Rebecca Writes © 2022
Reviews are important. Studies show that 93% of customers will look at reviews before they buy this year. So even when it comes to the smallest purchases, you want to make sure your customers are saying great things about your products.
B2C companies tend to use reviews to give other potential customers more confidence in their product.
But when you’re selling to other businesses — sometimes asking them to invest a lot of money in your service — it takes more than a few sentences to convince them that your solution is the right one for them.
Before they buy, businesses want to see results. That's why you need case studies. Case studies help you show that you have proven experience in helping other companies achieve their goals, so they’re confident you can help them reach theirs.
Case studies are articles that show how you’ve helped a certain client or customer overcome a challenge and achieve success. They usually consist of at least 4 parts:
Case studies show potential clients that you really can do what you say you do. They’re different from other types of marketing because they’re perceived as being more independent and factual than, for example, your website copy.
Reviews and testimonials are typically short-form snippets left by individual customers.
The key difference is that testimonials are almost always positive, as they’re specifically requested by a business from a customer they know they have a good relationship with. Reviews can be more mixed, as they’re usually collected and displayed by an independent site such as TrustPilot.
Case studies, meanwhile, show the impact of your product or service on another business. They’re usually much longer than reviews, often running into hundreds or even thousands of words.
That’s because businesses are often looking for solutions to more complex challenges. In a case study, you can outline the challenges in detail, so other potential clients can relate to their struggles and see how your solution solved them. Potential clients also like to see facts and figures in a case study, such as the amount of money saved by switching to your solution.
You can have the best sales patter in the universe, but your opinion is worth a whole lot less to your potential client than that of your past clients. That’s why you need case studies.
Case studies give your product value in the real world of business. They have the power to nudge a potential client towards your product when they’re making their final purchasing decision.
Used effectively, case studies can:
Case studies can sometimes be a little dry. After all, unless you’re selling the next iPhone or a flying car, your product may not be the most obviously exciting thing to ever hit the market.
But a great case study finds the human element that makes your product exciting. Is it going to save staff time, so they can get home earlier and see their families? Does it boost productivity, meaning managers can give their staff well-earned bonuses at the end of the year? A great case study finds the story within the stats, and presents it as a compelling narrative.
Other signs of a good case study include actual results — the more specific the better — as well as images and videos that illustrate the story.
These examples will give you an idea of what a good case study looks like. Not every business is going to win contracts with the likes of Cadbury, but the point of a case study isn’t to impress with your previous clients — it’s to show how committed and proficient you are in providing your solution.
Why it’s a great case study:
Why it’s a great case study:
Why it’s a great case study:
Because case studies are relatively long, and often use explicit data around ROI and savings from clients, it can feel like an imposition to request them.
But if you’ve done a great job for your client, there’s no reason for them to turn you down — so the best thing to do is ping them a no-obligation email asking if they’d be interested in providing the information you need to craft a great case study.
If (when!) they agree, be ready with a list of questions you can send straight over to them. It’s a good idea to do this while it’s still fresh in their mind, so they can whizz the answers straight back over to you before they get stuck into the next thing. If you’re not sure which questions you should ask, download this free list of 10 case study questions for your clients.
Thanks to the rise of platforms like TikTok, video is a massive format in 2022. It can work well for case studies, as it means your potential clients can hear your current clients’ experiences straight from the horse’s mouth. It also adds expression, which can’t be underestimated when you want to highlight the human element.
But there’s still a lot to be said for written case studies. You can optimise text for SEO, helping draw more people to your website. It’s also much cheaper to create a written case study than a video case study. A video with low production value may do more harm than good when it comes to marketing your business. Written case studies are much cheaper to create and showcase, as well as being more accessible in the workplace.
For best results, get the best of both worlds. Find a video production company or freelancer to help you make a professional-looking case study video. Then use this content to build an SEO-friendly webpage that highlights the challenge, solution and outcome for your client.
Get your first case study off to a flying start with these free downloads.
If you don’t have time to create your own case studies, a copywriter can help. Get in touch to find out more about how I create case studies for my clients.
Whether you’re struggling to find the right words to describe your product, or you need to put together a compelling business case to boost your marketing strategy, you’re here because you want to know if hiring a copywriter is the right move for your business.
If you want to achieve any, some, or all of the goals below, you’ll know a copywriter is the right way to go.
But to understand if a copywriter is right for your business, it’s important to understand what we actually do.
The hard-sell days are over. The internet means people can find independent reviews of all kinds of products, so they’re less likely to be duped into making impulsive or whimsical purchases. A good copywriter will convince your readers that your product or service is the right one for them using a softer, more informative approach.
Copywriting is all about giving your readers the information they need to make the right purchasing decision for them. By hiring a copywriter to create copy that connects with your audience, you can make more sales, get more followers, or show off your brand values — whatever you want to achieve, a copywriter can help.
A copywriter gets to the heart of your business and helps your readers understand who you are. No matter what your brand’s personality is, a good copywriter will find the right words to help it shine through. We write with authority, power, and just the right amount of persuasion.
Now you know what a copywriter does, here’s how hiring a copywriter can make your small business boom.
This is the number one reason to hire a copywriter to write for your website. Good copywriters understand the art of persuasion, without going all-out on the hard-sell. They’ll bring this to your web copy, helping you convert more website visitors to customers.
Many small business owners don’t have time to create and implement a full content marketing strategy — even though it can offer an incredible return on investment for companies with a small marketing budget. Hiring a copywriter — especially one with digital marketing experience, who can help you create a full content marketing strategy from scratch — is a great way to maximise your marketing budget, while saving yourself time.
If you often find yourself up against larger businesses, a copywriter can help you be competitive in your market. With a more professional tone of voice, you can give the impression that your business is more than a one-man-band. It’s a simple change that can help you win more clients. Plus, a great copywriter knows what language to use for your context and audience, helping you engage with your readers.
