Last week I covered how the Penguin update will affect SEO copywriting but the update affects more than just copywriters. This week I’ve invited Chris Bates from Octoply to go through the broader implications of Google’s algorithm change.

Chris, can you give us a brief overview of the new No-Nos in Penguin?

The SEO community is discovering more and more No-Nos every day! Every time a new theory about the Google ranking algorithm is formed, something happens to disprove it, leaving us all back at square one. The reality is that even some of those sites that avoided the No-Nos have been hit as well.

Nonetheless, the official list of post-Penguin No-Nos:

• Don’t over-optimise your website copy, and avoid keyword stuffing and (as Belinda said in her last blog post) excessively highlighting (just) keywords.
• Avoid low-quality and low-relevance links. Google particularly mentioned links that are contained in content with no relevance (i.e., spammy or highly spun content).
• Don’t use just one “money keyword” as the anchor text of your incoming links. (It’s been found that sites that had >60% of link as just one keyword were penalised.)
• Similarly, don’t use that money keyword with internal linking; e.g., change your menu from “where to buy blue widgets” to “where to buy”.

To be honest, it’s the same stuff that Google has said from day one. All that has changed is that (it appears) they are now slapping you on the wrist if you DON’T adhere to their golden list of No-Nos. This, however, opens the door to Negative SEO.

Can you explain what negative SEO is and how Penguin changes how negative SEO affects websites?

Up until recently Negative SEO was a form of reputation management; you couldn’t de-rank a website, but you could push it down by ranking with more favourable content. However, now that Google has implemented a penalty for certain factors, they have (intentionally or unintentionally) opened the door to Negative SEO where it IS possible to de-rank a website.

By purposely building a lot of low-quality and spammy links to a competitor’s website, you can trigger Google’s “iron-fist” reflex and your competitor’s website will start to drop in rank. What’s that saying? If you can’t beat them, sneak up and cut their legs off.

Is this something that every website owner should be worried about?

No, I don’t think so. I think we’ll see it in play in the more competitive niches, but not at the general level.

In addition, even in the SEO black hatters’ world, the topic of Negative SEO has been made taboo. Apparently, despite their willingness to cheat and manipulate Google, they have a conscience when it comes to other businesses/websites who’ve worked hard to get where they are!

Bottom line, I think you would be struggling to find an SEOer who would be willing to engage in Negative SEO for business reasons. There’s an ethical grey area here: Is it wrong to sabotage another business’s marketing, or is it right to employ your full arsenal for the benefit of your clients?

I think (for now) it’s a clear-cut NO! Don’t do it. But I also think that will change if Google doesn’t take steps to reverse the open door that is Negative SEO.

How can people check if their website has been affected?

Keep an eye on your rankings; either use software or just check them yourself. (Remember to de-personalise your search – Chrome’s ‘Incognito Mode’ is best for that.)

If your website drops more than a spot or two and doesn’t bounce back, then you can probably start to worry. From there your only real chance of recovery is a plea to Google via their reconsideration request.

Do you have any tips for business owners who have (or want) SEO as part of their long-term marketing strategy?

Why, come see me of course!

It’s vital to diversify your SEO efforts now. You can’t target just one money keyword and go gung ho at it. However, this makes it a lot harder to target and rank on the main competitive terms in your industry. Yes, yes, that does make SEO a lengthier and costlier process!

If you’re not already, get on the social media bandwagon; it’s suspected that social signals are playing a bigger role now than ever before.

Lastly, should you decide to engage an SEO consultant – choose carefully!

Chris Bates is an online marketing consultant who loves your business as much as you do. Through years of research, testing and experience, Chris has developed a wealth of knowledge and loves to help your business get more business, online. You just need to decide to get more business online, and then leave the rest to him. Find out more at octoply.com.au 

Google has launched its latest algorithm change, affecting how online content is ranked by Google. It’s called Penguin and it will not only have an impact on the ranking results, but also it will affect how SEO copywriters go about their business. Or will it?

This post will take you through the changes and how the process of SEO copywriting might be affected.

Google’s Penguin update has been called the “webspam” or “over-optimisation update” by the internet masses and for good reason.

