Tips Guides Resources

Having your personal blog and website are currently the standard modems through which you can communicate with a widespread reader today. They are essential means by which you actually announce yourself to the world now! Open up your mind, and with the freedom of speech as your bestowed birthright, you will be ready to interact with others. So, go ahead and start your own online community, forum or blog. Explore the inner recesses of your mind and shell-out your interests, passions and motivations. The truth is, in this ever-amazing world there is no end to exploration, and that you can just drink a drop of that vast ocean. Blogging or online communicating gives you the chance to extend your opinion, though it could just get you heading in a way where you could just find yourself thirsty for more!

After starting your very own online community or blog you could even bank on an e-bulletin i.e., launch your own e-zine with your articles, feedback, observations and later, maybe even your very own e-book. You can even start with smaller things which need less time regulation, such as reviews and reports on books, movies, music or incidents. You can take a look in listings and offer your publications in the form of booklets, tip sheets, and reports. You can even work on providing appropriate links and footage as additional information to other work already completed, which needs further sprucing up! So there! Just open up and there will be no end of developing worthwhile communication.

Some of the rules that gurus of communication have set for effective face-to-face conversations also work with online communication though, but applications require less charm! It’s indeed important to show your genuine interest in the person at the other end so that your inention is understood. Else you can forget to be taken seriously while trying to establish effective communication online. Create your blog or whatever, targeting your intended audience, keeping their interests in mind. Keep yourself scrupulously updated regarding the latest advancements in the area you are dealing with too, as you don’t want to be caught out with another person knowing a lot more than you do.

Remember that whatever you reveal online is your 1st-hand identity to others and will make them come back and check you out and get to know you. So make it easy for them to find information about you and what the issues that you are dealing with. Initially, you need to establish your reputation as a good and motivating writer. So, you will need to have loads of readily available free articles, reports, and materials for people to read. Staying relevant to the issue is very important too, so do not go into detail with lots of things altogether. Step by step is the key.

Of course, a very crucial recommendation for becoming a popular writer is to maintain consistency and fluency in elaborations. When you are genuinely interested in the pursuit of a particular subject, your regularity not only feeds you with lots of information and also keeps your readers at pace with you, but the internet is full of bright and upcoming notions and thinking. If you don’t stay charged up you will quickly lose your reader circle. So keep it up and at a steady pace.

Resources: Nick Sanders is the owner and founder of Supaproofread.com, an online proofreading and editing services company, specialising in book editing. You should visit them if you are looking for a professional proofreading service

I use this method all the time to write web content, but whatever you need to write, use this outline writing method to easily create an article or essay, or to simply help blast through writer’s block.

All you need is a pen, a plain piece of paper and a few minutes.

If you are like most people, writing web content is about as high on your can’t-wait-to-do-it list as getting a tooth pulled, but it doesn’t have to be as intimidating as it might seem.

Let’s look at two things that might be preventing you from writing - motivation, or lack of it, and not knowing what to write about.

Okay, the first one: Motivation. Call upon the god of motivating phrases, Nike - “JUST DO IT!” And the second one: Not knowing what to write about. You do know what to write about, it’s just getting it down on paper that is freezing your thought process; or the fear that people might not think that you know what you’re talking about. It’s time to put away that fear because you can write, and it all starts with an outline.

Outline Writing
The easiest way to get your creative writing juices flowing is to just grab that piece of paper and follow along! We are going to write your outline right now.

1. Write your topic in the center of the paper and circle it.
2. Let your thoughts roam - write the first word you think of at the top right of the circle, at about the 1 o’clock position. Underline it so the line connects to the circle.
3. If another unrelated thought comes to mind repeat number 2 in about the next o’clock position.
4. If you have a thought that is related then write it next to the related item, underline it so that the lines join and start a branch.
5. Try and keep your thoughts to one word items.
6. Keep going around the circle, branching out thoughts until your paper is full, or you are out of thoughts.
7. If earlier thoughts are related to later ones then join them up with a dotted line or some other form of connector that helps you see their relationship.
8. If you have different colored pens use them for different thoughts, or to emphasize some more than others.
9. Do not censor your thoughts - let them run free.
10. Add some doodles if you like. You don’t have to be an artist to doodle.

You have now created your first mind map while outline writing at the same time. Easy wasn’t it? From your mind map your branches contain the pointers that you will use to create your web page article or other copy.

You may find that you have so much information that you can now take each branch and create a new mind map, and thus new content for another article.

Create mind maps not only to help you with outline writing but for any topic you want to recall later. So, now that you have created your outline, it’s time to get writing!

Resources: Fran Jeanes is an internet consultant for icontactwebdesign.com who writes about internet marketing for the small business web design company based in Davidson, North Carolina.

Before you get started building your landing page, you will need a number of things to a) make your offer actually have a point; and b) facilitate the creation of your landing page.

One thing you absolutely must have before you get started is an auto responder. Without any auto responder, you are tossing potential bags of money in the garbage. Rather than creating a relationship with customers and potential customers and giving yourself the opportunity to attempt future upsales — you’re allowing them to leave and never return.

