Tag Archives: Web Content
Copywriting Portfolio – Clearswift
As a leading provider of IT security solutions worldwide, solutions vendor Clearswift recognise the importance of appearing to be cutting edge, to inspire confidence in customers that their packages are also up-to-date. With the launch of a new suite of revolutionary solutions on the horizon, Clearswift decided that their website could also do with an overhaul, calling upon inbound marketing specialist Tomorrow People to assist.
The new copywritten content was to accompany a complete rebrand for Clearswift including this new logo
The Brief
Although the new website was expected to take several weeks to launch, Clearswift and Tomorrow People agreed to complete the initial web content copyedit process in just 10 days. As well as optimising existing text for SEO, the webpages needed significant rewriting to create a consistent message and tone throughout the website. The brief also called for fresh content to be copywritten to introduce the soon-to-arrive products and services that Clearswift were launching with the new website.
Having worked with Ben Lloyd from Tech Write on a number of projects before, Tomorrow People knew that he specialises in tight deadlines and had never yet failed to deliver content on time. The fact that there were 65 pages in total was a concern, but Ben was confident that the work could still be completed within the timeframe specified.
The Result
As promised, all 65 pages were delivered on time ready for review by Clearswift. During the initial writing phase Clearswift requested a handful of changes, all of which were incorporated into the content supplied. As is common with copywriting projects, a number of secondary changes were also requested and implemented to further improve the message being conveyed by the website.
The new Clearswift website is now live, featuring a much clearer navigation system and a “cleaner” overall look. As well as the text provided by Tech Write of course! The added benefits of tightly-focused SEO copywriting are also beginning to filter through as Clearswift’s ranking for various keywords has also begun to rise.
If your website could benefit from a text refresh, or you need some new pages written, get in contact. Don’t forget that we can work to tight deadlines too!
Copywriting tip – National Stop Snoring Week
Wake up! Believe it or not, the 22nd-27th April is National Stop Snoring Week here in the UK. Although the event is intended to raise awareness about sleep apnoea and other sleep-related disorders, the web copywriter can also do their bit to help prevent snoring.
Terrible copy appears to have sent this poor soul to sleep. Let’s hope he’s not snoring.
How? By not writing snore-inducing, boring junk obviously.
B2B writing projects by their very nature require a slightly more formal tone. But formal never means boring. Business people are still people after all, and everyone needs some entertainment. Apart from actuaries – there seems to be some debate over their humanity. Your business customers will also appreciate your efforts to inform and entertain them, particularly as the sound of snoring in an open plan office is particularly disruptive.
Consumers on the other hand demand to be entertained. Some experts claim that you have less than one second to capture your reader’s attention and engage with them. Even if your opening paragraph is gripping, they could still click over to one of your competitors if you then go on to bore them through the rest of the page.
So whatever you are planning to blog or upload this week, please try and make it interesting. Together we can beat boring content and snoring.
If you need help jazzing up your content, or you’re afraid that your website is sending your customers to sleep, get in touch. Tech Write specialise in creating tailored web content designed to keep your reader’s attention and inspire a response too.
Copywriting tip – Let someone else write it
You already know that your company website is of critical importance as a lead generating and sales tool. You probably also know that most people find your website for the first time using a search engine. You may even know that search engines tend to favour sites that have top quality content which is updated regularly.
There is no shame in asking for help from a professional copywriter. Why miss out on sales because you don’t have time to generate leads online yourself?
But simply knowing these facts isn’t enough. You actually have to get that content written and uploaded to your website.
You probably already have the skills, knowledge and experience to put together a great blog post, or maybe even a series of brilliant articles. But do you have the time?
When I talk to business owners, all identify time as their most valuable commodity. They also tend to cite a lack of time as the reason their blogs get neglected or their online marketing campaigns never quite make it out the door. It’s not that they don’t have great ideas to generate new leads, more that they simply do not have the time to bring them to fruition.
Which is why letting someone else do your copywriting isn’t a sign of weakness or failure, but an absolute necessity. If your website never gets updated, or your email never sent, you never realise the potential benefits of these activities. Letting a professional copywriter help out keeps your digital marketing project on track. A truly great copywriter will also ensure your campaigns go out on time.
