Web Site Copywriting

Is business slow? Maybe now is the time to figure out where your website needs improvement…and do it, before the economy picks up and you get busy again.

Websites prove the age-old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind.” That’s why horrid sites stay that way—we don’t see them, we don’t do anything about them.

Bad sites don’t sell. Bad sites don’t do anything but make you look bad. Can you live with that?

Now, when business is slow, is the time to take a good, hard look at your website and figure out how to make it better…so it makes you money.

Very few websites are the best they can be, or even close to being decent. I’ve been a website copywriter for 13 years. I’ve seen some pretty bad websites.

And I’ve developed a low-cost method for assessing websites and recommending simple changes that can add up to big improvement. I call them website assessments. Not a glamorous name, yet a fitting one, because the report I give clients is straightforward and easy to act upon.

If you’d like to take advantage of this downtime to improve your website, hire me for a website assessment. I’ll review your website. Then I’ll give you a written report and roadmap for improving it as your time and budget allow. Implement all of the suggestions or only a few. Change it yourself or hire someone else to. As long as you do something.

Most of these changes will be basic because people go online to find information, not to be impressed with fancy graphics. There also basic because my experience is that of a website copywriter, not designer. I’ll also give you suggestions for ranking better in the search engines, so people find your site.

When you hire this website copywriter to review your site, here’s what I’ll do:

• I’ll interview you to figure out your target audience and their perceived problems.
• I’ll figure out why they go to your site, how they get there, and what they want to do when they get there.
• I’ll listen as you tell me what you want them to do there.
• I’ll assess your website based on all this information to see how well your website is doing its job.
• I’ll present you with a detailed report outlining recommendations for improving your site to make it a better information and sales tool.

A website assessment costs just $500 for up to seven web pages. A measly $500 for a detailed reporting that spells out what you can do to improve your website as a marketing tool. Best of all, with your assessment in hand, you can make the changes whenever you want, as your time and budget allow.

The recession will end. The economy will pick up. And customers will be back. Be ready to be busy by making your website better now while you have time.

Take it from this website copywriter: Your website has to be good, otherwise you’re missing out on opportunities…especially if you’re not even getting found on the Internet in the first place!

And when the economy does pick up again, the better your website works, the faster you’ll recover from this recession!

To see other assessment I’ve done, to ask questions, or to get started, call 206.459.8225 or email Sharon@weknowwords.com.

Yes, this professional copywriter whined yesterday about writers pretending to be copywriters, and ripping off clients as a result. This morning I received the following praise from that client, now a happy copywriting client, and I'm happy to share it, because it tells me that although good writers are out there working as bad copywriters, people can tell the difference given the chance:

"Hi Sharon. I love all the changes and additions you made. You turned this whole project around for me. I was at such a low point about it when you came into the picture, and now I am very pleased with how it is all shaping up, thanks to your very capable interventions. There is a line in L.A. Story (I am from L.A.): Steve Martin meets the new woman in his life (in real life, his wife) and stares at her and says: 'wonderful, wonderful, and yet more wonderful'. That is the line that popped into my head when I read all that you did for this website, because it was wonderful what you accomplished. I was very impressed that you could understand so quickly and intuitively what it was that I do and what it was I wanted to convey. Thank you so much."

I guess I share this too because I don't toot my horn very often (too Catholic for that?) and this praise put a huge smile on my face, knowing I did a good job, knowing I helped someone out, and knowing she knew it too.

I hope if you're reading this, you're also taking a good hard look at the copywriting you're getting, making sure you've hired the best copywriter for the job, not simply the one wielding the pen and claiming he knows how to write.

Sigh...

Why is it people think anyone can be a copywriter? I just did a rush job as a website copywriter trying to save a project for a poor soul with hardly any budget or time. She had been sucked into what I think sounds like a shifty web designer deal. He hired some friend of his to write her website. She didn't like the copy. She turned to me in desperation, with little money and a hard due date of today.

I deleted 90% of the crap I was given that the supposed freelance "copywriter" had done. It wasn't poorly written. It wasn't wrong. But it wasn't doing its job. This guy had gone off on some tangents that while potentially helpful information to a prospect later in the sales cycle were totally irrelevant and useless as far as the website's job: marketing this person.

Not only did I delete most of the thousands of words, I completely redid the sitemap. None of the copy made sense, none of it, not even the structure.

In only seven hours, I did the best I could and the client now thinks I'm a goddess. (I even did some basic SEO, but very little.) But it's not going in my freelance copywriter portfolio because I know how much better it would be if I'd had the time. And this woman has to move forward with a "good enough" website, having wasted money on the schlep.

