Tag Archives: B2B copywriter

How to Write a Sizzling Headline

The most important part of a blog is the headline, also called the title of yourSizzling Headline article. You may have a fantastic idea that you want to share with the world, but if no one reads it, it will be lost for all eternity. Your headline is the most important phrase in your blog post.

A good title will grab and hold the attention of your readers. It will entice them into reading. The headline is the first thing that your visitor will see, therefore it is critical that it’s written in a way that motivates your prospect to click on it.

Not all headlines are the same. Creating one for a blog is different from a sales letter, or a newsletter, or magazine article. The audience is not only different but it’s intended for another objective. This is the common challenge that people who write their blog have: they have no idea on how to create a powerful, inviting headline.

One way to start by writing the title of your blog is by finding out what problems your audience has. Generally people have issues and they are looking for a solution. They may have a health problem, or want to know how to change the cartridge of their printer, or what is the most fuel efficient car.

You’ve got to write for both readers and spiders

Give to your reader the answer to their problems. Figure out what people are searching for. This is where keywords come into play. There are some who say you need to write for people and not the search engine. That is partially true. You should write to communicate ideas to other human beings. But, the spider which is a computer program, is the one who has to read your article and distribute it to an audience.

You want the search engine to send your blog post to the right audience. So write for both people and the search eSeagull -  350 -oNYuIIcngine. In trying to write a headline, you can investigate what is trending today. If your post addresses a trend, you can see what other writers say in their titles.

When you write a blog post, you really have two purposes. First of all, the most important for you, is to improve your website performance. You want traffic and convergence. And secondly, you want to give value to your readers so they perceive you as their savior.

You need to write the title of your blog in a clear and concise fashion. Don’t try to be clever. I have encountered many companies who want writers to write clever articles. That kind of thinking doesn’t fly among a very sophisticated audience, be it consumer or business.

The title of your blog post needs to exactly match a search engine query, be clear, and offer some benefits or promises. You could even include numbers such as “5 Linkedin Marketing “Tips” and “Tricks” or “3 Ways to …” It has been found that people prefer to read about something specific as opposed to an open-ended subject.

Consider this headline “Which Superhero Are You? PlayBuzz” and ask yourself if it is clear. By reading it, do you know what it’s all about? No. Does it offer a benefit? No. There is no such thing as a “Superhero”. You have problems in your life, you want a solution, and you have no tolerance for embellishment. This headline may be considered clever by some, but offers no promises.

When you write the title of your blog, your readers should know up-front what the article is all about. Include in it benefits, use “how to, why, 4 tips for… etc”. And finally, remember to include your keywords in the body of the article.

Video Marketing For Business – Best Way to Promote Your Business

Video marketing is a strategy that few businesses have ever heard of, and even fewer take advantage of it. It is not about replacing sales letters, emails, or blog posting. Online videos offer another mode of communication. In the Bible, there is a quote I believe that says that there is nothing new under the sun.

Online Video B2BSix hundred years ago most people relied on visuals for their communication. Buildings were built to provide a message. For example, cathedrals were built with very high peaks to express man’s desire to reach the heavens. Castles gave a sense of power and protection. Statues were bringing biblical characters alive. Paintings communicate various scenes.

With the discovery of the printing press, the written word emerged as the form of communication. To a great extent, we still are in this stage. But also, in the second half of the twentieth century and twenty first century, our society is being drowned in the world of pictures to communicate messages. And this is where video marketing starts to shine.

New exciting way to show off your business

The Internet has revolutionized the way we do business. Even the way we communicate with our clients has changed compared to what it was 50 years ago. In all kind of industries, you will find from small to midsize to large companies, an attempt to capture the attention of their prospects. You can be do that with video marketing. It is a tool that ultimately persuade the viewer to action.

Online video marketing is on the rise and it’s proving itself to be a very effective way to communicatue with your prospects or clients. It is one of the most effective methods to talk to your prospective stakeholders and help them develop a better idea about your offerings. According to a research by Forrester Research videos were 50 times more likely to receive an organic first page ranking than traditional text pages.

Online Video MarketingAdvantage Of Online Video Marketing

You can use video marketing for various collaterals. For instance, you can develop a video as a sales letter to present your product or service. You can also have videos to explain how your product works. Tech companies use this method for their software programs. And you can use it for services. You can find videos that teach how to effectively use Clickbank.

