Inspired by the enthusiasm of the local non-profit participants, WRITEIMAGE is offering a FREE communications and copywriting consultation for any non-profit in British Columbia, valid until the end of September 2010.

That’s right. This isn’t just for Netsquared Camp participants (though I would certainly like to work with many of them on their worthy causes). If you’re in BC, you get a free consultation of up to one hour on a topic of your choosing related to communications strategy and copywriting for non-profits.

Want to know more about:

• Communications strategy?
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) through your written content?
• Best practices for sending out email newsletters?
• Strategy for press releases and media management?
• How to build web traffic through a blog?
• How to get more leads or donations through strong calls to action?

Contact us to schedule a consultation on communications and content strategies and tactics for your non-profit. Email info [AT] writeimage [DOT] ca or call (604.230.2638).

Now, what precisely happened at N2Camp this weekend? I’ll be giving an overview a bit later, but here I will shamelessly promote my own involvement. Priorities, you understand.

I gave two presentations. One was a case study on how an organization I work with, the Canada-Afghanistan Solidarity Committee, used social media and more traditional marketing methods to help change public opinion in Canada.

The second event was a facilitated discussion about the Cost of Social Media. We took input from social media consultants and related contractors as well as from the managers (or people role-playing managers) of various types of organizations. While we did float around some costs for various social media tasks and positions, it’s clear that the compensation for these sorts of jobs will vary widely. That said, I stressed the importance for contractors of at least being able to provide a ballpark figure — simply responding, “that depends” may be realistic and pragmatic, but it’s going to turn off the people willing to buy services.

Overview of N2Camp coming in a bit. Check in later!

As a website copywriter, I use information like key phrases and popular search terms to refine content and make it more SEO-friendly. Basically, I use the info to make your website easier for your customers to find.

But for my clients, business owners and managers, tracking clicks can help refine entire marketing campaigns or even help guide key business decisions. You track where your sales are coming from offline, right? So why wouldn’t you do the same for your online marketing, when you can do so fairly easily and scientifically, with minimum effort?

I’ve heard from several clients that Google Analytics just seems complicated. I sympathize. It can seem a bit overwhelming.

Have your webmaster sit down with you for an hour or so and go over the metrics. If you’re running your business site off of WordPress or similar software, you can use a site stats plugin that provide only basic information you want to track.

Unlike print marketing, online marketing tools make it a lot easier to track results. Business owners, marketing executives and advertisers would have killed to have these tools even a few years ago. Now you can use them, and they don’t cost you a thing. Take advantage.

How Google Analytics Works

Why is this important? Well, there’s no point in spending money on a website if no one is going to see it, right? If a customer doesn’t already know your business by name, the only way they’re going to find you is with a keyword search.

Here’s an example. Imagine you’re getting married in Vancouver (congratulations!). You’re looking for someone who bakes wedding cakes. So you type in “wedding cake bakery Vancouver Canada” in the Google search bar. The result:

The Mozart Bakery and Cafe can potentially get a lot of customers through the Internet because it is the first company you see for that search term. They’re search engine optimized for a key phrase for their business.

If you’re at the top of page one or two of a Google search, that’s awesome. But if you’re stuck near the bottom of page five, you’re going to have to do some work to make your site SEO-friendly.

There’s a lot you can do with web links and social networks to help out on that score, but a critical solution is adding SEO-friendly website content right on your site. If you need help with that, give us a call.

I contacted my friend, Kathryn Haley the owner of the recently-launched Vancouver-based business Home for Her to ask her about her experiences in setting up and maintaining the content for her online presence. Kathy’s business serves independent women homeowners by providing guidance and creating confidence in all areas related to owning a home. Because of the nature of her specialized business, she needs to communicate very clearly what she has to offer her target market.

Here’s what she wrote when she had put the finishing touches on the website:

This site is finally ready to go live and I am filled with excitement, exhaustion and hope.

I am excited because this process has taken me far out of my comfort zone and I have discovered I thrive on that feeling. I must…I seem to put myself there a lot these days.

I am exhausted because setting up websites is not my strength, and it has taken a lot of tweaking, screaming and several bottles of wine. It is a work in progress so please give any feedback or comments to help improve your experience.

There you have it. Putting the website together in the first place is not an easy thing. Frankly, this early step in developing a business can be so intimidating that some people realize that perhaps they weren’t ready to become entrepreneurs after all and quit the project entirely. (That’s awfully sad, but if you can’t do it yourself and you don’t have the budget or willingness to out-task the web copywriting, there aren’t a lot of alternatives — unless you’ve got one of those businesses that can thrive just fine without the web. Selling crack, for instance…). But those who do launch often find themselves re-energized and full of purpose as soon as their business goes “live”.

How do you maintain the website content? Well, you’ve got a few options. First, write the stuff yourself. Again, if you haven’t got the time or talent, the next option is to hire a copywriter, such as… me.

A third option which I often make use of myself to supplement my own efforts and maximize content freshness, is to cross-post content with strategic partners. Of course, it also helps build links which help gather Google juice to turn a lonely website into a well-trafficked, SEO-friendly site.

Whichever method you choose has benefits but can also pose challenges, as Kathryn notes:

The written content for the site comes from myself and from guest writers. I have posted a couple of articles that I have written myself. The content comes from conversations I have with design clients or friends and simply thinking about some of the biggest problems I have had to deal with over the 13+ years of being in the renovation industry.

Once I determine a topic and actually start writing it usually only takes about 1 hour to finish it. My challenge is getting into the head space to write… I find myself second guessing whether readers will think the posts are silly.