Google is now targeting spammy websites that try to beat the system and produce rubbish content in the process. That content clogs up search results and diminishes the quality of results people get from Google. At least that’s what Google says and I agree. I personally hate clicking what looks like a promising link only to find a keyword-stuffed fluff piece with no substance and lots of links to other rubbish sites.

When it comes to SEO copywriting, a great place to start is Google’s quality guidelines.

An SEO copywriter does what?

SEO copywriting is the process of making sure that search engines know what your website or blog post is about so they can match your content to online queries being entered. An SEO copywriter maximises the use of certain keywords while still creating an engaging and valuable experience for your visitor.

Compelling content is king

“Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines,’ Google says in the Basic Principles section of the quality guidelines. So Google have always placed value on the user experience but Google’s Penguin update makes it even more important to ensure you don’t compromise that experience with your SEO copywriting efforts.

Keyword stuffing is a no-no – although, to be honest, it’s always been a no-no in my books.

Achieving a particular keyword density in your SEO copywriting can quickly lead to unnatural-sounding copy so you’re much better off measuring keyword frequency over keyword density.

Think around your keyword topics

Google says you need to “think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it.” Generally speaking it’s good to focus on one or two keywords per webpage or blog post so you don’t baffle Google with a mishmash of topics. Good SEO copywriters look beyond these phrases and Google’s Penguin update places much more importance on the use of related keywords in SEO copywriting.

Related keywords are words and phrases semantically related to the keyword topic you want to rank for. Using related keywords adds depth to your copywriting and relevancy to the topic you’re writing about and both these things add credibility to your optimisation. Related keywords have always been part of Google’s ranking algorithm but Google’s Penguin update will place even more importance on related keywords as it measures how much value you’re offering your reader, and thus how relevant you are to searches.

Your SEO copywriting needs to be natural. It needs to be compelling. You need to offer value or your copy just won’t be on Google’s radar.

Giving your keywords some POP

Formatting various words and phrases has always been a good way to make them stand out to readers and search engines but if you’re only highlighting your keywords then you’re offering little value to the reader.

The Penguin update doesn’t change the fact that highlighting (bolding, italicising and underlining) is a positive influence on your SEO copywriting but you should highlight whole phrases and sentences instead of just keywords.

Remember – choose readability over SEO.

Consider how you use anchor text in your links

Anchor text is the text you turn into a hyperlink, taking your visitor to another webpage or blog post. Creating links to other pages and blog posts on your site is a fantastic way to keep visitors clicking and reading your content.

Google notices the anchor text in your links and for an SEO copywriter they’ve traditionally been a great place to use your keywords. They still are but the Penguin update means that you should use not only your keywords but related keywords as well in your link anchor text.

Good SEO copywriting practices

Personally, Google’s Penguin update doesn’t change the way I approach SEO copywriting.

I will still use related keywords because they are a natural part of writing compelling copy.

I will still use highlighting and subheadings to make the copy easy to skim.

I will still choose the reader over the search engines.

Glenn Murray – author of some super ebooks on SEO copywriting – says, “Write quality, and you won’t have to optimise it much”. This also applies to how much you’ll be affected by Google’s Penguin updates. If you’re an SEO copywriter who looks for quick ranking over actual value then you’re probably in for a bumpy ride. It’s time to reskill and get with the program!

It’s important to remember that the process of effective search engine optimisation is so much more than simply on-site optimisation (optimising your website or blog copy).

Next week I’m chatting to Chris Bates from Octoply and he’s going to talk us all through the other things you need to consider if you are serious about SEO and how Google’s Penguin update will affect you. Until then, make it relevant and compelling, people!

The Copy Detective

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PS If you think you’ve been wrongfully hit by the Penguin update, Google has a form you can fill out to let them know.

Affiliate marketing lets you earn money online by getting other people to sell your products f0r you. They earn a commission and you get money for jam. In theory. Copywrite Matters is a member of a few affiliate programs but I am extremely picky, only recommending products that I have used myself, or where I have a lot of trust in the creator.

One of those trustworthy bods is Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing and I interviewed him recently about the launch of his first affiliate program.

The top take-aways around setting up your own affiliate program are:

• Listen to your network and look for opportunities to bring them into your sales process.
• Make it easy for your affiliates to promote your products and services.
• Make yourself available for questions from your affiliates and encourage them to engage with you.
• Give your affiliates material they can use but give them the freedom to create their own.
• Structure your affiliate support so that you’re there for the people who will bring you the most returns.

