Monday 25th May to Sunday 31st May 2020
Previous instalments
Monday 25th May – 36870 deaths – what are copywriting services anyway?
When I go to networking meetings to promote my business, I sometimes meet people who don’t really understand what copywriting services are or what a copywriter does. Someone once said to me, “I didn’t realise I could get other people to write about my business for me”. So today, I thought I would explain.
What does a copywriter do?
A copywriter is a marketer with words. A copywriter usually has a main aim which is to persuade the reader to take action, whether that is to click the buy button, or to download a lead magnet in exchange for an email address or to click the book a call button, or whatever other action the business would want the reader to take.
Copywriting is the art of selling with words. I help businesses sell with words. There are a large variety of techniques you can use to persuade your reader and I may go into some of those in more detail later in the week.
The other question I get asked is:
Why do I need a copywriter?
Simply put, there are 3 reasons to hire a professional copywriter:
- a copywriter understands more about the psychology of persuading with words than most people who don’t write professionally.
- a business can free up time to focus on core activities rather than marketing copywriting
- great copywriting services will pay for themselves many times over in increased sales or traffic for your business
A third common question is:
What’s the difference between copywriting services and content writing?
Generally, the aim of copy is to make your reader take action there and then, whereas content writing is more about audience building for a future action. But there are grey areas, so it’s not something to get too hung up on.
What do I like about being a copywriter?
I love writing. I absolutely love it. So, that’s a great start.
I’m actually happy to write about almost any business – I’ve provided my copywriting services to a scaffolding hire company through to a life coach – I can tell you that the latter is WAY more fascinating but now I do know that there are essentially 4 different types of scaffolding. This is a fact of which I would not be aware, had I not had that client.
So for me, I love it because every time I put fingers to keyboard, I learn something new – and that’s a bit like a drug to me.
Never, ever stop learning.
DomCum bulletin: Not great PR for the Tories this weekend with the whole #Cumgate lockdown scandal. I won’t go into my own feelings about what he did and the rights or wrongs of it, but what I will say is, it’s not looking too rosy for the Government just now.
Tuesday 26th May – 37048 deaths
A stupidly busy day today and it’s not over yet but I thought I’d quickly do my diary. Business is increasing quite nicely now and more people are getting to know what I do. A LinkedIn push to gain a wider audience kicked off today so it will be interesting to see the impact of that in a couple of weeks.
I’ve been stuck in my office since 8.30am almost non-stop so I am ready for a break now.
Not much new to add, so I won’t just waffle on inanely.
Until Wednesday…
Wednesday 27th May – 37460 deaths – SEO Copywriting
What is SEO Copywriting?
Simply, it’s website/blog copywriting that is optimised for search engines to find and display. Apparently, there are around 200 elements within Google’s algorithm which determines where your content ranks on the SERP (search engine results page).
No-one can write copy that addresses all of these – but we can do a reasonably successful job by focusing on around 14 key elements which must be present for Google to say “push that one up the list”.
I’m not going to go into all of these, because, frankly, it would probably bore the pants of most of my readers, but I will say that I can write copy that’s optimised and I have the evidence to prove it…
…In the form of page 1 Google content for my clients’ keyphrases and Google snippets which are those little boxes of useful info that sometimes appear right at the top of the results page, even before the paid-for ads.
The importance of web copywriting
When I work with a client I help them to understand the importance of two aspects of web copywriting services.
- Your copy needs to sound like normal speech – you cannot simply stuff your blog with keywords and expect it to rank. Google is far cleverer than that these days
- You do have to include the likely words, phrases, questions and answers that you expect your client to search on – otherwise your competitor’s content will rank above yours.
If you can nail these two elements, you are in with a fighting chance of getting eyeballs on your content. The more specifically you can pin down your ideal client and how they might be searching for you, the higher the chance that you can write some knock-out copy that sends them straight into your waiting arms.
If this is something that bamboozles you, drop me a line or give me a call and I will chat you through it in more detail.
Thursday 28th May – 37837 deaths
Another super busy day working on a new website for a client who is launching a brilliant positive thinking/mindset system. I really enjoy the process of helping clients to understand why the words have to be a certain way to appeal to the target audience. The challenge is getting the client’s voice and message across whilst writing with buyer psychology and SEO requirements in mind – it’s often a delicate balance which needs a few ups and downs to get right.
Not much else to comment on today because my brain is a little bit fried!
Friday 29th May – 38161 deaths
Urgh – I don’t think I could like Matt Hancock any less. What an awful man. Laughing on live TV during a Sky News bulletin. Just despicable. If you haven’t seen it, you should watch this and make your own mind up – but seriously, these are the utter cretins running this country – we are doomed.
Today I finally managed to set up an opt-in landing page to start to grow my email list and a lead magnet to offer on how to produce a page 1 Google worthy blog. Let’s see what happens.
I also followed up on 6 potential clients who had outstanding proposals with me or calls recently about using my services. 4 of them got back to me and 3 are still interested so that was encouraging. Never give up on a prospect until they tell you to go away.
I went for a socially distanced walk with a friend I hadn’t seen since February. It was so nice to do something that felt normal that wasn’t work. I finished at 3pm and my brain really needed the break. Hoping to do it again very soon.
Saturday 30th May – 38376 deaths
Today I held a Zoom postnatal reunion with a group who had their babies during late March and early April. Some of the stories around birth interventions and care were unfortunately not good. I do appreciate that times were extremely difficult in the hospital but there is never an excuse for a woman being left alone in a recovery room after a Caesarean section for 6 hours without pain relief, medical checks or food. She had to call the main switchboard to have someone come and rescue her for God’s Sake! Unacceptable even with a pandemic going on.
It has become so difficult to enjoy this part of my job because of all the difficult birth stories I hear. Many times I am on the brink of giving up this part of my parenting business. But I do enjoy teaching the classes and meeting the expectant parents, so I go on. For now.
A relatively quiet day after that with plenty of relaxing in the sun in my garden.
A little bit pink by the end of the day.
Sunday 31st May – 38489 deaths
The last day of May – deep blue skies and a lot of people about. Many took to the streets in Central London to protest the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis earlier this week. Not much social distancing going on at all. Many held up cards saying “I can’t breathe” which Floyd told police officers who restrained him by kneeling on his neck. I think it’s right that people should protest, but ignoring social distancing is not smart and unfortunately their placards may well be prophetic in about 3 weeks time, if the virus has been given an opportunity to spread unchecked amongst the protestors today.
And so to another week from my lounge – onto week 12…