If the messaging on your website content, press releases, brochures or other marketing methods aren’t getting you results, then change it. Particularly with online content, its remarkably easy to switch up calls to action or sales pitches at the click of a button. As this video shows, the same principle holds for your business copywriting as for the guy who’s holding a sign on the street.

1. heatherlloyd: Taking time to put yourself in your target audience’s shoes helps you create copy that’s more targeted and less mechanical

2. charismatickid: If you read your copy out loud and you hear the same keyphrases over and over, it’s time to edit.

3. healymonster: Copywriting tip: Write like you talk. People get sucked into copy that’s easy to read.

4. CopywriterTO: #Copywriting tip: Get your readers’ attention by starting your copy with a compelling story.

5. Mainecopywriter: Copy Tip: Only 10% of your copy gets read. Use subheads to capture attention and draw the reader into the copy.

6. Cbreecopy: Tip: Shorter is not always better. Longer titles are more descriptive and provide better SEO.

7. caseyfleming: #Copywriting tip: Talk about your customers 90% of the time and your company only 10% of the time.

See the full list here. Thanks, Eric!

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.

Putting aside the design side of things, does this describe your company’s website?

1. Hasn’t been updated with fresh website content in months or years.
2. No SEO (Search Engine Optimization) work done at all. Obvious keywords are not prominent anywhere.
3. There is no blog, or if there is one, it hasn’t been updated since the week it was set up.
4. Long pages of content that force readers to scroll down and down and down.
5. Page titles don’t refer to anything specific about your business. Instead, you’ve got generic statements like “Call now!” or “Learn more about why we’re the best!”
6. Calls to action are not prominent or compelling.
7. You can read a page down to the fold and still not know for certain what the company sells.

Does this describe your website? If so, isn’t it time that you got the help of an SEO website content copywriter?

My message to everyone doing this: “You are probably wasting your time.”

In the vast majority of cases, a company that claims to be too busy to regularly update (or even start) a blog is certainly too busy to post useful content on the rest of the business website.

No new blog posts, case studies, white papers, or other helpful resources that people want to read means you’ve probably got no content for anyone to link to.

If Twitter and Facebook are gateways to your website where customers can learn more and conduct transactions (read: sales) and you’ve got nothing there, it’s kind of pointless. It’s sort of like having a real store with decent signage out front, but when people come in, there are no labels on anything and no way for people to easily sort through all of your products. Imagine a Best Buy where all of the electronics are out of their boxes and you need to consult a customer service rep every time you think you want something… if you can find one.

Your business website is also your online store. Build that first. Make sure you’ve got interesting content and it’s SEO-optimized. Then you can start promoting the business on Facebook and Twitter. Get the sequence right.

I’m presenting on this topic at the Lower Mainland’s Better Business Bureau’s Seminar Series in downtown Vancouver on Thursday, February 17. Hope to see you there! Here’s a quick synopsis:

How does your company get the word out? From websites and blogs to newsletters, brochures, direct mail sales letters, case studies, white papers and press releases, you’ve got plenty of tools. But different tools are used for different purposes. Learn how to use them to reach different target audiences effectively.

UPDATE: The event now appears to be sold out! Thanks to those who registered. For those who couldn’t make it, I’ll let you know when a new seminar is on the way. Of course, if you’d prefer some one-on-one business communications consulting, feel free to contact me directly

Soon after our initial consultation, we provided Vampire Hunters Inc. with a website content audit that made recommendations for updating the site with SEO-friendly content that would help them connect with their customers. The next step was developing a detailed website map and plan for introducing the new content in phases. Steven approved the plans (along with a quote) and in just one month, he had a brand new website he could be proud of.

“We’ve seen a big jump in traffic and we’ve got leads coming in fairly steadily from our website,” Steve says. “You can’t argue with results. Our customers tell us the information on our site is a lot clearer and more informative. They’re downloading our white papers and calling in more often to schedule consultations and vampire removals. We’re noticing a boost in business and web traffic when we publish on our blog and newsletter.”

Vampire Hunters Inc. now retains copywriting services to maintain the site with fresh content. “I have to admit that I’m the kind of business owner who likes to keep things in-house whenever possible,” Steve says. “It comes with the territory, since it’s hard to get insurance for contractors when you’re fighting the undead.

“But the fact is, I need to focus on the core functions of my business. What I do well is hunt, capture and kill vampires. Maintaining the website always came last in my priorities, so it didn’t get done properly.

“But now that we’ve got a professional copywriter ensuring our website gets the attention it needs, we’re getting sales leads from our website every single month. We’re really seeing a return on our investment. And let’s face it, we’re taking down way more vampires these days. When our business is good, that’s good for everybody – well, everybody who likes sunlight, anyway.”

I took the liberty of checking out the speaker bios and realized I also had the chance to provide a bit of a teaching moment. To wit, How To (And How Not To) Promote Yourself In A Bio On A Website:

First, showing how not to do it, we have Dave McClure of 500 Startups. Dave decided to take the quick attention-getting route of making himself out to be kind of a weirdo. I’m not sure it paid off for him, unless you subscribe to the idea that all publicity is good publicity — which hasn’t really worked out that well for BP, Conrad Black or the junta in Burma.

(And before any of Dave’s friends start talking about stones and glass houses, I know very well that I’ve crossed the line on a number of occasions using this very strategy [examples here and here]. So yes, I’m a hypocrite. Such is life.)

I’ve highlighted the, uh, best bits:

Dave McClure is a greedy, blood-sucking venture capitalist & founding general partner at 500 Startups, an internet startup seed fund and incubator program in Mountain View, CA. He likes to hang out with entrepreneurs, and occasionally help or invest in their startups if they are foolish enough to let him. Dave has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years, and has worked with companies such as PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, SlideShare, Twilio, Simply Hired, O’Reilly Media, Intel, & Microsoft. Years ago he used to do real work like coding or marketing or running conferences, but these days he mostly does useless stuff like sending lots of email, blogging, and hanging out on Facebook and Twitter.  Dave also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don’t hurt

As I said, I’m not too fond of the above. But what do I know? I just put words together for a living.

Next, to show what I think is a good example. To compare, I’ll use Clarity Digital President Leonard Brody’s bio. It’s a bit long, but it works. Again, I’ve highlighted the parts I like — phrases that focus not so much on who he is as what he does and why he appears to rock the flock:

Leonard has been called “a controversial leader of the new world order”. He is a highly respected entrepreneur, venture capitalist, best-selling author and a 2 time Emmy nominated media visionary. He has helped in raising millions of dollars for startup companies, been through one of the largest internet IPOs in history and has been involved in the building, financing and/or sale of five companies to date. In 2004, Leonard co-founded, and was CEO of, NowPublic.comnamed by Time Magazine as one of the top 50 websites in the world, was inducted into the Newseum in Washington and was recently acquired by the Anschutz Corporation. Currently Leonard sits as the President of the Clarity Digital Group responsible for overseeing one of the largest online news conglomerates in the world including Examiner.com and NowPublic, which between them, share over 20 million unique visitors a month and over 200,000 contributors. which is a pioneer in the field of citizen journalism. The company was

I see the difference. Can you see the difference?