An interesting and powerful page on Google's site (part 3)

In this series of five blogs, I'm going through the excellent content advice on this page on Google's site.

The second paragraph begins with this subhead.

Establish your points of difference.

And then continues with this question...

"Why would a customer choose to buy from you rather than from one of the many other businesses just like yours?"

And then...

"Tell visitors about what makes your approach to the business unique. If you specialize in a certain area or approach, tell them how - and why."

Incredibly, very few websites really work hard to tell me why the company/product/service is unique--and better. Although I don't like the word 'unique' that much.

We're not talking about a glib tagline (It's the Real Thing) but it's your USP--unique selling proposition. On my new website, I'm making a clear statement: I'm a direct response copywriter and I help direct marketing agencies and companies that use a direct marketing model with all their copywriting needs. At some stage in the future, I'm going to drill down and differentiate myself further as I specialize. But for now, I'm your direct response copywriter.

I see a lot of Flash, a lot of big graphics, a lot of this and that, plus a lot of fluffy copy but it's rare when I see a website that really tells me why the company is different and better than others. It's not easy. But here's a piece I wrote about developing a USP.

Tomorrow, I'm going through the paragraph with the subhead: 

Increase your visibility.

Hint: it's not an excuse to load a million photos to your website.

But seriously, take a look at your website right now and ask yourself if you REALLY differentiate yourself from others.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

An interesting and powerful page on Google's site (part 2)

In this series of five blogs, I'm going through the excellent content advice on this page on Google's site.

Two subheads I want to target...

• Satisfy their need to know.
• Teach.

The best websites I see provide a ton of salient information...information the reader will find valuable. The benefits are immense.

• The reader sees you as an expert.
• They stay on your site longer.
• You build a bond with the reader and establish trust.
• Your competitors will rarely make the effort to develop strong educational content, providing you with a big advantage.
• Your search engine rankings improve dramatically. Search engines love relevant, fresh content.

It all adds up to conversion--and higher revenue.

From the article.

"To create this content, ask yourself, 'What would I need to know if I were in the market for this product or service?" Then, think of different ways to present the information."

Three excellent ways to educate are the FAQ page, a case studies page, and a blog.

An FAQ page is easy to put together and it answers many of the questions a potential customer will ask. Remember, it's a sales page. Here's my FAQ page. Thanks for my graphic designer/developer Melody Watson for finding the code for the accordion on Squarespace.

Case studies are more difficult and take more time. But they are incredibly powerful. I'm working on changing my testimonials page to a case studies page. But here's a magnificent case studies page. That page is a thing of great beauty.

And a blog is perhaps the easiest way to educate--and stir people up.

Here's another great quote from the Google article.

"You may not consider yourself an expert in your field, but you probably know a great deal more than you give yourself credit for. Chances are that visitors will appreciate any advice you care to give. Writing articles related to your business and publishing them on your site can put you in the enviable situation of being perceived as an authority."

And the article encourages you to give the advice away for free...but make sure you get at least an email address.

You get qualified leads you can nurture into paying clients.

Tomorrow we'll go into establishing points of difference--your USP.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. I specialize in providing copy and content for the direct marketing environment. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

An interesting and powerful page on Google's site (part 1)

I found this interesting page deep in the bowels of Google's website. It's a short but powerful article about content. This week, I'm going to write five blogs about this article.

Let's take a look at the first paragraph.

"Often, businesses put a lot of effort into website graphics but not enough into the website text. Informative text is reassuring to visitors and it gives search engines something to crawl."

So...

• Yes--a website should look professional. But information is more important than looks.
• The above is a pretty strong anti-Flash statement.
• The more you educate website visitors, the better your conversion.
• Search engines have NO interest in how your website looks. However, search engines are EXTREMELY interested in content and copy--it 'gives the search engines something to crawl' so give them a ton of content to find.
• Don't you love the word 'reassuring' used in tandem with content?

The biggest lesson...CONTENT IS KING!

