When it comes to promoting your products and services online, flashy graphics and excellent site design can only do so much. The content of your website is still the heart and backbone of your marketing efforts. Whether you aim to sell pharmaceuticals on the Net or entice surfers to browse through your website.

You can maximize your selling potential by writing text (or copy) that appeals to your target audience and fires up their curiosity for your products and services.

Before you even start writing, clarify
the goal of the text. If your aim is to sell a product or service, make sure
that everything you write directly supports this objective. Appeal to the
interests of your target audience. Customers only care about the benefit they
get from buying your product or service so keep your copy focused on the advantages
of choosing your product over others.

Online versus Print

 
Take note that writing for online
media is significantly different from writing for print media for several
reasons: First, web surfers tend to be impatient and want fast access to
information as opposed to print media readers who tend to read at leisure. Web
users also have a tendency not to read full articles but prefer to read short
chunks of the page in search of what they need. The average person will only
read between 5 and 10 percent of your website. This is because most readers who
don’t find what they’re looking for within the first few pages will leave and
move on to other sites. If you’re trying to sell something, make sure your
important benefits are listed upfront and get to the point quickly.

Secondly, consideration must be given not only to the human
audience of a website but also the search robots who will periodically crawl
the website. In order to be properly indexed in search engines, a web page
needs a minimum of 500 to 750 words on it. In addition, the keywords or key
phrase for a web page also needs to be repeated at least four to five times.

Thirdly, since the web is non-linear, we expect hyperlinks
and jump frequently, both within pages and to other pages, reading what we need
and then moving on, often very quickly. Good writing for the web should be
clear, concise, relevant, scannable, consistent and error free. Since the web
is interactive, your writing style should be conversational; not necessarily
familiar or casual, but direct and friendly.

Lastly, Web pages should ideally have text and image
complementation. The ratio of images to text should preferably be 50:50. Since
web users tend to pass by websites rather quickly, it would help if their
attentions are grabbed by compelling images and text. The liberal use of
whitespace also makes a web page look less cluttered and allows the reader to find
information more easily.

Qualities of Successful Web Writing

When
surfing the web, you often find websites with large or flashing graphics to
grab your attention. While this may "wow" you initially, it is often
not enough to pull the visitor into the site to get the order and make a sale. In
the information superhighway, content is the key to making a sale. These seven qualities
offer a good start toward successful web writing: 

a.
Clarity

Clarity
is in the eye of the beholder, not of the writer. No matter how clear your
words seem to you, never assume they’re clear to your readers. Express
only one idea in each sentence. Use the active voice since it is more direct
and vigorous than the passive voice. It also results in shorter, stronger
sentences.

b.
Relevance

It is
important that every page of your site contains relevant, information rich
content. Readers expect relevant content online. If they don’t find it quickly,
they’ll leave your site.

One trick is to mention the keyword a couple of times at the start of the
first paragraph and also at the start of the final paragraph. A search engine
such as Google examines the page and realizes that a few paragraphs have
content that is relevant. However, bear in mind that you should not repeat the
same words too many times. To assist you in this, you should look at the keyword density, which is the ratio of
the amount of times the keywords are used divided by the amount of words on the
page.

Never go above 6% density per page. Anything above this could be classed as
spam. To be on the safe side, and cater to other search engines, I recommend
not exceeding 4-5% per page.

Another search engine trick is to write the most relevant keyword at least 4
times in the content area and the rest of the keywords 2-3 times. Be sure to
use phrases that you have used in your other tags (meta, alt, headings, title,
etc.) during the optimization process.

c.
Brevity

As
a general rule, online text should have half as many words as print text, but
often one-quarter or even one-tenth is called for. However, shorter isn’t
always better. Writing concisely is a juggling act. Remove unnecessary words,
but never sacrifice clarity for brevity. Don’t forget to test after you’ve cut.

d.
Scanability and readability

Online readers tend to scan, quickly looking for what
they need. Whenever possible, organize text by using headlines, bullets, and
frequent paragraph breaks. Use brief sentences, short paragraphs and
simple language. Use sub-headings, bold text and italicised
text to break up the information. Present the information logically and
write with your readers firmly in mind. Use the occasional exclamation mark (!)
to get your readers attention. Forget the ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation
points!!! This is another reason why it’s important to include a site map or
table of contents on your site.  Make sure that it is accessible from
every page. 

e.
Consistency

Navigation, terminology, style, and tone should be
consistent throughout the site. Inconsistency tends to confuse and annoy
readers.

f.
Freedom from errors

Grammatical
mistakes, typos, and misspellings can spoil or even ruin a reader’s experience.
Errors project an air of
unprofessionalism, sending your visitors away. 

