I specialize in a new kind of content. But in many ways it’s really a descendant of an ancient, almost lost way of doing business. You’ll still see that old way in restaurants, hair salons, and liquor stores. But not in many other places. Two web copy insights from those ...
Marketing on the Internet
Everything we thought we knew about advertising has been blown out of the water on the Web. The visitor-centric, interactive nature of the Internet has turned old-school advertising on its head, all to the benefit of small business.
The thing is, today’s internet marketing demands a much different kind of sales message. Marketers struggling with their old-fashioned approach to advertising find that their brochures, flyers, and ads don’t work well online. These posts will help you develop customer-centric marketing based on the way your audience uses today’s internet.
3 Sales Page Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make
Here’s the thing about sales page mistakes. Internet marketing is not your parent’s advertising. You don’t blast your message out there on tv, radio, or in print. People are actively searching online for exactly what you offer. Your job as a website owner is to be there when they do, ...
Website Creative Brief: Getting to Know You & Your Customers
What could the content I wrote for a law firm, manufacturer, and beauty salon have in common? Fact is, I asked them all for the same kinds of information from the same website creative brief.
The website creative brief is the tool I use to learn about clients’ products and ...
How Important is Website Content?
If you’re wondering how to get more out of your internet marketing, consider...how important is website content?
In my experience, business owners are often unsure about content. But it’s really not their fault. The website design/development world has made it difficult for them to expand their thinking beyond internet technology. ...
What They Don’t Tell You About Painting the Porch
My wife Suzy and I had our front and back porches rebuilt this year…after the monsoons of spring and early summer here in the Northeast. Some parts of the porches were rotting out and another got hit by one of the kids’ friends’ years ago and knocked askew.
So our ...
Content Strategy: What to Write to Attract and Retain a Target Audience
“Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?” Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. on writer’s block.
You own your website and blog. Your social media pages are free. But if you’re going to profit from ...
Simple Buyer Persona Helps You Connect
The buyer persona is the next chapter in the book on your business. Here you try to get into the head of your customers and prospects. You begin to understand them in a way that helps you build an alliance online. One that’s mutually profitable. You make money, they get their ...
Your Business Solutions: The Fun Part of the Plan
Customers desire your business solutions. They are actively searching online for exactly what you offer. They’re alert, interested, and ready for action. That huge pool of people purposefully Googling for answers is the new natural order…It’s your web tailwind.
So let’s ride that tailwind with a “content first” plan that ...
Know Customer Pain Points for Better Content Creation
Customer pain points are a critical factor in determining customer motivation. I use the MECLABS Institute’s Conversion Sequence Heuristic to guide me in understanding customer motivation as I create optimized content. It’s a tool based on experimentation that helps you organize your thinking as you optimize your web pages.
Within the conversion sequence ...
How a Business Model Sets Up Your Content Marketing Campaign
What does a business model and goals have to do with your content marketing campaign? Answer: better, more relevant content geared to what you want to accomplish.
Creating content that attracts your ideal prospects takes crystal clear writing. That’s because you’re not there with your prospects to explain what you ...
