I got married on the 6^th August, and have literally just come back off my honeymoon from a cruise to the Mediterrean and it was fantastic!

Besides this trip being the furthest I have ever travelled – EVER – the views were spectacular. I loved every single minute of it, and can’t wait going travelling again. I have even got a tan!

Plus the break was creatively refreshing, which will be great from my copy.

Many copywriters will tell you that it is important to keep up with your writing, but I feel a break from your work – every now and then – is a great way to prevent writers block.

We have all been there. Staring at a headline, stuck on what to write, but as with any piece of copy. When you take a step back and move onto something else, you will return with a new set eyes and ideas… well they will be flowing.

And for me personally, it was just the break I needed. My mind is now clear and raring to go

Rowena xx

You see, RSS feeds are a great way to increase the number of subscribers to your website. Either through subscriptions to your newsletters, news stories or to your online marketing campaign as a whole, RSS feeds can help you to create a solid base of subscribers who will happily spread news of your website across the internet.

Currently RSS news feed adoption runs at 11% – which I know sounds incredibly low – however, subscribers a notorious for sharing this information with others, leading to more subscriptions and potentially more leads for you.

Okay, so how does this relate to copywriting?

RSS feeds are only as good as the content subscribers are registering for. Give them poorly written copy and they are not exactly going to recommend you to someone else, are they? If anything they will unsubscribe.

For this reason, it is essential when using RSS feeds to use good quality copy to keep them hooked. Not only will this enable you to regularly update your website with fresh new content, but it can potentially enhance your search engine optimisation.

So if you are looking for new inventive ways to encourage more visits to your website, I suggest using RSS feeds. Just make sure first that you are putting it on for the right reasons.

Don’t be deceived by their article appearance – some of these tutorials are pretty good and are a great refresher if you haven’t written for a particular niche for a while. Plus, most of them are free.

I recently subscribed to one – completely free – and I received daily tutorials through my inbox which covered the benefits of SEO, how to generate massive traffic, internet marketing, blogging, keyword article marketing. It was a great read.

If you are interested, the tutorial was by a well know online marketer Titus Hoskins who has established himself in the online marketing arena as a comprehensive copywriter as well as a successful affiliate marketer.

And the information I acquired through reading these emails was incredible. Alongside his tips on how to implement the best marketing tools, he also offered a pool of resources that you could freely download from his site: including SEOElite.

His resources alone are a good reason to subscribe – he has covered every possible problem you could come across when creating a website from scratch, plus shows you how to write powerful copy.

Now the one tip I do suggest you follow when subscribing to these tutorials, is to first check out the author of these courses and also the quality of the course themselves.

I once went on one which basically repeated all the best known tips – essentially tips you can find in any article, anywhere on the web.

Now if you are new to online marketing, reading these tutorials is okay, but if you want to take your online marketing strategy to the next level, it is best to keep searching for higher quality articles.

The key is to focus on one aspect at a time, and progress from there.

Rowena

PS. Here are some decent ones that I have found:

http://www.marketingtoolguide.com/Resources/netwriting_masters_course.htm

http://www.adcopywriting.com

http://www.pandecta.com/copy.html

Yet the most frustrating thing for me is the use of ‘templates’ by online marketers.

In one article I read recently, I was confronted with 9 easily adaptable headlines that have been used – over and over again – for the last 40+ years – I know since the 1960’s! And the most worrying aspect to this article was how prevalent all these headlines still are.

Take a look and you’ll see what I mean: http://www.infomarketingblog.com/9-headline-templates-that-have-a-prayer – you can find any one of these ‘headline templates’ on the internet, being used and modified for a variety of different markets.

Now I understand the reasons behind why the man who created this article did this. His ultimate goal was to show online marketers – like you and me – what type of headlines work, and how they can easily be adapted to every niche available.

And also, I cannot deny that these headlines do, do their job – they grab you hook, line and sinker, and make you want to keep reading.

I suppose what bothered me most about this article is the whole lack of creativity. For me, personally, I love playing around with headlines and experimenting, and with these 9 templates there is none of that. If anything they are highly repetitious.

Take the following example he provided.

Original: ‘For golfers who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their game – and can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong:’

Examples provided:

• ‘For Internet Marketers who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their conversions – and can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong:’
• ‘For mutual fund investors who are almost (but not quite) satisfied with their portfolios – and can’t figure out what’s missing:’

See what I mean? Now obviously this headline is more suitable for offline publications, but the impact is still the same. It is the same headline being recycled over and over again.

Now maybe I am looking into this too much. But this article does get you thinking about all the different headlines which are currently being used – and recycled – across the market. It is surprising how little variance there is.

Recently we have been re-designing our email marketing strategy for one of our clients – Property Mentor – and as part of our reformatting I have been able to play around with Photoshop, which has been great for helping me learn how to modify graphics.

You see, for one of my emails, I needed to modify a flow diagram which had previously been used on one of our landing pages. But before I could use it I first needed to alter the copy within the flow diagram to make it appropriate to the subject matter of the email, and also change its colour to make it distinctly different to the landing page it originated from.

In the past this kind of job would have gone to design, but in order to ensure that the email went out on time, I needed to make these changes myself.

And I did it!

Borrowing the advice of the design team, I learnt how to copy this flow diagram through a screen shot, modify its colour scheme using Photoshop and Ctrl + U, and re-insert it back into an email – Something in the past that I would have needed help on!

The satisfaction of being able to make these modifications myself plus enhance my Photoshop skills is incredible. I now have got access to a readily made template that I can use over and over again within my email marketing strategies.

I can’t wait to apply these new marketing tools to other email campaigns.

