Cue the sound of screeching breaks.

Creating copy is one thing; creating magnificent copy is an entirely different story.  Attempting to write brilliant, authentic content that adheres to a cohesive tone throughout the site can seem downright daunting.  Don’t worry; it’s completely natural to feel overwhelmed.  I do this every day, and I still get stuck on a regular basis.  However, I’ve learned over time that mustering up creativity is often the most difficult part of the writing process, and you shouldn’t let it intimidate you.

So, due to the popularity of my previous post (thanks for your interest!), The Biggest Mistake in E-Commerce Copy, I decided to illustrate this concept by providing examples of sites that have used their tone as the premier selling point.  Once you get the hang of it, it can be a lot of fun, and best of all, it’s FREE.

The Ché, she like The Manolo.

And I do.  In fact, of all the sites I read on a regular basis, this one stands out in my mind as the site who has best achieved the objective.  The Manolo Shoe Blog is written in third person, from the perspective of a Manolo Blahnik shoe, and it details the latest trends in celebrity and designer fashion (with a heavy emphasis on designer shoes).  The icing on the cake is that The Manolo writes with an accent so vividly that you can picture a haughty little Spanish (I’m going with Spanish because Manolo Blahnik himself is Spanish) designer-man airily waving his bejeweled hand as he speaks.   It is smart, witty and sophisticated, and despite the premise, not in the least bit silly or cutesy.

“Manolo says, the Manolo admits to having had the mostly blah reaction to the recent rise of the ankle-bootie-sandal trend. Perhaps this is because the Manolo had not yet seen these spectacular Jimmy Choo Embellished Ankle Wrap Sandals!

Are they shoes? Are they booties? Are they sandals? Who cares! They are gorgeously super fantastic!”

Here’s another excerpt:

“Manolo says, needless to say, the Manolo approves of using the promised acquisition of beautiful shoes as the carrot to spur oneself to greater accomplishment. Of the course, if one were really serious about the resolutions, one would also use the stick to enforce compliance with the new regime.

Imagine how much more motivated you would be if you swore to all your friends that if you did not meet your goals you would appear in public, at the fancy restaurant for the Dia de San Valentino Festival of Amour, in the bright orange Crocs.”

The posts where he writes about his past or fabricates elaborate stories in response to reader questions are the most entertaining, but unfortunately too long to place here.

Granted, I love fashion (specifically shoes), but I’ve visited fashion sites that capture my attention for all of five minutes before I’m on my way.  The Manolo Shoe Blog is so entertaining I am having trouble writing this blog post because I keep getting sucked into its entertaining, satirical content.  I routinely snicker aloud in my cube while reading it.  But don’t take my word for it.  The Wikio has placed the Manolo Shoe Blog just outside the Top 20 Fashion Blogs (#21) and Fashion Hippo placed it in the Top 10.  The Manolo has garnered so much attention that he is now a weekly feature in The Express, a Washington Post Publication.

Even Manolo Blahnik himself delivers praise on his protégé, saying “Manolo the Shoeblogger?  Sorry, not me.  But it’s very funny, isn’t it?  Hilarious!”

The Manolo Shoe Blog does not sell anything, and it lists the same products you can find fishing through the Saks Fifth Avenue website.  However, its unique copy has generated thousands loyal readers, the attention of well-known publications and even a top fashion designer.  Imagine if The Manolo were an e-commerce store.  If your content provides something that users find valuable (whether it be a laugh or useful information about your products), they will keep coming back for more and help to evangelize your brand.  Creating the unique copy, it’s “super fantastic!”

An E-Commerce Example: Headphone Solutions

This principle of content applies to e-commerce stores, as well.  You don’t have to adhere to the tone above, but you should create a persona that is both unique and valuable to your audience.  Remember the DVD player store mentioned in my previous post?  Well, it is really an online store called Headphone Solutions, and the owner has been kind enough to let me feature the store by name to give readers a tangible example.

Headphone Solutions is an outstanding site with a lot to offer: the design is eye-catching and edgy, the prices are competitive, you receive free shipping for orders over $98 (the majority of headphones on the site cost more than that, so it’s a great deal), etc.  However, this is an excellent site in a niche with a deluge of other excellent sites, many of which offer similar deals.  So why shop here?  Well for one, the motto is “We Will Help You Choose,” and they do just that.  Whether you’re looking for headphones based on a certain function, price, your lifestyle or a particular brand, each section presents various headphones that fulfill your specifications.  Once you choose a set of headphones, the page gives the good, the bad and the ugly so you’re well aware of what you’re buying.

