You want me to do what? Something else besides read your blog or watch your commercial? Call right now? Give you the name of my friends & their email addresses? As if businesses don’t already require so much from the average consumer already, right! In the grocery stores, they want you to scan your own items & bag your own food. Don’t bother going into the bank when you can just do that account transfer yourself at home.
If you let businesses tell it, it’s really for your benefit you see…all in the name of quicker & saving you $. So when it comes to reading articles online, watching TV or surfing the web, Calls To Action (CTA’s) are peppered throughout just about every source of media to go beyond the current action of the user. For those unfamiliar with the term, a CTA is a statement imbedded in the content of the media source that summons the consumer to act. The goal is to implore the consumer to act upon information for the purpose of obtaining something from the consumer and most often, for making a sale. CTA’s often require an immediate response such as “call now, while supplies last,” write a Congressman to stop some agenda, or as simple as utilizing a coupon before a deadline.
So why are CTA’s so important in the first place and why are they a taking a leading role of so much media content? Here’s why: I have seen & heard of various marketing campaigns falling flat on their faces by failing to compel reaction from its audience. Although entertaining, a witty commercial can totally fail to sell the volume of product stocked in a warehouse because they lacked a clear call to action.
Terminology – Create, View, Buy Now, Subscribe…all are examples of businesses telling users/consumers what they want them to do. The words are usually short & concise because too many options & too many “too good to be true” statements turn users off. Word choice and terminology should always be relevant to the industry of the business. But in order for a business to see any ROI based on these efforts, they have to create a sense of urgency and/or create a limitation that once again, compels the reader or viewer to do something that is advantageous to the business.
Incentives & other “Bene’s”– Creative use of expiration dates and gifting incentives are very important in the world of CTA’s. In most cases, there has to be some type of incentive for the reader/user/consumer to go beyond what they are already doing. Such incentives may include a small token of appreciation such as a gift or discount that is relevant to they company or promotion of another business.
Make it Standout!I just love to see the little blue & white Cox Cable Digeez’ spin & flip around solving my internet & high-speed cable dilemma. http://bit.ly/CoxEspn3 Use of BOLD text, flash media and the like, as well as hyperlinks in web content are all tricks of the trade to peek the curiosity of the user to move them along the conveyor of consume & purchase world. So the main goal of both advertising agencies and media companies is to know how to stand out, get your attention and how to hold it long enough to profit them.
Use natural sounding phrases that are friendly yet enticing Use testimonials to encourage participation Use words that accurately describe the result of your interaction Don’t be overly verbose-create simple & strong CTA’s The bigger and more pronounced your call to action, the more chance it will be noticed and acted upon.
Many people ask me many questions about content writing. They vary from the off the top of the head answers to “I actually need to research that” responses. So when our head honcho at Design Theory asked me about researching client industries, billing and how clients respond to issues surrounding that, what solutions to these problems look like and how to not cause heart failure with the billing from it all, I realized I had quite a bit to say. So rather than writing it all, Jean & I decided to give you an over the shoulder peek at our conversation on camera. Some of it you might already know while another facet may give you an Ah-ha moment. Either way, I hope it conveys some worthy considerations when you incur some of these same questions and frustrations with content writing, research and billing for your web and branding clients.
Here are some of the highlights:
Professionally Developed Content
*Clients need to understand the process & value of the necessary research & writing that will be critical to the success of their website.
*Not everyone who owns a business can necessarily write well about their business.
*Understand the importance of the potential consumers experience will be via the client’s website.
*Make the potential consumer/service recipient feel like “I want to do business with them or by their product.”
Content Writing Time & Research *Do your due diligence in research to create great content to create traffic for the client *Become intrigued and entrenched in the subject matter & then writing from a position of “seeming” expertise and authority. *”Write It Like You Live It” positioning in content writing
Billing
*Use reportable billing software (i.e. Toggl) that report specifics to prove good utilization of time
*Consider incremental billing
*Establish a great rapport & trust so they so they don’t question the integrity of the work & the corresponding billing
Ever have a client talk to you in a way that made it seem like you were a wizard at design? Ever have a project with very little resources from the owner, yet expected to deliver an award-winning experience? We’ve all been there, and for those of you who haven’t, know that you will soon enough. Having a potential client tell you they want the moon is a pretty funny experience. If you’re not ready, you’ll be taken back by all the requests. You may even think they’re accurate in their assumptions that flash is better than HTML5 or that having more images and no text is perfectly fine for a their entire website.
Let me first point out some of the warning signs:
A client that has no content, marketing plans, or media
You not having an up to date pricing list
If they’ve never seen your portfolio of work
The client thinks your prices are too high
The project needs to be done yesterday (already late)
There are unrealistic expectations
You not having a workflow
No contract
Sure these are just a few warnings, but they are with a lot of cause. When a potential client has expectations that do not seem to line up with your sense of reality, you’ll need to reach a middle point with them. One of the biggest mistakes you can do is promise the world when you’re in negotiations, then produce disappointments during development. You’re not going to want to keep calling or emailing them with bad news, and they’re not going to appreciate having to pay you for things their not going to get.