Improved SEO is the number one marketing goal of many small businesses. A huge 85% of global consumers shopped online in 2020, so it’s easy to see why. Copywriters conduct huge amounts of research before they embark on their writing, so they understand what people are searching for, and the best ways to reach them. With investment in time and the right copywriter, your website can climb to the top of Google, helping potential buyers come to you — rather than the other way around.
Hiring a copywriter is a surefire way to improve your search engine optimisation. Strong SEO is one of the best, most affordable ways to reach a larger customer base. While it can take a little while to start seeing the results of your SEO strategy, a copywriter will do all the right research to make sure your content has the best chance of ranking highly in Google. That means more site visitors, and more potential buyers.
Small business owners benefit from working with experts in their respective fields. From accountants to PAs, freelance experts are worth their weight in gold. If you’re looking for tips and tricks rather than a full copywriting service, many copywriters will offer a consultation service so they can share their expertise with you. From bid writing to blog writing, a copywriter can give you the guidance you need to give you the best possible results.
Any copywriter worth their salt knows that good copy is about more than fancy phrasing. In fact, a good copywriter should be a guru when it comes to sales and marketing. They should know how the marketing funnel feeds sales, and how to make the best use of the array of marketing functions out there. When you hire a copywriter, you can take advantage of this to boost your own sales and marketing knowledge, helping to grow your business.
Make your brand’s personality shine through with your own distinctive tone of voice. A copywriter will work with you to find out the kind of customers you want to attract, and the kind of brand image you want to put out there. With an instantly recognisable tone of voice, you’ll find it easier to write pithy social posts, embrace email marketing, and connect with your customers.
Speaking of which: small businesses often find it hard to make use of all the marketing channels available to them. Whether you’re restricted by time, budget, or both, it can be difficult to write great email campaigns, put out regular blog posts, and be a social media machine. With a copywriter, you can put all your channels to good use. They’ll help you cut through the clutter and be heard by even more potential customers.
Your call-to-action is incredibly important — but it’s often overlooked. All your content should have a strong call-to-action that tells your reader what to do next. When you hire a copywriter, they’ll help you craft compelling calls-to-action that your readers won’t be able to resist.
Now you know why it’s important to hire a copywriter, you can start your search for the right copywriter for your business. To do this, you need to know 3 things.
When you know what you want to achieve, you can find a copywriter with extensive experience in that area. Make sure you have at least one objective in mind when you contact a copywriter — it can include improved Google rankings, better email engagement, or simply to make more sales.
If you don’t plan to use social media, don’t choose a copywriter who specialises in Instagram captions or LinkedIn posts. Make sure you know what channels you want to use — such as email, blog, paid search ads, and social media — so your copywriter knows the tools you have to hand.
Ask tons of questions before you make your hiring decision. Ask to see their portfolio, their previous results, and even references from other clients. Make sure they have the time to commit to your project before you hire a copywriter.
As a freelance copywriter, I can help you connect with your customers better, make more sales, and reach the heady heights of Mount Google. I offer a range of copywriting services, from email marketing to blog content creation. To find out more about how I can maximise your small business’s marketing efforts, take a look at all my copywriting services here.
Let’s make no bones about it — running a small business is hard. It’s time-consuming, stressful, complicated — even heartbreaking at times.
But it can also be a lot more satisfying than clocking in to a regular 9-5.
In fact, there are tons of reasons why starting your own small business can pay off.
If you’re thinking about starting a small business — or you want to remember why you started your business in the first place — here are 12 perks of running a small business.
When you choose to run your own business, you can set it up however you like. Whether you’re an expert florist, designer, plumber, software developer — or a combination of all of the above — your business can comprise what you’re truly passionate about. So when you start making money, you can chalk it up to doing what you love.
Being your own boss is a great feeling. There’s no clockwatching or micromanagement, and you’ll have the freedom to take on the right jobs for your business. You can adhere to your own vision and values without answering to anyone else.
Don’t get me wrong — running a business keeps you extremely busy. But you have control over your own time — there are no external expectations to keep you at the office well past closing time. You can choose when to work, so you can set your own schedule and adjust your work/life balance as needed.
As a business owner, you’re less likely to get lost in the crowd. You’ll be seen as a thought leader in your industry — especially with a great content plan in place that enables you to share your experience and expertise with your clients and colleagues.
Do something that nobody else is doing. Whether that’s launching a brand new product, offering world-beating customer service, or taking corporate social responsibility seriously, starting a small business is a chance to innovate in your industry.
Sustainability, responsibility, diversity: these are some of the most important business values for customers and employees alike. By approaching your company with a forward-thinking mentality, you’ll find it easier to reach and satisfy new customers — and you’ll be doing right by society and the environment.
Small businesses help your local community by creating new jobs in the area. Whether you’ve got global ambitions or want to stay small, you can play a part in helping stimulate your local and national economy by providing new opportunities for people. Whether you’ve already hired your first employee or you’re looking to do so a little way down the line, this is a major perk to running your own business.
With your own values front and centre, building a business from the ground up creates a legacy you can be proud of. It gives you purpose and motivation — helping inspire others to find and follow their passion, too. Plus, promoting progressive values will also appeal to your customers.
When you run your own business, you’re in control of how much money you make. You can scale up your business at a rate that suits you. Plus, there are plenty of grants and funding available to small and medium-sized businesses, so keep an eye out for financing opportunities for your company.
Coworkers, clients, investors — when you run your own business, you can choose who you work with. While you’ll always run the risk of conflict in any line of work, being the boss gives you more control over the people you have around you. Work with positive, hardworking people who share your vision for the future.
While there are always rules you need to follow, running your own business means you can avoid a lot of the bureaucracy and office politics that come with a standard 9-5 job. Hire assistants or freelancers to help you take care of the paperwork, so you can focus on doing what you love.
