copywriting
Matt Cutts evaluation on the importance of body copy
Matt Cutts the head of Google’s Webspam team recently posted a video emphasizing the importance of body copy on search engines as well as its impact on the customers. Click and watch the video in the below mentioned link you would definitely admire the way how it is captured running inline to his illustration.
Head section
People who work having search engine as their domain definitely know lot of stuff and especially on the elements that forms the head section. Yes, it is obviously the Title tag and Meta description. Title tag includes title of the page and Meta description is usually the short description of the content on the page.
Matt Cutts view on body copy
Matt Cutts states that most site pages have body contents irrelevant to their head section. He also claims that only title tag and Meta description are valued more in highlighting the information rather focusing on the body copy. He insists to use keywords and phrases that target the potential audience and reinforce those key messages throughout the body that could keep the niche audience engage on track with your market goal. The relevant body content is one of the major and important scenarios to concentrate on in order to reach the niche audience.
How to create appealing copy that influence clicks
Copywriting primarily educates, inspires and enables free flow of information, views being shared with huge community in bringing the true result explored. The major key aspect in creating content appealing is to win the hearts of people. Go agreeable with scenarios what is universally accepted as fact by larger community. Trying things unique is actually different from following the built-in or predefined instructions. Go with deals which are accepted as right by large communities.
What does appealing mean in copywriting?
As discussed above, winning more hearts is the basic line in delivering the content appealing; it’s a way better to go agreeable in making points of what your audience agrees with. This subconsciously brings positive impact on audience minds towards your opinion. Of course, it also symbolizes that you show interest in their problems and you have something of what they want. This is how your copywriting strategy wins many hearts.
Getting way to clicks
If your copy deals entirely about you and how great your company/ product/service is, you are actually losing customers as people seek for solutions only for their search and not for your offered services or recommendations. Understand the feelings and needs of your reader, and by addressing them one by one in showing empathy in your copywriting will really make your products/services get enormous clicks.
How branding strategies influence copy writing
Brand- the DNA of company
Internet is stuffed with extensive information and so it acts as a major source for people in getting themselves knowledgeable in wide areas. There exist large communities of people named consumers who regularly and rapidly surf internet for their needs. Obviously, the content plays the major role in making people understand the basic line of process what the company or organization deals with. Branding is the core where most people concentrate. The copywriting tends as the main medium in defining the brand effectively than a logo. So, it is always important to deliver copywriting that goes in-line with branding.
Influence of brand story on content
Brand story serves as a distilled essence in giving out the blueprint of company/product process, procedures and terms. Copywriting either on online or offline must essentially underpin this branding story. It is extremely a powerful strategic tool helps in identifying and communicating a powerful and distinct identity to the customers. At a gradual level, it can increase the long term development of your business by boosting customer share at a greater extent.
Copywriting with brand story helps in building a long lasting and value worth relationships with consumers.
Guidelines of writing brand story
The brand story has to be built on considering certain schemas like Authenticity, Quality and Credibility. These basic substances help in delivering the greater value of brand to its owner and to its customers. Once you got a brand story incorporating the above mentioned scenarios now it’s time for you to start creating a content strategy.
Ways to create Interesting content for unexciting B2B subjects
Some companies initially consider content as a light process as they could make out with varieties of contents but seriously later, it turns quite opposite to their expectations. The true fact is that as popular companies are flooded with lots of information they miss out presenting that in an interesting manner. Delivering the content in an effective way is actually an art as the nooks and corners need to be known so that we get a clear picture of which one has to be highlighted effectively and which needs to get still enhanced. Transform the dull ‘B2B’ into an interesting one by using the following suggestions.
Give relevance a high priority
The content being created must be always needed to keep end users active and interactive. At no cost the content should be deviated from the major core themes because sometimes it may sound dull to certain users. Maintain inline with specificity assuring you serve niche audiences.
Present the clear picture of progress
Create the content that gives transparency of the process what is indulged in business agenda. Of course there are some confidential lines which should not be disclosed. But still, the content can bring out some basic flow structures in keeping the users updated. This indeed adds value to your business.
Follow simple procedures
When you get anything answered to your clients make the thing simple and don’t use the hi-fi jargons to solve their issues. Use the common and regular wordings as such we use in our routine day-to-day life. Writing content as we talk and adding humor are some of the important strategies of holding customers with our business.
Add comments and interview of eminent personalities
As discussed in the previous week, adding the blog with comments and interviews of interesting personalities will actually make the content to inspire with its own qualities turning it to be an informative one. This is one of the most significant ways of transforming the dull B2B contents into a compulsive one.
How to add expert comment in the copywriting blog
Copy writing blogs can be made more informative and new by using certain expert comments within it. When you try to introduce something new in the content marketing or other site content process the comments from experts will add a great value to it. Blog is meant for not just posting your own views or achievements but to involve others in exploring with their ideas by initiating the interaction with them. Let’s see how effective the blog turns on including such expert’s comments.
Get clear idea on controversies:
You can put end to all billion dollar questions by having an expert advice or suggestions included in your blog. As far as copy writing is concerned there exist some issues with the algorithm updates whether the contents had to be made so simple in breaking out the jargons or clarity need to be added in enhancing jargons. Answers can be sorted out by only involving concerned experts for the process.
Unique observation:
On giving out the direct solution in maintaining a transparent procedure with your site visitors, your site will be observed more than the competitors. As the information you provide are dealt with expert’s voice the reliability for your blog will get increased.
Allows making with independent take on services:
When you indulge an expert for your services then there occur no necessities for looking up with product or service guides. An expert will take entire responsibility for having all back up for your facts and can also detail out certain piece of information that goes beyond your knowledge.