In addition to an auto responder, you will need to have an actual offer that people want to buy. You may want to develop a product, such as an ebook or a piece of software. If you don’t have the skills to do either, you can always hire a professional to do it for you through a freelance site. You will then either want to sell this product and attempt to get subscribers from your thank you page or you will want to get subscribers by offering the product for free (which is what many Internet marketers now do).

Another thing you absolutely must have before you get started is a check out service. You may want to consider Google Check Out, Paypal, a Shopping Cart Service, Click Bank, Sale Flurry, or 2 Check Out. All of these services will allow you to make transactions quickly.

Another thing you must have before you get started is a set of graphics, which usually includes a graphic header, a check out button, background wallpaper, and
a half-decent picture of yourself. You can probably provide the picture of yourself, but you might want to hire a professional to do the rest.

The sales letter landing system provides a uniquely powerful system through which you can derive profit from multiple streams. This article will briefly discusses some of those different streams and how you can manipulate them.

Let’s start with the landing page itself: all traffic is sent to the landing page. From there, it will have a number of options, depending on what you have given them. Many marketers suggest that your landing page should always be an opt-in form. Others will suggest that it should simply be a sales letter.

Whether it’s a free newsletter or a product for sale, the landing page system you create should include a one time offer, which will compel them to take action subscribe, buy, etc.

Once they subscribe or buy, the landing page system you create should then re-route them to a thank you page, which opens up more means through which you can upsell. One quick way to upsell is to simply include advertisements on your thank you page for related affiliate products or for your own products. Here, again, you will want to give them a one-time offer.

Also, if you haven’t yet asked them to join your mailing list, this is where you should do it on your thank you page. Once they opt-in to your list, you now have a whole new options you can use in conjunction with the landing page system to generate revenue.

One such option is selling ad space in your newsletter or ezine. The more people you have reading your newsletter, the more you can generally charge for adspace; however, you will want to avoid overselling to your list to ensure your advertisers actually make money.

Your next option is to endorse a product as an affiliate. You can tell your subscribers how someone has just created a brilliant product and you can offer it to your subscribers through an affiliate link. You may even want to use other products you have has bonuses to give them something extra.

The last and most profitable way in which you can generate revenue through your newsletter is by creating and selling your own products to them.

It is important to note that you don’t have to use all of these means to generate revenue; however, the more you use, the more you earn in general.

Resources: Michael Wright is a software developer and internet entrepreneur owning a network of domains and websites. For specialized information on sales letter creation, visit his website at http://CopywritingWealthSystem.com

Most people have no idea how to write a landing page that converts. Instead, they slop together elements that they have seen used in other landing pages but usually do not put them together in the same way the owner of the successful landing page did.

One major problem is copy. And that’s fine. Not everyone is going to be an excellent writer never mind a copywriter. But as someone selling a product or trying to build a list, it is important that you know your strengths and weaknesses and that you either spend the time to overcome them or hire someone else to do it for you.

With copy writing, for instance, it is important to use a mix of compelling sales points with powerful psychological triggers. Most people who create a sales letter miss either one or both of those elements.

For instance, they might concentrate so much on building hype that they don’t actually explain what solution they are providing and for whom they are providing it. If I don’t have a specific problem that your product solves, why would I buy it? I wouldn’t.

Now, if they fail to sprinkle in psychological triggers, such as scientifically proven, guaranteed, and shocking, no one will feel compelled to continue reading, as the benefits will have a low or average perceived value.

In addition to these two problems, some sales letter lack coherency and direction. The copy looks amateurish and it doesn’t slowly grind forward, breaking down the visitor’s resistance to the sale and compelling him or her to buy more and more at each sales point.

Additionally, if there aren’t multiple calls to action another form of psychological trigger then a potential visitor might never feel compelled enough to pull out his or her credit card on the spot and make the purchase.

In addition to careful copy writing, there are other important things you must take into consideration when writing a landing page that converts. For instance, it is important to build a compelling case for a time-bound offer.

Now, this doesn’t mean you have to invent fake deadlines and constantly revise them each week. This is a good way to guarantee your complete loss of credibility in the shortest amount of time possible.

However, when planning your copy, you will want to make sure that you constantly urge the reader to act immediately by inserting a number of calls to action, as I’ve mentioned previously.

You may want to consider using fly-ins or pop-ups to create more urgency or to make a time-bound offer. Perhaps you can use a countdown to build urgency (i.e., when someone arrives at your landing page, they have five minutes to purchase the product at the lowest price).

Now, if you’re creating a squeeze page, you might want to employ slightly different tactics. Rather than building a compelling case with multiple triggers and calls to action over the course of 1000 words, you may want to simply condense that all into a compelling headline and one paragraph of benefits.

For a completely free-to-join squeeze page, you more than likely wont have a considerable amount of resistance to joining, unless the visitor a) doesn’t see any benefits; and b) suspects that you will sell their email address to spammers.

Both of these problems are relatively easy to overcome. In your headline, simply state the exact benefits they will receive for joining as always, mixing in psychological triggers. In your first paragraph of copy, give them a compelling reason to join now (i.e., the price might go up, the list might become private, you’ll get this amazing report).

