Freelance writers make lots of mistakes, especially when they’re starting out online.

Mistakes are useful. They’re fertilizer for entrepreneurial growth. They keep you learning and moving forward.

However, if you fail to make the right mistakes — and to learn from them — you may as well just keep your writing as a weekend hobby.

You want to make the mistakes that teach you how to build a better writing business or show you things you only learned because you were reaching.

What’s one of the biggest mistakes a freelance writer can make?

Let’s find out …

Do not ignore your most important client

One of the biggest mistakes a freelance writer can make — and one most writers constantly fall into — is ignoring their most important client.

Oh sure, most writers take care of the person they think is their best client. The client who pays them the most per word and gives them the most notice between projects, or the most glowing referrals.

And you might be right. That might be your best client, but it isn’t your most important. Not by a long shot.

Your most important client is the one who will stay with you forever. The client who will help ensure you make more each year than you did the year before. Your most important client will help you do all of that, but only if you promise to never ignore them.

Who is your best client?

Your best client is you.

And are you taking care of yourself? Do you make sure your needs are met?

Do you set aside at least an hour every day to tend your projects and build your assets — the same assets that will accumulate over time and help you build streams of steady, passive income?

Probably not, most working writers don’t.

It’s bad enough when you’re freelancing, tearing through so many hours that you don’t have the time to write for your muse or build your assets, whether that means publishing fiction to Kindle or creating eCourses you can sell to your list.

But at least busy freelancers are paying the bills.

They’re growing their businesses and building their reputations.

While busy freelancers who spend all their time cranking out copy are ignoring their permanent assets, at least they have an excuse.

They’re working hard.

A case study in “working hard”

I used to run a small chain of flower shops in Long Beach, California.

There were often times when I felt I had to do everything myself, from stripping roses to answering phones, even sweeping up the shop.

But if I wasn’t booking a wedding, negotiating a better price for international roses, or helping a hapless husband build the perfect bouquet for his beautiful wife, I was costing myself and the business money.

Of course I’d learned all this before I started my writing career. Yet for some reason it took me a couple of years to figure out that the same principles held true online.

For the first year, I couldn’t justify the expense in my head.

My writing business wasn’t generating enough money to outsource, or so I thought. I quickly fell into the same trap I’d fallen into many years before in the flower business.

One excuse followed another until I finally realized that the more I wrote for myself, the more I could ultimately make in the long run.

Yet, that would never happen if I spent all my time inside my WordPress dashboard instead of building my future.

There is never any good reason to spend needless minutes mired in menial tasks that keep you busy and fenced from your future, drowning in tedium and leaving you with a finished product that probably isn’t as good as what you could have paid for.

Do any of the tasks below look familiar?

Are you needlessly spending time on any (or all) of these, because you think you should?

• Coding your website
• Audio or video transcription
• Blog design
• Accounting
• Cover art design
• Editing

You might be decent at accomplishing the items on that list.

But if you’re a writer, none are your specialty.

By outsourcing that kind of work and paying a specialist a reasonable rate, you will be buying yourself more time for the work you can charge top dollar for.

Outsourcing also gives you time to write and create the bigger assets that will make you money over time, rather than just once.

Top-notch content for your own site. Superb client education material. The kind of great marketing you create for your clients, but never write for your own business.

To truly grow as a writer, you must be willing to hand off any menial tasks that strip your time away from what you’re best at –- writing.

The less you write, the further you’ll be from realizing your goals and dreams.

It’s time to work smart

You must be willing to eliminate from your workday any mindless tasks that cannot make you money or help you grow your business.

Every task you keep for yourself is adding distance between yourself, your passion, and the true future you could be building around your writing career.

Outsourcing travels in every direction.

When you write copy for a client who doesn’t want to do it themselves, they are outsourcing their work to you. For you, writing is easy. For them, it isn’t.

Some of the things you don’t want to do, aren’t especially good at, or take you far too long, are tasks other people are exceptional at and enjoy doing: coding, WordPress development, blog design, research, and all the other stuff your writing business needs to grow.

Let others handle the heavy lifting of your business so you can spend your time writing a better tomorrow for yourself instead.

Don’t spend your time sweeping the floor with your future.

About the Author: Sean Platt is a content marketer and cofounder of outstandingSETUP. Get his free report 9 Website Building Mistakes You Should Avoid.

