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.
I thought I'd start using Friday's post to sum up what's been happening in the FrontLine Results world (and mine) during the week. That way, I can post on different issues Mon-Thurs.
So, this week has been very interesting. I've been looking for a new coach/mentor to help me take my business to the next level for a few months. I've now found one and am very excited about starting work together.
So far 2008 has been all about producing new products, learning new technology and making better use of the internet. However, I won't be abandoning more traditional methods completely - it's all about trying to achieve a good mix. It's also about find out what works by testing, modifying and testing again (time consuming but essential).
There have been some rather salutary lessons from my first Teleclass today. I first experienced this type of learning about 7 years ago and now take it for granted. I hadn't realised just how many people hadn't even heard of it. As a result, although today went well, I know that there were many business owners who didn't sign up because they didn't know what to expect. I need to put that right (perhaps by holding a free class?).
I know what I'm going to be doing for the next couple of hours - with a small glass of wine to help the ideas flow!
May I wish all readers and all bloggers a very happy 2008!
This week has been incredibly exciting and very busy for me! I've recorded a special introductory audio for the website and launched the Accelerate Business Club, something I've been dreaming about for quite a while. It's a bit nerve-wracking but great fun to see it become reality.
I've also decided that, instead of holding a physical workshop this month, I'm going to run my first Teleclass (all about using Emails to get more sales). Sorting out the logistics has been interesting! I've just announced the date to all my newsletter subscribers - I find that to be a wonderful way of focusing the mind and making sure it happens!
Next week, things should get back to 'normal' in terms of business. Meetings are booked, networking restarts, client work resumes. It's very easy to get caught up again on the busy 'hamster wheel' and forget what the actual plan is! So far I've managed to fill the diary for next week without setting aside the time I need for business development. Not a very good example to set my coaching clients - but I am only human!
So, I'm off to plan out the rest of the month, before that runs away with me too.
Today has not been brilliant because I didn’t get enough sleep! This was due to a long session in the dentist’s chair yesterday. I won’t go into the gory details but the work he did made it rather painful to lie on one side of my face, so I kept waking myself up.
As I didn’t have any meetings, I decided to have an easy day listening to teleclasses and studying some courses I bought a while ago and hadn’t got around to. The more I study, the more I realise I’ll never know everything I want to learn about.
One very annoying thing that happened today was that, after sending out my monthly newsletter, I got an email from a subscriber to say that the links weren’t working, despite testing them several times. I’m trying to get a few more people along to my Business Action System workshop on 18th October, but I can’t see them signing up if they can’t get to the website details. Technology is wonderful – when it works!! And it certainly tries your patience.
Well, this is turning into an interesting week. You might remember my posting about the ‘fre*e’ preview calls? I had an email from someone who thinks they may be the subject of that post, not very happy. As indeed I wouldn’t be. However, as I know I tend to suffer from premature vocalisation, and to acknowledge that there are always two sides to every story, I’d like to post an update here.
Our UK based teleconference providers have us over a barrel – and it is so unfair because it is usually they who pocket most of the proceeds and give BT a bad name into the bargain (I didn’t think I’d ever be defending BT). I suppose if I hadn’t dialled into US teleconference numbers in the past for just 2ppm, I wouldn’t know that other, cheaper services do exist.
As I said before, I love learning through teleconferences – I can sit at home, in comfort and soak up some great information. Contrary to the tone of my original rant, I appreciate and acknowledge that teleclass hosts frequently do give away some great and useful nuggets. Indeed, it seems I missed a great event on this occasion. And it is unfair of me to cynically assume that there will be a hard sell, just because the class is a preview.
At this point, I would unreservedly apologise to the person concerned, whoever they might be, for the following assumptions I made and posted:
If someone goes to the trouble of giving away not just 1 or 2, but 5 preview teleclasses, it makes sound business sense that the ‘main event’ is not going to be cheap. I certainly wouldn’t expect it to be. However, I should not have assumed that it would automatically be expensive. (I still haven't got a clue how much it is!)
Accusing anyone of dishonesty is pretty heavy stuff – and I accept that my choice of words was inappropriate here – I have amended the previous posting title to read ‘Please don’t hide the full costs’ I know it’s a pain to have to explain everything to all the penny pinching tyre-kickers but there will probably always be pedants like me who want to know all the details before deciding. Perhaps all this could have been avoided with just the addition of a few words: “plus the cost of your phone call.”
I am informed that the recording of the call is available, totally free of charge, from the website, without having to dial up to those extortionate non-geographic numbers. I should have known that this is what “I will be able to access the recordings” meant.
Unfortunately, my previous blog comments have resulted in me being removed from this person’s list (I’ve never been removed before!). I say unfortunately because I actually admire what they have achieved in their business – indeed I have bought and enjoyed two excellent home study products from them over the last couple of years.
I suppose, in that wonderful state called hindsight, I would get the answers to more of my questions, before making assumptions and having an attack of ‘foot in mouth’ – my personal learning point from this experience.
The culprits remain the teleconference number providers – I’ll be watching my inbox for a response from them!
This makes me so mad!! I signed up for some fr*ee 'preview' phone calls earlier today. Basically these calls (5 in total) are previews of a quite expensive workshop and so, naturally, would contain quite a lot of advertising about the main event. I don't have a problem with that at all. The calls were called 'Masterclasses' which might be stretchng a point, but I could live with that too. What really gets me is that, after I had signed up (out of curiosity for what the competition was up to!), the confirmation details revealed that I would have to dial an 0871 or 0870 number to access the calls (and the recording). In case you're not aware, these numbers are charged at a national rate of 8p per minute and the proceeds go to whoever has registered the number. So, phoning in for this 'Masterclass' would cost me about £5 an hour. Not a fortune you might say, and what's the woman complaining about but, multiply that by the number of people signing up, and by the number of calls (5 calls @ £25 per person) and someone's got a nice little earner!I bought an 0870 telephone number several years ago, before I was aware of the facts (incidentally, I was not the recipient of the proceeds, the company I signed up with were!). Once I found out the facts, I did two things. The first was to stop using the 0870 number and use my normal geographic number; the second was to register the 0870 number with a website that is opposed to exactly the sort of practice I'm ranting about! They are at www.saynoto0870.co.uk and you can find the geographic number 'behind' the 0870, 0871 etc. number (if it's been registered). If you have a special package with your telephone provider, you'll find that non-geographic numbers (including 0845 and 0844) aren't covered so you have to pay the full rate for any calls made.I emailed the provider of these 'Masterclasses' and asked for the geographic number, to be told that there 'wasn't an alternative number' but that I could dial in for the recording. I am not impressed. I do a lot of my learning through teleclasses (they don't interfere with my working day and there is no travel!) and most of these are run on US bridge lines that you can dial into for around 1-2p per minute (if you use a provider like One-Tel and dial a prefix before the international number) - even UK companies are using these US lines to keep costs down for their clients. I call an hour's teleclass for under £2 good value and I'm happy to pay it.You may have gathered that I feel strongly about these seemingly small extra charges. What I object to is not the charge itself (tell me it's going to cost £5 and I can decide if I want to pay). What I do object to is the 'stealthy' way that I am being charged and someone else is profiting. This is not the first time I've come across this practice.Needless to say, I will not be dialling in to these so-called fre*e Masterclasses. With regard to this rant, thank you for reading to the end! Normal blogging service will be resumed when I have stopped fuming, which will probably be just after the next glass of wine.
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!
