Archive for July, 2009

By: Sally Ormond

Frequently I am asked by people to give them an analysis of their website copywriting. Again and again I see the same mistakes so I thought I’d write this post about it to help you review your own site.

Believe it or not, the appearance of your website text can actually have an impact on your sales. Its readability can affect your reader’s buying decision. Many companies place more importance on the design of their site than the words it contains – big mistake! It is the words that will sell not the graphics.

To give you a helping hand I have listed below 7 basics to make your website readable:

1. Easy to read

This covers everything from simple words and sentences to the colour scheme. Use a light coloured text on a light background and your copy will be unreadable; the same goes for using a bright coloured font on a dark background.

2. Attention grabbing

If you want to get their attention, use headlines. Make sure you work your keywords into the headings too. Break up your text with plenty of sub-headings. Not only will it make it more attractive on the screen (a huge block of text is a major turn-off) but they will also act as sign-posts so your reader can find the information that’s relevant to them.

3. Highlight your keywords

Emphasize words that are important to your reader by making them bold, italics or a different colour. Things like free, fast, free delivery and your key selling points.

4. Font size

Don’t use text that is either too small or too big. Save the larger text for your headings and sub-headings.

5. CAPS are bad

If you use all capital letters in your copy you’ll come across as unprofessional plus it’s very hard to read.

6. Spacing

A well spaced page of text is a readable page of text. Use plenty of white space, headings and sub-headings to signpost the important sections. Show your benefits as a bulleted list so they stand out. Whatever spacing format you use, make sure it’s consistent throughout your site.

7. Check and re-check

Breaking grammar rules can be very effective in sales writing, but sloppy spelling and punctuation isn’t. Mind you that’s not to say that your grammar can be sloppy – it should always be used correctly unless you are trying to get a point across. There is nothing worse than a website full of typos – it’s very unprofessional.

This list is by no mean exhaustive and I could go on for hours about. Take time out to review your website. It is your company’s online shop window. Review every section of text from its appearance to its factual content – is there too much detail or too little, are there any call to actions?

Your website shouldn’t be viewed as an optional extra in your marketing campaign. You don’t have one just because it’s nice to have or because everyone else has one. Your website is there to sell – use it.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

About The Author

More details about copywriting can be found at www.briarcopywriting.com and www.freelancecopywritersblog.com.

By Tammy Embrich

Many of the big shot affiliate marketing gurus will tell you they make thousands upon thousands of dollars every single day. You will find tons of sites generously strewed across the net that promise you these kind of profits. Yes, I’m talking about the “Get Rich Quick” schemes. The million dollar question, do any of them work?

Let me just flat out tell you, No! They do not. Now I do believe that a lot of marketers make thousands in a month, maybe even within a week. But, there is no such thing as “get rich quick.” If the famous quote of the day rang true, wouldn’t we all be rich by now? Need I say more? However, you can earn a decent income with affiliate marketing, but not without time, patience, and hard work. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

When you join an affiliate program, you automatically have access to banners, buttons, and other tools to work with to earn your commissions. Many affiliates think that all you have to do is simply place these graphics on a site and sit back and watch the profits roll in.

Now, any successful marketer will tell you that’s a lazy man’s way of marketing and also relatively unprofitable. There is a considerable amount of time and hard work that goes along with success. You have to put your whole self into it to get something out of it.

It’s a simple equation: Patience + Hard Work = Success

Let’s explore with the following one dozen tips

* Don’t put all your affiliate eggs into one basket. Work with various different networks, not just one.

* Write rich content articles that tactfully lead to a call to action with a well-written resource box.

* Promote your affiliate products along with your websites on forums, newsletters, ezines, article directories, blogs, and other social networks.

* In nearly every case, text link ads are much more effective than buttons or banners.

* Be consistent with your marketing efforts. Remain motivated, challenged, and always ready to tackle a full day of hard work.

* Be patient and don’t expect success overnight. Remember, most forms of advertising takes time to be successful.

* Take the time to interact with other successful affiliates on message forums and exchange strategies, ideas, and tips. The idea is to consistently increase your networking connections, and thus establishing a professional business rapport with potential buyers.

* Don’t join affiliate networks that require a fee. Most of those are scams. There are plenty of free ones out there. Always do your research to weed out scams.

* Promote products and services that you truly endorse. If you really enjoy and like what you’re marketing, you’ll be more inclined to succeed.

* Keep a careful track record of where your affiliate traffic is coming from. There are many free web stat programs and ad trackers available for your use. Once you see where sales and traffic are coming from, keep up the momentum.

* Start a blog and write reviews and articles about the products you’re selling. Then start participating and commenting on other blogs in your same niche.

* Build yourself a search engine friendly website as an anchor for all your text links, graphics, and articles. If you need help with this, find a good web designer, it will be well worth it. Now you certainly don’t need a website to succeed at affiliate marketing. But a website aids immensely in branding yourself in the affiliate industry. And the end result is more profits for you.

Article Written By Tammy Embrich

You can find more articles, work at home job leads, and other business resources at Work At Home Jobs.

Also visit Tammy on her Work At Home Forums, where you will find more job leads, work at home articles, home business ideas, and more. A place to get to know others and network.

By Elaine K. Stephen 

The #1 ingredient to work at home Mom success is research, research, and research some more!