You don’t necessarily have to grind out more hours to make more cash as a small business. Hire a good accountant who specialises in working with small businesses to find out about how you can best make use of your business expenses.
Marketing is a massive part of starting — and maintaining — any small business. While you keep your current clients happy, you’re also looking for opportunities to grow.
My marketing blog is full of tons of great resources for business owners — so sign up to my newsletter to be notified when I publish fresh new content. And if you’re looking for a little help with your content marketing strategy, book a free 30-minute consultation here.
If you’ve ever applied for a job, you’ll know that soft skills are very valuable for candidates. If you can prove you’re a great communicator, a team player, and an expert problem solver, you’re a shoo-in for an interview.
That’s because soft skills are extremely valuable to businesses, no matter what size they are. As well as helping your internal processes run like clockwork, having strong soft skills embedded throughout your company can help you make more sales. Even if you’re a small company or a sole trader, you can win more business by developing stronger soft skills as an individual.
Soft skills are transferable traits that can be used in a huge variety of positions. This includes communication, teamwork, critical thinking, leadership, and public speaking. Soft skills can also include more personal qualities, such as empathy, positivity, and humility.
Few people are naturally talented in all these areas. Fortunately, soft skills can be learned, refined and improved, just as hard skills can.
The more cogs you add to the wheel, the more complex it becomes. That means that as your team grows, so will your dependence on soft skills. Soft skills like patience, communication and teamwork among your employees allow your business to run smoothly.
But even if you’re a sole trader or one-person team, soft skills are crucial for opening more business opportunities. With strong soft skills, you’ll find you’re more equipped to address the various needs and perspectives of a wider range of customers.
See how these 5 soft skills can give you the boost you need to win more sales and grow your business.
Speaking slots at networking and industry events help you get your message out there loud and clear. While one-to-one conversations and social media connections are great, you can reach a much wider audience if you’re prepared to get up there behind the lectern. This can lead to business partnerships and even new clients.
Public speaking isn’t easy — but like many soft skills, practice makes perfect. Mistakes don’t matter — in fact, they can often make your audience empathise with you more. So next time a speaking opportunity comes along, don’t pass it up.
Sales is where soft skills really come into their own, but communication is a two-way street. As well as explaining your proposition in a persuasive way, you need to listen to the pain points and needs of your potential customers.
If you can truly understand and respond to your customers’ needs, you can create a strong sales pitch that’s sure to clinch the deal.
All businesses have one thing in common: people. Despite the advancements in AI and technology, all businesses still have to work with people to make sales and retain customers. That’s why empathy is a key skill to embed in your company culture.
Empathy means understanding the feelings of others, and it can make a big difference when it comes to winning business. Potential customers are people first and foremost — so taking the time to empathise with them on a professional level is a great way to start a business relationship.
Promising the earth is pointless if you can’t deliver it. Think critically about what your business can offer, and be honest about it with your potential customers. They’ll appreciate your truthfulness, which will lead to greater trust between you.
Studies suggest there’s a correlation between trust and economic success in business — so it’s clear that critical thinking and honesty can have a big impact on your sales.
Small business owners are always trying to make the most of every moment in the working day. Improving your digital skills can help you save a lot of time. From improving your typing speed to learning to create a website, a little investment in your digital development can go a long way.
Understanding the digital world can also open new business opportunities for you. From online advertising to an optimised blog, implementing digital skills in your business can help you make more sales.
To prove you have the soft skills your potential clients are looking for, you need to live and breathe them. Make sure every email and phone call oozes empathy. Exhibit strong leadership in every project. And where you identify soft skills gaps in your own work, invest in training and development.
Potential customers expect businesses to have great soft skills, so they can easily communicate and work with them. Unlike job hunters, businesses don’t have a CV where they can list all the great soft skills they embody. But your website is often the first place potential customers will look to find out what you can offer – so you need to give them the right impression.
Establish a trustworthy tone of voice across your online marketing channels with the help of a professional freelance copywriter. It’s a simple way to show potential customers you have the skills they need — without spelling it out for them.
Find out if a freelance copywriter is the right choice for your business in this Q&A.
Whether most of your business comes from your website, your Instagram page, or word-of-mouth recommendations, communication is the common thread that binds businesses to their buyers.
Great communication isn’t easy. It takes more than the odd viral social media post or innovative email campaign to be consistently successful at engaging your prospects and turning them into brand-loyal customers.
Creating a content marketing strategy is the best place to start. This helps you understand the questions your customers are asking, so you can provide helpful, relevant content to give them the information they need.
But for business owners who don’t have time to create a brand new marketing strategy from scratch right now, here are 5 ways you can transform the language your business uses to better connect with your buyers.
If you’re overhauling the tone of your business, the first step is to understand who your buyers are. Most businesses can be split into 2 categories:
While this split is nothing new, it’s important to remember that B2B businesses are run by people, too. Don’t assume that B2B content should be humourless or dour. Even the most corporate content needs to be engaging.
Want to build better rapport with your potential buyers? Here are 5 changes you can implement in your business messaging right now.
Your business’s tone of voice should reflect your brand, and the type of product you sell. Tone of voice is tricky to measure, but it’s designed to make you feel something. Take a look at these tweets from two fashion brands, Missguided and Christian Louboutin, and spot the difference in tone:
8 days of deals, 8 days of giveaways 👀💰 Turn your notifications on to be the first to know...#missguided pic.twitter.com/M3opI0J50h
— Missguided (@Missguided) November 21, 2021
The holidays are the perfect time to indulge all your sartorial fantasies. Ready to shine bright? Let's go! Discover more on https://t.co/JMtYjXRHXj.#ChristianLouboutin pic.twitter.com/BGpTUcKMGX
— Christian Louboutin (@LouboutinWorld) November 17, 2021
Missguided is a fast fashion brand aimed at younger buyers with less disposable cash than esteemed designer Christian Louboutin. The latter can get away with words like indulge and sartorial - the brand is built around extravagant elegance. Missguided, meanwhile, uses emojis and short, sharp phrases to connect with their buyers.
