Steven Lewis's Blog, page 11
November 8, 2019
Do I need a professional copywriter for my business?
As copywriters, you’d expect us to shout YES, you DO need a professional copywriter for your business but…
Some businesses definitely need a copywriter. Others don’t. So a better answer is that it depends on what your business is looking to achieve and where it is along the road.
When do you need a professional copywriter for your business?
A copywriter has one job: to persuade your ideal client to do something. For instance, you might want to persuade someone to buy from you.
However, website copywriting for a services business is more likely to be geared to getting a prospect to make contact with you than to buy from you at that stage. You’re not unlikely to buy legal services from a lawyer’s website, but you do need to be persuaded to call them to enquire about buying those services.
So doesn’t every business need a professional copywriter, then?
Not if they don’t have traffic.
A copywriter can only persuade prospects who exist. If your website, landing page or other marketing material isn’t getting any visitors, there’s no one for the copywriter to persuade.
Distribution could be SEO, Google Ads, Facebook advertising, direct mail, email, LinkedIn or any number of channels. But if your business doesn’t have any plan to distribute the copywriting, you don’t need a professional copywriter because you won’t have an audience for what they write.
How can Taleist help?
We are professional copywriters who can turn your audience into clients with our copywriting expertise.
Concise copywriting tips
Once a week we email concise, practical copywriting, lead generation and conversion optimisation tips to the inboxes of our clever subscribers.
If you’d like to join them and claim your head start, you have only to enter your details below.
First name*Email*
NameThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Also, Taleist has more Copywriting FAQs, as well as a guide to hiring the perfect copywriter and 7 Things Anyone Can Do To Increase Their Conversion Rate.
Recommended reading about copywriters
Here are some of the best books you can read on the topic of direct response. They’ll give you an excellent idea about when your business should bring in a copywriter:
Overdeliver by Brian KurtzBreakthrough Advertising by Eugene SchwartzAnything by legendary direct response copywriters Joe Sugarman and Gary Halbert (generally published by his son Bond Halbert)
The post Do I need a professional copywriter for my business? appeared first on Taleist Agency.
Are copywriters willing to be mentors?
Yes, copywriters are willing to be mentors, but not on a can-I-pick-your-brain basis.
When you ask a copywriter to be a mentor, you’re asking that copywriter to guide you through the maze. You’ll avoid the pitfalls and double-backs. You’ll get to where you want to go faster. And you’ll avoid some — perhaps all — of the heartache your mentor suffered finding their way to where they’ve got to.
You could save yourselves years with a mentoring shortcut.
That’s worth something. And that’s why mentors expect something in return for their advice. Usually, it’s money. (Given that copywriting is about making money for clients, how much would you be likely to learn from a copywriter who doesn’t value their own services?)
Finding the right copywriting mentor
Most importantly, you’re looking for a copywriting mentor who can show you how to get further down the road to where you want to be.
Your mentor doesn’t have to be where you ultimately want to be. They need only to be able to coach you on getting to the next stage faster than you could get there on your own (and with less pain).
If you want to get further than your mentor has, you can change mentors when you’ve got as far as you can with coaching from that mentor.
The coach who can get you to club champion is not the same coach who’ll take you onto the professional circuit. And the second coach isn’t the same one who’ll get you to the Grand Slam.
In fact, the grand slam coach won’t even notice you until you’re on the circuit.
How can Taleist help you find a copywriting mentor?
If you are looking for a copywriting mentor, contact us to talk to a senior copywriter about what you’re looking for in a coach and how we can help.
Concise copywriting tips
Once a week we email concise, practical copywriting, lead generation and conversion optimisation tips to the inboxes of our clever subscribers.
If you’d like to join them and claim your head start, you have only to enter your details below.
First name*Email*
EmailThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Recommended reading about finding a copywriter to be your mentor
Here are some of the best books you can read on the topic of direct response:
How To Get Great Copywriters to Mentor You For Free from Copyblogger (Spoiler: They’re talking about studying the greats, not in-person mentoring.)Quora’s community weighs in on copywriters as mentors.
The post Are copywriters willing to be mentors? appeared first on Taleist Agency.
What is copywriting?
Wikipedia answers the questions “what is copywriting” with:
Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing.[1] The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.
Wikipedia
What makes copywriting different from other forms of writing is that a copywriter needs to understand human behaviour and psychology. That’s because your copywriter’s job is to persuade your ideal client to do something, whether your copywriter is copywriting a website or copywriting a specific landing page.
The difference between copywriting and content writing
The difference between a copywriter and a content writer is the degree of action the writing is required to inspire the reader to take.
A content writer can write to educate, to inform, to raise awareness. A copywriter writes only to persuade someone to do something.
Copywriting is essential to direct response marketing because copywriting is 80% of what will get the direct response from the reader.
SEO copywriting is different again because it’s about persuading Google, not persuading a human.
How can Taleist help?
Taleist is an agency of direct response copywriters with a proven website copywriting process.
If you’re looking for a website or a landing page that persuades the reader to do something, contact us. We’d love to hear more about what you’re trying to achieve.
Concise copywriting tips
Once a week we email concise, practical copywriting, lead generation and conversion optimisation tips to the inboxes of our clever subscribers.
If you’d like to join them and claim your head start, you have only to enter your details below.
First name*Email*
EmailThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Also, Taleist has more Copywriting FAQs, as well as a guide to hiring the perfect copywriter and 7 Things Anyone Can Do To Increase Their Conversion Rate.
Recommended reading on what is copywriting
Here are some other people’s takes on what is copywriting:
Content versus Copy: the definitive stand by Abbey Woodcock on MediumBreakthrough Advertising by Eugene SchwartzAnything by legendary direct response copywriters Joe Sugarman and Gary Halbert (generally published by his son Bond Halbert)
The post What is copywriting? appeared first on Taleist Agency.
Where can I find copywriters for my website?