All too often Moms want all the answers handed to them all at once and fall prey to one experts advice. What is an expert anyway? My dictionary says skills and knowledge derived from training or experience. It does not say someone who knows everything, who will lead you into success for free and will never unintentionally lead you astray. The truth of the matter is, there is just to much information for anyone person to have it all and while experience aids us in making decisions concerning our business, just when you think you’ve learned all there is to know about a subject, things change. The same products weren’t sold in 1950 as they were in 1960 or will they be today. Times change, fashions change, technology changes, therefore business changes. I am not successful with my web site because of any one Internet “expert’s” advice. I am successful with my web sites by using one or a few pieces of advice from many different Internet “experts”.

The #2 ingredient to work at home Mom success is trial and error, trial and error, continuous trial and error!

All too often Moms think once they have their business all set up, the orders will start flowing in, their pockets will start filling up and it’s all smooth sailing from then on. Not true. I launched a beautiful web site full of beautiful products, but I wasn‘t getting orders. I knew I had to get my name out there, but how? I needed to get results in the search engines and advertise. I did research, I made changes to my site, I located many avenues for advertising my site and I monitored the results. I did the same time and time again. Did every change I made work? No. Did some? Yes. Now my web site is profitable, but I will continue to monitor my results and make changes when necessary.

The #3 ingredient to work at home Mom success is work, work harder and then work some more!

All too often Moms believe they will work less hours with their own business than when going out of the home to work. Not true. Your own business requires more hours. Hours to learn, hours to apply what you learned, hours to actually provide your product or service, hours for accounting, the list goes on and on. However, there certainly are advantages of working from home. Being at home with small children or home when your children return from school, working the hours and days you prefer not your employers, no travel time, traffic, save money on gas, uniforms or expensive office clothes and more. Personally, I find having lunch at home with my 5 year old son much more enjoyable then sitting in a business lunch room with an hours old sandwich!

The #4 ingredient to work at home Mom success is don’t give up!

All too often Moms give up because they are not an overnight success. National statistics say it takes a new businesses 3-5 years to become profitable and most businesses close up shop before they have even worked at it for a full year.

Put it all together and what do we have, research, hard work, trial and error and don’t give up! I truly believe that God wants us to succeed. He simply asks us to plant the seeds of our business, harvest the grain that is available to our business, prepare the flour for our business, mix the dough in our business and bake the foundation of our business before we get to savor the bread of our business, which is our success!

About The Author

Elaine Stephen is a work at home Christian Mom and the Sole Proprietor of the Inspirational Gift Gallery storesonline.com/site/inspirationalgift an online store that sells affordable gifts that express God’s word, Christ’s sacrifice and inspire Christian love, comfort and joy. Elaine also enjoy writing for her Inspirational Christian Stories, Poems, Gifts blog. Come be inspired or submit your own inspirational writings at inspirationalgifts.blogspot.com.

By Lara Velez

Social Networking is extremely popular right now. It brings worlds together with a few mouse clicks and a keyboard…or even your phone! We can build friendships with people thousands of miles away. Social Networking is also something that can also be beneficial for businesses.

Tips to Use Social Networking for Business

Twitter.com. Twitter is one of the most popular forms of social networking. It is like having an IM with the world. You can use Twitter to promote your business, self or service. The key though is to be active and unselfish. You cannot make it all about you. Relationships must be built. People on Twitter are like the rest of the Internet world…they despise spammers! Do not DM links or self promos. Save that for your live tweets. I would suggest 1 self promo tweet for every 7-10 non business tweets.

Ning and others like it. Ning.com is a social networking platform that is usually categorized in different niches. For example, you may find a network for writers. Writers will go there and discuss their crafts and share what they are doing. The cool thing about places like ning is that each “member” of the network gets their own page. On their page they can have links and other self promoting things for their business, product or service. Members also have their own blogs that other members can come and read. Again, you must be careful not to be labeled a spammer. Join the community and build relationships. Stay in your niche and never make it all about you.

Facebook. You can get similar results with MySpace. However, for a more professional look and mature audience, Facebook is the best choice for business promotion. Create a personal page and be sure and add your link. Find people you know and people to network with. You can also create a page specifically for your business. Facebook is another way that you have a platform to promote you and what you do. As with anything though, do not be a spammer. Build relationships.

Blogging. Blogging can also be a form of social networking if you are doing it correctly. You can use your blog to promote what you do 100%. Make it interesting and fun though. Build friendships with other bloggers. Link exchange. Comment….no spamming…actual involvement type comments on other blogs. Before you know it you will build a readership and clients for your business. Bloggers are very loyal to their own. If you do it right and make it less about you and more about building relationships, you are more likely t find success with blogging.

There are also various linkage sites and many more ways to get in the world of Social Networking. Google it. The point is to get involved. Participate and build relationships. Oh, and NEVER spam.

One last thing I would like to mention…all the social networking types listed above is FREE! You can join free and start your own for free. F-R-E-E! What better way to promote your business, product or service??

Copyright © Lara Velez, Home Business Resource Directory, All Rights Reserved

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and Author’s bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE! You may NOT use any no follow tags!

About the Author: Lara Velez is a Christian wife and homeschooling Mother of two. She is a published writer (homebusinessresourcedirectory.com/blog), web designer, and Mom of Faith (momsoffaith.com). She enjoys cooking, writing, scrapbooking, and web design.