Marketing Writing Resources for Creative Copywriters

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This article is a Five-Minute Communication Test: Do you have connectors? In precisely five minutes, you can find out for yourself if your copy on your Web site/brochure/sales letter etc., will be read by your customer from start to finish. It's a simple, yet extremely powerful test.

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In the literary world, "good writing" may be notoriously difficult to define. But on the Web, good copy has two clear, easily understood objectives: It elevates your search engine rankings, and it attracts qualified traffic and holds the attention of your prospects and customers. On the Web, your words carry a lot of weight. Fortunately, you can build verbal muscle, fast. Following are five tips you can apply right now (with a minimum of time or technical hassle) to dramatically improve the effectiveness of your Web site writing.

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In the search engine optimization and marketing industry, there's been a rule of thumb: Longer keyword phrases have better conversion rates. But that's not the whole truth: conversion rates peak at four-word phrases. Here are strategies you should consider when developing keywords for your optimization and pay-per-click campaigns.

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Between getting caught in spam filters or being blocked by ISPs and disappearing in the sheer volume of email that's out there, it's tough to guarantee that your newsletter actually gets into the hands of your customer. Recently, the author worked with a client to improve his newsletter delivery rate by 22%. Read the following case study to see the small changes she made that made such a dramatic difference.

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The best Web sites get to the point. They ruthlessly eliminate waffle and happy talk. They focus on helping people complete key tasks as quickly as possible. The truth is, the Web is a selfish place. People don't have much time. They scan pages looking for something specific. Most people have absolutely no interest in links such as "What We Do" and "Who We Are." They only care about what you can do for them. As Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg write in their new book: "Virtually all Web sites have a persuasive purpose: to get someone to subscribe, to register, to inquire or to buy something." In other words, the crucial measure of success is the actions that have occurred.

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In a world where everything is becoming commoditized, the key to success becomes differentiation. That's becoming more difficult to achieve. Perhaps the biggest differentiation in building a business is service. That retains customers, gets them to buy again and inspires them to become apostles for you. But what kind of differentiation helps you acquire customers in the first place if your product or service appears to be a commodity?

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This week, our regularly featured "SWOT Team" column gets a new name as it becomes the weekly "Marketing Challenge" column. In it, a reader asks: How do I create a big splash on little cash? Readers respond with four excellent approaches. Also this week, suggest your own answers to the problem: What's the most effective ways to reach teens online?

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Sometimes, less is more. Especially when it comes to content. Many Web sites are too big to professionally manage with the number of staff available. There might be a Web team of four people, yet they have a site that requires at least 10 to properly manage. What happens when you have more content than you have people to manage?

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The columnist, author of "Writing Copy for Dummies," recently joined forces with Jon Warshawsky, coauthor of the newly published "Why Business People Speak Like Idiots." Together, the "dummy" and the "idiot" attacked their archenemy, Corporate Bull. What follows are five practical suggestions for shoveling your way out of the doublespeak and successfully into the embrace of colleagues and customers.

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Whether distributed via email or printed and snail-mailed, newsletters are a cost-effective way for businesses or organizations to keep in touch with employees, customers, prospects or association members. The trick, however, is to come up with a strategy to keep readers engaged and the publication's production and editorial adjustments in line with current budgets. Here are five tactics that you can use to make your newsletter more engaging for your intended recipients.

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Don't choose marketing messages based on whim or personal preference. Educate the product team about the three approaches to formulating messages. Work to identify and hone the messages. You'll find that consistently communicating these messages will help brand your product—and, if your product actually delivers its promised benefits, will increase sales over time.

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Examine your press initiative. Do you know your marketplace, and know how to reach each member of it? Are you continually building trust? Are you delivering only what people need, and only in the way they want it delivered? Or are you shooting words like rock salt from a shotgun—hoping some of it will stick somewhere but resigning yourself to most of it becoming additional unread content on a Web site?

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Web sites run by small businesses far outnumber the Web sites run by large corporations. This means that most sites are produced and operated on a relatively small budget. Each dollar counts, and must be used carefully. But few small business owners are spending enough time figuring out what constitutes an effective Web site before they pour money into the project. Time and time again, small business Web sites waste their resources on the wrong Web site elements.

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Services marketing efforts are moving online not because a few marketing consultants and strategists say they are—but because your clients and prospects are online, and their online experiences are influencing all buying decisions. Here are four arguments you can use to help your firm boldly enter the new world of online marketing.

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This week, add your two pesos to the SWOT Team dilemma: When inventing brands, what works and what doesn't? Also this week, read your answers to last week's query: What approaches work best for holiday campaigns?

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Correctly executed, the written word can be a powerful means of establishing your business in the hearts and minds of your potential customers. Many of us are inhibited, however, by popularly held—yet largely mistaken—ideas of what good business-to-business copywriting should be. Here are five of the most common and destructive myths that may be undermining the impact of your copy.

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This week, add your two cents to the following dilemma: What can a business do to determine which marketing tools are best for a particular project? Also this week, read your answers to the previous problem: How do you market without an advertising budget?

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Sure your Web site looks great, but are you turning enough Web visitors into leads that your sales force can target? Your answer can be the difference between a site that is a moneymaker and one that is nothing more than a glorified brochure. Your Web site can offer your company many opportunities to generate leads and cultivate new business. Here's how.

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A doorway page is content created specifically for the purpose of garnering high placements in the search engines. Search engines generally advise to avoid such pages as well as other "cookie cutter" approaches, such as affiliate programs with little or no original content. There are, however, acceptable alternatives.

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Developing a great logo is a strange mix of art, science, psychology and (in most cases) a good amount of luck. Last week, in part one of this two-part series, we discussed some fundamentals of logo development and design. Here, in this final installment, we delve deeper into the nitty-gritty: How to choose the right logo, the pitfalls of a too-literal logo, and, yes: size does matter.