What to do? Here are three things you may want to consider:

• SEO (search engine optimization): Writing with specific keywords in mind is a key to search engine success. Search engines pick up on the words you designate crucial to your business, to help place you at the top when a potential client is searching for you or the kinds or services or products you offer. Don’t be afraid to blog or write multiple articles centering on similar topics – this will only boost your business in the search engines.
• Ghostwriting: Having a professional writer is like having a partner in business you never knew you had. Ghostwriters will work closely with you to successfully market your product. Whether it be for a website, press kit, marketing materials or other services, a good ghostwriter will learn the ins and outs of your business and will be able to get your point across more effectively (and free you up to do what you do best).
• Press Kits: It’s safe to say that e-mailing has become a mainstay of communication, and not just for sending pictures. Building an electronic (“e”) press kit offers a complete PR kit for your business in an easy-to-send file (usually a pdf). Press releases, press clippings, interviews, your bio and other components are compiled in one convenient file. You won’t have to struggle to get the word out about your business – a click of the mouse is all it will take!

Related posts:

1. What is SEO copywriting? (Part 1 of 2)
2. What is SEO copywriting? (Part 2 of 2)
3. Go Green With Your Copywriting – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!

Want your marketing writing to be more eco-conscious?  Here are some tips:

Reduce. There’s tons to read on the web right now, almost too much for many business people to handle. How do you have your business’ voice heard? Writing distinct, short, easy-to-scan copy allows readers to really understand what you have to say (or what you’re selling), without being long-winded.

Reuse. Have something important to say? Say it more than once! If you want clients to have your message in their heads, put it there and keep it there. Blog posts can turn into informational website articles, and can be submitted to the almost infinite number of article submission sites that go out to the masses every day.

Recycle. This may seem similar to “reuse,” but recycling isn’t always about your own content. Finding information from other sources allows you to expand on subjects you’re most passionate about. Ask experts and colleagues to post guest blogs and write guest columns. Find information and ask the contributor or writer if you can re-print and it for your audience. The Internet is a great source of shared information – use it (honestly, of course) to your benefit for business success!

Related posts:

1. What is SEO copywriting? (Part 2 of 2)
2. Top Tips For DIY (Do It Yourself) Copywriting
3. What is SEO copywriting? (Part 1 of 2)

To make the Google cut, your copy needs to be:

• Relevant: To the topic, to your customers, to the search engine. Google wants to see that you are actually writing about what you say you are writing about, so if you list “travel to Mexico” as a keyword for your page, make sure that travel to Mexico is a theme or idea you discuss on that particular page.

  Trust me, Google will know if you are being tricky – it won’t work and you and your site will be penalized.

• Updated: If the last time you revised your web page or site was 2004, it’s not new or up-to-date. Google likes recency. And that’s the beauty of the online medium – it can be added to or updated almost instantly and constantly.

  News, information, tips, new ideas – whatever you have to say, you can say it. Just make sure you keep your search engine ranking goals in mind at all times.

• More quality than quantity: Good SEO copy is not about making sure that your page or article has XX number of words or XX% of keywords. (Though you will meet tons of people who give you all sorts of percentages and density numbers.)

It’s about using the words you know you need to have in a way that is consistent, relevant, well-written and logical. It’s about following through – focusing on what you are telling Google through your meta tags that you’re going to focus on.

Related posts:

1. What is SEO copywriting? (Part 1 of 2)
2. Create a successful SEO campaign
3. Top Tips For DIY (Do It Yourself) Copywriting

For the rest of us who always want to learn more, when it comes to natural or organic search engine rankings (as opposed to the kind you pay for, like pay per click), there are a number of issues to consider.

Back in the day, SEO (search engine optimization) copywriting wasn’t something most businesses even knew they were looking for. But all that has changed, and understandably so – these days, who isn’t trying to crack the Google code and catapult themselves and their business to the top of the search engine pages??

Most people do not (please don’t be offended) know how to write good, effective SEO copy – they just don’t. Good SEO copy needs to “speak” to two audiences – the target market who ultimately needs to make a buying decision AND the search engines. Both need to be spoken to within the same copy. And that same copy needs to do its job so well that both groups think that that copy is directed right at them.

A tall order, huh?

Learn more specifically what you need to know about good SEO writing for your website and other online marketing in my next blog entry.

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But there was one problem. A pretty big problem. The blog was empty. Actually, it wasn’t totally empty, it had a few random posts here and there but they were few and far between.

As he told me his tale of blogging woes, he even diagnosed the problem himself: Unattended Blog Syndrome or “UBS.” (I am not making this up, he really called it that.) Blogs are insatiable when it comes to having enough copy – there is no such thing as ever being “done” with your blog as you might be with another marketing vehicle, like a brochure or a web page.

Don’t let yourself or your company fall prey to UBS. Here are some basic but very important tips for keeping UBS away from you and your team:

1. Investigate and report. Become a journalist whose beat is your industry. What are your competitors writing about? What are the top bloggers in your industry saying? What trend or news items are the associations, trade publications and periodicals of your industry covering? (And what are they not writing about?)
2. It’s still business. One of the great things about blogging is that you can write in a casual, conversational tone. But don’t take the reduction in formality to mean that you can let it all hang out. Your business blog is not a place to discuss your social life or your child’s habits UNLESS there is a very definite and specific business-related and sales-related reason to do so! (And by all means if you want to get down to the brass tacks of your personal life, create a personal blog on the side and go for it!)
3. Teach, inform and explain. Don’t push! I believe in an information-to-sales ratio of 80/20. Teach, inform, comment and show yourself and your business to be the leader of the pack. Establish your expertise and sprinkle in some related services or products you’re selling. Go for the hard sell and you’re sure to lose out, no matter how often you’re blogging.

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1. It is actually about them, not you.
Your marketing copy isn’t where you tell your life story or replicate your college thesis. It’s not about your style, your preferences or your own “voice.” It’s not even about what you personally think or want. It’s about the audience, the product/ service and, ultimately, about selling.

2. Go easy on the eyes.
Nothing tires the eyes and kills interest more than a big block of endless black text. So include bullets, sub-heads, questions, sidebars and headlines to break your copy into easy-to-scan chunks.

3. Back it up and be realistic.
Don’t over-promise or over-hype. Be honest in your copy, just as you would in a verbal conversation. Your target market will love you for it and will be all the more attracted to you and your products/services.

4. Tell them what to do next.
Don’t lead them to the end and then leave them hanging. Tell them what they need to do to become your customer. Whether it is by phone, e-mail, coming into the store or by Pony Express for that matter, tell them clearly and precisely. You’d be amazed by how many businesses forget to include a clear call to action in their copy.

5. Speak their language.
Know who you are writing and marketing to. Are there certain must-use words? Are there major no-no words? Use an acronym or jargon only if you’re certain everyone will know what you’re talking about. If the writing comes across as disconnected from its audience, this will be evident from the get-go.

6. Become a wealth of information.
So, you’re an expert? Show it! Pack your copy with expert advice, tips, resources and information. It’s more important to be seen as a trusted expert thank it is to “make the sale” each and every time.

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