Happy 2012!

This year is already shaping up to be another exciting one for me, with lots of great projects planned including another trip to the US in May to go to Confab. To kickstart everything I’m thrilled to announce I’ll be speaking at the next Business Balloon day which will be on 14 February 2012 at Iceworks in Paddington (Brisbane).

Business Balloon poster

Here’s my presentation outline from the website:

“First impressions count—and poorly written, inconsistent, or unclear content will erode your brand and destroy the trust of your customers. Sally will take you through five simple ways to improve the content on your website, blog or brochure so the personality of your business shines through and your key messages are delivered. She’ll show you how to develop a tone and voice for your content as well as share common content mistakes to avoid.”

If you’re in Brisbane and would like to come along, details on how you can purchase tickets are on  the Business Balloon website.

I hope to see some of you there!

Last week I went to Melbourne for the Problogger Training Day to lead the panel on Editorial Strategy with Sonia Simone from Copyblogger and Lucy Feagins from The Design Files. Each of us had quite different experiences with editorial strategy and how it could be applied to both personal and business blogs.

Lucy, Sonia and I talking about editorial strategy

What’s editorial strategy?

Newspapers and magazines have been using editorial strategy to plan the how, what and when of content since publications first started.

Now that we are all publishers (on the internet) editorial strategy is still an important way to ensure your blog (or website, or newsletter, or other content marketing activity) supports your business goals.

Key themes from the panel discussion

It was a great discussion and one I’m sure could have extended for another hour or two.

Key themes which came out of the panel included:

• Know your audience and what they expect from your blog. Lucy uses an annual survey to do this, and then backs it up by monitoring metrics to see which posts are more popular than others, and (as she posts daily) which days of the week are more popular.
• Think about post topics in advance and use an editorial calendar to keep track of what’s going to be written when. Think about holidays and celebrations, seasons, or major sporting events that may be relevant for your blog.
• Stay flexible enough to still post about hot topics in your niche, or events you hadn’t planned for. The whole day had a strong theme of balancing blogging from the heart with blogging strategically.
• If you have other contributors to your blog, have some editorial guidelines so the voice and personality of your blog stays true.
• An editorial strategy can help you come up with ideas for posts by breaking larger ideas into smaller chunks of content.  It can also help with SEO as you can build a number of posts around a particular topic (or set of keywords).

An editorial strategy can be as simple or as complex as your needs. For personal bloggers, it may be a simple list of post ideas. For bigger sites it may be a more complex road map of deadlines, approvals and costings. Sonia said she used an editorial calendar plugin to map out posts at Copyblogger up to 12 weeks in advance. She also provided some fantastic insight into how editorial strategy works at Copyblogger, including how they link post topics with other products and services that are in the Copyblogger Media stable.

If you’re interested in what some of the other panels covered, Annabel Candy live blogged a number of the sessions including the one I was on.

Do you use an editorial strategy in your business?

If you don’t already have an editorial strategy for your business, why don’t you get in contact with me so I can help you write one?

Yes, microcopy does rock

A few weeks ago I presented at Interactive Minds on the topic ‘Optimising your web content to perform’.

While I think some people were expecting me to talk about SEO, I instead focused on what you can do to optimise your content to convert visitors to customers.

I talked about some of the techniques you can use to identify your most important content, how to tell if it’s performing or not, and what to do to help it perform better.

One of the tips I gave to help boost content performance was to improve microcopy.

What’s microcopy?

Think of all of the small pieces of in-context content which help visitors perform a task on your website.

It’s often an overlooked part of content development because it’s found on error pages, forms, buttons and other elements which may not be part of the ‘main’ content areas.

For example, if you have a shopping cart on your site you’ll most likely have microcopy to assist customers making a purchase. It may be a couple of words about which credit cards you accept, advice that shipping is a flat rate, or even tips on creating a password.

Why is microcopy important?

