You’ve got Microsoft Word, a good handle on the English language, and know your business intimately. So when it comes to writing your web content, why would you spend money on a copywriter?

Following are six things you might consider when it comes to writing your web content, or any other sales and marketing copy.

You Know Your Business Best

You’ve poured years of blood, sweat, and tears into getting your business off the ground and running it for this long.  You know it inside and out, so why waste time trying to get a copywriter up to speed when you could just cut out the middleman and write your web content yourself?

Business owners tend to get immersed in their work, and lose the ability to look at their business objectively, the way a potential or new customer would see it.  A copywriter has just that — an objective perspective to recognize what kind of information someone unfamiliar with your product or services will be looking for. Plus, business owners often undergo ‘expert paralysis’, making it difficult to simplify key messages, and have a tendency to say what they want to say, versus what potential clients want or need to hear.

A copywriter can craft clear, concise and compelling content, designed to convert website visitors into real customers, while allowing you to focus on your existing clients, business core, and your bottom line.

You’re On a Deadline

Running a business means you barely have enough time for any extracurricular activities.  You don’t want your website construction to take up any more of your time, so you want to provide your designer or developer the basic information, and get back to focusing on your work.

An experienced copywriter can actually save you time. In fact, many designers point to late-arriving web copy as a leading cause of website construction delays, commonly due to business owners taking their copy into their own hands.  Though they have good intentions, they eventually realize there’s more to copywriting than stringing together a bunch of words. Instead of trying to tackle the web copy on countless, frustration-filled days, evenings and weekends, only to attain substandard results, you can conveniently get the right copy on your site, usually within just a week or two, by hiring a skilled copywriter.

A professional copywriter often conducts research independently, and often only needs to direct a few select questions to clients, surrounding key areas, such as objectives, goals, positioning, differentiators, markets, audiences, and calls to action. As a result, you’ll only have to spend an hour or two providing your copywriter applicable data and facts, versus wasting dozens of hours trying to write the web copy yourself.

Copywriting Is an Unnecessary Cost

Copy is just words on a website or brochure, right?  Why should you allocate a budget to content when you can do it yourself for free, or just pay someone in India $5 to do it?

If you’re thinking along these lines, you’ve likely adopted the opinion that copywriting isn’t worth much due to a preliminary copywriting job board search.  Many job boards out there, to the dismay of professional copywriters who perform valuable, result-driven work, feature amateurs willing to do your copywriting for pennies a word.

As with any professional service, you get what you pay for.  Someone who is paid $5 just isn’t going to put the necessary time and effort into writing high quality content for your website or marketing material as someone who is paid fairly for their time.  For evidence, check out Why Outsourcing Your Copywriting Can Be A Very Bad Idea. Generally, the amount of money a copywriter charges reflects his or her knowledge, experience, and abilities.  Not that you should have to pay a fortune for your web copy, but you certainly shouldn’t pay $5 and expect a killer product that’s going to make you tens of thousands of dollars.

Good copywriting for your website, brochure, or other promotional material is an important investment.  A well made website with carefully researched, professionally crafted copy can help you stand out from your competition, increase sales, and quickly pays for itself, several times over. Webcopyplus’ clients, for instance, have reported return on investments in as few as 30 days, and returns as high as 400% within one year.

You Got Top Marks In High School English

You know you’re a good writer; everyone says so.  You even practice your writing hobby in your spare time, so why shouldn’t you be able to write your own website content?

While all of this may be true, keep in mind that there is much more to writing copy than an affinity for the technical aspects of writing, such as grammar, punctuation and spelling.  Copywriting is a different animal than prose, because you’re not trying to impress your reader with your fancy vocabulary and ability to set the scene; you’re specifically using language to appeal to people psychologically and get them to act.  In fact, Webcopyplus has had to turn down job applications from some excellent journalists, who have written for established US and Canadian newspapers.