Let’s get into it!

Belinda: What was the trigger to create an affiliate network?

Danny: The trigger was the people who were hearing about the [Firepole Marketing] program. They asked, “How can we help spread the word and is there a way for us to be compensated for doing so?” and we said “Of course”. If people want to sell your stuff for you, you don’t say no.

Belinda: One of the things I was really impressed with was how much help you actually provided to your affiliates. Could you talk us through the package you put together for the people who were interested in promoting the [Firepole Marketing] program?

Danny: Sure. At a fundamental level we’re available to our affiliates, if they have questions like: “How can I promote this? What is the strategy that’s likely to work?” etc. We’re always happy to advise them, to lend a hand.

Leading up to the launch we put on the table an offer to do a one-hour consultation, to get on the phone with affiliates and talk about their marketing plan in terms of promoting the program and in general – whatever they’ve got going on. Our affiliates are out there promoting our stuff, helping us to sell our training program, so why wouldn’t we get on the phone and help them to do a good job?

Belinda: Absolutely. One of the things I found most useful was you shared reviews of the program that had already been done, so you said: “Look, if you’re thinking of writing a review – which is a great way to talk about the program – here are some reviews already out there. Here are some tweets you could use, here are some updates and likes, and here are some email templates.” You didn’t say “You have to use this” but you gave me a lot of ideas about how to share the word so that I didn’t feel like I was starting from scratch.

Danny: We help people market things, so we do want to give our affiliates all the help that they need to do a good job and get good results for themselves and for us. I mean, that’s really what it comes down to.

Belinda: As this is your first affiliate marketing program, what were the big lessons you learnt?

Danny: That’s a good question. I guess expectations are important. Launching an affiliate program, you tend to think that you’re going to get this many results on average from each person. [In fact] most people don’t do much at all.

Let’s say you’ve got 1,000 affiliates. 900 of them aren’t going to do anything and another 50 of them are going to put your link somewhere on their site and do a few minimal things that won’t really turn into anything. But then you’re going to have a small group of people who really get behind it, really do a lot of work, and that’s where most of your results as an affiliate manager are going to come from.

And this informs how you’re going to work with them because let’s say again you’ve got those 1,000 affiliates. If you think they’re all equally engaged, you can’t say “I’ll get on the phone with you all for an hour” because you don’t have 1,000 hours. But if you recognise that most people aren’t going to take you up on it and the people who will take you up on it are going to do a lot of work then it makes complete sense to put that time at their disposal because you’re going to get huge returns on your investment.

So if you’re going to pursue this kind of model your mentality should be “I will do as much as you want me to do to help you, and I’m completely at your disposal” because the only people who are going to take advantage of that are the ones who are likely to actually bring you returns, which is fantastic.

Danny Iny is a prolific blogger and teacher in the Firepole Marketing training program. He enjoys working one-on-one with client businesses to improve their marketing and make more money. You can follow Danny on Twitter @DannyIny, or just send him an email and say hello!

Now I’d love to know … Do you do any affiliate marketing? Perhaps you have your own affiliate marketing program? What tips can you share?

The Copy Detective

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Sometimes a blank page can be cruel. A flashing cursor staring back at you, mocking you with its readiness to execute your next brilliant idea….

When you work in a creative industry as a copywriter or graphic designer, for example, your ideas are your bread and butter. You have to come up with the goods every day and while some ideas come quickly with a flash of inspiration, many are much harder to produce. This is especially the case when you’ve got a lot of work on.

There comes a time when we all feel the dull edge of creative burnout. That feeling when your brain feels overworked and wrung out. It might be after a day of pretty intense work or in the middle of a particularly big project. You feel like you just can’t go on, but you must.

Prevention is the best cure and I think the best way to overcome creative burnout is avoid it. Easier said than done, I know, but these tips will help you keep your creative juices flowing.

Creativity is just like any other skill. It can be practised and honed but there comes a time when you’ve reached your working limits and you’re simply not inspired to carry on. The blank page mocks you and you just don’t know what to do about it.

I wanted to share my tips on avoiding creative burnout and I’d love to hear yours.

