Web Copy Writer

A common problem I’ve seen ever since I started Web writing is people getting stuck on keywords. That’s because clients have a hard time thinking of the keywords in terms of the words their prospects use when searching online.

Clients want to use descriptive words, words drawn from their marketing collateral. They lean towards the words they use when thinking and talking about their product or service. Either that or they want to use really big, broad keywords that won’t get them anywhere in Google.

Here’s an easy way to change your frame of reference when beginning to brainstorm keywords: Think pain points and problem solving.

Consider your prospects’ mindset when they are searching. Your prospects are online using Google or Yahoo or some other search engine because they have a problem. It might be that they want Indian food for dinner. The pain is lack of knowledge because they want samosas and abu gobi, but they don’t know where to find a local Indian restaurant. They can solve the problem if they can find a restaurant close by. Your site will get found if you use keywords like Indian restaurant, Kent, WA 98032 or East Hill Indian food, etc. (the idea is to be geographical because that’s how they’re thinking).

It might be that they are troubleshooting their business intelligence (BI) software. The pain is the software isn’t working the way they want, and they are trying to solve the problem by looking for technical answers online. You can get found if you use keywords around troubleshooting, maybe mention specific problems…and when they land at your site, you can start selling them on YOUR BI software as better than the one they’re having problems with.

I have found lately that I spend so much time thinking about SEO and keywords and Web writing that I’m losing touch with how most marketers think about search engine optimization but I hope this brief blog helps!

Christmas cards have lost their meaning. In fact, I dread them because I have to figure out which ones can be recycled and which are all metallic and can’t. Oh, and I can’t recycle those photo cards either, nor do I keep them. It’s not that I’m Ebenezer, I love Christmas! But not the meaningless cards that add to the clutter of my life without adding to the spirit of the season. Really, how many cards did you receive this year from people you really wanted to hear from and otherwise wouldn’t? Here are my favorites useless cards from this past month:

• A photo card from a family I don’t know or even recognize in the photo (cute picture though!)
• A card from a former client who chose not to work with our copywriting agency any longer…and he didn’t sign the card, some assistant did
• A card from someone I have met briefly at a three chamber events and never said more than 10 words to
• The usual card from my cousin in Ohio who won’t respond to any emails asking what’s up, how’s life, but sends a card each year…without any note or anything

Let’s face it: Christmas cards have become obligatory and automatic. They are no longer the thoughtful communication of holidays past.

And you know where I’m going with this, right? Yep. Marketing. In many ways, marketing has lost its meaning too. It’s done on automatic pilot without much thought (sometimes without any thought at all).

Is your company marketing to people who don’t even want to hear from you? Are you assuming more of a relationship than really exists? Are you marketing AARP memberships to people in their 30s? In short, are you wasting money on pointless marketing?

This year, resolve to be relevant. Practice meaningful marketing.

• Send email newsletters only to people who’ve said “yes” and opted in
• Make sure your newsletter copywriter gives people useful information
• Target your marketing—Know thy audience
• Clean your lists
• Only market to prospects that make sense (Hint: the fact that someone is human does not automatically make them a prospect)
• Blog—If people like what you have to say, they’ll come back. Even small businesses can reap huge rewards from blogging (more on this in later marketing blogs)
• Make sure your Web writing meets your Web site visitors’ needs

Etc., etc., etc. Before your next direct mail project, before your freelance copywriter starts typing, before you lay out that email marketing campaign, ask yourself if you can make your marketing more meaningful.

Oh, and maybe do the same before sending out cards next Christmas too.

The best salespeople can sell snow to Eskimos, as the saying goes. Even so, you can imagine my surprise when an enterprising Eagle Scout showed up at my front door in our new home in Eagle, Idaho selling…potatoes. Yes, potatoes!

My first reaction was to laugh and he laughed right along with me. I liked this kid and his chutzpah on a cold November evening. He and his mom had a minivan loaded down with huge, Idaho-grown spuds. Turns out, his troop sells them every year. And they do a brisk business.

Which made me think about this from the perspective of a marketing writer. How often do companies really embrace their quirks? Mostly, it seems, corporations want marketing copywriters to spiff up their image with slick press releases, sparkling brochure copy and eye-catching web writing. All of that is well and good. But there’s also something lovable and appealing about a company that knows itself and puts that personal quality out to the buying public.

