Microblogging Webinar Available: Twitter Traffic!
March 28, 2008
Howie Schwartz is at it again. This time his target is “microblogging.” We just had a webinar two nights ago with Howie showing attendees how to use microblogs to drive traffic and open new channels on the web for people to find your stuff.
If you’ve ever wondered why someone, especially a marketer looking for traffic, would want to mess with Twitter, then you need to watch as Howie shows you exactly why.
It took a mind like Howie’s to figure out that there is real power in microblogs and microblogging platforms. Where I saw microblogs as a nuisance and utter waste of time, Howie figured out how to pull incredible clicks out of them and fill them with targeted, relevant content on autopilot.
Check out this free webinar recording on Microblogging!
Tags: automated blogging, automated microblogs, howie schwartz, microblogging, microblogs, twitter traffic
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Building True Social Authority
March 27, 2008
Below is what social authority begins to look like after you’ve mastered the art of social marketing. The list includes all my main profiles on social communities, social news sites, marketing groups, and remote blogs and pages. They are the sites I visit most frequently and get the most out of as far as traffic, links, and branding.
Note what Darren Rowse outlined in his video about keeping a consistent profile across all your sites as much as possible. Clicking through the sites below you’ll see that I’ve tried to do just that over time and it really helps with branding.
Social Power Linking is about showing up everywhere your target market surfs. This list isn’t complete. I just got tired of building it and stopped at what I thought were the main sites in my arsenal. I consider the value of belonging to the site (traffic it generates, link love it sends, and the value of the networks of contacts generated).
Digg - Pownce - Tumblr - Squidoo - LinkedIn - HubPages - YouTube - Twitter - WetPaint - SpongeFish
Tipzu - My 9rules - Revver - Mashable - Ojeez - Social Marketing Central - Blog Marketing Search
Delicious - PlugIM - Sphinn - MySpace - Facebook - Propeller - StumbleUpon - MyBlogLog - Blog Catalog
SelfGrowth Network - FriendFee - Fave - Entrecard - Windows Live Spaces
Add to the main sites above all the 2nd tier sites you inevitably join to test them out and check out the community “liveliness,” and the list quadruples in size.
Now, looking at the sample sites above, is it hard to imagine why social marketing works as well as it does? Everything we do in life, if it is worth doing at all, is a lot of work. Social marketing is no exception.
But while most of my competitors are doing traditional SEO, JVs, list mailing, and basically the same as everyone else in my niche, I am out there grabbing fresh prospects who are not on anyone’s list in my niche.
The “Born On Date” of the list members of many experts in my niche indicates a large number of people on all these lists have “expired.” You will find a good percentage of the most jaded, tight fisted prospects on great big lists whose owners have not been adding fresh prospects. Rather, they trade jaded, non-viable list members, clients, and customers back and forth depending on who is launching what at the time.
Freshening the customer base in my niche is where the money is.
People who haven’t been scammed or become jaded are far more receptive to good quality offers and tips than people the big gurus keep trading back and forth as they mail for each other.
Therefore I don’t need to have a list of 1 million people just to get by. The list of devoted, regular readers you create by authority blogging converts better, far better, than traditionally generated readerships and lists.
Consider that as you decide who to listen to when it comes to marketing online.
Every niche has this problem to a lesser degree. But none beats the IM niche for stale lists. It’s because everyone does joint ventures and simply “swaps spit” without bringing in significant new, fresh faces. Social marketing allows me to reach out and capture high quality prospects who surf the social scene and who have never heard of any of the gurus of internet marketing. (If you wanted to know one of my secrets - there it is!)
So, social marketing in any niche will also produce very fresh faces to inform and then sell to while increasing your search engine rankings, link popularity, branding, and overall niche authority. This is because most people do it wrong who are trying it without professional guidance.
Man cannot exist on “free blog tips” alone where social marketing is concerned!
Social Power Linkers “get it” and they are doing really well with social marketing compared to the results they were getting before learning Social Power Linking.
Tags: getting links, link building, social authority, social marketing, social media marketing, social power linking
Sexy Women In SEO? You Better Believe it!