You can build brand awareness by using video marketing. This kind of video would be close to the regular TV commercials, yet at a much, much lower cost. Do you have case studies of your products? You can put them in an ebook, or videos. It’s really about the audience. You give the audience the choice of media they prefer.

Beauty of video marketing

The beauty of video marketing, is that you don’t have to host them on your site. Doing that would consume a lot of bandwidth and would be expensive. But you can host your videos on YouTube. Are you taking advantage of them? No. You offer YouTube–which is owned by Google–content and in return they’ll give you traffic. Isn’t it wonderful?

As a business concern, you want to offer various materials to your visitors and clients. You offer online videos to advance the success of your business. With the average internet user watching videos on a daily basis, it only makes sense to add videos to your online marketing strategy. It is an excellent tool to generate interest and leads.

You might wonder how complicated is it? After all, you’re operating a business and you are not a Hollywood studio. A copywriter can help you and remove that kind of anxiety. Depending upon how a video is used and how it looks, you can have screencast or talking heads, motion graphics or even the new very hot hand animated videos.

Most people have learned of the need of search engine optimization in their copies, whether they write an article or post a blog. But very few know that in video marketing you need to optimize your video. Remember, Youtube is Google and it is the second biggest search engine tool. So you want them to find your videos. If you use a copywriter to write and direct the production of your video, make sure that he knows how to optimize your video.

How Can B2B Marketing Increase Your Revenue

B2B MarketingI am going to make a brief review of a special report I read from BuyerZone, titled “B2B Marketing: The State of B2B Lead Generation.” The reason why it is worth writing about it, is because their findings are interesting and thought provocative. The important thing to keep in mind is that businesses are in a constant need of leads. Without them, they die as simple as that.

Leads are the fuel for the sales pipeline in B2B Marketing. Lead generation is not something static. On the contrary, it is in a constant state of change. New practices are discovered while philosophical perspectives evolve. There are various ways to generate leads or sell to others. It is always a good idea to track ROI in order to be in control of your budget. Making sure you’re spending in the right places.

Best Practices to Generate Great Leads in B2B Marketing

A survey of companies indicates that 74% of B2B marketers are using CRM platforms. This is a substantial improvement compared to 2012 where only 56% had a CRM in place. In the day-to-day operation of a business, it is easy to feel that you might be alone in using certain strategies in B2B marketing. But the fact is, that there are thousands of companies like yours Successful meetingwho are experiencing that same things you are.

Customer Relationship Management or for short, CRM, for those who are new to it, helps the management and customer service staffs deal with customer concerns and issues. It involves gathering a lot of data about the customer to facilitate transactions. The use of CRM increases with larger companies as much as 91% of them use the system. Interestingly enough, 21% of those who took part in this survey said using CRM was a priority in their plan.

Strategy for lead generation, first qualify

It must be pointed out, that the fact that someone downloads a free report or a white paper, does not make him a lead. He is a prospect. Crucial point in the sales funnel process. In B2B marketing lead generation strategy, the prospect is the first inbound contact. Generally, all you have is his email address and perhaps his first name. This prospect must be qualified.

When someone comes into your website, he is a visitor. If he downloads a report and subscribes to your email list, that means he has an interest in you. At that point, he has moved from visitor to prospect. But you don’t know if your product or service is good for him. That is, you have not qualified him. Hence, you really can’t have a sales person call this prospect and try to sale him your product.

After qualifying your prospect, he will move up the marketing ladder, to become a lead. It is at this point that you can make an offer and bring him to the call to action.

And, if you want to learn more about B2B lead generation, be sure to check out my videos. You will find them by clicking the tab videos and leave comments, I will answer them.

Web Copywriting – What to Be Very Careful About

Web copywriting is the most important thing that a business owner or CEO can do for his website.

There are a number of critical factors to take under consideration when you create a homepage. Communication reduces the buying cycle at an accelerated pace, therefore it is vitally important for a company to establish trust.

Web CopywritingA visitor to your website has no desire to work and figure out what you’re all about. If you do not quickly establish your identity as who you are, what you’re offering and your reputation,  your prospects will abandoned your site to find your competitor.

Just like in land, you can describe your website in terms of real estate. There are areas in your site that are more important than others. Good web copywriting will emphasis those areas. One of them is your Homepage. It has to effectively communicate your unique story through copy and images. This sets your Unique Selling Proposition.

