Yes? Then like many businesses, you’re probably asking yourself this question: “How do I a choose a decent copywriter?”

It’s a tricky business. Lots of copywriters can write websites, brochures, leaflets – anything you ask them – and produce writing that you’ll love to read.

But do your customers want to read it? And if they do, will it make any difference?

That’s why you need to choose a copywriter who has been trained in the art of selling things. Writers who know how to turn readers of your marketing materials into customers.

If you already know a copywriter who can do this, be sure to hang on to them. If you don’t, your best bet is to go straight to a copywriting agency.

Copywriting agencies are perfect for businesses because they…

• train their copywriters to write well and to sell better
• make fewer mistakes – at least two copywriters go through your copy with a fine-tooth comb
• provide a quicker turnaround – you won’t wait weeks for your stuff
• have more experience – they’ve written about hundreds of different businesses before

That last point’s a really important one. When you go to a freelance writer, they’ll often have narrow specialisms. But at an agency, you will benefit from copywriters who’ve written about flooring to manicures, crystal therapy to chauffeur-driven cars and toothbrushes to confined space safety equipment.

So, those are the reasons you should choose a copywriting agency. Why should you come to The Copywriting Agency?

Quite simply, because we’re really interested in learning what businesses do. We like to listen, we like to learn, we do our research, and we never send you a bill until you are completely happy with every word we’ve written.

And remember – those words sell.

Try us today – call us on 01206 266 826 or jot your name and phone number into our contact form. We’ll get right back to you.

Sure, I might click onto the Topshop site from time to time, but then I always head to my online bank to see if I can actually afford to buy anything. The best websites, though, have me reaching for my credit card without a second thought.

So what makes them different?

I think it’s a combination of things. It’s the professional way they’re presented, the easy-to-find-things structure and – more importantly – the way they’re written.

Product descriptions ‘\-” appealing and revealing

I’ve visited loads of clothing sites, and I’d say most don’t worry too much about what’s written on them – they let the pictures do the selling.

But the truth is, a healthy product description down the side of what I’m about to buy will suddenly make the item even more appealing than it already was. It makes an £80 coat not just something to keep you warm over the up-and-coming winter months, but a luxurious, cosy, stylish, ever-so-slightly-sexy, might-as-well-be-made-of-gold treasure that I would DIE to own.

So I normally decide to own it.

Think about it. If you’re debating whether to buy a dress, book a fancy weekend away or are just thinking of buying a DVD, that extra bit of persuasive writing, that little gentle push in the right direction leads to a sale.

It gives you a reason to buy, tells you how it’ll benefit you, and – if it’s a good one – makes you think “Why not?”

I’ve seen it happen.

A watertight way to make sales with product descriptions

My parents are keen scuba-divers. Well my Dad is… Mum just snorkels on the top. But… the point I’m trying to get at is that we’re going on holiday soon and she needs a new mask.

So she got looking online and found two that she quite liked – both with a funky design and decent straps… everything you’d want out of a little mask. She went for one and not the other, even though they were very similar.

Why?

Well, the one she went for had a description about being comfortable, about how the straps were easily adjusted, and about how the soft lining around the mask meant it wouldn’t dig into your cheeks and leave those awful marks. Rather more importantly, it said it was watertight. The mask she rejected had the price – and nothing else.

It’s a simple example, but it’s a very good example of how online copy will boost your sales more than a picture alone. Put two similar items next to each other, and use words to advertise only one – and that’s the one that’ll sell faster than the other.

I can’t think why more businesses don’t do it? Can you?

If so, now’s the time to act. Our parent company, Ben Locker & Associates Limited, is looking for three new copywriters to join its fast-growing copywriting agency in Colchester, Essex.

Can you see yourself as…

• A versatile copywriter with the ability or potential to write sharp copy that helps businesses to sell? If you’ve got an interest in marketing, then even better – we want you to help market our services to major clients.

Or…

• One of two new fashion copywriters? These are entry-level posts that will give you a valuable first foothold in the copywriting industry. You’ll mostly be writing online descriptions for a major online fashion retailer, but we’ll also train you to write great copy for a range of other formats and clients.

We’re offering a salary in the region of £18-£20,000 for the single copywriter post, and one of £16-£18,000 for the fashion copywriter positions.