The idea of a magically grown project comes from misconception at the start. I know when I first got started, I would ask the client what they wanted. After a few years of experience, I now ask them what they do. After then tell me what they do, how their business works, I then tell them how a website we create for them will help. Either by plugging holes in their marketing, sales force, lead generation, brand recognition, social media, etc. By taking control of the expectations up front I get to set the scale for what the project will be. Even if I have my own limitations, I can still play within those limitations while the client essentially gets what they wanted.
Keep your clients on a schedule. It may be daily or weekly, but give them a clear set of action items or goals they need to achieve so that all parties can see the project “grow.” Also inform them when they’re behind on deliverable, and be honest about your hangups. This transparency helps to keep tensions on the ground instead of elevating to stressful levels. At the end of the day, it always comes down to customer service. You’re not a store at the mall, but you do need to have great service skills to ensure quality and future work.
One last time I have to create some checks and balances with your clients and your projects. Make sure everyone is accountable to either clear deadlines, or to someone else on the same team. This helps eliminate procrastination and even losses in translations. Clear goals and milestones post production will also help ensure a successful website.
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.
In the first of this two-part series, I delve fork-first into what should be on your success plate for your restaurant via the world wide web and which content accompaniments will have your customers coming back for more.
*It’s Like a Restaurant without Signage ~ Restaurateurs everywhere, you may offer fantastic platings and have a location that rivals cobblestone street cafes in France, but today’s savvy foodie eats with their eyes first…ON THE INTERNET. What about the power luncheon you’re boss asks your to book and you need that perfect location with a swank menu to ink the deal? Or the family of 7 traveling from Virginia to Maine who needs an affordable, family friendly menu with ample seating? In 2012, 90% of consumers first instinct is to Google everything – that’s even for the neighborhood coffee & biscotti café. One of the most successful ways for potential customers to know how fantastic your spot is- is if you have a website. This reigns true if you’re a small Mom & Pop coffee shop, a breakfast & lunch only establishment, or have won a “Best” culinary award for your fusion creations. Wherever you are and unknown vs. well-known, it is imperative you have a web presence to:
1. let the world know you exist and give them a visual perspective of your establishment and its offerings;
2. stay relevant & competitive with other restaurateurs within the same category or cuisine within your surrounding neighborhood/area;
3. make the world aware of accolades you’ve received and watch them influence your prospective patrons; and last but most importantly
4. obtain new and possibly life-long, faithful patrons. *A Sour Ingredient? ~ If you’re still not convinced a website is necessary, here’s an eye-opening scenario. If you don’t have a website you could be opening yourself up to reviews of your food and/or service via such sites like Yelp which allow visitors to say something influential about your establishment. And wait, here it comes…AND POST IT ON THE WORLDWIDE WEB WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. Whether flattering or not, you won’t have a voice and presence on the www to contradict it will you…Convinced now? I have disregarded many a YELPing, whinny patron’s review when the restaurant’s website reflects legitimate and noteworthy criticism and compliments.
*Wanna Really Start Cookin’? Add Some Social Media ~ Social Media is big business in every business arena around. Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Stumble Upon…and even more to come. And the great thing about Social Media is that it’s free! Tweet about your most popular pizza made with all organic ingredients. Create a Facebook page for your restaurant and get customers to Like it. Dish on Digg about this seasons new menu and why your patrons need to give it a test run.
Another great Social Media tool is blogs. Much like this one, blogs can be influential depending on the level of content writing, and what other mediums the blogger is using to expose your restaurant to the world. And if they have a decent following in the industry for which your business belongs to, that’s even more exposure in addition to your other online marketing tools. I’ve seen this at work with a recent client for which I blog and how their customers responded to it. The blog influenced someone to order a dish they never had before and now they are absolutely in love with it. AND they bragged to others about it and now that establishment has 3 new customers. Ahhh…the power of suggestion. Check back next week when I add the remaining ingredients for a stellar, set you apart from the competition restaurant website. And if you think you should toss this advice out with your table scraps, check out http://www.google.com/analytics/customers/case_study_cke.html and see what CKE Restaurants founder Carl N. Karcher found behind the curtain about his restaurants web presence!
You want me to do what? Something else besides read your blog or watch your commercial? Call right now? Give you the name of my friends & their email addresses? As if businesses don’t already require so much from the average consumer already, right! In the grocery stores, they want you to scan your own items & bag your own food. Don’t bother going into the bank when you can just do that account transfer yourself at home.
Use natural sounding phrases that are friendly yet enticing
Now that you understand what it is, where & how do you use it?