If you’re asking where you can find copywriters for your website, we’re specialist website copywriters. But maybe you’re asking how you’d know you’d found copywriters who would be good for your website.
A great place to start is 6 Tips for Choosing the Perfect Website Copywriter. It covers all the key points.
What you ask a potential website copywriter?
After 25 years of copywriting websites, this is our #1 tip for finding a copywriter for a website:
How many questions does the potential copywriter ask you?
Copywriters have lots of questions — not surprising considering that 80% of our job is research. It’s in our nature to ask questions, so much so that it’s sometimes hard to stop asking questions and start writing. We always want to know more.
So if you make an enquiry of a copywriter and they don’t have ten questions for you in return, you’ve probably not found the right person.
Next, how good are the questions the website copywriter asks you? A strong indication is when they ask questions you’ve not thought of but that make you think, “Of course! That’s something we should be thinking about.”
How can Taleist help?
We write whole websites and landing pages for businesses investing in sending traffic to specific pages.
Concise copywriting tips
Once a week we email concise, practical copywriting, lead generation and conversion optimisation tips to the inboxes of our clever subscribers.
If you’d like to join them and claim your head start, you have only to enter your details below.
First name*Email*
NameThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Also, Taleist has more Copywriting FAQs and a guide to 7 Things Anyone Can Do To Increase Their Conversion Rate. You might want to read that guide before finding a copywriter for your website.
Recommended reading about finding a copywriter for your website
Here are some other people’s thoughts on finding a copywriter for your website:
The people of Quora weigh in on the question of where to find a website copywriter here.Forbes thinks you can do it yourself. You should also read our posts:What is conversion rate optimisation?What is SEO copywriting?
The post Where can I find copywriters for my website? appeared first on Taleist Agency.
November 1, 2019
How to write case studies that sell
Every month, a local real estate agent drops a flyer into the office mailbox. The flyer comprises a list of addresses and sale prices. The real estate agent calls this a list of “case studies”.
They’re not case studies. What she’s printed is a list of facts. The list isn’t even the case study’s cousin-once-removed, the testimonial.
A testimonial looks like this:
“Sharon from LJ McRaine convinced buyers that having only an outhouse was a great way to get the steps up on their Fitbits.” — Steven Lewis
A case study is a story. And a story has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Not every transaction is worthy of a case study. You order from Crust. You wait. The pizza arrives. It’s a beginning, a middle and an end, but to what purpose?
Case studies are for when you have prospects who aren’t sure what you might have in store for them. They want proof that your service works for people like them. This is where as case study comes in. A case study is a risk-free rehearsal of how your prospects will feel if they become clients.
If you doubt that, think about the books you’ve read or the films you’ve seen.
I haven’t been a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer. Even so, I know how I’d feel if a buddy died on a mission. Kevin Costner helped me rehearse that in The Guardian. (Thanks to Kevin, I walked out of the cinema with sunglasses glued over my pink eyes.)
Your case study probably won’t make a prospect cry. However, you want them to feel something.
Yes, it’s business writing, but it doesn’t have to be scrubbed clean of humanity.
Here’s how to be businesslike and give your prospect a rehearsal…
1. Make notes
Your case study doesn’t have to be about big description. It’s not journalism.
However, the magic is often about one or two details. Look for the telling details that bring someone to life. Does he have a giant’s handshake? Is her desk as clear as a hermit’s calendar?
Relying on your memory will seem like a bad idea when you sit down to write. You might find yourself back at your desk and find all your mental video camera captured was the subject’s greasy hair.
Pro tip: Take the notes even if you’re sure you won’t need them.
2. Write in word pictures
Word pictures are sketches hung in the reader’s mind by careful word choice. The booth at the radio station was like a Tardis. The surgeon’s waiting area was like the lobby of the Four Seasons.
Take your paint brush and flick some colour at the reader. It takes only small things — the client’s orange tie — to make your writing vivid.
3. How does the person move?
Describing someone, it’s not just what they look like; it’s also about their gestures.
Think of it as like the direction in the plays you read in school. “Gary folds his arms as he says, ‘I’m not sure about what you’re offering’.”
How does your subject move their hands? How do they sit? Where do they point their head when they ask a question?
4. Listen to how people speak
It’s not just what people say, it’s how they say it.
Pay attention to the tone of your subject’s voice. Listen to how they put their sentences together.
We record interviews at Taleist to capture exactly what someone said. Nothing is more real than real.
One of our clients employs engineers. Engineers operate in a physical world, something their speech reflects. In conversation, their language is all about grabbing chances and “riding bow waves”. So we inject muscular language into their copywriting.
5. Relax, everybody’s first drafts are terrible
One draft won’t cut it.
Drop that nugget into a sock and smash it into the face of writers’ block.
If you know your first draft will be shitty however long you dither, why delay putting fingers to to keyboard? Flush that first draft onto the page because you can’t fix what you haven’t yet written.
And be cool with your trying-hard self. All great writers will tell you: Great writing happens in editing…
6. Verbs are the Flintstone feet powering your writing
Verbs stomp on the fingers of adjectives and adverbs. “Strode” throws sand in the face of “walked quickly”.
However, don’t worry so much about verb choice in the first draft. You can punch up the verbs in the second and third drafts. (In the first draft of this guide, “punch up” was “edit” in the previous sentence.)
7. No passengers
In the second draft, strip out passenger words. Be like Pac-Man hunting Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde.
First, gobble up all the “thats” that you don’t need. (“Thats” are like cockroaches — find one and there’ll be a dozen laying eggs under the fridge.)
Next, put the hard word on equivocations. There’s no place in your case study for “I think”, “actually”, “just”, “only” and their fence-sitting buddies.
You don’t “seem” to have lost the file you can’t find. You’ve lost it.
Third, zap adverbs and adjectives. Would James Bond’s Aston Martin be sexier if it were “very” fast? No. It wouldn’t even be faster–“very fast” is twice as long as “fast” so it takes twice as long to read.
