GET YOURSELF SOME FREE BUZZ. STOP THE PRESSES!

photo courtesy of fredvidal 

Writing the Perfect Press Release:

Are You Newsworthy?

Press releases are a great way to get some free (or low-cost) exposure out there on the web. In fact, well-written, well-positioned press releases should be a key aspect of any conventional marketing plan and a definite “must-have” for a viral marketing strategy.

There are companies that will distribute your press release using their email database to make sure your newsletter finds its way to the right people. Or, you can distribute on your own through content syndication sites or free “press release” sites where site owners and editors look for content to fill their web pages.

Problem is, an awful lot of newsletters fail to get picked up. They languish in the inbox of some site owner who gets dozens of press releases everyday. So, how do you make sure your press releases receive the most notice?

Stop the Presses!

A press release is a news story – about you, your products or services, your business model, discovery, web site, areas of interest, site topicality – whatever it is you’re trying to promote. These informational news stories are used to introduce you to potential customers or clients. They can be distributed by snail mail or sent directly to previous clients’ email addresses.

They can be a stand-alone piece or part of a larger “media kit” that could include brochures, a sales letter, product information or samples and other elements designed to capture the attention of a site editor – most often the site owner in the case of smaller sites. (Larger sites usually maintain a writer/editor on staff to develop content for marketing, site text, blog posts and other written communications.)

What makes a press release valuable? Newsworthiness. Look, another site owner isn’t interested in sending traffic to your site. However, she is interested in keeping her site up to date and her readership informed. So, if you send out a hypey sales letter and call it a press release, it may look like a duck and quack like a duck but it ain’t no duck. And, as such, it won’t get much (if any) exposure.

In order for your press release to have the desired effect – raising awareness within the web community – it should have lots of news value and go "lite" on the hype. Of course, you can mention the qualities, features and benefits of a new product or concept but the text can’t sound like a sales letter.

Formatting Your Press Release

While there are no hard-and-fast rules about formatting a press release, there are certain conventions that are followed. Employing these style and format conventions more easily identifies the text as a press release, and when a site owner is going through 150 emails each morning, the easier it is to identify a press release the more likely it will be picked up.

First, use letterhead stationery for your press release. The letterhead should include the company name and general company contact information. Next, provide complete  information for the company’s contact point – the person to reach for additional information, limitations on use and other editorial and legal questions. This person may not be able to provide immediate answers, but he can at least direct you to the person who has the information you’re after.

Indicate when the press release can and should be released to the public. In most cases, press releases are sent out “For Immediate Release,” which should appear in the upper-right corner of the press release. If, for some reason, you want the release delayed, indicate when it’s okay to publish the release.

The press release itself should start off with a big, attention-grabbing headline – something that piques the curiosity of the reader. A second subhead should appear directly under the headline providing the reader with an indication of what the release is about.

Next comes the body of the press release. The first paragraph of the release should answer the standard Journalism 101 questions: who, what, where and when. Some readers will never get past the first paragraph so it’s the most important text in the entire release. Succinctly (no more than two sentences) provide all relevant facts upon which you will elaborate further as the readers move on.

Again, structure the press release to be newsworthy. It’s not an advertisement. It should provide useful information in order to receive wide distribution.

Keep paragraphs short for easier eye scan and remember, web users scan left to right and up to down. If you use a sidebar – a story within a story – it should appear on the left side of the release in a separate box with its own headline. In fact, a sidebar is another opportunity to place a headline above the fold – always a good thing for readers and spiders who calculate the importance of information using type size as one of the criteria.

Don’t use a the three- or four column format used by print newspapers. Your press release should look more like a letter than a newspaper.

Use quotes from authority sources – people, institutions, associations and other “reliable” sources. This not only adds credibility to what you’re saying, it also adds to the “newsiness” of the piece. Pictures, if they somehow clarify or amplify the text, are also useful. Carts and graphs are eye-catching and, when structured and labeled clearly, these illustrations can convey a lot of information in a small space.

Always write in the third person. Never use “I”, “me” or “my.” It’s not about you so leave your ego at the door and pick it up on the way out.

Avoid anything that smacks of hype – words and phrases like “The Best,” “AN ABSOLUTE MUST” and “Leading Edge.” Not only are these kinds of phrases clichés (they’ve been so overused they’ve lost all meaning), they also give your informational press release a sales letter feel. Avoid at all costs.

Use a style manual. There are lots of them. The New York Times style manual is used by press release writers to answer questions such as whether “like-minded” (an adjective) should or should not be hyphenated. It should be according to the NYT's Manual of Style and Usage. However, “businesslike” doesn’t get hyphenated according to the Times editorial handbook.

Keep the release short – two pages (500-600 words) max. Less is more in the press release realm so say it fast, make it complete and know when to get off stage.

To let the reader know that she’s reached the end of the press release, use ### three of these “number” signs. That’s one of those conventions mentioned earlier. It’s just the way it is in journalism.

Finally, you can provide a second contact after the ### end symbol – a contact for a specific purpose. For example, “If you would like to book Ms. Smith for a speaking engagement please contact Ms. Jan Jones, VP of Media Relations, XYZ Corporation, (123) 555-1234.

Writing a good press release is no simple task, and if nouns and adverbs aren’t your thing, outsource the writing to a professional. You can find plenty of freelance writing talent on the web.