Good microcopy smooths the pathway to conversion. It reassures, it informs, it clarifies. It helps the user engage with the site. And an engaged user is far more likely to convert than a non-engaged one.

On the flip side, bad microcopy can confuse, frustrate and erode trust. Think of a bad shopping cart experience you’ve had. Have you ever abandoned a purchase because of something simple like not knowing if postage is included or not? I know I have.

Or, have you ever got an error message on an online registration form—but no clues as to what went wrong? Do you persist, or do you leave the site?

In both of these situations some well-written microcopy could have helped you stay on the site.

So next time you’re planning a content project, spend some time thinking about your microcopy and how it can help convert your visitors.

If you want to know more, I suggest reading Joshua Porter’s post on writing microcopy. Or, if you have a content project coming up which requires microcopy, get in touch with me so I can help.

Many events prompt a big copywriting project. It may be a website redevelopment, a branding exercise, or even a new product launch. In any case, you suddenly find yourself faced with a mountain of content which needs to be reviewed, refined, and (most likely) re-written.

Thankfully the powers that be have given you a budget to hire an external copywriter to help with the work.

Now from a copywriter’s perspective, big projects are a completely different kettle of fish than a quick-turnaround brochure or web page update. They require far more planning and often a different approach. You really need to understand how a project works, and how your component (the writing) fits in with everything else.

Often, you need to do far more non-writing activities like content audits, schedules, and stakeholder interviews than you’d otherwise allow for.

So from your point of view, when it comes to selecting the copywriter for your big project, make sure you ask them these questions to see if they’re going to be the best fit for your project.

Have you worked on a big copywriting project before?

A copywriter who understands the basics of project management will be easier to manage than one who doesn’t. This includes things like stakeholder engagement, scope changes, and risk management.

Do you have a day rate?

Personally I find it easier to work on a day rate for big projects because you have to be more fluid with the timing of deliverables. Allocating which days you’ll be working makes it easier for the project manager to schedule meetings and allocate tasks.

When quoting for big projects I break the project up into a number of core deliverables, each with an estimated amount of days. I then identify key milestones to re-assess if the days are still realistic.

Have you allowed enough time for feedback?

This is an important one. From my experience, the best-planned content project can still be de-railed by rounds and rounds of feedback. Even if you stipulate your hours only cover two rounds of feedback, some organisations simply don’t work like that (no matter what they say). So you have to be flexible and adapt along the way, and that’s why I use milestones to re-assess how much work can be done in the time allocated (see the question above).

What happens if the scope changes and there’s additional work to be done?

Find out if your copywriter has other copywriters who can be called on, or if they have the capacity themselves to take on the additional work.

What’s your availability after the project is scheduled to finish?

Delays are common. Don’t get trapped by having your project run over time and then losing your copywriter because they are already booked immediately after your project finishes.

What’s your experience with big copywriting projects? Have they gone to plan?

Share your thoughts below.

I can help you with the content strategy and copywriting components of your next content project. Send me an email to get in touch.

A week after finishing my last exam at university I packed my bags and left for London. I wasn’t interested in working in my chosen career (which at that stage was PR)—I just wanted to have fun and travel.

I ended living in a big share house in Camden, and working at the very upmarket department store Simpsons of Piccadilly. Have you ever seen the show Are you being served? Well it was based on that very same department store.

It was awfully proper, and I was in charge of selling gloves.

Posh, expensive gloves.

It was the type of place where ladies from the country (actually I should say Ladies, as often it was Lady so-and-so) would come and purchase a whole wardrobe of clothes while their husbands were measured up for new suits. Such a different world.

How does this relate to web writing?

Well, the key to a sale with these rich ladies was quite often asking them the right questions before we’d even started looking at the gloves. The same can be said for copywriting—if you ask clients the right questions before the project starts you are much more likely to get a positive writing outcome.

Where will you wear the gloves?

Yes, on your hands. But in what situation? A special occasion? Wedding? Driving? Long walks in the freezing countryside? Understanding what conditions the gloves would get exposed to was an important part of fitting the right type of glove.