8. Phone a friend
A proofreader was employed to work on Dryer’s English, Benjamin Dryer’s modern classic on writing flawless English.
So what, you ask?
Benjamin Dryer is Random House’s chief copy editor. So what makes you think you can proofread your own work?
Your smallest typo is a pothole jarring the reader out of your flow.
Also, grammatical screechers break the reader’s trust in you. If you can’t tell the difference between “lose” and “loose”, what else have you got wrong?
That’s true if you’re writing an annual report. And it’s still true if you’re blistering Qantas with a tweet about flight delays.
9. Think gin
Without juniper berries, gin is just rocket fuel. Similarly, spice your case study with word botanicals and it’ll slide down easier than a gin gimlet at an agency party.
Describe what you saw: “The lobby was a study in Swiss design, a wall covered in cuckoo clocks and a reception desk balanced on pyramid-shaped chocolates.”
Craft metaphors: “Our robot is taking toddler steps towards world domination.”
Liken one thing to another to make it relatable: Known as a “simile” in the trade, likening one thing to another makes the meaning go down —
“What the hell is copywriting?”
“Copywriting is like having a salesperson in writing”.
10. Give it a name
Give your subject their real name and title and your reader will bond with them.
“Steven L.” is fine if Steven L. is giving a testimonial about your help moderating his savage fantasies about people who say “myself” when they mean “me”.
But why “L.”, not “Lewis”, if Steven is giving you a case study about your renovation skills? Was Steven L. putting in a basement growroom and he’s worried the cops will read your case study?
11. Don’t bottle it up
Your case study isn’t the story of how two robots transacted, so there was emotion in there somewhere. How did your client feel at the start? Frustrated? Uncertain? Overwhelmed? And how do they feel now? Delighted? Surprised?
You don’t have to go nuts. No one expects the CEO to marry Julia Roberts in the end.
The corporate devil on your shoulder says business writing is sterile. This devil of sterility wants you to set the emotional dial to zero.
Before you succumb, listen to the angel on your other shoulder. This angel speaks for your reader. The angel is begging you to make your case study interesting.
Try setting the emotional dial to at least 3. It should be enough to sweep the devil of sterility off your shoulder.
12. What time is it?
Nervous about describing the people in your story? You can ease into your descriptive powers by describing time and place.
There’s a reason so many stories start “once upon a time”. It signals the child that they’re reading a story. Sure, “once upon a time” is no way to start your case study about data centre software. However, it’s not beyond your descriptive powers to set your story in a time and place.
“All over Sydney, frisbees were coming out of cupboards at the end of a long winter…”
Again, nudge the dial clockwise from where you’re comfortable. Do it because you want people to read your case study and they’re more likely to read a story, which means you have to describe something.
13. Surprise
Holy shit!
Gracious me, that foul language was unexpected.
And it was a low trick because there’s nothing surprising here. But if you can set off a flash-bang in your case study, it’ll help.
Was something going on that reader might not have anticipated? Did something unexpected happen?
Put another way, if everything in your case study is expected, you’ve not got much of a story.
What next?
If you want persuasive case studies that turn prospects into customers, Taleist’s team of copywriters and recovering journalists know how to bring every story to life.
Contact us to talk about your case study
Acknowledgements
In 2015 Taleist published a podcast series on storytelling, Talemaking.
Over 17 episodes, we interviewed all kinds of storytellers, not just the ones who used words. As well as writers like bloggers, authors and travel journalists, I spoke to a music producer, an Instagram expert and a personal stylist (because your clothes tell a story about you).
One of the experts I was lucky enough to tape was the novelist and corporate storyteller Claire Scobie from Wordstruck. Claire’s thoughts on writing case studies inspired this guide. Thank you, Claire.
The post How to write case studies that sell appeared first on Taleist Agency.
October 27, 2019
A novelist’s secrets to writing great copy
Many techniques that make a novel enjoyable to read are techniques that can be applied to business writing, too. From the description of colour and detail to the use of natural dialogue.
Claire Scobie is an award-winning novelist and corporate storyteller. In this interview, she gives fabulous tips to make your writing more interesting.
Transcript
Claire Scobie: Can I see how many times we can say bosoms on this podcast?
Claire
Scobie: So, my first book
was published in 2006, and it’s a memoir about Tibet. I’d been working on it
for a long time and I didn’t know how it was going to fly, but I was sent this
very scary publicity schedule by Random House, by my publicist. One of my first
interviews was with Richard Fidler. It was an hour-long interview and I didn’t
know how I was going to cope with this. I drove to the ABC, to the offices in
Sydney, and they ushered me into the booth. It’s a bit like sitting in a
Tardis, it’s a bit like this, Steven, actually. You’ve got these enormous
headphones on, but there’s nobody in the room and you’re just talking to a
microphone. I remember being incredibly nervous and this gravelly voice came
through the headphones, and it was Richard Fidler, and he said, “Hi
Claire, how are you going?”
Claire
Scobie: Of course I lied,
and I said I’m absolutely fine, really looking forward to this. And he said all
you have to do is speak in word pictures. I’d never heard that phrase before,
but it was one of the most useful pieces of advice because it’s stayed with me,
and I use it to this day. I always tell people think about using word pictures.
So, think about using some colour, some sense of the senses to tell your
stories, because as soon as you do that they come alive for people.
Claire
Scobie: The rest of the
hour just flew by and I told him about my time in Tibet, about my book, and I
used as much as possible these very fresh images, so in describing people
rather than just with names, but so you could picture someone. So for example,
the nun. I described her with shiny red cheeks and wild dreadlocks. For the
Chinese army officer I described him the way he scowled at me, the way he
growled. Those small things can make a huge difference when you’re telling a
story.
Steven
Lewis: Welcome to
Talemaking. I’m Steven Lewis, director of Taleist. Talemaking is a weekly
podcast about getting your business message out with a particular focus on the
power of storytelling and the techniques of journalism to do that. My guest
today is that philosophy in human form. Claire Scobie is the award-winning
author of Last Seen in Lhasa and The Pagoda Tree. She’s written as a journalist
for publications all over the world, and she consults with companies on how to
harness the power of storytelling as a strategic business tool.
