If you are like me, then you may have started a blog as way to channel your creativity or to combat your day-to-day boredom. It’s like an online journal for you to put down your thoughts and have your friends read it, right? But months have gone by and you haven’t had more than a total of 100 views for your 10 or more blog posts. You feel that you have great ideas and your friends tell you they love reading your blog. So, why aren’t you getting more traffic?
A hundred bucks says it’s because your copy sucks.
‘Copy’, or in other words, copywriting, is writing used to sell something and is what you find in advertisements and press releases. Copywriters, the pros behind creating this great copy, give you one phrase that BAM! sums up the product in an instant.
But copywriting isn’t just for the pros anymore. It has now evolved and integrated itself into the writing of bloggers everywhere.
What do copywriters and bloggers have in common?
Copy is used in both professions as a way to promote their product. Whether it’s a slogan or a Facebook status update, copy grabs it’s readers by the collar, says “Look at me”, and makes you want to find out more ASAP! It’s that powerful.
In blogging, it’s all about using copywriting as a way to promote your blog. It’s within your content, in your titles, and even with your social networking pages that allow you to take advantage of using good copywriting.
Just like selling a product, getting new readers to your blog means working hard to get that attention. Copywriting will become your best friend when it comes to promoting your blog. What many newbie bloggers initially don’t realize is the great amount of potential they have to gain a larger readership. Assuming that there is a person attached to a blog, creating it’s content, rather than machine generated it will be extremely beneficial for you to learn a little bit from the copywriting trade. For now, you are another faceless, unknown person with a webpage. If you haven’t decided to give up on gaining more readers right here, right now, it may be time for you to give copywriting a chance. It’s time to step up your game. It’s time for you to get more readers!
Then again, you may already be using copywriting to promote your blog.
Here are 5 Common Copywriting Mistakes Made By New Bloggers and how you can fix them:
1. Creating sub-par titles for your posts
Let’s say your title is: “Do you like to drink lemonade?” As a matter of fact, I do. Thanks for asking. End of post. I already answered your question, so for what reason do I have to keep reading? You don’t want your readers to fall asleep after reading the first sentence. Your title lacks interest. You’ve got to put the copywriter-thinking -cap on and persuade your readers!
In reality, your post is about how you skipped hanging out with your mom to drink lemonade at your favorite coffee, where you then met a person who needed to use your cellphone to call their family member, which turned out to be Jay Leno, and you got to meet him because of your willingness to let strangers borrow your cellphone! Awesome! I suddenly want to stop what I’m doing and read about your story.
Except, I couldn’t tell from your post’s title. As a blogger, you need to persuade your readers into believing that your post will be worth their while. For all they know, your post could be about how you like to drink lemonade every single day. Sounds boring. They won’t care enough to read it. Stop, think like you’re a copywriter writing this blog post. What would your title be? How about: “The Time I Drank Lemonade and Met Jay Leno”? Your post has just become ten times more exciting.
2. Slacking on creating quality content
You wrote a thousand word post titled, “How to bake chocolate chip cookies like a pro.” The problem is no one has bothered to read it. It may not be because of the length, but rather the content is that good. Misspelled words, bad grammar, irrelevant to the title, boring, too long, or the writing reads like a 3rd grader wrote it. All of these are aspects of bad content. A copywriter would never be hired if he/she made this kind of mistakes. No one will want to read a blog with bad content.
For example, this chocolate chip cookie post isn’t about cookies at all. It’s written entirely about what pandas eat, where they live, and how to spot a panda in the wild. But I came here for the cookies. What do pandas have to do with the baking cookies? Nothing. Unless you, the blog writer, is a panda who is indeed baking cookies and thought it was important to mention what you typically eat, etc. In that case, that’s fine. Combine a personal story with baking cookies. Also, I need proof of your baking skills as a panda.
Which brings me to another aspect of great content. Pictures. Use them. They can make your post seem even more inviting, especially if it’s a rather long post. No one wants to feel like they’re reading a book with no pictures.
3. Not taking the time to research the meaning of SEO
Another very important key to having quality content is SEO. What is SEO? Three words: Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Or in other words, a way for you to say “Hey internet I’m over here!” with the use of keywords throughout your blog posts. Copywriters have a slogan. Bloggers have their best friend SEO.
Think you have the best blog content to offer? Without taking advantage of SEO in your posts it will be a million times harder for the internet to find you.