March 26, 2008
So a link came up on my radar today from a blog I hadn’t been to in awhile (sorry Tali). Looked, from the Google Alert, like a review of the Authority Black Book. I’ve been skipping reading all of them lately because people don’t put much effort into them and they read pretty much the same for the most part. (Not that I don’t appreciate every single one. I do!)
I had time to check this review out and I’m glad I did. This review of Authority Black Book, by Tali Shapiro, (recently voted one of the 6 Sexiest Girls in SEO)* was different. You’ve got moxy, editorial objectivity, and writing that is actually good, all in one post!
With Tali giving the Black Book 5 Stars and recommending it as “very necessary,” this one made me feel a bit like I did last year when it got a nod from Mashable.com.
It’s because Tali does an excellent job on her blog. She’s got authority and respect among her peers. She’s not just a blogger either. Check out her book “Tali’s Uncensored Guide to the Long Copy Sales Letter.”
If her blogging is any indication of the quality of her guide, you’ve got a winner on your hands.
—
*If any industry on the web needs more “sexy” it is definitely the SEO industry! 
Tags: authority black book, reviews, sexy seo girls, tali shapiro
Copywriting Productivity Tools
March 24, 2008
Guest Post By Michel Fortin
When I write copy, some tools help me tremendously. Whether it’s the copy itself, or interactions with my clients, there are certain websites I use that help make it a lot easier for me.
There are quite a few pieces of software, so let me just stick with the web-based ones. How about posting yours? What are some of the tools you use in your work to improve your productivity?
Here are some of mine…
Google is coming out with some pretty impressive tools of late. Writely is certainly one of them.
Writely is an online web-based word processor. Great for writing copy and sharing/collaborating, especially with other copywriters, clients, associates, etc. The beauty is that it can also import and export in various formats, including MS Word, Rich Text, HTML, OpenOffice, image files, and even zipped files.
Research is an incredible part of our job as copywriters. Surfing the web or reading your email, you will come across a ton of passages and clippings you want to copy, reference to, gather for data research purposes, quote in your copy, get ideas from, etc.
Google Notebook is an personal online repository of all things important. It even offers a browser plugin to copy clippings on the web, save images, add sticky notes and file bookmarks, on the fly. You can easily “click and store” as you browse.
I use to have a PC-based spreadsheet to keep track of all my copywriting projects, which my junior copywriters, my accountant and my assistant had access to and could work on. But emailing back and forth was a nightmare.
Like Writely, Google Spreadsheet makes it possible to have it all in one central location, online. It even imports and exports in a variety of popular spreadsheet formats, including Excel, CSV, text, and so on.
I love Google Analytics. Not only is it free, but Google Analytics is a lot more than your typical traffic and web-tracking software (giving you typical stats like referrers, pageviews, search engine traffic, keywords, etc). It’s also a really cool split-tester and conversion tracker.
When I test copy, or when I want to track how well the copy I wrote for a client performs, I simply add a snippet of code on the salesletter and another on the resulting action page (i.e., “thank you” page). And that’s just an iceberg’s tip of the information you can gather.
When I need to send files — like copy work, video, images, etc — that are too large, either for my email or my client’s email, I used to upload it to my server and email the link. (Not only is this a two-step process, it’s also taxing on my resources.)
Now, I use SendThisFile to email any size file to my clients/associates in a snap. You enter the recipient’s data (and you can even send files to multiple recipients), browse to your file on your hard drive, upload, and send. That’s it!
BaseCamp is a project management system and central repository I use to share information between clients, co-workers and junior copywriters.
It’s complete with message boards, group emails, whiteboards, file sharing, to-do lists, milestone planning, discussion room, goal setting, and more. One of the benefits is that, when I need information from a client, rather than a phone call or email, the client can respond via BaseCamp and it keeps, sorts and tags important communications.
Answers.com is an online dictionary. But it’s a lot more than that. While you can use it as a research tool, Answers.com also offers a free downloadable program that sits in your system tray and works at any time, when you need it the most.
While writing your copy or doing research, you simply ALT-click any word or phrase in any document, web page or software, and out pops up a window giving you: dictionary, encyclopedia, almanac, references, web searches, wiki entries, translations, thesaurus, you name it. All in one.
MS Word offers a readability analysis built-in. This is great when you want to know if you’re using words that are too complex. (The best copy is almost always easily readable at a 6-7th grade level.) But what if you use FrontPage? Or if it’s online?
