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Writer’s block is a myth. There, I said it. Yes, you will have days where you can’t think of anything to write about. Sure, the words won’t come as naturally as they used to. But it’s not like an evil imp has cast a spell of “blankus pagius” on us, or anything.
Read more at Flying Solo.
When it comes to working with an SEO copywriter in Melbourne, there are several common mistakes that businesses often make. To make the most out of a vital digital marketing resource, here are some tips and insights into the common mistakes businesses make when working with an SEO copywriter, and how to avoid them.
Not providing enough information is one of the biggest blunders businesses make when hiring an SEO copywriter. It is one of the classic “how big is a circle” questions. What kind of circle? What colour is the circle? What is it made out of? Who needs to use it, and why?
It’s important to give your copywriter as much detail about your business and objectives as possible so they can create content that will help you reach those goals.
Another mistake is expecting too much too soon. Copywriting takes time, research and dedication – no matter how experienced a writer may be, they need adequate resources to produce quality work. Trying to rush them or skimping on payment won’t get you the results you want; it could even damage your relationship with the writer and their ability to do their job properly.
Not having a clear strategy for success is another misstep businesses often make when hiring an SEO copywriter in Melbourne. It’s important for both parties involved to have realistic expectations from the outset – setting measurable targets helps keep everyone focused on achieving them throughout the project timeline. Without this kind of structure in place, projects can easily become disorganised or go off track without anyone realising until it’s too late.
It's also important not to downplay the effort that goes into crafting effective SEO content - keyword research can take hours, depending on how competitive your industry is.
You should ensure that all webpages have meta titles and descriptions written specifically for each page - these should include pertinent keywords but still read fluently so visitors don't feel like they're being targeted right away (this means avoiding words such as 'buy' or 'discount').
Finally, don't overlook backlinks: getting other websites/blogs linking back yours will help significantly improve its search engine ranking over time. Backlinks are often the “currency” that Google deals in when it comes to domain authority (which greatly influences your Search Engine Results Pages.)
By avoiding missteps when employing a search engine optimisation copywriter, you can guarantee that your material is maximised to its fullest capability. By implementing the correct approaches, you can capitalise on all the advantages a competent SEO copywriter brings and get maximum visibility for your business website.
Want to work with an award-winning copywriter who has more patience than a saint? (Well, we hope so!) Contact me below!
Do you run ads on Google, Facebook, or Instagram? Conventional wisdom tells us that Pay Per Click advertising (PPC) returns $2 for every $1 spent. This doesn’t take into account optimising your ads through compelling, catchy, and competitive copy.
If you’re dabbling in PPC advertising and struggling to come up with three headlines with 25 characters or fewer (the Google Ads limit!) - here is a short guide on how to write effective online ads.
Seems a little obvious, but just like in your content strategy, you need to know who your audience is and speak to them. If you are targeting 18-25 year olds, you don’t want to come off as cringe by adding out-of-context slang into your headlines and descriptions when they can become out of date very quickly. This will take some research on your part to determine the tone and style that works best for your core audience. Remember to keep consistent by using and updating a style guide.
This can prove challenging for the writer, as you only have about 25-30 characters for headlines and 90 characters for straplines or descriptions (in Google Ads, at any rate.) But demonstration of value isn’t an uphill battle - you are only competing for attention among direct competitors for that search term. You can stand out by:
Having a more competitive price. (Cheaper)
Being more convenient. (Faster)
Selling products of higher quality. (Better)
With these three elements in mind, you can “pick two” - something that’s cheap and fast is rarely better than something that’s premium and done with time and attention. (It also strains the credibility of your ad if you claim you can do all three, too.)
Drilling down to pain points and showing how your product or service can solve them can prove useful; but think of this formula when you are writing ads and in some cases…they may even write themselves!
Ads are like the end of a story. “Once upon a time, there was a young man in search of a beanie. He typed ‘beanies’ into Google…” at which point your ad comes in. “He clicked on the ad that said ‘Quality beanies 50% off!’ and was satisfied when he got his beanie in the mail a couple of days later.”