This is how SEO works: Imagine little, digital creatures crawling around the internet looking for content that contains frequently search keywords. These ‘crawlers’ may not find your blog post about yachts unless you take advantage of SEO. If you want fellow boat lovers to gush over the latest yacht with you, you have to woo them. Words and phrases like boats, yachts, or buying a yacht will get the crawlers’ attention.
Keywords, tags, content, and titles. All very important keys to having successful SEO.
Still confused about SEO? Read more about it here.
4. Neglecting to take the time to know your audience
Good copywriting as a blogger wouldn’t be complete without knowing who you’re ‘pitching’ your content to. While we all may love hearing ourselves talk, putting our thoughts on the internet without any purpose besides amusing ourselves is just as obnoxious as posting a Facebook status saying “I ate pizza”.
Sure, your happy with having just your friends to read your blog. But you are reading this article to help get more readers.
First, find out what your readers were searching for that led them to your blog. By using your site’s stats page or Google Analytics, you can discover the specific keywords (SEO) your readers searched in order to get to your site.
Second, think back to your most successful post. Did you receive a lot of feedback or gain a ton of new readers? Then keep it up! The same readers will keep coming back for more. People like to read about topics they can relate, find amusing, or are interested in reading more about. You can even make a new post that extends the previous one, answering more questions or discussing the topic further.
Don’t hesitate to write about something you love. Just don’t forget your audience.
5. Forgetting to take advantage of Social Media
It’s a lot harder to shell out hundreds of dollars to get noticed, like advertisements, when you are a blogger.
That’s what’s so great about social media. You can tell everyone about your blog.
Your copywriting will shine even more here. Come up with some great one-liners to get people interested in your posts. Think about promoting your posts as if you are trying to sell a newly released candy bar. A giant, delicious candy bar that is a million times better than the most popular Hershey candy. It has all-natural ingredients, a wrapper lined with gold, and dentists have said it helps prevent cavities.The problem is, no one has ever heard of you before, so why would they buy it?
It’s the same when promoting your blog. How fast do you think you can get 100 people to read your post? Now, think how fast it will take for you to get 100 people when you share your post on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, or Digg? Share each post with your readers on pages dedicated to your blog on social networks. Your readers will share with their friends, and their friends will share it with even more people, and so on. If you’re trying to get people to read your amazing blog, you’ve got to make it sound ‘appetizing’. Just like that candy bar.
With great content and the smarts of a copywriter, you can become a better blogger in no time.
These five mistakes and fixes will make getting more readers become easy.
It may be challenging when you first start because it’s new to you. Make a million mistakes and learn from them. Copywriting is the key to becoming you an even better blogger and ultimately grow your blog.
Someone out there is looking for your blog. They just don’t know it yet.
I can relate to those techie-scared small-business owners out there who are just glad they finally made that HUGE leap into modern times by getting a website.
My photography business skated along for years off-line… I relied on business cards and word-of mouth to attract customers. The ironic part of it was that I’ve been a writer for years, and even had a personal blog that I used as a journal.
It just didn’t occur to me to combine the two…
It doesn’t matter what your business is, a blog can put you out there in a way that traditional advertising can’t.
After several years of entertaining my mutually-exclusive hobbies (and writing articles for other people), it occurred to me that I could use each of those skills I’d played around with to help each other.
And thus, I finally modernized and got a website for my photo business, created a fan-page on Facebook, and started blogging about the whole thing.
What I found was that the blog actually attracted people that normal advertising didn’t. People would show up looking for photography tips, and wind up browsing the website I mentioned once somewhere in the post.
Each new blog post also gave me a link to use as a status update on Facebook… I was beginning to tie everything together.
I discovered that a blog doesn’t necessarily have to be perfectly honed to fit into a certain niche.
For a while, I kept separate blogs, thinking I needed to keep everything in its proper category… I didn’t want to bore my photography clients with random stories about my kids, or tales of my loopy cowdog getting scared of a salamander. I also didn’t want my humor-seeking blog followers to get fed up with my “I took another photo” posts.
After a few months (and a few misplaced posts), I realized that the blogs were all me… in one form or another. It began to seem pointless to keep separating things, and I kept getting stuck when I had a post that merged the two topics… such as a great story about my minions (my kids) interrupting a photo shoot by popping into the frame with their goofiest expressions.
I took another plunge (hey, I don’t like change) and combined the two. I’d blog about photography when the mood struck, and post all my silly stories in-between.
