Should small business owners use copywriters? In the past, too many small businesses shunned the use of copywriters because they couldn’t justify the expense. But you don’t have to do that any more. In fact, I’d say you should spend the money. A good copywriter is worth the investment.

Copywriters today do more than just write press releases and marketing brochures. They also write website content and perform other online marketing tasks. They can write articles and blog content or assist you with your social media campaigns. Today’s copywriters are much more versatile and even go so far as to learn search engine optimization in order to remain competitive.

And the best part is that global competition has driven the price of copywriting way down. You used to be have to pay hundreds of dollars for a copywriter worth his weight in grain, but because the Internet has stiffened the competition among copywriters you can get a decent one now for about half the price of what you’d have paid 20 years ago.

You cannot afford to let your business be represented by amateurs. Your website and online marketing content will be alive forever. You want it to be golden, to be professional, and a good copywriter can help you with that.

If you’ve heard that content is king then you understand why it’s important to get people to read. Online, content is not only king, but formatting your content correctly is the crown on the king’s head. No one will read your content if it doesn’t promise them benefits and deliver on that promise. To do that effectively there are three specific headline formats you can use to get more people to read your content.

Headline Format No. 1

The first headline format is real simple. Ask a question.

To effectively use this headline format you have to ask a question that a large number of people you want to reach would ask. If you can ask a question that is a popular search query then so much the better. Your question, however, must promise a benefit to the reader and your content must deliver on the promise. Be sure to use keywords. Here are three examples of the question format using the keyword phrase “Headline Format”:

• Does Your Headline Format Drive Customers Away?
• How Important Is Headline Format?
• Which Headline Format Is The Right One For You?

Notice that each question promises the reader a benefit, uses the keyword phrase, and is short and to the point. So should your question headlines be.

Headline Format No. 2

Make a bold, outrageous claim. If your claim is so outrageous that it is unbelievable then it will have the opposite effect, but if you make a bold claim that is believable and promises a benefit then you will get more readers to your content. Here are three examples of bold, outrageous, believable headlines that use the key phrase “Headline Format”:

• My Headline Formats Achieve 100% Customer Satisfaction
• Why Your Headline Formats Suck
• Headline Formats: Kill Your Clients, Not Your Content

Notice that each headline is specific, bold, and believable. The first one is a bold first person statement that seems at first glance a bit narcissistic, but it promises a clear benefit. Read my content and you can achieve 100% customer satisfaction, too!

The second headline promises to tell the reader why their headlines are not up to par. The strong language assures that readers will read the post. It’s mentally jarring to be told that you suck (in a respectful way, of course).

Finally, headline No. 3 uses hyperbole to make a point. Your headlines should not be self destructive. Rather, they should knock your readers off their feets. It promises a clear benefit that the reader hopes the content will deliver on, namely, that if you read this page you’ll learn how to write headlines that get clicks.

Headline Format No. 3

The third headline format is the how to. How-to formats work because the promised benefit is the obvious: You’re going to teach something the reader wants to learn. It is the easiest of the three formats to write because all you have to do is find a popular search query that begins “how to” and copy and paste it. Here are three examples:

• How To Write Effective Headlines
• How Your Headlines Can Make Or Break You
• How To Win Friends And Influence People With Headlines

In these examples, the keyword is “headlines”. Variations of a keyword are good. They can often be just as effective. In each of these examples you promise your reader a clear benefit. The only thing left to do is deliver on your promise.

Your headline is one of the most important aspects of your page content. Use the proper headline formats and you’ll get click-throughs beyond your wildest dreams.

Have you ever heard of Maurice Jarre? I hadn’t until I read this article in WebProNews. Turns out, I should have known who he is. He wrote the music score for several high profile movies like Dead Poets Society and Doctor Zhivago.

If anyone can edit a website like Wikipedia, or publish a blog post, and throw out erroneous information that goes unchecked, how long will it be before none of us can rely on information at all? Even mainstream newspapers like Guardian and London Independent reprinted a prank quote from a Wikipedia article. If the mainstream press is doing it then how much more so are everyone else?

You may be asking what does this have to do with Internet marketing for small businesses? Plenty actually. Do you check or double check the sources you use for your blogs and articles? If so, how do you check for accuracy? How should you?

I think there are some rules of thumb we should all strive to pay attention to. Chief among those is where else can you verify the information? If you find something that purports to be true, you should check to see if you can find that information somewhere else. If not then it may not be true. Another thing to consider, and this is just as important as using more than one source, is to ensure that the sources you do use - all of the sources - are credible authoritative sources. Wikipedia is not. There are too many fingers in the pie. But Encyclopedia Britannica is. You’d like Guardian and other mainstream newspaper editors would know that. So should small business owners.

There is no substitute for good copy. Copy sells. And if you don’t have the right copy, or the best copy for your business, then you may not make the sales you want.