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Imagine you’re having a discussion with a hyperactive, talkative teenager.
And the conversation goes like this…

“We went to the mall, and like, there was this fire in the mall. And we went from there to the cinema, but we didn’t have any money and anyway the popcorn machine was broken, and so we didn’t really want to go to the movies without popcorn. But right after that we went to have some pizza and there was this creepy guy outside the store. But listen to this—because that’s not the best part. The best part is the Sylvie dumped Josh, and like, they ran into each other in the street…”

When we, like, write copy for our website, we like, sound a lot like that teenager

What we tend to do is go all over the place with our copy. First of course, we’ll try to stuff in about five concepts in our headline. Then we’ll try and fill in a whole bunch of sub-heads that we want to drive home.

And then our first paragraph tries to cover all the possible points. And like that teenager, we have the entire story in our heads, but nothing quite gets across to the client. And that’s because you’re trying to cover way too many points too quickly.

And as you’ve worked it out for yourself, this bounce and jumping around is exhausting for the reader or listener, and hence is a big mistake.

So let’s see how this mistake unfolds when we write copy by examining an actual piece of copy.

Headline: Are You Fed Up With Unprofessional Contractors …
Body text:
That don’t call you back or even show up?
Are you done with contractors that lack the ability to communicate in a timely manner?
Or run away from problems that crop up during and after a project?
Are you over dealing with the hacks of the world?
Have you enough of sitting home babysitting people that are you uncomfortable with?

So what’s wrong with that sequence?

Technically, nothing. The headline is perfect. It gets my attention without too much of a fuss. But then I go to read and I get between three-five main plots and no sub-plots. And how do we know they’re main plots? Because we can list them out and see for ourselves. They all want to take centre stage.

Main plot 1: Don’t call you back or even show up
Main plot 2: Lack the ability to communicate in a timely manner
Main plot 3: Run away from problems that crop up during and after a project
Main plot 4: The so-called professional is nothing but a hack.
Main plot 5: Discomfort. Having to babysit people that are you uncomfortable with

Just like that teenager’s story, it’s possible for us to jump from one to the other, without so much as pausing for breath. So now that we know we’re creating bounce, how do we get rid of this bounce? And how do we still use all of the point we want to cover on our web page?

Here’s how you do it.

Just like a movie, you have a main plot. And you have sub-plots. So what’s your main plot? It’s the client’s most pressing problem. That’s obvious, isn’t it? You’d want to get the client’s attention by driving home the biggest, scariest, buggiest problem, wouldn’t you? And here’s how we go about it.

Headline: Write your headline. Let it cover ONE big problem (that big, buggy problem)
Body text 1: Drive home the problems involved with that ONE point.
Body text 2: Drive home the consequences of that ONE point.
Body text 3: Drive home the solution to that ONE problem.
Move to the next point.

So how does this look when we put the teenager’s story in this format?

Headline: We went to the mall and there was a fire.
Body text 1: What happened next (at the mall)
Body text 2: Then what were the consequences?
Body text 3: How did we escape the fire?

With the teenager, she’d complete one story, and move to the next. And the next. But you may have made your point with a single story. So what do you do with the rest of the stuff that you so badly want to get across? You bring it up later. Let’s see how. But first let’s get back to our example.

Headline: Are You Fed Up With Unprofessional Contractors …
Body text: That don’t call you back or even show up?
Body text 1: What’s the problem with not calling back or showing up?
Body text 2: What are the consequences? Describe the emotion that the client feels, in detail.
Body text 3: What’s the best way to avoid such a desperate scenario?

And then you present your service

Body text 4: Presenting XYZ contracting company.
Body text 5: Drive home the point of calling back. How you do it. When you show up. How you follow up.

Notice we haven’t gone to Point 2 yet. And yes, I know, you’re itching to drive home that point

But notice something? The customer doesn’t care about your itch. They’re locked in to what you’re saying. You’re the first person they’ve met who isn’t like that teenager, jumping from story to story.

The customer’s biggest problem is ‘unprofessional contractors that don’t call back or show up’ and you’re doing just that. The customer wants to know more about that story in detail, before they’re ready to move to the next story.

So once you present your company and why you bring the ONE solution, you can now move on to the next story.

Except you don’t have to tell the next story in as much detail. You can now roll out the remaining stories in slightly less detail in a feature/benefit format that looks like this:

Feature 1: Benefit 1. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and more blahdee blah, blahdoo, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and more blahdee blah, blahdoo, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and more blahdee blah, blahdoo, blah, blah, blah.