Sales and marketing copywriting requires a specialized skill for recognizing the emotions that drive your potential customers, and an even more specialized skill when considering what drives search engines to notice your website.  While there’s no intention to suggest you aren’t going to pen the next New York Times Best Seller, it’s important to recognize that copywriting is more than just good writing; it’s an exercise in psychology and search engine optimization.

You Don’t Want Your Marketing Material To Start, ‘Dear Friend…’

You’ve likely seen the cheesy, long-winded, full-page ads in the paper that seem to insult the reader’s intelligence, featuring gems like: “For just the price of a small cup of coffee each day, you, too, can enjoy the amazing, life-changing benefits of this innovative product!”  Or the direct snail mail or mass emails that begin with the wonderfully personalized, heartwarming introductory: ‘Dear Friend…’.

Just because bad copywriting is rampant, does not mean it all has to be that way.  You wouldn’t give up coffee or tea altogether after trying a particularly underwhelming brand, would you? Yes, there is good and bad copy out there, but there are ways to ensure that you get the copy you want.

To find a copywriter that meets your needs, read examples of their work to find out if you like their style.  Also, check out any case studies they have that demonstrate the effectiveness of their previous work. Moreover, if you’re looking for a copywriter specifically for your website, a great place to look is online. Chances are, if a web copywriter is able to attain high rankings on Google, they’ll be able to help you get desired rankings, too.

You’re Happy With What You’ve Got

You believe that your existing copy is an accurate representation of your products and services, but perhaps you need to ask yourself, “What has it done for me, lately?”  Is it bringing new customers into your store?  Are people visiting your website? Are they sticking around your site, and coming back for more? Are potential clients calling or emailing you?  Are your sales reaching and exceeding targets?  Well written web copy can help produce all of these results, so if your current website isn’t delivering, perhaps it’s time for a makeover.

Refreshing your copywriting is also important because businesses grow and customers change.  Keeping your marketing fresh is a great way to adapt to a shifting marketplace and to keep your brand top of mind.  Professional website copywriters are trained to consider the actions and motivations of Internet users when crafting action-inspiring content.  While you may have established your website a decade ago, technologies and styles have changed, and so should your content.  Plus, you need to keep up with the tech savvy consumers on the Web, or you risk getting left behind and laughed at like a ‘90s fad.

Recognizing Value of Good Copywriting

Good copywriting is a complex science requiring a special touch that can’t be rushed, purchased for pennies, or slapped together like your latest furniture purchase from IKEA.  A professional copywriter can greatly enhance your marketing efforts and produce measurable results for your brand and your business.

Got good or bad stories surrounding copywriters and copywriting in general? Please share them below!

Award-winning designer Gonzalo Alatorre, speaking at a TED conference in Mexico last month, suggested design needs to be like a quesadilla. Where was the Founder and Principal of Creative Engine, and designer of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics logo going with this? We spoke to the Alatorre to uncover his motivation for making such a seemingly bizarre claim.

In your TED talk, you began by summarizing the history of design.  You said that it was born as one of the specializations in the division of labour during the industrial revolution, and that it was originally thought of as art.  How has the definition of design changed since then?

In my talk, I argue that design actually is not art at all, but that the designers were originally thought of as artists because they drew concepts.  As design evolved, however, it became less about being artistic and more about creating a way to differentiate between similar products on the market, and make some stand out over others.

At that time, production greatly influenced design, because there were so many technological limitations that had to be accounted for.  For example, furniture design adapted to the newly discovered ability to bend metallic tube in the 1920s.  Bauhaus students took this new development and built their design around the ways the tube could be manipulated into furniture, and the Bauhaus style was born.

Then, in the 1980s, a design revolution occurred that had significance similar to the invention of photography — the invention of the personal computer.  While photography forever changed the way we documented history, taking the role away from painters and sculptors, the personal computer forever changed the design process by speeding up production.  Therefore, the saved production time could be repurposed onto the creative side, and made room for more strategic design.  So, design shifted from being artisanal to more efficient and defined.