We’re a young company, though, and we’re having a lot of fun as we grow – so if you’re really good at the job, there’ll be opportunities for rapid promotion.

To apply, simply follow the instructions in these job descriptions:

» Copywriter job description

» Fashion copywriter job description

But hurry – the closing date for applications is 9th August 2010, with interviews shortly afterwards. So don’t leave your application until the last minute, or you may miss out…

It’s not a fancy word.

It’s one we use every day.

And it’s a word that grabs people’s attention because they know you’re talking directly to them.

Have you guessed it? Yes. It’s…

‘You’.

Sales writing: it’s all about YOU

If you’ve visited more than half a dozen business websites, you’ll have spotted that there’s nothing that companies like more than to talk about themselves.

It’s a mistake. Take a look at this website for a double glazing firm.

Oh dear.

Let’s look at this copy from a potential customer’s point of view.

Your old sash windows are getting old and starting to rot. You need new windows, but you haven’t got a clue what sort you want, or whether there are any building restrictions that limit the choices open to you. You want a firm that can answer your questions and help you reach an informed decision.

Then you find the website above.

Is this how you read?

If you read it all (unlikely), these are the thoughts that will probably run through your mind.

1. [Paragraph 1] I didn’t come here for a history lesson.
2. [Paragraph 2] So what? Can you help me find the windows I need?
3. [Paragraph 3] That’s nice for you. But can you help me?
4. [Paragraph 4] I don’t care how you’re seen. What can you do for me?
5. [Paragraph 5] You’ve got no reputation with me until I’ve seen what you can do. What can you do for me?
6. [Paragraph 6] Registration number? Why not list the car licence plates of all your staff?

If you’re like most people, this is how you’ll really react.

1. [Paragraph 1] I didn’t come here for a history lesson.
2. [Paragraph 2] So what? Bye… I’m off to find a company that can help me.

Stop talking about yourself, or lose sales

You might be proud of your business, but most people couldn’t care less how long you’ve been going, or things you’ve done for other people – unless they directly benefit them as customers.

They want to know how you can help them.

This double glazing firm understands this. It’s unlikely that this copy is professionally written, but it’s many times more effective than the other company’s pitch.

Compare the number of times each website uses ‘you’ and ‘your’!

The copy above works better not only because it talks directly to you, but because it solves problems for you and provides reassurance. For example:

• ‘giving you total peace of mind’
• ‘you can relax – you’re in safe hands’
• ‘care and attention is given to your home’.

I know which company I’d rather buy from. And, when it comes to selling on the web, I bet I can guess which of the two is the most successful.

So, next time you write anything about your business, ask yourself this question.

Am I writing about my customer, or am I writing about me?

Because, if you’re writing about yourself, the chances are your customer will go elsewhere.

Even if your business was founded in 1836.

Of course, it can be well-nigh impossible to get the accounts department of a vast corporation to cough up in time. If it’s policy to pay in six weeks, that’s exactly what these firms do. Getting them to change is like asking an oil tanker to swerve round a jellyfish. It won’t happen.

It’s different with smaller businesses. They tend to get their accounts done by human beings. As such, you can appeal to their better nature – and get paid quicker. Here’s how…

Rethink your invoice ‘\-’” and give clients a reason to pay quickly

Here’s a quick story to explain what I mean.

Over the last few months we’ve been managing a huge copywriting project for a well-known online retailer. It’s a company that sells thousands of products on its website, and it needs accurate, persuasive descriptions for every single one.

We’ve been writing them – with help from some excellent freelancers.

Every freelancer invoices us for the work they have done, and most write something like this at the bottom of their document:

Terms: 30 days

Then a new freelancer helped us out. Her invoice read:

Thank you for paying within 30 days

Of course – talk directly to the accounts official! You’re much more likely to get paid if you appeal to their better nature (if they have one).

So I asked the freelancer how quickly she normally got paid. Her answer:

Most people pay within the week

Not exactly split testing, but I know roughly how long it takes our clients to pay us. And on Monday we’re changing the way we add our terms on the bottom of each invoice.

I’ll let you know whether it makes a difference. Why don’t you give it a try yourself?