Letting someone else do your copywriting helps relieve some of your marketing workload and lets you focus on the myriad other responsibilities associated with making your business successful.
Don’t let your website die from neglect or under perform in some way. Drop us a line today and see how we can create top quality content for your website. Your potential customers will appreciate it even more than Google!
Web content writing – Are you over-reliant on PPC?
Fact – Your website needs increased traffic to raise sales
Fact – Search engines remain the number one way for people to discover your website
Fact – Paid search results can get you to the top of Google rankings (ish) So obviously you should be concentrating your online marketing budget on PPC right?
Increase your website traffic, increase your profits
Wrong! Consider the following stats:
- 85% of search engine traffic comes via organic links
- Only 11% of advertisers report achieving a higher ROI through a Pay Per Click Advertising Program than an Organic Search Engine Optimization program
- 4 out of 5 (80%) of search engine users never click on PPC results
- 86% of search engine users report they feel organic listings are more relevant than paid listings (Source: Zero One Zero)
And what about the following quote from Marc Resnick’s seminal work, “An Empirical Study Of Paid Listings In Product Search And Purchase“: “For paid listings to yield the financial results that are anticipated by the business community, it is critical that consumers perceive paid listings and their descriptions as relevant to their transactional tasks. The results of this study support previous findings that this may not be the case, but also provide some guidance for the development of paid listings. Participants in the study showed a bias against paid listings in several ways. They reported an explicit suspicion about paid listings in their verbal protocols. They rated the relevance of the paid listings as lower than the organic listings despite the content of the descriptions being controlled across listing type”
Does this mean you should drop PPC completely? No, but it should serve as a warning that paid search complements organic SEO. It does not (and cannot) replace quality web content as a driver for your website. Organic search engine results are driven by carefully crafted, compelling website copy which is relevant, entertaining and informative for real people.
Google have stated the importance of creating content that people actually want to read time and again. Truly great websites recognised this long ago, and are inevitably crammed with fantastic content. Unfortunately there is no shortcut to success.
Organic SEO provides a long term boost to your website traffic, PPC traffic lasts only as long as your budget. Paid search can kick start traffic to your website, but ultimately it will be quality content which keeps traffic and customers flowing to your site.
One more thing! SEO and top notch copywriting is not about creating website traffic. Your focus must always be on creating sales. All the website visitors in the world will not be of use if you convert them into customers too.
Need help creating quality SEO web content for your own site? Get in touch with us today to learn more about our professional copywriting services.
Copywriting tip – Google Translate won’t cut it
If you’ve ever visited a foreign website, Google Translate may have helped you understand the text. You will know from experience though that the translation is a little bit dodgy, with some odd grammar and words that don’t quite read correctly. Not to mention humour or cultural references that simply do not translate at all.
Google Translate can get you out of a hole when reading. It will almost certainly put you in a hole if you use it for your copywriting though.
So if you know this, why on Earth would you rely on an auto-translate service to create marketing materials for foreign markets? If your French-to-English conversion is less than stellar, do you not think that the same is true for your own text going the other way?
Consider this example of a sales pitch received from an Indian web design agency:
“We are a vibrant and fast moving platform that surpasses customers’ expectations by consistent focus on the designing, creativity and business model. We are one of the India’s largest firms with finely crafted creative and strategic designers and develop an SEO friendly website to give meaning to your online business.”
Obviously you can understand what the message is trying to say, but the text isn’t quite right. I have highlighted two minor mistakes that end up devaluing the message somewhat. Although you can cut the writer some slack, you certainly wouldn’t want the same kind of ambiguity in your own marketing emails. And what if would-be customers assume that this is an example of sloppiness in your work?
Far safer is to hire a native speaker of your target language who can quickly spot and correct errors like this. If you want to keep copywriting costs low, Google Translate can help create an initial draft, but you should always have the document edited by a human before sending it out.
So don’t damage your business reputation by trying to cut corners. If you wouldn’t buy from a poor English speaker, why would international clients buy from your poorly-worded marketing email?
Here at Tech Write we work with businesses across the world to create high quality press releases, emails and other documents in perfect English to ensure that their customers get the information they need. If you would like to know more about how we can enhance your brand image on the world stage, drop us a line.
