Where can I get help with writing the content for my website?

The short answer is, call us. However, while our charges are relatively cheap for a professional copywriting service, any extra costs can be too much for smaller businesses. So here are some important points to consider when putting the content together for your website.

Firstly, it is important to understand what marketing model a website content follows: it is very similar to that of direct mail. This marketing model is very well researched and a lot of information has been written on it.

For example, Scientific Advertising, by the great Claude Hopkins, originally published in 1923, is still essential basic reading for every direct mail and advertising copywriter. Claude Hopkins was the inventor of modern direct response advertising. In fact, he is the father of modern advertising, period. He wrote some of the most famous, most successful, ads of all time. David Ogilvy, the builder of the giant advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather, said of this book, "Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times. It changed the course of my life."

Some simple principles:

• The first line (on every page, but super important on the home page) should be no more than eleven (11) words long, have a unique client focused benefit and a call to action (i.e. "Build your business a free website today." Where "free website" is the unique benefit, "your" makes it client focused and "today" is the call to action.)
   
• The first paragraph should explain the first line (e.g. "You can build yourself a powerful website today using our simple website design and setup wizard - all for free!") It should leave you hanging out to read more and in this way you can lead a client from one point to the next to a conclusion where you ask for their business.
   
• Take multiple routes to reach the same conclusion - each targeted at different types of people and sectors of your target market (e.g. some people want emotive information, some want lots of features, some want pictures and illustrations, some want to read lots of case studies, etc. OR your business may target different groups of people with their own unique needs. Bottom line, every business will have their own unique set of clients and ways of communicating with them).

Always remember when you are writing your content that marketing is all about perceptions (i.e. belief), not facts! Many advertising people talk of the main driving force behind people's buying decisions as being emotion - this is not correct! It is belief.

The process by which we learn by goes like this: our experiences determines our beliefs, which in turn drives our emotions/decisions that leads to actions creating outcomes which become the experiences that determines our beliefs, and so on and so on. Therefore, if you can change someone's beliefs then you can ultimately control their actions, which in turn only goes to reinforce their beliefs, etc. Working on their emotions alone is far less potent and very fickle.

Therefore, presenting a credible (believable) image is crucial to generating sales for your business.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people who promote themselves as internet marketing experts who have little to no background in marketing and advertising. They end up making their client's website look like dodgy rip-off merchants.

Along with the above point, there is a little saying you should be aware of: there are lies, bloody lies and statistics - i.e. take some web marketer's statistics and so call 'research' with a grain of salt. People are people, no matter whether they are on the internet or in the real world!

Well this is just a taste of the expertise we can bring to your business and marketing - including your web marketing. Call us today for more information and help with getting the best from your website.