Steven
Lewis: So basically,
Claire, you should be presenting the podcast, and I should be having nothing to
do with it, but as it’s the other way around, firstly welcome.
Claire Scobie: Thank you. Gorgeous to be here, Steven.
Steven
Lewis: And secondly, I
wanted to ask you, my first experience of a journalist writing a profile was on
my boss. I was probably about 21 at the time and we were living in Hong Kong.
My boss was this massive personality. And Hong Kong being essentially a small
town from an English-speaking point of view, she would probably be profiled in
the paper once every three years. She was a generous person. She’s spent a lot
of time with you. She’s very funny, very open, very personal. This profile came
out and the first thing it said about her was that it looked like she got
dressed in the dark, which struck me. She was obviously very upset, as you would
be if you spent a lot of money and time on your clothes, and that was the
assessment for the populace. But also, having seen it from that side of it as a
journalist, it made me very wary about describing people.
Steven
Lewis: How do you go about
painting an accurate picture of somebody, which may be that they’re 300 pounds
overweight and look like they got dressed in the dark. Do you say that?
Claire
Scobie: No, I don’t. I tend
to be quite kind. I think there are always ways to say things. It’s hard if
someone is 300 pounds overweight and they look like they have just come through
a hedge backwards, then you can be diplomatic. You can think about how you say
it. You can use a metaphor perhaps. In fact, I was just working with one of my
clients yesterday and she described someone with a teddy bear stature. I said
look that doesn’t work, because it’s a bit patronizing. So then we went through
all the different ways of perhaps describing this person voluptuous. She said
big bosomed. I said probably not big bosomed.
Steven
Lewis: Because you’re not
writing a Jane Austin novel, or-
Claire
Scobie: Yes. Then it starts
to become like a bodice ripper. So, in the end we settled on broad shouldered
and welcoming. So it wasn’t exactly… We weren’t close enough. I think she’s
still going to carry on working with it. But I think you can always allude to
certain things without being so bold in your description.
Claire
Scobie: Now when I’m
thinking about describing people, what I always do is I always make tons of
notes when I meet someone. When you’re describing someone, it’s not just about
what they look like. It’s also about their gestures, which I always call stage
direction. So think about how you describe how someone moves their hands,
describe their hands. You can always focus on one aspect of the person if you
don’t want to focus on perhaps their size or perhaps their clothes or their
greasy hair. So, that’s one thing to think about. Also think about how they
speak, so really pay attention to their tone of their voice, the way they put
their sentences together, and then of course think about the dialogue. So you
can build character and you can describe people through many different ways.
And describing the exterior is really just the first start, it’s the first part
of it, then you want to think about how to develop character.
Steven
Lewis: Obviously you’ve
written novels, you’re working on a novel right now. Without description a
novel would be very odd novel. But in your corporate work, how important do you
think description is to corporate storytelling? You know, the CEO strode into
the room and cut a swathe through people as he made them redundant, left and
right. What is the…
Claire
Scobie: I think it’s a time
and place thing. It’s not often about big description, it’s not journalism. But
it is often about one or two details perhaps. We call the telling details that
brings someone to life, and it can be the verb that you use. Just as you said,
verbs are much, much stronger. They are always what I say they are, the engines
of the sentence. So when you’re thinking of describing someone perhaps don’t
just have walked in the room, strode in the room, because that immediately
gives a sense of purpose. So you don’t need to have full blown purple prose
description, but having enough description that the person can visualize what
it is that you are saying does make a lot of difference, even in the corporate
storytelling world.
Claire
Scobie: And it particularly
makes a difference when you’re talking about oral storytelling. So again, in
your marketing copy, you might not want to have reams of description, but when
we’re listening to somebody give a story, tell a story, again, we want these
little images because that’s what we pick up on. That’s what we visualize, and
that’s what we remember much better than if things are very stark.
Steven
Lewis: Sorry, I’m picturing
now the big bosom CEO stride into the room. I’m still captivated by the journey
from teddy bear, through big bosomed, to broad shouldered and what was it?
Generous.
Claire
Scobie: Generous. She was
describing a hug. This is somebody who’s working on a memoir, so it’s not a
corporate client of mine. So, yeah, so a lot of it was stripped back. In fact
what we did was we added more dialogue to show the character more than just
describe her big bosoms. Can I say, can I see how many times we can say bosoms
on this podcast, Steven?
Steven
Lewis: It’s been a long
time since I said bosoms. It’s a muscle I’m starting to exercise. But, what
you’ve hit on though is the process of drafting, which I, having worked in
corporate world, think happens too little. I think what happens in corporate
world is you go through a draft for correctness of what is being said. No, the
figure should be 36 not 42. And first drafts are famously known to be shit. And
they’re particularly, well I say they are particularly shit, I’m talking about
my own now.
Claire
Scobie: Well, I think so
sayeth Hemingway. So sayeth a lot of writers.
Steven
Lewis: And in my case, one
of the things that makes my first draft particularly weak is my verb choice,
because the first verb that comes to your mind is generally not the correct.
It’s the easiest verb and therefore it’s the worst one to choose.
Claire
Scobie: Yes. There’s a
couple of things to pick up on there. First of all, yes, you need to do drafts.
And that’s something that even when I run workshops for writers, they don’t
always realize. People come to my workshops, and they’ll say, “But I
thought I’d just get it right first time.” And I say well if you’re a
cabinet maker and you’ve never made a cabinet would you get it right first
time? If you’re a painter, would you know how to do perspective first time? No.
So it’s the same with writing. And I think that is equally relevant whether
it’s in the corporate sphere or not.