Heuristics for copywriting strategy
To the previous week Jakob Nielsen’s five heuristics that are applicable for Copywriters to create an active content are highlighted. Let’s see the other 5 heuristics dealt with a content strategy.
Error prevention
“Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.”
In copy writing strategy, it is not just the content but also the user design plays an important role. In order to create the strong micro-content the language used must be simple so that it can be also error free. The complex words might sometimes lead to an ineffective micro-content as it may not reach to the communities in an effective manner.
Recognition rather than recall
“Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.”
The content must be created in such a way that it need to come inline with the process. There should not be any discontinuity in the content, making the reader to again get reminded with the task. Just like a baby walk present clarity and continuity in each and every step of content process.
Flexibility and efficiency of use
“Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.”
As copywriters won’t have control over the general design and interface nothing effective can be made in those processes but the usage of links within the body can be enhanced in a better way by copy writers. The links included must be in a way of user’s expectations. For example, if you’re writing a product page for tuxedos include the link that deals with fashion updates. So that it makes user to have great flexibility and efficiency to use your site than the competitors.
Aesthetic and minimalist design
“Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.”
Use only the relevant information and data required for the site process. Don’t bombard with enormous content that are irrelevant to the covered topics. Cut down the contents in order to give an aesthetic presence that provides more convenient content visibility to the users.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
“Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.”
When you find any error messages don’t leave it as such, fix the error by explaining the hard jargon or rewrite using the simple language. Nothing benefits in writing an amazing error messages that gets cut down in half the way.
Make your content go viral
The word “Viral content” may sound simple but creating a viral content is not an easier task. It brings challenges to content writers to create a content that spreads very fast on the internet. The content can be of an article, a picture or can be of other types that tend to be so funny, informative or controversial in indulging people to develop keen interest of that topic. Now, know what are the key factors make content to go viral.
Emotional Appeal– The content will reach to large community only when it matches the similar emotional reaction that stands common for a large group. Focus on positive emotional responses that are in line with curiosity, amazement, interest, astonishment, administration and humor rather putting your words to negative emotional responses.
Share worthy– Create a content that is share-worthy. Marketing professor Jonah Berger has pointed out 6 steps for creating an effective share worthy content. The recommended steps are: adding triggers, social value, emotion, using stories, a common/public inspiration and practice values are the strategies have to be implemented for making the content share worthy.
Time Factor– Timing factor plays a major role in letting out the content to go viral. Analyze the content which are claimed to be most in demand at various stages (time-days-week-year) and publish the content at the right time when most needed.
Visual Appearance– Visual appeal matters a lot; go with attractive design elements, bold and subtle colors, contrast and clarity images that add supplementary effectiveness to content.
Google’s Hummingbird update
Hummingbird
Hummingbird is an entirely new updated search algorithm incorporating new technology combined with older features of the existing algorithms. It approaches search engine queries in an intelligent way that instead of looking at the individual words that match with the keywords of finding page, the algorithm aims to understand what the users intention was – figuring out the reason what exactly the user looking for to search. This release is basically a platform that enables Google to better handle “conversational” search queries.
Working strategies of Hummingbird
The major change what made Hummingbird to be so special than past versions of the Google algorithms is that its conversational search.
For example, if you search for ‘shipping companies near me’, then Hummingbird knows that ‘near me’ might mean where you are when you’re searching, it understands the user searches for the shipping services in his nearby locality. This clearly indicates many people are searching for results without using the appropriate keywords.
Hummingbird breaks this dismay by introducing Conversational Search concept- allowing user to ask Google a question, as you would a friend, and it answers you using contextual and background knowledge (just like a real person would).
Future with Hummingbird algorithm
It will take little time to get familiar with the new methodology but it’s an evolution of Google in elevating preference for quality content that address user’s actual needs in their own natural language. In future, it is no doubt that Hummingbird will extend its wing in elevating the search experience to new level.
Does your copy writing strategy fits mobile devices?
Copywriting differs with various kinds, writing a copy to a site can be of both elaborated or crisp manner depending upon the requirement but when comes to mobile devices there are some limitations and procedures which has to be encountered. The copy which is written to desktop site cannot be easily transported to mobile devices as it could affect the clarity. Let’s look at some of the factors of what mobile copywriting has to be.
Cut down the descriptions– while writing copy/ content for mobile devices always prefer for precise descriptions than an elaborated one. The average content for desktop site may vary to 300-500 words but the same theme line has to be delivered with in 100 words when comes to mobile devices.
Prioritize the hierarchy of content– Prioritizing of content is more important. The main core services and key features have to be kept top of the hierarchy level in order to cover the main scenarios with in the limited space.
Use sub headers– Use of sub headers bring clarity to the content. Also enhances the readability of user to get idea in a better manner. Capturing catchy content would add additional essence to sub headers.
Contractions– Avoid using unnecessary words that doesn’t add any effect to your stuff. Better go with “you’ll” instead of “you will” when you look to limit your words.
Features of Digital Content Summit 2014
The Digital Content Summit 2014 which held on February tracked the solutions for all content queries from experts which remained unanswered till date.
The Digital Content Summit was organized in addressing the content related issues. Content providers face many challenges when developing the content to new devices and platforms. How to adapt to those platforms in order to deliver the content effectively using various approaches is meant to be the basic theme of the event.
Catherine Toole’s speech was considered to be one of the effective speeches as she elaborated with the tips and solutions for How to get content signed off when ‘Stakeholder says no’.
The next summit (The Mobile Content Summit 2014) is to take place on October.
Major components related to mobile content are to be addressed
Some of them are:
- How to build customer loyalty content
- Designing a cross-platform content delivery system
- How to gain maximum reach without diluting brand
- How to design content that supports to different devices
The summit is open to all who look to build a sustainable business model around their content.