I read a great tip in a report for copywriter’s this week. Although it did seem a bit wacky, I thought it might just work. It is a tip that allows your creative juices to flow uninterrupted. Crucial for getting that great bit of copy written.
You see, one of the biggest problems I have when writing is stopping myself from editing as I go. I see a spelling mistake, I go back and change it. I check a phrase – doesn’t quite read right – I’ll stop to restructure it. And it breaks the creative flow – sometimes it even wipes out the great prose sparkling in my mind!
But this tip works! I tried it.
When you’re typing your letter, or copy for your web page, switch your computer screen off!
Yep, that’s what I said – turn it off!
With the screen off you can’t see your mistyping and you aren’t tempted to go back to correct or change things around.
When you’ve finished being creative then you switch the screen on and start editing, correcting any spelling mistakes as you go. If you have a laptop set the text colour to white so it doesn’t show on screen. Then select it all (Ctrl + A) and set it back to the default colour ready for editing.
The tip originally came from Dr Joe Vitale but Karen Martiny shared it in the report I got.
Give it a try – if nothing else you may give yourself something to smile at when you switch back on and read what you typed!
Have a good Easter break – catch up next week.
~ Carol Bentley
If you are one of the many people who managed to spare me 5 minutes for the survey last week – thank you – I really appreciate your feedback. In fact I was really chuffed with the number of completed forms we got in – far more that I’d expected. I do hope the e-book you got in appreciation is proving handy.
A number of people asked some very interesting questions; many about topics I intend to explore with you in future postings on this blog. The exercise of carrying out this survey gave me some valuable insights, which you might find interesting as well:
It’s no surprise the highest score for what you’d like to see in these posts is copywriting; after all, that’s what this blog is mainly about. But asking the question meant I found out what else interests people who visit this website so I can add variety to the content.
It is so easy when we are in the thick of our day-to-day business to lose sight of what is important to our customers and prospects. Holding a survey like this is a valuable way to discover what your customers think about you and your products or services.
Have you asked your customers recently?
You may be surprised at what they’ll tell you and you may even discover something new they’d really value that you could provide, thus giving you a new revenue/profit stream. Worth asking, don’t you think?
On a blog site like this it’s a fine line between overburdening visitors and satisfying a thirst for knowledge. Of course that ties in strongly with the actual content too. As you can see the overwhelming majority felt that 3 blogs per week is sufficient, with the remainder fairly evenly split between random and every weekday.
Why did I start by posting every weekday?
A few people asked why I posted so often… I promise it’s not because I like the ‘sound of my own voice’ ;¬D – there is a strategy behind this.
I’ve mentioned previously starting a blog is a great way of keeping in touch with existing customers and prospects. It’s also a great way of finding new prospects… but only if they find your blog first.
To do that they need to become aware of it; search engines, other blogger’s posts and ‘word-of-mouth’ recommendations are some of the ways to get a website known and encourage people to visit.
But…
- A stale website doesn’t show up on search engines; they like dynamic sites with constantly changing content.
- Other bloggers only talk about someone’s blog if there is something interesting to mention – that can’t happen if the posts are infrequent.
- And why would anyone recommend a blog if very little useful content is delivered?
So it was a deliberate decision to make my posts as frequent as possible with the intention of delivering interesting content to everyone in my prospective and actual audience. If you’ve followed this blog for a while you’ll know that I do try to cover a variety of topics to make sure there is something to suit every reader at some point and keep the blog as vibrant as possible.
I will continue to make regular posts – sometimes it will only be 3 during a week. But on other occasions, if there’s something to tell you that I believe is important, I may slip a few extra posts in. ;¬D
I hope that satisfies what you’d like to see.
Other Website Promotional Activities
I’m currently exploring other methods of getting visitors to this website. I’ll let you know how successful those are once I start seeing results.
Thank you once again for sharing your views and helping me to make sure I deliver what you want to read.
~ Carol Bentley
P.S. If you want to run a survey there are a lot of websites offering different solutions. The one I used for my survey, which automatically created the graphs above, is SurveyGizmo [Affiliate link] which offers a free account.
