All Posts, Content & Copywriting, Marketing
Focus on Client Needs – The whole point of writing content for your clients is to provide value whether on their website, via their print marketing materials or on a billboard.
#1. Know their needs – spend time with your client obtaining relevant industry information, current marketing materials and noting their business insight into the industry (if it’s unfamiliar) and lastly, their company’s goals & desires.
#2. Know & Convey How Your Services Can Make Their Company Better – Be clear yourself and then convey to the client the benefits your services can provide them. Most importantly here is to establish a trustworthy relationship with them by making sure they know that:
- they have a professional who has the talent and experience to fulfill their needs. Provide references and previous examples of your work if needed. AND
- by connecting that experience & expertise to their content needs and how you can improve their professional credibility and financial line.
Stay Focused! – We may have our own ideas about a particular industry, political topic or the like, but you are being hired to do the job THEY want you to do. You have been hired to 
write about this client’s business, needs, ideas and standpoints-not your own. No matter how well you may write, you need to keep your writing focused on their area of expertise, products and/or services.
The Key to Keywords
#1. Remember to talk & write in the same industry language of your customers. A good tactic to employ here is to do some keyword research.
#2. Figure out how your customers (and their competition) think and how to write from that same level of expertise. See more from one of my previous articles http://bit.ly/Nsuub4 .
#3. Use a business based thesaurus. Here you will find other related words for a particular term that will showcase your assumed business prowess as well as increasing your clients SEO success.
I hope these few tidbits have been helpful. I’d love to hear what’s in your content writing toolbox and what tools you employ that I can add to sharpen my own content writing skills.
All Posts, Marketing
If you’ve been a freelancer for more than a year or two, the term “consultation” has a personal meaning to you. It means time you’re going to spend with a potential client for free to learn their needs and also your 15 minutes of fame to explain why you’re the best designer they’ll ever meet.
During these initial meetings, you the designer and your prospective client do a little bit of a dance. They initially believe you are good at what you do, but when you finally sit down at that coffee shop to show them your work, you still have to truly impress them. You’re going to say some industry terms to sound a bit techie and sophisticated like “your brand this,” or “corporate identity,” or “responsive web designs.” Things you know they may have heard or Googled but have to idea what they truly mean; though they know they want it.
Once you’re done with your presentation, and answered questions, you’re left with a bit of a pause and silence. This is where you need to be ready to pounce on sealing the deal. During your conversations though, there are a few things you’ll want to pick up on to gauge how you’ll want to seal the deal.
Body Language. This doesn’t necessarily take a psychology degree for you to use, but it is a good thing to keep a focus on. Pay attention to how they are sitting while you’re explaining your graphic process. Do they lean in, do they lock eyes with you while you’re talking. Are they fidgeting with their fingers or hands? These kinds of tells will give you some insight to what they’re actually thinking about.
Design Knowledge. How much of what you do are they already familiar with? Get them to talk about what they want first before you lean in on what you know and do. Its ok here because if you’ve made it this far in meeting with them, they already feel confident enough that you are who your reputation says. So spend a few minutes listening to what they say they’ve done in the past, or what they’d like to have done. This will help you understand the language level you need to be at. You’ll know if you can speak in more “tech-talk” or more in layman’s terms so that you’re not flying way over their heads.
Previous Experiences. Had this person or agency worked with a previous designer; and if so how was that experience. It ended for a reason which is why they’re speaking to you, so find out why. More times it may be a bad client/designer relationship that deteriorated over time. Was that time frame months, weeks, years? Is this potential client needy or expect projects done yesterday? Or do they need a lot of hand holding and persuasion to provide answers and content?
Budget Keywords. This one will pretty much tell you where on your pricing sheet they’ll fall. There are three factors to consider with any design project and that’s quality, price, and time. The client can choose only two out of those three, and you have to direct them there. I usually talk about price a little after I’ve made points to establish a base that myself and my team know what we’re talking about and are good at what we do. See the triangle below:
Be Prepared to Sign Today. Have all your necessary documents with you when you have your meetings. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve scheduled meetings thinking it would be casual and mostly informational that turn into “Do you take credit cards?” Our own content and copy writer Yvonne, signed a client while at the hospital visiting a family friend. Always have copies of your most up to date contract, brochures, media kits, business cards, and some form of payment acceptance and receipt system. If your meeting goes well, you’ll want to try to close the deal by the time their coffee cup is on their last sip. And we all know that last sip is the best. Chances are you’ll wow them and inspire them that you’re going to take their business to the next level. That feeling fizzles out with each passing day after your initial meeting, and it’s even harder to recreate that “chemistry” you had from the first meeting.
