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Hi all,Welcome to our February Newsletter. I hope you are all having a fantastic year so far! This month we've got lots of information about marketing, SEO spending as well as other interesting stuff. Read about our Smart Approach to SEO spending and where online marketing is going in 2007. We've introduced a new tidbit to our newsletter: Marketing 101. We will have an article each month about different aspects of marketing and marketing your business online. This month we have started with copy writing for your website - Marketing 101: For the Love of Good Content… basic guidelines for writing web copy. Enjoy! We would love to hear any questions, comments, or ideas for future articles… just email us at info@optymise.co.nz. I wish you all a wonderful month. Happy reading, P.S. To our avid readers & you will be pleased to note that the rapidly moving nature of online marketing has forced us to take drastic measures this year - sending an extra newsletter every month! This is to ensure you have the most up to date information about what's happening in our online world. Some of the hot topics we will be touching on include the fast emerging blog marketing, RSS feeds, and article releases & watch this space! In this issue:SEO Spending - A Smart ApproachDid you know, according to an Infoworld report on Y! News online shopping increased 24 percent over the previous year, with consumers spending $102.1 billion in 2006, topping the $100 billion mark for the first time in history. Internet consumer spending as well as internet marketing spending is on the increase and there are good reasons for that trend. The first is that search engines are an increasingly pivotal online location for consumers and business buyers and this is where businesses have to show up to access consumers. The second is that marketers are putting more of their marketing budgets into search engine marketing. That would include paid ads, text link purchases and optimisation of websites. This competitiveness means you need to plan better and invest more. In the years I've been an SEO specialist, I've noticed that those who spend the most on SEO get better returns on that investment. That seems like a no-brainer, but you really need to think about search engine results for a moment. The top ranking sites get all the clicks, so unless your SEO expenditure can get you into those top rankings, your performance will lag. Estimates are that the top ranking listing gets 40% of clicks, the second spot 20% and the third captures 10% of all viewers (Infoworld). The rest get a few percent each. If you consider Google's dominating market share of searches. For SEO, Google is everything. In essence, they control access to consumers with their algorithm. Google rankings are very competitive. Everyone wants that same piece of real estate. Location - Location - Location - search marketing is investing in online real estate Make 2006 a successful year for your company!
Basic Guidelines for Any Web or Marketing CopyWe've all been traumatized by tragic attempts at copywriting that left us wishing we'd never even bothered wasting our time reading it. Creating the stark opposite - copy that grabs, engages, entertains and informs the reader - is a craft that is improved over time. To become a Copywriting Jedi is to endure the process as you carefully learn the ways of the pen. And no one, no matter how gifted, can escape the basic rules of good marketing copy. Effective copy is an important part of creating a strong foundation for any marketing effort. And whether you are a professional writer or a marketing pro who has been strapped with copywriting duties, the challenge of creating fresh, effective content presents itself every time you face the blank page. The last thing a copywriter wants is to create painfully dry copy that exhausts or confuses the reader. Begin with these guidelines and you are unlikely to find yourself in this predicament: Have Something to SayFirst, begin with a really clear, strong marketing message. This gets into a much larger issue - your company's internally defined identity, value proposition, competitive advantage, brand and image in the marketplace. If the company's message is not clear, as a writer you will find it difficult to consistently convey that message. But when the message is clear and consistent - when you think of online auctions, you think of TradeMe; when you think of the "cool" MP3 Player, you think of the Apple iPod; when you think of a motorcycle, you think of a Harley - you know in which direction your writing effort is going. And even when faced with the most challenging copywriting task, you will have a defined starting point for the writing process. Throw Out Your Grammar Book - Or Don'tNothing kills your credibility like copy that has bad spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors. While checking to prevent this seems like a logical step, it is often dismissed. But is proper grammar really that important? A marketing copywriter's bible would be quite handy to resolve issues such as this: copy that follows the rules of grammar vs. copy that follows the rules of language. Which is best? All over the Web, you will find content that supports both theories. Most writers will argue that it just depends - and, truthfully, it does. There are instances when the standard rules of grammar just won't work because it makes the copy seem too stiff and structured. And, there are instances when proper grammar is essential to project a level of professionalism and expertise. Making this step a priority can mean the difference between being perceived as a professional or as an amateur attempting to be a professional - the difference between being trusted and not being trusted, getting the sale and not getting the sale. Think about it: if a company is too lazy to make sure the marketing materials they distribute are polished and professional, then how can I, John Q. Prospect, trust that they will do any better for me? The bottom line is: using proper grammar or not is a judgment call. However, when you err on the side of grammatical correctness, the copy has a tendency to flow better - not that you have to get it exactly right all of the time. But if you at least make the effort to be grammatically correct, you'll already be ahead of most of your competitors. Break It UpIf the reader is looking at a rather dense section of marketing copy, the page must be aesthetically pleasing to hold their interest. This is easily achieved with style and formatting techniques such as increasing font size for major headings; bolding, italicizing and underlining text; double spacing between paragraphs; adding in bullets; and using art and graphics - preferably color. And when you are copywriting for the Web, incorporating links in the copy using anchor text to send the reader to another page on your site is essential. At Least Two Sets of EyesNo matter how brilliant you think your writing is, sending out any marketing copy without someone checking behind you is careless and ill-advised. If you have been doing this, then check your ego and your Jedi Inksaber at the door and get someone to read behind you. There should always be at least two sets of eyes - yours and someone else's - reviewing any copy before it leaves the office. The problem with writing copy and then attempting to be your own editor is that you are more likely to read your copy the way you wrote it, not the way it appears on the page. In other words, you need a pair of objective eyes to read your copy behind you. This two-step reviewing process gives you the opportunity to better see what the reader will see. You'll quickly learn if your overall theme is clearly conveyed, if the major points of the writing make sense, whether or not the copy flows well and if you've missed any of the fine details. When following the Copywriting Jedi path, these basic ideas merely familiarize you with your Inksaber. Obviously, there is much more to learn, because if good copywriting were this easy, most everyone would be good at it. But, these basic concepts create a strong foundation for any copywriting task and prevent you from becoming the sad topic of conversation around the office. At Optymise, we know the importance of effective Web and marketing copy. If you are interested in updating the content on your site to improve your rankings in the major search engines, give us a call at 64 3 377 0803 or email us info@optymise.co.nz
Sites of InterestHere are some sites we've designed/promoted/loved recently (including some of Time Magazine's Top 50 Coolest websites):
CONTACT US today to find out about any of these services, or to fill out a brief outlining your business and website goals. We will assess your needs and be in touch with you with our recommendations. P.S. Did you like our Marketing 101? Want to know more? Our SEOs offer top level consultancy at an hourly rate.Contact us to book a consultation. |
