Search Engine Optimization began in the early 1990’s and consisted primarily of webmaster-provided information like meta tags and index files. Meta tags are keyword tags that a webmaster would insert into the HTML code area of a website so that search engines could index a website’s page. This process was found to be un-reliable because the keywords that a webmaster chose could prove to be an inaccurate representation of a websites actual content. Similar findings were reported with index files. These type of Search Engine Optimization methods resulted in incomplete, inaccurate and inconsistent data that allowed a website to rank higher than it should. It also created havoc for web-users because if they were doing a search on a subject, their search result list would include irrelevant searches. In short, this type of Search Engine Optimization did this:

1. Web-surfer types in House Paint into the search box.
2. 10 websites links appear on their search result list.
3. 6 of those websites have information on House Paint.
4. 4 of those websites do not have any information on House Paint.

The 4 websites without House Paint information landed on the web-surfer’s search result list because hidden behind the website, inside HTML code, input by a crafty webmaster, were meta tags that included the keywords, House Paint.

Search Engine Optimization Evolves

Keyword Density was also used as a Search Engine Optimization tool. Dishonest webmasters would stuff their website pages with keyword rich content that resulted in unrelated search results too.

In order to address Search Engine Rank abuse, Search Engines responded by developing complex algorithms that would index websites in a variety of ways. The hope was that this would make the World Wide Web a safe and trusted resource of information for web surfers.

By 2004, Search Engines reported that they had created algorithms that used a wide range of factors to rank websites. Google and Yahoo! have never disclosed what those factors are, but it’s been reported that Google uses more than 200 different signals in their algorithms. This has forced SEO providers to work hard and constantly study different approaches to Search Engine Optimization in order to offer effective services to their website clients.

Late 2009 Real-Time Search was introduced in an effort to make search results timely and relevant. With Social Media Sites and Blogs growth in popularity, this lead search engines to change their algorithms to use factors that allowed fresh content to rank quickly within search results. This translates to meaning that today’s Search Engine Optimization methods should include real-time, constantly re-freshed content that is timely and relevant.

Types of Search Engine Optimization Techniques

There are two main types of SEO Techniques and they are called, White Hat and Black Hat and are described below.

White Hat SEO

• Uses techniques Search Engines recommend as good design.
• Produces results that last a long time.
• Uses techniques that conform to Search Engine guidelines.
• Does not use deception to achieve index ranking.
• Ensures that the content Search Engines index and rank is the same content users see.
• Creates content for users not Search Engines.
• Creates content that is easily accessible/readable to the spiders.
• Does not try to cheat, game or outsmart the algorithm.
• Offers effective marketing by delivering quality content.
• Is transparent through its exposure.

Black Hat SEO

• Uses techniques Search Engines do not approve of.
• Employs SEO factors that Search Engines attempt to minimize the effect of.
• Uses Spamdexing tactics like link forms, keyword stuffing and article spinning.
• Tries to improve PageRank through the use of deceptive tactics.
• Uses hidden techniques like coloring text similar to background color so it’s invisible to the user.
• Promotes cloaking which is offering different pages than what the user requested.
• Uses techniques that force a Search Engine to reduce a website’s ranking, or ban or eliminate a website from it’s database.

Whether you’re a business, organization or individual website-owner it’s important to know what to look for when optimizing your online presence. The key to unlocking the door to Search Engine Optimization, includes using techniques that Search Engines recommend as good design. It’s highly recommended to strive to conform to Search Engine guidelines by using transparent practices. It’s not wise to try and  outsmart, game or deceive a mathematical process like an algorithm because it can force a website to be banned. Results that last a long time include creating high quality content that is easily accessible and readable to the spiders. By focusing on the user and their needs, website owners automatically ensure that the content they post on their website receives a high rank index on all Search Engines.

We welcome new ideas and you might inspire us for our next blog post! Share your thoughts and tips by posting comments for us. Thanks for reading!

By Sara Hassler

There are two kinds of methods to selling most anything—Hard-selling and Soft-selling. Typically sales people are thrust into a mode of thinking that the Hard-sell technique works and that the Soft-sell method is too flimsy to close a deal. The fact is that Hard-selling does not work because it has no finesse. When a sales person goes straight to the point to sell their product, they are simply telling their prospective buyer that they should buy their product. This type of approach will usually turn a buyer off and negate a sale.

