Sales Funnel Copywriting – Do it Like the Experts

What is a sales funnel? A sales funnel is a linear process that begins with the acquisition of new customers and ends with the satisfaction of their needs. In order to create an effective customer journey, you should start by outlining your goals for what you want to achieve from it. Then identify all steps necessary in achieving this goal or set of goals, such as gathering information on prospects. The beauty of a great sales funnel is that it works for you. Once you’ve set it up and it’s up and running, you can leave it and it will do the sales work on your behalf. Like a staff member! What is sales funnel copywriting? Sales funnel copywriting is a critical component of any company’s marketing strategy. The words you choose to include in your sales funnel will have an effect on the conversion rates, as well as how much money your business makes. In this post, we are going to cover what sales funnel copywriting is and why it matters so much for companies. Sales funnel copywriting is the process of writing content which will lead your potential customers to make a purchase. This can often be done through persuasive sales language, and it’s typically found near what are called conversion points on your website or in emails. Conversion points are any touchpoint with the customer that could potentially get them to click “buy” – for example, an image gallery may have calls-to-action overlaid on individual images so that when someone clicks there, they’ll be taken to the full product page where they can buy directly if desired. What is sales funnel copywriting and how you can do it like the experts The biggest mistake companies make when they launch their business online is not building a sales funnel that attracts their dream clients and leads them through a process When. launching a Here’s business online an, example it of what’s important not to to make do sure: your you run sales an funnel ad has that all takes of the opportunities for all those who an click up onsell its and down to your home page sell. Sales funnel copywriting tips Good copywriting knows how to get the readers attention and hold it! Here are some tips on making sure this happens… When you create your sales funnel, to make it work for every person with different needs and wants. Make sure that the landing pages are ready so people will convert into leads. Don’t forget to have a clear call-to-action on each page of your website, including about us and contact information. Otherwise, no one will be able to find out more or buy what they need to move forward in their business goals! Create landing pages and follow up messages based on where visitors enter into the funnel. People who visit during early stages are more likely interested in lowering prices while those at later stages will be looking for free trials or demos. As a general rule. Not always. When creating your sales funnel, be clear about what people need when they land at each point in their journey with you . Sales funnel copywriting is what companies use to persuade their potential customers to make a purchase. This often includes persuasive sales language, and it’s typically found near conversion points on websites or in emails. Conversion points are any touchpoint with the customer where they could potentially click “buy.” For example: an image gallery may have calls-to-action overlaid on individual images so that when someone clicks there, they’ll be taken to the full product page where they can buy directly if desired. People should be given a clear idea on what to expect from your company and its product or service. This is done by presenting the value you provide alongside any limitations in regards to how it will affect them. For example, if someone’s goal is lowering prices, then they may want to know that there are cheaper options out there for competing products. If their main concern is getting a handle on customer traffic patterns, then they would benefit more from benefits related specifically with managing visitors into your funnel than price discounts. You should also consider which stage of the sales process someone enters before sending promotional messages so as not to send too many details about an offer when prospects haven’t even decided whether or not to buy yet; only promote offers once people are hooked! Attention grabbing headlines and subheads that get your prospect’s attention from moment one. Catchy, powerful sentences throughout that compel prospects to continue reading. Framing benefits in language they readily understand (e.g., “saving time” instead of “time saving”) Writing the emotional benefit behind each feature, without sounding too cheesy. A compelling call to action at the end which includes clear instructions on how they can claim the offer, act now or get the product or service that you are offering. You can use curiosity to drive people towards a landing page. This is because, according to statistics, 96 per cent of your site visitors aren’t ready to buy on their first visit. To do this, you should focus more on the commitment aspect by asking for someone’s email address and less about how much the person will spend right now. You have to warm them up a little first! Keep in mind what you’re trying to accomplish with the writing: get them interested enough so they’ll read your headline or click on a link, but not too much detail about an offer when prospects haven’t even decided whether or not to buy yet; only promote offers once people are hooked! How to structure your sales funnel Step one: the bait. This is the first time your prospects know you exist. Step two: they decide to follow you or engage with you a little further. Often this is signing up to your mailing list or engaging in some sort of lead magnet. Step three:

Get more email subscribers with an ebook as a lead magnet

In the past few years, ebooks have become an increasingly popular lead magnet. This is because they are a great way to get people on your mailing list and build trust with potential customers. In this article, we will discuss how ebook leads can be so effective at achieving business goals and why you should consider using them in your marketing strategy. The ebook lead magnet is a tried and true marketing technique. Yes, it’s been around for decades now but that doesn’t mean ebooks are any less effective than they were back then! Quite the contrary: these days, an ebook can be considered a powerful business asset if done correctly. Okay, brag alert. This year I had a goal to build up my email list for my author brand. I released my first fiction book on Amazon in March 2021, so I had to quickly do some hustling. I started to build the list by using a free short story giveaway. This works incredibly well for this niche as within two months, I had 1500 subscribers and it’s continuing to rapidly grow. They’re easy to create (even as you go along) with tools like Scrivener or Microsoft Word; and they allow your prospective customers to get more info about what you do in one place without having to search through lots of different pages on your website. Plus, there’s plenty of room for customisation when it comes to ebooks too! Don’t just use them solely for sales pitches either – try adding some personal touches like your own tone of voice and language or images. And you can even link back to your website if you want people to discover more information. What is a lead magnet? A lead magnet is a tool that you use to build relationships with potential customers and get them onto your mailing list. This helps you stay in touch, nurture leads, and eventually convert readers into buyers. The ebook offers an effective way for businesses to grow their lists of followers because it’s affordable and easy to produce. In addition, they are attractive; providing valuable information about the business through writing can be more engaging than simple graphics or videos alone. Why an ebook as a lead magnet? The ebook format also allows brands to offer something different from what other companies might have on offer at the same time. It gives users exclusive access to content which could otherwise only be found by subscribing to newsletters. This makes ebooks far more appealing as part of a marketing strategy. When it comes to generating leads, many people say an ebook is the best way to go. This is likely true because they are a great lead magnet and generate sign-ups for your business’s mailing list. In fact, 50% of marketers who start using lead magnets report higher conversion rates. (wpforms) With the three highest performing ways of securing leads for B2B marketers include in-person events, followed by webinar lead magnets and ebook lead magnets. (Content Marketing Institute) Luckily, ebooks are a time-saving marketing tool. These days an ebook is the perfect lead magnet because they’re something you might have on offer at the same time. It gives users exclusive access to content which could otherwise only be found by subscribing to newsletters. This makes ebooks far more appealing as part of a marketing strategy. An ebook can provide businesses with that one contact point for their prospect’s information and it provides them with quality content about your product or service in return. This means that every single person who opts into your email list will also get this high quality content from you all year round. Instead of just once! Ebooks make great lead magnets because: They provide customers with more information and content Ebooks are a cheaper alternative to conferences or events An ebook can be used as incentive for subscription, rather than just being an extra bonus. Ebooks make great lead magnets because they’re so cost effective. They can be easily outsourced if you don’t have time to research, write and produce yourself. They offer something new and exclusive to offer people who might not know about your business yet. Ebooks are a cheaper alternative to conferences or events. An ebook can be used as incentive for subscription, rather than just being an extra bonus. Ebooks make great lead magnets because they’re so cost effective. They can be easily outsourced if you don’t have time to research, write and produce yourself. Most of all, an ebook builds trust between you and potential customers – something no other type of content does quite as well! People will feel safe signing up to your email list if they already have some idea what you’re all about. And finally, ebook lead magnets are just so darn convenient! You can’t make a time-sensitive offer or sell physical products with an ebook (you’ll need to be selling digital content instead). But the fact that ebooks are delivered electronically makes them super easy for customers and prospects alike. All they have to do is put in an email address. It doesn’t even matter if they read the book straight away (or at all!) I’m an enthusiastic and experienced book writer. So why not hire me for ebook copywriting and get your book written within weeks!

