3 Reasons to Rewrite Your Web Copy Today

Your Company has Changed

Companies evolve. Web copy that’s outdated makes your company look dead, so keep it fresh! You may offer more services and more products than you did a few years ago. Or you may have more people on staff. New web copy communicates those changes to clients, and keeps your site relevant.

Your Site is Riddled with Jargon, Complicated Words, or Dry SEO

Don’t lose potential clients in the details. People are put off by complicated or technical text. I recently rewrote the copy for an About Us page where the company had “modality” and “methodology” in one paragraph. If a ninth grader needs a dictionary, you should change the way you say it.

Good SEO can’t be stressed enough, but that doesn’t mean your page should be dry or boring. Too often, companies replace their humanity with the voice of a robot in the name of increasing their Google rank.  A good copywriter knows how to keep your site informative, entertaining, and easy to find.

Because Change is Good!

Change means growth. Nobody wants to revisit the same stagnant page over and over. Rewriting your web copy gives you a great reason to reconnect with past customers, and the perfect opportunity to invite them back to look around or take advantage of a limited promotion.

So: ready to give your web copy a face lift?

Contact me and I will get in touch within one day.

The post Rewrite Your Web Copy appeared first on seattle copywriter : john caspian.

But to get the most out of every message you send, you need an effective email marketing plan. Without one, you’re not just wasting your time, you’re distancing yourself from your customers. And that’s even worse.

How do you build a make-the-business-boom email marketing campaign?

Put some thought into these four things, and you’ll be on your way.

Who’s reading?

Every email campaign starts with your audience. Are they current customers or potential? Yogis or film buffs? Do they choose the red wine or go with domestic beer?

The more you know about them, the easier it is to reach them.

What do you need to tell them?

Don’t send an email just to send it. Send it because you have something to say. That doesn’t mean wait until you have something to say. It means put some time into making the message worthwhile.

Brag about your latest project. Let customers know about next week’s sale. There’s always something going on.

How can you get them to take action?

What’s the goal of a headline? To get them to read the first sentence.
And the goal of the first sentence? To get them to read the second.
And so it continues, all the way to your call to action.

Whether your message is a one-sentence headline over a large graphic, or a three paragraph letter, it needs some personality, it needs a voice, and it needs a clear call to action.

How often should you communicate?

Email every day? Once a week? A monthly update? Depends on your industry and the purpose of the message. A large Internet retailer may send several messages a week, or even every day. A small non-profit may just need one message a month.

Nobody wants to be bombarded with emails. But wait too long between messages, and people forget who you are. Make a schedule, give it a shot, study the results, and tweak as necessary.

Tools at your disposal

An email marketing provider
My two favorites are My Emma and MailChimp. Both allow you to design your email, set it to send at a specified time, and track open and click-through rates.

A copywriter
My favorite is me. Let’s work together to create a strategy, craft the message(s), and manage your project. Use my contact form to get in touch with me about your company’s next email campaign.

Examples of my work

  Single message for pet food retailer, Chewy.com          I         Series of messages for CouponSense.com

Chewy.com 

Chewy.com—a pet food retailer—is one of the fastest growing internet retailers in the history of the universe, and they regularly send messages to a bajillion loyal customers. Their main goals with most messages are to (a) let customers know about special deals on products, and (b) remind them of their absolutely amazing customer service.
For Chewy, I use a cute, roll-over-and-get-a-belly-rub voice because…after all… what’s cuter than a pup named Chewy?
Nothing.
Since their messages are sent so often, they typically contain a strong headline, large graphics, and short blurbs about products.

 

 

CouponSense.com 

Coupon Sense—an online company that helps members (primarily busy, educated, moms) find and collect coupons from multiple sources—discovered that even though they had a large number of members who loved and used their site regularly, there were others who checked out before really giving it a shot.
While trying to determine why, they learned something interesting: the reasons some members left mirrored the reasons others stayed.
Customers left because they thought the site was complex.
Others stayed because they thought it was simple to use.
Customers left because the membership cost them too much money.
Others stayed because their membership helped them save so much money.
Customers left because using the site cost them too much time.
Others stayed because using the site saved them time.
They realized memberships were most beneficial to people who had a coach help them learn how to use their service to save money. They hired a Coupon Coach, and wanted to offer new customers, and those who reactivated their membership, a seasonal discount and a free coaching session over the phone. Beautiful.
I crafted six short, personal letters that identified reasons someone may have cancelled their membership, offered a solution, and invited them back. A different message was sent each week throughout the promotion.

