February 2004
Issue # 47

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: Read Anything Good Lately?
>> Announcements: See You in Minneapolis?
>> Review: Eats, Shoots & Leaves
>> Article: 3 Reasons Why Content is Still King
>> Survey: Which Books Have You Read Recently?

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Greetings,

In the last issue, I asked about 'what you do'. As it turns out, only a very few of us do just one thing. In the replies I received, there were numerous people who wrote both copy and content. Some were also designers. And 15% of those who replied described themselves as Webmasters.

Here's the full line up. This list shows the percentage of people who checked each description. Just keep in mind that most people checked more than one.

Copywriter - 25%
Content writer - 20%
Search Engine Writer - 13%
Designer - 9%
Search Engine Marketer - 9%
Online Marketer - 7%
Programmer - 2%
All-in-One Webmaster - 15%
Other... Editor, Entrepreneur, DM Copywriter, Marketing Consultant, Translator, Project Management Consultant, User Experience Consultant

This issue's survey is a little simpler - I'm simply asking if you have read any good business books lately. Please take part in the survey. The more responses we get, the more valuable the results.

Until next time.

Nick

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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ANNOUNCEMENTS: Copywriting Seminars

>> UIE Roadshow

Hosted by the good folks at UIE.com, I'm giving four full-day seminars early this year.

The cities and dates are:

Minneapolis, MN -- February 23
Seattle, WA -- March 10
Bethesda, MD -- March 12
Chicago, IL -- March 24

If you decide to attend one of these events, be sure to enter this code - NU01 - in the promotional code box and you'll get a fat discount on the regular price - up to $90 off.

If 5 or more people register from an attendee's organization, they automatically qualify for the group discount: Group Price: $334 for one seminar, $668 for two seminars, $897 for all three seminars in the series (From now until 7 days before the seminar for groups of 5 or more).

You can find full details on their site at: http://www.uieroadshow.com

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REVIEW: Eats, Shoots & Leaves – The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

A wonderful, humourous, indignant book on the subject of English punctuation. If you're a stickler for punctuation, you'll love this book. If you break out in a sweat at the mere mention of a grammar test, it's for you too. learn how to use a semicolon, find out who first used the question mark and enjoy numerous anecdotes on the history and use of punctuation.

Highly recommended.

Click here for the full review...

>> The Most Popular Reviews from Previous Issues:

- MarketingSherpa Report:
Excel at the writing, design and delivery of online newsletters.

- WordTracker:
Improve your search engine ranking with the most profitable keywords.

- Site Build It!:
Small business Web hosting, Web design and SEO.

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ARTICLE: 3 Reasons why Content is Still King

Back in the late nineties, the phrase ‘Content is King’ was repeated and repeated and repeated by site owners and marketers alike. The belief was that the more content you had, the greater the number of visitors you would attract. Of course, the content had to be well written, relevant and easy to find. Many sites built very successful businesses as a result.

And then something happened.

Big money from venture capitalists burst onto the scene. Suddenly nobody was talking about content. (Where’s the big investment return on ‘content’?) Instead the attention went to businesses that came up with some kind of unique ‘technology solution’.

Then the dotcom bubble burst.

And here we are.

Is content still important? I think so. People don’t talk about it as earnestly as they once did, but I think that original thinking was very sound.

Here are three reasons why you should be creating more content on your site:

1. It increases conversion rates by keeping prospects on your site.

When prospective customers arrive at your site, they like to ‘dig deep’. They look for all the information they can find before they feel confident enough to commit to that purchase. Whether you are selling banking, subscriptions, noodles or digitals cameras, people want to know what they are buying.

If you don’t give them all the information they need, they’ll find someone else who does. Perhaps they’ll try epinions.com, consumerguide.com or mouthshut.com. Or maybe they’ll just do a search on Google.

The point is, if they can’t find the information they want on your site, they’ll try somewhere else. And as soon as they leave your site, the chances of their returning is fairly slim.

And that’s very bad news for your conversion rates.

2. It differentiates you from your competitors

What differentiates your noodle site from every other noodle site? Most businesses have a number of direct competitors and all too often there is very little to truly differentiate your products or services from theirs. You may have some marginal distinctions, new offers or price deals. But at the end of the day, a noodle is a noodle.

So how do you differentiate your site? You do it with content. You make your site an absolute magnet for anyone who is serious about cooking pasta. You provide the best recipes, you deliver the best advice, you seek out the most interesting and useful facts about noodles.

When you do that, your products may not be that different from anyone else’s, but your site is. It has become different because it becomes known for being the number one resource for cooking great pasta.

3. Content is great for search engines and inbound links

Here’s something we already know. The search engines love content, especially when it is substantial, updated and relevant.

So do your homework and make sure your content pages have SEO-friendly titles, headlines and body text.

In addition to being attractive to search engines, great content also attracts inbound links. The better the information, the more the number of sites that will want to link to you.

In conclusion...

Creating great content for your site, and newsletters, is still a very smart thing to do. It’s good for your customers, good for your conversion rates, perfect for search engines and does a great job of separating your site from your competition.

** If you found value in the article, please forward this newsletter to colleagues and friends who might be interested.

** The archives of all previous ExcessVoice articles can be found here.

>> Feedback: mailto:nick@excessvoice.com

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SURVEY: Which Books have You Read Recently?

Over the last two or three months, have you read any good books related to your work? Books on writing, marketing, working? If so, please list them here (by title and author):

List:

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