That’s where Textalyzer comes in. (It’s also a great tool for SEO purposes.) Need to know the word count, sentence count or character count of your copy? Perhaps to quote fees, measure project sizes or analyze competitor’s copy? Textalyzer does it all for you online.
Sometimes, you need a word that rhymes. Or you’re looking for a famous quote. Or you’re looking for a word but can’t seem to find it in a dictionary. Or you want to quote a famous passage, adage or document (like the US Constitution).
Enter RhymeZone. It’s a writer’s all-in-one reference tool. It will even search word variations, antonyms, homophones, spellings, you name it. It’s an awesome tool I use quite often.
Often, I need to transcribe copy I’ve recorded, a telephone conversation (such as one with a client), a teleseminar, or an audio file that’s relevant to my copy. iDictate is an online service that will transcribe audio files of any type and email you a document by email within a few hours.
It’s all done by human beings. (This is important since software, like Dragon Naturally Speaking, have to be trained and can only transcribe the speaker who trained it.) They even offer a 1-800 recording service, which is great for doing it on the phone.
I have more, but hopefully this will get things started.
— About Michel Fortin —
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/ and subscribe to his RSS feed.
Tags: copywriting programs, copywriting tips, copywriting tools, michel fortin
Stephen Pierce Uncovers Traffic and Link Building Tactic on YouTube
March 24, 2008
Link Building with YouTube
I hate it when someone figures out something I should have figured out! The fact that it’s Stephen Pierce helps a little. But I’m still mad.
There’s a simple little trick Stephen teaches on today’s DTAlpha Blog which makes it easy to find high traffic sites to get links and traffic from. Stephen shows you how in his podcast “YouTube’s Amazing Overlooked Traffic Secret” REVEALED!” -Podcast, 10 min
Here are a couple more recent posts I found related to YouTube and video marketing:
Tags: blog marketing, link building, stephen pierce, video markeing, youtube promotion
Today in SEO
March 19, 2008
A hand-picked selection of SEO related posts and news from around the web.
- Do I Really Need to Perform SEO for My Website?
- Eight Facts sbout SEO
- SES NY Session: B2B SEO Tactics
- Pretty Sites are Good for SEO
- New SEO questions & answers series
- SEO Tip: Almost 7 Ways To Re-Optimize Your Posts
- Beat SEO experts with a stick until they go away
- What Does SEO Have in Common With the Wizard of Oz?
- SMX West - Industrial Strength SEO - Amplify Overview
- SEO and Blog Post Titles
Tags: seo, seo tips
Why Affiliate Marketing Sucks
March 17, 2008
Everyone has been told time and again how important it is to augment your income with affiliate products. Many “super affiliate” gurus maintain you don’t even need your own products to sell. Just sell other peoples products and rake in the commissions.
(How’s that workin’ out for ya?)
Not all affiliate marketing sucks. But most products suck to promote as an affiliate for one simple reason: You send a lifetime customer to someone else and you only get paid once. The product you send people directly to is what you normally get paid on and the subsequent backend sales go 100% to the product owner.
What just happened? Sure you made $20 or so. That’s great, right? Wrong! From that point on, in most affiliate programs, you are done getting credit for anything that person buys in the future. You spent time and resources to get that person to the affiliate product sales page (time and resources the product owner didn’t have to spend) and you got them a sale. They send you a check.
Then they go one to sell that person you sent to them a whole bunch of other things, including affiliate products they recommend that you probably would have recommended too. But they get the sales and keep all the money from that point on.
When Affiliate Marketing Doesn’t Suck
On very rare occasions you will find an “integrated” affiliate program. Some also call it a “continuity” program. One that pays you for the first sale and all subsequent product purchases that buyer makes from the product owner. This would include any high dollar backend products in the $1000-$2000+ range as well.
Examples
Howie Schwartz is starting a continuity affiliate program. He has a funny way of announcing it at Howie’s Apology.
Mark Hendricks has a great affiliate program which I love because, out of nowhere and without constantly having to promote his products to my lists, I get sale notifications for products of his I never directly promoted. I know I am getting paid for the people I sent him even if I sent them to him a year ago. And even if I sent those people to a completely different product in his lineup.
