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The best copy

Avantguard Security Ltd (http://www.avantguardsecurity.co.uk) are going to busy soon! We know they are because we are writing some new and compelling copy for them :-)

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Google supply guidelines to help webmasters create better sites

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-...

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Clean and fresh!

Google determination to provide better improved and more up to date (or “fresher”) search results is definitely as a result of increased competition from Bing, but also from real-time information networks like Twitter and Facebook.

This competition from social networks cannot be underestimated; Google needs to supply really fresh content to drive its search results to allow it to continue to dominate the search market, if it’s index was out of date, we would all quickly go elsewhere.

The onus is now on us website owners to ensure that we provide clean, new content that Google likes and ranks highly.

But rather than been a chore, this also helps us from a conversion standpoint in that this new content will ultimately help us to have better discussion with our prospects online and help us to convert better.

So our question to you is ... how fresh is your website content?

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Website Quality Audit!

Wow!

We were truly surprised about the number of people that wanted the website QA audit, to those ten of you that were first to respond to the offer - congratulations, the full report will be with you within the next 5-10 days!

To those of you that were unsuccessful, we can still do you an audit and you should have already recieved a 50% discount offer my email, we hope that you take us up on this because we know that if you follow our advice you will do more business online and make more money!

We will be opening this offer up to anyone soon, watch this space!

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Like what you read?

If you like our posts, remember you can always get notifications of them, plus see other hints and tips by following us on Twitter.

http:://www.twitter.com/ReadCopy

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Gatekeepers!

If you sell big ticket items or sell to large businesses, you’ll have come across the problem of gatekeepers.  These are the well meaning PA’s and secretaries that are employed to help their senior managers (your targets/decision makers) with their workload; this often involves opening their post and determining which letters they should pass over to these managers!

Quite often, sales letters are not often passed to these decision makers, so you never hear anything from them again, but here are two techniques that we have successfully used in the past to help clients get your message to their intended target.

Before you send your target the proper sales letter, send their PA/Secretary a letter first (with maybe a small box of chocolates) explaining that you’ll be sending their boss a letter in a few days or so and you would appreciate it if they received it!  This was used by a telecoms company we worked with and they received a 85%+ success rate in contacting the decision maker.

On another occasion we needed to send out an invite for an event for a client, once we had written the invite we sent them out in tubes!  The strange packaging worked, and got the attention they needed, receiving another high response rate.

Whatever you try, we hope it works for you too.

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We are going to write a book!

We have just had the great idea of putting a lot of what we know about copywriting down on paper!  We are going to write a book!

You’ll hopefully be pleased to know that are going to try to focus on Content Strategy and Planning, so you will know what it is you need to write – we are quite excited about it!

We’ll let you know how we get on.

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Our fave website tip!

This is one of our fave tips ever for websites, it;s so simple I really don't know why everyone doesn't do it!

It's simple and it's just a two step process.

Think about three things you want everyone to know about your business.

Not go to your homepage and see if you can find these three things!

If you can't find them, neither can your visitors!!!

Great isn't it :-)

If you need help writing your website copy, just give us a shout and we'll help you ([email protected])

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5 great ways to make your sales letter work better!

Don’t lie

Only use short paragraphs. The maximum paragraph length should be 5-7 lines of copy.

Write your copy in the tone and rhythm of a personal one-on-one conversation.

Underline or bold key phrases and put a few well-chosen words in ALL CAPS for those who will just skim read your letter.

Use lists of features or benefits with bullets points

Thats how we do it, and we get great results for our clients :-)

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Why use freelance copywriters?

There are a number of reasons why an agency like ReadCopy can benefit your business; here are just some reasons why you might outsource your copywriting.

We have the time It’s what we do!  We write fabulous words for you.  You often need to get on with more important areas of your business and know that, whatever happens, your words will be written professionally, when ready when you need them.

You’ll get a fresh perspective We don’t get bogged down with what you have tried to do before!  We have worked in many different sectors for many different businesses giving us a wider range of experience and knowledge. We can take a good step or two backwards and look at your project in a slightly different light.   Clarity, creativity and clout This is the best bit, we have some excellent creativity techniques that we can use that means that our words and ideas are always new and fresh. We always put ourselves in the shoes of your target market and really push ourselves to find the right words to express what you should say to them.

We write interesting, enticing and engaging copy, that is clear, concise and will get the desired action.   Words to fit your business We always adapt our writing style to fit our clients, we have also worked with clients to help them understand what that style should be; so you can rest assured that our words will always fit it with your business.