Claire
Scobie: Thinking about how
you’re crafting something does take some time and often you need to layer it
in, so maybe the first draft you write is very basic. The verbs you use are
very basic, but then with the second draft, and probably the third draft, I
mean ideally that’s probably enough. You don’t have time to do too many more
drafts. You’re not writing a novel. By the third go though, you want to have
layered in the other aspects of the story, so it’s not just the facts and figures.
You’ve also got a sense of telling the story if you’re going to use
storytelling.
Claire
Scobie: Now as far as using
verbs and strong verbs, something I often ask people is if I asked you to draw
a cat, how would you draw a cat? So most people say well they draw a circle
with two triangles as their ears, and eyes, nose, whiskers. That is a symbol of
a cat, it’s not actually a cat. Just like clichés are symbols of what you’re
trying to say, so it doesn’t matter in the first draft if you have boring verbs,
if you have clichés, if you have even big bosomed, it doesn’t matter. You’ve
got it in there, the first draft, but then it’s only a symbol of what you’re
trying to say, and then you think about how to make that come to life more
vividly.
Steven
Lewis: I use a building
metaphor with ghostwriting clients. So when I’m ghostwriting a book for them, I
say look, the first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to go away and I’m going
to give you back a draft that’s really going to have none of the description
and none of that in it. It’s going to be about whether I’ve got your facts and
figures and your model and the stuff that you want to get across correct. And
then the process is it’s like building a house. That’s the structure. Then we
put on the walls and then we put on the first layer of paint, the second layer
of paint, which is kind of what you’re describing. It is of course ludicrous
that I would use a building metaphor as I know nothing about building, so for
all I know, houses are built completely differently. But it is that wash isn’t
it? As you continually wash through, and learning perhaps in a way not to hate
yourself as well. Because when you go back to that first draft you just think
to yourself, how did I possibly think that sounded okay?
Claire
Scobie: Yes, yes, exactly.
And there’s a great book by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird. She talks about
how shitty the first draft is. But if you don’t have a shitty first draft, how
can you then write a better second draft and a third draft? I think your
building analogy is a good one because it is about you build up from the basics
and then at the end you’re giving the final polish and the final coating. And
certainly for me, when I’m drafting, there’s often a great sort of enjoyment
that comes when I’m really stripping back and I’ve written too much, it’s a bit
waffly, I really need to get to the point. I call it my slash and burn phase.
It’s quite liberating. People get very worried about cutting words out of their
stories or their copy, but I actually find it liberating because by doing that
you’re actually getting to really what the heart of it is that you’re trying to
say.
Steven
Lewis: I can’t remember
whether it was reading Elmore Leonard’s book on writing or Stephen King’s book
on writing, but one, I mean I think both of them, but one of them in particular
loathes adverbs.
Claire
Scobie: Right, yes. I think
it’s Elmore Leonard.
Steven
Lewis: And, I want a piece
of software that will go through my writing, just highlight all the adverbs, because
when you start looking for them… I was editing somebody else’s work and it’s
the really very long car drove really very fast. Cut it, cut it, cut it, cut
it, cut it. And corporate writing is no different. As soon as you start writing
that something is very big, you’ve made a mistake.
Claire
Scobie: I have also real
bugbear about adverbs because they just slow writing down. They don’t add
anything. Same with too many adjectives. Richard Flanagan, who was the Booker
prize this year, I heard him talking at one of the writer’s festivals. He
described how he wrote to his editor and said, “Please cut out any extra
adjectives. You have my permission to cut them all.” And again, people
worry because adjectives, they think oh that brings colour. So you do need some
colour in writing, but you don’t want flowery stuff. You don’t want padding.
Steven
Lewis: Interesting again,
you’ve got the process of writing drafts and not hating yourself because your
first draft wasn’t good because your first draft is what gets you to your
second draft, but also working with somebody else. Real proper professional
Booker prize winning writers work with other people.
Claire
Scobie: Yes. I think that’s
a great point. People will read a book and think it was written by the author, and
then of course you go to the acknowledgements and there’s a whole team behind
writing that book. And working with editors, certainly as a professional
writer, it’s a great pleasure and it’s a great privilege, because you know that
they are on your side and they are trying to improve or they are improving
whatever it is you’re writing.
Claire
Scobie: So again, in the
corporate sphere when you’re writing, having someone just proofread your work
before you send something out is incredibly valuable. Even if it’s just a straightforward
press release or a straightforward memo, but if it’s an important one, just
having a second pair of eyes. Because there is something very strange about
writing and that is when you are in the woods I say, when you’re in the story,
it’s quite difficult to get distance. So even though you’ve read something
three or four times, you can’t spot the spelling mistakes, you can’t spot the
typos. So you do need someone else to give you feedback and have a second pair
of eyes looking at what you’ve written.
Steven
Lewis: Dave Cornford and I
co-wrote the Taleist Self-publishing Survey, where we surveyed a thousand
self-publishing authors. More than half of them claimed to have proofread their
own work, which is, I don’t know, like claiming to have proofread, to put your
finger behind your eyes. It’s not possible to proofread your own work. So
essentially what they were saying is we have put our workout un-proofread.
Claire
Scobie: Right. Yes. And I
think something I always say to people if they’re going to go down the
self-publishing route is if you’re going to spend money, spend it on an editor,
spend it on a proofreader. That’s the most important thing. People think they
have to spend a lot of money on the cover, etcetera, but actually it’s about
getting the words right because it’s so disconcerting as a reader, and once
you’ve lost that contract with the reader and you’ve lost that trust, that what
you’re saying is correct because you’re misspelling small things, they won’t
trust you for the bigger things.
Claire
Scobie: And that’s exactly
the same in the corporate sphere. If you read a few typos in a report, then you
think well, what about the rest of it? Do I believe the facts and figures here?
Do I believe the strategy? Do I believe the arguments? Probably not, or not as
much.