To my surprise, I began to gain readers like never before! Turns out, people liked the variety and would visit more because of it. Those looking for photography-related content could still find those things (thank WordPress for categories and tags), and those looking for random life-moments still had those… and some stumbled across photos they liked and became clients!
I learned a few tricks to make everything relevant.
Even though everything on my blog is categorized somehow, I discovered that I could advertise my photography services just about everywhere… without being pushy or annoying my readers.
I started adding photos to most posts, even those not about photography. A small link to my photo website accompanies each picture, and those who just want to read aren’t interrupted. Those who like the pictures can click for more.
A small mention of picture-taking can be turned into a hyper-link easily, that will take people to more photo-related posts. Linking to previously published posts takes them to even more places where my photos, stories, and contact info are prominent.
See, you don’t have to specifically blog about what you’re selling… write about something fun and semi-related. That one small link is all you need.
Any business can do this!
Selling beef jerky? You can blog about cows, health food, great snacks for vacations, or spices… and manage to keep your readers entertained without straying completely off-topic.
Trying to launch a massage service? There are plenty of topics you can entertain readers with, including benefits of massage, health, history, and news in the industry.
There was a blog post about toilet paper that went viral a couple weeks ago, so rest assured that anything can be made interesting enough to blog about!
Don’t forget to connect everything!
Again, it doesn’t matter what your business is or what you blog about. Just make sure you connect the two.
Mention your business in your blog, and mention your blog posts on your website. Use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to attract people to both.
Just to make a point, here would be a great place to say something along the lines of “would you like to see some great photos? Check out my photography website at…”
According to a Netcraft survey completed in March of 2012, there are over 644 million active websites globally.
What this means is that the competition for readers is fierce. The pool of likely candidates in any given search is in the millions. At which point, your site will get a few seconds of consideration – as the searcher decides if they want to click on yours or the next one. Then, if the do choose you, you get another few seconds to make an impression before they go back to the original search and try another.
This all happens in a matter of a few minutes. It seems unjust, with all of the heart and soul you put into your business and in creating a website that expresses who you are and what your business represents. It almost feels like a personal rejection.
It’s not. Don’t take it personally. This is the way business is done in a globally connected world. To succeed, you need to speak to your customer’s only – not everyone who does a Google search. Your content must address their unique questions, issues and concerns. It must be presented in a manner that eliminates everyone else form the equation and establishes you as the authority on the subject and the answer to their need. You have to do all of the heavy lifting – think of everything the searcher might look for and have it ready for them when they arrive. To survive, it has to be easy on the client or they will move on in a hurry.
Whether is be a blog or a website, follow these guidelines for creating web content that works as hard as you:
1. Know Your Audience – before your write a single word, know exactly whom you are talking to. Visualize the “ideal” client and clarify their background, needs, demands, challenges and questions as they pertain to your product or service. Then write everything as if you were speaking directly to this person.
2. Keep it Conversational – Everything you write should be with conversational, informative, and friendly tone. Remember, you are the expert, sharing your wisdom with inquiring minds. Write as if your customer is right in front of you, asking your advice regarding their needs.
3. Client Needs Come First – Visitors to your website have come looking for information, knowledge and answers. Your content should be benefit driven from your client’s perspective.
4. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) – Don’t assume that your visitor’s have any particular knowledge of your business or product. Content should use words and phrases that are familiar to your potential customer and avoid industry jargon only you understand. Write one idea per paragraph and give them the answer early – then expand on it.
5. Avoid the Hype – Avoid the use of superlatives (the best, the most effective, etc.) when describing your products and services. This should not be an advertisement. They want to get your input then make a decision for themselves – no pressure, no hard sell.
6. Be Relevant – Everything should have meaning and significance to your reader – they want what they came for and care little about anything else. This is also significant regarding your search engine results. Every month Google bots crawl all known websites – cataloging, filing and organizing key words and phrases. This information is used when a user types in a Google search – these keywords are scanned for relevance and used to serve up the “best” possible results to answer the searchers request. Your content should be communicated in a concise manner, including as many keywords as possibly, yet still written for a reader. Don’t just string together keywords – this might generate a search results but it will gain you no readers.
There seems to be a dual challenge – to be found via an Internet and to engage the reader in hopes of building a relationship. These two outcomes are not at odds with each other – nor are they easily accomplished. Your content tells people who you are and is a tremendous means way to help clients find you and to building a relationship with them. By following these simply guidelines you will be well on your way to building a site that works as hard as you do to grow your business.