Feature 2: Benefit 1. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and more blahdee blah, blahdoo, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and more blahdee blah, blahdoo, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and more blahdee blah, blahdoo, blah, blah, blah.

And so on with Feature 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8—and so on. And add benefits to every one of those features

You can have as many as 8-10 paragraphs rich with details of the problem and the solutions you bring to the customer. And having locked into the main problem and seeing how you bring that solution, the customer will happily trundle through the rest of the points, and get more convinced by the minute about your expertise and professionalism.

In short what you have is a main plot. And you drive home that main plot.

And then later, pull in the sub-plots, but without the same level of intensity as the main. Just remember that you can pick any plot to be the main plot. (e.g. ‘Sylvie dumping Josh’ has more drama than ‘no popcorn at the cinema.’ And then re-tell your story on the sales page.

ONE plot at a time 

Do you have a question on ‘Understand Plots and Sub-Plots when Writing Salesletters? Ask it here.

The Brain Audit really teaches you the art of persuasion because it gives an insight into how people’s brains work. I have used the principles in writing WebPages, writing articles, making presentations, networking, negotiating and even writing submissions for a judge!

But the best bit about the Brain Audit is that it actually works.The principles are easy to understand.

Would I recommend it to people serious about getting on in business? Absolutely.

Michael Smyth, approachablelawyer, Auckland
Judge for yourself —The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy And Why They Don’t

“If you suspect that your business could be bringing in a lot more revenue but you don’t have a clue how to make that happen without hype or hassle, 5000bc is a must-have resource.

I honestly didn’t see what 5000bc could offer me that I couldn’t get from Sean’s books. Besides, how could a bunch of people – most of whom are not business experts – help me build my business?

I joined anyway because the price was right and I wanted the information that came with the premium membership.

The information and support I received from Sean and my fellow “cavers” about a single Web page was directly responsible for selling $10,000 worth of books in less than two weeks.

Unlike many Web communities, 5000bc members are active and to the point. Sean keeps adding content that drills down to specific problems in business and then shows you how to solve them.

Try it. You won’t regret it.”

Molly Gordon, Master Certified Coach
Shaboom Inc, USA

Judge for yourself—How 5000bc can make your business succeed.

1) Do You Often Hit A Wall Called ‘Writers Block’?
Learn how the core elements of outlining can save you from the misery of writing your next article.

2) Do you know that visuals immediately improve your sales conversion?
Learn how to create drama and curiosity and help improve your web page conversion with visuals.

3) Do your websites, brochures, presentations, etc… confuse your clients?
Put some sanity into your design, even though you are not a designer?

4) Chaos Planning
Year after year you sit down and create a list of things you want to achieve. Then suddenly it’s March, and you’ve not really moved ahead as you’d expected.
Learn Why Most Planning Fails: And The Critical Importance of Chaos in Planning.

5) Nothing bugs you more than a painful client.
A client who hassles you at every step of the way. Learn how to use the power of the ‘six critical questions’ to get incredible testimonials—and attract clients that make every day an absolute joy.

[next_step]

This simple word of advice makes good copywriters legendary.

With it, you’re going to increase sales. Without it, you’re finished.

It’s deceptively plain, and easily ignored.

We already know if nobody makes it past your headline, nobody reads your content or sales page. This makes the headline the most important element of your persuasive copy.

What’s the 2nd most important element?

You’ve already read it …

The first sentence

Every ad, article, sales page, or blog post you write must begin with one hell of an opening sentence.

That sentence must speak directly to the needs and desires of your audience and your content must deliver on its promise.

Journalists call it the lede, the first sentence (or paragraph) is meant to bring the reader into the piece, to make it irresistible, to get the article read.

Joe Sugarman teaches that the first sentence of your copy should be short. So short, and so compelling, that it’s almost easier to read than not.

I am definitely in the brevity school, but each project calls for its own thoughtful assessment.

What sticks, and why?

What are the most quoted passages in fiction? It’s almost always the first sentence of the book …

It was a pleasure to burn.
~ Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
~ William Gibson, Neuromancer

Lolita. Light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.
~ Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

Where now? Who now? When now?
~ Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold.
~ Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

These lines are immortal, because they are (arguably, in the context of their respective stories) great lines.

But they are also unforgettable because they are … first lines. Why? Is it the way we’re built? Is it the way we remember? I don’t know, and I don’t really care.

It doesn’t matter why, as long as you recognize that it’s true.