By taking a close look at how the Hard-sell doesn’t work and how well Soft-selling works, a copy writer can take this information and apply it to how they write sales copy, work on ad campaigns and involve their clients in the learning curve of effective copy verses ineffective copy.

Here are a few great points to remember when working on creative materials that involve sales copy:

1. People do not appreciate being sold to.

The Hard-sell approach usually brings the worst out in people. Human nature dictates that when aggressive behavior is displayed, it provokes the receiver to be aggressive in defense of themselves. This is what brings a negative result to both the sales person and the potential buyer.

To apply this to ad copy that works, don’t be tempted to use aggressive sales copy that pushes the hot buttons of your potential buyers. Instead offer sales copy that promotes a positive response.

2. Hard-sales techniques intimidates people.

Buyers that feel intimidated have less interest in making a purchase. Prospective buyers begin to realize that they have negative feelings about the sale, and will transfer that negativity onto the company who is trying to sell to them. If buyers do not like the sales person a company hires, they will not be able to feel good about the company.

Apply this to writing great sales copy by offering tips, advice. Explain how the product/service you’re selling will ease the stresses on their business or how it can improve their life/goals.

3. Hard-selling sounds desperate to others.

This will put off a potential buyer. Buyers begin to wonder why a company/person is desperate and this creates suspicion. This feeling of suspicion turns into mis-trust. Buyers who don’t trust a sales pitch are not likely to buy a product/service.

To write sales copy that will reach out and help buyers trust your product or service, offer key testimonials that assure your buyers that your product/company is a trusted resource, reliable and honest.

4. Hard-selling uses hype and other dishonest tactics.

Prospective buyers can see through hype. They are savvy and know that hype is not fact. Buyers don’t buy from sales tactics that push products/services without factual information.

Copywriters can add statistics and facts to their sales copy. By showing the bibliographical resource behind stats in ad copy, buyers will know that the information they are reading comes from honest trusted facts and not hype. This also builds trust between the buyer and seller.

5. Buyers need to find a reason to make a purchase.

Hard-selling does not allow any time to explain the benefits of the product or service. A sales person that is Hard-selling is using features to sell their product or service and not the benefits of the product/service. Benefits are what tells a customer that they should buy. There is only one question in the mind of any buyer — “What’s in it for me?” Hard-selling doesn’t answer this question for the buyer and as a result sales are usually lost.

Creative marketing copy should always include both features and benefits. Features will explain the product or service and by listing the benefits, buyers will know why they need the product/service.

6. Build a positive rapport with prospective buyers.

By building a relationship with a buyer a company or salesperson builds confidence in a buyer. When buyers have confidence they are likely to make a purchase on the first product or service and will also be encouraged to continue to buy more products and services. Hard-selling doesn’t build this rapport. If there is not a positive relationship initial sales and future sales are lost.

Creative staff can build rapport into their sales copy by helping potential buyers feel confident about the product or service they are promoting. Copy that builds confidence can be, proving how long a company has been in business and/or offering customer testimonials that promote the same products or services being sold. Story-telling or giving the background of how the company was founded or how a product or service was created is a great way to build a relationship with a potential buyer.

7. Soft-selling allows buyers to make their own decision.

When buyers feel empowered by the ability to make their own decision, they are more likely to make a purchase. Hard-selling strategies often dictate or tell a buyer they should make a purchase.

Advertising copy that promotes empowerment, offers ideas, creates a feeling of success for the buyer and promotes the qualities that a buyer is looking for in a product or service. Copywriters who focus on the most positive aspects of their product or service help buyers make the choice to purchase.

8. Soft-selling always outsells Hard-selling.

Persuasion works. Forcing a business or person into something they are unsure of does not. Hard-selling pushes a product or service at a buyer and doesn’t offer them the chance to decline the sale. Soft-selling offers a buyer a product or service by allowing them to choose to make the purchase.