That’s what affiliate marketing should be and that’s where the truly big bucks are for affiliate marketers and product owners. It has been possible essentially since the beginning of affiliate programs to set up a program like this. So why are there still so few affiliate programs with continuity built in?
Problem #1: Some greedy product owners know “pay once” affiliate programs are the norm so they consciously leave out continuity. Then they can get the people you send on their list (for free) and only pay you once (for the current promotion they are running) and sell that person for the life of that customer (as long as they stay on the product owner’s list).
Most affiliate product owners don’t do this on purpose. But it is more complicated to set up a lifetime affiliate program and they just don’t know how to add new products and use software that keeps customer data tied to a certain affiliate for all future sales.
Plus, since everyone knows that it is the “norm” to run affiliate programs this way, everyone sets theirs up the same way.
If you’ve heard statistics like “only about 1%-5% of your affiliates will ever do significant sales or be continually active promoters,” now you know why. I belong to hundreds of affiliate programs dating back years. I don’t promote 99% of them because I don’t have time to and the product owners give me no reason to.
When I make a sale for Mark Hendricks out of the blue it is like Mark is sending me a nudge! He’s saying “Hey, thanks for sending me this person 5 months ago for product XXX. Just writing to tell you they just bought product YYY today and here’s your commission!”
Who’s product am I likely to be the most motivated to send out about next? Mark’s? Or one of the hundreds that couldn’t care less whether I do or not because they are collecting all their backend sales from the people I sent them without having to pay me?
Flip That, Reverse It
What affiliate program system would you rather own as the product creator? The one that keeps affiliates motivated (and reminded) to sell for you? Or the one that pays them only on the first sale while you collect 100% in sales you make to their people over and over again afterwards?
That’s a trick question. The greedy devil on your left shoulder will whisper things in your ear about the second option. The angel on your right shoulder will whisper “take option #1!” in your ear.
The reason you want to run an integrated affiliate program is because you don’t want an active sales force of only 1%-5%. You want as many of your affiliates to be active sellers as possible. The only way to have that is to have a better affiliate program which rewards affiliates for sending you customers over and over again.
There’s the motivation, in a nutshell, for product owners.
Problem #2: Product owners who have separate affiliate programs for each product they create. This is where a lot of us fall. Say you have a new product coming online and hate your previous affiliate software system. So you set up an entirely new system, requiring all your old affiliates to sign up with the new system in order to get credit for promoting the new product. Most don’t, of course. Because most are long gone and disinterested in going through the whole process again just for you to start a new affiliate program with another product later.
It’s not the best way to run an affiliate program. But that’s the way most of us do it. It’s bad for affiliates and, thereby, bad for product owners to do it this way.
We are working on a system to bring all of our products under one roof so that we can correct this problem. It is a real major pain to do it, but we have our reasons.
1. We want to treat our affiliates with respect. That means paying them commissions on people they sent us no matter what product they sold first or when.
2. We want an active affiliate sales force. Our current affiliate base is only about 5% active last we checked. That’s pathetic. And we find ourselves having to work much harder to bring in sales ourselves because of it. Which completely defeats the purpose of having an affiliate program in the first place.
3. Affiliates who make sales and then months later are sent a commission notice on a new product sale for a product they haven’t even promoted are then more likely to begin promoting the new product actively. Someone they sent months ago just bought something from a promotion we sent to our list. The affiliate sees first hand the new product is selling and they figure they can make more by logging into the affiliate program area and grabbing the link for that product to actively get some more sales.
Join Affiliate Programs With Continuity and Make More Money
They are hard to find, but if you are into affiliate marketing it would be in your best interest to seek out programs that pay on all products promoted to your referrals for the life of those customers.
Ask some of your favorite gurus or other product owners you’ve done well with in the past why they don’t have a continuity program. It is going to become more and more of an issue in the future as more product owners make the switch to the better alternative. Gently applying pressure to people that you promote to make the change will help them see that affiliates aren’t happy with the status quo anymore.
You are doing them a favor. And you will help bring about change in our industry which is badly needed.
We’re making the change this year because it’s the right thing to do for our business and for our affiliates who work so hard to bring us business.
Tags: affiliate marketing, affiliate marketing sucks, affiliate marketing tips
Download All The FTR Blog Marketing Videos!