Dedicated writers deliver on time Using a freelance copywriter will save you time, and will probably save you lots of money in the long run (we certainly think we can make you more money!). We are dedicated to writing for you and will write until we are both happy.  You will received your wonderful copy on time, everytime.

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Website Quality Audit

ReadCopy are considering launching a new QA service for websites; this will give you a score out of 10 and breakdown how your site performs from a quality perspective (looking at content, messages, search engines, customer journey and much, much more) 

The first 10 people to email us ([email protected]) with a request for an audit will get one free of charge (we will probably charge about £200 for this when we launch it). 

Remember we are on holiday at the moment so it won’t be done in the next few weeks.

This is why we came away; we can come up with new services that we can offer our clients :-)

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Ever lied in your copy?

We have just been lied to!  I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but the flyer for this particular business (that shall remain nameless to protect it) advertised a particular offer that wasn't actually as advertised when we got there!

So have you ever lied in your sales and marketing literature?

NEVER do it!  Run your business by the strict rule that you’ll never lie to a prospect or customer and start with your sales and marketing literature.

A lie or an exaggeration stands out like a sore thumb; if you do have an amazing claim, then try to put some proof into your content; use a quote from a customer that backs you up, or link to an article that supports what you are saying.

Always ensure that you can find evidence for everything you write, if you are ever caught by those words “prove it”, then you’ll be able to.

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It may be time to update your Website!

The encounter at the airport along with the Google Farmer/Panda update got us thinking how we can help all of you guys.  We speak to so many business owners who breathe a sigh of relief when they have written their website and launched, but sites do get stale over time, we suggest that pages are checked and updated at least every 12 months, but what should you be checking!

Links: Click on every single link on every single page. Are they all valid or do you have any broken ones? Do they all go where you want them to go or where they should go?

Forms: If you have any forms on your pages, check them all.  Are they easy to complete?  When you fill in the details do you get to a nice “Thank you” page, what do you receive by email once you have filled in your details and pressed "Submit"?

Copy: Read all your copy. Is all the information correct and up to date?  Are new products and services added?  Does it read well?  Are your news items up to date? Force yourself to refresh some of the copy, change at least a third of it every 12 months.

Remember to add new content (pages) regularly – what new pages / articles etc can you add today?

About Us: If your “About Us” page up to date?  Most visitors will look at it before buying (unless they know you) so ensure that it’s a page that will sell you well.  Put access to testimonials and any awards on there.

If you would like someone to create new regular content or articles for your site, then get in touch with us (http://www.readcopy.com)

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Hello from the USA!

It's incredibly sunny over here, we are about to set off into 29 degree heat!  A far cry from the 8-9 degree we were experiencing in the UK, anyway we just wanted to post this story.

We had a nice chat with guy from Florida when we were at Manchester airport; he was a little bit interested in us when he knew we wrote for a living (he’d never met copywriters before!), but he was happy that he had all his copy sorted and didn’t need anything new writing (not that we were touting for business – we had started our holiday!)

Anyway, as the discussion progressed, Al admitted that enquiries from his website had been steadily falling over the past 12 months or so; when we pushed him a little further he mentioned that his website had been relaunched 3-4 years ago, but that the copy had never been looked at since!

Well, that could be the problem; Google love nice, fresh, new content, and if the content starts to get stale then they will start to drop a site a little in their rankings, and as the rankings fall, so will the traffic they get to their website!  When the traffic falls, so too will enquiries and sales!

At least we gave Al some word to do when he gets back into the office, and just in case he reads this – Al, remember to email us if you need any help writing that stuff ;-) ([email protected])

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And we’re off!

We’re off! We are taking a well deserved break and we are off to the States for a few weeks, when we get back we will be completely refreshed so we can get cracking on all that new work that is coming our way!

As we are dedicated professionals, we will not be leaving our clients in the lurch and we would just like to reassure you all that are expecting a delivery of copy in the new few weeks that we are taking the work with us, and everything will be delivered on time (some of you will not that you got your copy earlier than expected!)

We are also going to find some time to write the odd blog post or two!  Keep reading!

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Please listen to Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal

These guys know what they are talking about and will help you get a better ranking in Google search results.

Simply write great, fresh copy for your visitors!

Understand what terms your prospects might use to search for you in search engines and add them once to your page; but that’s all you need to do.

If your copy is fabulous and your page looks great, other related sites will link to you too, before you know it, you're doing great in Google and business is booming.

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Less than 6 hours to go .....

... before we start our 24 hour Twitter session.

At least one copywriting tip an hour on 1st April.

To follow us, just go here: http://www.twitter.com/readcopy

See you there.