Don’t
try to be the sole proofreader of your writing. Have someone else — prefereably
a professional proofreader or editor — proof it both before and after coding. Proofing
it before coding isn’t enough since text can be dropped, put in the wrong
place, retyped incorrectly, or miscoded.

g.
Good integration with the site design

Designing
web pages should be a shared responsibility between the writer and the designer
because a site’s design can have a big impact on the text. What looks good in a
text file might be all wrong once the text is incorporated into the design.

Work
closely with the web designer throughout the process, and cultivate a
collaborative relationship. Both the text and the design will be the better for
it.

4 Steps to Copy That Sells

When writing text that sells,
remember the acronym A.I.D.A. which stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire,
and Action. These
are the critical elements of a winning ad.

1. Start with an emotionally packed opening statement that
will get the attention of your reader. Remember the seven qualities of good
web writing when making your opening statement, which may be:

Ø A headline;

Ø An opening sentence;

Ø A subject line on an email;

Ø The header on a website page; or

Ø The opening words in a telemarketing script,
radio commercial, or TV spot.

After you’ve grabbed the attention your target audience:

2. Make a promise. Concentrate on the strongest interests
and concerns of your target audience. Successful ad copy demonstrates a high
level of knowledge and understanding of the product and the problem it solves.
Tell the reader something he/she already knows, proving that you are attuned to
his/her needs.

3. Build desire for your product by telling your prospect how your
product will benefit them or affect their lives. Supply convincing proof to the
reader. Stress a benefit and make that benefit immediately clear to your reader.
Ads that provide specific, usable information to the reader usually get higher
readership and a better response.

Use testimonials when applicable. Let your prospects know
they won’t be the first to try you. Give results-oriented testimonials from satisfied
customers who have benefited from your product or service. Give people’s full
names with their titles and companies (or towns and states of residence) — and
be sure to get their permission first.

4. Ask for action in the
most powerful way possible. Tell the reader the next step in the buying process
and encourage him/her to do it now. Do you want her to call you or e-mail you
for more information? Call to schedule a free consultation? Order now? Clarify
what the reader has to do, and he’ll be more likely to do it.

Give your reader an offer he
cannot refuse by giving free information, special price, free bonus with order,
etc. The stronger your offer, the greater the response you’ll get. Always
include the best offer you can afford as well as a deadline of when the offer
ends.

Provide several ways for
your visitor to take action and order your product. Include order buttons
throughout the sales copy (sometimes prospects have read enough and want to
order immediately without wanting to read through the whole page). Use several
payment methods (i.e., credit card or paypal) to accommodate the largest number
of paying customers.

By
following the steps outlined above, you can now create sales copy that encourages
visitors to stick to your site and purchase your products instead of trying to
"wow" them with flashy graphics that may take forever to download. Remember
the seven qualities and AIDA to ensure
that your prospects become your loyal customers.

Every eyar at around the second week of May, our community celebrates the feastday of Nuestra Senora de Salvacion, our patron saint. The baranggay officials have our streets decorated with banderitas and they set up stages where the programs could be held. A sports fest was also conducted wherein the youth participated in playing basketball and table tennis.

On Sunday night, there were two events held simultaneously in our streets — one had a dance contest while the other featured bands performing for the audience.

Here’s one of the bands performing around midnight last May 15

We have been  running a small store at our house for several years now named JTJ Store (stands for Jocelyn-Teddy-Joseph). It’s not that large but we do get to interact with some colorful characters while guarding it.

Foremost of which is a homeless guy who always gives a tip whenever he buys from us. He sometimes pays an extra 25 cents or even more and if I return it, he insists that I take it. I guess it’s his way of keeping his pride. I once offered him food during Christmas but he refused to take it.

Even as there are people like him who believe in fairness and maintaing one’s pride and dignity, there are those who will stoop to much-lower levels just for a few bucks. We’ve had encounters with people who  use conunterfeit money, expired money and those who suddenly run away wihtout paying for what they got. I even encountered two girls who borrowed our lighter, exchanged it with a lousy one when I wasn’t looking and denied that they took it.

I guess you can never tell what kind of people you will meet when you’re running your own business.