It has to be newsworthy, informative, properly formatted, written in the third person and short on the grandiose hyperbole, aka, hype. It has to deliver all information in the shortest space possible. Use graphs and charts to deliver a lot of information in a small space.

It must have complete contact information for those with questions and it should appear on company stationery with company logo if you have one.

If you think you can do it, do a few drafts and let an impartial set of eyes read it. Accept criticism graciously and listen to suggestions for improvement. With a bit of practice, you can develop a PR a week to keep your subscribers or buyers up to speed.

Practice makes perfect and a picture is worth a thousand words.

One final thought: avoid clichés like the two in that previous sentence.



Webwordslinger.com

7 COOL TOOLS FOR WEB WORKERS

Does your home office look this good? It should.

photo courtesy of tipclapper

7 Cool Tools For Web Workers:

Increase Productivity And Presence

As an SEO copy writer I spend a lot of time on the W3. It’s my workplace. And as such, I’m always on the lookout for tools that enable me to do more in less time. I also search for tools that increase my on-line presence – an essential ingredient to building web success, whether you’re publishing a blog or web site to market your business or your poetry.

So, here are seven of the coolest tools you can add to your arsenal of web-based apps.

1. Zimbio.com

It’s an on-line tabloid chock full of gossip on Brangelina, the Olsen twins and George Clooney. That’s the bait that drives traffic to the site.

What’s in it for you? Well, Zimbio enables you to create your own on-line magazine using posts to your blog, creating posts that do double duty. Two for the price of one exposure.

Once you register for this free service, tell Zimbio to ping your blog. The system finds posts and even suggests search categories. Or, you can create your own industry-specific search categories.

Go through your blog archives and resurrect some of those older, albeit, still relevant posts and create your own on-line mag tags on Zimbio.

2. Odiogo.com

One of the coolest tools around.

Odiogo translates text to language (TTL) – the spoken word. It’s simple to add Odiogo to your blog, enabling site visitors with vision problems, visitors with reading problems or visitors who speak a different native tongue to HEAR your pithy posts instead of having to read them.

You’ll see more site or blog traffic when your web space features Odiogo, and those visitors will thank you for the feature with return visits. Add it today.

3. Ning.com

Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Brightkite and other social media sites are open to all. Very egalitarian, and the way things should be according to the web’s principle of engagement. These sites do what they’re supposed to do.

Ning equips you to create your own social network. Set up a network for a family, a small business or a huge industry. Small companies keep in touch with clients and encourage the purchase of goods or services.

You decide who gets in and who’s blocked. Invite your business associates or potential prospects to sign up via automated email alerts.

With Ning, you create your own social media site based on your business or personal needs. And you create your social network site in minutes. It’s easier than setting up a blog.

4. Getclicky.com

Get real time metrics the way you want them.

Getclicky provides the tools to set the parameters of metrics analysis based on the specifics of your site’s or blog’s objectives. Determine how visitors found you, from where they came and where they went after leaving your site.

Sure, Google’s analytics still form the baseline but Getclicky, which BTW, can be added to any site or blog with a cut-and-paste snippet of HTML code, let’s you decide what’s important and what isn’t during metrics analysis.

Once you add this tool to your arsenal of metrics tools, you’ll use Getclicky to create a better, less “biased” picture of your on-line activity.

Highest recommendation.

5. Zoho.com

Zoho is a one-stop shop for web workers, providing everything from an MS-compatible word processor to FREE on-line collaboration and conferencing. The brains behind this brawny site also through in an email client.

The basic services are all free and are perfect for most small, on-line businesses. Upgrades to more robust access are cheap, so creating on-line collaborations with multiple remote stakeholders is low-cost and easy.

6. Open Office

Most computers come with an operating system but if you want to add Microsoft Word and Excel, it’s gonna cost you – unless you download Open Office.

Don’t spend $129 on that MS upgrade (the current price on Dell.com). Instead, when your system arrives, download Open Office. It’s Microsoft compatible and it does everything that MS Office does without the hefty price tag.

Save your money.

7. Sugarsync.com

If you’re a web worker, the information on your hard drive is your bread and butter so you protect it, right?

You have lots of security software in place, a hardwired firewall on your office server and an add-on backup hard drive to protect that critical information.

But what if you’re robbed. What if someone breaks into your home office and snags your business – including that outboard back-up? You’re screwed.

Sugarsync is an off-site, backup storage service. Once registered, your docs, programs, settings, contacts and any other data you select are uploaded automatically. You don’t have to think about it.

With Sugarsync, your business is protected from catastrophic data loss caused by floods, home office fires, burglaries and other disasters that can befall any web worker.

Your take-away? There are plenty of free and low-cost tools to simplify your web work. These seven are just the tip of the iceberg.

Google “web productivity” to see what pops-up. Cherry pick the productivity apps that you need for your work on the world wide web.

See you on Twitter.

Webwordslinger.com

STOP THE INSANITY: BAN GLAZIER-KENNEDY SALES LETTERS

Somebody, Please Pass A Law

Banning Long-Form Sales Letters

Dan Kennedy made a pile of dough teaching other people how to write the most convincing, irresistible sales letter since God handed those tablets to Moses. The result?

The long form, Glazer-Kennedy sales letter and if I see one more of them I’m going to barf. I won’t write them and I write for food!

Who Else Wants to Make A Million Dollars

Before Bedtime?

