Briarcopywriting's Weblog

New Home For Briar Copywriting’s Hints and Tips

briarcopywriting — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:39:02 +0000

Yes, that’s right – my blog has a new home.

To continue to read and receive fantastic copywriting hints and tips from the UK’s leading freelance copywriter then you need to go to:

www.freelancecopywritersblog.com

Bookmark this site today to receive the best copywriting hints and tips on the web today.

How to Create Sales Writing That Works: Lesson 6 – Creativity

briarcopywriting — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:46:14 +0000

Copywriting isn’t just about putting pen to paper or fingers to keys and writing. It involves far more skill than that – in fact you could call it an art. There may not be any paint involved but words are intricately woven together into something powerful and compelling.

But of course, before you can even begin to create your message, you have to have ideas. Whatever you write has to break through all the other sales messages out there, grab your reader’s attention and cling on to them until they have got out their credit card and bought your product.

Creativity can be illusive though. Everyone has their own way of dealing with finding that elusive word or phrase. Here are a few of my favourite ways of stimulating the creative flow:

Walking the dog
Going to the gym
Read a book, magazine or newspaper
Write down anything and everything that comes into your head
Read some websites
Imagine yourself as the buyer
Work somewhere else other than your usual place
Brainstorm keywords

I am sure you can probably think of many other things that you can do. If so, why not share them with us.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

Sally Ormond is a professional website copywriter, SEO copywriter and advertising copywriter with extensive experience in B2B and B2C copywriting markets. She can be contacted at +44(0)1449 779605 or online at http://www.briarcopywriting.com for any copywriting project you may have or for a complimentary webcopy analysis.

SEO, Keywords and all that Stuff

briarcopywriting — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:45:01 +0000

Everyone is talking about SEO these days. As a copywriter I am asked all the time for SEO website copy. But one mistake I see over and over is people trying to cover all their bases in one hit.

What do I mean?

Basically, people decide on their keywords and phrases and want a typical paragraph of say 200 words stuffed to bursting point with them. That’s not how it works. Think about this for a second. Who is going to be influenced by what is written on your site enough to get in touch and buy your products or services? Will it be your reader or the search engine spiders?

Your reader, right? Therefore, although you must have your keywords present (2-3 max per page), the overall text MUST be reader-friendly. That is by far the most important thing.

Place your keywords in the right locations – title tags, headings, links and your content. Don’t over stuff. Keyword density is a bit of a fallacy as far as I am concerned. You will get along much better by ensuring that your writing is natural and compelling.

Don’t forget that keywords are not the be all and end all of SEO. Keywords are just one small part of the whole game. The structure of your site, links (inbound, outbound, internal and external) and number of pages all have an influence on your Google page rank.

And don’t expect instant results because it just won’t happen. SEO takes time and tweaking. It is a constantly ongoing process. Take your eye off the ball for a second when you hit that first page Google ranking and before you know it your competitors will sneak by you.

It is something that takes time, patience and stamina. Get it right and you’ll be laughing all the way to a top ranking.

Good luck – if you need a bit of help, get in touch.

Sally

Freelance Copywriter

How to Create Sales Writing That Works: Lesson 5 – Rapport

briarcopywriting — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:40:17 +0000

Building rapport is all about making a connection with your reader – an emotional bond. You have to tune yourself into their very thoughts and desires.

Sounds scary doesn’t it?

Just think about it for a second. Of all the sales people you have bought from over the years, where they caring, thoughtful, did they take an interest in you? Or, where they stand-offish, self-centred and uncaring? I think I can guess what your answer is.

If you can show your reader that you understand their concerns and fears they are far more likely to buy from you.

Of course, you need to know what your reader is concerned about. For example, if you are selling toys or games you can tune into parental concerns.

If that method is a bit tricky you can always flatter them. Let’s face it, everyone likes to be flattered and made to feel more important than they actually are. Show them how clever, important or beautiful they are and they’ll listen to you until the cows come home.