Look at the messaging of other brands in your sector, and decide where you fit. If you need help designing or adjusting your tone of voice to fit your company, consult with a freelance copywriter to find the perfect voice for your brand.
In long form content — such as blog posts, LinkedIn articles, and emails — your punctuation should be accurate. But in short form content — such as tweets and Instagram posts and stories — you can let things get a little looser.
On social media, gifs, memes and emojis do a lot of the talking for people, so it’s no wonder punctuation is hardly seen as a necessity online. A lot of young people scrap punctuation in their tweets and Instagram stories — and brands can reflect this to connect with them.
B2B brands, meanwhile, tend to use full sentences and punctuation to enhance that professionalism that helps them connect with other corporations. Take a look at the difference between these tweets from Netflix and Salesforce:
whaaaaaat is happening?!?! pic.twitter.com/oeBGFZm9ar
— Netflix (@netflix) November 17, 2021
The best sellers are always learning.
— Salesforce (@salesforce) November 21, 2021
That's why we're THRILLED to launch ✨ Sales Career Path✨
It's all the best sales training for every stage of your sales career — all for free on our learning platform, @Trailhead!
Learn how to be a #SuperSeller: https://t.co/21PnOFUxA3 pic.twitter.com/glAamBqdYg
Notice that Salesforce’s tweet isn’t overly formal or dry — their approach is professional but easygoing.
Short sentences are easy to read. They give you the information you need in concise, digestible chunks. But too many short sentences in a row are boring. Long, flowing sentences are more difficult to read, but can add variety to your content.
Lululemon, a B2C athleisure clothing brand, relies on short sentences almost exclusively. In the context of their website, these sentences are powerful and punchy — which is the way they want their buyers to feel.
Hubspot, meanwhile, is a multi-platform B2B software company with a much more complex product offering. As a result, their sentences tend to be longer and more explanatory. However, they don’t say more than they need to — which is a hallmark of all good copy.
Depending on the complexity of your product and the needs of your customers, it’s important for you to decide whether your sentences should be elaborate or to-the-point.
Used sparingly, thesauruses are really useful tools for finding the best word for your needs. That said, it’s easy to over-rely on them (Friends fans will remember Joey’s experience with the thesaurus). Soon your writing can become overly complex and difficult to read — a surefire way to make your buyer leave the page.
No matter what kind of product you sell, you should aim to keep your vocabulary as simple as possible. That doesn’t mean you need to dumb down your text for your readers. It means you should find the best, most appropriate word for your requirements.
Jaguar’s company page uses language that’s both evocative and understandable to paint a picture of their company values.
You can lead the horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. However, that’s not to say you can’t try. Don’t put in the graft writing a page of great copy, then leave your buyer in the lurch at the end.
No matter which format you’re writing in, it’s important to include a call-to-action at the end so your buyer knows what to do next. This can be the suggestion to buy a product, visit a related page, or sign up to your newsletter. Just make sure you include a relevant, useful call-to-action.
The Hubspot homepage is a great place to see this in action. Every segment of text tells the reader what to do next - making their sales process a total breeze.
See what I mean? Now you know how to tweak your text to better engage your buyers, it’s time to take action. Find your brand’s voice and improve communication with your customers by working with a freelance copywriter to establish and implement your distinctive tone.
From acronyms to initialisms to unpleasant-sounding phrases (I mean, “churn rate?”), there are literally thousands of marketing terms floating around in agencies and marketing meetings. This marketing glossary of 101 marketing terms is designed to help business owners make sense of the jargon.
If you’re stepping out on your own and starting a new business - or you just want to know what your marketing team is talking about — this glossary of marketing terms is for you. Here are 101 of the most commonly-used marketing terms in 2022.
The process of comparing two different sets of content so you can see which performs better. A/B testing is commonly used in email marketing and on landing pages, so you can optimise your best-performing content. Many content management systems allow you to set up and analyse A/B tests easily.
A type of marketing that relies on building strong, long-lasting relationships with clients. With an ABM approach, you prioritise key accounts and those with potential for growth. As you support your accounts to become larger and more profitable, you’ll cement your relationships and earn more from them.
A type of marketing in which a business pays another business to promote their services or products to their customers. Affiliate marketing is widely used by bloggers and influencers, who promote products to their readers and followers, usually in exchange for a small percentage of any resulting product purchases.
AIDA stands for Awareness - Interest - Desire - Action. This is a commonly used marketing framework for grouping and targeting potential buyers. To make sales, marketing teams aim to move potential buyers through the funnel from awareness through to action, resulting in purchases.
In marketing, algorithms are lines of code used by online providers - such as Google - to crawl the internet and collect information. Marketers use this information to create targeted campaigns that sell products and services to people.
In marketing, alignment usually refers to the process of ensuring sales and marketing teams are working in tandem to achieve a common goal. It can also include other teams, such as development, product, or customer service teams.
When you upload an image to a website, you can add alt text alongside it. Alt text will display if the image itself can’t be displayed for any reason. In some contexts, alt text is required to meet certain accessibility guidelines.
Analytics programs, such as Google Analytics, offer insights into the performance of your web campaigns. You can often see important data around website visitors, sales, and conversions, allowing you to determine the return on your marketing investment.
Anchor text refers to the words or letters that are highlighted when the text is acting as a hyperlink. Anchor text is important in SEO strategy, because it tells Google what to expect when they follow that link. If there’s a disconnect between the anchor text and the content on the linked page, you can damage your SEO.
Marketers use attribution models to see where leads and sales have come from. This helps determine where you should focus your marketing efforts to get the best return.