Steven
Lewis: When you’re writing,
you were saying earlier that you… Let’s say big bosomed again, the author of
the infamous now big bosom description, or nearly the author of the big bosom,
until you saved her from herself. You’ve got to find someone you trust. So in a
corporate environment, there still needs to be an element of trust, even if
you’re giving somebody your press release to give their commentary on, you’ve
got to trust them not to say my God, you’re incompetent or this is terr…
You’ve got to trust them to work with you. How do you go about finding somebody
whom you trust to collaborate on a piece of writing?
Claire
Scobie: I think I go about
it by asking the right questions, and also seeing what else they’ve written.
Interestingly enough, I have a writing buddy who I work with for my fiction. We
tried to start a writing group, and we tried two or three different people. We
had three or four groups at various times, and in the end everyone just fell away,
and it’s just been us two, which has been perfect. We are very different. I
don’t think you need to find someone who writes the same way as you in whatever
sphere, but you want to be able to trust them. And more than anything you want
them to be able to give you honest feedback. It’s not about someone saying oh
that’s great. That’s not helpful. You want someone to say this bit really works
because the flow’s there, but perhaps this bit you need to work on because it’s
jarring, or perhaps you can fix this in this certain way. That is actually a
skill that a lot of people don’t have. Knowing how to fix writing is half the
battle with being a good writer.
Steven
Lewis: You’ve got to mesh
with their style of giving feedback as well, I suppose. I remember once when I
was working in corporate, somebody complained about me because she’d asked me
what I thought of the board paper that she had drafted and I said I thought it
was awful. She complained to the boss who said to her well can you give me the circumstances.
And she said well it was Friday night, we were in the bar, I went up to him.
And she said well let me just stop you right there. It’s Friday night, he’s
having a drink. You went up to him and asked for feedback on your board paper.
Probably he wasn’t giving you the same kind of considered professional feedback
he might’ve given if you’d waited till working hours.
Steven
Lewis: But when I think of
that relationship she and I were never going to work well together on it,
because I need to work with people who like I am, are open to… And I think
having been a professional writer, I’m not precious about it. I want you to
help me, like Richard. Well, I’m not like Richard because again I haven’t yet
won the Booker prize, but what I mean is I’m totally open to you saying that’s
rubbish. Re write it, it makes no sense.
Claire Scobie: Right. So I think there’s two really good points there, Steven. The first is that it’s important to know what you’re wanting from your reader. So if you are asking someone across the office to read what you’ve written, to just check there are no typos or errors, then that’s one thing. As long as they’re a competent writer and they know their grammar you don’t have to have a strong relationship with that person. But if you are asking a person for feedback on how well you’ve crafted the argument, how well a piece is put together, does it flow from beginning to end? Is the executive summary what it should be? Then you need to have someone whose advice you’re going to take on board.
Claire
Scobie: And the second
thing is a lot of people do get very attached to their words. It’s that famous
phrase, kill your darlings. So if you have a pet phrase that you love, often
that’s the first one that has to go. And people do get very attached, and
almost the more insecure they are, the more attached they’ll be to their words
and therefore, if someone comes in and says no, I don’t think you need to do it
like this, think about doing it in a different way, then that can be hard for
people to take.
Claire
Scobie: As a journalist of
course, as we both know, you can’t be attached to your words because you’ll
send stories in and the editor will chop and change them. Often you don’t even
have a say and then they’ll get published anyway. I mean, I’m not attached to
my words. The only place I’m more attached to my words is actually with my
fiction. But in an any other sphere that I write, people can do what they want
to it really.
Steven
Lewis: It’s almost funny
isn’t it? When you say that to a client, you can do whatever you like with it,
and they look kind of, sure mate, you bought it, it’s yours. We just bought a
house. I fully intend to do. I’m not going to be phoning the builder up every
time I think about making a change there. They’re your words, you paid, they’re
yours.
Claire
Scobie: Yes, exactly. And I
think that’s quite liberating. And if people make corrections and they’re
incorrect, then of course I’ll come back to someone. But if it’s about changing
words or style, then it’s theirs, to do that with.
Steven
Lewis: In corporate
writing, so I mean, I gave the example there of the lady who put the board
paper together and the argument was not well structured. In that, to get back
to the question of describing people and things, there are certain areas of
corporate writing where describing things is not going to be welcome. Do you
think it’s easy to draw the line on that? Because when I think of most of the
corporate writers I know they would draw the line at not bothering to describe
anything at all. That would be where their line is. If you’re working with
corporate people and saying listen, let’s try and get a little bit more colour
into it, do you start them off anywhere in particular, where there’s a safer
place for instance, to have some description?
Claire
Scobie: Well, a safer place
could be with a case study. Rather than just have a boring case study that
doesn’t come to life, turn that case study into a real person. And even the
smallest amount of description, such as their real name, the real title of what
it is they do. People love names. People love being described exactly in the
role that they are playing, and we are going to connect with that person with a
real name in a much stronger way. So start with a case study. See how you can
bring that person to life. Then think about, I mean, products, and services,
you can add a little bit of colour too. You can also think about emotion. Is
there anywhere bringing in a particular emotion with a piece of text? Can you
give an impact on a customer? How did the customer react?
Claire
Scobie: The other things
that I always say to people is there are certain aspects of storytelling which
you can easily incorporate within business. So one is having a time place
marker. So a time marker is, don’t say long ago, once upon a time or be vague-
Steven
Lewis: In a bank, far, far
away.
Claire Scobie: Yes. Be very specific. On February the 15th, 2015 this happened. Then giving it a place, this happened. Where did it happen? Locate it. Because all of those things, they’re tiny little elements of storytelling, but what they do is they anchor the reader and they anchor the story. Then think about specific moments. So rather than make it all head stuff, and right now I’m gesturing to Steven above my head, because a lot of business writing is basically above the head. It’s not anchored in the body. So bring us back to moments, bring us back to absolute concrete events. So, you’re bringing us into the moment. We’ve got a time and a place. Introduce real characters, with real names. And some dialogue, even dialogue, even little quotes can be a way to add description. Because as soon as you add dialogue, you’re bringing in another voice and you’re authenticating whatever it is you’re saying. You’re not paraphrasing.
