2. Online Copywriting eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Online Marketing www.quirk.biz/emarketingtextbook

3. Content is king

4. On the web, content needs to provide information to visitors engage with visitors convince visitors to take action convey brand ethos provide context to search engines and much more!

5. Online Copywriting Advertising call to action Website copy Email copy PPC advert copy News releases Articles

6. Online copywriting: copy that is read on a screen

7. Some useful concepts

8. Above the fold What can be seen without scrolling Can refer to websites and emails Anything above the fold is more likely to be seen Important information should be above the fold

9. Active vs Passive verbs Active verbs convey action or behaviour Should be used in a call to action Active: When you make a purchase… Passive: When a purchase has been made…

10. Features and Benefits Feature: an aspect of a product that provides benefit to users Benefit: the positive outcome for a user that a feature provides Focus on the benefits to appeal to your customers

11. Call to Action The words that encourage a prospect to take a particular action

12. Mass Customisation Tailoring content for many individuals The Internet has made mass customisation relatively inexpensive

13. Persona A character used to identify a group of visitors to a website

14. USP Unique Selling Proposition (or Point) What makes your product unique or different to your competitors’

15. Online copy needs to focus on your users

16. It should address their needs and solve their problems

17. So, the first step to online copywriting is to research your audience

18. Research your audience Who is my audience What actions do I want them to take? What information do they need in order to feel confident taking action? source: Future Now

19. Use this to establish personas NOT stereotypes Understand how your audience makes decisions –facts and figures –comparisons –emotional

20. Write to an audience of one

21. And make that copy easy for them to read.

22. Online copy needs to be easy to scan Use bulleted and numbered lists Short paragraphs Clear and concise headings Bold and italics for emphasis Descriptive link text

24. Let visitors be able to decide quickly whether to read further

25. It’s a good idea to learn some basic HTML

26. Short copy

27. Online, we often only have a limited space to attract attention and entice action.

28. Learn to use it well

29. Short copy is used: Banner and other display advertising PPC advertising Call to Action buttons and more!

30. You need to make good use of: Call to Action Features and Benefits Active and Passive verbs

31. Some tips for PPC advert copy Use keywords in the advert copy Use vanity URLs Use dynamic keyword insertion You can put a Call to Action in the advert copy Test, test, test

32. Long copy

33. Long copy is used Email newsletters Website content Blog articles News releases Online articles

34. Long copy uses short copy to get read Title Call to Action

35. Titles and Subject lines Inform readers if they would like to read further Can also show up in the SERPs Explicitly convey information

36. Which is more effective? Guide to online copywriting Ten steps to online copywriting that sells

37. Bear in mind People get hundreds of emails each day - why should they read yours? You need to convey value, relevance and sometimes urgency In about six words

38. Copywriting for SEO

39. Copy is read by people and by search engines

40. There is also copy in the code that is read by search engines (and is sometimes shown to people).

41. Page title Meta Description

42. Page title H1 Heading H2 Heading

43. First step is keyword research What keywords do my prospective customers use? What is the competition for those keywords? What is the volume of search traffic?

44. Guidelines for using keywords in the content Title tag: use the key phrase in the title Header tags: use in H1 tag, and in other H tags (H2, H3 etc) Body content: use three times, more if it makes sense! About 350 words of content.

45. Guidelines Bold: use tags around keyword Alt tag for image: use at least once to describe an image URL: use a URL rewrite so it appears in the URL Meta description: Use at least once

46. Guidelines Meta tags: use in the keywords to provide context Link anchor text: use when linking to the page, never from the page Domain name: if possible, use the key phrase in the domain name

47. Source: http://graphjam.com/2008/06/04/song-chart-memes- angry-for-bad-grammar/ Neologisms and Buzzwords

48. Know your audience Users dictate your copy

49. Social media means everyone can publish online Use neologisms and buzzwords where appropriate Be aware of your audience and your medium

50. Use free tools to test for readability http://www.harrymclaughlin.com/ SMOG.htmhttp://www.harrymclaughlin.com/ SMOG.htm http://flesh.sourceforge.net

51. Further readings? For further readings and case studies : www.quirk.biz/emarketingtextbook