3 Cloud Security Threats to Be Aware of in 2021

Cloud solutions offer a variety of new opportunities to organisations in nearly every field, but they also introduce some unique security risks that should be taken seriously by all stakeholders. Misconfigurations cost trillions of dollars every year, and even smaller data breaches can be incredibly damaging. In this article, we’ll cover three of the most important threats to cloud security systems. While it’s impossible to totally eliminate security risks, improving your practices can dramatically reduce the chances of a successful breach. Keep in mind that infrastructure as code will continue to play a crucial role in cloud security in 2021 and beyond. Access permissions A cloud solution is only as secure as its weakest link, and employee accounts are a particularly easy target for attackers. Hackers can get into your system through an employee account and potentially expose sensitive information depending on the employee’s permissions. With that in mind, any approach to cloud security should start with clearly defined access permissions and policies. Two-factor authentication is a vital security measure that makes it that much harder for bad actors to gain control of accounts. Make sure to limit access to information as much as possible—employees should only be able to see the information they need to do their jobs. Data loss Data theft is a serious issue for any organisation, but you also need to be aware of the possibility of data loss. Fortunately, there are a few simple ways to keep your information more secure and avoid losing valuable files or documents. Unsurprisingly, the most straightforward way to preserve data is to make regular backups, including backups for outdated versions of your files. Keeping that information at data centres in a variety of locations will also reduce the risk of physical damage. Compromised APIs Application user interfaces, or APIs, are a fundamental element in many contemporary workflows. These systems facilitate interactions between applications and often involve the transfer of relevant data to third parties. Unfortunately, many APIs have glaring security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers. In the Cambridge Analytica scandal, for example, Facebook gave a third party access to sensitive customer information without sufficient monitoring or accountability. Along with two-factor authentication and other basic measures, organizations should also disable anonymous access, create strict permissions, and set up reliable activity monitoring. It’s impossible to compete in the modern economy without leveraging the power of cloud solutions, but jumping into those without sufficient preparation can be incredibly costly. These are just a few of the most salient risks that stakeholders and cybersecurity professionals need to respond to proactively in 2021. This has been a guest post. Read more articles here

What is Content Marketing?

What is content marketing? Content marketing is a type of marketing that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. Content marketing aims to drive profitable customer action by providing useful information to customers and prospects. Content marketing can take many forms, including blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, social media posts, ebooks, and more. It can be used to educate, entertain, or engage an audience, depending on the marketing campaign’s goals. Content marketing differs from traditional marketing because it focuses on creating long-term customer relationships by providing valuable content that addresses their needs and interests. It is not meant to be overly promotional but rather to build trust and credibility with the audience. Effective content marketing requires a well-defined content strategy that aligns with the business’s overall marketing goals. This includes identifying the target audience, defining the types of content that will be created, and establishing a distribution plan to reach the target audience. How can you create valuable content assets? There are several ways to create valuable content assets: By following these strategies, you can create valuable content assets that will be valuable to your audience and help you achieve your content marketing goals. What are reasonable content marketing goals? Good content marketing goals should align with the overall business goals and objectives. Some common content marketing goals include: It’s important to choose content marketing goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART goals) to ensure that you can effectively track and measure your progress. How do you generate leads with content marketing? There are several ways to generate leads with content marketing: By implementing these strategies, you can effectively generate leads through content marketing efforts How can you improve your content marketing? There are several ways to improve your content marketing: Following these strategies can improve your content marketing efforts and achieve your business goals. What does the future of content marketing hold? It’s difficult to predict the exact future of content marketing as it is constantly evolving. However, some trends that are likely to continue include: Overall, the future of content marketing will likely involve a greater focus on personalisation, the use of advanced technologies, and the creation of engaging and interactive content. Hire a content marketing professional achieve your organisation’s goals.