Sound familiar? Straight out of the Dan Kennedy book “How to Insult the Intelligence of a Chimpanzee” (fake but fitting title). This is followed by reams and reams of hype. Text in 20 point type, italicized “testimonials” from Debra C., Alabama (yeah, try to track down Debra to verify that testimonial. Good luck.)

Then, after scrolling through page after page after page of how easy this business idea/relaxation technique/stock picking “system” is to use (“even a child can use it”), there’s approximately 12.5 different calls to action.

These calls to action start in the main body of text and continue after the signature with a PS Limited time bonus; a PPS an even more limited time bonus; and a PPS that describes an “if you order right now…” bonus. STOP THE INSANITY. We get it. It’s a deal we can’t pass up.

These so called sales letters are insulting, difficult to read (nausea sets in by page two), and they’re as stale as last year’s Christmas fruit cake.

Please, please, please, somebody pass a law banning this tripe.

Best,

webwordslinger

PS Why can’t you organize your thoughts to avoid a PS?

PPS Do you think this creates urgency?

PPS Okay, now you’re just being annoying.

Let's talk.

Webwordslinger.com

REACHING THE SPOILED BUYER

Satisfy This Guy, You Can Satisfy Any Site Visitor

Multi-Channel Product Access:

Reaching the “Spoiled” Buyer

How many ways can consumers buy the products you sell?

The buying practices of many consumers have been changed by the world wide web. The brick and mortar outlets are still top pick with shoppers. However, a recent study indicates that more than half of all consumers consider access to goods in a variety of ways very important. Not just a store. Not just a website. Not just a toll-free number or quarterly four-color catalog. Different consumers want product access through a number of channels. And these aren’t browsers. They’re comparison shoppers, hands-on shoppers, convenience shoppers - people who will make a purchase.

The majority of respondents to the survey indicated that it was important to their buying decision to be able to complete the transaction in the store. Today.

These same consumers indicated that they also wanted access to product information and order placement through the store’s online website and they considered it important to be able to place an order by telephone, whether shopping online or by catalog.

Further, close to 66% of survey participants indicated that they also considered it important to be able to cancel or change an order in person, online or by telephone at any time before the order ships or is removed from the store’s physical plant – the retail outlet.

Consumers have become spoiled with all of the channels available to shop and make purchases. The big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target still rely on flesh-and-blood foot traffic, though many of these operations maintain a significant web presence, as well.

And the individual, small retailer, who owns the local hobby shop in town, still counts on walk-ins to his or her store. However, that same small hobby shop owner should have a website to compliment that real-world outlet. And on that website, which provides global exposure for that small hobby shop, the owner should strongly consider adding a toll-free number to accept telephone orders. In other words, the more channels available to consumers to access your products and product information, the more sales you’ll generate.

The Appeal of Offline Shopping

People still go shopping in the store! Just check out the local mall as the holiday season approaches for irrefutable, empirical evidence. It’s a zoo out there. And given the hassles of driving to the outlets, parking the car, walking to the mall entrance, locating the store you’re looking for on a “You Are Here” map and actually getting to that retail outlet, it might be hard to understand the appeal of this 20^th century approach to buying products. Especially if you’re a site owner wondering why people are going to all that trouble when you sell the same products online.

Consumers dedicated to the mall experience cite a number of reasons for their preference. The reason most often given is “I can get it now.” To some folks in some situations (“Oh no, the television just blew up!”) getting the product today is critical.

Other factors that come in to play? The consumer can touch the product, try out the features and make a well-considered, consumer decision to buy or not. There’s no worries about the security of the transaction. Since it’s made in person, and the item can be paid for with cash, there’s less security risk, though it is important to note that several major retailers have been hacked and sensitive customer data, i.e., credit card numbers, have fallen into the hands of the black hats, so this consumer perception is somewhat unrealistic.

Other reasons consumers give for wading through throngs of caffeinated, stressed-out shoppers include the social aspect of shopping. That’s one reason every mall has a food court – usually a big one. A few hours of shopping, a quick lunch, and more shopping is what the experience is all about. It’s actually fun for lots of people to go to the mall.

The Expanding Appeal of Online Shopping

There’s no doubt that consumers have grown comfortable making purchases on the web. In 1999, fewer than 5% of buyers made a purchase from a website. In 2008, the last time annual consumer spending stats were released, the number of consumers buying online had risen to an estimated 45%, making the web the fastest growing marketplace in history.

And the reasons consumers give for their preference for online shopping aren’t surprising, though they may suggest features you might want to add to your site. The number one reason consumers buy online is convenience. They can shop at 3:00 AM in their PJ’s if they want to. Try doing that at Home Depot and you’ll get yourself arrested.

Another reason for shopping online is the ability to comparison shop. With search engines indexing more and more product pages, it’s a snap to compare prices by make and model number, whether we’re talking digital cameras or a washer-dryer combo.

The web is also a great place to access information about a product, including reviews by previous buyers, magazine and technical reviews and detailed product information. In fact, a large segment of the buying public uses the web to access information on a product before heading off to the local mega-store to make the actual purchase.

There’s also a strong perception among web buyers that prices are lower online. Lower overhead with the savings passed on to the consumer. This isn’t always the case and it’s a misconception that has led to some questionable marketing practices. The giant electronics chain, Best Buy, has been caught offering products at one price through their site, drawing buyers to their stores and upping the in-store price, much to the chagrin of many careful consumers. Not quite the old bait-and-switch but darned close.