This history leads to the main point of my TED talk — that the inclusion of strategic thinking in design in the extended creative process, and the lack of limitations on the production side, have turned design into an essential part of any business plan.

You then go on to describe the way that design exists today between the object, the business and the consumer.  Can you clarify that relationship?

Without production limitations, and a very quick technological change, design considers the relationship between object, business and consumer.  For example, the design of an object must consider the production process that will be required, the role that the object will play in satisfying or creating a consumer demand, and the way the object will benefit the world as a whole, by improving upon previous design work.  This also supports the argument that design is not art because art merely exists as itself, while design serves a specific purpose — to satisfy a necessity and improve the world around us.

Another thing that supports this point is that design should never be considered a noun — it is always a verb.  For example, the hammer is not a design — it’s an object that we’ve been working to perfect for 2.6 million years, and counting.  This is not art, but part of our collective effort to improve the things in our lives.

So, how does all of this support your argument to approach design like a quesadilla?

All of this led up to the idea that design is the essential back bone of any business plan because it considers all the elements needed to create a product that serves a purpose and improves our quality of life, not as an art form, and not under any production limitations.

Based on this, I outlined the five characteristics of good design in my TED talk.  These are:

1. Design needs to challenge and propose. For example, the architect Calatrava’s building in Malmo, Sweden is modeled after a twisting spine, completely dismissing the straight lines of traditional architecture, forcing all that see the building to challenge their own conceptions of architecture.
   
   
   
2. Design needs to captivate on an emotional level. For instance, the well-known ‘I heart NY’ logo evokes a certain emotion in everyone about his or her memories or perception of that city.
   
   
3. Design needs to be invisible. When design is done well, we see the object as the sum of its parts, and experience it as a whole.  For example, the wonder of the Eiffel Tower distracts us from its actual structural elements.
   
   
4. Design needs to be accessible and sustainable. Whatever the definition of these two words you choose — accessibility in terms of physical access to something, or it’s affordability, for example — good design must incorporate all of them.  A good example of this is the iPad, which my three-year-old son picked up and learned how to use in no time, not to mention its financially accessible price of $500, much lower than the average personal computer.
   
   
   
5. Design needs to express a relationship with the consumer. For this, I will tell you the quesadilla story.

My wife and I were having dinner in a critically acclaimed restaurant in Mexico.  To start our meal, we were served a complimentary amuse bouche, which consisted of a liquid quesadilla!  We were shocked when it arrived at our table, but once we tried it, we were convinced that it was the best quesadilla we had ever had.  The flavours were amazing.  It had the perfect corn texture, and a perfect epazote foam centre.

The liquid quesadilla was the perfect example of good design because:

1. It challenged our views of what a traditional quesadilla should be and proposed the question: “Why does it have to be traditional, when this version tastes this good, if not better?”
2. It captivated us emotionally. We all loved it.
3. It became invisible. We stopped paying attention to its strange liquid form when our other senses took over.
4. It was accessible and sustainable. It was produced cheaply enough that it could be offered to us for free.
5. It was a tool to express the restaurant’s relationship with its customers. We all became instant fans of the restaurant, and everyone we know who has tried it looks forward to returning.  Also, it was a conversation starter about the restaurant itself.

There you have it — the reasons why design needs to be like a quesadilla, in order to fulfill its modern duties as a method for enhancing the relationship between business, object, and consumer, and for improving our overall way of life by opening our eyes to new possibilities.

‘Coming soon’ pages are a highly effective way to initiate online branding and presence. Yet, most businesses overlook this valuable marketing opportunity.

Whether you’re working on design, writing content, or snapping the last few photos, a coming soon page:

• Tells current and potential clients you’re producing a new website, which generates anticipation
• Provides visitors contact information, so they can inquire about your offerings or partnership opportunities
• Gives your website a headstart on the SEO front, so you can attain desired rankings sooner

Optimize Your Coming Soon Page

By including your name, brief description about your company, products or services, you’re helping Google and friends understand what your website is about. To further optimize your website, be sure to include descriptive terms in your title, keyword and description tags.