“Ok, so comparing honesty may be a fruitless task, but we really give honest reviews. Since we absolutely refuse to offer you anything we wouldn’t use (or at least recommend) ourselves, all of the headphones listed on the site go through a rigorous process to be listed. First, we compile a list of the industry’s leading products based on tech specs, user feedback, and industry reviews. Then, we order each of the products and pass them around to our team of in-house audiophile experts, whose jobs we all hope to acquire someday when they’re put in jail for stealing too many products. Finally, we post the very best-reviewed items on the site with our experts’ 100% honest reviews pinpointing the good, the bad, and the ugly associated with each pair.”

This is brilliant – unlike other sites that simply sell you products for profit, Headphone Solutions has built a comprehensive buying experience just as good as, or better than, what you would find in an electronics store. They make it clear that they want to provide information to ensure customer satisfaction, even if it highlights less-than-ideal characteristics of the product. Customers are provided with multiple methods for finding a pair, and once they have narrowed down their options, they can read real reviews by users and headphone experts alike.

“The sound was captivating; I could have been sitting right by Beethoven himself. Acoustic songs also sound unbelievable; every strum is discernible and you can literally hear the singer breathe between lines. As music gets more complicated, the headphones sound slightly muddier, but compared to other similar models, they’re outstanding…The only major qualm with the [headphones] is that volume affects performance.”

The owner himself has expressed his desire to keep reviews entertaining and brutally honest to ensure that customers make the best and most informed decision.  He compiles the research for you and by adhering to the unique tone, provides information that customers find valuable.

I should stress that the above examples are meant to be just that – examples.  Use them as a guide when writing your own original content and you’ll set yourself apart from the competition.  Reach deep down to find your singular voice and flesh it out across the pages in your site.  When you tap into that latent creative voice and bring it to life, you’ll find that it takes on a life of its own, and writing thousands of words suddenly becomes a hobby instead of a burden.  Your enjoyment will shine through your text, entice your visitors and hopefully convert them into loyal buyers.

NOTE: Don’t Forget To Read Part II of This Blog Post
and join me in my upcoming webinar

Perhaps the second biggest copy mistake made by online stores is not using their copy wisely.  Before writing copy for a client, I always dig and try to get a sense for their unique story.  There are millions of websites, and every niche has plenty of competition.  It doesn’t matter what your site does or what you sell – if you decide that content isn’t crucial for you, there will be ten (maybe hundreds) of other sites that decided differently, and they will get the visitors.

Online copy is such a great tool for your marketing efforts because – get this – it’s free.  Granted, you can hire a copywriter (I happen to know this one copywriter who produces some pretty amazing stuff…wink wink) because it certainly will cost you a lot of time, but if you’re looking to save money it’s completely doable.  Here are a couple tips to help you get started:

1. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU.  Before you begin writing, you need to pinpoint what sets your business apart.  Every site thinks they have great service, fast shipping is really more of a testament to UPS and “easy” returns doesn’t mean much unless you’re willing to cover the shipping costs (sites selling clothing or items people can try on – that may not fit correctly – are the exception to this rule).  Obviously “Low Price Guarantees” and “Free Shipping” and “Free Returns” are the best attention-grabbers, but I understand that not every site can provide these services.  If that’s the case, why should they buy from you instead of Competitor X?  What sets your service and your business apart?
2. Information should be placed in an easily accessible location. Once you decide what sets you apart from the pack, place the information on a page where you expect visitors to land from the search engines.  Oftentimes I find crucial information placed on the “About Us” pages, and even more frequently I have to Lewis-and-Clark my way through the entire site to find anything.  Keep the information on these pages, but always place the most important selling points on the home page.  Then, reiterate the best talking points on some of the interior pages to ensure that it isn’t overlooked.
3. Never underestimate the value of tone.  So you’re left scratching your head?  You know you have a great business, but perhaps the qualities that truly set you apart are elusive.  Don’t worry – with so many sites out there, most stores are in your position.  So how do you convince customers to buy from you?  You create a tone.  What kind of person would represent your store?  Is he / she funny?  An intellectual?  Laid-back?  Girly?  Manly?  Geeky?  You get the point.  The tone alone can set you apart, because a tangible voice forms a bond with visitors.

Examples are always useful.  We have one client (whose name and product have been changed to protect anonymity) who sells, uh, DVD players.  The prices are competitive, but not the lowest.  He offers free shipping, but customers have to spend about $200 before they can benefit from it.  He has a decent selection, but not comprehensive by any means.  He is committed to great service, but so is everyone else.  In a niche this extensive, those offers are not enough to stand on, so why shop here?