Finally, consumers like web shopping because they know, right away, whether the product is available. There’s nothing more frustrating than going to the mall to pick up a sale item, only to be told that the item is sold out “but here’s a rain check.” Great, now you have to go back. Not so when buying online. And many consumers give “product availability” high value when shopping.

The Appeal of a Toll-Free Number

Is there a big, toll-free telephone order number on every page of your commercial site? There should be. Yes, it’s an additional expense every month but it opens another buying channel for potential customers and can you really put a price on that?

A toll-free number allows buyers to talk to a human being. (BTW, those automated ‘press one’ answering systems will send some buyers screaming from the room. When a buyer calls to place an order, a human should answer to take that order.)

If your sales justify the expense, go with a commercial answering service – something that’s now outsourced to other countries to keep costs down. It’s your choice based on your budget. Just make sure that the telephone reps have a well-written script and access to a detailed knowledge base that you (or your product experts) prepare. Don’t expect your telephone reps to rely on a website product description to answer a complex question. Provide the scripts and the FAQs – in bulk.

Marketing Synergies

As you open additional marketing channels, for example email, direct mail catalogs, flyers, brochures and other marketing collaterals, post that toll-free number and your URL on every page.

Invoices, letterhead stationery, automated invoices, auto-responders, downloadable reports and other text-based information should show the URL and toll-free-number above the fold – top of the page.

And be sure to notify site visitors that they can visit your store and then provide a map. Encourage visitors to “Stop on by. The coffee’s on us.” This strengthens the relationship between where the visitor found the product and/or information and where s/he’s going to buy the product – your brick-and-mortar on Main Street.

Your customer service scripts should also reference your site. A simple “Please visit our website at (insert your site’s URL here)” will do it. Also, use these reps as sales generators telling callers about on-site specials. With each of these marketing channel interactions, you’re creating a larger presence and increased credibility with potential buyers. And that means more sales in more ways.

The thing is this: create as many channels to your products as you can. It’s what today’s “spoiled” consumer expects. Then, develop marketing synergies between these various channels to see an even bigger return on your marketing investment.

Clueless? Call me.

Webwordslinger.com

BUILD A WEBINAR AND GET STICKY

Webinars 101:

Low-Cost, Accessible and Sticky

Webinars are growing in popularity as more and more site owners recognize the advantages of these “web broadcasts” in reaching prospective buyers, keeping the site fresh and creating stickiness – those sweet repeat visitors who most often become customers.

If you haven’t considered a webinar, give it some thought. You can do it on the cheap, it lives forever in your archive and, if you know your subject, it can be an on-going, passive income money maker – if you know your subject.

What’s a webinar?

A seminar online. There are webinars on everything from how to cable stitch to how to market anything and everything you can imagine (and some you couldn’t possibly imagine, too).

The medium is compressed digital video (DV) and you can keep it simple or produce something worthy of a Hollywood epic. Top notch production values – things like a snappy intro, a music bed the comes in under the narration to provide a subliminal signal to the viewer that something’s about to happen, and charts and graphs that aren’t hand drawn on a note pad, but are actually sharp-looking, professionally done charts, maps and other visual elements – all contribute to the perceived value of your webinar to subscribers. In other words, try not to skimp too much on the presentation.

Webinars are different from web casts in a few ways. First, web casts are one way communications. The broadcaster speaks, the audience listens. No give and take. Webinars usually employ web-based communications to allow speaker and listeners to communicate during the presentation. This isn’t always the case but it is the norm.

Webinars are also scheduled events. Web casts are usually available any time a visitor clicks on the web cast link. Webinars are scheduled for a specific time. Invitees or paying subscribers are given the scheduled time of broadcast along with an access code.

Finally, webinars are primarily instructional or educational. That’s one reason they’ve become so popular with big corporations. Employees don’t have to travel to hear the expert. They can log on in the office, interact with the expert, ask questions and learn. No travel expenses incurred.

How do I crate a webinar?

You need a digital video camera with decent resolution. This will create your source material so the higher resolution of the source the better looking the final image that appears on screen for your viewers.

Now, if your webinar is long (anything over 20 minutes) or it includes detailed facts, figures and other dense information, graphs and charts are important. If you just lock down the camera and talk for an hour ( a talking head), at least some of your audience is going to dose off. Wouldn’t you?

Have an agenda, a list of topics to cover in the hour but don’t script the webinar. There’s nothing more boring than listening to someone read for an hour. Webinars are intended to foster discussion. Often, you can start by asking a provocative question and allow the participants to express themselves. This is an excellent icebreaker, especially for listeners unfamiliar with the format.

Have something to say! It can not be said enough. 90% of current webinars are weak on useful content, long on sales hype. In order to create a successful webinar, one you can monetize, you need new information, a new perspective, a new procedure – something of value to the listener. Encourage visitors to email questions for more detailed answers.

During the post-production phase, add intro and outro music, a title frame, add text to emphasize key points, use bulleted lists to make information clearer and remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. Let’s say your webinar is about buying properties in the wine country of France. You can talk about the beautiful surroundings and romantic, rustic chateau all you want. Show pictures and you can just run music under the virtual tour.

Marketing Your Webinar

You’ll need to start promoting your webinar well in advance of the intended broadcast date. Blogs are good, free sources of announcements. So are websites dedicated to the topic of your webinar – especially if the website owners receive a portion of the proceeds for their efforts.

