in touch with your past, present and potential customers on a regular basis? E-newsletters. An e-newsletter is perhaps the most effective and cost-effective way to build and maintain relationships that earn their trust. And trust is crucial to sales.

E-newsletters reinforce your other marketing efforts too by:

 

·         Driving traffic to your Web site through links and special offers.

·         Establishing credibility and positioning your business as a leader and resource.

·         Improving your search engine rankings: Archiving the newsletters on your Web site adds to your content, and search engines love good content!

 

So why are we suggesting email rather than print? It's cheaper than printing and mailing a hardcopy version, for one thing. Plus you don't know if a snail-mailed newsletter even gets read or if it goes straight into the recycling bin. With an emailed newsletter, you can know right away how many people opened it and even how many clicked on a URL to go to your Web site. Email marketing also gets a higher response rate than direct mail: 10-15% compared to 1-2%.

 

Of course, as with all good marketing, your results depend on doing your e-newsletter correctly. Newsletters that are infrequent, boring, purely promotional, or sent to people who didn't ask to hear from you only harm your marketing efforts. But do your email newsletter right, and you will reap the rewards of that ongoing contact as you build relationships, earn trust…and make sales.

Stories are compelling. Stories are how people passed along knowledge, lore and culture for thousands of years before the written word. If you have children, you know how compelling stories can be: There are some stories kids can’t hear enough. (I used to know “The Little Engine that Could” by heart, I read it so many times to my son when he was little.) Even longer books keep kids engaged: “Wolf Story” is a chapter book I read dozens of times to Evan, then later to his sister.

 

Or think about a dinner party: Who’s the most entertaining guest? The story teller, the one who spins the yarns while everyone listens and laughs.

Whether you're marketing your small business, freelancing as a Website copywriter or SEO copywritier, or focused on blogs as marketing tools, you should be telling stories every chance you get.

 

It’s part of what I call Indirect Marketing. The soft sell. The nuance. The influence. You tell a story about, say, a customer, and other potential customers will relate to that customer’s story much more than they’ll relate to you talking about you.

 

Here’s an example from the University of Washington Foster School of Business Web site, telling a story about how one person is involved at the corporate level to get other C-level executives interested in getting involved with the school too. The story is about Bill Ayer, CEO of Alaska Airlines, and his personal and business involvement with the school. By telling his story, we’re encouraging other execs to picture themselves there too, playing a similar role and getting a similar benefit.

 

Stories happen all around you all the time. You just have to get your antenna tuned to notice them. Then, guess the best place for your stories? Your Web site definitely, maybe your email newsletter if you do one, but your blog is the best place for your stories. Your stories can start there, in your blog, where it’s easy to post them. Then they can morph into Web content, printed content, an article in your email newsletter, etc. But if you’re blogging and constantly scratching your head, while at the same time using blogs as marketing tools, start telling your stories!

 

And you’ll be a hit at the next dinner party too.

p.s. Yes, I wrote the  Bill Ayer story after interviewing him. Delightful person and the only person I've ever met who talks faster than I do!

When this Seattle copywriter gets busy, the blog gets neglected. I confess. So I love when something happens that makes me have to blog, like today.

Every day I get email requests for my marketing tips ebook. These email requests are usually straightforward, but often include nice praise too, like "love your Web site," "love to read your blog," etc.

This email request takes the cake as being the sweetest I ever received, so I just have to share...and wonder if they're buttering me up for something. Thanks, Lynn, for the kinds words to warm a copywriter's heart, and thanks also for letting me share your email in my blog:

I would like to request a copy of your e-marketing book.  I thoroughly enjoy your Web site...such great information. Each morning I look forward to reading new posts on your Blog, and if not a new post...a previous one.  We are in the process of redesigning our Web site and the information you provide has been very helpful. Yes...you “extremely bright, talented, informed and fun” women may indeed be the best copywriting agency on the West coast J

 

Lynn Mitchell

Woodland Scenics

Now, if you're paying attention, you'll see this is also a cool way to use blogs as marketing tools: I get a nice email or comment, I put it in my blog and at the same time give myself a third-party endorsement. So, hint, hint, look out for those opportunities! 

How many times has a prospect told this Seattle copywriter their site was optimized for search, and it wasn’t? Enough times that I could get rich off the “if I had a dollar every time…” way of thinking.