A quick tip to build rapport immediately is to use three small but powerful words “As you know” when mentioning a fact about their job or interests such as:

‘Dear Mr James,

As you know it takes more than just a good grasp of English to become a great sales writer.’

So remember – make a connection with your reader and they’ll love you for it.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

How to Create Sales Writing That Works: Lesson 4 – Asking Questions

briarcopywriting — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:37:01 +0000

Why?

That is one question we learn to ask at a very early age. Any of you with children would have experienced the perpetual ‘but why?’ phase that all children go through.

If you are selling to a person face to face it is easy to keep the other person’s interest. When you talk to someone directly you can keep their attention with eye contact, your body language, the intonation of your voice and of course dialogue. Of course, when you are using the written word you can’t use any of those techniques.

But fear not, all is not lost; there is a very simple technique you can use to stimulate a ‘conversation’ with your reader.

Ask Questions

If you are not used to writing in this style it can sound a bit obvious. But it does work. Even if you are using a written medium for selling, if you ask a question your reader will think of an answer.

Why?

Because its human nature.

They can be:

Closed questions – those that have a yes or no answer. These are great for closing a sale. They force someone to make a decision to buy.

Limited questions – those which offer a choice from a set of answers (e.g. which do you prefer, white wine or rosé?) to engage people.

Open questions – those which have no fixed answers. By using these you hand over conversational control to your reader. They can take their time considering their answer. People love this type of question.

Try it, it will work.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

How to Create Sales Writing That Works: Lesson 3 – Storytelling

briarcopywriting — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 08:48:46 +0000

Throughout history, man (and woman) has told stories. That was how information was passed from person to person. We have all grown up listening to stories – fiction as bedtime stories or fact from stories told to us about the ‘olden days’ by our Grandparents.

The human race is preconditioned to listen to stories, so why not exploit this fact with your sales writing?

Before you get carried away, I don’t mean that you should start every project with ‘Once upon a time…’ although I dare say there may be occasions when that could be very effective. But if you can incorporate a story within your copy, your reader will be struck helpless and will not be able to resist reading it.

How to incorporate a story

If you are writing a sales letter, you can easily don your storyteller’s hat in this way:

Dear Mrs Bambride,

Like you, Dorothy Jones found she was having difficulty in coming up with original material for her sales literature. She spent hours of her time trying to create something fresh and interesting. Then she came across Briar Copywriting. They were fantastic and, from her brief, produced a new and compelling brochure. Sales and enquiries have now increased…

You can use a similar technique for webcopy but of course the best way to incorporate a story into your literature is by using a case study. By its very nature, it is already a story.

But which ever method you use, keep its content and subject matter relevant. You must stay focused on your reader.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

Have You Read ‘My Sister’s Keeper’?

briarcopywriting — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:29:30 +0000

A short while ago whilst having lunch with some ex-colleagues of mine, one of them asked whether I had read Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper. Jodi was not an author I knew; I’d just finished the latest book I’d been reading so I stopped off at the nearest Borders before catching my train home.

If you haven’t read it then you must. Very rarely do I come across a book that I get totally engrossed in. From the beginning I found myself shouting at characters – I couldn’t believe what they were doing and saying.

Not to give too much away it is about a family with three children. One child is dying of cancer, no family member is a match and the only way to save her is for her parents to make the decision to have a baby that is a genetic match.

The story is told from many different perspectives throughout and provides a fascinating insight into the different mind-sets.

I shan’t give away the ending, but suffice to say I was in floods of tears as I read the final pages tonight sat in my car waiting for my son to finish rugby practice.

Go on, stop off at your local book shop tomorrow on your way home from work or go to Amazon now – you’ll love it and I would love to hear your thoughts about it.

But now I have nothing to read – any suggestions?

Happy reading.

Sally

Freelance Copywriter and avid reader

How to Create Sales Writing That Works – Lesson 2: Brevity Vs Long Copy

briarcopywriting — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:12:01 +0000

I think every one of us is guilty of ‘over writing’. Sometimes we just get into a zone where the creativity is flowing and we just CAN’T stop writing.