Too many freelance writers pass themselves off as freelance copy writers. They think because they can write, they can write copy. And people seem too accepting of whatever their writer gives them. So we get literally millions of bad websites, poorly written direct mail, spam instead of email copywriting, ads that do nothing but take up space in a magazine...I could go on and on.

The best copywriter is the copywriter who knows marketing as well as she knows words. And she knows her strengths. I am strong as a:
 

• Website copywriter
• Email copywriter
• Whitepaper writer
• Case study writer
• Newslettter writer

I do not do, because I don't know how to do:
 

• Script writing
• Speech writing
• Presentations (OK, I can do these, I just don't want to)
• True journalism
• Catalog copywriting
• Those convoluted direct mail pieces that have letters and postcards and...

I know my strengths, I know my limitations, and I'm honest about both. Every professional copywriter should be.

People, if you are hiring a freelance copywriter, be picky! Don't assume simply because they say they are a copywriter that they are. Ask for proof. Don't be afraid to question the samples you're given. Expect more.

This is your marketing, your branding, your voice, your reputation. Do you want the best copywriter for the job? Or any ol' freelancer with a laptop?

 

Web writing can be a tricky business for a professional copywriter: You're never quite sure what you're going to be working with for a design, sitemap, clarity of message...I wrote my first website in 1997, if you can believe it, way before I even knew what a professional copywriter was! And in the 13 (gulp) years since then, I don't think I've done two website copywriting projects that were the same.

I really like what we were just able to do for Contract Controllers, a CPA firm, and this was a first for me: They had a set template and sitemap for me to work with, because of the company doing their site. But they were smart enough to know that even with a design that wasn't one-of-a-kind, their message better be! 

So they called me in as their professional copywriter. (Am I being self serving here? Probably, but this blog really is about them!)

They were great to work with, and the project went smoothly for this website copywriter. But I give them kudos for recognizing the need to stand out, to have a unique message.

I was a little frustrated with the company putting together the site because they wouldn't let us use unique Title tags (critical for SEO!). And certain elements couldn't be changed. But for the most part as the freelance website copywriter, I'm a happy camper because Contract Controllers got a decent looking site that tells their story.

See the site at http://www.contractcontrollers.com.

I just got off a conference call for a new website copywriter project. I call these kickoff calls, and I warn my new copywriting clients that they will be answering a lot of questions during such a call. That's because of my mantra about talking to customers, not at them. The only way I as the freelance copywriter can truly write to the customer is by understanding where the customer is coming from, his pain points and challenges, her worldview.

During the past hour, I didn't ask a single question about the services provided by my web writing client. I only asked about their customers. And in doing so, I learned about the services offered...from the customer's point of view. That's exactly what I want, as the copywriter, to tell my client's story from the point of the customer.

And it was a great call because more than once I'd ask a question and the client would pause, say, "That's a great question!" then give me a very thoughtful and insightful answer...because they had to think about it! That tells me it's good info for me, as the copywriter!

Talking to your customers, not at them. It's not hard. It's just different. And effective.

Last week as part of our 12 days of Christmas festivities, I took my daughter and her friend to the Washington State History Museum and then to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We got to the restaurant early, before 5:00 even, but because it was the holiday break, there was already a wait for a table.

The hostess said 10 minutes but sat us in less than five. The two girls were both surprised and impressed! Plus we got a table in the trolley when the hostess had only replied “maybe” when we requested it.

That shows the power of under promising and over delivering. And the power of the experience. Our dining experience started out on a positive note, and even if things had gone wrong from that point forward, our attitude was bound to be good and our meal enjoyable.

The hostess could easily have said, “Oh, it will just be a couple of minutes.” But the restaurant gained an emotional advantage when she said 10.

The girls were still talking about this when we walked to the car after dinner. Their reaction made such an impression on me, I’ve been looking for a copywriting lesson to pull from this. This approach works in marketing and sales, but in copywriting?

As a freelance Seattle copywriter, I try to under promise and over deliver on projects, meaning I often over-estimate the amount of time I think a project will take (and therefore the amount of the final bill), then I happily get the project done in less time and delight my clients with a bill under budget. (This doesn’t happen every time! But I finally after 9 years of doing this learned it’s easier to over estimate and charge less than the opposite!)

But when it comes to the actual copywriter end product--the website, email, direct mail postcard, ghost blog, whitepaper or press release--how does a copywriter under promise and over deliver, and should I?

I do cringe when clients ask me for copywriting that promises the moon and I suspect they can’t deliver it.