The whole premise of his site is that he helps you choose the best DVD players.  Unlike other electronics stores that present a huge selection (served up with absolutely no personality, rendering them a faceless entity selling expensive products), he has managed to create a tone across the entire site.  The product descriptions are completely honest in that they read like reviews, outlining good and bad qualities about each item.  He clearly defines the rating system for the reviews, and he makes it abundantly clear throughout the site that he doesn’t care about offering the biggest selection.  His goal is to test products and offer only the very best DVD players that people will love.  His reviews provide customers with advice to help them make an informative decision.  In turn, he has created the persona of an expert, and customers feel confident that they’re purchasing exactly what they want.  When people walk into a store, they interact with others.  When people shop online they do not have this opportunity, but by creating this voice you ensure that your site interacts with customers as well as, or better than, the salespeople in stores.

This information is intended to help you write copy geared toward your visitors.  For more information about optimized SEO copy, see my past blog posts or set up a meeting with one of our sensational Internet Marketing Strategists.

NOTE: Don’t Forget To Read Part II of This Blog Post
and join me in my upcoming webinar

Although I would be lying if I said I believed that print publications are a thing of the past, we are entering a new era of advertising in which the rising importance of internet advertising and visibility is palpable.  A business simply cannot survive without a well-optimized website and at least one other form of internet advertising.  Very few people are going to sift through the Yellow Pages (now those I believe to be fairly obsolete at this point) to find your business when it’s faster and more efficient to type a search term into Google or Yahoo!.  The internet is a way of making information available to the masses.  Books and magazines can easily be lost, but the information on the internet is easy to find whenever you need it.

This brings me to my point: the melding of the two (the written word and online advertising) is an extremely effective measure to pursue when advertising.  I learned in a college media class that people are bombarded with thousands of advertisements every day.  Just on my desk I’m seeing Vaio, Polycom, Microsoft Word, Compaq, Melteez, Exclusive Concepts (by far the best and most visually attractive, I must say), Dell, Bic Pro, etc.  With such a multitude of advertisements, how can one choose which brand they want?  That’s where the power of the written word comes in.

The most important part of shopping is still research.  This is even more important with the internet playing such a large role in commerce.  For every search term, you will pull thousands of results.  How can you possibly make an informed purchase?  You research brand information, customer reviews, pricing, etc. until you have gathered enough data to make an informed decision.  By adding written content to your site, you save the potential customer the time it takes to find it elsewhere, you ensure that they’re receiving the correct information, and you have the chance to tell the customer why you’re the best.  Consider it a job interview without the other person, and the only question is “why should we buy from you?”  Every page should answer this in 150+ words.  Your home page should make overall statements about the business, major selling points, and qualities of the products you sell, and the interior pages should explain why the products on that page are the very best your customer will find.

Unlike print media, having content on your site maintains it in a centralized location, easily accessible to customers.  For more technical or specialized products and services, it might be beneficial to have a page that is purely informational (resist the urge to sell your specific products on these pages).  This level of content will help the customer make an informed decision and it positions you as an expert in your industry.  These factors combined can lead to more sales and customer retention.  The moral of the story: content is an advertising tool that is only becoming more important in the age of the internet, so add unique content to your site.

That’s my advice to the adults.  My advice to the children – read, kids.  Hold the old, musty books in your hands, take a whiff of the paper, and read those words to improve your mind and writing skills.  However, when it comes to research, especially when that research helps you find the best products, go online.

Search engine algorithms are continuously changing to raise the importance of content, so I’ve been quite swamped.  After a full day of writing content for every category of products under the Internet sun, my eyes start to cross a little and I know it’s time to take a break.  On that particular day (St. Patrick’s Day) I neglected a necessary break, but luckily for me my two colleagues (Internet Marketing Strategist Lauren Crowley and Pay Per Click Expert Kevin Dacey) ran into the room dressed like this.