Online ads should not be hypothetical, abstract, or mysterious. They need to focus on what the customer will get. In the beanie example, that young man was interested in getting the cheapest price. Since you can write a minimum of three ads, you can focus on quality (“100% Australian Wool!”) or convenience (Free Two Day Shipping.)
You can use these short “callouts” as Ad Extensions: short feature descriptions underneath your ad when it’s displayed alongside search engine results.
All advertising is a call to action. Buy now, click here, sign up, schedule your appointment, Spend $50 and get free shipping, download for free, find out more.
You can enhance your calls to action by inducing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in subtle yet effective ways such as appeals to scarcity (Buy now - last 20 remain), fear of missing out (Sale ends on Monday - check out before it’s too late!) or loss aversion (Was $500, now $299 for a limited time only). In fact, you can add countdown timers to your Google Ads to really hammer the point home. Don’t feel squeamish about using FUD - practically every online ad is built on these foundations.
There’s no such thing as the “perfect ad” - if so, we’d all agree to run it and make millions of dollars. Google Ads allows you to run multiple variations of the same ad to see which one is the most effective. Write as many ads as you can think of, let them run for a week or two and see what gets the most clicks and conversions. That means keeping the best two or three. Remember to refresh your ads every few months - and keep some ads on standby for holidays, special events such as Click Frenzy or Cyber Monday, or End of Financial Year/Calendar Year sales.
Following these simple guidelines, you too can write killer ads that sell more!
Want to get your own Google or Meta ads written by an award-winning copywriter? Contact me to get started!
I have to admit - I was never a fan of “the writing process.” I’d hammer out everything I wanted to say into a document and get a bit upset it wasn’t great the first time.
This wasn’t a novel feeling in the canon of human emotion, but a shared one among writers. Writing is a process - and there is Zen in the art of writing, as the great author Ray Bradbury once wrote.
I quickly realised that process, with one letter changed is progress, and began structuring my writing around a five-step writing process.
According to me, they are:
Brainstorming
Research
Drafting
Revision
Proofing
Yours may look a little different - and that’s fine. But they should follow a logical order from generating an idea, researching it, writing the piece, and revising it.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. You can come up with about fifteen hare-brained schemes before lunchtime, all of them awful. (I do it all the time.) However you will need a vague idea about what you’re writing about before you set down and do it. Joel Saltzman in his excellent If You Can Talk You Can Write, wrote that you should write down almost everything that comes into your brain before you get to the next phase of writing - he calls this the crap, crap, crap, crap, GOLD method.
Chances are you’ve been in rooms where this has coalesced spontaneously. Once you’ve mined the gold from the crap, you can refine your idea by researching it. (This really is a lot like mining gold, isn’t it?)
The very first and very mandatory subject I took for my Masters degree was called Research and Writing. This was the gateway to doing any sort of writing, be it for journalism, communications, or even fiction. Roy Peter Clark in his brilliant Help! For Writers book says that writer’s block is a furphy - it’s more that you don’t have enough information on hand to write anything meaningful.
Drafting is basically the act of getting words on to a page. In my process, if I’m writing a blog or a skyscraper piece of content, is to break up my piece into topic headings. This was auto-magically done for me thanks to this piece being called How To Use The Five-Step Writing Process For Your Content. However, in most non-fiction writing, the drafting process can be made easier by using the essay method or “painting the house” method:
Introducing your topic - why are we here? What am I going to talk about? Let’s say, why M&Ms are the superior movie snack.
The sub-topics or arguments - group these into discrete categories which will form paragraphs. In our essay, we could group these up into M&Ms are cheap; they’re tasty; they’re quiet; they don’t melt when you’re holding on to them.
Concluding your topic - what did we learn? Summarise what you talked about. This is why M&Ms are the best choice for sitting down and pigging out at the movies.
They don’t have to be perfect at this point - this is where revision comes in.
