But who has the time?

AllWrite Ink now has a retainer package available offering 5-, 10- or 15-hours of monthly content writing on your behalf.

Here is a sampling of some of the tactics that we can do for you:

• Update current website content
• Create and update a blog
• LinkedIn research of contacts and groups
• Create a series of videos for YouTube
• E-newsletters sent to email addresses
• Marketing letters sent to community
• Press releases
• Brochure/flyer content
• Sales letters to prospects
• Follow up emails or letters after a sales call
• Social media training for you or your staff
• Write how-to articles for the website
• Answer questions on LinkedIn
• Research networking events
• Create your one minute elevator speech as well as a shorter 140 character version for social media
• Register your business with online directories
• Call existing customers to obtain testimonials

Each month we’ll review your promotional needs and AllWrite Ink will do the work. Packages are priced to fit in your budget. The nice thing about a retainer is that you know exactly how much to budget each month for creating a brand awareness for your business. For the complete retainer package information click here: Retainer Package flyer

Have you thought about some simple changes?

• Change a comma to a semi-colon
• Add a city name to your text (serving Northeast Ohio can now read serving Northeast Ohio including Cleveland and Akron)
• Change a paragraph of text to a bullet pointed list of items
• Change the caption on an image
• Add a caption! (I was making assumptions that you had captions, wasn’t I?)

Of course some of the more obvious changes involve adding new content: newsletters, press releases, images, new page of content.

Bottom line, when writing websites make sure you understand it is an ongoing commitment – not just a one time deal.

Social Media Leaps

To have an active, vibrant presence on the Internet, having a websites isn’t enough. You have to participate in social media.

As of February 2010 there were 36 million LinkedIn users, 300 million  Facebook users and 20 million unique visitors on Twitter a month.

Surely at least one percent of those users could be potential customers for your business.

Check out this site: Social Media Leaps for daily tasks to complete to help enhance your Internet presence. Sign up to learn the basics, learn how to listen and how to establish your brand image. Here is just an example with the 60 day checklist.

If you are just getting started or if you’ve been involved for a while but want to see if there is a step you’ve missed – I would suggest you check out this social media resource.

Do you measure the visitors that land on your website or blog? There is quite a science attached to this strategy. You can learn what search terms brought them to your site, if they came from Explorer, Firefox or Safari, how long they stayed, what page they arrived on and what the last page was they visited before they left.

This information can be very valuable if you are striving to drive traffic to your site based on key word search rather than someone that knows you and knows your company name and intentially visits your site. I’m in the process of learning/understanding/utilizing this tool as I strive to drive traffic to my Policy for Social Media manual. You may already use Google Analytics but have you heard of Site Meter?

I was impressed with the level of detail the reports provide. I have added both services to my sites and look forward to comparing the results.

Link Within

Have you read a blog and at the end of the article, found several additional article titles with hyperlinks.  “If you liked this, you may also enjoy…”  Well, Link Within takes it one step further. Add the HTML code for Link within to the end of your post and it will generate additional articles titles from your blog archives, but rather than provide the list in words – you’ll see the blog recommendations in photo form. Check out the end of this post for an example.

Write the content with the reader in mind.

So lame sounding.  Right?  There’s no V8 moment here.  Except so few website writers understand the importance of putting yourself in the shoes of the reader and write using the words and phrases that will resonate with their needs.

We think:  conversion ratio

We think: search engine optimization

We think: getting on the first page of Google search results

That’s all well and good – but once the reader clicks on your website – what will keep them reading long enough to click on a button, buy a product or send you an email?

Content written with the reader in mind.

I would suggest that you look at your website content through the CRITICAL eyes of your target prospect.  Do your headlines grab their attention?

Do you talk about results?

Do you ask questions that strike a chord with the reader?

Perhaps you need a freelance web writer experienced in understanding the value of writing with the reader in mind.