It’s a little like Les Schwab Tires with its fresh-scrubbed mechanics and sales folks running to greet you, selling you some new snow tires, and yep, rewarding you with some free beef! After all, Les Schwab was from Prineville, a Central Oregon town whose denizens know plenty about cattle and cold-weather tires.

Here in Idaho, the potato is more than a vegetable: it’s an emblem of state pride. Heck, Famous Potatoes used to be on many an Idaho license plate. So when I bought some of those potatoes from the Boy Scouts I was embracing a little of what it means to be an Idahoan. And because the Scout at my door is a natural at sales, he made sure to deliver a persuasive marketing message--as potent as any dreamed up by a marketing communications writer.  He emphasized these are “export quality” potatoes, meaning they were grown in Idaho but are a higher grade of potato than Idahoans normally get to eat. These were, in essence, gourmet potatoes!

So I bought a big bag of special potatoes—great for state pride, a nice contribution to the local Boy Scout troop and a starchy staple I needed anyway. Now I just need to find some way to use all these spuds!

Driving down the freeway yesterday, I saw a van for Insite Inspection with the question “What’s in your crawl space?” stenciled on the back window right above the Web site address (www.terrisinspect.com).

This is a fabulous example of asking the right question!

All marketers and copywriters know asking questions is a great way to get people’s attention, to engage them so they read your ad, Web site, brochure, email, etc. But those questions often miss the mark because people can just answer them without really thinking and move on.

Asking me what’s in my crawl space gets right to a fear factor and therefore gets my attention. Plus it’s a question I can’t easily answer! It makes me think of that dark, dank place full of countless spiders and other creepy things (so Halloween-y) and yes, I do wonder what’s going on in there: Termites? Carpenter ants? Rotten wood? Is there a leaky pipe perhaps? But I certainly don’t want to crawl in there and find out!

Another favorite example of mine is the huge banner hanging by the side of the freeway asking “Are your trees safe?” as an attempt to market the tree-topping company located there. The thousands of drivers passing by that banner each day no doubt think to themselves “Of course they are.” Imagine the reaction if the banner said “Are your trees dangerous?” Now that would make people stop and think! “I don’t know, are they?”

Questions are a great way to engage and to show people right from the start that you’re familiar with their pains and can relate to them. But make the questions—and all your copywriting—relevant to the customer to make them work.

P.s. I checked out the inspection company’s Web writing. Sadly, it slips right back into that writing for the Web that is so common, the “let me tell you all about me” copywriting instead of the customer-centric copywriting that can be so much more effective.

I was trying to buy a pair of shoes from a one-stop-shop that shall go nameless. I had money in my pocket and two pairs of feet. (Ok, I had my two rapidly growing boys with me, and a desperate need for new shoes). As I went along the shoe aisles in this mega-store, there was not a soul in sight to help me as I faced disorderly piles of shoes of different sizes in different places.

It was a definite do-it-yourself moment. And I thought, what was this store’s marketing team thinking? Had their corporate mar com folks thought up how a typical customer would navigate this section of the store? Had anyone with a communications background or marketing mindset even been in the shoe section lately? Apparently not.

Because when I finally did grab a pair of shoes that actually fit, there was an anti-shoplifting tag that took over the entire opening of the shoe. In other words, this store was so afraid their customers might steal, they were doing their darnedest not to let us buy. I literally could not get my son’s foot past the anti-shop lifting tag.

Now I understand there’s a give-and-take in play here. According to the National Retail Federation, retailers lost about $40.5 billion in 2006 because of shoplifting, employee theft and other losses. So loss prevention is not a trifle. But still…if you can’t try on the merchandise, then haven’t you given up on making the sale? What kind of message are you sending your customers? No matter how fresh your ad copy is or how moving you make your marketing communications, if a customer can’t try it on before they buy, it’s going to seem like a bit of a bait and switch. We’ve got shoes aplenty, but none that you can try on without injuring yourself and others.

To be fair, these tags took up prime real estate in only some of the shoes. Other tags were placed in a different portion of the shoe—ensuring loss prevention and the chance to actually let a buyer buy. And because the tags were placed on just one shoe, you could take a chance that if it fit one foot, it might fit the other. But my son couldn’t go for a test drive of walking around the store. Or, in his case, running…really…fast.