Writing is an act of creative destruction. You will write a lot, but you will cut a lot. When clients ask me if “X is necessary” - the mere suggestion should be an invitation to cut it. Cut, cut, cut. Murder your darlings.
Conversely, this is where the L’esprit de l’escalier rears its head - the “staircase wit” where you think of a perfect retort or reply just as you’ve left the room. (The jerk store called, yada yada yada.)
Lucky for us, you can return to your piece and add the perfect argument (in your eyes) after the fact. Oh yes - you can smuggle M&Ms past the ushers! On closer reflection M&Ms aren’t that quiet after all - best cut that entirely.
Use this time to sculpt your piece into its strongest - not perfect - form.
With your contents locked in and your sentences as good as they’re going to get, this is where you proofread. Not edit - we’ve already done the editing. Proofing is NOT the same as editing. All you’re doing here is checking for grammatical or spelling mistakes.
Print your piece out and read it backwards to “refresh” it in your mind - it’s likely you’ve glossed over some clangers after staring at it for hours on end. If possible, get a third party to weigh in (provided their spelling and grammar skills are equal or better than yours.)
After you’ve completed the five step writing process - you’re on to the next piece! If that makes you weep with despair, you can always get a professional to help you out! I write copy and content for all purposes (except academic - do your own homework!) using a tried and true five-step writing process. Contact me below!
Depending on the time of day, you’ve probably written hundreds of words already. Yes, it’s true.
Think about all the emails, reports, shopping lists, purchase orders, and notes to colleagues you’ve put out into the world today - all those words add up pretty quickly!
Modern business thrives on written communication. The power of the written word is so immense, it forms the entire basis of our society - think about our Constitution, laws, ordinances.
Though we may not be using words to trade sheep stations (or perhaps we are?) you can use these five copywriter habits to improve your own writing - and be more well understood and effective at work.
The great American novelist and writer Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. once said:
“Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
In most cases, emails are one to one communication. In business, we may be writing reports to many stakeholders. Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett says that he writes his annual reports as if he was writing directly to his sisters. This will inform your style - as Buffett directed his copywriters: “safe, bland, and reassuring.”
Writing with one person in mind will keep your style consistent. You’ll feel less worried about how you say things and more focused on getting your message out there.
Takeaway: write to please one person, not many. Because you can’t please everyone.
Every piece of writing in business - in the world to date - has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Though I might cringe at the term “storytellers” in business, I do so because everyone is a storyteller.
In business, this narrative form may look like:
The current problem
What needs to be done about it
What the resolved situation will look like
Make sure all your communications have a definite beginning, middle, and an end. Just like in high school, you need to introduce the topic of conversation to the reader. Don’t assume your reader knows everything there is to know - communication is the act of scooping out your brain into the brains of an unsuspecting and naive passer-by.
Takeaway: Structure your writing as stories with definite beginnings, middles, and endings.
You’ve likely read emails or reports that had you reaching for the dictionary at one point - I have, and I’m supposed to know “all the words.” Truth be told, I don’t. (The horror!) The point of good communication is clarity and concision. That means saying what you mean and making it as simple as possible to understand.
Doesn’t matter if your audience has three degrees in engineering or didn’t even finish high school - your writing should be equally accessible to both people. Would you rather be known as pretentious for trying to show off your brainiac vocabulary, or a business genius for explaining a difficult concept like you’re talking to a five year old? (That’s the old trick of “Explain Like I’m Five.”) Substitute long, difficult words for simpler alternatives. Utilize? Just say “use.”
Takeaway: Making your writing simple means it is easier to understand.
Everybody has time for editing. Doesn’t matter if it took you thirty seconds to compose, you can spend another thirty seconds proofing and editing. Editing is the art of cutting redundant words from your writing to achieve that concision and clarity. A sentence shouldn’t have extra words in it, much like a clock shouldn’t have extra hands on the dial. If you’re unsure on how to edit yourself, you can use Hemingway Editor or buy a book on editing, such as the aptly titled Edit Yourself.