The process of reducing manual marketing actions by setting up automatic workflows that are triggered by certain actions from the visitor. As AI becomes more effective, more marketing teams are relying on automation to create highly targeted campaigns. This includes automatic abandoned cart email notifications and welcome emails triggered by newsletter signups.
When a website creates a link to your website, this is known as a backlink. Backlinks can be high quality (i.e. from a relevant, authoritative source) or low quality (from an irrelevant and/or weak source). High quality backlinks can aid your SEO, while low quality backlinks can damage it.
SEO tactics that are intended to manipulate search engines into increasing the ranking of a given page or website. Black hat tactics often disregard the physical reader, tending to cater only to the needs of the search engines as they crawl the pages. Black hat SEO should be avoided - Google is getting better and better at spotting manipulative pages, and they’ll penalise you heavily ranking-wise if they think you’re at it.
The percentage of visitors who leave your website after visiting only one page. Bounce rate helps you understand if your website visitors are finding the information they’re looking for on your website. It also suggests the strength of your calls to action on each page.
Getting your business name out there. Brand awareness is often built slowly, through word-of-mouth, clever campaigns, or guerilla marketing strategies.
The nuts and bolts of your brand that make you uniquely you. This can include everything from your brand colours to your website tone of voice to your social media presence. Brand identity helps you differentiate yourself from your competitors, so it’s key to have a strong sense of your brand’s personality.
B2B stands for business-to-business, and it’s a broad distribution model that focuses on selling to other businesses. B2B marketing tends to be more serious and stats-focused than B2C marketing. However, there is a modern trend towards more emotive B2B marketing. After all, the people behind businesses are humans, too.
B2C stands for business-to-consumer. This distribution model focuses on selling directly to the individual, usually for personal use. B2C marketing is known for its reliance on emotive advertising, whether through comedy or sentiment.
Marketers conceptualise the journey each type of customer will go on before and after they buy your product. This typically involves a funnel approach, such as AIDA, or awareness>consideration>decision. Some funnels also include a focus on post-purchase elements of the journey, so as not to neglect loyal or returning customers.
Buyer personas are constructs of the ideal buyer of your product or service. They often include demographic information such as age, gender, income, job, and family status, as well as personal information including interests, problems, goals, and priorities. These enable marketers to create content that engages with buyers and addresses their pain points.
A call-to-action is a signpost that tells your website visitors what to do next. CTAs are valuable for converting potential customers into leads, and leads into customers. A good CTA should be almost irresistible to your potential customers.
Channels are the various feeds through which you can reach your target audience. Examples of channels include your website, your Facebook page, direct mail, and email marketing.
The percentage of customers who have purchased products or services from you and then disengaged with your service. Depending on what you sell, this can be a customer who doesn’t renew their subscription, or a customer who doesn’t return to your online store after their first purchase.
Often used in email marketing and social media marketing, click through rate refers to the percentage of people who have viewed your content and clicked through to find out more. It’s a great way to tell who’s truly interested in what you’re offering in a particular piece of content.
A potential customer who has not shown interest in your business, product, or service before. Often, these are converted into warm leads by the marketing team before they are approached directly.
Content refers to the multitude of information created by and for your business. This can include web copy, blog posts, infographics, videos, whitepapers, social media posts and more.
Content management systems allow you to create and manage your online content from a centralised hub. Well-known content management systems include WordPress, Hubspot, and Shopify.
A strategy that uses content as its core to attract visitors, convert them into leads, and eventually into customers. Content marketing can be a slow-burning process, but tends to result in committed customers who understand your brand and its values.
The process of turning a website visitor into a lead, or a lead into a customer. When a user has met your criteria for conversion, they will filter through the funnel on their buyer journey.
A marketing staple, copywriting is the skill of writing persuasive copy for sales and marketing collateral. Copywriting focuses on search engine optimisation, as well as readability and conversion.
The average amount of money you spend on winning each customer or purchase. CPA is usually used in pay-per-click campaigns to help you manage your spend.
The average amount of money you spend on every click through to your website from your paid ads. This is commonly used in pay-per-click campaigns so you can monitor your spend, and decide how much to bid on each search term.
The practice of earning repeat business from your customers. Customer retention rate is the percentage of customers you’ve retained to use your services.
E-A-T stands for Expertise-Authority-Trustworthiness, and is commonly accepted as the formula for achieving good SEO. Google requires highly ranked pages to show expert knowledge, strong authority, and to be from a trustworthy source. You’ll need all 3 of these things to help your page rank well.
A fancy name for online shopping. Any business that sells physical products through its website uses an ecommerce business model. This includes Amazon and Ebay.
The practice of actively keeping your customers and potential customers in tune with your business. This can be through active social media conversations, regular email marketing, and strong lead nurturing practices.
A link to a website outside of your domain name. When linking to external sources, it’s good practice to ensure they are reputable, trustworthy websites, such as well-known news outlets or subject matter experts.
Content that visitors can only access in exchange for their data. This is typically achieved through an online form. When the form is complete, the content is either sent to the visitor’s email address or downloaded automatically.
GDPR stands for the General Data Protection Regulation. It was introduced in 2018 to help protect people’s personal data. There are significant rules you need to follow to be GDPR-compliant, and heavy penalties for businesses that don’t comply.
Google’s platform for allowing businesses to run online advertisements. Using a variety of PPC strategies, you can position your webpage at the top of Google rankings with none of the SEO hassle.
Google’s platform for registering businesses to make them easy to find for users. You can register a location, web address, business name and more. You can also allow your customers to rate your business, helping drive more visitors to your site.
Search Console is a tool for helping marketers and site owners optimise their websites for search engines. It allows you to manage your site indexing, and monitor the performance of your website.
A plan that details the steps for successfully launching your product offering. It should address the problem your product solves; who your target audience is; who your competitors are; and how you’re going to sell your product.