If I may be so bold, it’s time for marketing teams and other communications folks (let alone store managers) to come out and see the products they’re trying to move with email marketing campaigns, Web writing and more. Because the best marketing in the world won’t work if customers can’t touch, feel and try on what they’re trying (desperately) to buy.

This week someone told me no one ever looks at a home page. I have two responses to this: One, don’t ever forget the power of a first impression. Two, your home page has a very important job and can’t be treated lightly (we’ll cover that topic in another blog).

The power of the first impression can never be underestimated. Just think about what you wear each day. Your clothes are a huge part of the image people form of you, the mental one in their mind when they look at you and make a ton of assumptions about you just based on your clothes. I agonize over meetings with potential clients not because I’m worried whether or not I’ll get the job, but because I don’t know the “dress code” of a company until I’ve been on-site. I can make some assumptions: the software company will be more casual, the law firm will be dressier, the creative firm will wear black. But I have to dress so that I fit in and make the right first impression. Walking into the creative firm wearing the conservative office attire expected by the law firm means the creative folk will assume—before I ever even open my mouth—that I’m not part of their world. Ditto if the reverse were true.

And that’s just one example. There many more: how you dress for dates, social functions, meeting your future in-laws for the first time, even what you look like when you run to the store on Saturday morning. The importance of your clothes and the stories they tell is limitless.

So think of your home page as that initial meeting with a potential client and make sure you’re dressed to make the right first impression. Again, it’s about being appropriate. A Web site that sells all kinds of cheap items, one that is frequented by people who know exactly what they’re looking for, that site can be cluttered and in-your-face with pricing and specials and shipping deals. The law firm’s Web site (to circle back to our earlier clothing example) must be professional and credible. No screaming or clutter allowed, because that would be akin to showing up in their office wearing nightclub attire. As with the clothes, the examples are endless.

Your home page is that initial meeting, it is your first impression, it’s your one and only chance to tell people “you’re in the right place” before they click the back button and go elsewhere. Which they will in a matter of seconds if they don’t think your site is what they want. If you landed at a law firm’s home page and it looked like a computer parts Web site’s home page, would you stick around long enough to read the Web content and make an informed decision? Nope, you’d click back in a jiffy.

So if you’re marketing to professionals, be professional. If you’re selling an expensive product, look expensive. If all your audience cares about is the cheapest price, you’re fine with a cheesy home page. And this is the whole package: the design, the Web writing, the headline, the navigation choices, what you put above the fold vs. what you put below…all of those pieces are like your shoes, your pants, your jacket, your hair style, your jewelry. All those pieces add up to the all-important first impression that is your home page.

No one ever looks at a home page? Not if it sucks.

When life hands you lemons you're supposed to whip up a pucker-worthy batch of lemonade. Right? But what if you don't get any lemons at all. Yes, there is a marketing truism here and one that applies to anyone involved in marketing, advertising, public relations or communications. It's called the add-on sale. Or, in come cases, what I and other marketing communications writers like to call a package deal. When you get your oil changed, don't they check your car's other fluids? Or when you buy an expensive gift, don't you expect some nifty gift-wrapping, gratis?

Well, I had come to expect the same kind of inclusive, forward-thinking marketing at my local supermarket fish counter. When I buy fish, I always want a lemon to go with it. Always. And that's what I got in the store where I used to shop. Didn't pick up a lemon in the produce section. No problem. They always featured a basket of lemons right on the fish counter. And sure as shooting I always bought one. This isn't a tale of selling more lemons...although the grocery store surely did. It is a tale of selling a complete customer experience, of knowing that I was getting good service, that they were thinking about me and my needs...and meeting those needs.

So when I moved from my little town in Washington state to another little town in Idaho, I didn't really think about lemons. I had too much other stuff on my mind (more fodder for another blog). But when I reached the fish counter and bought my fish I realized that they had no lemons on the counter. I had to backtrack all the way to the produce section with a toddler trying to jump out of the moving cart and a 4-year-old complaining about having to go to the bathroom. Yes, making my shopping trips easier is very important when it comes to customer service.

