Our fave website tip!

This is one of our fave tips ever for websites, it;s so simple I really don't know why everyone doesn't do it!

It's simple and it's just a two step process.

  1. Think about three things you want everyone to know about your business.
  2. Not go to your homepage and see if you can find these three things!

If you can't find them, neither can your visitors!!!

Great isn't it :-)

If you need help writing your website copy, just give us a shout and we'll help you (hello@readcopy.com)

Why use freelance copywriters?

There are a number of reasons why an agency like ReadCopy can benefit your business; here are just some reasons why you might outsource your copywriting.

We have the time
It’s what we do!  We write fabulous words for you.  You often need to get on with more important areas of your business and know that, whatever happens, your words will be written professionally, when ready when you need them.

You’ll get a fresh perspective
We don’t get bogged down with what you have tried to do before!  We have worked in many different sectors for many different businesses giving us a wider range of experience and knowledge.
We can take a good step or two backwards and look at your project in a slightly different light.
 
Clarity, creativity and clout
This is the best bit, we have some excellent creativity techniques that we can use that means that our words and ideas are always new and fresh.
We always put ourselves in the shoes of your target market and really push ourselves to find the right words to express what you should say to them.

We write interesting, enticing and engaging copy, that is clear, concise and will get the desired action.
 
Words to fit your business
We always adapt our writing style to fit our clients, we have also worked with clients to help them understand what that style should be; so you can rest assured that our words will always fit it with your business.

Dedicated writers deliver on time
Using a freelance copywriter will save you time, and will probably save you lots of money in the long run (we certainly think we can make you more money!).
We are dedicated to writing for you and will write until we are both happy.  You will received your wonderful copy on time, everytime.

 

It may be time to update your Website!

The encounter at the airport along with the Google Farmer/Panda update got us thinking how we can help all of you guys.  We speak to so many business owners who breathe a sigh of relief when they have written their website and launched, but sites do get stale over time, we suggest that pages are checked and updated at least every 12 months, but what should you be checking!

Links:
Click on every single link on every single page. Are they all valid or do you have any broken ones? Do they all go where you want them to go or where they should go?

Forms:
If you have any forms on your pages, check them all.  Are they easy to complete?  When you fill in the details do you get to a nice “Thank you” page, what do you receive by email once you have filled in your details and pressed "Submit"?

Copy:
Read all your copy. Is all the information correct and up to date?  Are new products and services added?  Does it read well?  Are your news items up to date?
Force yourself to refresh some of the copy, change at least a third of it every 12 months.

Remember to add new content (pages) regularly – what new pages / articles etc can you add today?

About Us:
If your “About Us” page up to date?  Most visitors will look at it before buying (unless they know you) so ensure that it’s a page that will sell you well.  Put access to testimonials and any awards on there.

If you would like someone to create new regular content or articles for your site, then get in touch with us (http://www.readcopy.com)

 

 

Hello from the USA!

It's incredibly sunny over here, we are about to set off into 29 degree heat!  A far cry from the 8-9 degree we were experiencing in the UK, anyway we just wanted to post this story.

We had a nice chat with guy from Florida when we were at Manchester airport; he was a little bit interested in us when he knew we wrote for a living (he’d never met copywriters before!), but he was happy that he had all his copy sorted and didn’t need anything new writing (not that we were touting for business – we had started our holiday!)

Anyway, as the discussion progressed, Al admitted that enquiries from his website had been steadily falling over the past 12 months or so; when we pushed him a little further he mentioned that his website had been relaunched 3-4 years ago, but that the copy had never been looked at since!

Well, that could be the problem; Google love nice, fresh, new content, and if the content starts to get stale then they will start to drop a site a little in their rankings, and as the rankings fall, so will the traffic they get to their website!  When the traffic falls, so too will enquiries and sales!

At least we gave Al some word to do when he gets back into the office, and just in case he reads this – Al, remember to email us if you need any help writing that stuff ;-) (hello@readcopy.com)

 

Cheap Copywriters!

It's nice to get some feedback from prospects/clients; but the feedback we got from one prospects this morning rang a bell, we have heard all this before!

They haven't got much money to spend on redeveloping their website, so they decided to buy cheap and went to a fairly well know 'copywriting' website that offers very cheap copywriting. We are all for cheap writing, but it really is a case of Buyer Beware!

  • First of all he had to pay in advance - a common feature of these cheap copywriters!
  • They accepted his brief without knowing much about the business - depending on the complexity of the work, we talk to you about your business, product/service and what your expectation are; no-one can write about your business without fully understanding what they expect to write about!
  • When he finally started getting his copy back he found several problems with it:
    • It arrived late - albeit by just 2 days, he had chased the copywriters but they never replied to him.
    • It wasn't in particularly good English
    • Punctuation was bad
    • It was for his website and the copy didn't have any keywords in it that he had discussed with them.
    • When he checked the copy in Google he found that it has virtually been copied from another site
    • He tried to cancel the contract and get his money back - but as he put it, it was a cheap copywriter so it didn't mind if he lost that small bit of cash!

