You all know how important it is to produce a continual stream of content.

But under no circumstances is that content to be a blatant sales pitch.

What? I can’t sell? Then what’s the point?

If you generate content that is just all about selling, no one is going to read it and people will be turned off your company because of it.

But, if you generate content that is full of cracking information that people love, you’ll draw them to you. Mind you, just because you can’t directly sell through your content doesn’t mean you can’t use it to gently persuade them to take a specific action.

What I’m talking about here is to get your reader to do something you want them to do (other than put pound in your till), such as signing up for your newsletter, downloading your latest report or white paper, following you on a social media platform (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Google+) or subscribe to your blog RSS feed.

By giving them information in exchange for a relatively minor thing (well, minor in their minds), you can enhance and build on your relationship with them.

How to get them to do what you want them to do

There are 2 ways to achieve your goal:

• Through your readers fear
• Through your readers desires

What do I mean?

Well, everyone is motivated either by having a problem they need to solve, or wanting something that’s going to improve their life, income or general well-being.

In either case, the method to go about convincing them you’re the company they need is to use the following format:

First, convince them they have either a serious problem (this will be particularly relevant if you are a company that helps solve problems) or that they will greatly benefit from you. For many companies, they will fall into both categories, i.e. being a problem solver and a benefits giver.

Secondly, you must counter any potential objections the reader may have, such as price etc.

Thirdly, once you’ve established the fear or desire the reader is feeling, you can offer your product/service as the life line they’ve been looking for.

So, there you go.

Every piece of content you produce must convince your reader to do something, but without overtly selling to them.

Next time you write a blog post, create some web copy or post on a social media platform, think about what you want to achieve from your writing and make sure it has a purpose.

Over to you

Does your content always have a purpose?

Have you found any great methods that work for you?

Leave a comment below and share your successes.

Sally Ormond, Copywriter

The regular addition of fresh content will undoubtedly help your search engine optimisation strategy, generate more traffic and therefore potential business.

But just adding content for the sake of it could do more harm than good.

If you write or commission a copywriter to create a vast number of SEO rich articles for your website are you really adding value?

“But I’m driving traffic!” I hear you cry.

You many well be but what’s in it for those people when they find your article?

• What value will it add?
• What’s your call to action?
• Is it really all that relevant?

If your content doesn’t offer the reader anything or ask anything of them, what’s the point?

Adding fresh content to your website is a good thing.

Making sure it’s search engine optimised is great.

But you also have to ensure it’s relevant, adds value and asks something of your reader. If you don’t they’ll skim read and head off to another website because you haven’t used that content to draw them into your website, get interested about your product or buy.

So the moral of this post is – add content, make it relevant and make sure there’s a call to action/lead into your main website.

However too many understand it is what needs to be done in today’s online world but jump in without thinking.

Their lack of strategy, experience, understanding and their unrealistic expectations lead to the onset of apathy and bewilderment resulting in the misguided belief that online content marketing doesn’t work.

But as a copywriter, I have been using online content marketing to promote my business for the past 4 years and it really does work. You just have to know what you’re doing.

Get an online marketing plan

The number one mistake made by companies that launch headlong into content marketing is their lack of empathy with their readers.

They write about what they want to know about rather than what their readers want. It’s this disparity that leads to a big fat nothing in the effectiveness of their marketing.

So before you even consider blogging, tweeting or Facebooking you must find:

• What they’re looking for
• How they want it presented (their content preference)
• When they need the information

How do you find that out?

There are a number of ways you can research the information you need to know –

Ask them – the good old fashioned survey either through email, blogging or just asking them face to face. Do they need ‘how to’ guides? If so, what format (eBooks, video, podcast etc)?

Analytics – look at your website analytics and see what they’re looking at. If your website has a video on it and it’s not getting any hits, perhaps your visitors are trying to tell you something.

Social media – if you‘re using social media, listen to what your customers are saying, that can give you some great clues about what their needs are.

Keywords – going back to your analytics, the data on your keywords can tell you a lot about what people are looking for, the words they use to find you etc.

If you want your content marketing to be successful you must listen to your customers and provide them with what they want, when they want it and in a format they like.

Of course not everyone will want the same things so your strategy will have to flexible. But listen, understand and then react.

When you market your business on the internet, success is all about traffic.

With traffic come customers.

With customers comes money.

So, if you want to be a success on line you need traffic and customers.

But how do you go about achieving that? What can you do to boost your traffic and persuade your traffic to buy from you?

Here are 4 ideas to help you.

1. Keywords

You know your market; you know what they’re searching for. So by using those keywords, you’ll attract more of your target market.

By incorporating the keywords within your SEO website content, articles and blogs you are increasing the chances of your content appearing within your market’s search results.

But make sure you use specific terms that are relevant to your products and services. A shed load of traffic is no use if it’s not looking for what you offer.

2. Video

Video marketing is very popular. People love to research and watch them online so make the most of it by incorporating them on your website.

Produce short videos displaying your products – they can be ‘how tos’ or video case studies about how people have benefited from your product.