So am I sour on my new grocery store? Not really. But I am a bit disappointed that I'm not treated to the same level of service. Because when it comes right down to it, marketing and public relations are often about the little things, not grand e-newsletters, whiz bang Web site writing or awesome advertising copy (although all those things help!). Sometimes it's as simple, and essential, as a lemon!

You've got a general plan in mind on how to market your must-have product. You've brainstormed all the steps and they seem to hang together for the most part. You'll start with a trade show booth, demonstrate what your widget can do, then send out an email marketing campaign to your in-house list and follow that up with a direct mailing that knocks their socks off. Problem is, you're headed in the wrong direction and each step will take you further afield.

How so? Have you really considered the best way to reach your target audience? Are they likely to attend a trade show? Or enjoy being hit by email marketing? In fact, do you really know who your customer is in the first place, or is it more of a best-guess hunch.

Without knowing for sure, all of your marketing communications could be leading you away from your prospects, instead of toward them.  

When it comes to marketing, it's all about filling a niche. But first you need to figure out what it is. Often, when we sit down with clients, we ask just those questions. You'd be surprised how vague the answers can be. That doesn't make for great copywriting. And it's even worse when it comes to selling a product or service effectively.

Our marketing team at We Know Words regularly helps clients dig deeper into details. We call it customer-centric copywriting. Because, at the end of the day, it's all about the customer. And if you don't know who your customer is, or their habits, desires, dreams and practical constraints, then you can't make an honest and lasting connection.  

Sure, it can take a bit longer at the beginning to craft an effective email marketing or web writing campaign. But all those baby steps will ultimately lead in the right direction...to sales.

Heavy sigh. It happened again. Someone called to have us rewrite their Web site and of course they think their site is pretty good, they like the copywriting on it, it just needs a little touching up, because they’re going through a rebranding, etc., etc. So I go to their site and see that not only the copywriting is bad, the design sucks, the navigation is clunky, and I’m on the fourth page before I can even figure out what this company sells!

Web writing like that can only come from one place: in house.

If you think you’ll save money on copywriting by developing Web content in house, you might be right in the short term, but you’re wrong in the long term. Because the writing won’t be as customer-oriented or as good as that written by an outsourced, objective and expert Web writer. And that means you’ll lose potential customers—and therefore revenue—over time.

The adage is true: You never get a second chance to make a good first impression. And on the Internet, you have what, three seconds to make that first impression. Your Web site is also your virtual sales force. There isn’t anyone standing behind that prospect pointing out the information missing from the site, helping the hapless Web site visitor through poor navigation, or compensating for sucky design. Your Web site is all alone. So it has to work extra hard. And that means having the right message delivered in the right way…right away.

So make sure your Web writing rocks from the start.

My last post was about user generated content. And I just had to smile when I saw that blog generated user generated content! In the form of comments, I mean. Hey, this stuff works! And the comments are thoughtful, adding another layer of insight onto what was just a germ of an idea on my part. Check them out… 

But heavy on my mind this week is—as usual--putting the prospect/customer first.  

 I call it talking to customers, not at them. And that means knowing how they think about a problem (“how they see it”), as well as the words they use (“what they call it”). 

First the problem: Many companies fill their Web sites and marketing collateral with copywriting about all their features and benefits from their own point of view. And who can blame them? After all, these people are living, breathing, eating, sleeping these products and/or services every day. Of course that’s their focus.  

But first you have to know what your prospect sees as the problem. If you sell mattresses, but your customer sees the problem as being tired all day—not as a need for a new mattress—then don’t have your copywriter fill the white space with talk about your great mattress. Instead, use marketing messages about how a mattress can improve sleep. 

Then there are the words they use. A former We Know Words client was an office furniture manufacturer. They wanted their Web site optimized for search engines, and they wanted to call their products work stations and panel systems and to use those terms in the Web writing. But guess what their customers called these same products? Yep, cubicles. In the company’s opinion, a cubicle was a derogatory term, one made fun of in Dilbert cartoons. But that’s the word customers used…and searched on.  

Talking their talk isn’t just for search engine optimization. You have to use your customer’s words in all your copywriting or you won’t connect with them: your ads, email marketing, brochures, you name it. And if you don’t know what words they use, ask your sales force. They’ll know.  

Until next blog!