Claire
Scobie: And then lastly, is
there any way you can bring in anything unanticipated, something unexpected?
Because as soon as you do that with how you craft something, that’s story,
that’s giving the reader what it is they’re hoping for, which is a surprise.
Steven
Lewis: On the dialogue
point, I record a lot of things now, strangely enough. Because one of my big
regrets as a journalist, was I never learned shorthand. I tried to teach myself
out of a book, it did not work. I love interviewing people on the phone now. I
would much rather go and have an interview on the phone than go and see
somebody because I can type while I’m talking, and it’s those bits of dialogue.
Steven
Lewis: I wrote a story once
in Thailand, a journalistic story with a group of people living in Thailand. I
kept getting up to go to the loo so that I could write down their dialogue in
my notebook because I knew I would not remember it the next day for various
reasons, but it was not something I could quickly note with a bit of shorthand.
Claire
Scobie: Yes. I think
dialogue is sort of an unsung part of writing and you can use it. Obviously you
use it in journalism, but again, tiny little quotes, or fragments of quotes,
immediately can lift the quality of a piece of writing. I’ve got another story
like that. I wasn’t rushing to the loo in Thailand. That was in Tibet. My first
book was partly set in Tibet and we were being arrested by the Chinese. But,
the things the investigator and the chief questioner was saying were so
fantastic I thought I’ve got to write this down. But I thought I can’t really
bring out my notebook because obviously they don’t let journalists into Tibet.
So I was rushing off to the loo feigning the runs so then I could write down
those brilliant comments that the investigator was asking us.
Steven
Lewis: So dialogue, and I
wanted to touch very briefly on clichés, because often we don’t recognize the clichés
that we go for. Do you have any tips for people on avoiding clichés in the way
that they’re describing people and things? Because to just defend it, I was
reading some research the other day that says that clichés just become noise,
so people don’t even understand it. If you say, at the end of the day, they
don’t even read it. They’ve moved on past it.
Claire
Scobie: Right. Look, I
think if you’ve read it before, if you heard it before, it’s likely to be a cliché.
It’s difficult if you don’t recognize your own clichés, that’s where having
someone else read it is useful. There is a resource online, because somebody
told me about it, which lists 600 and something clichés. So you can actually
check your copy with this list. But apart from that, it’s really just having a
good eye and getting in someone else to second read it for you.
Steven
Lewis: All right, well I’m
going to research that list. Obviously I don’t need it, but I’m going to
research it so that I can put it in the show notes. Claire, thanks so much for
sharing with us today.
Claire
Scobie: Oh, you’re welcome.
It’s been a pleasure, Steven.
Steven
Lewis: If people want to
work with you to improve their writing or their storytelling or just because
they’ve really enjoyed listening to you today and they want to spend some more
time with you, how can they do that?
Claire
Scobie: They can head to my
website, which is as you said, wordstruck.com.au. They can work with me either
on a one-on-one level, I do mentoring for writers for both in the corporate
sphere and people who are writing for personal reasons, and also they can hire
me to run a storytelling for Leaders workshop. I’m a partner with Anecdote,
which is Australia’s leading storytelling consultancy. I run workshops in house
for companies helping people develop storytelling skills, helping leaders
develop those skills to better communicate and to foster unity, and to bring
out the human element within a business.
Steven
Lewis: So often lacking.
Claire
Scobie: Yes.
Steven Lewis: You’ve been listening to Talemaking, the podcast about getting your business out, with me, Steven Lewis. There’s a lot more to find out about Clair Scobie at wordstruck.com.au.
The post A novelist’s secrets to writing great copy appeared first on Taleist Agency.
October 25, 2019
What is SEO Copywriting?
SEO copywriting, more accurately called SEO content writing, is the art of writing webpages that convince Google:
That your website should rank well for particular search termsThat a particular page on your website should rank well for a particular search or group of searches
The “SEO” in SEO copywriting stands for “search engine optimisation”. The search engine might be Bing, Yahoo or DuckDuckGo, but when people talk about an SEO copywriter, they’re usually most concerned with impressing Google.
Local search can be particularly powerful — e.g. “copywriter Sydney” — if location is important to your prospects.
Are copywriting and SEO copywriting the same thing?
Copywriting and SEO copywriting aren’t the same thing in the way they terms are normally used.
Copywriting: Is writing with the aim of persuading a person to do something.
SEO copywriting: Is writing with the aim of persuading Google or another search engine that your website or specific webpage is worth of ranking on the first page of a particular Google search.
Many companies advertising SEO services for copywriting know little about direct response copywriting. They might persuade Google to rank you, but you should check wether they have the skills to write copy that will persuade the humans Google will send to the page.
Is SEO copywriting enough on its own to rank in Google?
Google considers hundreds of factors before rolling out the top results for a search. The words on a particular page are one of them — an important consideration. So are the words on the rest of your site. (If your site is about pizza, you’re unlikely to be able to get a page on your site to rank for searches for burgers, however hard you work your SEO.)
On its own, copywriting with SEO in mind is unlikely to make a big difference to your rankings in Google and other search engines, especially if you’re in a competitive market. You need an SEO strategy that covers more than your copywriting.
If you’re fighting for Google rankings, chances are your competition is fighting back, and SEO is a zero-sum game.
How are SEO copywriting services important?
You should write every page of your website as if someone will read it, someone who matters to you. If your copywriter has SEO skills, they can use those skills to inform how they structure your webpage and the arguments on that page.
When you know, for instance, that prospects are prefacing searches with “local” or “trustworthy”, you know it’s important to prove on the page that you’re local or trustworthy.
Search engine analysis is one step in Taleist’s copywriting research process not for SEO reasons. We use pro-grade search engine analysis tools to understand your prospects’ thinking. However, when we use that information, we naturally improve the the search engine optimisation of the pages on your website: Because we’re using the language your prospects use.