Now, to overcome the second problems, simply include a short line under your opt-in form that explains that you will not under any circumstances spam them or sell or give away their email address and name.

Resources: Michael Wright is a software developer and internet entrepreneur owning a network of domains and websites. For specialized information on sales letter creation, visit his website at http://CopywritingWealthSystem.com

As a writer by profession and passion alike, I know that knowing your audience is a cardinal rule in the practice. The explanation is simple. If I am writing for a supposedly intellectual bunch of people in the academe, I put an air of sophistication in my language. When I write for a more general audience, I intentionally make it simple and direct. It is not only a matter of preference; it is a matter of courtesy. Ultimately, it is ensuring that what I write is read, understood, and appreciated.

Writing copies for the web is slightly different and more complicated. On one hand, your copy is made available to anyone who stumbles upon it. On the other, chances are the people who will click on your link via search engine results are there for a purpose. And they are looking for something specific that led them to your site. So which school of thought do you adhere to?

Your target audience: No one or everyone?
I sometimes think that writing a copy that can be universal in terms of its target audience is the best way to go. How can it possibly fail, right? A copy that addresses a seemingly general audience is bound to catch anyone’s attention after all, and it sounds to me that there is no harm in that.

This is easy to accomplish when you’re the one writing the copy. All you have to do is put yourself on the shoes of a potential customer who does not have anything in mind, no specific need, no goal… nothing. I normally think of how I would feel about a copy if I have no plans of either getting the merchandise or subscribing to a service. Will I even consider it? Will I inquire further? Is it that good that I will try it out even without the initial need for it?

I think the pitfall of this view of writing copy for no particular audience is failing to zoom in on a business prospect’s needs. If I don’t find anything special or specific on a site, I will go somewhere else thinking: it is too broad to give me what I specifically need.

Your target audience: Someone?
This is why most web copywriters determine a particular segment of society that they aim to target. Again, as an online citizen, I stumble upon sites mostly through search engines. I look for something specific; I want a copy that especially caters to that. This gives me the assurance that I am in the right place.

It is not always clear-cut, though. Let me give you an example. For instance, let’s assume I am in the business of digital frames. Clearly, this appeals to and is marketable to almost everyone. I find it difficult to single out one demographic to address when writing my copy for the web. What do I do now?

In cases like this, the rule of thumb I follow is making sure that my copy can be understood by someone as young as a 5th-grader and as old as a senior citizen. Otherwise, a potential customer who wanders into my site but fails to understand my copy is, needless to say, a loss.

Copyright (c) Althea Marie Tan - The Content Annex is a content development company that offers comprehensive writing solutions for busy entrepreneurs. Visit http://www.thecontentannex.com for more information.

I did not believe Shakespeare when he said that brevity is the soul of wit. It is, I believed, simply not my style. Going forward, though, reading a wide variety of works changed my mind. The challenge to any writer is to make the article clear, concise, and readable. After all, the purpose of writing is to express. The simpler the language, the more people understand and appreciate what I write. The wider my audience, the more effective my writing becomes.

Brevity in writing copy
While this principle applies to practically all types of writing, I’ve realized that its importance is amplified when I write copies for the web. As a typical web user who relies on search engines, I can attest to the effectivity of short copies versus longer ones. Sure, an attractive, catchy title may lure me into a site, but a huge block of text, not to mention unsightly design and obtrusive advertisements, usually discourages me. Normally, I just read the first few lines and click close. In doing so, I realize that that particularly copy has just failed.

This isn’t saying that the quality of the writing is bad per se. As a user pressed for time, however, I don’t even get the chance to scan through the whole thing just because of the text-heavy impression it gives. I’ve always said this: in the harsh competition for clicks on the web, you only have a second or two to make it work.

Brevity = simplicity
Aside from creating an impression, keeping web copy short increases its readability. Note that brevity doesn’t equate to being boring or dull. On the other hand, I realize that the real test for an excellent writer is achieving the most powerful effect in using as few words as possible. On some occasions, I alternate short- and medium-length sentences. This increases the impact of the copies I write.

More often than not, though, a short copy not only pleases the eye, it gives the impression that I know what I am talking about because I am able to keep everything tight.

When long copies are needed
Long copies aren’t always evil though. I’ve encountered complicated topics that required longer explanations. What do I do during these instances? I try to keep my article neat, organized and simple. It is possible to do this by grouping ideas accordingly. In these cases, the page’s design and layout go hand-in-hand with the writing style. A long copy can appear short and condensed if ideas are grouped suitably into topics. And if a copy is simply too long to appear on a single webpage, no one’s stopping me from providing a link to another page.

Another device I use when writing longer copies are subheads. They’re a great tool in guiding visitors to the bits of information they need. I also make sure that the gist of a paragraph or a series of paragraphs is found on the initial part. That way, a user will stay and possibly bookmark my page for future reference. If customers find the site content useful and relevant, they will come back.

Copyright (c) Althea Marie Tan - The Content Annex is a content development company that offers comprehensive writing solutions for busy entrepreneurs. Visit http://www.thecontentannex.com for more information.