Step away from your desk

Your desk represents a hive of productivity but it can also saddle you with all the other things you need to do to keep your business moving. Emails. Accounts. Proposals. Social media. They all cry out for your attention and that can steal away your creative energy.

Take some time out to do something else: go for a walk, read a book, or sit and enjoy a cup of tea without thinking about work for a while. When you do this, you’re also feeding your brain with inspiration from the world around you.

Understand when your productive hours are

Most people have an inkling of when they work best. It might be first thing in the morning or late at night. You might work best after you’ve sorted out some of that pesky admin or you might need to get straight into it. When you know the times of the day when your creative brain is freshest you can plan your work accordingly and neatly sidestep that creative burnout.

I know that if I’m starting a new copywriting project, I have to do it first thing in the morning. I can’t let myself be distracted by emails as before I know it, it’s lunchtime and my lovely fresh brain is a little worn out.

Give yourself enough time

I find inspiration usually strikes when I’m doing something entirely unrelated so I know it’s important to make time to let my brain breathe. It can be hard to do when you’ve got deadlines to meet but I find that if I’m not rushing to get everything done, my creative brain can mull an idea over and let inspiration bubble to the surface.

This is especially important for big projects. I recently completed the copywriting for a very big website. I found that halfway through I was running out of the inspiration I needed to give each page’s copywriting a consistent energy – because I didn’t have any energy. Rather than push on and deliver something under par, I moved onto other projects for a few days to get my mojo back.

Distract yourself

I find that watching a movie, reading a book and exercising engages me in a way that I find very relaxing. By doing something that takes up your complete attention you give your subconscious time to digest information and pick out details that could just be the inspiration you are looking for.

Exercise will also give you a great rush of endorphins. Your muscles will release tensions and your blood will flow. You’ll breathe in lots of oxygen, fuelling your body and your brain. If you manage to exercise outside then you’re also taking in the world around you and opening the door to inspiration.

Break your task down

Sometimes creative burnout can strike when you’re simply overwhelmed by the work ahead. By breaking your task down into smaller chunks and starting with the easier stuff you can ease into the right creative space.

So there are my tips. Now it’s over to you. Have you experienced creative burnout? How do you overcome it once it’s set in or do you try to avoid it altogether?

The Copy Detective

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How many blog posts do you read each week? Quite a few?

How many do you leave a comment on? I bet it’s only a small fraction of the posts you read.

Did you realise that commenting on blogs will actually improve the number of readers for your own blog? In fact, I think you’re a fool if you want to grow your blog and you don’t have a blog commenting strategy.

Most blogs have an open comment section where you can leave your thoughts. It’s a chance to engage with the blog author and interact with other people interested in the same topic. Sometimes, the discussions in the comments end up being more interesting than the blog itself!

When you leave a comment on a blog post you are essentially showcasing yourself. It’s a fantastic way to share your knowledge and experience, engage with new audiences and get them interested in your opinion. If they like what they read, they’ll follow you back to your own blog. Et voila! New readers.

How to leave a great blog comment

If you really enjoy a blog post, it’s lovely to let the author know but just saying “Great post” is a bit of a waste. Actually, it’s a big waste. If you want to stand out then you need to put some thought into your comment.

Tips for leaving an attention-grabbing blog comment:

1. Tell the author how you’ve applied their advice and what results you experienced.
2. Point out anything that really surprised you or that you learned from the blog post.
3. Add some information that wasn’t included or offers a new angle on the topic.

It requires some thought but the results will be worth it. You’ll build your profile, you’ll network with people with similar interests and you’ll increase the traffic to your own blog. Each time you leave a comment, you’re also getting a valuable backlink to your website or blog.

A blog commenting strategy is easy

1. Identify blogs that share similar audiences with your own blog – or that you know your target audience reads.
2. Set aside some time to read their posts, and leave a well thought out comment at least once a week.

For just an hour or two per week, you will get a much greater payoff. Readers (and blog authors) will begin to notice you and you will see the results back on your own blog.

Do you have a blog commenting strategy? Or do you simply jump in when you have something to say?

The Copy Detective

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This post, rather than being a review of DISQUS, will focus on making the most of your DISQUS profile once it’s setup.

Fill out your DISQUS profile.