March 17, 2008
Introducing the Friday Traffic Report Video Player!
Many readers have asked for a way they can play any of my training videos from their desktop without having to pour through YouTube or elsewhere to find them and bookmark them.
So I had a killer little video player created where you can keep up on my latest blog and social marketing training videos. It automatically updates when I upload new videos to YouTube.
Here’s what the player looks like:
All you have to do is subscribe to Friday Traffic Report’s feed and the download link will be sent to you instantly.
Current Videos
- How to do Trackbacks
- How to Embed Video in Wordpress
- Wordpress Plugin How-to Vids
- Cool Tool Reviews
…and more being added every week!
When I add a new video it updates in your player automatically. It is a much more convenient and fun way to keep up on my how-to videos.
Click Here to subscribe to FTR and get your download link. (If you are already an FTR subscriber there’s no need to subscribe again. You will be getting an email shortly with the video player download link. Hang tight!)
noneWhat Copy Cosmetics Communicate
March 16, 2008
Guest Post By Michel Fortin
There’s a debate going on my Copywriters Board about “clean design” vs. “clunky design” with your copy, and how it can or cannot affect response rates.
I’m talking about odd layouts, inconsistent typestyles, emphasis using formatting (like underlining, highlighting, bolding, etc), “junking up” copy, and so on.
For example, on a teleseminar I was giving last week, someone asked “I see so much copy with poor design and bad grammar with spelling mistakes — is it intentional or just plain bad copywriting?”
Which reminds me…
There’s the story of the Five Bell Pub. One day, a passerby noticed on the outdoor sign where normally five bells were hanging that there happened to be only four bells.
So he enters the tavern and asks the bartender, “Mate, don’t you know you have only four bells hanging outside your Five Bell Pub?” “Ah yes, I know,” said the barkeep. “It’s been like that for ages, but I’ve been so busy that I never had the time to fix the sign.”
He then adds, “While you’re here, what kind of ale would you like?”
There are two morals to this story. One is that people will always have an inclination to correct others. Call it pomposity, or call it courtesy. It doesn’t matter. You can never please all the people all the time, unless you were to write a salesletter for each and every single individual in your market.
The other is that some mistakes are intentional. Some copywriters will purposely add typos to involve and engage the reader, and draw attention to a key point. But as one board member eloquently put it, “You got to know the rules before you break them.”
There is a difference, however, between strategically placed yet occasional spelling mistakes to generate curiosity and business, versus a lackadaisical attitude toward grammar that will only reflect on the quality of your business overall.
That said, I’m not perfect and I do have errors. Typos or otherwise. And they are not intentional. And when they are pointed out, I always fix them, thank the person and even reward them.
But there’s a difference between people who point out a simple typo versus the Grammar Gestapo who will hang you for treason if your copy doesn’t meet Harvard standards. There’s a difference between grammar and style; between being conversational or informal, and being ignorant or, worse yet, illiterate.
The issue really boils down to one important truth: credibility. (Or the lack thereof.)
As technology evolves, people are becoming more and more sophisticated. Our jobs as copywriters are becoming increasingly more important if not tougher. But before I expound, I’d like to clarify a few things.
Sure, believability, credibility, trustworthiness, proof, credentialization and so on have always been crucial and fundamental components of copy.
When people say, “How do you write copy for an audience that has become more jaded, cynical, skeptical, cautious, blah blah blah,” I kind of laugh because I don’t think they are “more.”
They have always “been.”
It’s the increased availability of information nowadays that has caused a growth in all types of markets and marketers.
More and more consumers are becoming jaded in some markets (like, say, Internet marketing), just as much as more and more people who are naive (in one way or another) are entering other markets — as well as more and more marketers are becoming sneaky, crafty, creative, and insidious in trying to scam people.
Proof in copywriting is such an essential component, but sometimes it’s left to be desired by some rookie writers. Thankfully, some copywriters are starting to get it. (Although we still have a way to go yet.) And while our jobs will be a challenge to come up with different ways to prove our case, there are some basic things we can do to communicate it, even if subtly.
And that includes the message you communicate as well as the message you imply. “Implication is more powerful than specification,” a mentor once told me. And the image you project, the quality of your copy and the packaging of your product (which includes the design of your salesletter or website) imply credibility.