The first sentence of your copy should be unforgettably relevant, useful, truthful, and tempting, because the first line is usually what sticks in the mind of the reader — for better or worse.

But that’s not the most important function of the first sentence …

What’s the point?

This isn’t about being tricky, deceptive, or even creative.

Like all great copywriting (and storytelling), the only goal of the first sentence is to make the reader want to read the second sentence.

And the second sentence should effortlessly lead the reader to the third. And so on.

So much of what we do depends on the single line.

And in the case of the first sentence… if you lose your reader there, you lose everything.

What are some of the best first sentences you’ve seen around lately?

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s copywriter and resident recluse. Get him on Twitter or Google+.

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It’s 100% true…

Glenn Livingston was arrested for drinking on January 4th, 2012, and you can see his mugshot here.

It’s pretty scary what you can learn using Google Alerts!

Like most marketers, I have routine alerts out on my name, and for just a moment when I saw this come through I wondered if perhaps I’d been out on a bender I’d forgotten last week (even though I haven’t had a drink in 20+ years… not ’cause I’m an alcoholic–I detest that term–just because I find life more interesting and satisfactory without screwing with my mental state)

I also learned, of course, about the myriad of people stealing my products (we pursue them legally now), and a few things about yet ANOTHER Glenn Livingston who’s a pastor in Illinois up to some interesting things from time to time.

But none of these rather mundane results from Google Alerts come anywhere close to the REAL power of this FREE utility…

(Even though tracking your namesakes’ activities can from time to time generate an attention getting headline)

Because most marketers have absolutely NO idea how to use it…

The REAL way to leverage Google Alerts is to first know with crystal clarity EXACTLY what keyword defines your ideal prospect, plus a very small set of related keywords which surround it.  Taken together these become your “archery target”… the small space which defines EXACTLY WHO YOU WANT TO BE on the internet, and allows you to more or less ignore everything else.

Once you’ve done that, you can combine Google Alerts with Google Reader Feeds (and some anti-RSS-spam code) to automatically collect pretty much EVERYTHING that happens on the internet that’s relevant to you…

And stop getting distracted by everything else…

Which is the ONLY way to build a hyper-responsive marketing system in my humble opinion.

Have any of you found effective-yet-novel uses for Google Alerts we should know about?

Tell me, I’d like to know!

Dr. G

PS – I’m considering organizing my network and resources to build a “performance-pay-based-conversion boosting-done-for-you” service.  Curious if that’s of interest to any of my readers today

As you may have seen on Tuesday, we were disappointed to see that there were no copywriting blogs in last year’s Top 10 Blogs for Writers.

We think persuasive writers — content marketers and copywriters — are as worthy of cheers and accolades as our fiction-writing brothers and sisters.

So today I put together a list of 15 writing blogs I think you’ll get a lot out of.

I got lots of great suggestions for blogs to check out (thank you all), and it was tough to narrow them down to a manageable few.

When winnowing down the list, I had a few rough criteria.

First, writing advice had to be a key element of the blog.

There are hundreds of terrific social media and business blogs, and they’re wonderful resources, but we wanted to focus on sites that would make you a better writer.

I defined better writer in two ways — either as “a writer who ethically and effectively convinces customers to buy more stuff” or “a writer who’s landing more and better clients.”

We also didn’t include the big “name brand” sites — we wanted to focus on some smaller sites you might not have seen yet. Not surprisingly, we’ve got a good sample of Copyblogger guest writers here, but also plenty of folks you haven’t seen here. (Not yet, anyway).

By the way, when you click through, notice how most of these blogs make great use of their tag lines to tell you exactly how they can help solve a specific problem. Smart copywriters.

BenSettle.com
Ben Settle
If you’ve heard Ben speak on our radio show or you’ve read his Copyblogger posts, you know he isn’t wishy-washy. He likes to sell, and he likes to make money. He uses email marketing to do those things, and he has a lot of strong, sharp advice for email marketers. If you’re still nervous about selling, reading Ben Settle might freak you out. Which may be a good and useful thing for you.

Copylicious
Kelly Parkinson
A January post makes us optimistic that Kelly will start writing actively again for this smart, funny writing blog. From her bio: “ … this is not really about copy. This is about improving your whole business.” We couldn’t agree more.

Direct Creative
Dean Rieck
Dean has been one of our most popular guest writers here on Copyblogger, because he knows his stuff. His blog delivers no-nonsense tips and advice on how to improve your direct response copy. If you want to improve your persuasive writing chops, Dean’s site is a must-read.