After a hearty session of laughing/mocking, I learned a few things from this moment:

1. Exclusive Concepts is an incredible company.  Our team consists of top experts in the SEO field who are constantly researching and brainstorming new and inventive techniques that produce results for clients.  These people are brilliant.  However, we know how to balance professionalism and fun. The Big Guns running the company understand that a team that plays together works more closely, cohesively, and therefore effectively.  This atmosphere also allows ideas to flow more freely, so we are truly able to perform for our clients.  So watch out – you never know what kind of headband or hat your expert might be wearing…

2. The above being said, a serious attitude about work is important, but sometimes too much concentration without a break can be counterproductive.  Laughing at those two only took about 5 minutes away from my current assignment, but allowed me to return to it with a clear head.  This is an important lesson for writers, especially – small breaks every now and then are like a breath of fresh air.  It sounds like a simple solution, but it can be hard to justify when you’re busy.  I promise, step away from a project if you’re experiencing writer’s block and you’ll return a much better writer.

3. This one is the most important lesson.  To a writer, editing is like breathing.  You don’t really think about it – it’s second nature, not something you think about, just something you do because you can’t function without it, etc.  It should not be that way.  I cannot tell you how many pages I edit from clients that are riddled with typos, and I assume it is because they did not mindfully edit or they skipped editing entirely.

Editing is a crucial part of the writing process, and involves more than changing typos and fixing grammatical errors.  It should involve studying every sentence to avoid redundancy, awkward composition, and erroneous information.  If you edit when your eyes are crossed, you will not perform a thorough job.  I was editing when my leprechaun-esque colleagues waltzed in.  When I returned to it after taking a step back from the copy, I caught things that I otherwise would have missed.  Nothing was necessarily wrong, but the composition sounded much better after I consciously edited it.  Be mindful of your editing and you will have much cleaner content.
So let that be the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow.  I realize it sounds blatantly obvious, but it’s something that should be pointed out because too often taking small breaks and editing consciously are taken for granted and can be detrimental to producing quality copy.

I don’t think clients are prepared for the firestorm of answers to this seemingly simple question.  Although the question phrasing differs from client to client, the gist is the same.  SEO writing and writing for the web are completely different than the writing you learned in school, and for some people the separate set of rules can be challenging to understand and emulate.  We offer a decent range of writing services here (please inquire for more details J), and each follows a distinctive set of rules.  There is no unequivocal equation for SEO writing, but there are some broad guidelines that typically apply across the board.  When my clients ask the #1 question, here’s what I generally explain to them:

General Online Content Guidelines:

-        You’re writing for the internet: I realize I mentioned this already, but it’s important enough to mention twice.  Some businesses are more technical than others and require industry-specific jargon, but otherwise you generally want to use colloquial speech that is quick to read and easy to understand for a wide range of people.    Your content is meant to sell a product or inform visitors, so it needs to be useful to them.  Keep sentences short and highlight useful nuggets.    They want to get in and get out with tidbits of useful information, and shorter sentences allow that. 

-        Grammar doesn’t always apply: I know it’s hard.  I understand it hurts you.  But really, starting sentences with “and” or “but” is sometimes appropriate.  Same with sentence fragments.  Grammar rule-breaking isn’t a requirement, but if you’re crunched for space, playing with the grammar is a handy tool. 

-        Unique, Unique, Unique: Duplicated content seriously hurts your chances of being indexed by search engines.  If you and 100 other pages have the same content, you have a 1/100 chance of being pulled in the search results.  This includes pages that take content from you – don’t allow them to do that.  If you listen to nothing else, listen to this: duplicate content inhibits your site from showing up in search results.  WRITE YOUR OWN CONTENT.

-        Call to action: If you’re selling something, this is important.  Start your sentences with a command, or “call to action,” that will inspire visitors to buy your product or service.  However, try to depart from general words like “buy” and “get.”  Capture their attention with a question that piques their interest or a solution to their problems.  Be stealthy about this – you want to appeal to them, not turn them off by overtly attempting to make a sale. 

Example: Let’s just say you sell cats (I like cats, it was the first thing that came to mind). Instead of “Buy our Cats,” say “Create a calming environment, lower blood pressure, and reduce daily stresses…”  Another option is, “are you looking for a companion that will love you unconditionally and won’t ever let you down?”  Everyone gets stressed, everyone gets lonely, and the cats you sell are the solution to those problems.

-        Order is important: Place crucial, selling information first and the less useful, fluffy stuff last.  The goal of your visitors is to get in and out in the fraction of a second with as much useful information as possible, so you want the major points to be easily accessible.   The first paragraph is the most important, and flows into less significant information.  This is called the inverted pyramid. 

-        So is tone: Don’t scream at them.  Relay information in an interesting and informative way, and talk to visitors like you would a friend.  When you recommend items to friends, you certainly wouldn’t scream at them (or maybe you would, in which case you should probably stop).  You would explain the benefits of the product, what it fulfills, and why you really enjoyed using it.  In addition, the site copy is for the reader, so say “you” and “your” more than “we” and “us.”

