Copywriting 911

Category: Copywriting

Can Einstein Theory Be Wrong?

December 22nd, 2007

A brilliant person is brilliant in anything. Take Einstein for example. There are many outstanding scientists who remain completely unknown for the masses, because their field of study is very particular, and 90% of people will never be educated enough to catch at least the basics.

When it comes to Albert Einstein, it’s quite another matter. The genius’ wonderful ability to clarify most complicated concepts in plain humorous English gained Einstein the reputation of a wise, self-ironic and pleasant person, contributing much to the popularization of his ideas. Though not related directly to copywriting, Einstein’s maxims are universal and can be applied to the art of content creation as well. Bet he’d make a great blogger ;) Just try on his 5 selected ideas, and become a five times more successful writer.

1. Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

There are tons of articles accenting the importance of simplicity, but some authors still believe the longer and heavier sentences they write, the more competent they sound. If you agree with this, there’s an excellent bullshit generating tool online to help you appear a real expert. Anyway, be ready to face it: this kind of stuff is often hard to read and unlikely to be published (unless you do it yourself). Try and express your ideas in a simpler way so that even newbies can catch your point. Don’t put a spoke in your readers’ wheel, – choose simple words and syntax.

2. You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.

Actually that’s my favorite citation. No one could put it so clear and briefly as Einstein did. The rule of thumb is: the more complicated the object is the easier your explanation should be. Do remember your target audience and how much it is familiar with the object. A typical example is a story in which a little boy came to his dad and asked how to write the figure “8”. “That’s quite simple, my boy. It’s the same with ∞ turned to 1/2 π” So, be as clear as you can while talking about your ideas, especially if they are innovative, or if your audience doesn’t have an appropriate background.

3. The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

Of course, if a person knows letters and can write, he/she is able to read as well, however, some authors neglect reading, justifying themselves with something like “I‘m not a reader, I’m a writer.” The fact is that if you aren’t interested in anything, thinking your genius is all-sufficient already, you’ll be surprised how soon that magic spring of your creativity will dry. Develop your curiosity, be thirsty for knowledge and always slake this thirst. Visit the sites of your niche, read blogs and participate in forums’ discussions. If you have a website, it’s a must to know the best sources in the niche, keeping up to date. Moreover, there are a great deal of truly good writers on the Web, and you can get inspiration from their brilliance and professionalism.

4. A person starts to live when he can live outside himself.

Try to look at your writing from outside. Imagine you are a severe editor who never puts up with mediocrity and dilettantism in writing, let alone illiteracy or inclination to tautology. Do you like your own work? Or maybe there is still something to be changed? However you can’t rely only on yourself, especially if you are a beginner. If you know someone who can edit your work, or at least review it, don’t hesitate. Other people, provided they are well-educated and familiar with the topic, can be very helpful while editing.

5. The only real valuable thing is intuition.

If you follow these Albert Einstein’s techniques properly, there will come the day when you needn’t spend hours on cutting and editing, you will find the right words, syntax or topic by intuition. There is only one way to develop you intuition as a writer: you should improve your skills constantly, writing at least several sentences every day and reading the articles of pros. Remember that intuition is grounded on experience. So, take your time to gain it.

Meanwhile, whatever comes, don’t forget about another Einstein’s maxim:

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

For Internet users Google is so studied from cover to cover, or better, from archive to cache, as Britney’s romantic relationships for her fans. But, as your school teacher probably told you, any kind of knowledge can’t be proved without a test. So, check yourself using the following list of little known facts about Google.

1.Without a spelling mistake, today we would have browsed Googol, as it is the very term Larry Page and Sergey Brin originally chose for their brainchild. The word ‘googol’ refers to 1 100 (1 followed by 100 zeros) and was meant to symbolize a large-scale search engine, however, it was incorrectly identified, and this way Google became Google. As for the math, the term ‘googol’ was introduced by American scientist Edward Kasner who also coined ‘googolplex’ (1 followed by a googol of zeros). Of course, Page and Brin couldn’t miss the opportunity to use this word while choosing the name for the Google Headquarters in Mountain View.

2.The patent for the PageRank algorithm doesn’t belong to Google Inc, as commonly thought. Actually, that is Stanford University which has the right to Page’s know-how making Google stand out from other search engines (patent no. 6,285,999). By the way, both of the Google Guys were university dropouts, but this fact didn’t stop them from building a billion dollar company.