The Domino Project
Seth Godin
This is a small blog around Seth’s Domino Project, a digital publishing experiment. Seth’s published articles here about digital publishing, ebooks, and how they affect writers and publishing. If you’ve considered publishing a book in this century, you should probably take a look at this site.

Ghostwriter Dad
Sean Platt
Sean has gone from a sweet, enthusiastic fledgling ghostwriter to a sweet, enthusiastic, and really, really successful marketing writer (as well as launching a thriving fiction series. He’s a busy dude). He’s publishing lots of great advice about how he made that journey, and how you can, too.

Good Copy, Bad Copy
Clare Lynch and David Pollack
A charming blog about “good business writing and bad. Especially the bad. Because there’s so much more of the bad.” If you ever help corporate clients communicate with their customers, you need this blog.

Harrison Amy Copywriting
Amy Harrison
Amy doles out copywriting advice for professional writers and businesspeople alike. She has some nice resources on the site, including a good guide on getting your sales page done if you aren’t a professional writer. (Or maybe even if you are.)

Jeff Sexton Writes
Jeff Sexton
If you want to get really good as a copywriter, you have to read Jeff Sexton. He’s not afraid to dive into the thorny, complicated tangle of what makes for truly effective copywriting. Jeff’s a pro, and he writes for pros. This is a great site.

Make a Living Writing
Carol Tice
The name of Carol’s blog says it all — she keeps a tight focus on professional writers and how they can make a better living. Her blog’s got writing tips, business, and marketing advice.

Men with Pens
James Chartrand
The times certainly have changed. For example, now there are actual men writing for Men with Pens. What hasn’t changed is a site that mixes business and writing advice for content marketers, pulled together by James Chartrand’s no-nonsense approach to online marketing.

Success Works
Heather Lloyd-Martin
Heather’s bio describes her as “split between watching the search engines dance and pinpointing the exact direct response copywriting strategies that make people buy.” That dual focus shows up consistently in sharp, well-written articles and videos by her and her team about the art and science of SEO copywriting.

The Rant
John Carlton
The name of the blog gives you fair warning — John Carlton does enjoy the sight of his own voice. But he’s also an excellent copywriter and a terrific copywriting teacher. Look to the “Must Read” and “Popular Posts” sidebars for some classic writing advice, given with a healthy dose of … well, ranting.

RicardoBueno.com
Ricardo Bueno
Ricardo specializes in content marketing for real estate professionals, and he’s got lots of resources for using blogs, social media, and content to create effective marketing for that market. I love this example of a content marketer working within a well-defined niche. (If you’re a writer struggling to stand out, think about the niche you could be serving.)

The Well-Fed Writer Blog
Peter Bowerman
Peter’s written some great books on going from being a starving writer to a well-fed one, and his blog continues that tradition with savvy business advice for professional copywriters. No writing advice here — it’s all about how to build your copywriting business, not your writing chops.

Words That Begin With You
Justin Lambert
Justin combines copywriting insights with content marketing advice, wrapped up in a strong writing voice. We like that! Lots of good articles here on becoming a better content marketer.

And one bonus

This isn’t an active blog, but it’s a wonderful resource that no content marketer or copywriter should overlook … Gary Bencivenga’s wonderful Marketing Bullets.

Gary’s one of the most successful copywriters in the history of the business, and he has a lot of simple (but not always easy) advice about mastering the craft of persuasive writing. We’re big Bencivenga fans and we think you will be, too. I have all of these printed out in a binder, and I refer back to them often.

No, this isn’t a complete list!

This is obviously a very partial list of the best copywriting and content marketing blogs out there — what are your must-reads?

We collected some from you in our post on Tuesday, but if we missed your favorite today, let us know in the comments.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Share your favorite writing resources with her on twitter.

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Guest Author, Nick Stamoulis

I was working with one of my social SEO clients on their blog. My SEO company, Brick Marketing, was responsible for writing two blog posts each week, which we would then promote through the client’s various social networks as they went live.

We were specifically instructed to make sure the blog posts were “SEO friendly” and would do well in the search engines. However, before we even scheduled the blog posts I would send the new posts over to my client for their approval. If they had any changes or comments about the post, they just had to email me back and I would have my writing staff change the post as directed.