A good copywriter will pay for herself over and over. A bad one will cost you. Whether online or off line, it is very important to ensure that your copy is the best that it can be to sell your business and attract new customers. But what does that mean?

Here’s a short list of what good copywriting can, and should, do for you:

• Be honest about who you are and what you stand for
• Brand you and your product or service so that you are recognizable at a glance
• Sell the benefits of your product or service to new clients
• Make existing clients confirm in their minds that they chose the right business
• Answer every question your prospects will have about your product or service
• Present the best features of your product or service in the best light
• NOT be deceptive

Is your copywriting passing the test? Why or why not?

Don’t panic at the words, “press release.” They aren’t difficult to write and they don’t cost a fortune to post. Why bother? Press releases attract attention. Small businesses should announce when they launch a new product, have a major announcement such as opening a branch or a merger, working on a charitable project, or when you’d like to announce a new trade practice that significantly changes the industry. Yes, the world needs to know–starting with the Internet world because now, that’s where press releases are featured first–online.

Before you start sweating, consider that you can use a press release template–and that press releases are only one page long–actually only a few paragraphs. Take a breath now. Check out PRWeb and other online press releases sites to guide you.

What will a press release (sometimes called a news release) get you? Interest. You may get a call from a newspaper or online news site that wants to feature your product or conduct an interview or include you in an article. Your local community wants to know–local TV, radio, and newspapers needs news to fill their pages and airtime. They like featuring businesses in the area.

Start with a great title. Keep it rather short and make it interesting. Use a larger font so it stand out.

Be sure that the title and first paragraph tells what the press release is all about–a summary of the entire thing. If they don’t read any further, would they know what you wanted them to know? The old question– who, what, where and when need to be answered. Press releases aren’t sales copy–so don’t try to make a sale or use jargon that sounds that way. It’s news. It’s a series of statements. Sound professional. Write in third person–so don’t do the “I am announcing.” Speak from a company perspective, “Jenkin’s Tires Announces…”

What’s great about press releases is that you already have many of these components. You can use your logo as the header of the press release. The ending paragraph of your press release is your contact information. The “About the Company” bio you have listed on your website is also used at the end of the press release. Be sure to include contact information–website, phone number, contact person is vital. You want to be contacted, so make it easy.

Your press release can be submitted to the various online PR sites and can range in price from free to quite pricey, so set a budget and decide what’s right for your company and what level of exposure you need. You can also email or fax your press release to television, radio and other media venues.

It’s that easy. Not as big and scary as you thought. Press releases get you in touch with the media–and helps spread the word. You have every right to announce important events, and the media needs your updates. So whether you do it yourself with a template, or pay someone to write a post a press release for you, it’s a powerful tool that can yield big results.

So many small businesses pay a service to create their website, and they think they can place a big check list beside that to-do item and never think about it again. So wrong. Everything online is a process, and thank goodness it is. You can always update your site, add content, tweak your profile and improve your Google rank.

The good news is that there are some great online tracking tools that can help you improve your site, draw viewers, and know which of your webpages draws them in–and which ones are tanking. Knowing your bounce rate can make all the difference.

What’s a bounce rate?
It’s not how fast you can jump on a trampoline–it’s when someone visits your site and literally bounces in–and bounces out. They don’t go any further. They’re a one page wonder. Usually that means they either thought your site was about something else, or you didn’t hold their interest.

When measuring your bounce rate on Google Analytics, be sure to check several things:
Your Page Visits
Time on Site
New Visitors
Each tells you something different. For example, if a new visitor comes to your site, stays less than 30 seconds to a minute and leaves, you’ve got a bit of a problem. It may be in your title, your keywords, or with the graphics of your site, lack of content…in other words, you failed to hook your viewer. Consider making some changes.
If a new visitor comes to your site and stays more than a minute, you can consider this somewhat of a success. Even if they didn’t click to other pages, you held their interest. Perhaps they’ll revisit later. I call this “circling the camp.” Oftentimes, a visitor is itchy–they’re not ready to commit, they want to know what else is out there, but they did circle the perimiter–they know who you are and where you are. Success.

How to improve your bounce rate?
Make sure you page is navigable. Can they find where to click through easily? Are you links underlined and a contrasting color? Is your site too jumbled? Has it been a while since you added new content?
Try improving just one of these areas and watch your bounce rate for improvement.

Be sure to check out your content report and analyze every page of your website. Chances are, you’ve got a wink link. Find out where you’re losing your viewers, and you just figured out where to start implementing a few changes.

Have you hit a blogging wall? Out of ideas? Not comfortable with writing in general? You’re not alone. Small businesses have plenty to do–online and elsewhere–and we tend to avoid something that “feels like work.” There is another way around this dilemma and generate an online presence that’s beneficial to you.