So what is the latest trend in your industry? What are people talking about? Have you discovered the value of Search Twitter’s Advance search capability?

Visit Search Twitter and click on the Advanced search button. You’ll see a form like pictured above that allows you to enter a lot or a little information:

• Key word exact or in any form
• Geographic location
• Person’s name
• Company name
• “?” to find people asking questions about a key word phrase
• “:)” or “:(” to find comments that are positive or negative about a key word phrase

I find that entering a key word phrase and the “?” provides valuable information on what people are searching for. People want to read what is current.  They want to learn more about a topic that is of interest.

By using the advanced search option on Twitter you’ll find the latest trends and topics of interest.  Use that information when writing content for your blog or when providing articles or website content that people will find of interest.

Here is an image that depicts the top four areas of your site from an article in Entrepreneur.

The biggest point to take note of when writing website content is to make sure you have a prominently displayed call to action. Each page should have a purpose.  You need to ask yourself, what do I want the reader to do on this page? 

Click on a link?

Pick up the phone?

Fill out a form?

Make a purchase?

What ever that action is – make sure you have a clear and easy to understand call to action for the reader to respond to.

What is a meta description?

This definition is from dottraffic: Meta description tags are hidden from the user and not visible on the page, but function in other ways, no less significant. The meta description tag is text the Website owner composes, which describes the page in the most accurate way for the search engine spider to conveniently find out what the Website’s essence is. Its Search Engine Marketing value is not so much the ranking as it is in correctly identifying the Website content. Google, for instance, will list the meta description of the page on the search result listing.

You may hear HTML and your brain closes off – but really, a quality web site copywriter will be able to take a key statement from your website content and create a meta description designed to attract the search engines. 

Think of it this way:  website content are the words that the target prospect who lands on your page can view and read.

Meta key words and descriptions are there for the search engine spiders that help index your site properly.

Your meta description should include a geographical locator (Midwest, serving your county, name of your state) and the key words that readers will be searching. You have about 35-40 words to describe your business and the primary purpose for that specific website page.

Note: each page should have unique meta descriptions.

Need help?  Call a web copywriter, like me for help.

Today our professional head shot has become more valuable than our logo. People remember what we look like even if they don’t remember our name or our company.  Having a photo that clearly shows your face and is current, is important, not only for your website bio page but also for your LinkedIn profile, Twitter, Facebook and blog. 

Beyond sharing your photo, here are a few tips for writing websites “about us” page:

• If the about us page will contain information about the history of the company then start with when it opened
• Why did you start the company? What niche did you want to fill?
• Why was this important to you?
• Identify your ideal customer – who were you creating the company to help?
• Do you have multiple locations – mention how you went from one location to many.
• Spotlight each of the primary people – starting with yourself.  What is your background – not a resume, so much as experience. Name drop companies that you have worked for and OUTCOMES that you have successfully achieved.

Here’ s a link to an article with even more thoughts on writing a biography page for your website.

My passion is customer relationships and one of the key ways we begin to build those relationships is with the prospect’s first impression.  We have been mastering the art of winning them over in person but in this new age of technology we have to write websites that let the reader know, from the minute they find us, that we UNDERSTAND them and have what it takes to HELP them.

One of the biggest mistakes companies make when creating their landing pages is to write like a marketing brochure.  Talk about features and listing out services and talking about how many years you’ve been serving the community should be saved for when you are actually having a conversation with the prospect.

Your website content should be compelling enough to get the reader to take action.  Save the hard sell for when you’ve actually connected. 

Forget that.

There should never be a hard sell.  It should be a give and take of information – that’s how you build relationships and earn your customer’s loyalty.

But it all begins with the first impression and in the case of your website, it is with website content that draws the reader in so they read the next sentence, the next paragraph and ultimately pick up the phone to have a conversation with you.

Does your website content do that? If not, maybe you want to consider a web site copywriter.  Call me, I can help.  330-414-8792.