Want to get your message across to your target audience? Want to get them excited and eager about your product or service? Want to draw them inexorably towards the sale without a moment’s hesitation?
Master the art of writing powerful ‘hit the mark’ bullets and you increase your chances of success ten, even one hundred-fold.
Look at the winning sales websites; those used to launch highly successful products, programmes, self-study courses and marketing programmes and you’ll see they all have one thing in common – bullet paragraphs drawing a clear picture of what you can expect when you take up the offer; or bullet descriptions of the problems you face to which they have the perfect solution.
Ever found yourself so caught up reading a website or letter you can’t draw away? It’s acted like a magnet to your eyes and senses? Why? What has fired your imagination?
Short, to the point, focused – a rapid-fire - of bullets.
Bullets are ideal for catching the skimmers – they are short and succinct. Great for highlighting the key benefits and results the offer is making.
Writing Bullets
You can learn how to write bullets. The easiest way? Write them!
- Find the web or sales letter that grabbed your attention, one that you found hard to resist (or maybe you didn’t; maybe you succumbed!).
- Grab a pen and paper and find somewhere quiet, where you won’t be disturbed.
- Copy the bullets in your own handwriting; absorb the phrasing, the rhythm. Notice the words.
- Repeat the exercise with other letters; just make sure the bullets you copy are vibrant, alive and speak to you.
Mark Hendricks, whose newsletter I receive on a regular basis, recommends taking the next step.
- Re-write every bullet point again for your own product or service.
Did You Know…
If you’ve followed some of my previous tips then you are already writing bullets – or at least the start of a bullet. Write 100 headlines, as I advised in my post Do your headlines grab your reader’s undivided attention? and some of those that are not powerful enough for your main headline are a good foundation for your bullets.
Examples of Stunning Bullet Writing. . .
Here’s a few websites where bullets are used to great effect…
Rich Schefren’s Strategic Profits
Shrink Wrap your Brain
Ultimate Success Program
Write Letters – Win Sales
I urge you to take the time to write these bullets out – it’s the only way to really get the skill under your skin!
~Carol Bentley
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If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to claim your copy of Offline Marketing Strategies in exchange for answering just 7 questions. The survey is open until 12p.m. (GMT) today at copywriting4b2b survey
If you have already given me your answers – thank you. Your feedback is really appreciated and will help me to keep this blog vibrant, relevant and interesting.
If you’ve completed the survey and asked a question about web marketing, getting visitors to your blog etc. then please check the Q&A’s at this posting on Ed’s blog, which may give you your answer immediately.
I’ll be covering the questions that were specifically for marketing and copywriting in my future blog posts.
Have a good weekend – I’ll catch up with you next week.
~ Carol Bentley
I’ve been taking a peak at some of the questions people have been asking in my blog survey that’s currently running. (If you haven’t seen the survey yet – it is here: www.copywriting4b2b survey)
And ‘how to find the time to do things’ whether copywriting, marketing or other things has come up a few times. So I thought I’d share just 3 effective tips I’ve discovered with you and also recommend a book that I got some good pointers from.
Change Your Mind…
We all have just 24 hours a day (yes, I know you’ve probably heard that from every time management expert) and I believe that changing how you think of ‘time management’ is probably the first step towards using that time effectively. I don’t think of ‘time-management’; no – I tend to regard it as ‘activity management’; deciding what activity you want to do and complete in any given workday.
So here’s 3 of the tips I’ve picked up over the years. I bet you’ve come across them before or you’ll say “well, that’s just common sense!” True – but does that mean you’re using them to make yourself more effective?
1) Get Rid of The 21st Century Time-Thief
Emails! Go on, be honest – how much time do you waste every day on your email? Which of these do you find yourself doing…
- Sorting & deleting spam emails – even with filtering software too many still get through
- Checking your spam-filtered emails in case anything urgent has been caught by accident
- Checking your inbox regularly throughout the day – especially when you’re expecting a reply to an email you’ve sent
- Stopping to read and reply to non-urgent emails – effectively getting distracted from what you are meant to be doing
Guilty as charged m’lud!