How? By visiting other blogs and leaving comments. You’re networking, passing along helpful tid-bits in much smaller writing quantities than blogging yourself, and leaving a trail back to your site. Smart, huh?

First, you have to find relevant blogs and website content to comment about. You do this by creating Google Alerts. Take your keywords and keyword phrases and visit Google Alerts and set up an account. Google will send you email updates on when anyone writes about the keywords you listed. Google Alerts will list newspaper and magazine articles, television and radio announcements and recaps of shows in which those topics are discussed, and it will also list blogs that mention the words you listed.

When your email box fills up with Google Alerts, you’ll feel a little overwhelmed at first. That’s okay, it’s worth it to start reading. The online world has just opened up to you. You will literally see how relevant your topic is. You’ll be able to start to track who’s hot, which keyword/topic phrase generates the most hits, who your competition is and who you should be networking with. In the beginning, you need to dedicate some time every day, or a large chunk of time once a week to begin to gather information and know who’s out there and who is making it happen on the Internet.

Create a folder of the best Google Alerts and save the ones you want to get to know.
Follow your gut reaction and visit the blogs or articles that pique your interest. Did you know that you can leave comments on many newspaper and magazine sites as well? You can, and they get read by thousands, and get indexed well because these companies have the money to spend to get that valuable SEO (search engine optimization) placement needed to get noticed online.

Next, leave a comment–and not just “Fantastic!” That won’t get you much. Leave a couple of sentences that actually has to do with the subject they wrote about. Comment about something they said, specifically. Add to the conversation–in a friendly tone. Don’t sound like a know-it-all. Sound humble. Sound generally interested. Sound like you know what you’re talking about and you’re glad to be a part of scene, but you’re not taking over. Sound nice.

How? Tell them something they said or did right. Tell them you like their blog and their content is good. Leave one or two small bits of info that’s helpful. You can even politely disagree or offer another opinon, but do it respectful. You can even comment about another comment, which can create a conversation. At first, keep it simple and get used to the system. Your goal is to make connections, get known, and quietly point someone your way. At the end, sign your name, and under it leave your website, and that’s it.

Can you link back to your website within the body of your blog comment? Yes, but don’t go heavy handed, and only if it’s not really relevant. But sometimes it really is relevant. You have content on your site or blog that adds to the conversation–then go for it.

Chances are, the blogger/owner of the site is going to come over and check you out. They do–a lot of the time. Be sure to respond, say thanks for stopping by. This is n’etiquette. People online like to know their effort isn’t going unnoticed.

It might even lead to a guest blog. If you like someone else’s style, invite them to guest blog on your site–or you guest blog on theirs. This gives you fresh content, and it also does something else that’s really cool. They’ll advertize it on their site, and their readers will come over to your site. Cool. If you do decide to guest blog, or ask for another blogger to guest on yours, talk about how to handle links and promoting ahead of time so that everyone’s on the same page.

Another great way to build an online relationship with another blogger is to request to use their content on your site. Ask ahead of time. Tell them that you really like their blog on X, and can you quote part of it and link to their site. Nine times out of ten they’ll say yes because you asked ahead of time, complimented their work, and will attribute them.

Commenting is so smart and so easy. Three to four sentences on other blogs allows you to respond to a topic already generated, network, get your name out there, and build an online presence. The old adage, “Work smarter, not harder” definitely applies.

Why are blogs appealing? When they’re done right, they give you great information, insight and direction. You can read a blog in five minutes or less–and then go on with your day. Small businesses are perfect for blogs. Why? Because you’re a customer expert. All you do all day–online or in a brick-and-mortar store is talk to, sell to, and think about customers. You are driven to be effective. You already have that natural tone, candor, and appeal customers are looking for.

Secrets to Writing a Great Blog:

Name your blog something that has to do with your company name. Make it easy for search engines to find and connect you to your line of work. How? Know your keywords and use them in your header and in your blog.

The old KISS rule. Keep it Simple, Sweeheart. Blogs are not supposed to be complicated. Short–250-500 words. That’s it. Simple–Keep your focus simple. Talk about one thing. A promotion, a discount, feature a customer, a helpful suggestion. Don’t leave the topic.

Write Tight–Lots of white space. Keep your paragraphs down to 4-5 lines. That’s it.
Make sure your headlines say it in a nutshell. If that’s the only thing that gets read, will it makie sense? Make those headlines slightly larger–or bold to catch the eye.

Don’t go crazy with expressions. Emoticons don’t look professional–and neither do misspellings, exclamation points, or abbreviated words (4 for for, 2B for to be).

Use bullet points for how-tos. Bullet points tend to get read when nothing else does.

Simple words and simple sentences. Online viewers scan. They don’t really read–they’re busy. Their blackberries buzzing, they have 2 monitors going, a pile of paperwork next to them, and three files open. You’ve got seconds to grab their attention and if you’re lucky, you’ve got 3-4 minutes for them to “get” what you’re trying to say.

