A newsletter can only be one part of your marketing mix, not the whole bubble. Advertisements may help, but they cannot keep your clients updated in the same way a newsletter can. Of course, this is something where SEJ, copywriters London, can help.

With a newsletter you can get your name out and tell people about your product or service and what’s new. If you broadcast this in a concise and easy to understand way, people can instantly see why you are a valuable contact and a service they are going to need.

The great advantage of your newsletter is that you can talk to a lot of people in one go, including current clients and business associates. Tell them about the new services you are offering, whether you have an exciting free offer or discount, and remind people about existing products or services. Show enthusiasm about the new product you are offering because you want your potential customers to feel enthusiastic too.

Even if you are running an Adword campaign, you need to be sure that the right people are clicking on your site and visiting for the right reasons.

A lot of people may visit the site and click straight off it again (a high bounce rate), simply because your site doesn’t offer what they are searching for.

A newsletter can help this process because people can be aware of what you are offering before they begin with any searches and clicks. When they land on your site, they will already have a good idea of what you offer and if it is what they are looking for.

A newsletter will put the stamp of humanity on your service far better than an advert. A high page ranking and online presence will add to the personality and corporate image of your business. When people begin to contact you, you then add on your customer service, care and responsibility.

Respect, trust and loyalty are the best ingredients of all and newsletters are a great way to generate these in one easy mix.

As a former PR consultant, I often find many business people are confused about what exactly differentiates a press release and published editorial, from an advertorial. I offer the full range of copywriting services expected from copywriters London, UK and worldwide and although most good web copywriters should be able to help you, I will explain.

An editorial appearing in a newspaper or magazine has been written by an in house or commissioned journalist and will appear as newsworthy content. It will have some form of strong human interest or emotional appeal. This type of submission will not directly promote a company, and contact or website details are only printed at the editor’s discretion. There is no guarantee that a piece of written copy will be published after submission. Whilst the receiving journalist may be fairly positive and like the submission, he or she is unlikely to make any promises. Once published there is no fee either to or from yourself. This is classic style PR where, in return for a good story, you can get some valuable exposure at no cost.

An advertorial is completely different although a trained copywriter should be able to incorporate a few PR techniques into your advertorial. This type of copy is written with your promotion woven into an editorial type story – and as you are paying for your slot and therefore guaranteed publication, you have more licence to mention your company and make it slightly more ‘salesy’. However, you need to be aware that each publication has an in house tone which you will need to adhere too so that it fits in with their other content. It makes sense to get your copy written by an outside professional copywriter who knows the techniques to create a winning style. You will also avoid damaging your brand. You will be able to include your contact details at the end of your piece.

So, advertorials are a cross between normal free coverage editorial content and paid for advertising within a defined space. With copy that is written well by a company offering copywriting services in London, your advertorial will read like an objective piece written by a journalist. If you attempt to write an advertorial yourself, create an eye catching headline and keep your copy concise with facts, information and advice interwoven into your storyline. I would also advise including SEO keywords as you will almost certainly want to use your published piece for online promotion.

For more advice on writing press releases or advertorials please feel free to contact me…

Why hiring SEO web copywriters is good for business

[SEO = search engine optimisation]

Web copy, blogs and articles come in all shapes and sizes, as do different companies. Yet firms offering the same or similar service come individually wrapped. Now that we have entered the digital age, when it comes to copywriters London you need one tailor made for your business.

This is true for SEO copywriters London or UK. The keywords that your competitor is ranking well for, may not necessarily be the right keywords for you. Similarly, it is no good just selecting a random set of keywords which you think are what people are searching for. Nor is it going to work, plonking in the sort of words that you might tap into Google, as you try to place yourself in the mind of a searcher.

As with most things in business, you can nearly always find a cheap alternative, often a DIY approach.

