So, your shiny new website marketing copy is finally in place. Congratulations! Even better, that same marketing copy is starting to bring in business. (Must be all those precise keywords and cleverly phrased calls to action.)

Before you amortize your investment, consider how those carefully crafted words can work for your business in other places. Repurposing your website marketing copy will:

• Reinforce your brand identity
• Establish consistent messaging
• Increase customer recognition

It will also give you more than your money’s worth.

Here are 10 possible ways to repurpose your website marketing copy so it works overtime for your company, online and offline.

Continue reading →

Pepsi reportedly spent $1.2 billion over three years to give its products a facelift, including Pepsi’s new logo, which promotes the message ‘hope’.

It piggybacks on President Obama’s widely celebrated message of hope. And, per Michael Scherer’s article in Time, Pepsi’s hope messages are plastered throughout America’s capital.

Ironically, as the article reports, President Obama and his team are not necessarily fans of Pepsi.  They prefer Coke.

Perhaps Pepsi’s hoping the ads — created by Arnell — will steer Obama and his administration to “the new generation” of the colas.

Consumers suffer from information overload. Billboards, TV commercials, radio spots and direct mail were bad enough. Now we have to deal with the saturated Web.

Don’t waste your prospects’ time with loads of web content that’s not useful. Only provide your visitors content that’s to the point and relevant to their needs.

Is your web content concise and relevant?

Put yourself in your prospects’ shoes. Are you forcing them to dig through long-winded intros, self-absorbed messages or babbling paragraphs?

Make an effort to cut down your web content into digestible chunks. Kill unneeded words, and use short sentences and paragraphs.

Also, take advantage of headlines, which allow online readers to scan web content with ease.

When you make an effort to promote usability and readability on your website, it makes it easier for prospects to get the information they need. And they’ll reward you with phone calls and e-mails.

Well-versed web content writers know web users have short attention spans. In fact, some studies indicate your web content has less than a second to make an impression. It is doable if you understand your audience.

How do you get inside the heads of your audience? Figure out the answers to some key questions, including:

1. What do they want?

2. What do they fear?

3. What do they value?

Whether you’re developing web content, print brochures or radio ads, gain a deeper understanding of your target audience by going beneath the skin. It’ll help you deliver your message with impact.

I was asked today, “What defines effective web content?”

Effective web content is designed with the intended user in mind. It’s intuitive, logical, and fosters functionality. Effective web content allows online visitors to access information they want immediately. It promotes maximum searchability and minimum download time. It anticipates users’ information requests. It gets your desired actions completed.

Just remember, on the Web, less is more. So keep your web content simple.

When it comes to web content, many business owners believe they can accomplish everything a professional web copywriter can — and more. However, when business owners attempt to write their own web copy, it often leads to frustration, lost time and missed opportunities.

In fact, many businesses come to Webcopyplus looking for a web copywriter after struggling to complete their web content for weeks, sometimes months. In the interim, they get their web designers to upload their old web content, or just put the project on hold. Regardless, the final outcome is usually substandard.

Since web copy development often causes designers major hassles and delays, it’s baffling to find web designers who simply don’t grasp and appreciate the value a well-versed web copywriter can bring to a project.

An article written by a Maine web designer was recently brought to my attention, in which she stated (verbatim):

Continue reading →

Lacking inspiration for your latest website design? Escape from reality, and fuse fantasy and technology by looking to these intoxicating Sci-Fi TV shows:

10. Buck Rogers

Paint on some spandex and help Buck Rogers solve some of earth’s dilemmas, like clients who continue to insist on music-filled Flash intros.

Continue reading →

More is not enough. People want more than others, suggests a new study on how money motivates.

University of Bonn researchers used brain scanning to show how much people take others’ earnings to measure our own success. Economists and brain scientists tested male subjects in pairs, asking them to perform simple tasks and promising payments for success. Using magnetic resonance tomographs, the researchers examined the volunteers’ brain activities.

Participants who got more money than their co-players showed much stronger activation in the brain’s “reward center” than when both players received the same amount. So it’s not what we have that matters most, but rather what we have in relation to others.

It’s an odd trait, to be sure. “Keeping up with the Joneses” robs us of being grateful for what we have, and living blissfully in the present.

As far as marketing goes, “get ahead of your peers” proves to be a powerful motivator, and marketing and sales types will likely exploit this on an increasing level.

Leave the Joneses in the dust might appear on billboards and websites near you.

The Internet has entrenched itself within the landscape of business in a big way.

While the phenomenon made many entrepreneurs incredibly wealthy, many traditional industries were too slow to adapt, resulting in vast casualties.

Here’s a neat, quick read about six industries and businesses that were too slow — or perhaps too afraid or arrogant — to catch the powerful wave of the Web: Six industries / businesses the Web changed forever.

In a world where telephone directories are struggling to remain relevant, you need to make sure consumers find you on the Web.

Search engine optimization is a cost-effective and far-reaching marketing, lead generation and sales tactic that reaps lucrative rewards. Yet, so many business owners miss the most basic SEO elements that can improve online presence overnight.

Two common SEO errors:

1. Making Your Website Invisible to Search Engines

Search engines index what they can see, i.e. HTML text. So ensure your web designer uses text format for your web copy. Be weary about overuse of graphics and Flash, which can hurt your search engine rankings. If you absolutely need to use graphics instead of text, use alt tags.

2. Neglecting Votes in Cyberspace

Think of the Internet as a huge democracy in cyberspace. When other relevant and credible sites point to your website, Google and friends see this as votes for you. The more votes, the more credibility you build, thus, the higher the rankings. Start requesting links from your vendors, customers, partners, associations, friends and family.

Remember, well planned, developed and implemented search engine optimized web content doesn’t require any monthly fees. And, unlike paid marketing campaigns, you aren’t stuck with fixed budgets.

As a result, organic (a.k.a. natural) SEO can provide an exceptional ROI.