About Nick Burns

I’ll Help Your Internet Marketing  Succeed with Carefully Crafted Web Copy

I live and work in Utica, at the center of New York State. People here have a hard time figuring out what to call it…Central NY, Upstate NY, the Utica Rome area, or the Mohawk Valley. I usually tell people simply, “It’s Utica, right in the center of New York.”

One thing we all agree on is that it’s a tough economy. And that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about helping small business boost sales with Web writing and internet marketing. Everything we thought we knew about advertising has been blown out of the water with online marketing—and all to the advantage of small business.

Now almost any small business can create a buzz with website and Web page optimization, blogs, emails, and social marketing. I’ve been a business owner my entire career and I’ve never seen it easier and cheaper for small business to connect with its marketplace.

Over the years, I’ve owned an insurance agency and a regional book distributor. (To this day, both enjoy continued success.) I started Nicholas K. Burns Publishing in 2001, specializing in regional books, especially about the Adirondacks.

Insurance and book publishing may seem a far cry from Web content writing, but each experience has made me a better Web writer. Here’s how…

My 23 years underwriting insurance taught me the value of understanding a client’s business, its products, and its customers. Completing a Web Creative Brief is less intense than working through insurance applications, but it serves the same purpose…providing me with crucial information about your products, services, and customers.

With the Web Creative Brief we’ll talk about features and benefits and how your products improve people’s lives. Then we’ll get inside the head of your customers and prospects. I’m interested in who they are, what they think about your product, and how they’d search for it. To engage your online visitors we need to write to their head…and to their heart.

Owning a book publishing company has taught me the beauty and power of the written word. And, what it takes to organize, edit, and rewrite until the message is crystal clear to your intended audience. Oh, and I also get plenty of practice marketing to niche audiences in an intensely competitive marketplace.

Call me anytime at 315.738.1890 or email at nick@nkbmarketing.com. Maybe you’d like me to optimize your website, write an email sales campaign, or announce in print the new content on your website. Or just talk about internet marketing and how your business fits into this wonderful new world of interactive communication.

A Little About Me…

I grew up in Clinton, NY, graduating from Clinton High School way back in 1971. Clinton, home to Hamilton College here in Central New York, is a wonderful small town. The prettiest little village in the Northeast, I like to say. I played varsity hockey and golf at CCS, then went on to St. Lawrence University, where I graduated in 1975. (Only intramural hockey for me at St. Lawrence…they’re Division I!)

I married my wife, Suzy, in 1987 and moved just up the road to Utica where I still live and work. Three of our four kids are in college, the oldest having graduated May of last year.

Utica and Central NY is a great place to live with its change of seasons, terrific schools, and close proximity to the Adirondacks. I’m a lector at church and enjoy a little golf every now and then. Some cross-country skiing helps keep the engine running smoothly in our cold northeastern winters.

I’m also an enthusiastic member of one of our local Toastmasters groups, CNY BizTalkers. Check out this short video called “Summers over…It’s Time for Toastmasters.” It’s fun and runs only a minute or so. Toastmasters gives you the secrets to speaking publicly with confidence, authority, and flair. If you’re in business, consider taking advantage…I think you’ll be glad you did!

As I mentioned above, one of the reasons I’m so excited about helping small business boost sales on the internet is that our economy here in Central NY is pretty depressed. As the saying goes, if you can make money here, you can make it anywhere! These are tough times throughout the country, and I want to do my part to change that.

So, no matter where you are, I encourage small business owners, non-profits, and internet entrepreneurs to call me and talk about that one missing piece to most online marketing programs…well crafted, effective Web content.

Talk soon,

Nick Burns