3.The cradle of Google – Stanford Computer Science Center, where the most important research was conducted, – was considerably supported by Bill Gates who’d invested $6 million in its development.

4.Google.com is famous for its simple and clean interface, nevertheless, like with Google’s name, that wasn’t made on purpose. As a matter of fact, initially Page and Brin had to get some basic interface ready quick, and they didn’t have spare money to hire a professional designer.

5.In its early childhood Google confused users with its sparse homepage. As it had less content, most people preferred to wait until the page was fully loaded. To prevent their clients from wasting time and getting frustrated, the Googlers placed the copyright message at the homepage bottom.

6.Surveys showed that practically nobody uses the I’m Feeling Lucky feature, however – and that is one of the human psychological paradoxes – most users want this button to just remain there in case of dire need.

7.The Did you mean… option, representing an advanced spell checker, became a new stage on Google’s evolution, doubling its traffic.

8.Aspiring for globalization, Google can boast the largest translators’ network in the world.

9.We are used to hearing “Google it”, yet the Googlers themselves aren’t allowed to say these words. The reason is that, if used too often, the term may be applied to other search engines which is likely to impair the Google brand.

10.The last fact is probably well-known, but I’d like to mention it in order to explain one of the main secrets of Google’s success. The typical schedule of Google’s employees leaves them 1/5 of the overall working time to develop their own projects. This progressive approach enables the creation of such useful services as Orkut and Google News.

Everyone is seeking balance and harmony. Webmasters aspire to attract more friendly visitors who will in future become faithful subscribers or enthusiastic buyers, their potential clients want to find fresh, captivating and informative content each time they click on a link recommended by SERPs, and content creators themselves dream of optimizing the process of writing as much as it’s possible. Now take into account that the latter have a truly difficult task, as they should create content which will please both search engines, with their increasingly sophisticated criteria, and human beings, who usually feel frustrated if one and the same keyword is repeated ten times in one paragraph. Actually, writing has always been a challenge, but Shakespeare and Hemingway at least didn’t have to change their works for better SEO.

However, this article isn’t about SEO, it’s about peace and harmony in the soul of an average copywriter. If you have been writing for several months/years/centuries, you may have found your own style and effective strategies. The problem is that most copywriters secretly believe their style of writing can’t be improved because it is already perfect. And then they look really upset when some client asks them to edit an article properly as the previous version left much to be desired… Has it ever happened to you? Or do you just want to develop your writing skills and are currently looking for some powerful methods?

The best solution is the unique Copywriting Yoga Practice which will make the process of writing pleasant and amazing. Just try these useful ancient techniques and recover your copywriting balance.

First relax and take a deep breath. Watch your troubles vanishing from your head. Take a pose which has a jaw-breaker Sanskrit name and can be translated as “a happy copywriter meditating on a blank sheet of paper in expectation of inspiration at the beginning of Spring”. Now you are ready to apply the main balancing methods of a successful copywriter.

1.Style is everything. In the soul of each copywriter there live both a creative author and a severe editor, and once you decide to improve your writing, you should teach them to coexist peacefully. Supposing you hate editing you work and you can’t bring yourself to cut even a word, let alone a sentence or a paragraph. You can write tons of articles, but most of them are milk and water and make no profit. That’s why, for a successful copywriter the art of editing and cutting is as important as the art of creating. Try to keep balance between your inner writer and editor, and you’ll see how your style changes for the better.

2.Become the master of your emotions. Of course, if you’re writing a sales letter or a press release your style should be persuasive, however there is a marked difference between a converting copy and scribbles of an exalted madman. In case you are to make an unbiased product review there’s no need to advertise it, and once you’re writing an advertising copy, don’t put three exclamation marks at the end of every other sentence – it looks unnatural, to put it mildly. Describing a product in glowing terms try to be, or at least to seem, frank with readers. Remember that some styles, like business correspondence, don’t imply emotions at all. So, to become a real copywriting pro, focus on keeping balance between persuasive writing and excited rambling junk.

3.Write as simple as you can. Without any doubt, if you use modern language and plain word structures, your writing is easier to read and, hence, more effective. Nevertheless, like every virtue, simple writing shouldn’t be overused. In other words, being an old fellow for readers isn’t the same as using tired words. If you can’t find other words except great, beautiful and interesting while describing an object, your language might be poor and could be developed. Along with cliches there is another common mistake, that is the neglect of grammar. Some copywriters are afraid to pass for bores by putting all the commas in the right place, and others seem to be completely unaware that some rules do exist. All in all, while those “boring writers” diligently spell to-day with a hyphen, their light-headed colleagues write its instead of it’s and affect in place of effect. To find the golden mean you should regain balance between writing simple sentences in plain English and writing truisms in a bad language, between being grammatically correct and being a moss-grown bore.