To the issue of “good design” versus “good response,” to me that’s somewhat of a non-issue because we are debating the wrong things. Why? Because good design has spoken and will always speak volumes of the quality of the product and service you deliver.
People will have tendency to judge your business by the quality of your appearance. And that has never changed. When people say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” the fact that such a saying exists means that we do. Regardless of how unfair it is or how much we want to change how the world thinks.
It’s just human nature, pure and simple.
Here’s my thinking.
Clunky, shoddy or cluttered design has a place in copywriting. Marketers will profess that the “value is in the content,” and that “why pay for the packaging and the glitter and the fluff?”
There will always be a need to be more personal, less contrived and more creative with your copy — such as the use of cosmetics to ramp up your response.
In my split-tests, I have found that formatting to add emphasis, like underlining, highlighting, italicizing, etc, do increase response. But the rule here is “use sparingly, judiciously and strategically.”
Tests show that used moderately to emphasize key words and key points, formatting increases response. It also helps skimmers.
Offline and online is different in this regard. Online, people skim. A lot more than offline. So you need “speed bumps” to stop people from scanning.
Use formatting to create eye gravity. But if you overdo it, then you muddy your message in a sea of highlights, bolds, underlines, whatever. You cause the rest of the message to blend together, appearing like one big blur, and losing the effect you wanted to create with highlighting in the first place, which is to draw attention to a keyword or phrase.
Just as much as you need to write to be scanned and not to be read, you want people to scan so they can stop to read key elements in your copy in order to get them to start reading — not emphasize so much that you invite them to keep on scanning. That’s why overuse can kill your response. Add too much, and it will become counterproductive.
Overall design, however, is a bit different. When I say “clunkiness will always have a place,” it’s because in a world stuffed with fancy design, highfalutin’ corporatespeak, branding-oriented ads and shiny packaging, people have become jaded, but for different reasons.
Big name copywriters say, “Fancy design doesn’t sell, only good copy does.” I totally agree. But it shouldn’t be a substitute for good design, a professional image and a clean message.
True, such things are sometimes used only to be representing a product or service that was later found to be substandard (and therefore leaving people with a bad taste in their mouths). That’s why clunky design, at one point, became quite popular because it spoke volumes in a world jaded with fancy design work.
But they didn’t buy from clunky design because it was clunky. They bought because it was different. And it implied another form of meta-message.
Ah, yes. The meta-message. The message that’s implied. The message beyond the message. Just like body language and non-verbal communication can influence others when you speak, meta-messages in your copy are extremely powerful, too.
There was a show on Dateline NBC where they “tested” the audience after creating a completely fake “skin-moisturizing pill,” complete with clinical trials, scientific data, client testimonials, and fancy, glittery packaging. (Of course, the point of the show is that it was a scam. The whole thing was made up by Dateline’s producers. And the pill? Chocolate powder.)
Interesting show. But this proves something else. You can package a fake product, shoot a professional-looking infomercial, fatten it up with hype, and back it up with madeup credentials.
When “clunkiness” appeared on the scene (more because of Dan Kennedy than any other marketer, in my estimation), people bought because it was different, and not necessarily because it was clunky. The clunkiness communicated a meta-message based on the awareness level of the market.
What “meta-message” you ask? It was this:
“If they spent less money and time on the design, then that means they spent more time and attention on the content.”
That may have been true, but those days are gone. Well not entirely, but let’s just say their “heydays” are gone. When something is overused and abused, it loses its impact over time. It loses it’s uniqueness and “difference.” And that is the point I’m trying to make, here.
(Take the case of red headlines. When they were new, nobody was using them. So they attracted attention, forced people to read, and caused response rates to shoot up. Now, they’re so overused that every bloody salesletter with a red headline looks like, of all things, a salesletter! So response rates are slowly going back down. That’s why I’m starting to see better results with black, and blue, headlines. Just like before.)
Back to the issue of clunky design.
What I call a “UPA” (i.e., an unconscious paralleled assumption, that is they unconsciously assume there’s a parallel between one part and its whole) in this case is that poor design equals poor quality product, service, customer service, etc.
People unconsciously assume that, if the design is shoddy (or the copy is poor), then the product, customer service or company behind it must be just as shoddy.