Yep – given the chance, I’m a confessed email junkie! And it was draining valuable hours of my time. So what did I do? Simple…
- I decided on a timeframe when I would check incoming emails, e.g. 11a.m. for morning emails and 3p.m. for afternoon missives for just half-an-hour or less.
- I had numerous email addresses. I redirected ALL my incoming emails, except those coming to a personal, unpublicised address, to Kelly, my P.A. (Yep, this is one of those solutions where you need someone to delegate to. If you aren’t in a position to employ a P.A. I suggest you seriously consider a virtual assistant).Kelly checks the content and forwards the emails I need to attend to personally. You wouldn’t believe how much time that has grabbed back for me.
The second action took care of the spam controlling and the distraction problem because I only see emails that are important.
2) Organise and Prioritise
Different people do this in different ways… blocking time in my diary when I intend to do something specific… like working on a particular project; write posts for this blog; work on products; studying (yes, that is continuous for me) and so on works for me.
I prioritise my tasks as I set my time blocks. By the end of the day or week I have a clear picture of what I’ve achieved and what remains.
I must admit I do get a real sense of satisfaction and achievement as each activity is completed and ‘ticked off’.
3) Stop those rude interruptions
The rudest interruption you suffer every day, without fail, is the telephone. Think about it – if you were in the middle of doing something or having a conversation and someone barged into your office and started shouting at you “Listen to me NOW!!” you’d be understandably extremely annoyed. And yet that’s exactly what we tolerate with incoming phone calls.
The phone is a rude and distracting interruption.
And it is something that, as the business owner or an entrepreneur you need to take control of. Here’s my advice…
- Don’t answer the phone yourself. If you haven’t got staff to take the calls organise a top quality, personal telephone answering service. Dependent upon your business I would suggest you do not rely on an answering machine or voicemail. It may not give the right impression to prospective clients. After all, if you call a business number and get an answering machine what do you think?
- Use gatekeepers. This is obviously part of the previous point. Make sure that whoever is answering your phone doesn’t just put callers through without checking with you first. In fact I tell my PA at the beginning of the day if I’m expecting any calls I need to take. All others are a definite “No” and she deals with them appropriately.
- Make telephone appointments with clients. If they want to speak to you set a date and time when you will take their call. You’ll find that clients are far more respectful of your time if you start your relationship this way.
- Don’t give your mobile phone number out too readily. I have the same mobile phone number that I started with back in 1995. I have never had to change it. And that is because I do not tell anyone – other than private clients, family and close friends – what the number is. And even with private clients I’m selective about who gets the number. I only ever give it to people who I trust not to abuse it by calling me at ridiculous times of the day. They respect my time and privacy, whilst knowing they can get hold of me in an emergency.
- Set a time of day when you will follow up on any incoming calls that need your attention. Perhaps, like with emails, a half hour in the morning and/or afternoon.
- Set a time of day when you will take calls, for example from your team or work colleagues, let them know when they can call you and expect to get through. Explain you are not available at other times because you are working on projects and cannot be interrupted.
I appreciate that for many people some of the pointers above may seem to be impractical – but you’d be surprised at just how readily people will accept your working method and respect your time.
Worth Checking Out…
There are many books, courses, seminars and systems that seemingly offer a solution to this age-old problem of time management.
Many workplaces are turning to electronic means to manage time. There are many forms of workforce management software that allows for efficient and productive time management of tasks and employees.
One of the easiest and most entertaining books to read on time management, as well as the most useful, I’ve found is Dan Kennedy’s No BS Time Management for Entrepreneurs
. Dan’s thoughts on the time-wasters we all face every day are sometimes colourful – but I think you’ll probably find, like me, that you’re frequently nodding in agreement. I’m sure you’ll find some good tips in there.
