Steven Lewis's Blog, page 16

The Taleist guide: Six easy tips from a marketing expert to help you choose the perfect website copywriter

There are thousands of copywriters in the market. They all have different levels of experience, ability, writing styles and ideas for your content. And their quotes will vary wildly —and not always according to ability.

It can be confusing, especially if you’ve not hired a copywriter before (or you’ve had a bad experience and want to avoid making another mistake). But website content writing isn’t something you can afford to leave to an amateur.

Bad website content won’’t turn visitors into clients
Even average content means you’’re leaving money on the table because you’re not converting every lead you could

At the end of this guide, you’’ll know:

Exactly what to ask a potential copywriter to sort the great from the average
How to be certain you’’ve chosen a copywriter who will grow your business

1 . Finding a website content writer: The most important questions of all

You’ll only get persuasive website content if your copywriter is genuinely interested in your business and your goals.

Of course this process is about you asking questions. But the most important questions are the ones the copywriter asks. More accurately, it’’s about how many questions they ask you.

Imagine you asked two companies how much it would cost to build a road. Would you trust the one who blurted out ““$100 million”” or the one who said, “”I don’’t know yet. I need to ask you some questions first. Where do you need the road to go? How wide? What sort of vehicles will be driving on it? How often do you want to maintain it?””

Great copywriters live for persuading people, so they want to know who they’’ve got to persuade and what they’’ve got to persuade them about. Without knowing that, they can’’t know what will go into writing your website.

If they quote you to write a website without knowing much about you, you’’re in for a cookie-cutter experience. Worse, so are your potential clients.

2. When it comes to copywriting, different is better than better

People won’’t call you because you claim on your website to be the “leading”, “biggest” or “fastest growing” company in your industry. All of your competitors are saying the same thing

What will persuade people to call is your point of difference.

The right web copywriter will have proven processes in place to work with you to identify your difference, the one that matters to your ideal clients. A great copywriter won’’t just ask you what you want to say. They won’t just look at a couple of your competitor’s’ websites then write you something similar.

3. Silence is golden

To be persuasive in writing your website, a copywriter has to understand your business, your goals, your clients and your competition. It’’s going to help a lot if your writer is genuinely interested in you.

You can get a good idea of that interest if you wait a while after the first conversation. Do they follow up with a formal proposal? Do they call you to check in on the proposal?

If your prospective content writer isn’t interested in winning your business, how interested are they likely to be in you after they have the job?

4. What to ask a potential website copywriter

When it’’s you asking the questions, here are some you should ask a copywriter:

Do they have testimonials?
What’s their experience?
What’s their process?
How long will it take?
How do they charge?

Website content writer experience

Every copywriter has a first client, and you can always make the decision to be someone’’s first, especially if you can work out a favourable price as a result.

However, weigh the experience of the writer in terms of the importance of your website to your bottom line. If your website is the first impression your potential clients will have of your business, you need it to be as professional as you are.

Your website copy could be the difference between whether someone calls you or they click away to a competitor.

Copywriting examples

Don’’t get too hung up on getting examples of a copywriter’’s work.

A copywriter may never have written about your particular product or service or in your particular industry, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’’t have the skills to do the job.

Good copywriters know how to work to understand your business, your clients and your goals. They know how to bring all this research together into persuasive copywriting. You’’re employing a craftsman with the right tools, not someone who hammers out identical widgets.

Even if you can find a specialist in your industry, they might know too much about it. Specialists often lose sight of what non-experts don’t know and what they need to be told before they can be persuaded to call.

5. How to pay a website content writer

There are pros and cons to every way of paying for website content writing, but one is far better than the others.

Copywriters can charge by the word, by the hour, or by a fixed fee.

Charging by the word

The problem with paying somebody by the word is the incentive for the copywriter to write too much. You need someone who’s going to be succinct. This is especially important for any writing that will appear online.

If you’re paying by the word, there’’s no incentive for the writer to distil their copy. Every word they cut costs them time and money.

Charging by the hour

The potential downside of paying a copywriter by the hour is the lack of incentive to be fast or efficient.

Charging a fixed fee

Paying a fixing a fee gives the copywriter an incentive to write faster, which is good, but potentially with less care, which is bad.

But this is the best of the three choices. It’’s transparent and certain for content writer and client.

The trick is to protect yourself by making sure you’’ve qualified the copywriter.

Does it seem like they care about you and your goals? (Have they at least asked what your goals are?)
Do their clients say they pride themselves on doing a good job?
Would those clients use the copywriter again or would they take their chances on blind Google searching rather than work with this copywriter again?

6. How much should it cost to get my website content written?

Copywriting is an investment. The first question you have to answer for yourself is what is the return on investment of having a professional write your website content?

Imagine your website brings in clients who spend $500 a time. In that case, every client who isn’’t impressed by your website and goes to a competitor has cost you $500 (and made your competitor $500). When you include lost business, the “cost” of a lesser copywriter quickly adds up.

Summary

When hiring a copywriter for your website, decide first how you want to pay:– hourly, by the word or fixed
Prepare questions to ask
Listen for the questions you’re asked. Does it sound like the content writer will take the time to understand your business or are they going to stamp out something generic?