Takeaway: Editing yourself is as crucial to the writing process as composition.
Verbs power writing. Verbs, or “doing” words are the momentum your writing rides along. In business, almost everything is verbs. Buying, selling, ordering, drafting, syngergizing - some don’t seem like words at all, but they are at the very least passing themselves off as verbs. If your writing is trying to persuade or will something into being, verbs will get you there. Using too many nouns and adjectives bog the reader down - they will start wondering when you will get to the point very quickly. If you can write verbs into every sentence, you’re off to a flying start.
Takeaway: Verbs are the engine of writing, so the more verbs, the more horsepower your writing has.
Need help from a professional Melbourne copywriter who can supercharge your business writing? Click below to contact me!
In business, there’s many facets to being successful. It might be being an expert in business finance; sales; research and development; or administration. However one skill that gets overlooked is clear and crisp communication. Marketing copywriting is essential to the success of any business. Like other types of business skills, can you learn it yourself? If so, how do you learn copywriting?
As I’ve explained in other blogs, copywriting is the art (and sometimes science) of writing text (known as copy) to persuade someone into taking an action - usually to buy something, sign up for a list, make an appointment, and so on. There are different types of copywriting and copywriters, which you can read more about here.
Once you’ve made your mind up about what type of copywriter you’ll end up being, you need to learn it all. The more forms of writing you can master, the more opportunities open up for you.
When you want to learn how to write, there’s only one place to start. Reading. Reading everything from sales letters, ad copy, blogs, forum posts, books, everything. If you aren’t a reader, you probably won’t get a kick out of copywriting, unfortunately!
You firstly need a good command of written English (or your home language.) I’ve put together a list of books on improving your written English here.
For some specific books, I recommend:
Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
Ogilvy On Advertising by David Ogilvy
The Gary Halbert Letter by Gary Halbert
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook by Joseph Sugarman
Impossible to Ignore by Dr. Carmen Simon, Ph.D.
The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth
Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells by Robert W. Bly
You’ll also have to start practising your craft by writing, writing, and writing some more! Then, editing.
Learning copywriting skills can be learned by repetition, continuous improvement, and if you so desire, under the supervision of a teacher or a mentor. One of the crucial skills of a copywriter not only choosing the right words but knowing which ones to cut. You also need to do that while remaining professionally detached from the finished product.
Much of the art of copywriting is the judicious and ruthless editing of yourself. There’s a great book by Bruce Ross-Larson called Edit Yourself which can get you started. If your writing is bloated and full of unnecessary words or sentences, you’ll need to take some time making your writing punchier and more succinct. It may be worth your time hiring a professional editor to give you pointers.
As I’ve mentioned in this post How To Become a Copywriter, you can take courses in professional writing and editing. This isn’t essential but can give you a leg up if you’re a complete beginner.
Much of a copywriter’s output will be credited to someone else - but you also have to maintain the utmost quality regardless of who takes the “glory.” 90% of the time, you’re a hired gun. Much like a tradesman, you can make suggestions based on your expertise, but ultimately, you’re hired to build from the plan (or brief, as it may be.)
How long is a piece of string? I’m a copywriter and I am still learning! However, to get a grounding in the basic skills should take you at least a year, possibly two if your written communication skills are basic at best.
There are a few essential copywriting skills - that is knowing the mechanics of good grammar, syntax, and sentence construction. Knowing that verbs power writing and that you should omit needless words. That persuasion is achieved through a combination of logos, pathos, and ethos, and that a good piece of writing should be able to overcome objection in advance. As for learning them:
This is how the famous Hunter S. Thompson (author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) did it - and how you can do it. That is, typing out ads and webpages that are known to be successful. There’s no real way around it; but it will give you a feel for what works and what doesn’t.
It’s true - good artists borrow, great artists steal. If you hear or find a sentence or tagline you think is really great, write it down. Save it for later. I’ve stolen about five things in this blog post already (you’ll never catch them, though!)