From a content point of view, I ask:

• What’s the purpose of the content? Is it help content? Is it sales content? Is it news?
• How does the content help the visitor complete a task on the website?
• Will the content be used for anything else? A fact sheet, brochure or the like?

What other gloves do you already own?

Most customers wanted gloves which were different to pairs they already owned. So even though they were after some warm, lined gloves—they wanted brown rather than black.

From a content point of view, I ask:

• What other content is already on your site?
• How will this new content fit in with that?
• What other online (or offline) marketing are you doing which will impact this new content?
• Do you have a brand guide?

How much do you want to spend?

Some of my glove customers never looked at the price tag (or their credit card bills probably), but other ‘normal’ people off the street did have a budget to stick to and our beautiful soft leather cashmere-lined gloves were probably beyond what they could afford.

From a content point of view, I ask:

• What’s your initial copywriting budget?
• How do you plan to maintain your new content? Will this be resourced internally or externally? Do you need a style guide to help maintain the content consistently?
• Do you have existing content to go from, or does all this new content need to be written from scratch?
• What other material will need to be updated because of this new content? Will that be done now or later?
• Do you need an editorial calendar to plan your content?

Over to you—do you normally think about these things when developing new content? What have I missed?

I’m happy to ask you all of these questions for your next copywriting project. Simply get in touch and I’ll give you a quote.

This week I went to a pantry tour at Black Pearl Epicure. It was for Brisbane Food Bloggers, and although I don’t have a food blog I figured I really do love food and was very keen to learn more about it.

The demonstration was hosted by Black Pearl’s founder Babak Hadi, and was simply amazing.  Babak took about 30 of us through the ins and outs of extra virgin olive oil, different vinegars (including aged balsamic – yum!), salts, chocolate, saffron, vanilla, and cheese.

We all left with a full belly and a better appreciation of how these staple ingredients are made.

So what does this have to do with writing?

The stand out of the night (in my mind) was Babak’s knowledge and passion for his products. He was really interesting to listen to, was very confident in what he was saying, and had answers for a couple of curly questions that were asked.

This knowledge and passion are the foundation for successful sales.

1. Know your product

Babak explained everything from how extra virgin olive oil was made, to the fermenting process of balsamic vinegar.

You should know your business and your products that well too. Describe it in your sales pages, detail it in your customer service info – show your customers that you’ve taken the time to learn.

2. Understand how your customers will use your product

Throughout the demonstration, Babak related all information to how we would use the products ourselves. This is a great technique for selling as we all were picturing using the product in our own kitchen before any purchase had been made.

Unfortunately, this is an area where I see many businesses fail. There are a lot of business owners who are really out of touch with their customers – make sure you aren’t one of them!

3. Love using your product

Sure the foods we sampled were all top-notch, but Babak has a genuine love for using them all. When you are excited about your own products or services, it acts as a reinforcement for potential customers. The old “I’ll have what he’s having” mindset.

So after all that eating (erm, learning), what did I buy? Check it out:

Note: I did get some chocolate too, but it was gone before I took this picture!

Are you passionate about your products? Share your thoughts below.

If you are in Brisbane, I’ll be speaking at the next International Association of Business Communicators Queensland (IABC QLD) event on 20 October 2010 at the Melbourne Hotel in West End.

Here’s the blurb from their site:

Web content strategy: Regaining control of your web assets as a communicator

• Do you see web content as a valuable communication tool within your organisation? Or is it more a maintenance nightmare?
• Not sure how to produce quality content with limited resources?
• Are you about to embark on a web re-development project, but aren’t sure how to approach it?

Content strategy is a fast-growing discipline that connects the dots between information technology, usability, design, and communication.

It offers practical, easy-to-apply methodology to ensure that your website is working hard to meet the goals of your organisation.

This round-table discussion will be based around what’s happening in your workplace. To make this possible, when you register, we’ll ask you to answer a simple question:

What is the biggest challenge you face in your organisation in relation to web content?