Ultimately, what you invest in copywriting for your website comes down to how effective you want your website to be in getting people to call you. The cost of a great copywriter will look insignificant next to what an average competitor will cost you in lost business.

The post The Taleist guide: Six easy tips from a marketing expert to help you choose the perfect website copywriter appeared first on Taleist Agency.

5 things you can do right now to impress Google

UPDATED 3 November 2018

Need Google to send more visitors to your website? Follow these five simple tips from an SEO copywriter right now to improve the way Google sees your site.

This video is from one of our popular Wednesday Website Content Writing Webinars, which we used to run weekly. On a Wednesday. We’ve changed our branding since then but our focus on exceptional website copywriting has not.

The post 5 things you can do right now to impress Google appeared first on Taleist Agency.

Running a small business like a big business using the right software

Running a small business like a big business using the right software: Jessamy Field, our go-to marketing expert, and Steven talk about the software they used to research, plan and deliver a workshop in Brisbane despite working in different offices.

Software discussed:

Pipedrive (get a free trial if you use this link)

Wrike

Zoom (affiliate link)

Google Docs

Google Slides

The post Running a small business like a big business using the right software appeared first on Taleist Agency.

This council earns thousands an hour from a simple psychological trick

This psychological trick earns Byron Shire Council thousands of dollars on the first Sunday of every month…

These drivers talked each other into a $99 fine

Without speaking, the drivers of the cars in this picture convinced each other to make the same mistake. How?

When we pulled up at Byron Markets, we couldn’t believe our luck: a rockstar parking space opposite the entrance to the market.

Aside from that recently-vacated spot, the verge was packed for 100 metres. There were no parking signs but we assumed the other drivers were locals who knew the rules didn’t apply on market day. Then we saw it.

The car behind had an orange envelope on the windscreen. But the no-parking area was bumper to bumper, so maybe the ticket wasn’t from today. So we opened the envelope and, sure enough, it had been written five minutes before. Then as we were reading the ticket, two rangers slid past us in a council car, job done. For now.

We piled back into our car and found another spot.

Walking back to the entrance of the market, we saw the white van in the picture pulling into the spot we’d just left. We crossed the road to warn the driver. She thanked us but parked anyway. Maybe she thought the rangers wouldn’t come back?

45 minutes later, every car in the row had its own orange envelope, including the white van.

Even a personal warning and the physical evidence of a ticket couldn’t compete with the weight of social proof from drivers who weren’t even there but whose parking suggested this was a good place to stop.

From what we could see, social proof earns the council in Byron Bay about $1,000 an hour on the first Sunday of the month.

So make sure you’re using social proof in your marketing!

Feel like using a bit of your own social proof?

It really helps us out every time you hit one (or more!) of the sharing buttons on our posts. If you enjoy what we write, please do us a favour and share this post on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. There are handy buttons below.

Read more about using social proof in your website content writing here.

This council earns thousands an hour from a simple psychological trick
How would you feel if I bought you a coffee?
A marketing tip from the Mob
A copywriting tip from a twisted head baby and a toddler
5 branding strategies you can use right now!

The post This council earns thousands an hour from a simple psychological trick appeared first on Taleist.

How would you feel if I bought you a coffee?

We’re taking you out for a coffee for two reasons:

​To tell you something fascinating about coffee (and warm drinks in general) that we’ll bet you didn’t know
To complete our series on the six principles of persuasion

 

Copywriting tips your thing? Check these out…

How would you feel if I bought you a coffee?
A marketing tip from the Mob
Twisted head baby and the toddler: a lesson in copywriting
5 branding strategies you can use right now!
Are you doing enough to make your clients like you?

 

 

The post How would you feel if I bought you a coffee? appeared first on Taleist.

A marketing tip from the Mob

An old lady, a napkin and $5 was all it took to keep Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonanno’s son Bill from falling into a very bad habit.

What did the napkin say and what could this mobster’s story teach you about marketing?

Get more tips like this straight to your inbox by signing up for our mailing list.

A marketing tip from the Mob
Twisted head baby and the toddler: a lesson in copywriting
5 branding strategies you can use right now!
Are you doing enough to make your clients like you?
Microsoft's 5 secrets for how to write a winning awards submission

The post A marketing tip from the Mob appeared first on Taleist.

A copywriting tip from a twisted head baby and a toddler

What can a twisted-head baby and a toddler teach you about persuading your customers to buy quickly? You won’t get another copywriting tip like this today. Guaranteed.

Want another tip from left field? Try a tale of two wine-drinking copywriters.

We have lots more copywriting tips here. And here are some case studies of how we use these tips and tricks for clients.

And if you’re not worried about scarcity when it comes to Google, you should be. The first three results in a Google search grab around half the available clicks. It pays to be thinking about SEO in your copywriting.

You will also enjoy
This council earns thousands an hour from a simple psychological trick
How would you feel if I bought you a coffee?
A marketing tip from the Mob
A copywriting tip from a twisted head baby and a toddler
5 branding strategies you can use right now!