Syndicated content sites are also a good way to go with an announcement of broadcst times. And be sure to point out that, even if a subscriber is unavailable for broadcast, the full webinar is contained in the site’s archives for viewing at the individual’s convenience. The only thing missing is the give and take you get as an attendee of the live webinar.

Monetizing Your Webinars

Obviously you’re not going to all of this trouble for the fun of it. You need to recoup production expenses and pay the rent. So, how do you generate revenue from your webinar?

Lots of ways. The fact is content development is pricey. A good copywriter can earn $8,000 for writing a four-page sales letter. (Of course, the writer is a proven professional and the letter draws $100,000 in net earnings.) Good deal. The key to content development costs is to find as many uses for the same content as possible.

1. Prepare and promote a series of learning modules – a seven week, online webinar on managing prospective clients, closing sales and other genuinely useful information on the topic of your expertise.

This way, you’ll end up with seven, one-hour learning modules and that’s a lot of content.

Visitors pay a lower subscription rate. One seminar = $100. All seven seminars = $500. You only need 5 or six subscribers to cover production expenses. Everything after that is passive income. Advertise the modules and their broadcast dates and sign up a few viewers. The more, obviously, the better.

2. Keep the webinars on your site for a while with subscriber, PIN access. This way, you’ll still generate income from work that was completed six months earlier. Over the months, you’ll see fewer and fewer subscribers because everybody willing to pay to see and hear what you have to say has seen and heard what you have to say. 12 months is the max you should leave any webinar online. And if the webinar is highly topical, i.e. the outlook for natural gas in the next 12 months, the webinar has an even shorter shelf life.

This is also a great way to create site stickiness. Subscribers will come back weekly for the next webinar.

3. Package the webinar as a series of downloads. Customers receive one weekly automatically. This allows the subscriber to watch, stop, watch some more and control the flow of information from his or her system. Plus, they now own the webinar. It’s on their hard drives.

4. Convert your webinar series into a series of DVDs. Seven webinars, seven DVDs. These are especially useful in school environments where teachers can start the webinar and project it to a large classroom. It’s also a good tool (depending on topic of course) for corporations, associations and even individuals who want to show what you have to say to more than one person at a time, e.g. service clubs, scout groups or similar organizations that have a regular schedule of meetings.

5. Create ancillary materials. Workbooks, copy masters, charts and graphs, directions, activities that demonstrate your points – these are all low cost items that can be printed cheaply. However, they increase the value equation in the buyer’s mind. These materials should be sold as part of the entire package.

6. Go global. Hire a translation company to convert your webinars into Spanish, French, German, Japanese – languages of affluent countries in which employees, professionals, moms and dads and others can access your webinar package, now repurposed as a DVD kit with ancillary materials.

Webinars are a great revenue source once you’ve invested in their production. Use them live, use them for online subscription revenue and as a hard copy DVD for use in front of large groups.

The popularity of webinars – good ones, spread by word of mouth. One HR professional sees it and recommends it to another in a different division. Do it right and webinars will generate nice profits. Waste people’s time or bore them to tears and you’ll lose your investment in the production.

Go the profitable route. It’s a lot more fun.

Looking for a Free webinar platform. Try WebEX for your first trial run. They offer a free 30 day trial so you can test this webinar thing at no cost. Just your time.

Go live.

Later,

Webwordslinger.com

THINKING OF SHUTTING DOWN YOUR WEBSITE OR BLOG? DON'T!

About to Give Up On Your

Web Site OR Blog?

Don't Stop Now!

Let’s say that you built a great looking website, you hung out at webmaster sites and blogs like this one, and you did everything you read. You followed the “Five Tips to Web Success” and even paid $395 for a book on how to optimize your site. And, after a year, your digital doorway is covered in cobwebs.

Is it time to quit, cut your losses, throw in the towel? Well, if you’re selling the Ebola virus, probably. It wasn’t a good business model in the first place.

But, if you think your business model is sound, it hasn’t been replicated 1,200,000 times and you’ve already invested the time (and money?) to give this online dream a chance, don’t quit.

First, you’ve already put in the time – the most expensive component. Second, if you’re like most new businesses, you’re using a shared hosting service – less than $7.00 a month – so that’s not going to break the bank. No, instead of pulling the plug, rethink your business and marketing strategies and start employing some guerrilla marketing tactics.

Analyze the Site’s Problems

There are like a billion site metrics programs you can buy or get free (OSS) but trying to make sense of this jumble of numbers is like trying to read a foreign language. One way to simplify metrics analysis and actually make them useful is to buy software that provides GUIs – (that’s gooies) – graphical user interfaces.

Some produce heat maps that show site page hot spots, some offer percentage overlays showing how many visitors went here or there, and some provide numerical listings that don’t require a Harvard MBA to analyze and put to good use. Forget the number crunchers. Go gooey. Check out Crazy Egg for an example.

Two important points about metrics analysis. Metrics show you what’s already happened. It’s old news as soon as you get it. It doesn’t tell you what’s happening now or what will happen. It’s an important point to remember when planning your comeback assault.

The second point is this: metrics are very easy to misinterpret. You make a change, see an improvement (or decline) and assume the change was the cause. Post hoc ergo propter hoc: After this, therefore because of this. Simply because you see a specific result doesn’t mean it was caused by any changes you made. Heck, Goggle might have hiccupped.

Simplify, simplify, simplify. – Henry David Thoreau

The man had the right idea. Go through each page of your site and find ways to simplify – simplify the text, graphics, animations, navigation, objective – anything and everything. Most site owners optimize for search engines. Optimize for humans, who by the way, look for very different things than search engines look for.