SEO Writing/Optimizing Content Guidelines:

-        150 words MINIMUM: Through extensive research, we have concluded that search engines typically index pages with 150+ words because they consider it to be valuable to visitors.  The job of a search engine is to pull the best information for the search, and the best information is considered to have a 150 word minimum.  Translation: you have a better chance of showing up in the search results if you have 150+ words.  The more content, the better.

-        Order is important: In the meta-descriptions, try to mention keywords in order from strongest à weakest.  The body should mention the keywords as close to the top of the paragraph as possible and also in the order of strongest à weakest.  This should be done in a way that still allows the content to sound natural. 

-        Use keywords more than once: You want to have a good “keyword density.”  Too few keywords won’t get you indexed in the search results, but too many keywords looks fishy.  A general rule I like to follow is to mention each keyword about 2x in every 150 word block.  For instance, a 300 word block would ideally have each keyword in there about 4x.  However, this is not an exact science, and does not take precedence over quality, natural sounding content.

-        But don’t go overboard:  Resist the urge to keyword stuff.  It reads poorly and it may actually work retroactively with SEO processes.  When people visit your site, keyword stuffing jibberish not only looks unprofessional, but they learn nothing about your product and may be less likely to buy from you. 

Hopefully you’ll be able to use this in your business venture.  The most important thing to keep in mind about writing for your online business is that you are the expert.  You know your business, your audience, and your products better than anyone else, so use your best judgment when writing for it. 

The Title Tag. Yes that’s right that little blue bar at the top of your browser. This is also the main headline served up in the search results.The best way to conceptualize this situation is to think of the Search Engines as having a checklist of criteria that your website must have to rank for a certain phrase. One of the first things that is taken into account is your URL or actual web address.

So if you are still building this out or plan to in the future make sure you get your keywords in there first. Next, when constructing your title tag, it is important to note that having a unique title tag for each of your pages is the best way for the engines to differentiate all of the pages within your site. If all of your pages were to have the same title tag you may miss out on getting your entire site indexed in the search engine results.

Finally, different search engines display a different number of characters in your browser as well as the search results. So understanding the intricacies of each will be beneficial to your specific strategy. To my knowledge this is the current breakdown of the different search engines and how they serve up Title Tags. Please note this is only “display characters”. I believe Google will read as many characters as you place in the title tag. However it is not best practice to cram this area with content.

So now that you know how different engines serve up title tags differently you should base your strategy accordingly. At eXclusive Concepts, we typically keep the tag at 75 characters and under. To better accommodate all 3 engines. But this is just the beginning. You must now determine what you are going to say in the title tag. This is a very crucial step. Do your research and find terms that you feel best describe what this page is about, while still using keywords that will bring you traffic. Google’s adwords keyword tool is a good way to get a rough approximation of search queries for a term. However you may need to do a little more research to determine competition on these keywords.

It is important to remember just because you have the term you want to rank for in the URL and the title tag this does not mean you are going to be ranked on the first page. It’s just one step closer to being optimized. Having a good gauge on your competition will be one of the best barometers of your ability to rank for a term. Some SEO firms may even have in-house programs that they use to determine competition levels; these can be most helpful when constructing a proper title tag as well as fully optimizing the foundation of a website.

By Joe Mesgleski
Jr. Web Marketer @ eXclusive Concepts, Inc.

Think of your Yahoo Store as a construction site. You can’t build a house from the roof down. It needs to be carefully and meticulously thought out. Who do I want to come to my store? How are they searching and who are my competitors? A foundation should be set with Search Engine Optimization. Let us do the research and see where you can compete. SEO is where you lay the foundation for all future marketing initiatives.

“Allin, is that all I need to do to be competitive? There must be something after the Foundation SEO project”

My answer is of course. Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing project. However, there isn’t a cookie cutter solution for your Yahoo! Store. Your business goals and the competitiveness of your market space determine your next steps. Content is king so you should always be adding unique content to your site. If you are in a competitive market link building is a necessity. Just as in the brick and mortar world reputation and authority matter. Building one way links into your site builds your authority and relevancy online. At the end of the day link building can be the solution that helps you out rank your competition.

Follow these first steps and you will watch your authority rise, traffic increase and sales grow. Keep in mind that online marketing is an evolution and continuous maintenance is the key to your success. Don’t let your Yahoo Store hit a wall; talk to one of our strategist who will outline a game plan for you.