The easiest way is not necessarily the best path

The larger majority of people begin their websites with a web designer who plans the site and creates it. At that point it doesn’t have anything in it. Then, the owner of the site seeks a copywriter to fill up the blanks in the site by putting words.

Many of these web designers are in love with certain aspects of technology. For instance, some like flash in the header, lots of pictures, big pictures. Somewhere along the line, the copywriter is expected to put content in this empty container.

This is going the wrong way. There is a reason why in Internet Marketing, content is king. This is not a cutesy statement. Instead it describes a reality. Your visitor will not be driven by web design or by pictures. Words will drive your prospects to the desired action.

From an architectural perspective, the web copywriting should be the first involved into the process of ideation.  You will need to develop the message and copy before starting any web design.

This is the opposite direction that most people take. One ofhomepage the misleading strategies is to buy a pre-built website. This is a very attractive idea. One can get a whole site for a couple of hundred dollars. That option seems to solve the problem of web site creation. The challenge with this, is that the themes forces you to write to an audience that exists in the mind of someone else.

Your homepage is like your business card, it reflects who you are

When you get a pre-built theme, both the homepage and all the other pages are really boxes joined together. They limit the amount of words that you can write. Meaning, it does not allow you to have useful, long copy which is very important for the reader to get value and for Google’s semantic search.

You will be better off getting the service of a custom designed website. Yes, far more expensive than a pre-built site but more effective. Your strategy, your message and your marketing objective will drive the design of your website.

In fact, I would begin by doing a lot of research, which is the most important part of writing a copy. You need to know what is the intention of the site. Is it to give information, to sell a service or product? What kind of information or products are being sold? Who is the audience. Are you selling locally, nationwide, or internationally?

Creating a homepage is the most important part of your website. Good copywriting should allow you to give care and attention to your visitors who will love you, trust you, and buy from you.

 

Copywriter Tips For Making Your Product Irresistible

Copywriter Tips For Making Your Product IrresistibleThere are so many copywriter tips you can use in the promotion of your business, that you can feel overwhelmed. The reality is that you have to sell your products or services. In fact nothing happens until a sale is made. This means that all your concerns are geared towards selling, and this is the right strategy. However, do not confuse strategy with the tactical process.

The issue is, how do you get to your goal?  To do that, you will need to rethink your marketing approach. Stop thinking about your products or services. Instead start thinking of what goes through the mind of your prospects.

Your perspective needs to be a guide, a counselor. You are dealing with a human being who has needs and desires. In business-to-business, these come in two categories, business and personal wants. Your prospects are not interested in your products or services, they just want their satisfactions fulfilled. So the question for them is:  “What’s in it for me?” Or WIIFM. They have a problem and they are looking for a solution. Can you solve their issues?

The two sides of the marketing coin

Whatever the products or services you provide, there are two sides to deal with. These are the product features and benefits. Both go hand in hand. The one you will stress the most, will depend on your market target. These are critical copywriter tips.

As a general rule of thumb, if you’re selling to consumers, you will stress much more on the benefits than the features. For example, a car commercial may show the leather interior, or the electronic-computerized dashboard. These would be the features. Then, it will show the gentleman in tuxedo, with the gorgeous woman. That’s the benefit. The message, this car shows prestige.

If you’re selling to a business, they might be much more interested in features. For example, the greater capacity of the freezer, in case of a restaurant, the low energy consumption. These might be critical information for your prospect to make a decision. But the features imply benefits. In the example above, the volume of the freezer means more food can be preserved. Yes, but so what? Less spoilage. There is a process that’s taking place here. Your starting point is the feature, but there is a benefit attached to it. Consider these important aspects as you use those copywriter tips.

There are no features without benefits. This is where you begin to answer your prospect’s most important question, “What’s in it for me?” You show him the answer.

However, it’s not only one advantage that you’re giving him, but a multitude of them. In order to do that, you’ll need to dig deep into the benefit hole. Here, you transform critical features into core desires. This way, you become a guide to your client who will appreciate your concern for him and will reward you with the purchase of your products or services.

 

What is Content Marketing?

We hear the expression content marketing everywhere on the Internet. But it’s like a store of goodies. There is a world of divisions in there.  It encompasses social media, blog posts, newsletters, informational emails, articles, case study, etc. In fact, if you want to reach customers, you need content marketing.