If you missed it, you can read it on this page.

In a nutshell, the idea is to put the most important heading on your page in a <h1> tag, then put other headings in <h2> or <h3> tags, depending on their importance.

Easy enough. But as Adrian commented, it’s important not to get headings mixed up with page titles.

So here’s a bit about the difference between the two, plus some tips for page titles that will win you extra visitors.

What’\'” s the difference between web page headings and titles?

Quite simply, page headings (<h1>, <h2> tags etc) appear on your actual web page.

Page titles on the other hand appear in the top of your browser. If you look at the top of yours now, you’ll see something like this:

That text appears at the top of the browser because it has been put in a <title> tag. Like this:

<title>Business SEO Tip (2): Precision Page Titles | The Copywriting Agency</title>

So far so good.

Now I’m going to show you how to avoid making one of the biggest mistakes made by businesses on the web.

Never put your business name first in a page title

You may be – rightly – proud of your business name, but your customers are far more interested in what you have to offer.

Let’s invent a printing firm. Its name is Buchan and Stevenson Limited and it’s based in a factory somewhere in the Lincolnshire Fens.  It offers digital and lithographic printing, and a huge number of products – like leaflets, flyers, posters, brochures, reports and so on.

It wants to use the web to sell to customers across the UK, so most of its prospects will never have heard the name ‘Buchan and Stevenson’ in their lives.

That’s why, on each website page, the company needs to first emphasise what’s on offer – and only then (if at all) mention who’s offering it.

This would be a wasted page title:

Buchan & Stevenson Limited, Lithographic and Digital Printers, Spillerby, Lincolnshire | Leaflet Printing

Why? Who’\'” s going to read a page title?

Your page title is important for these reasons:

1. It appears in the search engine results pages
2. It can help search engines rank your pages better
3. Readers need to understand what you’re offering, and instantly spot what they’re looking for

Let’s return to our example. When you type ‘leaflet printing’ into Google, you get a results page that looks like this:

As you can see, each page has the relevant keywords ‘leaflet’ and ‘printing’ in the page title. Buchan and Stevenson wouldn’t stand a chance of being listed – and even if they did, the words ‘leaflet printing’ would have been missed off because their page title was too long.

So, if Buchan and Stevenson were still dead-set on including their company name on each page, a better title would have been:

Leaflet Printing | Leaflet Printers, Buchan & Stevenson

It’s clear to both readers and search engines that this is a page about leaflet printing. So, when you or your web company adds titles to your pages, it’s a good idea to remember this mantra.

Customers need to know what you offer, long before they care what you’re called.

The extra search engine traffic comes in handy too. Try it.

It would be almost impossible to read – you wouldn’t be able skim the page and find what interested you.

But did you know that many websites make a similar mistake? Even though it might not look like it at first glance…

Is it time to check your headings?

Website designers lay out text a bit like a newspaper. At least they should do.

To do this, they use HTML tags called heading tags.

The most important, a bit like a headline, is the <h1> tag. The next most important is the <h2> tag. Then it’s the <h3>, <h4> and so on.

Here’s a good example – a list of the headings used on the home page of this website.

You’ll see that the headings follow a logical pattern. They not only help readers find what they are looking for, but they drop a heavy hint to the search engines what the page is about.

That’s why it’s a good idea to use them.

Headings for readers and search engines

Sometimes web designers don’t use heading tags. At first glance, there will appear to be headings – but when you peek at the website structure, you find they’ve gone AWOL.

If you don’t mark up headings with <h1>, <h2> or <h3> tags, human readers may be able to find their way about the page, but search engines have a harder job.

So make sure your site uses them. It makes good business sense.

An easy way to check your website headings

So, does your own website use header tags properly? There’s an easy way to find out, and you don’t need any technical knowledge.

If you use Firefox to browse the web, download this toolbar. If you use Chrome, download this one.

Restart your browser, navigate to your website and choose the option ‘Information/ View document outline’ from the new toolbar. In Chrome it looks like this:

When you select ‘View Document Outline’, a new browser window or tab will open. Let’s use the Firefox toolbar to look at Apple’s UK site.

Simple, and to the point. Neither human nor search engine could fail to work out what that page is about.

Why don’t you give it a try?