 

 

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I learned a lot about myself, and a lot about raising money.

If you care about the lessons I learned about me, you can click here. Or here. In the first you’ll meet a superhero named Cowboy Coolboy, and in the second you’ll find out just how little effort it takes to change someone’s life.

If you want to know what I learned about raising money, no clicking is necessary. Just keep reading.

When I started, I hated talking about money. It’s not about the money, I’d say, and I meant it. I still do. It’s not about the money, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be talking about it.

Talking about raising money—and being bolder about telling people how they can help—quit bothering me when my friends Christian and Mattie had their first baby. I knew it was a baby because he was (a) really small, (b) spit up all over the coat my parents bought me for my birthday (c) takes up all of their time, and (d) takes up all of their money.

The three of them live in a small one bedroom in the U-District, and Christian doesn’t get to go have drinks as often, and he has to ask if Mattie is able to stay at home if we want to go snowboarding. But when I was at their house for Thanksgiving dinner, it was obvious that he was completely happy. He has a kid.

Your non-profit is a baby, it’s your baby, and it takes money to raise a baby. It doesn’t matter if you’re the founder or if the non-profit is older than you are… it’s still yours. Your waking moments are completely invested in your mission, and when you do fall asleep, you wake up every few hours, swearing your heard next month’s payroll, your 501c3 status, or your upcoming board meeting crying in the next room.

Getting donations is about more than filling out grants and planning fundraising events. It’s about inviting people to meet—and fall in love with—your kid.

You’ve got to tell your story, and you’ve got to tell it in a way that engages the heart.

Telling the stories about what you’ve seen and what you’ve been a part of gives you a chance to:

• Check in with your donors: It gives them something to feel good about. If you’re only emailing them once a quarter, or when you have a special fundraising event or giving campaign, it makes the relationship seem a bit one sided.
• Give fans a reason to share (not just their finances, but your mission, too). People love posting stories on their Facebook walls and Twitter feeds.
• Invite those on the fringe to be a part of what you’re doing. Sometimes all it takes is the right tug at the heart to make a busy person find the time, or a person with too many bills to pay realize that they’ve still got more than most.

Your story’s worth telling, and it’s worth telling well.

Because what you’re doing is important

If you want help telling your story, I’d love to be a part. My favorite thing about what I do is giving a voice to the things I believe in, whether it’s arts education, rescuing animals, helping people find a home, or providing clean, safe water to everyone in the world.

A few of the ways I can help:

• I can tell your story. I can talk to you, to some of the people you’ve helped, to the volunteers in your organization. I’ll find out what it is you do that will connect the most with a reader, and I’ll tell it in an engaging way. You can have one story to post on your Facebook page and send to everyone on your email list, or a series of them to send out at predetermined times.
• I can manage your email campaign, from start to finish. This includes grouping people according to past giving levels, crafting different stories for each group, and tracking the results once the messages are sent.
• I can write a press releases about that latest project you did and we can submit it for local and national distribution.

I’d love to hear about what you’re doing. Contact me and I’ll get in touch within a day.

The post 3 Reasons to Tell Your Non-Profit’s Story Right Now appeared first on seattle copywriter : john caspian.

Except I sucked.

Really. I couldn’t catch. Couldn’t hit. They made me play pitcher—which sounds like a pretty important job—but it was T-Ball. The pitcher never touched the ball. I never made it to the pros. A curveball made no sense.

But words always have.

Writing’s tough work, even when you’re good at it. There’s a lot of cramping of the fingers, wastebaskets full of false starts, and words that just won’t go where you tell them. It can be even tougher when you’re as close to your project as you are. I mean, you never stop thinking about it, do you? You know it so well, you tend to tell too much. Potential customers and clients are lost in the details, when all they really want to know is: How is this going to help?

Time to hire a copywriter.

