Maine Creative Services – Page 5 – Affordable web design and SEO copywriting for small business

Simple grammar guidelines

Grammar is easy. Just follow a few silly simple rules.

Don’t use no double negatives.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times — resist hyperbole.
“Avoid overuse of ‘quotation “marks'”
Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
Avoid clichés like the plague.
Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.
Avoid colloquial stuff.

Maybe you have to be a language lover to really appreciate these, but they always make me smile.

This list was compiled and edited by William Safire, based on suggestions from his NY Times readers. Safire, who died two months ago, was quite a character: college dropout, one-time Public Relations executive, long-time New York Times political columnist and frequent contributor to On Language in the Times Magazine. He was also a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, and authored Agnew’s famous phrase, “nattering nabobs of negativism.”

The secret of writing for the web

To paraphrase Somerset Maugham:

“There are three rules for writing the novel a website. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”

How to read your customers’ minds

The biggest challenge for any business website is finding a way to immediately engage the visitor’s interest.

Ask yourself, what do they want? What are they really looking for? How can you make it clear that you have what they want? (Or that they want what you have?)

Knowing what a prospective customer is thinking when they first arrive at your website makes it a lot easier to hook ’em with your copy. Luckily, it’s not too hard to figure out. In fact, I’ll show you exactly what’s going through the typical visitor’s mind. Let me borrow my crystal ball from this turbaned fellow and we’ll walk through the process together.

Peering into the brainpan: What website visitors are thinking

How do most first-time visitors find your site? If you guessed Google, Yahoo, or one or the other search engines, you’re right. Chances are, they typed in one or two keywords to describe what they were looking for, then clicked the SEARCH button.

Almost instantly a search results page popped up, containing a long list of links to websites. Most of them, they’ve never heard of.

Which one will they click?

This, too, is pretty predictable. Statistics show that 80 to 90% of them will click one of the first four listings – which is why it’s pretty important to optimize your website for search engines.

OK, they’ve clicked a link and, miracle of miracles, they land on your website! How cool!

Then what? Well, put yourself in their place. What goes through your mind when you land on a website you’ve never seen before? There are three things you immediately want to know:

Am I in the right place? Is this where I meant to go? Or did I click the wrong thing?
Does this site have what I’m looking for? This is a biggie. If you don’t show them instantly, they’ll hit that BACK button and be gone faster than you can say, “Huh? Where’d everybody go?”
How do I feel here? Am I comfortable? Or is it creepy or sleazy? Can I trust these people — or are they just trying to rush me into buying something? Do they even know what they’re talking about?

Oh, by the way. You only have a few seconds to get all that across.

Why the big rush?

The dazzling speed of computers and the Internet has conditioned us all to be very, very impatient. Admit it. If you don’t find what you’re looking for instantly, you look elsewhere. Right? If a link doesn’t open fast enough, you click somewhere else.

We all do it. And so does your website visitor. If she doesn’t see the answers she’s looking for instantly – I mean within the first 3-5 seconds – you have very little chance of keeping her around.

How in the world can you possibly communicate all that in just a few seconds? I’ll show you how, in the next installment of today’s exciting adventure.

Next: How to write copy that gets to the point — without getting obnoxious.

Enjoy this article? Want more? Please join my mailing list.
Fill out the form at the top of the page. Thanks!

photo credit: KrätzschePhotography

My next copywriting lesson: mind-reading

I think you’ll like it. It’s called:

How to read your customers’ minds

Tune in tomorrow. Same time, same station.

Why give it away?

A few people have already contacted me to ask an obvious question in response to my earlier post (and newsletter) about how to write your own business website.

As one person put it,

“What are you — off your meds, Tom? Aren’t you going to put yourself out of business?”

Naw. Actually, I’m just showing off, demonstrating how smart and clever I am. That way you’ll be impressed and throw more money at me. Right?

No, seriously. I’ve got two good reasons for doing this. First, I’m a communicator. This is what I do. I love learning, and I love sharing what I’ve learned. That’s also why I’ve started teaching again. (FYI, I used to be a computer trainer. Now I’m teaching a couple of writing courses at USM in Portland, Maine.)

But here’s the biggest reason. In 2010, I’m shifting the main focus of my business. More teaching and consulting, and less client work. I’ll be doing more writing (including here) but less copywriting. I’m already working on several e-books and e-courses, maybe some audio and video projects too. (Join my mailing list for advance notice and early-bird discounts.)

OK, there’s one other reason, too.

Writers, including copywriters, don’t get nearly enough credit for the skill and effort it takes to do what they do. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, “What is written without effort is read without pleasure.” In other words, if something is easy to write, it’s usually tough to read. And prospective customers won’t bother. They’ll just go elsewhere.