Think nouns and verbs. You’re the noun (your business) and what you’re offering is the verb–sale, promotion, upgrade, help hints.

Online readers like images. Use a few to allow their eyes to rest–and associate you with a visual.
Link–link back to your website and other pages. Try to keep them with you as long as possible–have good content to refer to. These deep links help get you indexed, which means search engines can find you and point others your way.

By creating a clear, dependable writing style, your blogger gets to know and trust you. You can still show personality, tell a crazy story, and be personable with your audience. Blogs are long enough and have enough content for you to express who your company is and what you have to offer–and that it’s more than just hard sales–it’s a relationship.

Things are starting to happen. President Obama’s stimulus package is now in place, and people are just plain tired of being miserable. Besides, it’s spring. We’ve endured the winter, the economic kick in the gut, the financial fall out–but life goes on. Some people are fortunate enough to get new jobs, and even the real estate market showed a small sign of life last month. If you’re a small business and you’ve been limping along, it’s time to make some plans.

Eveyone has had to tighten the reigns, and even though it’s going to be a slow comeback, it’s time to think about the future. We had to nix those three and five year goals we made back in 2007, 2008 because it’s a “new economy.” But that doesn’t mean that you can’t regroup and make more realistic plans.

Stage Your Comeback by Asking These Questions:

What have we learned?
What are we really good at?
What’s the meat and potatoes of our business?
What areas can we specialize in?
How can we protect our business financially?
How can we best care for our employees and meet our financial goals?
What online and traditional marketing techniques have worked in the “new economy,” and what has proved less useful?
Who are we networking with–and who should be we networking with?
Are we using our tools (website, blog, e-newsletter) to build an online presence?
How can we incorporate “green” practices in your business and personal life?

Everyone’s office is leaner. Perhaps you moved your small business home, or had to cut your staff. Perhaps you sold off some of your product line or tailored your services to meet the market. Maybe you’re now offering maintenance to your customers more than you’e selling them new products. That’s okay. Now you know–what works and what doesn’t.

Begin to stage your comeback. Most likely, it’ll be a bit more conservative than those goals you made back in 2007/2008, but we’re different now. We’re all grateful to work, grateful to have a business, and we’re adjusting.

Your small business could make a difference–in your community, your online community, with your loyal customers who have stood by you. As you move forward–know that as our country rebuilds, you’re part of the new foundation.

Some people Twitter. Others are on Facebook or LinkedIn, but did you know that 88% of all Internet users in the U.S. regularly use email? (UCLA Center for Communication Policy survey, 2001). I can only imagine that number has increased in the past few years. When you think about it, email is the feature most used on a computer. That’s why it’s the best way to contact your small business clients and business associates.

Building a house email list is smart step. Email subscribers want your email, so you’ve jumped over the first hurdle–being opened and actually read. Consider using email marketing programs such as
Constant Contact, Vertical Response, iContact, Relenta, Mailing-Manager, or Campaigner. Any of these programs will help you manage your subscriber database and create emails that are succinct and likely to be read, as well as help you create emails, marketing campaigns, and create autoresponders and the help you publish RSS feeds.

But don’t drive them crazy. Everyone’s inboxes are inundated with emails, and if you don’t do it right, you’ll be deleted before you ever get read.

The best way to avoid email delete?
Fill out the subject line and say exactly what the email is about.
Clarity. Brevity. Two words that make email readers smile.

Keep your emails short. Shoot for no more than two paragraphs. Or one paragraph and 3-5 bullet points. Start with an opening line or two stating what you want.

What do you want? Never send an email without asking yourself that question–and then making sure you answered it–before you press “send.”

Ask a question. Announce an event, promotion, or improvement. Ask for something you need. Say thank you. Plan a get together. Say it early and don’t bury it deep in a paragraph.

Leave lots of white space. Like I’m doing here. This is the easier way for a reader to peruse your email and let their eye fall to what’s important.

Use your English skills. Emails aren’t text messages, and you’re not 14, so spell things out–and run spell check. Strive to sound warm (not mechanical) and professional.

Expect some things to be misunderstood. It’s hard to read “tone” in an email so try to be clear. Sarcasm, humor, and frustration can easily be misread. If you think something you would write in an email could be misconstrued, then pick up the phone and call them.

Take the time to be nice. A little chit-chat might be necessary to build a relationship, especially with new customers. Remember to say thank you, please, and I’ll get back to you soon. And keep your word–as hard as it is to answer all your emails, prioritize them and respond properly–and when you can’t meet a deadline, let someone know.

Use an email signature to end your email, and always list your telephone number and website.

Yes, we all get too many emails, but no one minds the timely email that delivers needed information. Emailing your small business customers is still the best way to stay in touch.