Issue 137 of the Excess Voice newsletter for online copywriters

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Excess Voice Newsletter
August 2007, Issue # 137

In this issue:

>> Intro: An opportunity in corporate writing
>> Review: The Power of Upward Networking
>> Article: Why it’s important to write transitions from one web page to the next
>> Survey: Do you get any new business through social networks?
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Greetings,

In the last issue’s survey I asked for your feedback on what kind of writing projects you find the hardest. It seems that writing corporate information pages is a struggle for a lot of us.

Of course, within every area where people struggle, there lies an opportunity for others. So if you are strong in the area of writing corporate content, it seems the market is wide open and waiting for you.

In this issue we have a review of an audio program I recently published, and an article about the importance of writing strong transitions from one web page to another.

Finally, as always, please take a moment to respond to this issue’s survey.

Until next time,

Nick

Nick Usborne

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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REVIEW: The Power of Upward Networking

This is the story of how I used the power of networking to lift myself up from being unknown to being a recognized player in the world of web copywriting.

Successful networking can have a remarkable impact on how quickly your rise above the crowd, whether you work for yourself or work as an employee.

Either way, making the right connections – and using them - can accelerate your rise to prominence more quickly and effectively than almost any other means of marketing or self-promotion.

What I have done is produce an audio recording of my own experience with networking. Strangely, when I produce a recording, I seem to have fewer sales than when I write a PDF report. I’m not sure why, but it seems people see more value in something they can print.

What I like about tackling a topic like this in audio is that I get much more into it than I would by writing. For me, writing tends to be a fairly linear process. But when I start talking, all kind of peripheral and useful information jumps to mind. Less “editing-on-the-fly” takes place and I think the final result is richer and more useful.

This is a twenty minute recording you can either listen to online, or download and put on your iPod.

Listen to my introduction:
http://www.freeiq.com/upwardnetworking

Previous Reviews:

#1. 7 Ways to Power Up Your Landing Page Headlines

If you ever find yourself having to write a landing page, you may want to get a copy of this guide. This is something I wrote, drawing on my own work over the last ten years, and also on a multitude of test results.

Listen to my introduction:
http://www.freeiq.com/7waystopowerupyourlandingpageheadlines1

#2. 7 Ways To Optimize the Performance of Your Home Page

This 16-page report covers 7 points to address when writing an effective home page. If you apply all 7 points you should see a significant lift in conversions from your home page to your second level and sales pages. These are the points I use myself when writing and optimizing home pages for my clients.

Listen to my introduction:
https://freeiq.com/7waystooptimizetheperformanceofyourhomepage1

#3. Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting

This is the only copywriting course I wholeheartedly recommend to any copywriter who wants to write copy that drives results.

Read my review:
http://www.excessvoice.com/michael-masterson.htm

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ARTICLE: Why it’s important to write transitions from one web page to the next.

Site visitors rarely want to view just one page on your site, except in the case of landing pages or single page sites.

If people actually want to get something done on your site, they will generally work through two or three different pages before taking an action.

So here is the question of the day: How well do your pages work together?

Or to put it another way: How strong is the transition between your pages?

As online writers we focus a lot of attention on getting individual pages well written.

But when it comes to actually using a site, from the visitor’s point of view, the greatest point of indecision usually comes at the end of each page.

You may have written some wonderful content which holds a high percentage of readers right through to the end of the last paragraph.

But then what?

If you look at your site statistics you’ll find that plenty of visitors leave after they have spent just enough time to finish reading the page.

Why didn’t they click forward?

Because you didn’t build in a compelling transition to the next page.

Overcoming end of page friction is a key skill

In the world of direct mail, copywriters face the same problem when writing a multi-page letter. They know that they will lose the attention of many readers at the end of each page.

It’s a natural break from the reader’s point of view. I might read page one of your print letter, but unless you really hold my interest, I won’t bother turning the page and reading page two.

So what do direct mail copywriters do? They use simple devices like running a sentence from the bottom of one page over to the top of the next.

If it’s a good sentence, it will pull many readers over to the next page.

Online, things are a little different. It doesn’t make sense to break a sentence between one page and the next, because you don’t run out of space on the page, as you do with print. Your page isn’t a fixed height of eleven inches.

How to build enough momentum to overcome that friction

When you approach the end of one page, and you really want people to move on to page two or three in the process, you have to start building momentum a couple of paragraphs in advance.

In other words, let people know that the page they are on doesn’t tell the whole story.

Better still, let them know that the best information is yet to come. Pre-sell page two of the process before people finish reading page one.

This may sound like common sense. But all too often a page ends with a bang at the end of the last sentence.

The key here is that it “ends”. And that crisp, clean ending serves as an invitation for your readers to stop right there.

That’s a mistake. You don’t want them to stop there, you want them to go to the next stage in the process by clicking through to the next page.

So you need to leave the page copy open-ended. You need to leave the promise at least partially unfulfilled. You need people to WANT to click through as soon as they finish reading.

Concluding thoughts…

All too often we write pages in isolation. What I try to do is either print out (if they exist) or at least describe for myself the content of the pages that are likely to come before and after the one I am writing.

That way I can write the page not only to serve its own purpose, but also to work well within the broader reader experience, page by page.

** If you would prefer to read this article on the web, or would like to forward the url to a colleague or friend, you'll find it here:
http://www.excessvoice.com/article137.htm

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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JOB BOARD

>> Looking for an online copywriter or web content writer?

Post your job on the Excess Voice Job Board and reach over 20,000 copywriters a month.

http://excessvoice.jobcoin.com/

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SURVEY: Do you get any new business through social networks?

In other words, do you use sites like LinkedIn and Facebook? And do you ever get any new work as a result?

[ ] Yes
[ ] No

If yes, which networks work best for you? ......................

Comments:

(NOTE: Any comments and your name may be published in the next issue, or on the Excess Voice web site.)

Cut and paste your replies to me at mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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NICK USBORNE'S SERVICES:

Yes, I do more than write articles and publish newsletters.

Ask me to write for your site, emails and newsletters.
http://www.nickusborne.com/copywriting.htm

Ask me to optimize your key offer pages...
http://www.nickusborne.com/consulting.htm

Check out my online marketing advice in audio and other downloadable media.
http://www.conversioninsights.com

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