What kind of content seems to work best for Kathryn? It’s important to mix it up:

I believe it is the variation of writing styles, topics and experts that provides the best experience for the reader. It creates a ‘something for everyone’ site that has mass appeal. The variation of topics also allows me to use SEO on a wide range of keywords, maximizing exposure to Google and other search engines.

The site also benefits from the cross promotion that each writer brings.

Are you having difficulty launching your website? Or are you finding it difficult to ensure the content on your website is fresh and Google-friendly? If you would like a free consultation about your website content strategy or need a copywriter to get your articles written, go ahead and contact me

If you have other tips about creating and managing website content or just want to reply to this post, please leave a comment!

Is This Content Still “Fresh”?

Put it on your website, your Facebook fan page and any other external platforms you use. Make sure you’ve got links back to your site to a custom page so you can track your hits a bit easier.

I use OpenPR.com to distribute my press releases. It’s quick, easy to use and if it is approved, it can quickly go to the top of the Google News page for your topic. Just remember to use appropriate tags!

Of course, before you distribute your press release, you (or your trusted copywriter) will have to write the piece. Watch the video below for some reminders about basic press release writing rules.

Press Release Writing Tips

Blogs

The blog is often the essential tool of any social media campaign. You can use it to provide authoritative information, announce new things happening with your organization and link to things you’re doing elsewhere on the web. The blog is where you provide the authentic “voice” — or voices — of your organization.

As the most-frequently updated part of a website with fresh content, a blog is typically easier to find on Google than static web pages. It also is ready-made for facilitating discussion with your audience through a comments section, allowing your organization to obtain instant feedback from your fans, provide extra information and (as sometimes necessary) issue timely clarifications and corrections. There are many other benefits, but for now, suffice to say that the blog is the work-horse of many social media campaigns.

Twitter

Free instant messaging in 140 characters or less to your closest friends, whether you number them on one hand or in the hundreds of thousands. The PR benefits are obvious. One extremely important thing to remember about using Twitter for your organization is that you are often using it to connect with influencers who will spread your message to other channels.

Experienced Twitter users for organizations will often use their profiles as link-back machines to automatically promote content on their own websites, especially their blog content. In that case, think of the website as home-base, with your Twitter account inviting people back to your site to see what’s going on.

Facebook Fan Pages

Facebook Fan Pages are often set up as bulletin boards merely syndicating content from the main website. Actually, there can be value in this if updated regularly, since Google likes Facebook. If your website is having trouble competing in its niche to get on page one of searches, your fan page may be easier to find. That said, a more ambitious use of these platforms is to host contests, allow fans to post content that you might not want on the main site, or offer something special to your customers or supporters.

As with Twitter, a Facebook Fan Page will typically represent another spoke linking back to your hub, the main website.

YouTube Videos

YouTube is the most famous video-sharing site in North America. There are competitors, but if the point is for your video to reach as many eyeballs as possible, it makes sense to at least post one version of your video on YouTube. Use it to create educational clips, show interviews and demonstrate whatever it is your organization does. The medium is great for announcements, tutorials, advertisements — whatever you want to do.

Keep in mind that text is still king on the Internet, even when you’re working with video. With good descriptions and tags, more people will actually see your video.

Which Social Media Tools Should I Use for My Business?
As usual, I would remind my readers that social media is not the be-all and end-all of marketing tools. Direct-mail marketing, sign-boards, brochures and other “traditional” marketing tools also have their place.

First, figure out your target demographic. Next, focus on what it is you’re selling (whether that’s widgets, services or a charitable cause). Define your campaign. After that, you can start looking at the tools in your toolbox.

Be A Social Media Punk

* Content is king. Keep your articles and descriptions relevant and interesting. Cool flash graphics and streaming video are no substitute for bad text.

* Be authentic. If you’re going to use social networking platforms to reach a wider audience, you’re going to have to actually be social. Have real conversations.

Panel organizer Liz Gaige of Market Navigators also had some excellent points about ensuring you have clear goals about your marketing campaign. Given the nature of the seminar, it made sense for us to talk about social networking and SEO, though Liz was quite correct to point out that more traditional marketing methods such as print advertising placements, direct mail marketing and other tactics also still have a place in any marketing toolkit.

One topic I also pursued was the ease of syndication of content. I’m a big believer in the ability of social networks to extend the reach of messaging. Blog posts become RSS-fed tweets, which become Facebook fan-page status updates, LinkedIn updates, and more. With a few quick emails or phone-conversations, or just by filling a form, you can make arrangements to get your content streamed to high-profile websites and media sites. Sure, Google will downgrade duplicate content, so you’ll need to tweak your headlines and your lead paragraphs a bit to prevent that from happening.

Finally, I also stressed the importance of building links back to your site and making sure those links go back to the right page. Remember, your social networks are just hooks to bring eyeballs back to your anchor website where you can change minds, evangelize and most likely, try to sell stuff. When you run campaigns, you may want to link back to custom-designed landing pages rather than a home page or other section. This makes it easier to track metrics in Google Analytics (or whatever else you’re using to track hits).

I’m looking forward to presenting alongside these very talented women again sometime. If you were present at the event or have any other questions (or comments) about driving traffic to your online store, go ahead and leave a comment. Cheers.

Why is fresh important? Google loves new content on your website. Old content gets downgraded in search engines. Pages with fresh content gets crawled more often and also have a higher chance of getting noticed by customers, colleagues or Internet surfers who may just turn out to be unexpected but welcome evangelists for your organization.

Bottom line? Keeping your content fresh is an important part of your overall web marketing strategy.

Lee Odden explains why “fresh” content is beneficial for attracting visitors to your website