Why You Need a Professional to Create Your Brand’s Tagline

A brand tagline is one of the most important marketing tools for a brand. It’s what people think about when they see your brand and it can help them decide whether or not to buy your product. Your brand tagline should embody everything that you want your brand to be known for. However, if you’re like many small business owners who are in charge of coming up with their own brand taglines, then you may tempted to come up with your own. And just because you think it’s a catchy pun or play on words, doesn’t mean it is a powerful tagline to help solidify your brand and speak to your customers. Your brand tagline should embody everything that you want your brand to be known for. Your brand is a representation of your company’s identity and what it offers to its customers. You cannot just use any old words for your brand tagline, you need one that will not only convey the right message about your brand but also build an emotional connection with the customer. Professional brand copywriters know exactly how to do this! If you are tired of trying in vain to craft a memorable brand tagline on your own, hire a professional freelance copywriter who can help get those creative juices flowing and take care of all the hard work for you. Brand copywriting experts have great minds (if I do say so myself) when it comes to crafting messages that engage people emotionally. Something most entrepreneurs struggle with because they don’t specialise in marketing like these pros do! Below, I discuss why it’s so important to hire a professional to come up with the perfect brand slogan for you and why doing so could make all the difference between success and failure for your brand. Hiring a professional brand tagline creator is necessary for these reasons: It’s important to hire someone who understands how brand slogans work and what they’re supposed to do because you don’t want your brand slogan to go unappreciated by customers. You need professionals in order to produce brand slogans that are unique and offer a competitive edge in the marketplace. There’s no point having something similar to most of the taglines out there. You need professionals to come up with brand taglines because it’s difficult for you to do so on your own without any experience or knowledge of branding. Other people might steal your brand’s tagline if you don’t protect it properly. You might miss out on valuable SEO opportunities. You need to brand your website with a brand tagline that’s unique, memorable and strong. Hiring professionals is the only way you’ll be able to create something powerful in time for your new business or website launch. Brand slogans are integral pieces when it comes to branding because they set up an image of what people should expect from your brand; customers will feel more loyal if they have a connection with them. A brand tagline can help people easily identify who you are or what idea you represent so make sure not to miss out on this opportunity by trying to do it yourself without professional assistance! Overall, the tagline has to speak directly to your target demographic, evoke the right sentiments and increase your branding proposition, not detract from it. The brand tagline is the one thing that will stick with people whenever they see your brand. It’s what they think about when they see your product, website or other branding and can help them decide whether or not to buy from you. You may not want to spend the initial outlay of a professional copywriter but getting it right from the start is the most incredible investment. Plus, if you ever sell your business or brand, investing in a professional tagline as an asset will only increase its value. With a professional brand copywriter on hand, crafting something powerful won’t be a headache anymore!

How to Write SEO Product Descriptions – 10 Tips

Below, you will see my tips on how to write SEO product descriptions. But not just any product descriptions, ones that really suck people in and give them a thrill about what they are just about to purchase from you. 87 per cent of shoppers rate product content extremely or very important when deciding to buy so you need to make sure it’s perfect if you want to improve sales. Here are some of the best practices how to write bewitching SEO product descriptions: Semrush eCom special offer