One day, they sent back a blog post with so many edits, changes and corrections that you could hardly discern the original article. When I asked them what they didn’t like about the original post, my client responded “Oh no, we really liked the post. We just didn’t understand why you had put those links in there. The blue text is really weird looking. And we thought we should only focus on the same keyword through the whole post, so we removed the variations so as to not confuse our readers.”

They essentially threw the SEO component of the blog post out the window!

I’ll be the first to say that any content, whether it is a blog post, article or webpage, should be written for the reader first and the search engines second. But even great content needs a little help getting found and read by your target audience. That’s where SEO and content optimization come into play.

Here are 4 ways to balance content optimization and traditional copywriting:

1. Don’t dumb it down.

Have a little faith in your readers. Writing generic and generalized content so you can target broad keywords won’t do anyone (you or your readers) any good. Don’t be afraid to target long-tail keywords that someone further along in their research process might be using to find related information. The most specific audience you can write your content for is the best chance you’ll have of earning their business.

2. Incorporate keyword variations.

Speaking of specific keywords, there is no rule that says you have to target the exact same keyword throughout the entire blog post. Obviously you want to stick with keywords that accurately reflect the theme and messaging of the content, but don’t be afraid to throw some variations in there. This not only makes your content much more natural sounding, it also helps your content appeal to more searches. Not everyone searches for the same thing in the same way, so variations help ensure you aren’t accidentally alienating a segment of your target audience.

3. Use anchor text to get the link.

Interlinking your blog posts is a great way to keep your readers engaged, educate them further on related topics and show off your industry savvy. No blog post is an island! Obviously you don’t want to pepper your blog posts with dozens of links (it can get a little distracting for your reader) but incorporating 2-3 links via anchor text is a great way to beef up your blog’s SEO! By using anchor text instead of the full URL to direct readers to another blog post (or even a page on your site) you are keeping the flow of your content intact and spreading the link juice from more popular posts across your blog, lending more value to other posts.

4. Write first, optimize second.

Getting the words down on paper is probably the hardest part about writing a blog post. Yet some site owners seem like gluttons for punishment and think that every word has be to perfect for SEO before they can move onto the next. You don’t have to sacrifice great content in order to make a blog “SEO friendly!” In fact, site owners should write the post first and THEN go back in and see how you can tweak it for SEO. If you can’t make a keyword fit, then don’t force it in. If you can’t find a reason to link, don’t bother. Trying to stuff SEO into a blog post is only going to ruin the integrity of the post.

About the Author – Nick Stamoulis

Nick Stamoulis is an SEO consultant and President of Brick Marketing. With over 12 years of B2B SEO experience, Nick Stamoulis shares his knowledge by posting daily SEO tips to his blog, the Search Engine Optimization Journal, and publishing the Brick Marketing SEO Newsletter, read by over 160,000 opt-in subscribers.

Give yourself the gift of a more prosperous new year! Get your certification in SEO Copywriting by the recognized founder of SEO, Heather Lloyd-Martin.

Want to discover the smartest ways to mix social media, content marketing, and SEO for lead generation and converting those leads to customers and clients?

We’ve got you covered with Internet Marketing for Smart People. And there’s absolutely no charge.

This 20-installment email course and newsletter delivers the techniques and strategies you need to know when marketing online.

Find out more and sign up for free here.

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I thought I’d end 2011 with a series of contrarian psychological marketing insights.  After all, what good’s  being a marketing shrink if you don’t get to talk about it, right?

Seriously though, there are a few things I think marketers casually banty about as if they were psychological fact which really bother me… And there are others which tell only HALF the story.

So let’s start there with…

UNUSUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL MARKETING FACT #1: “Impulse Isn’t Everything”

Impulse isn’t everything.

Yes, it’s true you’ve gotta appeal to the Lizard Brain with greed, lust, envy, jealousy, etc in order to induce action on your offer. (Which is one of the reasons I’m fond of saying “try to appeal to the lizard brain without seeming like a lizard”)

But the other half of the story is,  this only produces TRIAL BUT NOT NECESSARILY REPEAT…

Satisfying the lizard brain is only PART of what we need in this world…

As sappy as it sounds, the other half is help mastering our environments, our relationships, our place in society, and life as a whole.

Don’t get me wrong, you won’t get ANYWHERE trying to sell people self-actualization, self-improvement, or simple self-mastery solutions unless you can link them to the lizard brain…

It’s just that lizard brain satisfaction is a necessary but not sufficient condition for REPEAT purchase and customer loyalty.