Like genres in fiction, there are formulas in copywriting. Learn them and familiarise yourself with them. One such formula is the “FAB” formula - feature, advantage, benefit. You will get a feel for what type of formula matches the product or service you intend to sell. Mix, match, and experiment.
Formatting text for your medium is important as the words you choose. Sometimes one influences the other, such as specific UX wireframes and character counts.
In SEO and content writing, you’ll likely be writing blog posts, either for yourself or as a ghostwriter. You need to learn how to research your topics and even do some original research, e.g. interview subjects or create surveys as well as interpret the results. Getting people to open up and feel comfortable during an interview is a must-have skill. Ask as many questions as possible, until you start hearing answers that sound the same.
Added to that, you should have a good working knowledge of the latest SEO techniques, analytics, and basic HTML/CSS.
This is as much psychology as it is writing. If you want to write compelling characters in fiction, you need to get inside people’s heads. What do they want? What are they motivated by? What would make them need this product? What would make them want it? This means getting a handle on your own emotions and motivations - which is no easy feat.
When in doubt, ask for help from a professional or your mentor.
This might seem overwhelming - but don’t feel stressed! This can take many years to master. To start, you should try to make your everyday communication as punchy and concise as possible. That means emails, reports, and blogs. Don’t know how? Don’t worry - I have you covered with my online Skillshare course, Write Like a Boss right here! It covers all the essentials of clear and memorable business writing. Best of all, you get one month of Skillshare free.
If you believe you have the skills and are ready to take on the world of copywriting, click here for my comprehensive blog on How to Become A Copywriter.
Is one or two years of copywriting training too long for your liking? Hire one of Melbourne’s best copywriters to do the job for you instead! Check out my copywriting services here, or click below to contact me.
Copywriters, like ice-cream, come in all different flavours. Though there are two overarching branches of copywriting, the technical vs. the creative copywriter, there are certain copywriters that specialise in certain media, topics, or forms of writing. Here are the types of copywriters that exist in the workforce - although there is significant overlap - and a copywriter who is good at one form of writing can often do both - or many (like me!)
Marketing copywriting is the most common form of copywriting - I Sell Words is primarily a marketing copywriting firm, specialising in a variety of written content intended to sell your products and services. (I sell words because my words sell!) Marketing copywriting may extend to all types of written communication - blog posts, web content, flyers, YouTube video scripts, flyers, and so on. This is the most versatile type of copywriter who can work across different campaigns, media, and subjects. Some marketing copywriters may work certain “niches” while others will happily write about any topic, given the right research. Every business should hire a marketing copywriter - at least to get started!
Direct response copywriting is copywriting that’s engineered to elicit some kind of action from the reader. Direct response copywriters often work on sales funnels, landing pages, pop-up ads, eDMs, and webforms that require a user to take an action (e.g. buy now, sign up now, open this email, click here.) Direct response copywriting is the domain of the “long-form sales letter” which requires a knowledge of sales techniques to truly master. Copywriters such as Dan Kennedy are known as expert Direct Response Copywriters. This type of copywriting is known to produce quick results, usually for consumer products, e-learning platforms, and other systematic marketing “machines.”
Advertising copywriters these days are found in agencies or as freelancers attached to agencies, coming up with taglines, creative content for social media, create brand “personas,” concepts for videos or images, and overarching campaign concepts. Advertising copywriters are creative in nature, and their skill set doesn’t necessarily mean every ad needs to sell something. Advertising copywriters need to be mindful of a brand’s image, tone of voice, style, and intended audience.
SEO copywriters are copywriters focused on writing for search engine optimisation (SEO.) Although it’s rare to find a copywriter who isn’t an SEO copywriter in 2022, these copywriters are often involved with keyword research, link building, ghostwriting, and producing new and interesting angles for copy while staying focused on the ultimate objective: increasing a site’s search engine page results. SEO copywriters usually have skills in off-page SEO - optimising meta tags, descriptions, etc. SEO copywriting is everywhere - and a business that hires an SEO copywriter is after an increase in their organic traffic and eventually, conversions. SEO copywriters are also often referred to as “content writers.”