Many people hold graphic designers in high regard, because most of us can’t do what they do. It’s a mystery. But writing? No mystery there. Hell, we’ve all been writing since second grade. What’s so hard about that?

Familiarity breeds contempt, and all that.

People who are clueless about the difficulty of copywriting often figure the words on their site don’t matter all that much. So why spend a lot? Words are cheap, right?

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at the keyboard until little drops of blood form on your forehead.” (Gene Fowler)

Writing well is the hardest work I’ve ever done. You will soon see how many factors you need to juggle when writing — especially website copy. Then you might have a little more sympathy for the ink-stained wordsmiths, sweating blood all over their keyboards.

Whether you decide to write it yourself or outsource it, what you’ll learn in this course will make you a far more discerning client. You will not only have a greater appreciation for how difficult writing a website is, you’ll also know great copy when you see it.

Or write it.

Why you, the business owner, are the best person to write your website

I know this will sound like heresy, coming from a longtime professional copywriter like me. In fact, it’ll probably get me drummed out of the swanky and ultra-exclusive Copywriter’s Club.

I humbly submit that you, the business owner, are far more qualified than I am to write the copy for your website. Why? Lots of reasons:

You know far more about your business than I (or any other copywriter) ever will.
You talk to your customers every day. You know why they buy, and why they don’t. You hear their objections, and know exactly how to respond.
Because you own the business, your success is much more important to you than to any hired gun.
You’re probably more focused on the goal, which is (or should be) attracting more customers. Some copywriters (too many) view your website as a chance to show how clever they are. Your site becomes just another little part of their portfolio.

There’s only one problem with you writing your own website copy, and it’s a biggie.

You’re probably not a very good writer.

That’s not a criticism, just a fact. After all, writing is probably not an important part of your everyday skill set. You’re an expert at doing what you do — not writing about what you do.

Oh, you might be able to write a good article or blog post. But writing a web page that instantly connects with a half-interested visitor? One that establishes trust? A Web site that actually sells? That is a very tough assignment — as you know if you’ve ever tried it yourself.

BTW, that’s why good copywriters are in high demand — and why they can charge an arm and a leg. Oh sure, there are typists writers who will crank out your entire website for a couple hundred dollars. They’re generally novices who hang out on places like elance or guru.com. Some even grew up speaking English! But don’t expect them to deliver the kind of results a top gun would.

So if you can’t afford to hire the best, why not try doing it yourself?

This is the first in a series of blog posts written specifically for small-business owners and service providers. (OK, marketing people with slashed budgets can join in, too.)

Based on my 25+ years of experience writing websites, sales letters, landing pages, and ads — not to mention writing for newspapers, magazines, and radio-TV — I’m going to show you, step-by-step, how to rewrite your website so that it accomplishes your #1 goal: bringing in leads.

If you do it right, leads turn into customers, and that means money in your pocket. If a website doesn’t generate leads, it’s little more than an expensive brochure.

BTW, this series of posts are excerpts of my first ebook, which will be available right after the holidays. If you’d like to receive advance notice (and a substantial discount), just sign up for my mailing list (at the top right).

You might also want to subscribe to my RSS feed (click the little orange thingie) so you don’t miss any goodies.

Create your Marketing Plan before lunch

Do you anguish over creating a Marketing Plan for your small business, or the business you hope to start one day? Ivana Taylor at The DIY Marketers has compiled a Quick & Easy Marketing Plan. This is the kind of high-altitude view that helps you stay on-course while you’re doing the actual marketing work.

When she says quick and easy, she isn’t kidding. To get rolling, just answer seven simple questions (which you should already know the answers to) and you’re on your way:

Describe your ideal customer and what’s important to him/her.
What do you want your marketing plan to accomplish?
What competitive advantage do you have that will make it easy for them to choose you?
What will you offer your customer that will make them choose you?
How will you build a relationship with your customers?
How will you measure success?
What resources will you need to help you get there?

We’re all visual people to one extent or another, so one of Ivana’s best tips is finding a photo that most closely represents your Ideal Customer. Then create a collage, magazine cover or vision board around them, showing the things that are most important to them. Keep it in front of you and refer to it frequently while creating your marketing materials. Make sure what you’re writing has real meaning and value for your IC.

Read the complete article for additional inspiration.

Peering into the brainpan: What website visitors are thinking

Why the big rush?

Enjoy this article? Want more? Please join my mailing list. Fill out the form at the top of the page. Thanks!

photo credit: KrätzschePhotography

How to read your customers’ minds

Enjoy this article? Want more? Please join my mailing list.
Fill out the form at the top of the page. Thanks!