The problem here is that you’re naturally going to feel very close to your work. As an entrepreneur you will be passionate about what you do, and that is why it is so difficult to separate yourself from your work. It’s equally difficult to understand that others actually don’t want to read about your company, in the form of an advertisement. Whatever you do and however well you do it, they’d rather be reading something more interesting, amusing or not reading anything at all, just getting on with their life…whilst using the service or product you are offering.

It is now perhaps easier to see why copywriting services and SEO copywriters in particular are in demand; they need to work hard to snap that potential customer’s attention. This means having the training and skill to write the right words. These words have to be delivered in concise, eye catching copy that can convey the right message in as short a word span as possible. It absolutely must pull the reader in to find out more.

Writing copy may play on emotions, be amusing or daring, whilst factually spelling out the great benefits: crisp, clear, focused and to the point. Top this with a compelling call to action and you have your reason why SEO copywriters are good for your business.

Drop me a line, give me a call…be great to hear your copywriting problems.

business writing, copy, copywriting

Blog Writing

Blog writing is a regular activity for many businesses but it’s no good writing the one off blog and hoping it will win you lots of attention. To be successful, you need to be consistent, and have motivation. Good blog writing is uncomplicated and reader friendly. Aim for a regular flow of blog material with fresh content that engages in a conversational way. Your blog must be informative and offer something new or interesting. Offer advice or tips, your opinion as an expert and be prepared to share your knowledge…winning confidence and trust.  Whilst SEO writing is important, it’s about writing for people not just search engines. A blog is not a magazine article and needs some human emotion. Whatever you do, avoid anything dull or boring.

SEO copywriting

SEO writing isn’t as complicated as it sounds but it takes some knowledge and a degree of skill to get right. Optimise your blogs and web copy with keyword insertion. Research your keywords carefully and insert in the correct ratio to please the search engines. Include some keyword phrases as well as just words such as ‘writing content for websites sw London’. This is because many searchers will type in a complete phrase. Don’t forget to optimise your headings but don’t force this and sacrifice ‘readability’. If it doesn’t sound right, your readers will turn away. Include more keywords in the early paragraphs. This will help satisfy the search engines and help readers to identify with your subject; they will feel quickly reassured that they have landed on the correct site and their problem can be solved or a need satisfied.

Social media

The idea behind blogging is to create reader involvement and interaction with you and that’s where social media is intertwined with blogs; it’s also why SEO copywriting is another important element. The three elements, social media, SEO copywriting and blog writing are inextricably linked. As copywriters in London, we know this only too well, miss out one and the other two dilute.

With SEO and keyword insertion, these people can go to the social media platforms, recommend, bookmark, comment, send your link around to their followers, and so on. All this has the potential to bring you more Google juice…and more business.

Be good to hear from anyone with blogging problems…

Polished to a shine or tempting as a treat, properly edited web copy is a joy to read and remember. Read editing tips from award winning website copywriters, London.

Busy business thrives on wonderful words.

1.     Read, review, revise

Read through your written draft of web content or brochure copy, correcting any clumsy, meaningless words, sentences or phrases. The copy should be reader friendly and flow in a concise, consistent way. SEO copywriting and keyword insertion should be natural. For blog writing, your ‘voice’ will be entirely different from an in-house company report.

2.     Respect your reader’s intellect

It’s amazing how many ways people find to say the same thing, in a different way. Your reader will understand a message the first time…as long as the words are well edited. A repeat may appear as a duplicate meaning, a twin word or the same word used several times. Delete them ruthlessly.

3.     A writer is a person who counts words

Before PC’s, writers and journalists spent hours manually counting words to a line, multiplying lines then adding to the columns to get an average word count of a typed document. This is less of a task today but still important. Where there is a word limit, keep to it. For article writing SW London, or in the North of England, this is a must.

4.     Spelling and grammar test

I don’t like using the PC’s grammar or spell check. A well trained editor or anyone writing content for websites will use manual editing with sharp attention to detail. The PC does not give 100% accuracy and over reliance on digital tools soon builds to dependency and forgetfulness. Keep a dictionary and thesaurus to hand.