A social media copywriter works primarily in - you guessed it - social media. That means maintaining a consistent tone of voice, engaging with community, and conducting hashtag research. They may work in tandem with graphic designers or videographers to create compelling social media content for business. Social media copywriters may also write blog posts from time to time as part of a sales funnel.
A relatively new type of copywriter, a conversion or UX copywriter is focused more on Conversion Rate Optimisation, A/B testing, and writing copy that serves to enhance a User Experience (UX.) CRO is a more systematic approach to copywriting, which requires a copywriter to write at least two variations of headlines, straplines, body copy, etc. to determine which attracts or converts the most amount of visitors to a desired action (e.g. signing up to a mailing list, buying a product, organising a meeting, etc.) Conversion-oriented copywriters may also be adept at writing sales scripts, chatbot scripts, onboarding email campaigns, and sales funnels or landing pages.
As I’ve explained in this post, a technical copywriter primarily deals with informing rather than instructing. There’s little creativity involved in technical copywriting - the copy may be “mission critical” to the operation of a piece of hardware, explaining a policy, or implementing a consistent process. A technical copywriter may write white papers, research reports, or annual reports for companies that require accuracy in their copy.
This all depends on your business needs. If you need copy for a website, an SEO copywriter should be your first choice. If you need a copywriter to run your socials, then a social media copywriter is best. However, a good copywriter can fulfil multiple roles - just like me!
I am an expert in all forms of copywriting, informed by journalistic experience, continuous improvement, and constant research and refinement of my skills. Do you want to reach more people, sell more of your offering, and grow your business? Contact me below.
If you’ve been told about the importance of copywriting for SEO or content marketing, you may not be completely convinced on how a copywriter can actually help your business. In this post, I’ll outline five ways a copywriter can help your business’ bottom line – and set your digital presence up for more traffic, better sales, and greater growth.
Even if you know your customers inside and out, a copywriter can help you connect your business to an audience you may never have considered before. Good copywriters achieve this through looking at analytics, keyword research, or persona building – what demographics may find your product or service useful? What kind of tone and style is required to really get their attention? This is where a copywriter can step in and create strategies – and execute on them by writing the right content.
What you say is how you sell. But what if your message is all over the place – can you sum up your unique selling point in the length of a tweet? (280 characters.) A copywriter can craft a narrative around your business and project it into the future. Narrative storytelling isn’t everyone’s forte; but it’s a copywriter’s bread and butter. A copywriter is also great at “explaining things like you’re five” – making the complex simple and easy to understand. The more people understand your offering, the more people you can theoretically sell to.
I’ve run research on this – bad spelling and grammar in your written content makes more than 80% of prospects turn off your business completely. Copywriters can directly contribute to enhancing your brand or business awareness – through writing Google ads, taglines, flyers, social content, blog posts, new web pages, guest blogs, sales letters, electronic direct mail (eDMs) and other forms of marketing content. Some, but not all, copywriters are also crisis communications or PR experts who can step in when times are dire. Remember: if you’re not shaping your story, someone else is.
Creative copywriters can not only formulate a content strategy that connects with your audience but maintain it. SEO copywriting and content is not a one-and-done solution; it requires regular attention through creating new and interesting content. This content might be blog posts, social posts, short narratives, product descriptions, and other written content. They can also help you choose the right social media for your business. If you haven’t got time to do it yourself, an investment in copywriting services can often be a boon to your bottom line.
If you aren’t spending time shoring up your on-page SEO, then your business is likely becoming less and less visible as time goes on. Having an SEO copywriter on board to help supercharge your SEO efforts by generating consumer interest in your services or products is essential to business success. If you want to sell your products you need to market them well – and SEO copywriters are integral to that overall process.
Need a good copywriter to help your business grow? Click the button below and get Melbourne’s best SEO copywriting and content done for you!