The world is changing at an accelerated rate. What was true just a couple oWhat is Content Marketingf years ago, is no longer valid. According to the Content Marketing Institute, “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

For some people, writing is fun. They sit in front of a computer and pound at the keyboard. They had written a fantastic article by the time they finished.

For others, writing is a drag, ideas come slowly, laboriously, and by the time they finished, they stare at the word count. They are observing that what they really wrote was so little.  They’ve been told that a blog post should be 800 to 1,000 words.

Clean writing solves this issue

Professional copywriters face this issue all the time in their writing. The question is, how long should their sales letter be? Usually, sales letters are long, very long. However, observe the great masterpiece of writing made by David Ogilvy about the Rolls-Royce. The copy was written on only half a page. Very few words, yet extremely powerful sales.

The fact is that your sales letter, like your blog post, should be long enough to say the essentials, but short enough to be interesting. This answer doesn’t seem profound on the surface, yet it encapsulates a world of wisdom. It all has to do with the intent of your piece.

One piece of writing would be need-to-know products, which would include information about the niche of your blog, such as food, auto parts, coffee, clothing, alternative medicine, etc.

Your prospects don’t need a long copy in this case because they need the products. To sell this kind of product, you’ll have to establish the product’s Unique Selling Proposition and make an irresistible offer.

How long should a blog post be?

Therefore the length of your blog has to do with what it is you want to accomplish. This was pointed out so eloquently in the Copyblogger, when the author says that “Good writers know how to craft long and short content, and they’ve mastered the art of knowing which one to use in every writing circumstance.”

There is no amount of words that should be assigned to a good blog post. The length of your article has to do with your reader and the intention behind your communication. The audience is crucial. David Ogilvy in his sales letter was trying to communicate with people who did not want economical cars. A Rolls-Royce is a car for those who are wealthy and have other cars, as well.

When dealing with readers interested in “how to” information, you may have to stir up a desire for the product. So your copy might need to be a little longer. This is where the intention behind your communication comes in.

If you’re writing a highly technical blog post, then it could be more than 1000 words. As Copyblogger rightly pointed out  “many long posts do very well online.”

Great content increase traffic

You can observe that companies who substantially invest in great content – like videos, blog posts, or case studies – experience 8 times more site traffic than companies who don’t. According to Forbes, the trends for success is up for content marketing in 2018.

It is not surprising to know that 4,500 B2B and B2C companies shared with HubSpot that the growth of their content was the number 1 priority. According to a study done by Forrester Research by 2019 digital marketing will spend a $103 Billion.

The well known and respected Content Marketing Institute points out that prominent organizations in the world like P&G, Microsoft, Cisco Systems and John Deere use content marketing. There is no better way to attract the attention of prospects and generate leads, as well as expand the customer base.

 

Copywriter Salary

There is a lot of misunderstanding about what really copywriting is all about. Therefore, it is not surprising that copywriter salary would be a subject of both curiosity mixed with a lack of understanding. There are three place a copywriter can work. He can either work for an advertisement agency, a company or be a freelancer.

Many people start with advertisement agencies. As the first stage of a job, the junior copywriter salary might be between $26 to $36 thousand dollars. Not bad at all for a beginner. Keep in mind that it is only in one form of industry. Copywriting is not like being a lawyer, it is not a regulated profession. The only criteria, is result.

We live in a society that believes that in order to know or do anything, one has to go to school. And so it seems that a copywriter salary would be related to what or where he went to school. These are incorrect and erroneous assumptions. Did you know, that Winston Churchill was considered to be a very bad student. School teachers did not believe he would amount to anything.

A copywriter salary has nothing to do with school

Copywriting is not about what you studied in school. To be a copywriter, one needs to learn certain skills and write. When one considers a copywriter salary, it is important to understand the quality of skill one brings in the table. Many people confuse copywriting with just writing. Two different things. Some people like to write, that might be a passion in their life. But it does not mean that they are copywriters.

In fact, copywriting is very specific. It is writing for direct response piece. For example, as we consider copywriter salary, we can talk about someone like Dan Kennedy, who earns his living as a copywriter and makes millions and millions of dollars doing so. I have seen also people who market themselves at Elance for $5.00 an hour.  What is the difference between the two? The answer is, skills and mind set.