Building some history on the Web will help your website get out of Google’s sandbox sooner, which means it can attain desired rankings once it’s launched. In fact, it’s common to see coming soon pages with Google PageRanks of 1, 2, or even 3 out of 10, which indicates they’ve already gained Google’s trust. As Google owns more than 70% of the search engine market, it’s a relationship your business needs to nurture.

Other Coming Soon Elements

While launching a coming soon page, be sure to fully leverage it. Here are some other elements you can add to help your visitors, your future website, and your bottom line:

• Your logo
• Relevant photos or images
• Contact information, including phone and email
• Information on what the website will be marketing
• Brief company introduction
• Launch date, or at least the quarter, season or year
• Periodic updates
• Newsletter subscription
• Social media sign-ups, including Twitter and Facebook

So don’t delay. Always get your host and domain working for you ASAP.

Few would argue the Apple brand is mighty, with every product release, update and rumour spawning global buzz and madness (consider the recent iPad launch and the case of the missing iPhone). Behind the appetite for anything Apple are intensely loyal consumers, who many claim are fundamentalists. Accordingly, some consider Apple a religion.

Italian semiologist Umberto Eco, for instance, noted “Macintosh is Catholic” in an Italian news weekly, Espresso, in 1994. He suggested Mac, “cheerful, friendly, and conciliatory, tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach — if not the Kingdom of Heaven — the moment in which their document is printed.”

Years later, the discussion continues. In Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, author Martin Lindstrom talked about how powerful the Apple brand is.

“Apple is (as we’ve proven using neuroscience)…a religion,” said Lindstrom. “Not only that — it is a religion based on its communities. Without its core communities, Apple would die — it is already facing strong pressure as the brand simply is becoming too broad (losing) its magic. What’s holding it all together is the hundreds if not thousands of communities across the world spreading the passion and creating the myths.”

Like them or hate them, Apple does have so-called ‘fanboys and girls’ who are willing to pay premium, and often go out of their way to spread “the good word.” For that reason, companies around the globe are attempting to emulate Apple’s mystique, iconic value and general brand success, in a bid to secure their own faithful following (and high profit margins).

Meanwhile, Rakesh Khurana, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies star CEOs, suggests Apple faces a classic conundrum: companies strongly identified with their leaders need to become institutions independent of their leaders.

Can Apple outlast its founder, Steve Jobs? If it can, it could indeed be a religion. If not, perhaps it’s just a cult.

While it’s obvious websites drive online sales, business owners need to recognize the Internet also influences purchases made offline.

In fact, 97% of consumers use the Internet to research products or services in their local area, revealed a Kelsey Group Study, which was released in March 2010. Marketers label these consumers research-online-purchase-offline customers, or ROPO customers.

What specific online research tools do they use?

• 90% use search engines
• 48% use Internet Yellow Pages
• 42% use comparison shopping sites
• 24% use vertical sites

No longer do consumers need to go to the library or bookstore to purchase or borrow a Consumer Reports magazine. Nor do they need to travel from store to store to collect brochures and track down helpful staff. Thanks to the Internet, consumers can conveniently visit websites like Price.com and Amazon for everything from product specs to guarantees to prices and promotions.

What does this mean for business owners? Invest in easy-to-navigate, up-to-date, informative and appealing websites. Whether you sell cars, curtains or computers, the Web is where consumers go first, so that’s where your products and services need to be.

Retailers can fully leverage this increasing trend by offering online consumers a buy online/pick up at the store option. Oddly few retailers do. Adding an “I’ll pick it up at the store” option can be highly lucrative as it can help scoop sales from competitors.

Businesses that do not have a presence online are missing out on potential new customers and additional revenues because they’re no longer part of the decision making process.

