Rock Solid Writing » internet commerce

Farming the Social Network Back Forty

David Denis — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:11:05 +0000

We’ve all heard the murmurs about the power of social networks for marketing. If you do a little bit of searching you can find places where there is much shouting and hubbub over using Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn to promote your business. All the hot hip trendy business mags like Fast Company and Wired give much space and attention to the power of this new media to drive customers into your business.

Should you get involved with social media marketing? As with so many things in life, the answer is, “it depends.”

Good Social Networking Soil

If your business is primarily transactional, and cultivating long term relationships with customers is neither practical nor desirable, you might find other strategies more useful. For many businesses, however, by keeping in regular contact with your key customers (who opt in) is a very helpful way to maintain top of mind awareness so that when the need for your product or service arises, you are the one who gets the call. It’s a corollary to the old proverb — the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or perhaps an even better metaphor is “you reap what you sow.”

In order to reap, you have to sow.

What to Plant on your Social Network

The key is to provide value in every posting. Something worthwhile that in and of itself will be useful to your friends, followers and connections. Certainly each status update and tweet should be promotional – it’s about your business after all. Just be sure that each short message is a seed, not a pebble. Seeds are ideas that can grow and yield fruit. Pebbles just sit there. Seeds. That’s what you want.

Where do you find the time to do all this? Well, you could do it yourself. Or…you can hire someone to do it for you. Figure out how often you need to post and hire someone to write the posts and put them out on your account. The fee will vary depending on how often you need to post and how many different sites you want to post to. Start with a three month arrangement and track the results, but realize that this is the sort of endeavor that may not yield fruit right away. That’s why it’s called cultivating a relationship. It takes time.

By the way…feel free to friend me up on Facebook. Just search for Rock Solid Writing.

If you prefer Twitter you can follow me there by the name rcksolidwriting.

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David is a freelance writer for hire offering copy writing for print and web, article writing, sales letters, training manuals, , seo content, sales writing, blog articles, copywriting service, sales scripts and business name ideas.
To learn more, or request a quote visit http://www.rocksolidwriting.com/freelance-writer-quote/

Does your Website Stink?

David Denis — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:42:46 +0000

So you have a website. You paid good money for it. It has nice colors and pretty pictures. It has some words, maybe a video or something. It even has links and keywords. Mmmmmmm.

Now ask yourself this question.

Is my website actually doing what it’s supposed to do?

Do you even know what your website is “supposed to do?” Be honest.

To paraphrase Zig Ziglar, you may need to move your website from being a wandering generality and change it into a meaningful specific. How can you find out on what side of the fence your website stands?

Dan Heath over at Fast Company has a good idea.

Notice that it’s all about the message, and mostly about the writing. You can make an enormous change for the better just be using clear direct copy that communicates a clear direct message. You may not need to redesign your entire website (then again…). Nevertheless, if your little informal market survey focus group video project thingy tells you that your website visitors leave your website fuzzy about your company, it may be that you need to upgrade your copy.

In the long run the cost of better writing is much less than a website that stinks.

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David is a freelance writer for hire offering web copy, marketing material, article writing, sales letters, training manuals, speech writing, seo content, sales writing, blog articles, copywriting service, sales scripts and business name ideas.
To learn more, or request a quote visit http://www.rocksolidwriting.com/freelance-writer-quote/

Copy Writing Sample – Konopka Floor Sanding

David Denis — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:47:54 +0000

I recently completed some copy for the website of Konopka Floor Sanding, a small business located in Pittsfield, NH.

Larry Konopka spent about 45 minutes on the phone with me, discussing what makes his business special. Out of this interview I mined enough good information and ideas to create about 500 words of really nice web copy to sell his business.

I wanted to communicate three things to any site visitors:

Get the visitor to look at their dingy old worn out floor and feel the pain of how awful it looks.
Imagine how wonderful it would be to have a gorgeous new refinished floor.
Sell them on why Konopka Floor Sanding is the absolute best choice to do the work.

Basically, it’s a sales presentation, but with the web copy doing the work instead of a live salesperson. The website won’t close the sale in this kind of situation, but it will plow the ground and plant the seed so that when Larry talks to his prospects, they are already prepared to buy.

This is a classic example of how high quality web copy can help a small local business gain more sales.

Of course, a nice looking website and strong search engine optimization is critical also. Neil Burtt over at You Promote is great at providing a nice internet marketing package for small businesses. He gets the job done without breaking the bank.

Copywriting Tip: Why Bad Writing happens to Good People

David Denis — Mon, 10 May 2010 16:00:08 +0000

It’s called a POINT for a reason — it’s not dull.

Most people, probably you in fact, are scared by hard concrete words. We think that we must use safe language. Language with the teeth and claws pulled out. Language that is soft, squishy and fuzzy. We think sounding obtuse makes us sound smarter.