Marketing Managers Should Outsource to a Freelance Copywriter

Marketing managers should hire a freelance copywriter ASAP   Outsourcing to a freelance copywriter is a no brainer for business owners. But if you’re a marketing manager who works for someone else, have you considered doing the same? While it can be unnerving at first, outsourcing your company’s copywriting allows you to put the best writer in charge of crafting words that will improve your brand identity and aid in converting customers or clients into satisfied buyers. If you’re not convinced yet, here are five reasons why hiring a freelance copywriter could be the best decision you make today. 1) A freelance copywriter can have expertise in writing to enhance your brand identity When you hire a freelance copywriter, they don’t come with a pre-designed template or set of ideas they are already attached to. They will bring fresh ideas and approaches to your organisation. Have you ever been too close to something to notice the obvious? It happens all the time. All it takes is someone new to the data or problem to give you a fresh perspective, and it can open up doors that were previously closed. 2) Freelance copywriters are professional and reliable Marketing managers can’t afford to have their products or services surrounded by amateurish content that doesn’t inspire confidence in customers. By outsourcing to a freelance writer, you’re guaranteed professionalism and reliability because they’ll know they’ll have more work if they produce high-quality work frequently. It’s part of their business model! Do a great job, and you’ll have more work. The freelance writer can also provide flexibility by working on-demand basis, meaning that the marketer only contracts when required instead of being stuck in a long-term commitment. 3) Copywriters provide original content for your company Every marketing manager wants to establish a unique voice that inspires trust in consumers looking for customer reviews online before buying their product or engaging in their service. A professional copywriter will get to know your brand thoroughly and then craft epic content for various assets— web copy, content articles, social media posts, or even slide decks. This original content will see your brand positioned out in front of all your competitors. 4) Level the playing field with a freelance copywriter Outsourcing your company’s content can level the playing field for small businesses. Large companies with an unlimited budget for marketing materials where ‘the average marketing budget for B2B firms accounts for 13% of company revenue.’ This means they hold a huge advantage over smaller companies that don’t have access to these sized budgets. This is where freelance copywriters come in. You don’t have to hire an expensive agency, a new staff member or spend thousands on advertising when you outsource your copywriting work to one person. One of the many ways a freelance writer can benefit a company is by providing convenience and flexibility. Instead of having an employee physically present at all times in an office, marketers may outsource their needs to freelance writers who operate mostly remote from their clients. The writer does not need to be sitting next to or immediately near the marketer like an employee would be required. Imagine all the time and money that would save your company! 5) A freelance copywriters can offer a variety of services Like most copywriters, I don’t just do copywriting. Because of my background in marketing, I provide a range of marketing services, including SEO, email marketing, content strategy and even book blurb writing and book coaching. That means I’m bringing a whole new set of skills to the game that will help advise your strategy and take your marketing to a whole new level. It also means that you spend far less time having to brief me because I already know what you are talking about and, in turn, can provide high-level professional advice to your current marketing challenge. If you are an overworked marketing manager, that spends way too much time deliberating on what to write next or whether you have nailed the headline, reach out to me today.  

Maximum, Overwhelmed and Frantic: How to Use and Manage an Editorial Calendar

An editorial calendar is a powerful tool for staying on top of editorial tasks and ensuring editorial projects are completed on time, every time.  The editorial calendar is a powerful tool for staying on top of editorial tasks and ensuring editorial projects are completed on time, every time. It’s also the key to managing resources across all your publishing channels— print, web and social media alike— and it will help you grow readership in new ways as well. Ideally, your editorial calendar should be planned out for the following six to twelve months so you know what content is coming up. Investing a little time or money upfront will give you peace of mind and space for the rest of the year, leaving you to focus on your core role and what you do best in the business. What are the benefits of editorial calendars for your business and workflows? How do editorial calendars benefit readership growth? And what goes into an editorial calendar, anyway? At any given time, I’m juggling a lot – from planning content to managing staff. That’s why having editorial schedules is so important. It allows me to keep on top of deadlines and provide my team with clear expectations about when they will be needed next. But how can this process really make life easier for managers like me—and save companies money in the long term? Let’s get started! How do you use an editorial calendar? Editorial calendars are a means of tracking editorial work with editorial deadlines and editorial needs. Either get a copywriter to prepare your professional editorial calendar or have a go yourself with a handy editorial calendar template. Once it has been filled in, follow along the plan creating and writing each topic as necessary. It’s my strong advice to write as much content as far in advance as possible. WordPress and most other platforms have a function where you can schedule blog posts to be scheduled at a certain time. If you were organised, you could write your entire year’s worth of content in January and set and forget meaning the rest of your year is available to focus on what you do best in your business. Can you imagine the freedom that would bring! Once you have published or scheduled your blog post, be sure to mark it off the editorial calendar so you know that it has been done and can refer back to at any time. Ensure you are covering all your content pillars, topics, all areas of services or products within the business and are externally and internally linking properly. As an extra tip, be sure to track your assigned SEO keywords (each blog post should be assigned an SEO keyword) in your SEO software. I use SemRush and it tells me when my or my clients’ websites are ranking on the first page of Google for their keywords. One of the most important aspects is looking ahead and making sure that there’s enough content scheduled so that if something falls through or takes longer than expected it doesn’t leave readers without the information they’re interested in. How do editorial calendars help with managing content and scheduling posts? The editorial calendar is the backbone of any successful blog. It’s your roadmap for publishing engaging, original content on a regular basis. It’s also your editorial boss, telling you what and when to publish. An editorial calendar helps bloggers plan ahead for content ideas or blog posts they want to create in the future. It also reminds you of deadlines so that you don’t miss out on opportunities without realising it. When used properly, an editorial calendar even keeps track of any guest posts that need publishing dates as well! Why is it important to use an SEO copywriter to create your editorial calendar? The copywriter who creates or customises this document should understand what goes into successful blogging: research before writing; effective headline strategy; the consistent tone of voice (among other things). A professional copywriter has the skills to create an editorial calendar because they’ve done it before and knows what to do. They know how to research, they have editorial writing experience (they understand the importance of tone), they can create an editorial calendar with a specific goal in mind. Creating an editorial calendar is essential to keep track of more content needs, different deadlines and conceptual time. Plus, creating an editorial calendar early in the year will help you meet deadlines for future posts. Hire an Australian copywriter to create the perfect editorial calendar for your brand or download my expert editorial calendar template today. This blog post contains affiliate links.