That has always been the case, because it’s simply human nature. People want good design, professional quality, a sound image, great packaging, etc. Just as good covers or god packaging do sell books. (Which is why Dateline made such a good case with their fake moisturizing pill.) Great packaging does sell products. And great (and great-looking) copy does sell more.
Especially in the long-term.
Because credibility is the ultimate goal. Otherwise, with bad design, their thinking is, “If they can’t take care of their design (their website, their writing, their image, etc), how in the world are they going to take care of ME?”
That’s why, especially to consumers, good design communicates credibility. And while it may have fallen out of favor for a little while, mostly because of the teachings of some top marketers, it’s coming back.
And I would add, “With a vengeance.”
People are more educated and informed than ever before. It won’t stop scammers from lying, cheating and abusing consumers. But at the same time, it won’t stop the need to project a more credible, professional image.
That said, it will put more onus on the copywriter and business owner to find new and creative ways to communicate that credibility, even if it’s indirectly, through “meta-messages.” And yes, it starts with your design, your copy and your image.
As war may seem to rage on between both camps, there’s a reluctant middle, in my estimation, that will become more and more prevalent.
The happy medium, between clunky copy and fancy design, is the use of great copy that’s personal, targeted and conversational (and not third-person, contrived gobbledygook like copy you get from Mad Avenue ad agencies), coupled with professional design that’s clean, builds trust and increases credibility.
Bottom line? Focus on your copy. Then focus on your image. And finally, keep any attempt at being clunky as modest as possible.
— About the Author —
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/ and subscribe to his RSS feed.
——————————————
Tags: copywriting tactics, copywriting tips, michel fortin
Generate more traffic and build your bottom line through Radio P.R.
March 16, 2008
Guest Post by Michelle Taney
Editor’s Note: Michelle is my radio PR specialist. Just in the first week of working with her I have been booked on two major radio stations in Florida. To me this means Michelle is someone in the radio PR business to listen to! I will report back with results from time to time so readers can get a glimpse of what radio interviews can do for traffic and branding.
More than ever, you need to be looking at different ways to enhance your business’ visibility. You need a plan that has the ability of reaching thousands of potential customers. Perception is everything, and how customers and the public perceive your business depends upon, in large part, how actively you promote yourself.
One way to generate more traffic to your website is to have scheduled radio interviews. These are typically one-on-one discussions with you and a talk show host. Lasting anywhere from 5-45 minutes, it’s an opportunity to talk about your company to millions of people across the country (from the comfort of your home). Radio P.R. is a necessary and powerful step to achieving excellent results and widespread offline exposure for your business.
By design, simply appearing as a guest on radio stations gives you the “expert” status in the eyes of those tuning into the program. The listening public already believes that if you’re good enough to be interviewed, you must know what you’re talking about. Remember, you have a built-in audience. Now all you need to do is share information pertaining to yourself, website, and company.
Give them just enough information that when you’ve completed the interview, they want more. Radio hosts are great at giving out a web address on air or even putting a link on their site that will direct their listeners to you. These are just a few ways radio P.R can help your traffic increase. You’ll see unbelievable growth as you have multiple streams of traffic coming in from hundreds of radio stations.
Take some time from the demanding needs of your business to create your personalized radio P.R. campaign. Whether you hire a publicist, P.R. firm, or handle your campaign scheduling yourself, here are a couple of steps to get you started.
1. Identify your area of expertise.
2. Develop key messages that will inspire your intended audience into action
3. Create suggested interview questions for future radio interviews.
4. Listen to veteran radio guests, and as you begin to develop your talent learn from those with experience.
Your business success is determined by your ability to powerfully communicate your business with laser precision. Generate buzz and be the best in today’s crowded marketplace.
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Michelle Taney is Public Relations Director for MediaGuests.net and comes with vast experience in Radio PR. Recognizable for her success as a national publicist, she is constantly creating new and attention grabbing releases for the media. Media exposure, for her clients, is always maximized due to her wide-ranging media contacts and know-how.
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Further Radio Publicity Posts
- Publicity tips/Be Like the Gabby Cabby Mar 18, 2008
- Radio Interviews - how to be guest expert
- 10 Reasons Why Talk Radio is the Best Promotion for Your Book!
Tags: free publicity, guest expert, guest radio expert, radio publicity