Cut All Unnecessary Costs

If you’re paying a drop shipper to ship three units a week, do it yourself until you can justify the cost of the shipper. You don’t need a bookkeeper (though you should have an accountant for tax purposes), you don’t need fancy office furniture and you can store inventory in the spare room (unless it’s that Ebola; store that in the garage).

If your site is up and running (as in fully functional and secure) your only cost should be hosting costs and that’s loose change. Cut it to the bone, even if you really do want that new Blackberry. (“But honey, I need it for business!”)

BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE

The online gurus want you to believe that there’s some magical, mystical formula that you can follow to build your site to success. If there were one formula, we’d all be driving Ferraris.

Ecommerce is no different than any other commerce going back to when cave clans swapped shiny rocks. The same principles apply.

For example, the ‘experts” like to toss around the term “viral marketing” like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, viral marketing has been around since the hula hoop craze. It’s just a digi-geek term for word of mouth (WOM) marketing. A single video on You Tube got over 1 million hits in less than 24 hours. Why? Word of mouth. Media exposure. It was everywhere and everyone wanted to see it for themselves.

Conversion ratios? Nothing more than how many visitors turn into buyers (and hopefully you can figure out why).

Your marketing, on site and through remote or PPC marketing, should appeal to basic human emotions – love, fear, belonging and so on. Humans haven’t changed. Just the way they access marketing.

Conventional Wisdom is… Conventional

Hey, do those flashing links telling you (and a million other visitors) that “You’re the 10,000^th Visitor and You Win a FREE iPod” make you want to click on the link? Maybe once to see what the catch is, and there’s always a catch. But once you’ve seen it, it’s not an effective marketing tool.

Come-ons, bogus promises, the hard sell – this stuff works on the lowest common denominator and that’s it. The only people who are going to click on your “Win an iPod” link are six-year-olds who like the blinking lights.

If you want to get noticed, think outside of the box – the computer box. Some very smart guy registered the domain name www.perezhilton, built a celeb-gossip website and is now a regular on the talk show circuit. From unknown to self-appointed celeb commentator in 12 months. That’s thinking outside the box, though there are probably better ways to spend your time than chasing Brangelina around the globe.

If you’ve seen it, we’ve all seen it. Time for a new idea. A national treasure hunt with a big prize, a buried treasure chest or a dream date with Perez. Who knows what the next big thing will be, but it could be yours.

So, the heavy lifting has been done. Play with your toy. It’s not costing much, so try something out of the ordinary – even controversial. Controversy sells. Just ask Perez Hilton.

SELLING AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE

The New Art of Persuasion:

What Worked Before Won’t Work Now

The rules of grammar, punctuation and even spelling that have served us for generations have disappeared on the w3 and, as copywriters, we’ve had to learn a new methodology to persuade readers to fulfill the most desired action or MDA. The New Art of Persuasion has rewritten the rules. Is your site ready?

Does your site text instill trust?

If your site is one long, sales letter loaded with hype and impossible claims (EARN 200% IN JUST 2 WEEKS!!!!), you aren’t going to convert many readers. Today’s I-net buyer of services or products is savvy and certainly isn’t going to fall for the same tactics employed by Dr. Frisbee’s Elixir and Curative. It was hype then, it’s hype today.

Trust blooms in the absence of hype – text that appeals to the reader’s intelligence and discerning good judgment. Give the reader the facts in a straightforward manner and chuck the hype. Building trust is step one in getting the reader to stay put to read more about your products.

Is your site credible?

Somewhat related to trust, credibility is believability. If visitors don’t believe what you’re telling them, they won’t be convinced – and you’ll lose points in the trust column, as well.

On-site credibility builders include things like customer testimonials, customer success stories, your success story, product benefits in a bulleted list and recommendations from and memberships in professional associations. Get this information right there on the home page, above the fold, so it’s the first thing visitors see. Now you’re building visitor confidence.

Is your site text eyeball friendly?

Site visitors tend to scan rather than read. So use a lot of headers and sub-heads to lead the reader’s eye to the specific information s/he is looking for. Web users are an impatient lot and reading through dense paragraphs of detailed text has all the appeal of a root canal. It’s just not going to happen.

Use small blocks of type. Use single sentences or even just phrases to emphasize key points. Use lists and checkpoints. Use a lot of negative space to make important text jump off the screen. And finally, throw the grammar book into the waste basket.

Write like you talk.

This is the absolute best copywriting advice you will ever receive.

When people talk they do not talk in this stiff, written style. They start, they stop, they think, they use contractions. Nobody says “I will go to the refrigerator” they say “I’ll go to the refrigerator (or fridge, even).”

Site text should be written so it’s “heard” by the reader as s/he reads. Don’t write words people read, write words that people hear. It creates a personal connection between reader and web site. “Hey, these guys are like me.”

This approach to copywriting is important to the development of long-term, customer relations. Push the hype and you won’t make a friend. Write like you talk, make the connection and build an expanding base of repeat customers. Sweet.

Define the visitors’ needs. Then fill those needs.

What do visitors need or want? Quality? Low prices? Accessible customer care? Variety? By defining your customers’ needs you’re better prepared to meet those needs through your products or services. More importantly, you define for the visitor what he or she needs. Then, you provide the solutions for meeting those needs.