So it’s not enough to sell luster and shine if you’re selling shampoo…

Or even to sell the emotional end benefit (I feel attractive)…

To really take the market you need to sell the aspirational character… how your product is going to MAKE YOUR PROSPECT INTO THE PERSON THEY WANT TO BE…

Think L’Oreal “Because You’re Worth It”: when a woman buys L’Oreal, she’s not just trying to look sexy, she’s supporting a character trait which translates to self-care across a wide variety of life areas… she’ll also more likely invest in vitamins, a gym membership, life insurance, a spa, etc

Or think Gillette “The Best a Man Can Get”:  a guy’s not just buying Gillette razors to get the cleanest shave possible, or to attract a desired mate… he’s partaking of the best the world has to offer alpha males, and this informs WHO he wants to be across market categories

Or Intel “Intel Inside”:  when you buy Intel, you’re not just getting a high speed processor, you’re committing (whether you know it or not) to recognizing, developing, and leveraging the value of intelligence across many areas of your life…

Or Kodak “Share the Moments, Share the Life”:  when you buy Kodak, you’re not just getting sharp pictures, or even crystallizing memories… you’re committing to family and community as a value you want to demonstrate as a person… it enhances your sense of participation in life with others, and re-affirms your desire to build more of these relationships as part of WHO YOU ARE AS A PERSON…

See what I mean?

These brands engender MASSIVE REPEAT PURCHASE and loyalty because they’ve managed to integrate themselves with the user’s aspirational self image!

What you should be asking yourself now is, WHAT KIND OF PERSON DOES YOUR PROSPECT BECOME when they purchase your product or service?   Is your advertising set up to support this message?

Onward and Upward in 2012,

Dr. G

PS – When you join Hyper Responsive Marketing Secrets you affirm yourself as a person who gets enormous leverage for their  time  and consistently “organizes and executes around priorities” because you know HALF your profits are driven by only ONE in 2,000 visitors.   This radical paradigm shift not only transforms your business, but syncs with your commitment to apply the 80/20 rule throughout your life to achieve maximum results with minimum time.   Join now

PPS – Keep your eyes glued to your inbox for “weird psychological marketing fact #2″, coming soon.

Guest Author, Derek Cromwell

Sometimes I look back on my career as a copywriter and content marketer… and I wonder how I even managed to feed my family and keep the bills paid in those early days.  It’s a wonder I didn’t run off every single prospective client with the poor quality of my “proposals.”

During the first year or so of chasing clients, every proposal I sent was typed up in an email in a direct response to a query for business.  I probably lost as many as I landed, if not more.  At the time I thought it was price, experience (or lack thereof) or some other factor.  The fact is a lot of it had to do with the proposal itself.

A good proposal serves two purposes.  First, it explains the core concept of your service in a simple and logical way that it easy to understand, effectively communicating your services and what you’ll provide to the prospective client.

Second, it’s a sales tool; you’re showing the prospect how it will benefit them and why it’s in their best interest to hire you.  That means you have to be persuasive, compelling and the content has to be well written.

There’s that eye-tick that comes from having to write your own copy…

Keep these items in mind to help control the tick while putting together a winning proposal:

1. Focus on the “Wootness”

You’ll be hard-pressed to sell someone on something that is mediocre; people will see through the hype pretty quickly.  A good proposal is based on a great idea.  The core principal here is to show the prospective client that you recognize their problem, and then present to them a great idea worthy of a “Woot!”

2. Keep it Short

Always think like your clients are busier than you.  Develop proposals with brevity in mind and avoid being verbose.  I used to try telling stories to my mother as a teen and she would always cut me off with “10 words or less.”  It was annoying at the time but it taught me to get my point across.

3. Be Passionate

In conversation you can easily show people how passionate you are about your service.  Make sure your proposal communicates your passion in writing.  This is not a license to oversell so avoid the hype, but you still need to convince the client that you’re “it.”