Unusual marketing tactics designed to evoke strong reactions from potential customers. Guerrilla marketing campaigns can create a lot of publicity when they’re run successfully. However, it can be tricky to walk the line with guerrilla marketing. Too tame and you won’t cause a stir; too controversial, and you may attract backlash.
Blogs with large numbers of monthly site visitors sometimes allow guest posts from relevant authors. Guest posts offer an opportunity to show your expertise and knowledge in front of a new audience. Websites differ as to whether or not they allow you to promote your own product on their site.
Each section of any well-optimised web page includes a header, marked by a header tag. Header tags help split the text into readable chunks, and signals to search engines what the subject of the page is. Header tags are usually in the format H1, H2, H3, and so on.
The number of times a particular piece of content is viewed. This can refer to advertisements and social media posts. Impressions can be divided by the number of engagements (typically clicks or likes) to give an engagement rate.
An inbound marketing strategy focuses on earning trust from potential customers through lead nurturing, so that when they’re ready to buy, they will approach your business. This contrasts with an outbound marketing strategy, in which you actively reach out to potential customers to persuade them to buy your product.
A graphic that explains statistical data visually. These can be long or short form, and are usually created by designers to ensure the information is readable, while still being attractive and highly shareable.
A link to another page within your own website. Link to other pages within your site to make it easier for both visitors and search engines to find relevant, useful content.
A key performance indicator is a measure of success for a marketing campaign. KPIs will change depending on the aim of the campaign. A good KPI should be measurable and achievable based on the resources allocated to the campaign.
Keywords are words or phrases that are entered into search engines. Bloggers and copywriters aim to rank for keywords that are relevant to their business or subject matter. For example, a landscaping company based in Liverpool may aim to rank for the keyword “landscape design liverpool.”
The number of times a particular keyword appears in a single page of text. This is shown as a percentage. If the keyword is shown 10 times in a page containing 1000 words, the keyword density is 1%. Most experts agree that you should aim for a keyword density of 1-2% per page.
A section of a website devoted to help guides, enabling users to guide themselves through the process of using your product or service. The aim of a knowledgebase is to reduce reliance on customer support teams, and giving users more control.
A web page designed to convince customers to complete an action. Landing pages are so-called because they’re often designed to be used in conjunction with an ad: i.e. when someone clicks on the ad, they land on the landing page. Landing pages almost always contain a form to capture a lead.
Your lifetime customer value is the value of a particular customer over the course of your business’s relationship with them. This metric is often used in account-based marketing to prioritise accounts, allocate support resources and visualise growth opportunities.
The marketing funnel determines which stage of the buyer journey each prospect or potential customer is at. Top-of-the-funnel prospects may be broadly interested in your business or product, so require generic content to funnel them through the journey. Bottom-of-the-funnel prospects are those who are ready to buy.
A subsection of leads, marketing-qualified leads are those who have engaged with enough of your content to be considered for more sustained nurturing by your marketing team. Marketing-qualified leads tend to be somewhere in the consideration or desire stage of the funnel.
When you search anything in Google, you’ll see a short preview of text beneath the title link for the page. This is the meta description. While Google often selects text that’s relevant to the user’s search query, you also have the opportunity to enter your own meta description when creating content. This can help signpost what the content is about.
A metric is a measurable element of your marketing campaign or strategy. You can use metrics to set KPIs, measure performance, and prove the success of your business.
Your mission is what your business intends to achieve. Many businesses put their mission statement on their website, so other businesses and potential customers can see their mission and see whether it aligns with their own goals and values.
Websites that appear correct on desktop, mobile and tablet screens are said to be mobile-optimised. Responsiveness is a key element of SEO, so it’s crucial that your website is optimised for all standard screen sizes.
The least evolved version of a product that is feasible to go to market. Your MVP often has few of the features it will eventually have, but has enough functionality that potential customers will want to buy it.
Net promoter score is a widely used customer satisfaction metric. The NPS system splits customers into promoters, passives, and detractors. Your NPS equals the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors.
The process of cultivating your website visitors and leads so that they move down the funnel, eventually becoming customers. You can also nurture customers to create brand-loyal returning customers.
Off-page SEO refers to the activities that take place outside of your website that help to raise the ranking of your website. The most common off-page SEO strategy is link-building. It can also include social media marketing and influencer marketing.
On-page SEO refers to the optimisation strategies you use within your website to raise the ranking of your site. This includes activities like mobile optimisation, keyword research, use of title tags, and internal linking.
Your open rate is the percentage of people who have opened your marketing email. According to MailChimp, the average email open rate is 21.33% as of September 2021.
Optimisation is the practice of creating the most successful version of your content or website. You can optimise for a range of factors, including mobile formats, search engines, and accessibility.
Organic search refers to non-paid search results. The aim of SEO is to rank highly in organic search, by building an organically authoritative website. By contrast, paid search refers to search results that have been won in Google Ads.
Pain points are your customers’ bugbears. Broad pain points include lack of time, low quality products, and poor customer service. Most products are conceived with the notion of addressing at least one customer pain point.
Pay-per-click (PPC) is a paid advertising strategy used across search engines (such as Google Ads) and social media platforms (such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn). It means you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. You are required to set a bid value to tell the advertiser how much you’re willing to pay per click.
Positioning refers to the place your business, product, or service sits in the market. Many marketers aim to position a business in a certain arena, in order to gain trust from potential customers. For example, you can position yourself as an industry thought leader, or position your business as experts in a complex industry.
Promotions are short-term discounts or sales that you run in your store. Promotions allow you to sell end-of-line stock to make room for new products.
Public relations is a form of marketing that focuses on your public messaging and perception. Used mostly by larger businesses, good PR is often achieved through specialist public relations agencies.
Referrals are visitors to your website from other sources. This could be a referral from an existing customer, an affiliate, or a partner website.