“If you’re tired of harassing phone calls from collection agencies (the need defined is eliminating collection calls) let us show you how to manage your debt in just 12 months.” (There’s the solution that visitors are looking for.)

Appeal to human motivators.

Humans are motivated to action by many things – the need to love and be loved, the need to belong, status, prestige, fear, anger, greed – there are hundreds of emotions and social needs that make us buy a certain brand of car or go on a weight-loss diet.

Before you write a single word of site text, understand the motivations of the readers. What brought them to your site? What do they expect to find? And, how can your text appeal to the human motivations that compel visitors to make a purchase or opt in for your monthly newsletter?

Carefully prepare the call to action.

“Act now.” “Don’t delay.” “Pick up the phone and call now before you forget.” The call to action is a specific set of directions you expect the reader to follow. The call to action performs two important functions.

First, it motivates the reader. That’s why the call to action must be carefully crafted to fit the persuasive text that comes before it. After you’ve built trust, established site credibility and connected with visitors, use the call to action to urge readers to perform the MDA. Same tone. Same friendly approach.

Second, an effective call to action provides very specific directions so the reader knows what s/he should do next. “Dial 1-555-1234 right now for the most reliable trading platform ever developed.” Specific and to the point.

A note of caution, here. Text links, in the ubiquitous dark blue type, have become de facto calls to action. Readers recognize that blue type as a link, something they should click on. It’s presence in the middle of a page indicates an expected action. And it may not be an action you want the reader to take. Bouncing from page to page, or worse, sending a visitor off to another site, won’t do anything for your conversion rate.

Once you’ve got the readers’ attention, don’t send them off in another direction.

Add some incentive.

A call to action may motivate some readers, but an incentive of some kind will motive even more to perform the MDA. “Act now and receive a 50% discount on all of your purchases for the rest of the month!” Perfect. That kind of incentive motivates readers to action right now and it keeps them coming back for the rest of the month.

An incentive can be anything of value to the reader – a discount, free shipping, a free e-book, coupon savings or a lifetime guarantee. Just make sure to place the incentive after the call to action. That way, if the call to action doesn’t persuade, the incentive just might be the clincher.

Write for the w3.

Most site visitors have short attention spans. They get bored quickly and if you don’t grab their attention in the first 25 words, they are outta there. A gripping headline helps, but that’s just the start. Once the reader is hooked by the headline, the underlying text has to deliver the follow-through to make the sale.

It’s got to be readable, scanable and not insulting to the reader’s intelligence. However, it’s also important to remember that the average American reads at an eighth grade level so avoid a preponderance of arcane linguistics simply to impress readers with your extensive vocabulary.

Keep it simple. Keep it honest. Keep it accessible. Keep it compelling.

That’s what web users expect and that’s just what your site text should deliver.

Call me when you have a sec,

Webwordslinger.com

VIRAL MARKETING GENERATES MILLIONS OF HITS

Viral Marketing

Looking For a Shot In the Arm?

It sounds nefarious. Maybe even a little illegal but viral marketing has been around for centuries. It just looks and sounds different on the world wide web. And if you aren’t using it, give it some thought. With a viral marketing campaign, you just might like what you come down with.

First, What Is Viral Marketing?

It goes by many names and is defined differently by different users. In its simplest form, viral marketing is any marketing, promotion or advertising that builds on itself, i.e. propagates. Further, viral marketing utilizes the resources of others to spread the message, meaning it doesn’t cost a lot of money, if any at all.

Web experts narrow the definition to the W3 and describe it as an online [only] promotional device that persuades other web users to “pass it on,” and the next thing you know you’ve got the next big thing,

Perfect example. YouTube.com. Anyone with a cell cam and the smarts to upload a video can change the world in 24 hours. We’ve seen law enforcement use alleged excessive force, dogs on skateboards and politicians who can’t remove a foot from their mouth. (Makaka? What was that guy thinking??!!)

In the pre-web days (some of you may remember) it was called ‘word of mouth’ (WOM) advertising. Anybody remember Pop Rocks? Put a handful in your mouth and they popped in thousands of little CO₂ explosions. One kid tried them, told her friend who told his friends and on and on. Other examples of viral marketing in the real world? ‘Tickle Me Elmo,’ ‘Beanie Babies’ and ‘Cabbage Patch dolls.’

Politicians (especially now) have caught on to the power of viral campaigns. Hillary Clinton had a “Choose Our Campaign Song” competition on her campaign web site that drew a lot of hits. Other politicians have discovered that online adverts are low cost and potent – especially when done with some originality. Every candidate has a web site now and it’s a popular way to raise campaign funds with “the kids” today.

Viral marketing doesn’t stick around long. Its vaporous, here today gone today. But while it’s making the rounds, spreading from computer to computer and media to media, it packs a potent punch – one that draws attention. Global attention.

Second, How Do I Launch a Viral Campaign?

Viral campaigns are cheap. Word of mouth (WOM) advertising is free and extremely effective – if you do it right. So to get your viral campaign spreading like the flu, here are some dos and don’ts.

Because viral marketing is WOM marketing that means you have to go where the people are. Otherwise, how are you going to get word of mouth if you don’t have any mouths? And where do you find people on the web? Lots of places.

Blogs are a good place to start. Post on a few blogs or forums with a back link to your site, but here’s one taboo: Don’t post something that looks like a straight up ad. It’s just so…so juvenile.