Alternatively if someone can offer the moon but I as the copywriter don’t tell prospects that, we likely won’t get their attention in the first place, meaning what we deliver is irrelevant.

On the other hand, I’m relentless at times, hounding clients to give me a moon to promise. I recently worked as a Web site copywriter for a client with a wonderful story to tell…and they reined me back in copywriting wise again and again and again.

I don’t have the answer. I know I don’t like to get less than I expect when I spend my money. And I often do! I’m delighted when I get more than I expect, which happens on occasion. But the sad thing is, I’m delighted when I get just what I expect because I’m so used to the over promise, under deliver that seems prevalent today.

Does that mean my clients must promise the moon…and then deliver even more than that? That would certainly wow the new customers and turn them into lifelong fans. But is it possible?

I don’t have the answer. Only a fond memory of two young ladies learning the power of the under promise, over deliver approach.

Because I detest updating my Web site, being a copywriter, not an html guru, I don't put recent copywriting samples up on it. I told myself I would start blogging on projects as I completed them instead, so at least somewhere online, this copywriter would be showing off her prowess with samples.

It's December 28 as I type this copwriter blog, and I think I maybe blogged on recent copywriting projects um...twice?? This year I resolve to do better! And not only because potential clients need to be able to see my work and the types of companies I work for, but because they might learn from seeing these samples too. Or not. Maybe blogging on my copywriter projects is purely self serving! 

This project took a while to go live when my Website copywriter role was over, so I was delighted to see it finally. In those cases, I often have forgotten what I wrote by the time I see the finished product, so it's a pleasant treat to see the Website copywriting with fresh eyes and think, "hey, that's pretty good!"

The Website is www.maxsampartners.com and the challenges were unique. I didn't have to worry about keywords and SEO, but I had a very restrictive template to work within, which dictated not only the word count for each section and page, but the character counts even! Seriously, headings, captions, text, bulleted lists...every section had a set character count to work with.

It was a totally different Website copywriter experience for me as a result, and fun! Fun trying to make sure I was getting the core marketing messages across while still being compelling and interesting and all within a tight space.

And as much as I love being an SEO copywriter, it was nice to take a break from keywords and thinking on all that stuff.

Please excuse me while I gush while enthusiastically endorsing a product. I can’t help myself. Homestead.com rocks, pure and simple.

I’m a freelance copywriter and, unlike some other copywriters who like to wear designer hats as well, I stick to what I know: copywriting. That makes me better at what I do because that’s all I do! But it also means I work in the worlds of marketing and website copywriting, and that makes my friends think I can design and build websites.

I can’t.

But thanks to Homestead, I did! I just built an already successful website for a friend! When you see the site, it’s obvious I’m not a designer, but hey, this Seattle copywriter built a website! And with much more ease than I would have using FrontPage or Publisher or any of the other novice website building tools out there.

The site didn’t need to be complicated, but it did need to be clean and easy to use and a site that would rank well in search engines. It is all of those things thanks to Homestead. It’s already showing up on page one of Google for a specific search term, and page two for a very generic one. Amazing! (Yes, partly that's due to my skills as an SEO copywriter, but still, I don't usually get websites to rank that quickly!)

It’s easy to move things around, insert photos, format text, change colors, link, use alt text, include meta tags, change navigation and more. It even lets you add an email signup, then manage that email list.

Not only that, it is cheap! For only $20 per month, we got the domain name, up to five email accounts, and monthly hosting. Plus use of the software to build the site. I pay that much just in hosting my We Know Words copywriting website!

Then today I got into the site stats. So easy to access, use and understand! Much easier than with my own copywriting website, much!

You can make it an ecommerce site too, for a higher monthly cost, but even that’s only about $50 a month, far cheaper than setting up an ecommerce site on your own.

If you’re looking to build a website, and don’t want to pay a designer $1500 or more to do it, take a look at Homestead.com. If you have some design skills, you’ll be able to make it look good, but if not, you can still create a functional website for hardly any cost at all.

OK, done gushing. But what fun to get the chance to gush! It’s not very often something impresses me to this degree. And it’s nice to know some companies are still out there making products and services that really work, not just that make them money.

P.S. This friend admittedly got some kickass freelance copywriter services too, so that has helped with his search engine rankings. But hiring a freelance copywriter is much cheaper than hiring a website designer, so if you have to choose, maybe put the money into the copywriter, use Homestead to build your site, and save yourself a bundle!