Should my copywriter know SEO copywriting?
We have a whole article on how much SEO your web copywriter should know. But in short: it depends on the goals of your website and, more generally, your marketing strategy.
What company provides the best SEO copywriting service?
The company that provides the best copywriting for SEO will be the one that:
Understands your overarching SEO and marketing strategiesUnderstands your business and what will move your prospects to action — because, ultimately, a human might read the page, not just the Googlebot.
How can Taleist help?
We can provide you with SEO-influenced copywriting. And if you need an SEO strategy, we can give you the names we give our clients when they need an SEO agency they can trust.
Our copywriting process includes search engine analysis when writing copy for websites and copywriting landing pages.
Concise copywriting tips
Once a week we email concise, practical copywriting, lead generation and conversion optimisation tips to the inboxes of our clever subscribers.
If you’d like to join them and claim your head start, you have only to enter your details below.
First name*Email*
PhoneThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Also, Taleist has more Copywriting FAQs for you to read.
Recommended reading about SEO copywriting
Here are some of the best books you can read on the topic of direct response:
SEO Content Writing vs. SEO Copywriting: Is There a Difference? (from SEJ)SEO Copywriting: How to Write Content For People and Optimize For Google (from Neil Patel)SEO copywriting: The ultimate guide (from Yoast)
The post What is SEO Copywriting? appeared first on Taleist Agency.
Is it worth it to hire a copywriter to write my article?
Whether it’s worth it to hire a copywriter to write an article or blog post for your website depends on what you want that article to do.
What sort of article is worth paying a copywriter for?
Unless you’re a talented writer yourself, it’s worth hiring a copywriter if you want a person to:
Read all or most of your article or blog postBelieve that you’re knowledgeable in your fieldContact you, read more on your website or otherwise take a specific action
Is it worth hiring an SEO copywriter to write an article?
SEO copywriting is the art of writing articles that convince Google that your site has good answers to the questions people are typing into Google.
A good SEO copywriter will work together with an SEO agency as part of an SEO strategy.
If you’re taking SEO seriously, it’s probably worth hiring an SEO copywriter, especially if you need many blog posts or articles that you don’t have time to write yourself.
Is it okay to get SEO copywriting done overseas?
SEO copywriting is not complicated on its own, especially if you don’t have a full SEO strategy, so it might be safely left in the hands of someone outside Australia.
However, if you’re hoping for human readers (not just search engine algorithms) you might want a Sydney copywriter who is more likely to understand what your market needs to read — over and above keywords.
How can Taleist help?
If you’re writing a thought leadership piece or an article or blog post that is intended to position you as a credible source of information, Taleist can deliver a thoroughly researched, expertly written blog post that your audience will read and remember.
Concise copywriting tips
Once a week we email concise, practical copywriting, lead generation and conversion optimisation tips to the inboxes of our clever subscribers.
If you’d like to join them and claim your head start, you have only to enter your details below.
First name*Email*
EmailThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Also, at Taleist you’ll find more Copywriting FAQs here.
Recommended reading about hiring a copywriter
Here is some of the best read on the topic of paying a copywriter:
6 Tips for Choosing the Perfect Website Copywriter (from Taleist)How to Hire a Killer Copywriter
The post Is it worth it to hire a copywriter to write my article? appeared first on Taleist Agency.
What services does a good copywriter provide?
A good copywriter will talk to you about strategy and research.
If you don’t have a marketing strategy, your copywriter should be able to help you to create a marketing strategy, even if it’s a simple plan-on-a-page. Without a strategy, it will be hard for your copywriter to know what they’re trying to achieve and for you to know what, if anything, you’ve achieved.
A good copywriter will also do research. How does your market look? What is the competition doing? What drives your ideal client to take action?
At Taleist we have a seven-step process for copywriting. Six of those steps are to do with research. We can also produce a marketing strategy for you.
Copywriting is the art and science of using words to persuade your prospect to do something. So a copywriter will write anything that includes a call to action, from a coupon to a TV commercial.
Not all copywriters provide all services, but the sort of services you can find a copywriter to provide include:
1. Website copywriting
2. Landing page copywriting
3. Email campaigns
4. Lead magnets
5. Webinars
6. Video scripts
How can Taleist help?
If you’re looking for words to persuade, contact us about your copywriting. Even if we can’t provide the service, we’ll be able to recommend someone.
Got questions? We have more Copywriting FAQs.
Concise copywriting tips
Also, once a week we email concise, practical copywriting, lead generation and conversion optimisation tips to the inboxes of our clever subscribers.
If you’d like to join them and claim your head start, you have only to enter your details below.
First name*Email*
CommentsThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Recommended reading about the services copywriters provide
Here are some of the best posts on the topic of direct response:
What Is Copywriting? (from the AWAI)What kind of services can a copywriter provide? (from Quora)
Also Taleist has more copywriting FAQS.
The post What services does a good copywriter provide? appeared first on Taleist Agency.
October 22, 2019
Write the English Better
I could hear screams every day as my colleagues pulled the fingernails out of the English language. “Write the English Better” was my desperate response…
Less a presentation than a plea, “Write the English Better” was my attempt to “be the change I wanted to see in the world” — a phrase someone pulled from a fortune cookie on too many days.
In “Write the English Better”, I flashed up a phrase I’d heard around the office. The countdown music from “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” played while participants twisted their heads around an abuse of the language.
Later, “Write the English Better” grew into “I Touch Yourself”, a half-day session on being kinder to the language we all rely on to be understood.
There are some screechers in the presentation, all captured in the field.
Do you have a favourite? Either from my collection (usually locked in a vault only my therapist can visit) or from your own experience.
If you’d like more tips on writing more persuasively, I send one concise tip a week to the erudite subscribers to my mailing list. All you have to do it enter the form and one succinct conversion optimisation, lead generation or writing tip will be all yours every week…
First name*Email*
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The post Write the English Better appeared first on Taleist Agency.