The urge to de-fang strong direct sentences is a powerful one. The fear of offending someone, or excluding something makes us queasy. We are afraid to write with words that poke at, or strike, or (God Forbid) even explode upon the reader’s consciousness.

Listen to what Dan Heath from Fast Company says about this, as applied to the writing of Mission Statements.

This is not just about your mission statement. It’s about your website. It’s about your brochures, tear sheets, email campaigns and print ads. It’s about any message you put out there to promote your business that sucks because you were too scared to say it outright and let it go at that.

Stop trying to sound like a PhD in Blabology (unless of course you actually are a PhD in Blabology). Start writing and talking like a real flesh and blood human being with a beating heart and a brilliantly electric brain. Your readers will respond with cheers and hoots and hollers and probably more than one standing O. Why? Because they like reading things that don’t sound like they were penned by a moron.

Got it? Good. Now go do it. I dare you.

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David is a freelance writer for hire offering article writing, sales letters, training manuals, speech writing, seo content, sales writing, blog articles, copy writing service, sales scripts and business name ideas.

To learn more, or request a quote visit http://www.rocksolidwriting.com/freelance-writer-quote/

Copywriting for Semiconductorsupport.com Website

David Denis — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:01:36 +0000

As a freelance copy writer I write compelling copy for business websites. Recently I wrote some powerful content for a promotional website for Taylor Tech.

Taylor Tech services machines that process semiconductor chips after they have been imprinted with circuitry. He first attempted to create a website on the cheap using a popular hosting service. After realizing that his website wasn’t doing anything for his business, he decided to get professional help, so he asked Neil Burtt at You Promote to help him create a website that will both improve his brand image and generate warm leads by creating organic search traffic. You Promote specializes in creating low cost websites for small and medium sized businesses; sites that are engineered to effectively and actively promote your business online.

As part of the You Promote freelance contract team, I was privileged to write the copy for the new website. My focus was threefold:

Clearly explain to visitors what Taylor Tech does – make it easy for visitors to grab the main ideas.
Optimize the content for search engines – contribute to high search ranking results.
Sell Taylor Tech — encourage the visitor to contact Taylor Tech to engage their services.

Go to www.semiconductorsupport.com to see how professionally written copy can make your website light up.

If you want powerful professional copy for your website, blog or newsletter, go to the Request a Quote page on this website to request a consultation on your copywriting needs for your web content.

Google Likes Websites with Quality Content

David Denis — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:40:05 +0000

I talked yesterday with Neil Burtt, CEO of You Promote in Concord NH. Neil observed that the Google search algorithm seems to be shifting, so that quality content is more important than ever for creating high search engine rank results. It’s not all about the header, the title bar, and the meta tags. Google likes websites that give web users what they need, and it rewards those sites with higher search ranking that make them easy to find.

This is especially critical for small businesses that want their websites to pull in qualified prospects and create selling opportunities.

When your website contains strong compelling content that answers the searchers questions, everyone wins. In its Webmaster Guidelines, Google explains how it views content as part of the whole Search Engine Optimization recipe:

Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.

Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as “cloaking.”

If you have plentiful, high-quality content that accurately describes what your business does, Google is more likely to place your business higher in the rankings. That means your prospects will find you more easily.

Once they find you, quality content becomes even more critical. It is a standard principle of selling that people buy BENEFITS, not features. If your website describes your product, but does not help people to quickly see the benefit of your product, you won’t get the return you seek from your web marketing investment. Good content should move your prospect to act, and that action should be contacting you.

If writing copy and content isn’t your thing, then get some help to get it done right. Don’t underestimate the power of well-crafted paragraphs for your business website. It need not be fancy, but it should drive customers to your door. What happens then is up to you.

Rock Solid Writing can provide your website with compelling, high quality content that will create more opportunities for your business. Go to the Request a Quote page to contact me about how I can help you get the most from your web investment.

Quality SEO content gets search engine results

David Denis — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:56:38 +0000

The good folks at Danconia Media services note some recent changes in they way Google handles local listings. This may have some powerful effects on the internet landscape, especially for smaller businesses that depend on trade from their immediate area. This may or may not be a bad thing, but as the Danconia blogger observes, “Obtaining organic search engine results will now be more important than ever.”

In the big picture, these changes mean that the results your business gets from organic search are going to become more and more important. When your prospects search for your business, what are you doing to show up high on the search results listings? Of course you must pay attention to your keyword research, meta tags, alt text, headings and all that. But none of that really works properly if you don’t have compelling content that is fresh, valuable to your prospects, and well written for web searching.

Writing is the key

Basically, its all about the content. Make sure your website contains useful, well-written information that will be a resource for your prospects and draw them back to your site repeatedly. What’s more, don’t just set it and forget it. Regularly post new content to keep your site fresh. Sure it takes time and effort, but better organic search results don’t happen by accident. They must be cultivated.