If you're a fellow copywriter, maybe you can relate to this: It seems like the period of time between when I'm done with my copywriter duties and the actual project, whether it's a website or direct mail piece or whatever, is done and released to the world, I've practically forgotten about the project! I keep telling myself I'll blog on projects as part of this copywriter blog, but I don't for that very reason: I'm 10 projects down the road lots of times before something is a done deal.

But here's one! Here's a website copywriter project I worked on a few months ago, now gone live and worth the wait. The good folks at We Shop and Deliver really just wanted help with the home page and suggestions for the rest of the website, and I happily obliged, and was even able to come up with what I think is a killer tagline to boot! "We Shop and Deliver. Because you have better things to do."

And the best news is, they didn't mess with my website copywriter prowess, they just let me do my job and left my copywriting alone. :-) 

See the site at www.weshopanddeliver.com, and if you watch the video, you'll witness my first time at scriptwriting, something I usually leave to fellow copywriter Mavis, but in this case it made more sense for copywriting me to tackle it.

As for We Shop and Deliver, they are the first grocery delivery franchise in the country and that's pretty neat to be part of! They do grocery delivery already, but one can buy a franchise for a neighborhood or a whole city and take care of that tiresome chore for their customers while taking care of their quality of life by being self-employed. :-)

Great job on the website, We Shop and Deliver! 

Just read an article by a very respected SEO copywriter talking about Title tags. If you do any SEO copywriting, or you work with your SEO copywriter, you’ll know the Title tag is a critical part of your search engine optimization (SEO).

(If you don’t know, read a quick tutorial I just wrote for another blog here: http://smallbusinessblogging.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/small-business-blogging-for-internet-marketing-why-your-title-is-soooooo-key/.)

Normally I really respect this SEO copywriter’s opinion, and, knowing how important Title tags are I was excited to read this article to make sure I know everything I need to to be a kick ass Website copywriter…but in this case, I was disappointed in her advice because in all honesty I think she’s just a wee bit wrong.

Why? Because she talked about including the company name in the Title tag. I disagree, unless your business is well known and people are searching specifically for YOU (meaning your business). Even still, if that’s the case, does your company name belong in the Title tag?

People use search engines like Google to solve problems. The problem might be they need a new keyboard for their laptop, or they’re searching for a new horse, or they’re researching an arch pain in their foot…there are likely as many problems to be solved as there are Internet searchers!

But your Title tag has to match their search in order to work. That means the keywords in your Title tag must match the keywords they’re typing into the Google search box.

Is searching for We Know Words solving a problem? Only if the problem is they are looking for my copywriting company specifically. But if that’s the case, they probably already know to go to weknowwords.com. More likely they are searching for a freelance copywriter, or a Seattle copywriter, or a Website copywriter, or an SEO copywriter…meaning they don’t know they want to hire me, Sharon, as their copywriter, they only know they need to find a copywriter.

Including the words “We Know Words” in my Title tags would be a complete waste of space.

I agree with the author that Title tags are so important and I’m glad she’s talking about them. But too many people will likely follow that SEO copywriter’s expert advice and waste precious SEO real estate with company names that don’t belong. L

Here’s another analogy for proving marketing is like dating: Think of personal ads. Why? Because words can woo.

Even with online dating sites like Match.com, you don’t rely solely on the photos. Heck, plenty of people (mostly men for some reason) don’t even put up photos. The words still matter. You read someone’s profile and decide if it resonates with you or not.

Let’s take search engines and search results as an example…

Like your personal ad, you can write these to say anything you want, as long as they also have the search terms you want to get found for. The goal of this search result is first, to get found, and second, to get someone to click through and go to your site, for this copy to resonate with the prospect. You don’t get to use any pictures, so it’s like the personal ads of old, when people put their ads in newspapers.

Now think of the search result someone gets when searching on Google, using the We Know Words copywriting Website as our example. Type Seattle copywriter into Google and sure enough, We Know Words is on the first page (under that horrid local search map, gads I hate those things!).

What people get for a search result is the title tag and description I’ve written for a particular page on the We Know Words Website. In my case, this is really bad, I don’t know that it would resonate with anyone, honestly…  

Marketing writer - Seattle copywriter portfolio of web writing and ...

Copywriting portfolio of ads, brochures, case studies, datasheets, emails, Web content and more showcases the singular talents of the marketing writers at ...

But besides the fact that this Seattle copywriter is maybe acting like the cobbler whose children have no shoes, my advice is still sound. J Have your copywriter, whether freelance or in-house, write your website copy, brochure copy, email copywriting, whatever it is, as if she were copywriting a personal ad.

If I were to rewrite my title tag and description as a personal ad, keeping in mind that I have to achieve both search engine optimization (SEO) and conversion (getting people to click on the link and go to my site), I could do it as:

Marketing writer - Seattle copywriter portfolio of web writing and ...