Copywriting for generation X

Generation X are people who are 38 to 53 years old in 2019. And, as a target demographic, when it comes to copywriting and marketing, they are ripe for the “attacking”. Generation X in Australia are known as the ‘forgotten generation’ and aren’t as noisy or given as much attention as all the other generations, particularly when it comes to marketing. Which is silly because once you onboard them as customers, they are ridiculously loyal. So marketers and brands are doing themselves a disservice by not creating and marketing products to them.  They like to research a lot and are keen information sharers amongst their friends, colleagues and family. Which means, they are going to Google the heck out of your brand and compare your product or service to your competitors long before they make a decision. But, like I mentioned above, once they have made a decision, they are highly likely to be brand loyal.  Although the most brand loyal out of all the generations, they are still constantly seeking value for money and convenience at stores such as Big W, Aldi and Target. 70 per cent of generation X want brands to make their lives simpler and more convenient because many just want more time with the family and more “me time”. They want to create more time so they can spend with family and have an active hands on role in parenting How generation X live and work It’s incredibly important to them to spend time with their family. Constant seekers of the elusive work/life balance, they are hard workers and live by the motto ‘work hard, play hard.’ Generation X, are big into planning and considers hard work just part of being human. ‘Gen X was also ranked highest among fellow workers for having the strongest work ethic’ and we can generally find them in middle management in professional fields.  So, if you are marketing products or services, consider using experiences and family orientated activities to appeal to their leisure preferences as well as rewards for career related achievements and acknowledge how hard they work.  What they believe Generation X also believe in being grateful for the opportunities they have in life, that may not have been afforded to generations before them. They believe that higher education is crucial to their success yet they are quieter and humbler about their achievements because would rather fly under the radar. Generation X values include: honesty transparency trust resourcefulness independence self sufficiency quality time (with self, friends and family). So it’s crucial you think about these values when you market to them. How can your business show that you are the most trustworthy? How can you allow this demographic to be more self sufficient when accessing your offerings? Generation X want a brand that: they can be highly loyal to makes their life simpler and more convenient genuinely earns their trust reassures and supports (before after and during their purchasing journey) offers less overt sales techniques (no pushy sales tricks for this generation) are ethical and eco conscious and that do good for the world nurtures their lifestyle (think subscription services for the home). Furthermore, it’s really important to connect with this generation that you create copywriting that is positioning situations as real world and relatable, rather than highly aspirational (which, say, millennials respond to). ‘Nielsen reports that both men and women of Generation X are drawn to TV Advertisements that showcase everyday life and real-world situations. Generation X women in particular enjoy sentimental ads that focus on family life. Appeal to Gen Xers by rooting conversations in real-world possibilities.’ Some words that can enhance your copywriting targeting generation X are: trustworthy relaxing family convenient consistency reliable “me time” fuss free resourceful truthful work hard rewarding independence balance no nonsense clean eco friendly Some of generation X’s favourite brands include: Amazon Netflix Android Hershey If you want more information like this, grab a copy of my book Potent: improve your website with effortless copywriting.