Below, Nordstrom offers exceptional customer service to ROPO customers, who can view product details on items they can pick up in-store.

The following is a collection of things you should avoid saying to your web professionals, including designers, developers, and copywriters, if you want to get the most out of their services, while making the world a happier place.

“This Shouldn’t Take Long”

Describing a project to your designer or developer as ‘quick’ by saying things like, “this design shouldn’t take long,” or “I’ve got a great vision that should be easy to design” is a surefire eye-roll trigger.  Unless, of course, you are well versed in the intricacies of great design and developing, which is not usually the case.

Designing a logo that represents everything your company stands for, or a website your customers can easily navigate, plays an important role in communicating your desired brand image, and also takes time and effort.  Remember that you are paying your service provider for his or her expertise on something that is not as simple as a finger snap, or anyone could do it.

If you’re saying these things in an effort to subliminally reduce the amount of hours you will have to pay for, you’re just going to annoy the provider and start your relationship on the wrong foot.

“Give It To Me Raw”

You may not be aware of this, but asking your graphic designer to give you the raw design files after the job is complete often loosely translates as, “I’m going to keep this so I can make changes in the future or give it to a cheaper, less talented graphic designer to butcher as I see fit.”

This is particularly troublesome if the design has been carefully crafted to represent your brand, and is meant to be consistent with the rest of your marketing designs.

Think of it as walking into your grandmother’s kitchen and adding tons of salt to the pot she’s been slaving over all day.  She knows what she’s doing and she’s been doing it a heck of a lot longer than you have so leave it alone before you create a monster.

“Last Change, I Promise!”

Your copywriter has just sent you 15 pages of web copy for approval and awaits your comments. Instead of taking the time to carefully go through the web copy and collect your thoughts on edits, you start firing off emails.  You’ve also sent the draft to several of your coworkers for their input.  Now the poor copywriter is under email assault and is getting multiple edit requests from several different people.

Designers and developers also agree that taking time to compile your requested changes in one response saves everyone time, money, and headaches.  This is because: 1. Well-organized feedback is more easily understood and applied; and 2. Your copywriter or designer is now able to make changes all at once, which can actually end up saving their time, and your money.

“You’re My (Human Paintbrush)”

Don’t get upset when your copywriter or graphic designer limits your edits on a project. By the time you’ve hired them, you’ve endorsed their creativity and have agreed to pay them for their brilliance. Micro-managing the project every step of the way is like hiring a human paintbrush.  If you would rather do the project yourself, maybe your money would be better spent on your own graphic design software.

This limitation should not be viewed as arrogance, but rather building a trusting relationship with someone you’ve hired who’s studied and practiced their craft long enough to be paid well to do it.

“Turn This (Water Into Wine)”

If you’re providing your designer with photos you think will complement your website, pay close attention to the designer’s format requests.  No matter your level of fondness of a photo or your amazing photography skills, even the best designer can’t turn a tiny, pixilated thumbnail into HD.

This is not to say that your web developer can’t turn your wildest idea into reality. As in our first example — it’s important not to make assumptions.  Some things might actually be easier than they appear.

“To (Partially) Answer Your Question…”

Part of a copywriter’s job, like developers and designers, involves conducting research on the product or business he or she is writing about.  A lot of this information will be coming from you, so be sure to leave no stone unturned.  The more information you can provide on your company, products, or services the better.

Be sure to pay close attention to your copywriter’s questions and take the time to answer them to the best of your ability.  This will result in content that truly represents your company goals and lets your potential customers know exactly how amazing your products or services really are.

“Make it Approachable, Yet Outrageous.”

Clear communication is as important in the creative process as it is in life.  When your copywriter asks you what kind of tone you want your copy to have, try to be as specific as you can.   Creativity might be an abstract concept, but without knowing specifically what you’re after, you’re playing Russian roulette and might not hit the target.