Rowena xx

To say that copy is undervalued on many websites wouldn’t be an understatement. The number of websites I find daily that are poorly punctuated, poorly laid out and actually tell you nothing about the company or the product you are investing in is astounding.

The problem is many online marketers rely on the show, rather than on the tell; the features rather than the benefits and as a result their copy suffers.

What they forget is that by supplying just a few strong paragraphs of copy which discuss the values of their product/service, that they could in fact turn a consumer’s interest into a real, profitable sale.

Consider it for a moment.

If you went into a shop looking for sun tan lotion, the first thing you would do is read the label. Why? To see what makes this product better than the product sitting next to it.

Without this copy, there is nothing for the consumer to use in order to differentiate which is better.

This is the same of websites. The only problem you have got here is that this time consumers have got nothing substantial to touch. All they got to rely on is an image provided by you.

Yet by adding a few strong paragraphs of copy, detailing all the perks and benefits your product has got to offer, you can tell them why your product is better; why your product is why and most importantly why they should choose you.

So take the time to tell your story properly. Do that and your ‘show and tell’ combo will work.

Rowena x

In the last 2 months we have launched a number of campaigns for our clients, utilising a variety of different techniques to help them become a success. Yet the most surprising element to these campaigns was how the simplest techniques bought the greatest results.

Beyond adding benefits to every feature, the introduction of the following techniques made a huge difference to the leads/conversions we generated.

One: Establishing a deadline

Possibly one of the oldest tricks in the book, introducing a deadline to your offering is notably the most powerful as it creates such a sense of urgency.

In one sentence you are telling consumers that they need to make a decision, otherwise they will be missing out on a great deal.

Of course the deal needs to be worth accepting, but let’s say for examples sake that you choose to add a fee to a service that was previously free. For those who have been pondering this offer for a while, this sudden deadline will leave them in a situation whereby they must either accept whilst it is still free or pay a fee at a later date.

Two: Making it personal

Adding a face to a business can do wonders in boosting the confidence of consumers. For every service, solution or product that you provide, by adding a name to the offer you can give them the reassurance they need to know that they are not being conned.

The technique is purely psychological, but it does create the right reaction.

Think about it a moment… a scientist for example wouldn’t recommend a weight loss product unless he/she thought it would work. By backing it, they are putting their own name at stake.

This is the same when promoting a product online. If Jo Bloggs says ‘the course can increase your cash flow by £500+’, the consumer instantly thinks ‘they wouldn’t say that unless they really believed it.‘

Obviously a scientist has more standing than the average person, but have enough people say ‘this product is incredible‘ and soon consumers will begin to believe it.

Now I won’t go into all the details of what we used, but I think you can see what I mean when I say even the simplest of changes to your copy can make a substantial difference to your results.

It is all a matter of releasing them at the right moment.

Rowena xx

Until you know your market; know your audience and have a keen sense of which marketing strategies work, putting pen to paper (so to speak) isn’t always enough.

Even now, as I write copy for new clients, there is a certain period of adjustment where I have to get used to what they require. Heavily sales focused or benefits driven – each require a style different from the other.

I suppose the best advice I can give is to practice and keep trying until you find a technique which works best for you. After all, isn’t split testing simply a case of trial and error? It is. You put a website or index page together, show it to the public and wait to see which they respond best to. This is the same with copy. There will always be one version that appeals more.

Another helpful thing to do is to read up on copywriting itself. There are loads of free copywriting tutorials on the web that can offer you credible writing advice and tips.

So just give it a go and see what happens. All it takes is practice.

Good luck

Rowena xx

I myself love watching movies. If I could go every day I would – though I would never get any work done lol. What I love about them is the adverts prior to the film commencing. In a 2-3 minute clip they have got the ability to pull in my imagination and have me eagerly awaiting their film release.

Now unlike everyone else who gets pulled in by the fast paced action sequences, what I find fascinating about them is their sales spiel. Aside from the cheesy voices – admit it they’ve all got them – they know exactly what to say to get me hooked.

Sci-fi, romance, action… like any copy you can find on the internet, they persuade you through language to come and watch their movie.

Ok, so how can a movie inspire my copy?

Simple. They utilise some of best formulas seen in online sales pitches: questions; statements; the promise of more to come… I have come up with some of my best sales copy from watching how these trailers entice me into wanting more.

So open your mind to what is going on around you and consider what gets you wanting to invest in a product or a film… it could give you the inspiration you need to form your next advertising campaign.

Rowena xx

I have been working as a copywriter for over a year now, and I always thought my family understood what I did. Wrong, wrong, wrong… speaking to one of my sisters last week she thought I wrote legal documentation for our clients whilst the other… well… was completely clueless if I am honest.

To quote: “I usually zone out when you start talking about work…” – shame on her, lol.

Taking their insights into consideration I decided to put my growing theory to the test, and went around my friends asking them what I thought I did. Out of ten of them, only two kind of got it right. They barely touched base on all the different tasks I have to do every day, so with this idea in mind I thought I would do a post about my job

What is a copywriter?

For me personally, the bulk of the copy I produce is all for online marketing purposes; however I do occasionally do offline content.

To sum it up though, I write:

• Content for entire website builds (the whole shebang: index page, internal pages etc)
• Articles (offsite/onsite)
• Landing pages
• Press releases (offsite/onsite)
• Reviews
• Blogs
• Email campaigns
• Case studies
• Biographies
• Questionnaires
• Reports
• Proofreading

And some of these are just scratching the surface of what I do, but I think you get the picture lol

So next time you are wondering: what does a copywriter do? I hope you find this post helpful

Speak soon.

Rowena xx