Go to “You Tube” and check out some of the comments viewers have left. “Hey, if you think that guy could surf, stop by Bob’s Surf Shack on Rte 118 for the best in surf board buys.” Talk about desperation. Viral marketing, despite its name and the way it can spread globally in just hours (minutes) has to have “something” to say or show to the world. If it looks like an ad, not many people will be stopping by your surf shack because you sound (and look) like a rookie.

Build Your Own Website

Rosie O’Donnell keeps her face (and opinions) in the news through here own blog and each day, people line up to hear what Ro’ has to say. Today, rosie.com ranked 23,036 in the U.S. and 93,576 and in web land that’s better than excellent.

Of course, Rosie had an audience before launching her site. That helps. But, it also helps to have something to say – something different, something controversial. Oh yeah, controversy sells.

Social Sites

They aren’t just for ‘tweens and teens any more. Lots of adults, companies and even products have their own place on My Space or FaceBook. And these places are notorious for WOM marketing. Rumors spread and, sometimes, they’re even true! If you’re looking for name or face recognition, social sites will provide web space free – and you can say (almost) anything you want to say, even if it measures an 11 on the 1-10 Crazy Scale! In fact, crazy sells, too!

Cross-Channel Advertising

The more ways to reach a reader or listener the more successful your viral ad campaign will be. So, for example, if you run 30 second spots on the local cable channels, consider adding a competition that requires TV viewers to log on to your site, fill out a form and win a brand new refrigerator or whatever. (A trip to Barbados would be nice.)

If you run a weekly ad in the Hometown Bee, include your URL and a reason to visit: “Visit us at anysitehere.com, print out the coupon and we’ll take 20% off your next purchase.” You’ve just employed two different media (multi-channel) to spread your message. And friends in the area will tell other friends.

How Do I Create a Viral Ad?

It’s not easy. In fact, it’s darned hard and big companies (Subaru, Coke, etc.) spend millions to create viral ad campaigns. But, now that viral marketing has been around for a few years, the researchers have had a chance to put it under the microscope and come up with several “must have” components to launch a successful viral campaign:

Authenticity is critical. Bob’s Surf Shack (see above) lacks authenticity. It’s just an ad so it won’t catch on as the next big “thing.”

Originality is another must have. Look, today’s key demographics have seen it, done it, lived it. What’s hot today is stone cold tomorrow. So, if you’ve seen it before so have a few other billion people and you’re just not going to hit the ‘buzz’ wave. Creativity – real creativity – is the essence of a good viral campaign. And if you don’t have a lot of creativity, don’t worry, others do – for a fee.

Identifiably helps. If the viewer or reader of your blog can identify with what you’re saying, you’ve got a convert – and someone who will spread the word to others, which is the whole purpose of viral marketing to begin with.

Finally, your viral ad, like all ads, requires a call to action. The call to action tells the reader or viewer what s/he is expected to do next – whether it’s run out to find the Coke can with the red tab or visit your tiny web site for a discount and some free stuff the reader will want and use.

A Couple of Don’ts

Real quick. Some mistakes and don’ts:

The campaign doesn’t fit the product, service or message. The best example is the dancing baby that appeared on the TV show “Ally McBeal.” Because the creator never copyrighted the dancing, diapered cutie, it was picked up by thousands of site owners. For a month or two, it was a hot topic. Now, you can pick up the animated gif on every clip art site on line.

Viral campaigns move quickly (thus the name) so if it isn’t working after a week or two try a different approach.

The campaign lacks relevance to the target market. Mountain Dew, the caffeine king of soft drinks was way ahead of the power drink curve when it introduced MDX – with even more caffeine. Unfortunately, the advertising agency was unable to reach the target demographic the way Rock Star and other energy drinks do (Rock Star sponsors the Girls Gone Wild NASCAR entry). Instant relevance. Good-bye MDX.

Don’t pay. There are a ton of free outlets on the web from the gargantuan, eyes-of-the-world “You Tube” to a little blog on how to tie flies or whip up the perfect soufflé. There’s no need to pay. The web chews up content like a wood chipper, so give the web what it wants – free content in exchange for the free use of someone else’s outlet to the world.

Don’t forget the human who will be reading or seeing your campaign. The same rules apply today that applied 1000 years ago. Appeal to the emotions of the viewer and better yet, make that viewer feel as though s/he’s the one who’s ahead of the pack by “passing it on” to a friend. It could be the latest joke making the web rounds, your funny take-off on a news event or a great new product. Remember, people must be touched to be moved to action. Politicians take note.

Don’t set high expectations or goals. Viral marketing is a gimmick – a successful one in some cases, but certainly not in all. Set the bar low and you won’t be disappointed. Besides, you’re using free resources to get your marketing message out so you really can’t get hurt too badly.

Finally, don’t bet next month’s rent on a viral campaign. Most flop (Xbox 360, e.g.), and the ones that do succeed don’t make a lasting impression (except that Makaka guy who’s now out of office).

Viral marketing works but it takes ingenuity – a new view and a belief on the part of the viewer that s/he is a part of this “movement.” The need to belong to something bigger than the self has been a tried and true marketing strategy forever so make the viewer a part of the family and kindly ask them to…

…pass it on.

Yeah, you're ready to go viral. Call me. Let's make your site worth "catching." (No, it ain't swine flu.) This stuff really works and my tiny little website is proof (reach up 86% as of this morning.)

Later, budding entrepreneurs,

Webwordslinger.com