This week, I've had my head down preparing for a couple of speaking engagements next week and writing sales letters and web pages. And, with the holiday on Monday, I lost track of time and forgot to post on this blog!
It occurred to me while writing that some very different rules apply when you're writing for the web. In the long distant past I worked for a company who's main customer was the government. The language used in written communication was hard to understand and very formal and correct. My English teacher at school would have been proud of us!
Writing copy for this blog and for my website is almost like speaking a foreign language by comparison! Here are 5 ways that I've learned to make writing for the internet more effective:
There are 2 Kinds of Reader. Some people just like to skim down the page and pick up the important points without (or before) getting into the detail. To keep them reading, use sub-headings and bold font. Other people like the detail so give them plenty of interesting content to keep them reading.
The Heading is more important than the Content. I know I just said to make the content interesting! The heading has the crucial job of making you read further. Unless the heading pulls you in, even the best content in the world won't get read. There’s a great tool that will analyse your headlines at Advanced Marketing Institute.
Write as You Speak. When you've been used to writing formal letters and reports, this can be a hard concept to get your head around. The best advice I was given when I started my first newsletters about 5 years ago, was to write as if I was just having a conversation.
Write for Your Target Audience. There's a lot of pressure, when writing copy for the internet, to remember to include lots of keywords to rank well in the search engines. I agree, but not at the expense of turning off the people you hope will become clients! Google isn't going to buy from you.
Give Value in Your Content. I'm often told that I give too much free stuff away! But the truth is that there's so much excellent stuff out there - in the form of blogs, teleclasses, e-books, etc. and it's very often free. To keep people interested and coming back for more until they're in the right space to buy, you must give value in your content.
© Louise Barnes-Johnston, 2008
What tips do you have when writing for the web? Please do let me know by leaving a comment.
Sometimes it's hard to know what to blog about. Writing articles and issuing a newsletter can be challenging too. Here's a really useful guide from Alice Seba, an excellent internet marketer whose blog I follow: 24 Ideas for Endless Email Topics. It's completely free!
Today I've been engaged by a new client for business coaching. I just love the variety of my work! Already my mind is buzzing with ways to increase his business. Also, I am able to take a more objective view because, let's face it, we tend to get almost too close to our own businesses and become blinkered as to how to move forward. I'm really looking forward to working with him.
Next week I've been asked to give a short talk about the Dangers and Remedies of Stress so I'm working on some slides (they seem to love Powerpoint!).
Over the last few months I've been taking notice of the latest thinking for business building by doing a bit of social networking. Starting this blog, leaving comments on other peoples' blogs, writing articles, joining Ecademy, putting up a Facebook profile, joining some forums and posting questions and comments. I still can't see the point of Twitter (but please feel free to post a comment here if you do!)
It's all good fun and I'm 'meeting' some interesting new people while becoming reacquainted with others I'd lost contact with. So far so good.
I try not to spend too long on each website because time can easily run away while you're clicking around. What I've noticed is that some people must spend literally hours answering questions, posting comments and refining their profiles. Don't they have anything else to do? Or do they they stay up really late just to catch up? I'd really love to know how they do it.
The best piece of advice I've been given is to set a timer and stop when the alarm sounds!
How do you manage your social networking?
I've just been reading some of the blogs I subscribe to and realise that I need to 'up my game'.
If you want to see how it should be done, visit Yaro Starak at Entrepreneurs Journey. Yaro posts nearly every day and his articles are always informative and easy to read. He's also proof that you can make money from blogging!
Yaro has also just launched a new website at BecomeBlogger.com. If you've ever wondered how to set up a Wordpress blog or website, there are 10 videos to take you through step by step - even if you've never registered a domain name before.
You don't even need to sign up for anything, although I do recommend the Blog Profits Blueprint if you're serious about making money with your blog. It's free too.
Even if you're on a tight budget, this method has so little cost attached to it that there's no longer any excuse for not having a presence on the web.
Back to this blog, I think I've been worrying about each post having to be 'really interesting', that I haven't made use of the articles I already have. It seems to be more important to provide good content. So, get ready to read more articles here!
When I first started blogging, I couldn't understand how fellow bloggers could go so long between postings. Now I do! I've been so busy working on new services that I haven't been able to think about anything else. And I had a problem there too, I couldn't get started on a piece of writing - until yesterday when everything fell into place and the words flowed nicely.
On the networking front, I don't have any more breakfast meetings before the new year (thank goodness because it's got very cold in the early mornings), I do have a couple more coaching sessions before Christmas and appointments in next year's diary which is reassuring!
I've been having great fun producing the new products and services that will be launched in the new year (once I got over the writer's block), although I do sometimes wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew.
Will try and post again before the end of the week - goodness, isn't Christmas getting close!
I've been a bit quiet on the networking front this month, until now! I'm booked on 3 events before next Friday (I'll report on the breakfast quality as usual!).
I don't know about you but whenever I work on my website or the social networks or indeed, blogging, suddenly time speeds up to a terrifying rate! A lot of the past week has passed in a bit of blur. I've also been working on the December issue of my newsletter 'Competitive Advantage' (if you're on the list it will be with you in the next couple of days).
As a business coach and entrepreneur, I think it's important to keep moving forward and, if possible, stay one step ahead of my competitors. This year I've worked very hard and spent a lot of money on development training to help both me and my coaching clients. As a result, I've got a few surprises planned for them and newsletter readers next year and am busy getting them finalised I think life's going to be rather exciting in 2008 - and I can't wait!
Tomorrow I'm off to a breakfast meeting (these dark mornings are no fun at all!) and then getting together with a fellow trainer to thrash out what we can collaborate on next year.
Yesterday’s workshop was a great success. I really enjoyed myself –the delegates were really great, and they worked so hard! I’m kicking myself a bit though because I took a camera with me and then completely forgot to take any shots (doh).
Today I’ve been catching up and getting ready to market the next workshop. I’ve also to listened to a couple of very interesting teleseminars about business building, including one about internet marketing and blogging. This one caught my attention because, as you might have guessed, I’m really into using a blog as a marketing tool.
As well as writing this blog, I also subscribe to receive and read several blogs I find interesting. Some are about coaching, some about marketing, copywriting, the internet, even about blogging itself – all kinds of information that might be useful for my business coaching clients and that I can share with them.
I’ve set up my iGoogle page so I know when something new has been posted on them. One small problem! Like incoming emails, seeing a new post arrive and then just having to read it, is rather addictive and very time consuming. I’m having to ration my visits to iGoogle so as not to get too distracted. No wonder there's so much information overload!
This week, I've had my head down preparing for a couple of speaking engagements next week and writing sales letters and web pages. And, with the holiday on Monday, I lost track of time and forgot to post on this blog!