Tomorrow, I'll go through the educational part of a website.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Enter your info to the right for my free series: Seven Steps to High Converting Copy. Or contact me here.

Advice for The New York Times from a Direct Response Copywriter (Part 2)

In my last blog, I critiqued a direct mail piece The New York Times sent me. The piece was trying to get me to subscribe to their "weekender" package: the newspaper delivered to me on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday plus full digital access.

I gave the piece a 2/10.

My recommendations to improve the piece.

1. Sell New York not the New York Times. A friend who lives in New York once told me, "New York is where the most talented people in the world come to be the best." It's the city with leaders in every field. I'm interested to know what they're up to. The benefit: discover what the most incredible people are doing so you're ahead of the game when it comes to ideas and the practical application of these ideas.
2. Streamline the offer. Make it all digital with an upsell for the printed version.
3. Emphasize the apps and tell me what they do.
4. Give me something FREE from the vast reservoir of content. The 10 greatest people in the Arts in New York and what you can learn from them...10 greatest bankers...10 greatest budget restaurants...let me choose. "See what you can get when order today."
5. Get your direct marketing boots on. Guarantee. Take no risk...your credit card will not be billed for 14 days so you get a free look. Cancel anytime. COME ON! WE'RE TRYING TO SELL SOMETHING! This offer only good until XXX so sign up now.
6. Get some testimonials related to the theme...from actual subscribers who don't live in New York City.

I just looked their site and look at all the juicy content on this page. Package it. Give it to me when I subscribe.

But overall, I would sell the city and access to it...not the newspaper.

Oh--and use a great story to start the piece...

But most of all, use a proven direct response approach to selling subscriptions. This code was cracked a long time ago.

The core offer from the offending piece once again. Extremely underwhelming.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. For a free direct response copywriting checklist, go here. 

Direct Response Copywriter Critiques New York Times Letter

I look at all the direct response media I get in the mail. I got a letter from the New York Times trying to persuade me to subscribe to their "Weekender" which is delivery on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The offer: 50% off. $5.20 a week. Free all digital access.

It's a four color legal size piece. General copy on the front with "9 reasons to get The Weekender now" on the back. You might have thought the New York Times, with a TON of direct marketing talent on its doorstep, would produce a better piece than this; it's a 2/10. Let's take a look at the mistakes.

• Weak offer. Make the free digital access the offer...with the newspaper as the secondary benefit. They could surely dip into their vast reservoir of content for some additional goodies. Something sexy.
• The copy tells us the New York Times is brilliant but provides no benefits--save for "your paper is there waiting when you're ready to start the day." Not exactly compelling persuasion.
• A buried benefit--a free app for iPhone or iPad. Now that's better. Put it up front. Use a supporting graphic.
• Shoddy copywriting: "It's time for you to get the New York Times."
• Copy doodle I can't see. I LOVE copy doodles. The one on the order panel is small and I can't read it.

Flip over to the back and the 9 reasons.

• The testimonials are poor--with vapid stock photography.
• I looked at every item and went, "so what?"
• #6...Experience the caliber of reporting that has made The Times #1 in over all reach of U.S. Opinion Leaders. I don't even know what that means. Self-congratulation.
• #9 Ordering is easy...That's a reason to subscribe? That's a benefit?

Why would someone pay the New York Times for information? Clearly, nobody has asked this question in the marketing and circulation department.

I question the marketing strategy. They're selling the printed paper. But pumping up the digital adjuncts. Someone who loves the digital side isn't going to want the printed version. I would sell JUST the digital side and tell the reader why it's worth $5.20 a week. And provide some really big offers.

In the next blog, I'm going to discuss how they should sell this product.

This direct mail piece from The New York Times arrived in the mail. It makes a lot of big mistakes. Click on the image for full size.

On the back...nine reasons with very few useful benefits.

The offer is front and center but the best offer, the iPod and iPhone apps, is in small type.

Nobody loves a good copy doodle more than me. The one here is too small and it should be in red.

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I'm a direct response copywriter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. For a free direct response copywriting checklist, go here.