Completing your DISQUS profile isn’t a time consuming exercise but it’s worth taking some extra time to fill out every field especially your name, avatar, and your bio.

PRO TIP: Your bio appears after your published comments and gives you a great chance to spark some interest in who you are and what you do.

Edit your profile - especially your bio

    

Your bio will appear after your comment

PRO TIP: Populate your name, in addition to your username, so your image presentation in comment threads is a little more approachable.

Connect your DISQUS profile and merge your comments.

If you post a comment using your Facebook or Twitter (or Google, Yahoo! or OpenID) login, you can ensure they all get merged into your DISQUS blog comments dashboard. By connecting your DISQUS and social media profiles, you can also share your comment on social media as you hit submit.

Connect DISQUS with your social media profiles

If you’ve posted blog comments in the past and used the same email address as your DISQUS profile, you can merge those blog comments into your DISQUS dashboard with a few clicks. In fact, DISQUS will prompt you to merge your profiles.

Using DISQUS means you only have to manage single profile to view all your blog comments, making life just that little bit easier.

Do you use DISQUS comment system? Let me know if you’re a fan, or not, and whether you maximise your profile.

The Copy Detective 

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This month has seen a massive shift in Facebook with the rollout of Timelines for business pages.

I love Facebook. I love the friendliness and the people I’ve met but I have to admit that I saw more changes to Facebook as an approaching headache I couldn’t avoid. Every business page has been switched over now but if you’re still getting to grips with the new features, here are some great posts to help.

Introducing Copywrite Matters on Facebook

If you haven’t visited Copywrite Matters on Facebook, you have the perfect excuse right now. Every week you’ll find a TOP TIP about copywriting, marketing and life as a business owner. It’s all free. You don’t have to do anything but click Like. So go then. Click it.

Rather than jumping in early and switching Copywrite Matters over to the new timeline, I wanted to make sure I did it right. I could see that the new Facebook timelines would separate the marketing men from the boys and I knew I wanted Copywrite Matters to be one of the men – figuratively speaking, of course.

The first step was the design. I am a wordsmith. I knew I was never going to create superior imagery that matched my branding. Time to find an expert! I did just that, working with The Golden Goose Design Studio and Octoply. It was such a good investment as now I’m really confident my branding tells a consistent story between my website and Facebook.

Posts to Help You Rock Facebook Timelines

I thought switching to the Timeline was going to cause me grief but, thanks to the help of some very knowledgeable bloggers, I feel like I’m ready to rock it.

Social Rabbit wrote these excellent posts covering:

What you need to know about your Facebook cover image

How to make the most of the new Facebook apps

With design done, I needed to get to grips with posts. The Facebook cover image can’t have any calls to action or contact details but never fear! Pinning posts is a great way to keep some action and promotion on your profile.

All Facebook wrote this excellent post about pinning – what to pin, what to highlight and the differences between them.

Here’s another pearler from Social Rabbit about how to use Facebook posts for maximum effect. Lara covers questions, milestones and highlighting so you can draw the eye and drive some action.

Then there is the new Admin panel. The information is the same but presented in a new way. It’s all reasonably straightforward but I will admit I’ve spent a little bit of time clicking around looking for things. Still, I’m getting the hang of it!

If you’re still clicking around, Social Rabbit wrote this extremely useful post on Demystifying the Admin Panel.

Hubspot, being the rock stars they are, put out a free 31-page e-guide to help you sharpen your competitive advantage on Facebook. You can download the free ebook here.

So, with all those posts, you can’t really go wrong. If you’re struggling with the new look and feel, don’t despair. Change is good. Change brings opportunity. Sometimes you just have to let yourself ease into it.

Don’t forget to Like Copywrite Matters for those free weekly tips on copywriting and marketing. I’d love you to say ‘hi’, too.

How have you found the whole changeover to Timeline? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!

Belinda @ Copywrite Matters

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You will have read the stories of the life of a freelance copywriter. Working from the beach in Mexico, or spending a few hours in a favourite café to soak up the flavours and sounds while you create amazing copy for your clients. You aren’t tied to an office, which means you can work anywhere. Right?

When Copywrite Matters first opened its virtual doors, it was from my newly decorated home office. I was happy to ditch my 2-hour daily commute but little did I realise that my business still needed to be mobile. The first lesson came with an all-day power outage and no access to my server. I realised then that I had simply tied Copywrite Matters, and therefore myself, to another office!

