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October 2003 Top reviews: Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting Originally I had some reservations, based on a lot of hype I had read online. But having gone through a copy of the course in detail, I'm happy to say I think it is really excellent. Read my review of Michael Masterson's course. Make Your Content PRE Sell This e-book by Ken Evoy covers a lot of ground, but is essentially about writing great content that makes your web site visitors WANT to buy. Highly recommended. Read my review of MYCPS. Monthly Copywriting Genius One of the best ways to improve your copywriting skills is to study direct mail letters that have performed incredibly well. This is how you learn to write copy that drives action - offline or online. Read my review of Monthly Copywriting Genius In this issue: >> Intro: Thanks
for the Feedback =============================================== Greetings, Although I don't find the time to answer all of the emails that are sent to me in reply to each issue, I really appreciate the kind comments and encouragement. Truly. In the last issue I asked you whether you were viewed simply as a wordsmith, or as someone with broader marketing skills to bring to the table. Here are the results: Writer with marketing
skills - 65% While there may be times when all someone needs is a 'writer', I continue to hope that in the online environment in particular, the broader marketing group will better understand the need to have a thinking, 'marketing' writer as an integral part of the development team. In this issue's survey I'm asking about the training you received...if any. In particular, it would be great to find out where and how people found formal copywriting training or courses. As Dale Wolf says in his contribution to the 'Readers Write Back' section: "Design schools crank out graphics people in large numbers. We could always find designers. But writers are left to find their own way. English majors disdain the world of business. Journalism majors never quite understand the world of business. And business majors never learn how to write." How true. How can there be so many schools that train designers, but so few that train writers? Until the next issue. Nick BTW - Feel free to reprint any of the archived articles at www.excessvoice.com/archive.htm. All I ask is that you clearly attribute them to me and provide a link back to Excessvoice.com. >> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com =============================================== REVIEWS: SOFTWARE CERTIFICATION WITH BRAINBENCH.COM High level software skills help you become more productive, and more valuable to your employer or clients. Compared to their offline counterparts, online copywriters use a wide range of software programs. But...how well do you use them? Could you be more productive with MS Outlook? Could to do more with MS Powerpoint? And if your skills extend to design and HTML, how well are you using Photoshop, Pagemaker, Dreamweaver and other programs? Brainbench not only tests your skill levels, but also shows you where your strengths and weaknesses lie. (And a Certification can help you secure that next job or promotion.) Click here for the
full review...
- MarketingSherpa
Report: - WordTracker: - Site
Build It!: =============================================== ARTICLE: FOUR THINGS EVERY WEB SITE HEADLINE MUST DO As you know, I’m constantly making the point that the text on Web sites is not given enough attention. Which is unfortunate, because the headlines on site pages make huge demands on the skills of any writer. If you’re writing a headline or heading for a site page, here are four things you need to keep in mind, four elements that demand your attention, four separate ‘audiences’ you need to satisfy. 1. Make the reader feel he or she is in the right place. Every time someone clicks on a link and a new page begins to open, the reader is thinking, in one way or another, “Is this page going to give me what I’m looking for?” This is particularly true of first-time visitors. It is also true of any visitor on any page in your site, even a repeat visitor who is accessing a page for the first. Matching the headline to the reader’s expectations is central to holding their attention and giving them a high level of confidence. If the heading doesn’t match the reader’s hopes and expectations, their confidence in finding what they want will fall and your conversion rates will decline. 2. Make the reader feel good and want to continue. This is where a page heading takes on the characteristics of a print advertisement headline. The heading not only has to satisfy point number one, but also has to make a ‘sale’. That is to say, it has to sell the reader on the benefits of reading the page. Just as an ad headline sells the reader on the benefits of reading the body text. By way of illustration, if I were selling my search engine copywriting skills, I might write a heading that says: “Yes, I write copy for search engines.” That might satisfy my point number one, but it doesn’t cut the mustard with point number two. I’d be better
off saying something like: Doubtless I could improve on that headline with a few rewrites, but as it is, it contains a benefit and a promise. It still covers point number one, but also goes further – it gives the reader more of an incentive to actually read the page. 3. Appeal to the search engines To ignore the needs of the search engines on any page is foolishness. You need to work with your page title, meta tags and headline to ensure that you are covering the most relevant and profitable key words and phrases. If you don’t, you are losing traffic and losing potential readers and customers. While some writers find it frustrating to have to accommodate the needs of SEO, doing so will actually help you with point number one. The better you know and understand what people are entering into the search box, the easier it will be for you to write text that is relevant to their expectations and needs. 4. Satisfy the needs of the company or organization This is the tough one. This is where your not-very-net-savvy manager or client pressures you to make the heading more company centric, about the company or organization, and not about the needs of the reader. At this point you have to fight the best fight you can. Gather together the best evidence you can find and persuade the manager of the errors of his or her ways. If all else fails, you can always suggest a test...testing your heading against theirs...and then measure the search engine traffic, and the conversion rate of the page. Good luck!
The archives of all
previous ExcessVoice articles can be found here: >> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com =============================================== READERS WRITE BACK: WORDSMITH OR MARKETER? "I am not a wordsmith though I do smith words. I am perhaps a writer with insights into marketing. More precisely, I am a marketer who can write. And there are unfortunately very few of us in corporatedom. The business world is full of marketers who are good strategists that cannot shape their thoughts into a decent and convincing proposal. Or who have any credentials to mangle the words of the writers that work for them. As the CEO of a direct marketing agency for 20 years, I was always astounded at how hard it was to find good writers. Design schools crank out graphics people in large numbers. We could always find designers. But writers are left to find their own way. English majors disdain the world of business. Journalism majors never quite understand the world of business. And business majors never learn how to write. Recruiting writers was always the hardest task I had when I was in the agency world. Writers who know marketing, or marketers who can write … I’ll take either one and be proud of it." Dale Wolf "Actually, I am seen more as a marketer with writing skills. I started in SEO, grew copy writing services as SEs became increasingly content oriented, and have added usability analysis because great copy on a site where the order form is hard to find can't do the job. Each of these skills supports and extend the others, making me more useful to my clients." Kathy Cannon >> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com =============================================== SURVEY: HAVE YOU HAD ANY FORMAL COPYWRITING TRAINING? Have you taken any college or online courses as part of your training as a copywriter? [ ] Yes [ ] No If yes, please tell me the name of the course and where you took it. =============================================== Don't miss out on future issues of the Excess Voice newsletter for copywriters. Sign up now: (Your email address will be used only for the purpose of sending you this newsletter, and you'll be free to unsubscribe at any time.) |
Read
my review of Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting
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© 2003 Nick Usborne. All rights reserved. |