Why should website copywriting answer questions?

Major search engines like Google have grown from being a simple way to navigate to a doorway to boundless knowledge. As a result of this, the number of search requests that are question related are rapidly increasing, making solutions focused website copywriting more critical than ever. There are three main reasons why your website copywriting needs to address a user’s question and problems. If you’re providing solutions based copy, then it: is better for SEO improves your bounce rate provides more credibility and trust. A 2017 Jumpshot study published on Moz predicted that approximately eight per cent of search queries are phrased as questions. This may not look like a significant figure but Internet Live Stats suggests that people made around 3.5 billion searches per day in 2018 and this figure is only going up. Questions in SEO search terms As a real life example, let’s take a related topic using some of the leading SEO search software available.  The SEO search term ‘how to improve my website ranking’ had a higher search volume of 70 (average number of times it has been searched) with a 100 per cent click potential (the likelihood that people will click on your link should it rank high enough). Similarly, ‘how do i improve seo on my website’ (search volume of 50) whereas ‘improve my website’ has a search volume of 20. This keyword data shows us that people are searching more question based terms for this particular example (and likely many others), specifically 350 per cent more enquiries.  That means if you aren’t factoring in question based SEO keywords into your website content, then you could be missing out on a whole heap of searchers who are specifically looking for the answers you can directly provide.  … if you aren’t factoring in question based SEO keywords into your website content, then you could be missing out on a whole heap of searchers… Answer the question Even more important than including question based terms, is actually being able to answer them in clear, concise wording. If someone visits your site and isn’t able to glean the answer they are searching for, they will leave your site no matter how great your web design is. This may seem like an obvious thing to keep on top of but it goes much deeper than that. It points to an aspect of SEO known as bounce rate. Your bounce rate is how long a user stays on your webpage (not website) before leaving. The shorter their stay, the less authority your site has and vice versa.  A bounce rate signifies the visit quality of your site and if you are getting a high bounce rate, that is an obvious indication that what you have on your website is not relevant to what viewers are searching for.  Neil Patel, one of the world’s SEO experts, has suggested that the average bounce rate is around 40 per cent. However, this average is different for each industry and function of your site. For example, targeted retail sites can expect an average of 20 to 40 per cent bounce rate.  This is where relevant website copywriting is of the utmost importance. Good copy will engage, inform, educate and promote at the same time. This ensures that your readers spend more time on your page, boosting your search visibility. Credibility Perhaps the most central thing to consider is the level of credibility and trustworthiness you are offering a potential new customer or client. ‘80 per cent of users say that being able to trust the information on a site is very important to them as they decide to visit a website.’ If you have misled them to your website without providing genuine information and solutions, they are going to easily dismiss your services and likely not return. Directly answering a searcher’s question or addressing their problem will build trust, which is the ‘cornerstone to all customer experiences.’ But it’s not just the website that people are trusting, this lack of trust could also extend to your whole brand if you are not careful. ‘Eighty-one percent say, “Trust in brands is an important part of my purchase behaviour.” The best way to answer questions Website copywriting focuses on creating familiar triggers that your readers can quickly identify with while emphasising different aspects of your product or service. It does this by finding, highlighting and solving a problem, even if the reader doesn’t know they had that problem in the first place. This is often known as the PAS formula and it stands for: problem agitate solve Problem The first step involves introducing and identifying a problem that your reader has using familiar triggers. For example, if you’re a small business owner a problem may be that you need a website but don’t have the time to create one. Staggeringly, 50 per cent of small businesses in Australia do not have a website. And of that number, 17 per cent they don’t have time to build or manage one.  Immediately, we can identify and highlight the problem which is that making a website is too time consuming. Agitate Next, we identify their most significant pain point and provide examples or ask questions to agitate it. The goal here is to make your readers realise the solution even before you point it out, providing the reader with more sense of control. The more specific you can be, the more effective. In the example above, there’s an opportunity to use emotive language such as exhausted, time pressured, worried, frazzled etc. And you can push the points of what they are missing out on by spending time worrying about the website or spending time creating the website (eg, not home in time to see the kids before their bedtime). For example, ‘Are you too constantly frazzled to get your website up and running?’ Solution Finally, after you’ve stirred the pot sufficiently and made them anticipate the solution you’re offering, it’s time to hand it over on a silver platter. For example, ‘get a custom website built