Searching for a stellar freelance Seattle copywriter? See complete portfolio of print copywriting, email copywriting, Web copywriting and more.

I want to keep marketing writer in the Title tag, because it ranks well in Google, but I’m pushing Seattle copywriter as a keyword a bit more so it’s in there twice now. That’s my SEO. But I also made it more action oriented.

OK, maybe not the best example of having your copywriter write marketing ads, but like the cobbler, this copywriter has to get some client work done! No more indulging in blogging for now!

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.

Working on a recent project as the Website copywriter, I submitted a draft of the home page of the Website to the design firm so they could build comps around it. The initial designs came back with my copy, but with a big ol’ “Welcome to our Web site” headline towering over my carefully crafted, attention getting headline.

As a Website copywriter, I obviously write a lot of Websites. As a consumer and marketer, I obviously see a lot of Websites.

And I do not get the whole Welcome thing. That home page is valuable real estate. You have three seconds to convince a site visitor to stick around and click around. (And this is true for every page of your Web site if those Website visitors are finding you via search engines and SEO.)

It is assumed they are welcome. Otherwise you wouldn’t have a Website, right? You’d have an intranet. You wouldn’t be visible to the whole World Wide Web.

Your headline has to work really hard. It has to grab that visitor’s attention. It should, you hope, include a keyword phrase. It should make the Website visitor want to see what else is on this page.

Don’t scream “Welcome,” you’re wasting your three seconds of opportunity. Instead scream “You want to know more!” OK, not that. But those big, bold words should be engaging, enticing, encouraging them to stay and see what your Website has to offer.

I had to fight the designers to get that banner welcome text removed and my own headline, which I had labored over, thank you very much, inserted in its place. And that shouldn’t happen, for a couple of reasons. One, I am the Website copywriter. Let me do my job. Two, even Website designers should understand the importance of that three second opportunity that your home page presents when a visitor lands there.

Listen to your Website copywriter. Or let your marketing team or Website designer use the tiresome welcome. The choice is yours…and it’s your site visitor’s choice to click the Back button when they find no immediate reason to stick around.

Have you ever met someone and liked them but figured they didn’t like you? This happens in the dating world all the time, right? But marketers do this without meaning to, telling prospects “We don’t want you” with their words, even though what they really want is to turn them into customers…

Last summer at a party I did not plan on attending, I met someone who gave every indication of not being interested. I hadn’t even planned on attending this party. Worse, I wasn’t even invited. I was supposed to be somewhere else, as I drove home from the barn where I boarded my horse, dusty and sweaty. But my cell phone rang with the persuading voice of a friend promising this party would cheer me up and there would be single men. For the record, that night single men were the reason for my glum mood, so that wasn’t enticing, but the cheerful note in my friend’s voice assured me this would take my mind off my troubles.

I arrived at the party, not knowing a soul but the one friend, and not getting any help from him as he flirted his way through the female portion of the crowd. That was okay, I kind of wanted to keep to myself anyway. But there was one guy I thought cute, and as the night wore on, I engineered myself to be sitting by the fire pit with him when no one else was around. Well, that didn’t matter. His body language, his obvious unwillingness to engage in conversation, the fact that he never asked me a thing but only curtly answered the questions I tossed out there all told me “not interested.” No problem! I climbed in the hot tub with a bunch of strangers and didn’t’ think anything of it.

The irony is, later this guy asked my one friend about me, and ended up calling me and asking me out on a date. When I asked him about that night, and told him I thought he was cold as ice and didn’t give any indication at all that he liked me, he said, “That was me being interested.” Like I’m supposed to figure that out!

But, people. Marketers do this all the time. We sit across the fire pit, at a party, under the influence of alcohol in a fun, Friday evening environment…and turn people off. We do! Our words do! Our words can be horribly narcissistic and make the prospect think all we’re really saying is “go away.”

That’s why your copywriting and message are so critical! When someone lands at your Web site, or gets your email, or pulls your direct mail out of the mailbox, or even checks out your Facebook page, your message needs to speak to them, tell them you want them, tell them you are interested in them as a customer.

Plenty of businesses make the mistake of the guy at the party. They don’t talk my talk, they don’t give any indication they are interested in ME, they simply fold their arms and lean back. Then they complain about prospects (i.e. women) and never look at what they’re doing to cause the disconnect.

Be engaging, marketers. Make sure your copywriting engages, that it talks to your potential customer, not at her. That it tells her, “I’m interested, I really am interested.”