3. Pictures

Selling online has one major disadvantage to selling in a shop—your customers can’t come in to your store and see what they are buying.

People don’t like ‘buying blind’ so remove that obstacle by adding pictures of your products to your website.

4. Email marketing

Email marketing gives you a way of maintaining regular contact with your customers and prospective customers.

You can use them to give tips, advice, news and special offers all of which will lead the reader back to your website and encourage them to buy.

These four simple ideas can make a huge difference to your traffic. If your website isn’t attracting visitors it won’t sell anything.

It could be the most beautiful website ever seen but unless it pulls in visitors and converts them into buying customers it’s not worth the money you paid for it.

As a copywriter I am frequently asked by people how to write effective copy.

Creating something that is interesting, relevant and that sells isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

There are a number of factors that have to be taken into consideration when creating copy for your website, brochure, newsletter, email campaign etc.

You must think about your audience, why you’re writing, what you want to achieve from it and that’s before you start looking at it from your customers perspective.

The easiest way to explain effective copy is to look at it from a ‘questions point of view’—put on your journalist’s hat and follow me…

W-W-W-W-W-H

Who?

Who is your product going to help? This will identify your target market and help you develop the right tone and voice through which you’ll convey your message.

What?

What am I writing about? What will it mean to my customers? This will help you identify the main benefits of your product or service. After all it’s the benefits that will persuade your reader to buy. It’s all about what it will do for them.

When?

Will your product help them now or in the future? How long will your offer last? Timing is crucial, especially with your offer.

Where?

Where can they order or buy your product? If they don’t know how they can get hold of it, how can they buy it? This might sound obvious but you’d be amazed at how many people forget this simple detail.

Why?

Why should they buy it? Yes we’re back to those benefits again. Why is it going to make their life better?

How?

Make sure you let them know how it works, how much it costs, how they can buy it etc.

Once you’ve covered all of those points you must also:

• Keep it simple – write in simple language, with simple sentences. Don’t use jargon as that is a real turn-off.
• Call to action – remember to always tell your reader what you want them to do (call now, buy now, sign up now etc.) otherwise they’ll just walk away.
• Honesty – it really is the best policy. If you make claims about your offerings make sure they are genuine. You want to build a relationship of trust.
• Offer – if you want your offer to appeal to your market make sure it fulfils their needs. To add extra impact make it time limited or limit it by number.

The main thing to remember when writing copy is always have your reader in mind, tell  them what they want to know, make an offer that will appeal to them and leave them in no doubt as to why their lives will be enhanced by it.

Regular contact with your customers (and prospective customers) is vital, which is why many businesses now produce a monthly (or at least regular) newsletter.

It is a great way to nurture relationships.

They can be used to convey great information, industry updates, special offers, announcements, helpful hints—anything that will add value to your customers.

By maintaining regular contact in this way you are ensuring your business name remains firmly lodged in their mind so when they are in need, it is you they will turn to.

The best way to develop your mailing list is to grow it organically—home grown will always bring in better results than a bought in list.

So how do you ensure you and your customers get the most out of your business relationship?

Well, here are 3 ways to ensure your newsletter works:

1. Opt-in

If you want someone to opt into your mailing list, you have to make it easy for them.

There’s no point in hiding your opt-in form so your reader has to search your entire website for it—because they won’t bother.

Make sure your sign-up box is highly visible, preferably on every page and simple to complete.

It would also be a good idea to quickly tell them what they can expect to receive from you, the frequency of your mailings, oh, and reassure them that you won’t share their details with anyone else.

2. Content

What you send out each month is critical.

Don’t make your content overly promotional and certainly don’t start with a sales pitch.

Kick off with a recommendation, article, or comment on industry news. Then enhance your relationship further by offering a hint or tip that your reader will find useful. Once you’ve given them something you can then bring in your offer or a case study to promote your products/services.

If you are unsure about how or what to write, it may be an idea to enlist the help of a freelance copywriter to write the content for you.

Just remember always give first and ask second.

3. Two way traffic

If you want your newsletter to enhance your relationship make sure it is easy for your reader to interact with you.

After reading your news they may want to get in touch so don’t use a “no-reply” email address. Make it simple for them.

The main thing to remember about using a regular newsletter to keep in touch with your customers is that it shouldn’t all be about selling.

Your newsletter should be used to add value to your relationship. Be generous with your information as this will develop trust and with trust comes sales.

But simply churning out articles and blogs isn’t good enough. You have to concentrate on generating quality content if you want your hard work to pay off.

There are three elements that go together to help you excel at content marketing:

• Create content that sells you
• Content that is optimised for the search engines to increase its longevity
• Repurpose your content and spread the word

Many people don’t get the idea of content marketing—it’s hard work—I don’t have time for it—no one reads it anyway…

Think like that and you’ll never get anywhere. But think of content marketing as a dirty great big megaphone that ensures your message reaches the parts other marketing can’t reach and you begin to understand its potential.

If your readers see your content all over the internet they will believe your company is providing great content, your giving valuable information, you are a market leader which means they’ll be more inclined to pick you over and above your competitors.