At times, an occasion will lend itself to lengthy copy; at other times something short, snappy and to the point is called for. The trick is learning when which one is appropriate.

Many people think that important subjects call for long-windedness. WRONG. Most sales copy requires short, succinct, compelling copy that will grab your reader, shake them by the collar and tell them precisely what they should do.

To be a great sales writer you must learn to be ruthless and cut your copy to the bone.

BUT, there are times when long copy is preferable. For example, in the field of direct marketing – believe it or not, people do actually read those long press ads that you see and those multi-page sales letters.

One famous example of long copy in press advertising was an ad for Merrill Lynch. It took up a whole page in the New York Times – seven columns, tiny type, no pictures and a total of 6,540 words! Guess what? It drew in 10,000 requests for a booklet mentioned towards the end of the ad.

The moral of the story is what matters the most is how interesting your copy is to the reader NOT its length.

Just remember if you are writing long copy plan, plan, plan. If you don’t you’ll bore your reader and lose them forever.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

Helping SMEs cast off their marketing frustrations

How to Create Sales Writing That Works: Lesson 1 – Stay Focused

briarcopywriting — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:27:53 +0000

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. Copywriting, or sales writing, is worth its weigh in gold when it’s done properly. If you have been reading my other blogs you would already have learned how to identify your reader, learned how to plan effectively, sell the benefits of your product and how to implement AIDA.

But what I want to do now is take a look at the actual writing. Tone of voice, choice of words and ability to produce punchy sentences are all vital in the art of persuasive sales writing. In this blog I want to concentrate on staying focused.

Here is a list of what you must focus on when writing:

YOUR READER

Not a long list so it should be easy to remember. Everything you write must mean something to your reader. Let me use a fishing analogy here – if your line of words is taut, you’re fish (reader) will remain hooked, let it go slack and they will swim off towards one of your competitors.

It all starts at the beginning

The most important part of your writing is the initial sentence – this is your opportunity to hook your reader:

Address them directly
Create empathy to get their attention
Talk to them

Imagine you are sat on the opposite bar stool to your reader. Engage them in conversation, keep their interest. If you, for one second, allow your writing to get boring or clichéd they’ll gaze out of the window, see one of your competitors’ posters and will be lost forever.

It’s as simple as that! Next time, I will address the brevity vs long copy debate.

Happy writingJ.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Copywriter

Helping SMEs cast off their marketing frustrations

Every Copywriter Has an Aunt AIDA – Part Four

briarcopywriting — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:52:25 +0000

We are almost there. So far you have seen how to grab your readers’ attention, get their interest, and create a desire for your product. Now all you have to do is get them to take action.

Sometimes a little help is needed to push them from desire to action and the best way to do this is through the use of testimonials. Customer testimonials are a great motivator. People love to hear about the experiences of others. If your past clients have produced their own testimonials avoid the temptation to edit them. Their ‘unprofessional’ style may have the odd punctuation error but this is exactly what you want – it makes them real.

If your prospects need more convincing try giving a free sample, statistics, a free trial or a money-back guarantee. You can use them all, a combination plus testimonials – whatever you feel necessary to get your reader to take action.

The call to action

If this is weak, the rest of your hard work would have been wasted. Feel free to sprinkle them throughout the sales letter or, if using email, use hyperlinks then once the decision to buy has been made your reader can act immediately.

Here are a few things to remember and avoid when writing your CTA:

Ambiguity is bad – don’t confuse your reader
Watch your wordiness – you’ve made your pitch now get straight to the point
Don’t be vague – leave them in no doubt as to what they need to do

Put simply, your CTA should be short, simple, direct and clear:

Give them different ways to get in touch/place their order (e.g. email, fax, phone)
Give them a clear and simple-to-complete order form
Make it a command – ‘order now’ ‘order by 1^st February’

So whenever you are faced with writing a sales letter (print or email) remember AIDA - Attention – Interest – Desire – Action and you can’t go wrong.

Sally Ormond

Freelance Business Copywriter

Helping SME’s cast off their marketing frustrations