Now our lesson of copywriting yoga is over. Stretch yourself holding your breath, then breathe out slowly. Do you feel better and more balanced? If everything is done correctly, your writing should become harmonious and successful. Practice these easy techniques regularly and conquer the Olympus of copywriting!

So What Is SEO? 33 Definitions

November 13th, 2007

People are going crazy about SEO. It is discussed on forums day in day out, tons of more or less useful SEO related articles appear on the web weekly, and authoritative Internet insiders believe they perform their professional duty by giving away a new SEO conception. In brief, if you spend the better part of your life online, you have probably noticed one worrying tendency: the Internet community is literally growing SEO-obsessed. SEO is as ubiquitous as love for football and as inevitable as Global Warming. Everybody is eager to know what good SEO is and what it is not. How to become SEO-friendly and how to polish off competitors in the niche using SEO strategies. SEO this, SEO that, SEO… actually, what?

Dear web surfers, without any doubt, you have more than deep knowledge of the topic. However, the SEO concept itself is so rich and universal, that all its aspects can be hardly reduced to a common denominator. All in all, guys who want to take a closer look at real SEO, check the following list.

So, SEO stands for…

1.Satellite for Earth Observation
2.Science and Education Outreach
3.Search Engine Optimization
4.Search Engine Optimizer
5.Seasoned Equity Offering
6.Security Engineering Officer
7.Senior Executive Officer
8.Seo (Korean name), a common Korean family name
9.Seoul, South Korea’s capital
10.Shutdown Electrical Operator (US Navy submarine watchstation)
11.Side Entry Orifice
12.Siemens Exchange Object
13.Site Enhancement Oil
14.Society of Education Officers
15.Socio-Economic Objective
16.Software Engineering Organization
17.Software Executive Official
18.Source Election Official
19.SouthEastern Ohio
20.Special Engineering Order
21.Special Equipment Option
22.Special Exemption Order
23.Sponsors for Educational Opportunity
24.Sports Entertainment Organization
25.State Engineer’s Office
26.Student Employment Office
27.Subtransfer Earth Orbit
28.Super Entity Obstructer
29.Support Enforcement Officer
30.Survivability Enhancement Options
31.Symbol-Error Outage
32.Synthetic Engine Oil
33.Systems Evaluation Office

Now if somebody on the Web pretends to be an SEO expert – don’t laugh in his/her face. Just ask politely what kind of SEO your opponent specializes in exactly, – and see how your authority increases.

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Before you start reading, here’s a little test. Supposing you need a pair of house slippers but can’t choose among the endless variety in a local supermarket. Every morning on your way to the office you see a billboard with a happy family wearing lovely fluffy slippers. Day after day their ads pop up at every other web site you visit. And every evening you watch those notorious slippers being advertised after the news reports. But does this motivate you to buy? Or is such assertive advertising more likely to annoy you? You think, direct advertising isn’t convincing enough at times, as it doesn’t guarantee the quality, and you are right.

Then, one day your coolest friend, or better, some stranger in the bus tells you about amazing and handy slippers she has just bought. Will you follow her advice and buy a pair, too?

And if you saw literally everyone around you discussing some bold and captivating advertising campaign, would you get interested in the product?

Nine people from ten will answer “yes”, and that is the reason why buzz marketing strategy is so popular, especially if it concerns not such trivial thing as slippers but something more important, like your website promotion.

In contrast to traditional marketing techniques that have a “pushy” strategy, buzz marketing is based on a “pulling” effect, focused on provoking talks and discussion. The author of Buzzmarketing, Mark Hughes, said: “Get People to Talk About Your Stuff“; as is well known, rumors spread very quickly, and, if buzz marketing strategy is applied properly, customers will advertise your product by themselves for free.

Some experts claim that word-of-mouth marketing and buzz marketing are the same, others insist on a noticeable difference between the two concepts: the first is driven by satisfied customers who tell about the product or service, praising it to the skies, while the latter depends on media. However, most marketing specialists incline to the opinion that word-of-mouth is a part of multi-sided buzz marketing.