Copywriters that apply a Soft-selling technique to their advertising copy use the power of positive persuasion in their writing. They can craft their ad copy to encourage a buyer to make a purchase instead of telling the horrors of what can happen if they decline the purchase. Encouraging copy can simply be letting a buyer know what they can look forward to after their purchase.

9. Soft-selling methods are more enjoyable to both the seller and buyer.

Soft-selling forces a salesperson to use more strategies. Building up a product can be done in a multitude of ways including talking to potential buyers. Getting to know a buyer builds relationships that equate to building sales.

Writers who want to incorporate Soft-selling methods into their marketing materials can create copy that speaks directly to their potential buyers. Asking questions and solving problems are some of the ways that words on paper speak to buyers.

10. Soft-selling Pre-sells a product or service.

Warming a buyer up for a sale builds a rapport and relationship with a person or business. In general people like to be introduced to something before they make a purchase.

Advertising copy that pre-sells a product or service before selling is in the hands of a copywriter or designer from the start. Pre-selling to a buyer is a basic introduction of the product or service and usually found in an opening statement or opening page of advertising material.

It’s clear to see the difference between the Hard-sell and Soft-sell techniques used in business. There is a general stereotype of what a pushy sales person using Hard-sell tactics looks like. Once this negative image is in the place of a buyers mind, it will prevent them from accepting a sale. Increase your sales and close more deals by using Soft-selling strategies and incorporating those same methodologies into your marketing materials. Remember your company’s first impression is a lasting one!

Good luck to all the copywriters who are working on marketing materials for clients. Choosing to use Soft-sell copy instead of Hard-selling copy that alienates buyers is one way to promote your clients products and services and a great way to earn more business on their next marketing project!

We welcome new ideas and you might inspire us for our next blog post! Share your thoughts and tips by posting comments for us. Thanks for reading!

By Sara Hassler

By studying the basic formula used for writing good sales copy you can fill your website, collateral materials and presentation copy with elements that are appealing, exciting and convert leads into sales. To get started follow these simple steps:

1. Identify Your Target Audience

Know your niche market and customize your sales copy to exactly what they’re looking for.

2. Perform Market Research

Learn about the needs of your target market by finding out what they need, like or dislike. This information will help your sales copy address your targets specific needs. It will also help to anticipate questions and objections your audience will have.

3. Craft an Attention-Grabbing Headline

Limp, lifeless, irrelevant and ineffective headlines clutter a message. It’s a turn off to read a headline that doesn’t address your target’s needs.

Examples are:

Poor Quality Headline:

Drain-Edge – Your Answer To All Your Plumbing Needs!

High Quality Headline:

Do You Have the Worst Plumbing Nightmare Ever Imagined?

Let Drain-Edge Take the Edge Off Your Mind by Helping You With a Low Cost and Easy Solution to Your Leaky Pipes, Busted Toilet or Cracked Septic Tank. Call Us Today for a Free Estimate, Budget Discount Rates and Fast Service!

By creating a headline that is highly relevant, simple and specific your target buyer will read on.

4. Establish Your Credibility

Detail your credentials and provide your target audience with information that makes you an authority.

Tell a story by explaining your business product or service.

Offer testimonials that are packed with positive results from satisfied customers. Make sure your testimonials are specific and describe exact benefits that your product or service provided. Include contact information for your testimonials so your potential buyer knows they come from real people or businesses you’ve serviced.

Add a guarantee to your product or service. A strong guarantee shows that you stand behind what your selling. Many businesses have reported, the longer your guarantee period is, the fewer returns there are.

5. State Benefits Not Features

One of the most commonly overlooked marketing mistakes is not knowing the difference between features and benefits. Sales copy must clearly state what the benefit of using your product or service is. Features are simply describing your product or service.

For example:

Feature:

Drain-Edge works hard to provide you and your home with carefree plumbing solutions.

Benefit:

Enjoy care-free plumbing solutions that put your mind at ease and let you live worry- free!

The basic rule is that a benefit answers the question “What’s in it for me?” By stating a benefit you are inviting your target audience to imagine using your product or service in order to take care of a problem they’re trying to solve.