Really think about these things and see where you may have used some of these techniques before. For me, its something I love to teach to my team members of Design Theory to make them even more confident in themselves and the level of service we provide as a whole. Do you have some other tips you’d like to add? Please share in the comments below.
(featured image credit: 123RF Stock Photos Copyright (c)
2012 Olympics, All Posts, Branding, Content & Copywriting, Marketing, Web Design
Google and Yahoo have always been on different paths in the quest for being king of the hill among search engines. But as I went to each site looking for Olympic updates & information, I noticed a glaringly obvious difference between the Gold & the Bronze when it came to their homepage content strategy for the 2012 London Games. As the two giants regularly tussle for domination of their sectors, is the competition fierce for the web visitors and advertising dollars during the games? As it’s been pointed out on several occasions, Yahoo has (or “is” based on opinion) a big branded advertising business and isn’t shy about it. Google is all search – you get no advertising on its homepage whatsoever. One could say that Yahoo’s homepage creates a schizophrenic type atmosphere and Google chooses to reflect why people go to any search engine at all – to simply search. Each has a diametrical perspective; which may or may not be shared by minimalistic loving web surfers or those who want to know everything every moment of every day.
Now it may just simply be “tomato v. tomahto” – all up to the users choice of flavor. Let’s see where these two rivals stand on the content podium for the 2012 Olympic Games looking at just this one, but VERY TELLING facet – the homepage. For this year’s Olympics, you can almost see the tumbleweed across Google’s homepage with nothing more than a clip-artish image above its unapologetic, simplistic search box. Whereas Yahoo completely capitalizes on the opportunity to lavish (and possibly overwhelm) you with up-to-the-minute stats on what sport is broadcasting, which country is leading in medals, and all note & news-worthy headlines from every vantage point of this historical event. 
Could it be that the choice of a clip-artish image was a passive-aggressive “thumbing of the nose” at Yahoo’s voracious need for your attention? If so, Google gets benched on the therapy couch for this one…lol. But before they end up neck and neck for your search engine loyalty, what finds them at the same starting line is the intent of the user. If one chooses to be in the know, then Yahoo wins hands-down because it is in part what they do best. Yahoo hand-holds you every day, all day- showing you what’s hot (and not) and postings about every media event worldwide. They actually look to be a strategic partner with both their advertisers and users alike. So you are ALWAYS in the loop, whether you want to be or not when just searching for let’s say a great vinaigrette recipe.
Die-hard Google fans will say that their fearless leader displays a search engine decorum truly lacking in their competitor and that if people want news, the can get news BUT only when they ask for news. They provide a discriminating à la carte rather than a force feeding approach. At the end of the day, Yahoo hands down is a true entertainment portal capable of satisfying various entertainment and leisure users. For better or for worst, Google isn’t trying to be an entertainment portal, so it doesn’t even come close to competing with Yahoo in this regard.
So as far as the 2012 Search Engine Homepage Olympics are concerned, Yahoo’s neck is a little more laden than its competitor. Now I know that Goolge lovers might say that “everything that glitters isn’t gold”…Well I guess you’re not Yahoo then are you? LOL.
All Posts, Branding, Content & Copywriting, Marketing, Social Media, Web Design
We know that Content is King…yes, yes, yes – we’ve heard that over & over again. But let’s talk about the content strategies being implemented by brands and media leveraging this great sporting event taking place right now. I’m confident it was a full on sprinting event for various brands & powerhouse marketing firms to get their client products or just their in-house writing talent to be considered for this years’ event. Whether submitting product designs or being a head content writer for the television promos or print campaigns, all were gunning for the gold.
Leading the pack of those trailing close behind, Coca-Cola (Coke) has certainly won the coveted spot. I have read that Coke created more than 120 pieces of content for this years’ Olympic Event. But the company’s most brilliant move was capturing Mark Ronson, an English DJ, Grammy award-winning producer, musician and co-founder of Allido Records, to blow away the competition with its “Move to the Beat” campaign for the London 2012 Olympic Games. http://bit.ly/QZoW7L Using the video platform of YouTube, Coca-Cola created an entire series of videos to extend the value of their brand for the Olympics and reach customers in an interactive way. While some companies may still be hesitant to embrace video due to budget or ROI concerns, the forward-thinking marketers of Coca-Cola are diving headfirst.