 

If you want a quick and easy way to know if your website—or your competitor's—is optimized for search, go to the website and look in the very upper left-hand corner. That white text in the blue bar along the top is the Title (created in the html using a Title tag). If it says simply Home, or About Us, or the company name, that website is not optimized for search. I don’t care how many keywords might be plugged into the body copy, that Title tag matters for SEO. (It also mattes when people are searching for you as it is THE text that shows up in the search results! But that's another copywriting topic for another day.)

 

I’m happy to say Old Friend Footwear finally got their long awaited site launched, and it’s a great example of SEO copywriting! Go to www.oldfriendslipper.com and check out the Title tags on that site. Plus they were willing to work with me to have lots of pages of content (oh, guess I should clarify: I was the SEO copywriter for this project! J), and more content means more opportunities for SEO.

 

They were also great to work with because they let me do my SEO copywriting without any “vanity” keywords, i.e. those keywords the client wants to win but has no chance at without a lot of money and effort. We have a lot of great long tail keywords, meaning keywords made up of three or more words. And we have a plan for adding content over time. The perfect Website copywriter client!

 

On top of all that, Old Friend Footwear believes in blogs as marketing tools. Now that the site is live, we’ll start blogging for SEO, using relevant keywords, winning searches, and driving traffic to the site. I look forward to reporting on their small business blogging success!  

Confused about how and why to use blogs as marketing tools? Here’s a little help…

 

Last week this Seattle copywriter spent a day at Market to the Max, making sure I’m up to speed on the latest and greatest in marketing techniques and trends. I looked forward to the panel on blogging in particular, for two reasons: One, I’m a firm believer in blogs as marketing tools, and two, my friend Chris Baggott was on the panel, and I’m always intrigued by what he has to say.

 

The panel was a borderline disappointment, however, because Chris’ view, the only one that makes sense for the majority of businesses, was the minor one. (It was also a disappointment because of the moderator’s inappropriate behavior, but that’s irrelevant to my blogging point.)

 

Chris’ view on blogs as marketing tools is that businesses, including small business marketing, use blogging to get found online. It’s blogging to win in the search engines. What do search engines love? Fresh, keyword-rich content. What do blogs provide? Fresh, keyword-rich content. (OK, now I’m starting to sound like Chris, better be careful!)

 

But two of the panelists were too focused on using blogs to establish oneself as a thought leader. That’s all well and good and legitimate, but Mychal at Kona Kai doesn’t need to be a thought leader in the coffee business to make his small business successful. He needs to get people into Kona Kai for food, drink and fun (and free WiFi). His blog needs to attract people in Kent, Washington, not New York or Boston or …

 

Using blogs as marketing tools in the way the other panelists presented isn’t misdirected, it just wasn’t very helpful information for a room full of people charged with marketing their organizations.

 

Thinking about blogging? Start with a goal. Do you want to be a noteworthy leader in your industry with thousands of people subscribing to your blog? Go that route. Or do you want to sell more products and services and make more money? Then use your blog as a marketing tool and win the search wars.

 

Earlier this week, this freelance copywriter spent the day on the Seattle waterfront at Market to the Max. As always happens at these marketing conferences, my brain went into overdrive with blogging topics! Here’s the first…

 

During a (disappointing) panel on getting results from social media, I heard one insightful statement: Large companies can use social media to have small conversations. (Social media meaning blogging, social networking like Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

 

And that’s one more advantage small business marketing has that too few small business owners take advantage of. If you’re small business blogging, you’re already having small conversations. And you’re uniquely positioned to do so. The CEO of a major corporation might blog (or seem to blog using a ghost blogger), but you’re not going to walk into his factory and meet him in person.

 

But if it’s Michael at Kona Kai or Harpreet at Punjab Sweets, guess what? You are going to meet them in person when you walk into their place of business.

 

Part of the appeal of spending your money with a small business is knowing the owner and/or staff. There’s a real relationship there, one that can grow and be nurtured via small business blogging.

 

Small business blogging also enables you to tell stories that engage, to keep people up-to-date on your business and events, to even turn customers into evangelists when they can share your content.

 

I’m not sold on other social media tools for small business marketing. But I’m definitely sold on small business blogging.

 

Another (also disappointing) panel on blogging made me aware of how much confusion there is about why to use blogs as marketing tools, especially for small business blogging. More on that in this copywriter’s next blog…

Why the *&^%$ aren’t more businesses blogging? And even more frustrating, why don’t I see more small business blogging?

