Trusted reviews: personal computers, internet and web, webmastering
August 31st, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: Rosalind Gardner
How do you choose the products you buy? Do you simply accept as gospel truth all the good things a merchant says about their own product? Or, do you ask your friends’ opinions and look for independent product reviews before opening your wallet?
If you’re a savvy consumer (which of course you are), then you put more stock in your friends’ opinions and independent product reviews.
July 13th, 2005 — Website Design, Website Writing
Copyright 2005 Sharon Housley
I’ve always been of the opinion that competition is a good thing. It encourages all of us to be better and make better products. While it might be true that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, copying someone else’s work is simply wrong.
We recently came across a competitor using our sales copy. The competitor was using a web graph showing the traffic on one of our sites, along with our sales copy to promote their competing application. Digging a little further, I realized that their competing application was, in both form and function, identical to our application. The competing program contained identical screenshots, custom program icons and our help documentation. While the code of the program was, in fact, different, it was clear that our copyright had been violated.
We are not the first company to have our copyright violated and once the initial emotional reaction passed, we took action.
Who, What and Where
July 3rd, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
How safe is anyone’s copyright online?
Well imagine my surprise when I clicked on a website link to discover that someone had not only copied my website to their server – but was selling my ebook and undercutting me in the process! Some dishonest person operating from Eastern Europe had literally stolen my entire business and I discovered it only by sheer luck.
After some very lengthy and threatening emails I got them shut down, but the question remains, how safe is your copyright online and what can you do to protect it?
Traditionally written works have enjoyed copyright protection not only through the rule of law, but also because of the physical difficulty in stealing another person’s work. Let’s face it, photocopying a 200 page book rates about as much fun as watching paint dry and at 5 cents a page you’re talking a quick ten dollar printing bill.
May 17th, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: Dina Giolitto
One of the biggest challenges a copywriter faces is to make future clients feel confident in his or her ability. You know you can deliver, but your clients don’t know that… yet! In my own experiences as a freelancer, I’ve noticed that the most hesitant potential clients often ask the same questions. Following are answers to help allay their fears.
Copywriting FAQ’s:
1. How do I know your writing style is the right one for my company?
I understand where this question comes from, because I ask it myself when I need to solicit the help of another writer. A good copywriter would never inject her own personality or opinion into the work she does for other people. Rather, she adopts the appropriate tone for their particular industry.
When it comes to writing, I consider myself something of a chameleon. If you take a look at the varied samples on my website, Wordfeeder.com, you’ll see that I can change my colors to suit a purpose. Am I Cybil? No, I’m just good at imitating the way that people talk.
Professional copywriters will agree: language is a handy tool for manipulating emotions. If you choose your words carefully, you can make people respond in a certain way. If you know how your target audience thinks and speaks, you can communicate with them in a way that brings a favorable reaction. It’s sort of like being emotionally multilingual!
How is a copywriter able to write a whimsical children’s story one day and a hard-hitting marketing brochure the next? Acute awareness of the audience, and the ability to switch the “voice” that comes out through the words. You do this all the time without even thinking about it!
Let’s say you’re a lawyer by day, and a family man by night. Imagine yourself having a phone conversation with a client. What words do you choose to convey your message? What tone do you take? Later on, after you’ve hung up, you’re tucking your little boy in for the night. He asks for a bedtime story. Do you speak to him in the same manner you used earlier on the phone? Of course not! You instinctively change your tone, from cool and professional to tender and fatherly. This is the same strategy that copywriters use to make their living. It’s our job to represent YOUR company, by mastering the language that your audience understands.
2. We just became acquainted. How can you write for someone you barely know?
May 10th, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: Joel Walsh
Think you know how to write a business website homepage? Read this article to make sure.
You probably think you already know what a homepage is. But if you’re like many business website owners, you really don’t. The homepages of many business websites are suffering an identity crisis. They’re trying to do the job of several web pages, and doing none of those jobs well.
May 1st, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com
Ready to jump on the keyword article bandwagon? Billions of companies are using keyword articles to gain free exposure on the internet. Whether you’re a netpreneur marketing a product or a writer seeking freelance work, odds are you can benefit tremendously from keyword articles.
Why use keywords? The point is to be “found.” Internet users across the globe are searching for information. How are they searching? The same way you do; they type specific words into a search engine. If you don’t incorporate these words into your web content, the other guy will… and then your reader is lost on someone else’s copy. Help them find you… with keywords!
Never written a keyword article before? Have no fear. The process isn’t much different from writing regular articles. Don’t let lack of experience stop you from profiting through keyword-rich content. Just follow these easy keyword-writing guidelines, and get ready to key in some great article copy!
April 29th, 2005 — Website Writing
© 2005 by Bruce Carlson
Doing the copywriting for your own website without the proper knowledge and tools is pretty much like flying blind in a snowstorm without piloting experience or instruments.
It doesn’t work too well.
A very basic knowledge of copywriting and direct marketing principles will take you a long ways on the Web.
Here are three simple keys to writing better online copy. Armed just with these, you’ll have a jump on 90% of the folks out there doing the copywriting for their own sites. And you’ll increase the pulling quality of your site’s copy today — even if you’ve never written a word of copy in your life.
April 28th, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: David Walker
A crowded marketplace can lead to unethical webmasters using underhand techniques to get ahead of their competitors and online plagiarism is one of the easiest.
I had worked hard on the copy for my sales page at Watch Live Football (http://www.watchlivefootball.com), ensuring the copy was relevant to potential customers and contained keyword rich phrases to assist with search engine ranking. Understandably, I was incensed when I found not one, but two websites selling a similar service had not just pinched a few key phrases here and there from my website, but had reproduced the entire text verbatim!
April 21st, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com
In my ten years as an advertiser, I’ve encountered plenty of folks with a flair for writing. They were born having some idea of where to put the words within the sentence, and the sentences within the paragraph. They usually know what words to use – when to say ‘bloom’ instead of ‘grow,’ or ‘confused’ instead of ‘befuddled.’
But having a flair doesn’t make them an expert in the field.
April 21st, 2005 — Website Writing
Author: Karon Thackston
by Karon Thackston © 2005
http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword
Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of the overall search engine optimization process. However, in addition, search engine copywriting has developed into a misunderstood craft.
Shoving keywords in anywhere they can possibly go is not considered search engine copywriting. The process is more defined than that. Successful SEO copywriting takes planning. Any half-hearted efforts at writing copy geared strictly toward the engines will usually result in a decline in your customer’s experience at your site.