Content generation means you’ll get found

So what is content?

We are not just talking about white papers and reports, your content can be in the form of articles, blogs, videos, FAQs, audio.

Offering a variety of styles will appeal to different audiences therefore ensuring your message will be heard loud and clear. Not everyone likes to read long reports, not everyone likes to watch video, not everyone likes to listen to audio but by offering all forms of media you will provide something for everyone.

How to make your content great

1. Don’t be over promotional

The first thing to remember when creating your content is for it not to be constantly promotional. Yes you are producing content to promote your company but it can be done in subtle ways.

By giving information to help your readers, you will be showing yourself as an expert that is open and approachable. That alone will promote you without you blatantly pushing your products and services.

2. Be relevant

For your information to resonate with your reader it has to be relevant to them. You have to understand what your reader wants and generate it for them.

3. Well-written

You may not be writing a novel but your content must till be written like a best-seller. It has to be engaging, it has to be in good English, grammatically correct—you can’t afford to put out information that is sloppy and not thought through.

4. Relevant to your company

As your readership begins to grow, you must ensure you produce content that is relevant to your marketplace and your company.

If you are a copywriter and suddenly start writing about shoes (OK daft example but you get my drift), you audience is going to be left wandering what on earth’s going on. So make sure you keep on subject.

For example on this blog I talk about copywriting, social media marketing, search engine optimisation, online marketing, off line marketing—basically all aspects of sales and marketing. So as you can see it doesn’t have to narrow, you can widen your scope of encompass all elements of your chosen field.

5. Promote it

If you’re going to write it, promote it—otherwise what’s the point?

Use all the tools available to you—social media, PR, search engine optimisation—make it stand out and get it in front of your audience.

So if you want to excel at content marketing, write regularly, write well, write relevant material and promote it.

The copywriter’s mantra – content is king

You know how important content is, you know how important social media is, but are you using them both to achieve the optimal effect?

Having a social media strategy is great, but if it is going to work you’ll need great content to fuel it. After all you can’t have a conversation if you have nothing to say.

In the same way, generating loads of content is only good if you have devised a way of sharing it.

How to marry content and social media

A recent post on socialexaminer.com called How Content and Social Media Equal Marketing Success takes a look at this point.

The video interview with Jo Puilizzi (author of Get Content, Get Customers) highlights the importance of content and how it must be written in conjunction with your social media strategy.

But the starting point for any business is to identify the online ‘hang outs’ of your customers and start having conversations with them. Building relationships is the foundation to all social marketing – talk to them, find out what they’re looking for, contribute to their conversations and then start to provide great information.

Done effectively, your customers will absorb your information (eBooks, white papers etc) and spread them to others.

The video is about 12 minutes long but is well worth a watch.

So grab a coffee and discover how to make your content marketing go further.

How many times have you been told that?

Well, it is true. Internet marketers have been telling you for years if you want more organic traffic you must publish more web content targeted at your long tail keywords. Finally, you’re taking notice and more and more companies are adding page upon page to their websites of new content.

But of course, hiring a talented copywriter doesn’t come cheap. So, adding hundreds of new pages of content to your website is going to be expensive.

Now, there is a group of you out there who think you’ve found the perfect solution to this. I can see you patting yourself on the back because you think you’ve got the best of both worlds – shed loads of new content without the high price tag. If that’s you, you’ve probably done one of two things:

• Out sourced your content writing to an Indian company or elsewhere in the world where you can pick up loads of articles for next to nothing
• Decided to take the DIY approach and written it yourself

Big mistake!

Yes, you are increasing your web content at a great rate of knots – but at what cost? And I’m not talking about how much you’ve paid for it; I’m talking about the cost to your reputation.

Why you shouldn’t value quantity over quality

Watering down the quality of your website content in this way could have a seriously detrimental effect on your rankings. Remember those? You’ve quite possibly spent years working on your search engine optimisation to achieve great rankings, do you really want to jeopardise them now?

A big part of your SEO strategy is building back links. Of course, people will only link to you if you provide great content. If you start to water down the quality of your content with poor articles, people won’t want to link to you. And if they don’t link to you…you got it, you’ll start sliding down the rankings faster than soap down a helter-skelter. If you want to attracts links, your content must be entertaining, intertesing and appealing.

But there is a more serious consequence – yes, even more serious than affecting your rankings. Low quality content will have a detrimental effect on your company’s image. Now for the science bit – take a look at these equations:

Great Content = Increased value + Positive effect on your company’s image

Poor quality content = Disappointed readers + Negative effect on your company’s image

OK, so maths was never my strong point but I’m sure you get the gist.

Why am I telling you this?

Because, if you don’t invest in quality content for your website you are going to do some serious long term damage to your reputation.

If you’re not particularly bothered about anything I’ve warned against here, go and hire a company that will generate oodles of content for you for just a few pounds. But if you do care about your image and reputation, invest in a quality freelance copywriter and focus on getting quality content. Yes, it will cost you more but the long term benefits speak for themselves.

The choice is yours.