5.     Your reference library

For article, blog, web or press release writing, to do a first class job, buy some good reference books to check style points: punctuation, spelling, grammar and other fine detail. If you work as a freelance copywriter in SW London or anywhere, your client is unlikely to be aware of your attention to detail, but it will show in the finished copy.

6.     Fonts and formats

Check consistency of font sizes, bold and italic type in your writing copy for web or other documents. Titles, headings, sub titles, sub headings and points of emphasis need to be included in the editing process. Content researched from the internet that has been re-worded by the SEO copywriter may have online formatting that has slipped in such as line breaks or paragraph indentations.

7.     Be hard on yourself

Read the copy from the printed page, not just on screen; this is especially important for work intended for hard copy reading which should be completely different in tone of voice than online work. Screen reading can often lead to errors being missed and this can happen even with top standard, well experienced editors or copywriters for web.

8.     Talk to yourself

A good SEO copywriter will read the words aloud several times, and at an even pace. This will nearly always highlight several faults. As you read, listen to see if there is a smooth flow of words which connect as you speak. If any phrases seem longwinded or clumsy, change them. Copywriters in London, the North or Midlands understand this.

9.     On track

Like many copywriters, I find it difficult to work with the PC track change tool. It is confusing to the eyes and interrupts the natural ‘reading’ of a document. Use your skills of instinct and memory, whilst making simple notes.  In so doing it keeps your eyes sharper, with your mind more focused and with less tech dependency.

10. The final review

Always do a final review when you are fresh in the morning. Editing should not be confused with proofreading. When you have done sufficient grammar checks, a complete sentence or phrase, or even a paragraph may need rewriting, depending on the logical flow, syntax, reader friendly style and layout.

These 10 points are what I call polish…If you have any editing problems, contact me and I’ll see if I can help.

Web copywriting is all well and good, but it won’t work unless people are actually reading your words. Article and blog marketing represent powerful PR at a vastly lower cost than conventional, media based PR. So whether you’re copywriters London, or a cleaning company in Cardiff, this type of realistic and affordable PR exposure can be vital; indeed, it is often paramount to survival in a world where there are a lot of big fish…competitors.

Article or blog marketing is the sort of internet marketing that often relies on great social media interaction: the buzz, blog and chatter on the net

The more a business uses the internet, the bigger its bite of the market. It’s a good tool for the small business owner with a restricted marketing budget. As with most marketing tactics, there’s no quick fix; social media and blogging isn’t easy to measure in terms of direct ROI, although most would report favourable results. What is measurable is the internet marketing aspect: you can compare the before and after traffic, the bounce rate, the number of conversions and positions you have gone up in the search engines.

The vast majority of us will now go to the internet to source a supplier, buy a new product or service; it has overtaken TV, radio, print ads, circulars or door drops.

If you’re a small-medium business, can you afford not to harness this mass of energy and turn as many as possible of these people into your buyers? I think not.

However, you cannot simply go stabbing around with a bit of this and that, hoping for the best. If you do, you’re likely to lose cash and waste a good deal of time. Any marketing must be considered as it would in the non digital world, with a serious, well planned strategy and with some working knowledge of what to do, and how best to do it.

The good thing is that the internet is versatile and flexible so if you feel something isn’t working, it will not be wasted and you can easily break off and do something else.

Steady organic growth invariably means developing longer term relationships. These are usually of better quality and value; when people have already made a purchase with you, it’s easy to keep in touch and let them know when you have a new service or product they might like to try. When you stay in touch, via regular blogs and article marketing, your customers are more likely to recommend you to others. This is much better than continually trying to gain new clients and having to spend a large slice of your budget to do so.

So, have you become an internet marketer yet and if not, why not? Let me know any problems you have and I’ll do my best to help.

Do you have a blog page for your business? If not, I would advise you give it strong consideration and get one set up. Why attach so much importance to blog or article writing? Is it going to make any difference to your business? Do you need to do SEO article writing? Ask any copywriters London and they will almost certainly say ‘yes’.