The post A copywriting tip from a twisted head baby and a toddler appeared first on Taleist.

Twisted head baby and the toddler: a lesson in copywriting

What can a twisted-head baby and a toddler teach you about persuading your customers to make a purchasing decision quickly?

We have lots more copywriting tips here.

The post Twisted head baby and the toddler: a lesson in copywriting appeared first on Taleist.

5 branding strategies you can use right now!

“When you brand yourself properly, the competition becomes irrelevant.” Dan Schawbel

Branding is the difference between wowing your clients and being instantly forgotten. In a world inundated with products and services, we’ve created filters to sift through all the cries for attention from competing brands. You really need to make an impact so you don’t get filtered out. There are quite a few ways this can be done.

Think of the last time you went to an event and met 30 new people. Who stood out? Chances are, they stood because 1. They were beautiful 2. They were really funny 3. They seemed really interesting and personable 4. You connected with them and related to them. It’s pretty much the same for your brand! You need to decide how you are going to distinguish yourself from all of the ‘Meh’ brands out there.

#1 Be Consistent

Every time somebody sees and interacts with your brand, it should be reinforcing your brand visuals and message. When a brand becomes familiar to people, they subconsciously start to trust it. Do not mess up this opportunity by using several design styles and messages!

Take a look at your Business Cards, Website and Social Media Channels. Are they consistent? The overall look and feel should be the exactly the same, by using the same colours, fonts and similar imagery on every platform.

#2 Speak directly to your target market

Sometimes people feel they have to sound very professional and corporate to be taken seriously. But, chances are, that’s not the way your target market speaks. Completely evaluate your target market then visit your website. Are you speaking their language? To be seen you need to be direct and to the point and tell people exactly what you can do for them in a way that makes sense to them. Let them know you feel their pain and you can help them.

#3 Be authentic and share your story

I laugh when I get an email that begins with ‘Dear Subscriber’. Really? That’s the best you can do?! Your audience are real people and while this may sound obvious, a lot of brands tend to forget that. Visualise your ideal client when you write a social media post or email newsletter, imagine you are writing it for her alone. Your client isn’t a robot, so your brand needs to be relatable and authentic to connect with your target audience.

#4 Give and you shall receive

A sure fire way for people to remember you is to add value by giving, not selling. Think about something you have expertise in that others struggle with. Turn this into a giveaway and not only will you have people’s attention but you will also have their email addresses for future marketing campaigns – bonus! You’ll be seen as an expert and establish trust with your target audience, which created the foundation of buying trust as customers.

#5 Dare to be different

The quickest way to differentiate your brand is to look at what your competition is doing and do the complete opposite. Ask yourself, what are the current pain points when customers deal with your competitors? As I was doing some groceries last week and about to grab some deodorant for my partner, my eyes were drawn to Shield Men. The biggest selling point, was a little icon that promoted the deodorant not leaving yellow stains on clothing. By researching a pain point of customers (staining clothing), they’re able to create a point of difference. They don’t alienate customers and the product’s purpose is still well known but by being different – they now stand out and have an edge on the competition.

While there is no strict formula for creating a successful brand, you must be different. You have to stand out and find a way to be front of mind with your audience. Brainstorm what you want your brand to be known for – funny, beautiful, modern, cutting edge etc. Then ask yourself, how can I use this to create a brand that is memorable and stands apart from the crowd?

 

Kady O Connell is founder and director of Kady Creative, a design studio that allows you to be seen online. At Kady Creative, we ignite and translate your vision into killer branding + a dream website so you can be the spark you were made to be.

The post 5 branding strategies you can use right now! appeared first on Taleist.

Copywriting tip: Are you doing enough to make your clients like you?

When it comes to copywriting, it turns out you can’t leave popularity contests behind in the playground. Your likeability is relevant far beyond high school: it influences people’s willingness to work with you or buy from you.

Likeability is one Robert Cialdini’s (Influence) six factors of persuasion, along with authority, social proof, scarcity, reciprocity and commitment.

Given that likeability is so persuasive, you should definitely be thinking about it in your copywriting on your website and elsewhere?

What about likeability and SEO?

Naturally, if you can get more people to your website then you’ve got a chance of getting more business. If you can improve your search ranking, you’ll have a chance to do that.  It makes incorporating likeability an SEO tactic as well as a conversion tactic.

Being likeable makes it more likely that people will share your content. Sharing your content creates backlinks–links from other sites (including sites like Facebook) to your site. More backlinks mean more direct traffic but also better SEO because search engines take every link as a vote of confidence in your web content.

Copywriting next steps

If you’re want to make your writing more persuasive, check out these copywriting tips.
We’ve also got some website copywriting case studies.
And of course, we’d be delighted to have one of our copywriters review your website.

You should also read
This council earns thousands an hour from a simple psychological trick
How would you feel if I bought you a coffee?
A marketing tip from the Mob
A copywriting tip from a twisted head baby and a toddler
5 branding strategies you can use right now!

The post Copywriting tip: Are you doing enough to make your clients like you? appeared first on Taleist.