 6. Format Easy To Read/Scan Copy

• Use bulleted lists
• Add sub-headings
• Create short, chunky paragraphs
• Emphasize important points with bold lettering, highlights or italics
• Use a plain font face that’s easy to read
• Compile relevant graphics and images to push your message
• Don’t clutter your message with too many graphic design elements
• Keeping your designs simple so  your message/sales copy stands out

7. Ask Your Target to Act

Promoting a call to action and encourage your target to act quickly—turn leads into sales.

Create special incentive programs that give your audience a reason to buy now rather than later. Limited time offers and limited supply can nudge a casual looker into a buyer. Coupons, discounts and special bonus offers  also motivate clients and customers to act quickly.

By making it clear what your audience can do to act, you are helping them choose to close the deal and buy your product or services. Motivational sales copy increases potential buyers to take advantage of a special program offer. This can result in a higher return on the time you invested in working on good sales copy.

It’s not too hard to follow the basics of writing good sales copy. The challenge is making the copy work for your target audience and their specific needs. Also consider the time of year and the current economic climate when choosing special promotional offers. Marketing and advertising is a delicate balance between being targeted, compelling and motivational. Good luck and enjoy creating your all-time best sales copy!

We welcome new ideas and you might inspire us for our next blog post! Share your thoughts and tips by posting comments for us. Thanks for reading!

By Sara Hassler

Create Set Work Time Zones

General Work Time

General work time can be a collection of basic tasks that include:

• Checking your email inbox
• Logging onto your freelance websites to check for new work opportunities
• Updating your social media networks and checking for updates from others
• Catching up on general phone calls

 Focused Work Time

This list of focused tasks might include:

• Shutting down all forms of outside communication
• Setting status alerts to busy or completely logging off websites
• Closing down pop-up alerts or audio notifications
• Working on projects that need your un-divided attention

 Break Time

Refreshing yourself during the workday with a break can include:

• Taking small short breaks in-between long periods of hard work.
• Finding time to decompress in order to re-focus on your work task.
• Indulging in reading the news, stretching or light physical activity.

 Control Your Notifications

Working independently without controls can lead to a troubled work schedule. By tracking the things that could potentially de-rail your workday, you’ll enjoy a more productive workday every day!

To ensure your daily success be sure to:

• It’s been well-documented that audio and visual alerts can create longer periods of distraction. Sound notifications are the easiest to control and the least disturbing. 
• Configure your notifications to be audio only. Use your standard volume controls to limit distracting alerts throughout the day.  
• Shut off visual notifications. This visual stimulation can cause longer distractions because they force a shift in visual focus on the screen.

Organize Your Time

• Batch process your workload by scheduling your tasks, timing them and sticking to a routine.
• Set specific times to read and respond to your email messages.
• Create a daily routine with a limited time frame to work on your social media networks or sign up for an automatic program that streams your updates across your social networks.
• Work on small tasks when you need a focus break and choose less mentally straining tasks like filing paperwork or other less complex work projects.
• Continue to work even when you need to re-gain your thoughts or re-focus. By staying in the work “groove” you might figure out the answer to the complex problem that you were previously stumped on!
• Formulate a list of rules with dates and length of time about when and how long you will be in need of general and focused work time.
• Ask for the help from family, friends and others to support your work ethic and provide you with the time you need to work independently in order to fulfill your obligations.

 These are just a few ways that you can increase your productivity as a freelancer and independent service worker. Whether you’re a graphic designer, consultant or virtual accountant, these basic work controls can help build rules and a healthy work routine for you. If you have been working outside of a structured office environment and have secrets of success to share please post a comment and share with others.

We welcome new ideas and you might inspire us for our next blog post! Share your thoughts and tips by posting comments for us. Thanks for reading!

By Sara Hassler

The Hartford Business Review recently published an article on their website by Warren Berger entitled Four Phases of Design Thinking . Warren Berger is the author of GLIMMER: How design can transform, business, your life, and maybe even the world (Penguin Press). He edits the online magazine GlimmerSite.com too. His article was so informative, we thought it was well worth our time to review how designers work to create successful innovative ideas.