So if you are around, please come along and join the discussion. Tickets are only $20 for IABC members and $40 for non-members and can be purchased online.

When you are working on a project like a new website, direct mail piece, or brochure it’s quite common to have a design ‘mocked-up’ before you have started writing the copy. In fact, for most web projects I work on, the design has already been signed off before I even provide a quote.

This can be problematic.

If you want truly persuasive copy with a strong call to action, it’s much better for the designer to see what content needs to fit on the page prior to commencing the design.

For example:

• There’s no use developing a layout that only has small content boxes if you want long sales copy.
• If your call to action ends up being a newsletter sign-up, this has to be reflected in the design.
• Different header and body styles may need to be supported in the design – content is more than paragraph text.

Get the content written first. Be happy with the tone and language. Decide on the style.

It all influences the design.

And a final point: Once the design has been finalised and the content added, get your copywriter to have another look. The transition from a Word document to proper layout is a big one, and sometimes some minor tweaks to the words will make all the difference to the impact of the final product.

What do you think? Do you start with the content, or always have the design done first?

If you’ve got a copywriting project coming up, get in early and ask for a quote so I can start work on your content before the design is finalised.

Testimonials are great. Nice words from a happy customer can go a long way to help persuade a new customer to do business with you.

But some testimonials are better than others. Here are some tips when choosing which testimonials you’ll use:

Get testimonials from the type of customer you like working with

Like attracts like – and potential customers want to see if you have experience dealing with other people like them. So if you like working for big corporates, put their testimonials first. If you want to work with more business coaches, then get some of their words up front.

Use your testimonials to address doubts or concerns

It seems like a lot of work.

It’s a long way for me to travel.

I’m not sure if I can afford it.

A good sales process has momentum. You don’t want little snippets of negativity slowing it down.  You don’t want the customer to pause (with any doubts) or hold back because you don’t answer their concerns.

Use your testimonials to address the potential stumbling blocks of doing business with you.

I thought it was going to be really expensive, but I made my money back in new business in no time.

You have a to start somewhere

Not everyone feels comfortable writing testimonials. Even if the project has been a total success and everyone is happy, you may still find it hard to get something in writing. That’s fine, use what you have with the aim to replace them with better ones as they come along. In my opinion some good words are better than none at all.

Are you comfortable writing testimonials? Leave a comment below or go to my portfolio page to see some of my copywriting testimonials. I am in the process of updating them, but as I said above – some good words are better than none at all.

Working with a copywriter for the first time can be daunting. Writing is very personal, and having an external person write about your business (your baby) takes a lot of trust and communication.

And to be honest, the actual writing is only one component of a much larger relationship. Get these other components right and the words will come much easier.

Completing the brief

I’ve talked about the importance of a good client brief as a key component of a successful copywriting project. Keep in mind that you know  your business best, and it may take a lot of questions and discussion for me to get my head around what you do, what makes your business so special, and who your customers are. If you don’t know the answers to some of the questions – be truthful. We can work through it together.

Allowing enough time

A rushed job is never good. As soon as you know you have a project, make contact so I can add it to my schedule. The more time I have to prepare and write, the better the outcome for everyone. It doesn’t mean that I’ll necessarily take longer to write your content, it just means I can spread it out and have enough time to refine  it.

Providing feedback

I like happy clients. I want you to be happy with the work I do. I want you to let me know what works and what doesn’t work. I want you to tell me why. It’s all about communication. Don’t be afraid to say what you think – I want the best outcome for the project just as much as you do.

Paying the invoice

My invoices are due within 14 days of the date of issue. If you know that your accounting department doesn’t work that quickly, please let me know before I start so I can plan accordingly. It may mean that I ask for a deposit up front, or issue more frequent invoices along the way.

What are your experiences? Please share them below.

If you are ready to take the plunge and work with a copywriter for the first time, contact me to arrange a quote.