What you get when you work with a professional copywriter:

Major League Talent
Unlike fastballs, I can hit a headline out of the park… and the rest of your copy, too. I get to know your company. I learn who your target audience is, what they’re looking for, and what type of tone will connect with them. Then I craft copy that hits them right between the eyes.

More Time
You’ll never have to stare at a blank screen again. Hiring a copywriter frees you up to do what you do best.

A Bigger Bank Account
Sure, hiring a professional copywriter costs money, but I’m paid per project. Instead of paying salary, benefits, and vacation days to an employee who could be helping with something else, you pay me a flat fee and I knock your socks off.

A Consistent Voice
I make sure every message you send sounds like you. From email campaigns to commercial scripts to that troubling tagline you just can’t seem to nail, consistency is key.

A Message that Looks as Good as it Sounds
Some people like blondes. Some like brunettes. Copywriters think syllables are sexy. When I fill in the blanks on your brochure or website, I do more than write a clear message. I pay attention to the way it looks on the page and sounds when it’s read.
Does that second line need fewer syllables than the first?
Does the next sentence sound better if it starts with a hard consonant?
Do these clunky descriptions make me look fat?

So: interested in finding out how I can help? Questions cost nothing. Fill out the contact form and ask away.

Let’s do some damage.

The post How a Copywriter Helps Your Business appeared first on seattle copywriter : john caspian.

Even the Mayans couldn’t stop us.

So here we go.
The great list of thanks to the best clients a copywriter could ever work with:

The Big Companies
You know what’s a really good feeling? Getting an email from someone I’ve never met that says:

“I just wanted to let you know that the employee handbook you wrote is awesome! This is my first experience of employees laughing and commenting on a company handbook. They actually read the entire document and laughed the entire way through! Thanks so much for your humor and the way you match our company voice in everything you do.”

This year, I had the chance to write national ads (on three continents… whoa!), craft the copy on websites for companies that have monthly revenues in the millions, and ghostwrite articles for always-busy execs. Funny how an employee handbook stands out. It’s just that I really enjoy knowing you’re getting more than you expect, no matter the project. Thank you.

The Regulars
One of my favorite things about flying home is just seeing who I’ll run into. Charleston (unlike Seattle, where I live now) is a pretty small city, and I can’t remember the last time I walked south on King Street and didn’t end up having coffee or grabbing a beer with a friend I didn’t expect to see that day. That’s the way it feels when I check my email first thing in the morning and see your name with the subject: “Got a small project”, “Do you have time for this?”, or, occasionally “Aaaaaaahhhh! Help!”. Whether you needed a new press release, an email campaign, or just wanted to update your bio, it’s always good to see you.

The Designers
You make the things I write look so perfect, like the words are heading out for a night on the town, or wearing their favorite blue jeans, or sitting on a couch in their underwear with a half-empty tub of Mint Chocolate Chip. Like my parents obviously did with me in this circa 1986 image, you always find the right way to dress my copy. But unlike me, your designs don’t come back one week later wearing the same clothes with their bags still packed.

The Start-ups
You had an idea, a product, or just needed to save the world. I’m with you. Thanks for trusting me to introduce you. I like being one of the first to know who you are, I don’t take even the smallest project for granted, and I’m proud you chose to work with me. It’s fun getting to be with you from the beginning and great feeling like part of the team. We’re in this together.

The Non-profits
I spent five years as the executive director of a non-prof that provided creative writing programming in some of the nation’s poorest schools. Those were some of the most meaningful years of my life. To all of the great groups rescuing animals, building homes in third-world countries, providing mental health help, and teaching kids to love everything from painting pictures to cooking healthy meals to sprinting laps around a track: thanks for the (too-often) thankless work you do, and for giving me the chance to tell your story, write your grants, and help your message find a home.

The Voice Talent, Actors, Videographers, and Directors
You made a script come to life. From trendy hotels wanting a quirky script to direct B2B companies that just wanted to tell it like it is, thanks for letting me be a part.

The Clients Who Gave a Referral
Every referral is a big-time compliment. Thanks for sending work my way, for making me smile, and for making my wife proud enough to make my favorite dessert.
Hey, it’s 2013. I appreciate the past, and I’m thankful for where I am today. But there’s lots of work to be done, and I can’t wait to dive in.

Let’s do some damage.

Happy New Year,
john caspian

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