This also applies to design.  If your designer sends you several very different logos for approval, and you like certain things about all of them, be specific in your feedback.  Don’t say, “I love them all! Put them together!” Let them know the exact elements that please you and which do not.

“I Sure Like That Comic Sans Font — Let’s Use That!”

Another thing you pay your web designer for is to be up to date on design standards.  Just because you like a certain zany font doesn’t mean that it’s the best choice for you.

Trust your designer’s professional opinion when they tell you that Comic Sans is a bad choice, and for the love of god, a drop shadow does not make it any better.

“Looks Great, But My Clients Don’t Speak Latin.”

Your designer has just sent you a first draft of your website design, but all the pages are strangely filled with some ‘Lorem Ipsum…’ jibber jabber.  This content is commonly used as a placeholder to help you focus on design elements rather than messaging.

If you’re interested in getting your shiny new website online as soon as possible, you may want to consider hiring a copywriter to get started on your web copy once the site outline is developed.  This way, once the design is done, you can plug in your content and head off to the races.

What’s your take? Share your thoughts and experiences below.

But what if you don’t have the budget to pay for expensive research data or conduct focus groups?  Targeted market surveys can cost up to $10,000 to reach a sample of just 1,000 people.

The advent of social media over the past decade has resulted in more and more people voluntarily sharing the valuable information market researchers pay for on sites like Facebook and Twitter. eMarketer predicts that the number of Twitter users alone will skyrocket this year to over 18 million, and March 4, 2010 marked the 10 billionth Twitter status update.  That’s 10 billion times people have posted information online for all to see about what they are doing, thinking, and buying.

Tapping into the sea of information online can seem intimidating if you don’t know where to begin.   By following a few simple guidelines you can learn how to listen to what your customers are saying about your industry, products, and services, and use that information when crafting your marketing communications.

Familiarize Yourself with Social Networking Sites

Your customers are leaving tidbits of valuable information all over the Internet on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, Del.icio.us, and Digg.  They are also commenting on articles featured in industry blogs and participating in niche market discussion forums.

Here’s a quick breakdown of some social networking sites:

Facebook – Users create personal profiles where they update their friends on recent activities with photos, links, and status updates.  Businesses often have ‘fan pages’, which operate as mini websites keeping fans up to date on promotions and new products.

Twitter – Similar to Facebook, users have personal pages where they update their followers on their activities.  Businesses have Twitter pages to build relationships with their customers, update them on promotions and new products, and drive traffic to their websites.

Del.icio.us and Digg – Both are ‘social bookmarking’ sites where users share content they’ve found online that interests them.  The site also provides a way to track the most popular sites and topics users are sharing.

Look for Discussions Relating to Your Industry

If you want to know what people are saying about your competition on Twitter, for example, you can type their brand name into the search bar to see all their recent mentions.  If you notice that a large number of people are unhappy with your competition’s product or services, you may want to consider tapping into that concern when talking about the benefits of your product. You can do the same thing for things they like about products or services related to yours.  Next, try searching your own brand name to see what people are saying about you.

Discussion forums are also a great resource.  For example, say you want to rebrand your horse grooming products.  You might gain some insight into the qualities people look for when choosing such products by observing online discussions of people who use them.  A quick Google search for ‘horse grooming products’ reveals a very active discussion forum with nearly 90,000 posts by horse enthusiasts on the topic of horse grooming alone.  Observe a forum discussion on product reviews and see which qualities the participants look for in an ideal product, and then consider highlighting these qualities in your web copy.

You can also search Del.icio.us and Digg for popular articles on topics related to your industry.  Searching ‘pet food’ on Digg, for example, reveals that articles relating to a recent pet food contamination scandal have been ‘Dugg’ or reposted thousands of times.  You might want to consider letting your potential customers know that your pet food products are safe for their furry friends.

Get Close, Get Personal

Social media offers an inexpensive and highly effective opportunity to get close and personal with existing and potential customers alike. Tap into these communities to help you craft and convey messages that connect and truly resonate with your market.