Yeah, I get them all the time. You probably do, too. The infamous email from an alleged digital marketing service: Dear Sir/Madam, Despite having a good design, your website is not showing up on Google for your market's keywords … Or something to that effect. Obviously, they haven't been to my website. They would know in an instant that I'm NOT a madam. Last I checked anyway. And they don't know my target market, either. I know that because I DO show up on Google (page one of the SERPs, in fact) for my target market's keywords… B2B … [Read more...]
How to Write Boring Content for an Interesting Industry
I feel your pain. You work in an interesting industry. Perhaps the industrial manufacturing or industrial safety fields. And on top of that, you have an amazing product. Why, if companies bought it, it could give them a great return on their investment. It might have the potential to change, even save, people's lives. I hear you. If that sucker sold, it would devastate you. You might get employee of the month. Pats on the back and other accolades would abound. Even worse, you might get a raise! Who needs that kind of pressure, … [Read more...]
I Didn’t Hear Them Knock …
But, I had a feeling someone was at the door. Must have been someone there because the cat was peeking through the mail slot, howling like a banshee. By the time I got there, though, they were gone. I think I saw someone strolling around the corner. Sometimes they leave a door hanger. But often, the only thing I see is their footprints in the lawn. So, I have no idea who they were or what they wanted. I'm not too worried about it. They probably didn't have anything I needed anyway. But, if my house was a B2B website, I'd be … [Read more...]
I Read Your Web Copy … I Have NO Idea What You Do!
Compare these two web copy samples. Example #1 When constructing advertorial messaging for business-to-business clientele, both for the printed medium and the widely accessible digital forum of the internet, I have found it expedient and obligatory (to wit, more operative) to craft verbal rhetoric that elicits an emotive response, buttressed by the explanatory rationale, which, by its inclusion, allows the corporate purchaser to justify the procurement of said items to the powers that be. Furthermore, the verbiage employed should coincide … [Read more...]
An Infographic for Web Writers and the Folks Who Need to Hire Them.
Like this infographic? Get more content marketing advice that works from Copyblogger. … [Read more...]
Writing Content for Robots and Real People
Robots. He told me he wanted me to write … for robots! The puzzled look on my face gave me away. He smiled and sat down, leaning back in his chair as he tossed his black hat onto the rack. "You need to write so that the search bots can find the website and index it." “Say, what?” “Google sends out these robot spiders. When they find our content, they'll crawl it. And the site will creep quickly to the first search page." Now, that sounded downright disturbing. But, trying to save myself, I responded, "Oh, … [Read more...]