Throughout the world of design, there are some shared behaviors that top designers follow in order to achieve significant breakthroughs. Second nature habits that were found to be common among expert designers and to their ability to transform an original idea into a successful innovation included; asking questions, caring, connecting and committing. If you’re a designer you will recognize these shared behaviors and if you’re looking for design work to be done, these are the steps that a top notch designer will most likely follow.

Designers Ask LOTS Of Questions

• Seasoned designers ask lots of questions.
• They work to raise questions in order to begin their design project.
• Designers strive to challenge the current reality or assumption in an industry.
• The creative mind works to learn the mainstream obvious and then figures out a way twist or morph it into an original idea that will turn into a successful innovative idea.
• A creative individual will often ask basic “why” questions that might seem naive and sometimes puts people on the defense.

When a designer asks why, they are really encouraging people to step back and reconsider old problems or practices that might be out of date. This gives the designer the ability to re-frame and steer thinking in a new direction. By striving to stretch the question of why to all facets of a project, they are able to rethink the basic fundamentals of a business. In the current economy and ever so volatile marketplace, this breeds innovation that gives birth to success.

A Great Designer Cares

• Designers do their best work by stepping out of the corporate bubble.
• They immerse themselves in the lives of their target market or audience.
• By observing and paying close attention to the customer they are trying to reach, they are able to dig out the consumer’s deep unspoken needs.
• Designers work hard to be present in people’s lives.

Lots of companies can say they care about their customer’s needs. Focus groups and questionnaires don’t really scratch the surface as to what makes an individual choose to buy a product. In order to reach a consumer on an emotional level, you have to empathize with them. This is the leverage that a good designer brings to the creative table. They strive to learn how their customers feel, how they think and how they live. By doing so, a seasoned designer learns what pushes a person to buy a product, join a marketing campaign, or become a faithful follower and consumer.

Designers Are Able To Connect

• A designer works to synthesize ideas.
• The creative thought process can take existing elements or ideas and combine them together in new ways.

Hiring a designer doesn’t always mean that a business will be forced into a new set of marketing materials or professional identity. It’s the job of a designer to also consider their clients current business elements and think laterally. Sometimes new ideas are not born fresh or invented from scratch. New ideas can be found by searching for new ways to combine current or older ideas. Designers do this by connecting them in a new way. They generate a new idea that is often comprised of scattered or mismatched ideas that didn’t seem to go together. This can be a shortcut to innovation. By combining previous ideas, this can help a business retain their original identity and brand, and simply strive for a new look, new message or re-tool their branded look to be more attractive to the public.

Designers Achieve Success Through Commitment

Designers are able to commit early to an idea.

They take original ideas and move them beyond imagination by giving them Form.

This Form makes an idea Real.

Designers are comfortable with putting an idea out into the marketplace when it’s young and imperfect.

A designer knows how to accept short-term failure.

Creative professionals have the ability to “fail forward”.

Some of the greatest designers have gone back to the design board more than once to tweak an idea into success. With their focus on commitment, the creative mind is often very comfortable with risk, more so than the average person is. They know that small failures are useful tools that provide a process for learning what needs fixing. In times of fast dynamic change, many companies need a confident designer on their team that can operate in a “test and learn” environment. In this type of work situation a designer will be required to create multiple or rapid prototypes. In design, the name of the game is often—Change it—Revise it — Until it STICKS!

Businesses and designers can look forward to forging a profitable partnership when they work towards a common goal. One way to do that is for the designer to explain what they will be doing, how they work their process and why they follow certain steps to achieve success. Through the use of an open line of communication, businesses can learn how to apply their designers behavioral habits to their own creative process. Being able to generate innovative and fresh ideas that  are attractive to consumers can push a business from hum-drum to sensational and victorious!

We welcome new ideas and you might inspire us for our next blog post! Share your thoughts and tips by posting comments for us. Thanks for reading!

By Sara Hassler

His words also tell us not to give up hope, whatever our personal obstacles, and to persevere with hope, kindness and intelligence.

Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words:

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

And, the words that could almost be the Oozil motto: “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”

Thanks, Dr. King, for making the world a better place.

By Elizabeth Kelly, with generous assistance from Dr. King