~ Carol Bentley
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If you have a website and are familiar with the idea of online marketing you may have come across the term ‘Landing Page’. An ideal web landing page is specifically designed to target a specific audience with an end result in mind; that your visitor takes the action you want.
The design, structure and content of your landing page all have an impact on the outcome of any visit to your webpage. Are you creating a true landing page that makes your visitor feel they’ve arrived somewhere worthwhile – or do you leave them floundering; wondering why they are wasting their time?
- How exciting is your landing page?
- Is the headline so strong your visitor’s eyes are magnetically drawn by it into your message?
- Is the offer you are making compelling? One that no-one in their right minds would dream of ignoring?
- Do you get high conversion rates; you know, the number of visitors who go on to take the action you’re asking them to? That’s the real test of how successful your landing page is.
Testing each element of your landing page moves you closer to the ‘perfect page’ – if there is any such thing - but having a plan before you start also gives you a greater chance of realising your goal.
Get your landing page planner plus…
Ed (I know, I’m always mentioning him – but hey, why not when he’s giving valuable info I believe you can use!) is gifting 3 useful tools for marketing on the web; Landing Page Flow Chart, Web Marketing Tactics and a nifty little tool that calculates the lifetime value of your average customer. And all you have to do is sign up for his blog posting announcements.
So – if you’ve not yet visited Ed’s blog, or if you have signed up but haven’t yet checked out your gifts, I suggest you pop over there and grab them now. Visit his post Three Powerful Resources
~ Carol Bentley
technorati tags: Internet Marketing Landing Pages Business Resources
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Will you help? Will you answer just 7 questions and in exchange I’ll gift you an e-book giving you a wide scope of off-line marketing activities you can use to drive visitors to your website – actually you can even use these for generating your business sales off-line as well.
Why do I need your help?
Keeping the posts on this blog fresh, pertinent to what you want to read and offering valuable advice is both interesting… and challenging. Most of the time I’m asking myself “What would I be looking for?” “What useful advice would help me achieve my goals?” “What have I seen or experienced that has impressed me or created a measurable result I can share with you, my reader?”
And then I remember that only your ‘customer’ knows what’s right for him and you only get to find out when they respond to your offer.
And that’s where you come in… because only you can tell me…
- Are these posts useful?
- Have you taken any of this advice and put it into practice?
- Have you got results from implementing these tips?
- Am I delivering what you really, really want?
So now I’m asking you. Please give me your feedback in a short, 7-question survey (there is a question 8 but that’s optional). copywriting4b2b survey
And in return – as a ‘Thank you’ for your time, support and insights you get a great little e-book called Offline Marketing Strategies for Online Businesses; 24 pages packed with crucial tips on how to use ‘real-world’ marketing to effectively promote your website (valued at $47, aprox £25).
- 9 proven ways to advertise that do NOT involve the Internet.
- 8 ways to evaluate if your website is ready for offline promotions.
- Why print publications (like newspapers) aren’t going to disappear anytime soon.
- 3 tips for placing an ad in the classifieds.
- The secret to getting ads into newspapers and magazines for free.
- The number one rule you must follow if you’re going to invest anything in TV or Radio.
- How to launch your website’s presence with direct mail advertising.
- An easy way to add direct response (and direct profits) to your business plan.
- How to determine if your response and conversion rate is high enough.
- 6 places in your town you can likely advertise for free.
But it’s not just good for promoting your online website… all this important advice applies just as much to your ‘real-world’ business promotions.
You have 6 Days… but it only takes 10 minutes
The survey closes on Friday 14th March at 12p.m. (GMT) and, because there are only 7 easy questions, it only takes about 10 minutes to complete.
I wonder… are you like me?
If I don’t act on something straight away; if I put it to one side there’s a pretty good chance I’ll forget about it until it’s too late. If that’s a trait you recognise then, do me a favour, take a few minutes now to answer these 7 questions (they’re mainly multi-choice so you only have to click to choose your answer). Click here to go to the copywriting4b2b survey
I look forward to getting your feedback – have a good weekend,
~ Carol Bentley
technorati tags: copywriting marketing strategies survey
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