This campaign has broken the ribbon with their concept of recording the sounds of Olympic sports events and transforming them into music. http://bit.ly/NQMDvF The motivation behind Move to the Beat is to bring teens closer to the Olympic Games while drawing inspiration from London’s musical heritage and connecting the two in a very tangible way. http://bit.ly/MOzd68. Doing so resulted in a cool, interactive corporate sister-website solely dedicated to this Olympic campaign at http://bit.ly/QLBOKf.
Knowing that Social Media would play a key component in their ability to gain worldwide access & participation, they coupled with Facebook on this venture allowing the brand to blast worldwide and engage the masses to create their own music beat! http://on.fb.me/OxDuau
Wow, talk about leveraging Social Media elements with written & video content! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at that team meeting! Just when you realize the enormity of this project & campaign, scrolling through the website you realize that this concept allows all of us NOT IN LONDON to engage outside the normal screaming from the couch or bar stool at the TV, to tap our fingers, dance while cooking or wield our musical talents (novice or expert) TO BE A PART of this historical event. That’s right YOU can create your own beats and let the whole world know you are part of the London 2012 Olympics. Sweet right?
So kudos to the marketeers and content creators at Coca-Cola for taking content creation to another interactive level. And based on the numbers of those Moving to the Beat on this venture, I’d say it’s proven that this campaign was destined for the podium and the #1 spot at that!
All Posts, Content & Copywriting, Marketing, Social Media
See even the title causes a little stir & I’ve got a hunch that I’ve succeeded at the initial point of this blog. Since everyone these days has a blog about something or another, in order for your blog to get real traffic, you need to create some really compelling headlines and content. And that’s what allows your blog to flourish and your analytic report to make you smile-creating eye-catching headlines and “you’ve got my full attention” content. You know how people say you only get 10 seconds to make a first impression? Well you get even less to entice a reader with your headlines according to my research. Users often leave web pages in 10–20 seconds if there’s not compelling content to read and that’s some real pressure if you’re a blogger. I have also read that the average page visit lasts a little less than a minute. “As users rush through Web pages, they have time to read only a quarter of the text on the pages they actually visit (let alone all those they don’t).” Whew-tough crowd to please!
Aside from pleasing the reader, we want eye pleasing analytics capturing the success (or lack of) with our blogs. But how do we know that we’ve achieved our goals and keep those analytical reports looking like mountain tops instead of valleys?
~ Content may be king but headlines are indeed the crown. The bottom of the leading line is that if
your blog title/headline is unnoticeable, it gets passed over in a few short seconds and no one reads further. DOA before the first paragraph. But, if you’ve got something that’s contemporary, media talked about, 
news worthy headline, you can hook even the quickest page glancer. Here’s a good example: Dare I say WILLIAM LEVY…I can almost bet that someone who knows who he is has raised an eyebrow, let out a sigh and with anticipation, is clicking to see what I might say about him or hoping to see a picture of him. 
Ladies, your wish is my command…
On the flip side, someone who doesn’t know who he is, might Google him because the curiosity bug has nibbled and you’re wondering why I’m blogging about him. The point is that I’ve struck a chord and since we are curious creatures by nature, a tantalizing headline is all we need to capture ones attention before getting our content hooks in them. What’s even better from a business standpoint is that if you continue to put out “headlining” blogs, you develop a faithful following. Increased traffic = increased business. Increased business = $$$.
~ Is your image worth 1,000 words so your blog doesn’t have to be? Say you go to the Yahoo homepage and see an image of the Queen of England and she has on an African Head wrap? 2 things would probably occur:
(1) you do a double take, shake your head in disbelief and click on another page
OR what’s more likely is that…
(2) you do a double take, become amused and want to read what supports that picture. And even though I don’t have an image to represent this theory you can almost SEE my point. Images play as much a significant role in the content of blogs as do the words written. They bring color and vitality to the black & white copy that lies on the page and enhances the experience your content brings to the reader. That’s what blogging is all about-enhancing the quality of the readers experience in order to gain a faithful following. That’s what measures the success of your blog and puts you in the “air up there” on the analytics peak.
