Tag Archives: copywriting

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.

 

Copywriting Services – Various benefits

One of the most important aspects of having a successful online business is to have traffic. This would be generated through high quality content that you can get from copywriting services. A lot of content in your site means a strong web presence. As a business owner you may have a lot of good ideas about your products or services. Help for putting all this content in a consistence fashion on your site is available.

A Google search will quickly reveal that there are literally thousands of copywriting services available to use for your online business. However, you need to keep in mind that a good copywriter service will try to get to know your audience. It’s not all about writing and putting a lot of things in your site. It is about adding worthwhile, relevant content that offers value to your audience.

Copywriting services that businesses need

The important thing about copywriting services is to see if their interest is focused on what they can do for you or what benefits they can offer you.

You may not know how to present yourself to your target market in a manner that appeals to their intellect and emotions. Which is why your writer has to be able to fill the gap for you. First and foremost, copywriting is about selling.

Therefore, when you consider copywriting services, watch if the writer tries to go inside the heads of your target customers. The writing is not all about words in the web site, rather, it’s about persuading your prospect to own the product or service that you are offering. Crafting the copy has to speak to the demographics of your market.

When you look for copywriting services, try to see if they will also do SEO. Remember, a copywriter does not necessarily have to write according to the search engine optimization (SEO). That’s another kind of service, and it will cost you extra.

SEO Copywriter: What does an SEO Copywriter do exactly?

An SEO copywriter is someone who writers content in a web page that search engine optimized. You basically start by doing a keyword research which can be done on Google or other search tools. In this case the seo copywriter begins with a basic word and see if it is used often by people. If so, he’ll use it in a content on his web page.  SEO Copywriters have the talent to influence people with words in a way, which makes them seamless to search engines and communicate with web readers.

There are people who specializes as SEO copywriter. Put simply, he wins web traffic with carefully crafted words. The words he uses are keywords that fits into the content he’s writing. There are agencies who hire seo copywriters to work for their clients. They  specialize in the optimization part, producing keyword-rich content that has the primary purpose of pushing your page up the Google rankings. Ranking is about your position in the search engine.

SEO Copywriter helps the position of your page

The SEO copywriter creates web content embedded with search engine optimization strategy that brings your copy to a high SERP position. One has to be careful not to stuff keywords into the content. Once upon a time people used to do that. They used to put a keyword multiple number of times in a sentence to the point that it was not legible. Google became aware of it, and then discounted the value of this technique.

When an SEO copywriter writes content, it may be in a sales copy, or even in an article or a piece of information.  Often SEO marketing firms have in-house writing positions. In order to be successful, the SEO copywriter must first know where, how, and to whom he is addressing himself to. Who is he training to communicate to.

 

Website Copywriting

Having content is a necessity in order to succeed therefore you need to do website copywriting.  Many people have the tendencies to talk about the features of their products. That is alright. Features are an important aspects of the product or service you’re providing. Describing features in your website copywriting means presenting to your audience the characteristics of that product.

When you prospect for a product and you look at the specs, what you are doing is looking at the features of this product. In website copywriting, you certainly want to include these since it will describe your product to your reader. However, you will want also to include the benefits of the product. What the benefits means are the things that the product can do for you.

Website copywriting that sells

In your website copywriting, you have to tell your buyer what’s in it for him. A good example of benefits would be in the case of weight lost products. Talk about how it will allow someone to lose with in just a short amount of time. Often this is a bit strange to talk about because we are so used to just talk about features. If you know next-to-nothing about website copywriting, you will need a learning curve.

With some patience you can accomplish a tremendous work. Website copywriting is very different for other forms of writing. This is why in this article I am providing you with a good starting point to turn things around.  Doing website copywriting requires special skills that will make your web pages compelling to the reader. When you use powerful search engine optimization (SEO), then you can have a tremendous impact on your marketing.

Doing powerful website copywriting will be helped if you do a keyword research. This is an important step in your writing.  Whether or not you want to become an expert, it is a matter of personal choice. But you need to acquire a minimum amount of skills to be successful.

SEO Copywriting Services

Searching for SEO copywriting services may be a confusing endeavor. Just be going to Google and make a search will reveal literally millions of results. Yet, the question is, are these all good. Although it is true that there are many places to turn to. But not all copywriting services are not all equals.  In fact there no barrier of entry in this industry, which by the good, it implies a crowd of people with various competence.

It all has to do with your expectation. Do you have a website that is oriented to business or are you just trying to have to content for earning money in advertisement. Depending upon the answer to this question, you will find SEO copywriting services that will serve your need. Search engine copywriting is a basic component of internet marketing. However, there many who don’t want to write their own content, but think they need a copywriter.

SEO copywriting services in detail

Remember that the fundament purpose of SEO copywriting services is to allow your website to be as high as possible on the search engine. No one, and no one can ever guarantee that your site will be on page one of Google. However, by optimizing the content of your site with relevant and competent keywords, you increase the probability of a high ranking.

It is important to keep in mind when you are searching for SEO copywriting services, that it’s not all about the search engine. Computers don’t read your content and have no interest in what you have to say. People want to read. Therefore, make your content meaningful to your audience. Grab their attention, give them value. The content of the website must be fresh and informative. In the end your ranking will take care of itself.

Obviously it is much better to hire a firm that provides SEO copywriting services to help in your copy. It might be a bit expensive by worthwhile. They can take your product and write hopefully an article with quality and value.

What is copywriting? The Art of Selling

Whenever I find myself in a social situation of some sort, there is always someone who ask me what is copywriting. This in fact, is not a ridiculous question. It is a very smart one. Many people think they know what is copywriting by thinking that is writing things. I have found people looking for copywriting for their blog, when in reality they wanted someone to post articles for them.

The best definition that I believe would do justice to the question of what is copywriting, is this. Copywriting is salesmanship in print. No it’s not about putting content in your blog. It’s not about writing articles, even search engine optimized articles. It is not about writing information on your web page. None of it. It is about selling.

Understanding what is copywriting

Just like you need someone to either go out there and sell your product or get on the phone and do cold calling. The answer of what is copywriting turns out to be selling on print. The copywriter uses words in a certain fashion to persuade a prospect to own the product that he’s presenting. It is important to understand that copywriting is not advertisement.

What is copywriting is not about writing clever or witty stuff in the hope that your prospect might buy the product. First, a copywriter addresses himself to a very specific audience. Meaning he has to know his market. Who is he selling to? He needs to be familiar with the product. This is indeed true also of the salesman who goes out to prospect.

When you find out what is copywriting, the next question would be, how do you learn it? There is no universities, no colleges, no schools that exist that will or can teach you copywriting. Just like there is no universities or colleges, etc. who will teach you or train you to be a salesman. In fact, copywriting is a trade that is learn at the feet of the masters.

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.