This post will take you through how you can make your business mobile so you can work anywhere (even if you don’t).

Head to the Cloud

I use cloud applications for a big chunk of my business operations. I realised after that fateful power outage that I needed to be able to pick up my laptop and keep on working.

• Google Apps for Business gives me access to my email and calendar from any device plus a whole lot more.
• Dropbox lets me access my current client projects from any device, in any location.
• Evernote means I don’t have to worry about leaving my notebook at home.
• Yast Time Tracker lets me log in and track my work time wherever I am.
• Facebook, Tweetdeck, LinkedIn and Google Reader keep me in touch with the world.
• I use XERO and online banking for my accounting and finances.
• I use CapsuleCRM (my CRM) and Mailchimp (email marketing) that integrate beautifully with XERO.
• Skype lets me chat to international clients – for free.
• I have a VOIP home phone that emails voicemail messages to me.

It means that, although I still spend 80% of my time in my office, there isn’t much that ties me to my desk.

The Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing

Using applications that live ’in the cloud‘ can bring you freedom but they aren’t completely free of concerns. Let’s start with the advantages:

Access: This is one of the most obvious benefits as you can access your application anywhere you have the internet.

Scalable: Most apps give you a free or low-cost option to begin with and you can easily upgrade as you grow your business and usage.

Integration: More and more business applications are allowing integration with other cloud apps. These include accounting packages that integrate with CRM, and email marketing applications.

Compatibility: Are you on a Mac or a PC? It doesn’t matter with cloud computing applications as most apps work with both.

Low IT overheads: If you aren’t an IT whiz it’s a relief to know your data is living safely on managed storage and you don’t have to manage server backups and data security all by yourself.

Now some potential disadvantages:

Security: While the data security is usually much better than you could do yourself, that isn’t to say you shouldn’t investigate cloud apps to make sure their data security is guaranteed. I also recommend taking your own regular backups just for added peace of mind.

Privacy: This is an ongoing concern made fresh thanks to the popularity of cloud computing. If you’re keeping your intellectual property on someone else’s server you need to ensure they aren’t letting someone else peek while you aren’t looking.

Continuity: Freedom and flexibility are great but what happens if your business cloud application goes out of business? Make sure they don’t take your intellectual property with them.

Listen to what other people say about the cloud applications they use, or plan to use, and do your homework.

Stay connected to the internet

If you do shift a lot of your business operations to the cloud then you also need to ensure you can stay connected to the internet. Without internet connectivity, it all falls in a heap.

Know where you can access free Wi-Fi locally. Know your cafés, libraries and your mates so you don’t have to waste hours searching for Wi-Fi access.

Use your mobile phone as a Wi-Fi  hotspot. This might tax your phone plan, especially if you are overseas, so it’s worth knowing your download rates and tariffs.

Use mobile broadband devices. USB broadband devices give you broadband access with more certainty. As for the hotspot, it’s worth knowing your download caps and tariffs if you go over your download limit.

This guide doesn’t apply only to freelance copywriters. I’d love to know if your business is mobile and how you do it.

The Copy Detective

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Newsletters are a fantastic way to keep your business at the top of the mind of your prospects and customers. Copywrite Matters has a monthly newsletter – Copy & Co. News – and we write a few for clients. With so many businesses publishing blogs and newsletters, how do you make yours stand out?

If your subscriber count has stagnated, you might be making one of these (very fixable) newsletter mistakes.

It’s too long between drinks

Just like a good blogging schedule, frequency is mostly irrelevant if you’re offering your readers value. That theory doesn’t apply if your company newsletters are so infrequent that your readers forget about you between issues, which means you won’t be there when they need you.

Come up with a schedule you can maintain consistently. You’re better off ramping up your newsletter schedule after a while rather than trailing off because you couldn’t keep it up.

You make your newsletter too long and complicated

Company newsletters and ezines don’t have to be ‘War and Peace’. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Newsletters are read over a coffee, on the train or as a welcome distraction between tasks. They shouldn’t need lots of time to read.

Include multiple stories in your newsletter but mix and match the lengths so your reader can choose to dip in and out of stories, or read the whole newsletter.