Remarketing, also known as retargeting, is the practice of re-exposing your brand to people who have already visited your website through online display ads. Remarketing ads are often shown in website banners.
Repurposing is the practice of using your existing content to create new content in different formats. For example, you can add information to a blog post to create a whitepaper, or chop your blog post into chunks to create social media posts.
Responsive design means ensuring your web pages are designed appropriately for most of the standard screen sizes they are likely to be accessed on. This includes image resizing and ensuring text remains legible across mobile, tablet and desktop devices.
Return on investment is the amount of money you make or save based on how much you’ve invested in your business tools and practices.
SEO is the process of creating and enhancing web content that ranks highly in search engine results. The idea behind this is that most people only view the first few pages of any search engine results page. That means higher ranking pages will receive more visitors than lower ranked pages.
A SERP is the web page that lists the results for any given search term. Ads are usually displayed at the top and bottom of the SERP, with organic listings falling in between.
Also known as a search query, a search term is the word or phrase entered by a user in a search engine. Search terms are often used to discover which searches have triggered your online ads.
Your sitemap gives search engines vital information about your website. This includes the layout of your site, and the relationships between the pages. Most sitemaps are XML files. Sitemaps are especially important if you have a large or complex website.
SaaS is a business distribution model in which service providers develop and host their online software and make it available to customers, often on a subscription basis.
Not to be confused with the programming language SQL, sales-qualified leads are those prospects that have engaged with enough of your marketing material to be approached directly by your sales team. These leads tend to be near the bottom of the funnel, or at the decision stage of the buyer journey.
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. The purpose of an SSL certificate is to prove that your website is secure. You can tell if a website has an SSL certificate because its domain will begin with https://, rather than http://.
Every web page should be given a title tag that is relevant to the content of that page. Title tags are usually displayed as links on a search engine results page, and in the browser bar when you open the page.
Warm, witty, authoritative, friendly - all these words can describe a website’s tone of voice. To engage with the right audience, you’ll need to ensure your web copy is written in an appropriate tone for your readership.
Also known as a differentiator, your USP is the fundamental element of your product or service that makes it different from all the others on the market. This could be your price point, your service, or a key feature that isn’t available anywhere else.
UX refers to the general experience a software user has when using a certain program. UX designers are charged with ensuring visitors have an easy, pleasant experience when using a program so they’re more likely to return.
The user interface of a website or app refers to the interactive customer-facing elements of the page or program. UI is commonly integrated with UX, and there is some overlap between the two roles.
Your values are the core concepts that your business aims to uphold. This can be collaboration, integrity, inclusiveness - whatever is important to you and your business.
Your business vision defines the world you want to create through offering your product or service.
Website visitors are people who click through to your website, and can be used interchangeably with the term users. In analytics, unique visitors refers to distinct individuals who visit your website.
Warm leads are prospects who have actively engaged positively with your brand recently. This could be at a trade show, on social media, or over the phone. Warm leads should be followed up quickly, while they’re still interested in your business offering.
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. WCAG is an important part of software marketing, as accessibility is key for ensuring inclusivity online. You can learn more about WCAG here.
Workflows are automated processes that are designed to guide potential customers through your marketing funnel. Certain actions will trigger a customer’s enrolment in a particular workflow. For example, signing up to receive a newsletter can trigger a welcome email. Workflows are commonly used in email marketing to remind customers of abandoned carts, missed sales, and other opportunities.
White Hat SEO practices are methods for improving your search engine ranking that are approved by search engines and SEO experts. This includes creating high-quality content, ensuring your site speed is fast, and writing informative guest posts on relevant blogs.
When a happy customer recommends your business to another potential customer, that’s word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth marketing is ostensibly free, but you’ll need to offer fantastic customer service to get the referrals.
Your Money Or Your Life pages consist of content that could have an impact on a reader’s future finances or life decisions. Defined originally by Google, YMYL content broadly includes news articles, financial advice, health and safety pages and shopping services. YMYL content must be highly accurate, and conform to the E-A-T principles.
Running a business is beyond a full-time commitment. While it's incredibly rewarding to take the helm of your own company, most small business owners are rushed off their feet - so finding time to create and update a successful blog isn’t always easy.
But with almost two-thirds of purchases starting out online, a blog is a must-have for modern businesses.
Many business owners see a blog as a nice-to-have platform where they can share the everyday accomplishments of their business. And while these types of posts have their place, a blog has the potential to be so much more than that.
Your business blog can be a launchpad for drawing in new customers. It can help your business shoot to the top of Google. It can give you content to bolster your social media presence. It can even convert would-be buyers into brand-loyal customers.
But achieving all this takes time - so where can business owners find time to blog?
Giving your blog a defined purpose is a great place to start. It means every word you contribute to your blog feels necessary and worthwhile, so you’re more likely to make time to write.
Your blog’s purpose can be to provide news and updates about your business; rise through the Google rankings; support your social media strategy; or all three. The more defined your purpose, the easier it will be to come up with ideas for your blog.
If you have a good blog plan in place, it makes things a whole lot easier - and less time-consuming.
By setting aside an hour at the start of each month to plan your posts, you’ll never be sitting at an empty screen, stumped for what to write. It’s a surefire way to save you time.
View and download your yearly blog plan template here (Google Sheets format).
Don’t sit down and try to think of ideas for your next blog post. The pressure and expectation can lead to suppressed creativity and a lack of inspiration.
Instead, go about your usual work, and when an idea comes to mind, write it down. Keep an ongoing note in your phone of every idea that comes to you. That way, when you’re ready to plan your next round of posts, you’ll have a ready-made list of ideas.
There’s nothing less inspiring than churning out articles about subjects that bore you. Plus, if the article bores you, it’s going to bore your readers.
Even if your business doesn’t lend itself to kooky or fun content, you can find an angle that’s interesting to you. For example, see the difference between “How to apply for a job” and “10 tips to wow your next employer in your job application.”