4. Convention is Important

Without a doubt your proposal is unique to you and your business but I’ve discovered that convention helps me craft winning proposals. My most successful proposals contain a lot of the following:

• The “Executive Summary” – Explain the basic idea of the project or requested services in a few paragraphs.  I try to keep it within a single page.
• My Background – I like to include some background about myself in a proposal, tailored to the project and how it relates to their needs.  It shows that I’m not sending a cookie cutter proposal and injects my personality and personal touch into the proposal.  You’re not just selling your service; you’re selling your own brand of awesome sauce as well.
• The Proposal – They’ve asked about a service and/or stated the problem and this is where the answer is.  This is the meat of it, detailing the requested services and what I can offer in relation to their problem.
• The Benefits – Rather than just stating what I can offer, I include why.  I want them to know what kind of results they can get specific to their problem and what they’ll get out of our business relationship.
• The Needs, Timeline and Cost – I outline what I need and what needs to happen for the project to start, continue and finish as well as the amount of time I’ll need.  Cost is always last.  When you ask someone to give you money, the prospect must have clearly seen why your idea is the winner.  After selling them on the benefits, selling them on cost is easy.
• Conclusion – I close my proposals like I’m closing a letter to a friend, stating some of the most important benefits once more from a position of sincerity, and I always close with “sincerely”.

Do I still cut the occasional email proposal for small gigs?  Absolutely.  It has its merits but once I dove off the e-mail proposal train on “big fish” clients, and began crafting more professional proposals, I saw a noticeable increase in the number of prospects interested in gaining the benefit of my awesome sauce.

About the Author – Derek Cromwell

Derek Cromwell is a graduate of the Success Works SEO Copywriting Certification program and founder of Thunder Bay Media.  He fancies himself as a professional writer, peddling website copywriting and content marketing services to businesses around the globe.  He’s still trying to convince his family that he does more than sit at a computer playing Call of Duty all day, but they’re not buying it.

Like this post? The Copywriting Business Boot Camp teaches you everything you need to know to be a six-figure copywriter. Learn more!

Most kids ditch their imaginary friends along with their sippy cups and security blankets.

That’s a good thing, right?

Well, marketers have discovered a new benefit to finding (and keeping) those imaginary friends again.

One top advertising agency –- Organic in Detroit –- even gave its imaginary friends their own office space.

Why?

Because these fictional characters, or “personas,” make it much easier to make a deep connection with your writing and content marketing.

“Personas allow them to journey into a relational territory where they can understand on an emotional level the most important determinants of real consumers’ brand preferences and purchase decisions,” Dale Buss writes in Advertising Age, “And personas give marketers a meaningful shorthand for communicating with one another.”

I agree with Mr. Buss. If you’ll humor me for a moment, I want to translate some of that advertising-speak and show you how to create your own imaginary marketing persona … and how he or she can make you a better writer.

Craft your own persona

Creating a persona can help your writing better resonate with audiences -– and it doesn’t require having extra office space.

You only need a willingness to be creative.

Create your own persona by first envisioning your perfect reader.

Then, write down the bare facts: name, age, gender, income, education and marital status. Focus not only on demographics, but also personal details that help you identify with this person on a more intimate level.

You can even do a quick search on Google Images to find a photo that matches the persona. Don’t use stock photos –- you want someone who looks real. (Just don’t share it publically unless you have permission to use the photo.)

The idea here is to get as specific as you can about the appearance of your imaginary friend.

Dive deeper into your persona

Once you’ve filled in the basic facts, write a paragraph or two for each of the following categories:

• Personal information Describe her as if she was standing in the same room. Write about her goals, her values, her likes and dislikes. Write about her biggest problems, and the things that keep her up at night.
• Needs What are her needs? What problems does she hope that your writing will solve? How are these problems causing her pain and discomfort? What end result does she want, and what end result does she really need? Are they the same?
• Influence Here’s where you lay out all the factors that go into her decision to take your advice. What influences her decision? How does she find out about your writing, and why does she remember it? What differentiates you, and why is that important to her?

So, who is your imaginary friend?

Click here to download a PDF that takes a look at what the completed persona from the example above might look like.

Then take the time to create your own persona page.

Once you’ve finished, hang it somewhere you can refer to it often. That way, you can apply your future writing to this persona, and get an idea of whether it will resonate with your target market.

How about you — think you’re too old (or too smart) to have an imaginary friend?

Or maybe you’ve used a persona and found it improved your writing and marketing.

Either way, let us know about it in the comments below.

About the Author: Kelly Kautz is a freelance copywriter who blogs about marketing for small business owners.

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Comments

• I kind of do this already. When I write my marketing for … by Liz
• Very cool post! It seems like this post is geared towards … by Dan
• I like the idea of an imaginary persona, you’ve got my wheels … by Knikkolette
• Beautifully written piece! And, for once, I am way ahead of the … by Mary Wilson
• This is a fact i have always known,its so much easier to write … by naijadotcom
• Plus 5 more…

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