How to use meta tags in WordPress

The meta tags (sometimes I refer to this as meta data) typically consists of a description, title and slug. Meta data is an attribute summing up a web page. It generally appears when someone does a Google search. Fun fact: I once wrote more than 100 meta data descriptions for a well known optometry brand in less than two days. No wonder I have RSI! Meta data description The description is a snippet of 160 characters maximum and resides underneath the SEO title or meta data title. If you look at the image below, you’ll see the paragraph that starts with ‘Isn’t it time you showcased…’ That’s the meta data description. ‘It’s best to keep meta descriptions long enough that they’re sufficiently descriptive, so we recommend descriptions between 50–160 characters.’ Meta data title The title is the heading or title part you see when search results appear. This is most likely the thing you will pay attention to the most when performing a Google search.  This is the title part of your web page that will sum up what is written on the page. It generally appears at the top of browsers, SERP and when sharing via external sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn etc.  See the image below. Jones the Writer Copywriting: Looking For The Best Copywriter? Is the title. Meta data slug The slug is the end part of the URL of your website. Use your identified keyword here for improving your search results. It is purported that keywords placed in your SEO title and slug DO contribute to your SEO but keywords will likely be disregarded in the description. I tend to try and pop them in (at least semantic keywords) anyway. But not if it sacrifices a solid call to action and enticing copy. Remembering that the aim is to get people to click on your link.  To find out what Google is using as your meta data at the moment, go to Google and type in site:yoursitedomain.com Using meta tags in WordPress The easiest way to incorporate meta tags in WordPress is to use a plugin. If you’re not a coder, there are some helpful plugins for WordPress to add your meta tags in. Plugins are designed for the average WordPress user to be able to navigate.  Yoast is one of the most popular and user friendly.  How to install Yoast plugin Once logged in to your WordPress website, click on plugins in the dashboard.  Click Add New. In the search box on the right hand side, type in Yoast and hit enter. Yoast SEO should appear in the search results below it.  Click Install Now. Wait until it has finished installing and then click Active. In the left hand side column of your dashboard, you should see SEO with the Yoast logo. By clicking on that a drop down/more options of menu items will appear. Click on general and begin the configuration process. Follow the supplied wizard if you are not familiar with WordPress plugins. Read How to use Yoast plugin for meta tags on WordPress next. What else you need to know about meta data tags You can go back to old web pages and posts and fill these in. It doesn’t have to apply for newly published or yet to be published content.  Popping in a keyword in the keyword field in Yoast does not affect SEO. This is purely a tool for you to see how effectively you are using the keyword throughout your meta data, image alt tags and content.  Create meta tags for each web page, category page and blog post. Avoid creating generic tags for the entire site.  If you have added in or updated a lot of meta data, it could be worth resubmitting your sitemap via Google Search Console, so you prompt Google to reindex and research your site.  Make sure the meta data accurately describes what content can be found on the page.  My advice is to take Yoast’s SEO readability checklist with a grain of salt. Although it pays to write great content, I find this a little pedantic and may not necessarily affect your SEO. It could gear the writing to be a little more formal and less natural and with the latest release of BERT, we now know that natural is the way to go. Don’t spend hours trying to figure this all out. Hire a professional SEO writer like me to take care of writing meta data, SEO keyword research and uploading for you.

Ask a copywriter: bite sized answers

Here is a collection of quick, bite sized answers that I have provided using my extensive experience as a copywriter on the Q&A site, Quora. Failing at doing your own copywriting? Stop mucking aroud and hire a professional.