And if you chuckled at the title of this blog or you’re still looking at William Levy,
the goal has been achieved…lol.
All Posts, Branding, Content & Copywriting, Marketing, Social Media, Web Design
What in the world is Link Baiting?
In the simplest form, it is the act of creating any content within a website, advertisement or blog that is designed to gain attention and more importantly, encourages people to link to its original form. The goal of link baiting is to leverage content to become an extremely powerful form of marketing. Some feel it’s another tool to acquire the currency of SEO. Let’s talk about how it can be the biggest fish in the pond of SEO, why it’s important to get others hooked into it and then what it really reels in for you and your business.
To completely understand its meaning you have to understand what is at the heart of its composition. Link-baiting goes way beyond words within the content of your website, advertisement and/or blog. Aside from text, it can also be an image, audio or video clip. Any of these can be effective link baits as long as they are interesting enough to catch people’s attention. And once someone has clicked onto one of these vehicles, you want them to share it and hence great amount of traffic for your content. And that’s the goal-for some part of your content to become the Los Angeles freeway at 5pm. Think about how popular blogs have become that have infographics or videos. Videos gone viral on You Tube can take a no-name person or product and spread it like wildfire. Its all about engagement, the tantalizing, wiggly worm on the hook just waiting to be nibbled.
Now that you understand what it is, where & how do you use it?
What-For blogs you definitely need a strong & compelling headline to capture the readers’ attention and engage them. Take for instance this blog. “Link baiting” is a popular, strongly researched topic. So having a witty “hook” title will return good traffic once its out there. And while the “body” of the work needs to be strong and compelling to keep you entertained, its important to hook you right off the bat with the title. If a title doesn’t create intrigue then you won’t get the readership; and without readership, your content just floats along lonely in the sea of the worldwide web…you don’t want it to be Dory in Nemo singing “keep on swimming” – lol.
Where -You want your content on all major Social Media sites to ensure good dissemination. Period – it’s that simple.
How-A simple example is making sure to add links to your website and/or blog to a witty catch-phrase let’s say on Twitter. I plan to do it with this very blog so check me out on Twitter to see this concept hard at work. https://twitter.com/#!/Dt_Yvonne You can also add a video or audio clip to your content so that others will want to share it. http://blog.jpdesigntheory.com/why-website-content-is-important-video-interview/ For most businesses, the goal of disseminating information is to generate business as well as inform in some nature-whether it’s to sell shoes or trying to get elected as Mayor. Therefore the process of employing effective link baiting requires preparing the hook with the best content. Oh by the way- GOTCHYA!
If I didn’t persuade you enough, check out this listing from Wikipedia which offers some of the most common approaches to effective link baiting:
- Informational hooks – Provide information that a reader may find very useful. Some rare tips and tricks or any personal experience through which readers can benefit.
- News hooks – Provide fresh information and obtain citations and links as the news spreads.
- Humor hooks – Tell a funny story or a joke. A bizarre picture of your subject or mocking cartoons can also prove to be link bait.
- Evil hooks – Saying something unpopular or mean may also yield a lot of attention. Writing about something that is not appealing about a product or a popular blogger.
- Tool hooks – Create some sort of tool that is useful enough that people link to it.
- Widgets hooks – A badge or tool that can be placed or embedded on other websites, with a link included.
- Unique content hooks – This hook is intended for people that are in need of unique content or articles for traffic or AdSense revenue. This became popular after Google implemented Duplicate Contents Filter and sites with duplicate contents saw fall in traffic. To use this hook, you have to create unique content and give it out to bloggers and webmasters with an obligation to link back to your site.
- Curated hooks – A content that links out to other websites by citing them as resources naturally attracts linkers and have high chances of going viral as the mentioned sites in the link bait are most likely to link to the site and share it through their own networks.
Always remember that your content must be current (ripping something tantalizing from the headlines of major reporting forums such as nightly news, respectable magazines or newspapers) and is a great form of SEO currency. Don’t let your creativity dwindle when it comes to achieving this objective. Remember, the ultimate goal of all this is to create buzz and get people to share your content and its links – which hopefully hooks bank for your business.
Focus on Client Needs – The whole point of writing content for your clients is to provide value whether on their website, via their print marketing materials or on a billboard.
write about this client’s business, needs, ideas and standpoints-not your own. No matter how well you may write, you need to keep your writing focused on their area of expertise, products and/or services.