 

I’m a firm believer in blogs as marketing tools. An advocate, even. And I’m continually amazed at how many businesses still don’t use blogs as such. Whether you’re striving for search engine optimization or thought leadership or both, you should be blogging. Period.

 

I’m such an advocate for blogs as marketing tools, I work as a ghost blogger for some clients. Some people have an issue with that, they think blogs should be written by the CEO or whomever. But they’re missing the point of blogs as marketing tools. That’s great if your CEO can write intelligently about topics people want to hear about, using the keywords that matter most to you in the search wars. But it ain’t gonna fly if that CEO lacks the time and/or ability. Especially if your reason for blogging is getting found online. And for most businesses, especially small businesses, that should be your number one reason for using blogs as marketing tools.

 

So some of my copywriting clients have me ghost write their blogs, and I work hard to make sure the content is compelling and useful, and the keywords are used the way they need to be. One client’s blog has been very successful, getting noticed and subscribed to by experts in the industry, even though our primary reason for blogging is SEO. (And we’re doing well there two. Last time I checked, we are on the first SERP in Google for our two top keywords, and on the second page for another keyword.)

 

If this client relied on the CEO or someone else at the company to blog, it would rarely happen, the content wouldn’t be as rich, and the SEO results wouldn’t be as good. I as the ghost blogger make sure I write three posts a week for them, so the frequency is there. I work hard to learn about the issues and provide useful content in a well-written way. And I am able to use keywords, because I’m an SEO copywriter. The result? The client scores big time with me as the ghost blogger, without ever having to worry about whether it’s getting done or not.

 

Small business blogging is particularly cost-effective marketing and SEO, especially as more and more people go online to find local businesses. If someone’s searching for a coffee shop with free WiFi in Kent, Washington, or a tavern in Burlington, Washington, that coffee shop owner or tavern owner will do well to blog and win those local searches. Search engines favor blogs over static Websites, meaning small business blogging can even take the place of a Website for some small businesses.

 

Are you small business blogging? If so, tell me about it! If not, tell me why not?

Every page of your Website is a potential “home” page. That’s because any one of your Website pages could be the one that shows up in the search engine results page (SERP) when someone is searching online.

 

For example, type Seattle copywriter into Google and it’s not the We Know Words home page that shows up on page one of the SERPs, it’s a page within my site.

 

When working with your Website copywriter (or me), remember that each page must be able to stand alone. When a visitor lands at any page on your Website, they should still get a sense for where they are, what they’ll find, and what to do next.

 

With or without your copywriter, review each page of your Website and make sure it stands alone, and it includes at least one call to action to do something or to click to another page on your Website.

 

And along those lines, regarding a call to action, make sure every page is selling. As a freelance Website copywriter, I like to figure out one key action we’d like visitors to take, and to call that out on every page. See for example www.agrmarketingsolutions.com. Our primary goal is to get people to schedule a discovery call. So every single page of the Website includes that call to action in the sidebar.

 

Whether you’re focused on small business marketing or a huge ecommerce production, search engine optimization or blogs as marketing tools, you can easily make sure every page is a landing page, and every page is selling.

And if you want an objective eye reviewing your Website, ping this Website copywriter at sharon@weknowwords.com. I'll do a Website assessment to determine how well each of your pages is doing its job. Because in this competitive economy, you can't afford wasted space, even in cyber space. Every Web page has to do its job. And that job is to help you sell.

 

On March 11, the Seattle Direct Marketing Association hosts Market to the Max, a full day of top notch speakers and panelists presenting on topics from paid search to email marketing to blogging and more.

 

This Seattle copywriter will be there to make sure I’m up to speed on all the latest and greatest marketing trends. If you’re a marketer in the Northwest, anywhere from Seattle to Portland to BC, you’d better be there too! My plan is to soak up all I can on blogs as marketing tools and email marketing and search engine optimization, so I can do a better job on email copywriting and ghost blogging and SEO copywriting. I also look forward to spending the day hanging out with a bunch of smart marketers! And the end of the day networking is always a blast as everyone winds down and relaxes with a drink.

Don't think this is just for big companies. There's lots that applies to small business marketing and small business blogging!

And don't think I'm going just because I was the copywriter for the core messaging either, although that was fun. MRM Seattle did such an awesome job on the concept! A game board, with real playing pieces! What a great agency to work with!

 

Speakers will be from industry leaders like Google, Microsoft, Alaska Airlines and Virgin Airlines. For a complete agenda, go to http://www.markettothemax.com/agenda.htm.

 

Hope to see you there!!