For inexperienced writers, the blank page can be daunting. But with a little planning, you can make this prospect a lot less scary. Before you start writing, enter a few subheadings about your topic that you can use to guide your writing. If you can think of 6 subheadings, you’ll now have 6 blocks of 150 words to write, rather than 900 words of unplanned text.
Breaking things up like this makes the whole blogging process less daunting - and it means you can split your blogging time over multiple days, without losing your momentum.
Now you have an arsenal full of great time-saving blogging tips, it’s time to put them into practice. For many business owners, it’s not just the process of blogging that takes time - it’s the rest of their day-to-day lives, too.
To prove that blogging doesn’t have to be a chore, here are 10 ways to multitask while you blog.
When you’re researching your blog post, you might come up with a great little titbit that your social media followers would love to know about. Post it there and then, or schedule it in as a future post. It’s a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
While this may not be the best time to write a new blog post from scratch, you can definitely squeeze in some planning while you wait for the pasta to boil. Create a few subheadings for your next post, or plan the titles for your next round of blog posts while dinner is in the oven.
Your commute is a great time to work on your blog. If you use public transport, you can spend your train time wisely by hashing out some quickfire content on the go. If you drive to work, listen to an industry podcast to inspire some great ideas for your next round of blog posts.
You deserve some downtime, and watching a bingeable TV show is a great way to get some. That said, if you feel a whirr of inspiration while you’re watching, this can also be a good time to hash out the beginnings of a new blog post. Even if you’re distracted by the programme, it can help to get words on the page.
When you run your own business, it can be difficult to let go of the little things. After all, you’ve built your business from the ground up. But if you have staff or contractors, make sure to delegate tasks to them. This will free up your time so you can work on your blog. Better yet, hire a freelance writer to work on your blog for you - freeing up your time to work on your business.
If you’re waiting for the next big contract to come through, or for your suppliers to confirm their next shipment, don’t twiddle your thumbs while you wait. Plan out a few blog posts so you have a series of article plans ready for your next blogging session.
Replace your tenth scroll through the socials with some dedicated blogging time. While social media is pretty fun - and it definitely has its place in business - videos of cute dogs aren’t going to earn you the big wins a well-written blog post can. So put the phone down and get writing.
Networking events can be great for business owners. They offer a chance to meet potential customers and like-minded entrepreneurs. But not all networking events are created equal. If an event you’re at isn’t quite what you hoped it would be, make sure you have your laptop on hand so you can sneak out of the substandard lecture and work on your next blog post.
Keep in touch with your customers by penning a swift marketing email alongside your blog post. It’s a great way to share some quick wins, a promo you’re running, or a heads-up that your next blog post will be out soon.
Blogging can be a great way to connect with other experts in your industry. Whether you want a quote for your article, or you know someone who can help you fill in the blanks in your post, use your blogging time to reach out to big names in your industry. With social media sites like LinkedIn, it’s easier than ever. Plus, it’s a great way to network while you write.
Finding time to blog isn’t easy - and it shouldn’t impact your downtime, either. For the success of your business - and your own wellbeing - you need to take a break.
But if you can find pockets of time among the chaos of entrepreneurship and home life to plan and write your blog posts, you’ll soon start seeing a big impact on the success of your business’s online presence.
For more time-saving business blogging tips, check out the rest of my resources.
Between accountants, web designers, and business consultants, working with other professionals to get your business off the ground can be expensive. Copywriters sometimes fall to the bottom of the priority list - after all, most business owners can write well enough to get a basic website set up.
But copywriting is about more than just writing a half-decent homepage for your site. A good copywriter will help your website rank well in Google, and convince your website visitors to pay for your services. They’ll have strong SEO knowledge, an adaptable tone of voice, and a portfolio of work to back it up.
That said, hiring a copywriter may not be the best option for your business - it all depends on your unique situation. Find out if your business needs a copywriter below.
There are some clear-cut situations that demand a professional copywriting service. If any of the following apply to you, you should seriously consider hiring a copywriter for your business:
In some cases, you may not need to hire a copywriter. For example, if you:
It’s not always obvious if your business would benefit from hiring a copywriter. You may not be sure if it’s your entire content marketing strategy that needs an overhaul, or just your web copy.
If you still have questions about whether or not you need a copywriter, make sure to book a free consultation, so you can discuss your needs and ensure you’re spending your hard-earned cash wisely.
If you decide that hiring a copywriter is the way to go for your business, the next step is deciding whether to hire a full-time, in-house copywriter, or hire a freelance copywriter. This largely depends on the scale of your business, and the scope of your upcoming projects.
If you’re a sole trader, or you’re running your business solo, you’re unlikely to hire full-time employees - but freelance writers can make a big difference to your business. Agree a project cost with them in advance, so you’re both on the same page regarding the project spend.
For small businesses with a few employees, you’ll need to weigh up the potential return on investment of hiring an in-house copywriter. Hiring a freelance copywriter, at least initially, will allow you to see how a copywriter can impact your sales without committing to a salaried member of staff.
For larger businesses, you’ll need to decide whether a copywriter fits into your business strategy. If you’re focusing on inbound marketing and SEO-driven sales, hiring a copywriter could be invaluable to you. However, if your strategy focuses more on outbound sales, a full-time copywriter could be surplus to requirements.
Discuss your requirements with a freelance copywriting consultant for an honest assessment of the work you need to be completed. This will help you decide whether a freelance or in-house copywriter would be best for your business needs.
If you’ve decided to hire a copywriter, it’s important to know what to look for when you’re choosing a good fit for your business. Here are 5 things to consider when hiring a freelance copywriter:
Your consultation is your chance to find out more about how I can help you bump your site up in Google, convert more visitors into customers, or overhaul the professional tone of your website.
Find out more about my digital copywriting services here, and get in touch to book your free consultation.