You don’t say anything interesting or helpful

Now this might seem more problematic than it is. You do have plenty of interesting stories and advice to share with your newsletter readers; it’s just a matter of finding the right angle – the angle that gives your newsletter some zing.

Write newsletter stories that actively help your readers. You’ll boost your credibility and become a trustworthy source and that’s when your newsletter will pull customers in.

Your newsletter headlines are dull

Your headlines should act as enticing signposts for your stories. Most of your readers are going to skim your newsletter, jumping from headline to headline and deciding if they should spend time reading more.

I compiled this list of awesome headline resources to help you write really compelling signposts. Some quick tips are to avoid 10-dollar words and include a verb to give your newsletter story some action.

Your newsletter formatting is a hodge-podge

The words you use are important but the way you present them can have just as much influence on the success of your company newsletter. Your newsletter content needs to be visually appealing and too many fonts and sizes can be a real turn-off.

Keep things simple with only a few fonts and sizes and use them consistently. Don’t forget to use images as well. Your readers will find it much easier to read, which will help keep them away from that ‘unsubscribe’ link.

You don’t promote your newsletter

If you want to get more newsletter subscribers then you have show people what they’re missing out on! Company newsletters were traditionally printed but now with a shift to online content you can share your newsletter across lots of platforms.

Include a newsletter subscription form on your website and share your newsletters across social media to entice new subscribers.

So now it’s over to you to make your company newsletter spectacular, interesting and worthy of handing over a name and an email address.

Does your business have a newsletter? How often do you publish and do you keep it spicy?

The Copy Detective

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A few weeks ago I admitted a secret to you. I’m not very good at proofreading. There. I’ve said it again. I was forced to face this fact after a fellow copywriter, Paul Hassing, very kindly pointed out more than a few typos in my weekly blog posts. I was mortified. I’m sure you know what it’s like when you have a regular blogging schedule. They sometimes get left until the 11^th hour and a rushed job is a rubbish job. Well, Paul saved me from rather a lot of embarrassment and he was very professional and kind about it, too. Thanks, Paul. Seriously.

Now, in addition to sending my clients’ copywriting to a professional proofreader, I now send my blogs and other marketing material. And I’ve not had a typo reported since!

This small change started something a lot bigger for Copywrite Matters.

Your time is a valuable resource

Outsourcing some of your work to someone else is a financial investment but don’t let that blind you to the cost of your time. You are a specialist at what you do and that’s where your time should be spent.

For everything else, you should outsource to someone who is a specialist at what they do. The job will be done faster and better, and that will save you money long term.

Faster and better. 

I recently noticed how much time I spent doing my books each month. I keep on top of my business accounting and I don’t do anything terribly complicated but it’s hours and hours every month. Hours when I could be doing something else. Like relaxing!

So I began the process of hiring a book-keeper. I got a great recommendation, made a call and within 15 minutes I had discovered several new ways to spend less time managing my accounts and support business growth instead.

It confirmed for me that outsourcing parts of your business operation does more than just save time; it also taps you into a specialist’s field of knowledge.

And that’s smart business. 

Trust is everything 

Finding the right suppliers with whom to partner is critical to making the whole system work. I wrote this post about how to find a copywriter and the tips apply for pretty much any business to which you’ll outsource. The hardest part can be learning to let go.

Keep your eye on the ball

When you start outsourcing business operations you take up the mantle of supplier management. While you might suddenly be getting the work done faster and better, leaving you free to do more billable work or even see your family once in a while, you will still have to allocate time to making sure everyone delivers what they promised, when they promised.

If you’re doing it well, it should still be much less time than you spend now, trying to do everything yourself.

There is room for more. Much more.

I track every moment of my working day using Yast time tracker. As part of my productivity analysis, I realised that, for every billable hour, I am spending two hours on non-billable work. Accounting. Business development. Emails. Networking. Social Media. Producing content marketing. Training. Reading and commenting on other blogs.

Now I can’t outsource all of this but, if I’m smart, I can cut back on how much I do myself without compromising the results I get.

What do you think? Does this scenario sound familiar? I’d love to hear what you outsource and your experience.

The Copy Detective

Subscribe to The Copy Detective to get each new post delivered straight to your inbox. In secret of course.