To tell the truth, this technology wasn’t invented yesterday, as buzz marketing was more or less successfully used centuries ago, for instance, when prehistoric people advised each other the places where bigger deer abounded. But with the Internet development it has become an alternative and a very creative way to promote products and services. Nowadays buzz campaigns are carried on in chat rooms and at blogs, involving unsuspecting visitors into conversation and making them order and buy or at least advise the product to their friends.

As it is clear from the name, buzz marketing is concentrated on creating buzz. The more buzz it provokes the higher profits will be. Thus, to be a success, the campaign should seem original, outrageous, mysterious, hilarious and sometimes even scandalous. Many buzz campaigns touch upon tabooed topics, like lies, sex and bathroom humor. So, according to buzz marketing approach, the best way to motivate potential customers is to shock them.

How does it work? Innovative and constantly developing, buzz marketing contains various methods. For example, looking through your favorite forum you come across a post where a person asks for some advice. Certainly, you want to help, yet reading other posts in the thread you see that another visitor has already provided all the necessary information, leaving a link. Several posts later the inquirer writes something like that: “I’ve found everything I needed at www…com, THANK YOU!!!” Will you follow this link? That’s for sure. But do you know that both the inquirer and the alleged helper are likely to be partners conducting a successful buzz marketing campaign? Probably, you don’t. The fact is that many sales companies hire actors pretending to be shoppers who encourage other bloggers or forum visitors to try, to taste, to make sure and finally to buy.

Although the initial contact seems spontaneous and the final result is perceived unpredictable, all buzz campaigns are well-planned. Marketers measure not only what message can attract attention, but also how often it should be passed and how many downstream consumers should be involved to spread it.

Another buzz marketing strategy is to cause a scandal in order to grab attention of potential clients. For instance, when Abercrombie & Fitch launched t-shirts with pictures having a racial slant, it prompted numerous complaining emails and phone calls from indignant customers. As a result, the sales of the company boosted up considerably. The phenomena of this buzz marketing method was that people started discussing not the product itself but the way it is advertised.

Using buzz marketing strategy requires less money than using other marketing techniques, however, to carry on a brilliant campaign one should know advertising, marketing and psychology, as well as be an intelligent and extremely creative person. As more and more people try to apply buzz marketing, one should have outstanding qualities to find a market niche.

Paying for Content Pays

October 11th, 2007

Besides the creation of the content for a standard website page, there are two other widespread aspects of the world wide web that cater to the writer’s services. Internet blogs and forums are as content driven as any other website but their style differs in that, on forums especially, the user is creating the content for the site. To a lesser degree, since many blogs are personal projects, you will find fewer of them which invite comments from their readers.

For blogs the ideal posting is a link to another interesting and topical article on the web with a short description or review of what the user will find when they view it. Internet forums are more community oriented, with regular users commenting on the specific subjects and replies to other user’s comments. They are designed more for sharing information and ideas. It is a place where someone with a question can ask people familiar with the topic what the best solution might be. They are very similar to the old style bulletin board sites that spread in the 1990′s.

A blog or forum is like any other website in that they require the search engines to find and index their content so that people searching for a particular topic can find them. Since the content is being written daily by the users there is less ability to optimize the site for keywords. However, a new blog or forum which needs to build a large enough base of useful information may hire writers to create topic specific posts for their site. These people will be paid to create various threads relating to the subject matter and begin a dialogue. This is especially effective for new blogs or forums that need enough content to be found useful and be ranked higher in the periodic “indexing” schedule for the search engines. Once the board has grown in size and volunteer users have started posting, it should carry on without further need of paid posting services.

As well as individual freelance writers who offer their services on forums dedicated to content creation, there are some companies that will act as an agent for a group of writers. These agents will find the forum or blog needing content and then, for a percentage of the article or post group’s cost, will turn the commission over to one or more writers to complete. For beginning individuals, they may expect no more than 10-20 cents per two or three line comment. Once a writer builds credibility with many insightful and informative posts, the remuneration may rise as high as 25-50 cents per post. Blogs generally start at about $1-$2 per 200-250 word description with the link, and experienced bloggers can expect more.

The major problem people who pay for posting services face is in getting writers who post useless, trivial or off topic comments. When hiring posters one must state at the beginning that such posts will not be acceptable or paid for. A blog or forum moderator must also be aware of any spamming posts that are attempted on their board and remove them or face a lowering of the value of their site.