If you target your article writing to what is likely to appeal to your site visitors, you have a great line of easy, welcoming communication opening up, whether writing blogs in London or Yorkshire.

Blogs offer an excellent opportunity to join up with social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook; this gives further interaction with clients and readers. Even the giant corporates are recognising the value in being linked to these sites. Web copywriters will offer you advice to get you started.

The important thing is that you are seen to be 50% social and 50% business. You can interact in a fun, natural way rather than just banging on about how wonderful your service is. This is great, affordable PR. You can still retain your professionalism and people will warm to you as they see you as human with a great personality; they will also recognise you have the service that they or maybe their friend, relation or neighbour, is looking for.

A blog or SEO article is interactive with these social media sites so you can weave your social profile into them naturally, without sounding forced or salesy.

The other good thing that has evolved with social media, blog and online article writing is that others can give a third party objective view on your service. Rather than your highly biased view, people can give their opinion. ‘I bought this product from Bloggs & Co; their customer service was excellent, the rugs look fantastic…’

Essential to SEO blog writing – and any online newsletter article – is the writing style: it must be engaging, inviting, without cramming in every detail. To be effective with article writing and PR techniques, ‘avoid information overload’ is my golden rule. Use SEO copywriting and it becomes highly interactive marketing, feeding your readers fresh snippets of information on what you do, implying your expert knowledge.

In a market flooded with advertising, I would advise any business to use the social media forums, blog and newsletter writing and get their voice out there and heard. Why turn away from such simple, yet immensely powerful PR and a way of reaching out to millions? Make it sound lively and exciting that sales of your thermal vests have escalated during the heavy snow falls or how a society event has meant bumper business for you. An online blog with correct keyword insertion can generate attention from a well targeted audience and boost your company image and sales.

Get blogging, article, newsletter and SEO copywriting…I’m happy to give tips, and be great to hear your comments.

Whether thinking about internet marketing in south west London or across the UK, ‘embrace the 50s, forget the 80s’. That’s a good line to best describe how social media has turned the clock around…with a modern twist. I wasn’t around in the 50s (honestly) but back then salespeople were more like friends with their customers. Look at an old film and you might see the car dealer enjoying a barbeque with the family he just sold a car to, or the insurance policy guy invited to tea with the elderly couple, to whom he’s just sold insurance. It wasn’t exactly freelance SEO writing, nor was it website copywriting in London town but it was social media and very good PR.

Fast forward to the 80s; aha, technology began to establish its roots, everything became colder and more enterprise orientated. Women in business dressed in power suits to be like businessmen and taken seriously; the one-to-one treatment was lost. In fact, the colder and more remote from its customers the company became, the more it could be in control. Hardly powerful London PR and not a hint of internet marketing.

Fast forward to the 2000s; the customer is now in control because modern day social media jumped in. Yet we find ourselves back in 50s mode, using the modern fashioned tweak that technology offers. Now we have good PR, internet marketing and SEO copywriting in SW London and beyond, all wrapped together.

What’s all this got to do with testimonials? Instead of just word of mouth, social media is the modern way to give testimonials, referrals and recommendations, opening the market to billions.  Away with the shoulder pads, engage with your target audience, join conversations, give free advice and collect some good reviews. Now we’re talking PR again.

Add in some great SEO copywriting. With article and blog writing, you can stay in touch, be generous with your knowledge based advice and tips. This not only wins you respect, it gives the perfect opportunity for people to bookmark you, link to your site, pass it on to their circle of contacts and so on. In fact, social media and SEO copywriting are inextricably linked and it pays to use your keywords well in your blog copy. You can then get even more attention, comments, traffic and back links.

People will retweet and pass your URL around and it all happens without you really having to do very much. In fact all you have to do is get social, relax and allow your customers to be in control, powering your PR engine. Customers are no fools, they can choose who they do business with, and they don’t need to hear you bragging about how good you are. They can find that out for themselves and make their own judgement. That, in a nutshell, is what social media is about.