Copywriting Jobs

Ever since search engines began talking about the importance of content, there has been a lot said about copywriting jobs. By enlarge most of it, is downright misinformation made by people who know next to nothing about copywriting. There is in fact a lot of confusion about the meaning of this noble profession. Some pick up a definition just right out of a dictionary.

Such deep misunderstanding reflect on copywriting jobs, and in reduces its worth. Some believe that copywriting is simply writing a copy, meaning some material, online or offline. This understanding of copywriting jobs is totally erroneous and even reduces the work to slightly minimum labor. In fact, I have seen people in the United States who present themselves as copywriters, willing and ready to sell their services for $5.00 and hour. That is less than minimum wage.

Low level copywriting jobs

Why would anyone hire such downright cheap person for copywriting jobs? How one would define a copywriter? The best way that I can think of, is by way of an example. The Wall Street Journal mailed out in 1974 a letter written by Martin Conroy to sell subscription. This sales letter was mailed continuously for 25 years and earned over a billion dollars for The Wall Street Journal.

If we want to know what is copywriting and learn about copywriting jobs, then here is the definition presented as a demonstration. A copywriter is not someone who just fills up words on a piece of paper or a computer monitor screen. First and foremost a copywriters is a master salesmanship. The job of the copywriter is to sell with the written words. And for that he is a wordsmith.

Often the activity of grammar, spelling and all of it has nothing to do with copywriting jobs. This is important in the school system, but has very little role in the work of a copywriter. Although, generally copywriters are good at it. But often, they may hire an editor to correct his writing mistakes.

Copywriters

Copywriters generally work in two basic industries, either for agencies or businesses.  Many people in this field begin with agencies. Some move away and venture as freelance copywriters. In large corporations you may find copywriters in the marketing department. Often these companies hire also freelancers. This happens specially in the B2B copywriting.

There are different goals that copywriters may follow. In the offline direct response copywriting, there is the tradition of beating the control. What does that mean? Let’s say that a company is selling a particular product, and has a very well performing sales letter. The challenge would be if there is a copywriter out there that can write a copy that exceed the convergence of the current letter.

Copywriters have to know the market

The fact is that copywriters do not know if a sales letter will sell the product or not. Copywriting is in that sense a very scientific specialization. Copywriters perform sometimes complicated mathematics to know if their copy sells the product or not. This mathematics  is called split-testing and is based on probability. Result is the final determining judge.

In the history of copywriting, there are many cases where copywriters have written sales letters that might not be clever at all, yet these have been extremely successful. It is indispensable for the copywriter to know who he is writing to.  There are some copywriters who just sit and write and write without knowing who they’re writing to. They don’t know the target market.

There are certain things that copywriters need to do to accomplish a great job. First, they need to know the product. Spending time with the product in indispensable. They need to have the product in their hand, to task, smell it, hear it, feel it. They have to understand the product. What does it do? How does it work? Copywriters have to understand the market and what problems the product solves.

Lead Generation – Understanding this approach

From the beginning of history one of the challenge that always took place, has been to attract potential customers. Lead generation is a technique that will help us to achieve this. In the old days, business people would get the name of prospects from friends and then contact them. Eventually there was the door-to-door salesman who went everywhere offering their products.

Now a days companies turn traffic into huge revenues. The Internet is a world in which market provider can meet in a very efficient way, customers. Cultivating the relationship between merchants and prospects can be done through lead generation. This marketing strategy can help them reach hundreds, or even thousands of potential customers all over the world.

Lead generation can improve your market reach

The internet can reach every part of the globe to people you have never even heard of and this becomes key when it comes to your business. Although we should keep in mind that lead generation can be done both online and offline. You present your product or service to a very specific market target in your industry and develop that relationship. Lead generation is usually done by offering something of value to your prospect.

When you start an effective lead generation strategy, your intention would be to help your  company be in contact with more potential customers to which the product can be sold. It is absolutely necessary to keep in mind that lead generation should be focused not just on getting a big number of leads or potential clients. This marketing strategy must also put emphasis on the quality of each lead. A business with a thousand generated leads might look really promising.

The ability to develop a comprehensive lead generation campaign requires a free offer whether it’s a report or a white paper or a newsletter series. Copywriters can be valuable assets to this strategy.