We did sympathise with him, but as a business owner and buyer you guys need to be really carefully before you go to these cheap copywriters and follow some simple rules to protect yourself:

  • NEVER pay the full amount in advance – some good copywriters may ask for 50% in advance, but this is still rare.
  • ALWAYS get a sense that you can work with them from how they conduct themselves.
  • LOOK at examples for their work,
  • TRY not to buy cheap!

Remember! Good copywriters are rarely cheap!

ReadCopy are here and ready to write for you, we are cost effective copywriters and if we can will often suggest more cost effective ways of getting your copy written.  Check us out before you buy cheap!
 

 

 

 

People aren’t buying!|

It happens to the best of businesses; you’ve created a website, you didn’t ask a copywriter to help you but you managed to put the copy together on your pages yourself.

Let’s imagine you sell cars, you did everything you knew you needed to tell your website visitors:

  • You have been in business for 8 years
  • You have a large range of stock
  • Open 7 days a week
  • You’re the best

It looks OK, but what would your customers make of it?

  • You have been in business for 8 years – so what!
  • You have a large range of stock – so do all car lots!
  • Open 7 days a week – so do most car lots!
  • You’re the best – all car salesmen say this!

You haven’t answered any of the questions that your visitors want to know; more importantly, you haven’t answered the single most important question!

Why should they buy from you and not your competitors!

If you had engaged with a good copywriter from the start, they would have worked out this information when they started to work with you, then they could have crafted the best copy that will actually sell your services!

This is your Proposition; and it must be available for people to read on whatever literature you write, it will help people to decide that they should buy from you rather than someone else!


 

Writing and golf!

I’m reminded of an incident a long time ago when I was a young marketing manager, and we had a client offer to pay for a deluxe golfing trip for us; when I got offered a place I had to explain that I had never swung a golf club and wouldn’t be any use to the party.

My director understood; I didn’t have the skills for the task at hand, so I would be wasting my time and the businesses!

The problem is that many business owners and marketers don’t have much experience in writing or haven’t been formally trained in writing or copywriting, so like my experience with golf – they don’t have the skills needed for the task; but it’s incredible that unlike playing a sport, we are all expected to be able to do it, even if it isn’t the best thing for the business!

Makes you think doesn’t it!

Don’t shoot the copywriters!

This is just a reminder from all the copywriters out there to remind you of one simple fact: copywriters copy CAN help you generate interest in what you have to sell and actually help the sales process; but often we don’t get involved with the entire sales and marketing process, so our words can only go so far!

What we ask is that you allow us to work with you to help you understand the context of the copy that is been created!

So if for example we create a sales letter for you, think about the response mechanism!

Will you want potential customers to contact you via phone or visit your website?
If it's via phone, who is going to answer the calls? Do they know how to sell, are you confident in their sales skills?
If it’s a website response then is the landing page written in such a way to help your conversion rates?

If we write the landing page for you, what is your sales funnel and checkout process like? We can help you with all this.

Even before you have sent out the sales letter or email, are you sending it to a list of good prospects, are you sending it at the best time for them?

Is your proposition the very best it can be?

Copywriting IS important in the sales process, but so are many other factors; please engage with us and share information with us as early as possible!

As well as great wordsmiths, ReadCopy have some 15 years of experience in sales and marketing – so you know you can trust us to help you make your campaign the very best that it can be.

Return on Content (RoC)

This may be a new phrase to a lot of you, but it’s one that we take seriously when either talking to clients or undertaking assignments on the behalf of them.

RoC is simply a measure of the return that you expect from a simple piece of copywriting or a series of copy (articles, webpages etc).

It’s similar to RoI (return on Investment) that many of you will be familiar with.

On a very simple level, website owners and businesses need to think a little more about the quality of the copy that their prospects and/or customers see; every page of copy or letter that is sent out to prospects/customers needs to have a REALISTIC value attached to it.

Let’s take the example of a web landing page that is designed to get your visitors to start a sales process; it’s unfair and UNREALISTIC to suggest that the landing page should be responsible for the full amount of revenue expected from your sales process, but we can attached an assumption (say a conservative 1%); so let’s imagine that the online sales channel is work £5m pa to your business – 1% of £5m is a healthy £50,000.

Let us now say that you paid £250 for that fully SEO’ed landing page copy, that RoC is an amazing 19900%.

I think you’ll agree that that is a very worthwhile investment.

Let copywriters ReadCopy help you and your business.

Would you!

Imagine you own a £1m business; would you leave an inexperienced young person in charge of your business?

Would you let them layout the store for you? Decide on what stock to buy? How to manage the business and promote it?

No, we didn’t think so, but you’ll be surprised how many people do!

These inexperienced staff might not be in charge of a physical ‘bricks and mortar’ chain of stores, but we know sizeable online stores that have these people controlling them!

They manage stock, decide how to spend marketing budget, create and write marketing material! We can see, and luckily the owners can see that getting inexperienced staff to run and manage a business isn't always the best idea!

If you own an online store, take a look at who is managing it for you, or at least check the governance in place to ensure that they are managing it as you would want them to.
Ensure you know the key success KPI’s of your business and report on them at least weekly.