So hit the target and go for it, be great to hear your comments everyone…

10 quick tips from web copywriters on writing effective e-mail circulars

Most are deleted, so get it right

E-mail newsletters are an easy way to invite fresh interest on your subject and stay in touch with colleagues; it’s a great way to communicate with former, existing and new clients. As with a website, you only have a few seconds to catch interest and keep the reader reading. As copywriters London, we often notice that most businesses make the mistake of pouring far too much detail into their newsletters: no-one has the time to read and download lots of information and images…click goes the delete button.

1.     Words like ‘Urgent’ ‘Not to be missed’ ‘Hot Buy’ will send most people running

Write a tightly focused, eye catching but sensible, phrase in the subject line.

2.     Avoid boring people with dull words, use engaging language

Use words that are conversational and appropriate to your target readers.

3.     Make your reader feel comfortable

Let your reader feel at ease; draw them into a conversation, it’s not an advert about you.

4.     Less is more

Keep your sentences brief, and your words crisp, concise and easy to assimilate.

5.     Keep to the point

Make one point, not ten. Avoid repeating the same thing in several different ways.

6.     How appealing are you?

Layout is important; make it attractive and easy to copy & paste or scan.

7.     Grammar

Spelling and punctuation must be perfect. Bad English will reflect a poor service.

8.     Get personal

Address your e-mail to a person with a name, not just to an anonymous list.

9.     Sign on the dotted line

Let your readers know who you are, sign off with your name, not just your position.

10.Give them something to do

Let your recipients know what they should do next – call, email, visit your site?

When the vast majority of e-mails are deleted, it may be worth getting an experienced copywriter to help you. Time and again, e-mail circulars are successful in winning new clients so why waste a bigger proportion of success by writing a mail that has little appeal?

London copywriters, social media marketing and the rise of the tech crazy world

The rise of the tech crazy IT world has meant a changing world of writing.  Love it or loathe it, social media marketing is here to stay and so is SEO (search engine optimisation) copywriting with which it can be closely teamed. Why loathe the simplest, most effective way of gaining new business and terrific PR?  Why not use your keywords to maximum effect and bring more Google juice your way? How? As web copywriters we give you a free guide:

Chatting over the Internet may seem a fairly tedious, ineffectual way of doing business but wait…

How many mails have you written today that haven’t included a quick one liner: ‘Hope you enjoyed your holiday?’ That is social media – and it’s also networking.

The trouble is most companies tickle social media, blog writing and SEO copywriting; they don’t understand how to use this type of PR properly to get more customers. There’s not enough time, they’re concerned about adopting a bit of a colourful personality. That is the biggest mistake that businesses are making.

It doesn’t mean cheapening your image, or going silly. It means just being yourself, and therefore, at varying times, being professional and relaxed.

For serious business gain, social media marketing and SEO copywriting really need a professional to handle it for you. Copywriters London will be the most experienced people to approach. By sending articles and blogs out, well presented with good keyword insertion you gain more than just increasing your Google juice. Once you start giving helpful tips, useful comments, offering guidance and inviting comment, you open the gates to social media and that means powerful PR. The most activity happens off the page so it isn’t a matter of sending out odd little tweets now and again. People reading your articles, blogs and web copy can comment, get in touch and ask for advice, they can retweet your news, send links to their contacts and social media platforms; they can bookmark your page and tell their friends.

After a while, it’s not difficult to see the enormous network of potential customers that are out there and, crucially, are aware of your service or product.

This awareness comes at a fraction of the cost of direct marketing, space ads or a whole host of other stuff. It’s an opportunity to be you, a human being, not a static brand. You can get to know your customers and they will get to know you. Careful keyword insertion and article marketing can give social media marketing a terrific boost. The two are interlinked and strengthen each other.

Don’t just tickle it, tackle it.

Be great to hear your comments…