Note these comments from A Beginners Guide to SEO Best Practices:

Having good content is one of the most important things you can do for your page. Like I said earlier, content is the foundation for SEO, you need to have great content. Not only is it better for users if you have really good content, but search engines’ algorithms try to reward pages that have great content. If you have good content people will be more likely to link to you, causing search engines to see more value and authority in your page.

You must offer web copy that has appeal to both the human reader and the search engines. It’s not an either/or proposition. It’s really both/and. When you offer content that hits the sweet spot for both kinds of readers, you can really start to hit it out of the park in terms of search results.

Make it easy for your clients to find you. It’s a beautiful thing.

Blog Writing Tip – Writing for “You”

David Denis — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:00:53 +0000

The blog over at Harbor Light Strategic Marketing has a good tip on how to write blog posts that will engage your readers.

It reminds me of advice I received from Mark Pfeiffer, a mentor of mine and one of the best salesmen I have ever met. He is a huge advocate of using the word “you” as much as possible. He thought of “you” as the ultimate benefit statement.

Use your blog to promote your benefits

When selling (or promoting, or persuading) you must focus every point you make on the benefit of your point to your customer. In other words, it’s not about the thing, it is about what the thing will do for your prospect. Solving a problem, creating value, improving profit, reducing expenses — those are benefits.

Use “You” and “Yours” as often as you can in your blog articles

Mark believed that when you frame every sentence as a “you statement” everything you say comes out as a benefit. I don’t really think it’s exactly a one-to-one relationship, but the principle is valuable regardless. When you make your blog posts oriented to “you” your clients and prospects will more easily see the value for themselves and their businesses. When people find value in your blog they will come back to your blog over and over again and build a relationship that will make selling to them easier when the time comes.

Keep this in mind when you write your blogs.

Or…if you would like to use blogs to market your business, but you find the idea of all the writing just impractical, contact me. We can discuss how I can help you make it easier to use blogs to attract high quality clients.

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For information on how I can help you write your blog, newsletter, or web content go to my request a quote page.

SEO Article – Keyword Financial Advisor

David Denis — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:00:16 +0000

This is an example of an SEO article for the keyword “Financial Planner.” This kind of article is perfect for web pages, blogs, newsletters, e zines or any other web page focusing on locating a fee only personal financial advisor.

This article targets the keyword phrase “Financial Planner” so that anyone searching for that keyword will be more likely to find your website with this article. If you would like quality SEO content generated for your online media click Request a Quote at the top of this page.

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Consider a Fee Only Financial Advisor

How do you find the right financial planner for you and your money? There are many people vying for your attention and your business. If you have money to invest, you have likely received phone calls and mail from a variety of stock brokers, insurance agents, and bankers. Many of these people are very experienced and skilled and can offer fine advice on your finances and investments.

Yet, you may find it useful to consider a fee only Financial Planner. Fee only financial planners have no stake in selling you any particular financial product. They are not paid commissions on sales or trades. They have access to the universe of financial products and are not limited to any one kind or brand. Their compensation does not increase or decrease if you buy certain products or not.

Compensation for Fee Only Financial Planners

A fee only financial planner receives compensation from you, the client, and you only. This automatically means that their professional interests are aligned with yours as they represent you in a chaotic and often confusing marketplace of options, rules, prices and values. You hire a fee only financial planner to give you the best advice, and as your agent (not someone else’s), they are free to do that. This arrangement avoids all possibilities of conflict of interest, or even its appearance.

Getting Started with a Fee Only Financial Planner

Most fee-only planners will meet with you a few times to get a clear view of your financial situation. Once this process is completed, you will receive a comprehensive financial plan that will cover much more than just where to invest your money. The plan will be tailored to your specific life and financial situation.

How to find a Fee Only Personal Financial Planner

Go to the website for the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors to learn more. You can also search for a fee only financial planner in your area.

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This article is available for reprint only if the following bio is included intact.

This article is written by David Denis owner of http://www.rocksolidwriting.com

David is a freelance writer for hire offering article writing, sales letters, training manuals, speech writing, seo content, sales writing, blog articles, copywriting service, sales scripts and business name ideas.

To learn more, or request a quote visit http://www.rocksolidwriting.com/freelance-writer-quote/

Article Marketing and the Web Marketing Pie

David Denis — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:00:04 +0000

Nicki Hicks, Search Engine Marketer at Flyte, a Maine Inter net Market ing and web design company, wrote a good article on the different slices of the internet marketing pie. Driving your business growth through internet marketing is never about just one thing. It’s about doing lots of things that, when taken together, will drive prospects to your business and increase your sales. Nicki provides a good explanation of all the options and how they may or may not work for your business.

I will note that she calls article marketing “age old, tried and true, and always something you can count on.” It’s a good alternative (or complement) to a blog and when done properly and consistently will bring organic traffic to your site. If the idea of writing all those articles (or blog posts) just makes you want to roll your eyes back in your head and pass out…call me. That’s where I can help.