Blog | Darrell Cuthbert, Freelance Copywriter

Emotional Copywriting Can Help You Make More Sales

26/9/2024

Author: Darrell Cuthbert

Most purchasing decisions are driven by emotion, even when customers think they’re being entirely logical. That’s why emotional copywriting (crafting messages that appeal to your audience’s emotions) can be a powerful tool in your marketing strategy.

By tapping into feelings like excitement, fear, trust, and even nostalgia, you can create copy that resonates with your audience on a deeper level, making them more likely to act.

Using Subheadings to Improve Website Engagement

25/9/2024

Author: Darrell Cuthbert

When visitors arrive on your website, they often skim through the content instead of reading it word for word. Studies have shown that most users read only about 20% of the text on a webpage.

With such limited attention spans, how do you make sure your message gets across?

The answer lies in the effective use of subheadings. These seemingly simple elements don’t just break up your content, they also guide your visitors, improve readability, and keep people on your site for longer.

Boost Sales by Using Urgency and Scarcity in Your Website Copy

25/9/2024

Author: Darrell Cuthbert

In a world where consumers have endless choices at their fingertips, urgency and scarcity can be powerful motivators. When used effectively, these psychological triggers can prompt visitors to take immediate action, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or booking a consultation.

Increase your sales by incorporating urgency and scarcity into your web copy in a way that feels authentic and compelling, without coming across as overly salesy or manipulative.

50 Practical Website Copy and Content Writing Tips (for business owners, operators, and managers)

24/9/2024

Author: Darrell Cuthbert

These tips cover many aspects of developing and writing website copy and content.

If you write the copy for your business website yourself they will give you some good guidelines and food for thought. If you use or are planning to use an outsider, maybe pass this information on to them – and make sure they have used the guidelines when you get the copy (although if they are any good they should already know this stuff 😊 ).

1. Your website’s headline is the first thing visitors see, make it count.

It should communicate what you offer in one clear, compelling sentence.

Does your headline pass the 5-second test?

2. Don’t bury the lead.

Your website copy should highlight your key offer or value proposition within the first few lines.

Visitors won’t scroll if they don’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.

Write CTAs That Get Noticed and Drive Action

19/9/2024

Author: Darrell Cuthbert

Your website may have a stunning design and compelling copy, but if your calls-to-action (CTAs) aren’t grabbing attention you are probably losing out on conversions.

CTAs are the bridge between your visitors’ browsing and their next step, e.g. making a purchase, downloading a guide, or signing up for a consultation.

Why do some CTAs get all the action but others sit in the corner and seem invisible? Let’s explore why your CTAs might be bombing and you can help them get noticed and boost conversions.

5 Tips for Writing Product Descriptions that Make People Hit the Buy Button

17/9/2024

Author: Darrell Cuthbert

Product descriptions are more than just a list of features. They serve as your online sales pitch, giving customers the key information they need to make a buying decision.

If your descriptions aren’t converting, they may be missing a key element – the benefit to the customer.

Most customers ask, consciously or subconsciously, “What’s in it for me?” Rightly so. After all, they are the ones with the money to spend. If your product pages and descriptions don’t give the customer a satisfactory answer, you are much less likely to make the sale.

Here are five tips to help you write product descriptions that compel customers to hit the buy button.

1. Focus on Benefits, Not Just Features

It’s easy to fall into the trap of listing product features without explaining why they matter to the customer. Features describe what a product is or does, but benefits explain how those features improve the customer’s life or solve a problem for them.

For example, instead of saying “This jacket is water-resistant,” you could say, “Stay dry and comfortable, even when it’s raining cats and dogs.”

What are SEO Target Pages and how can they be used to increase Website Traffic and Sales Conversions?

28/5/2018

By: Darrell Cuthbert

As their name implies, SEO Target Pages focus on improving the Search Engine Optimisation of your website, to attract more website traffic, visitors, leads, prospects, customers, etc

As their name implies, SEO Target Pages focus on improving the Search Engine Optimisation of your website, to attract more website traffic, visitors, leads, prospects, customers etc.

This, however, does not mean that they consist of bland, generic, poorly-written content that is stuffed with keywords in an attempt to game or trick search engine algorithms.

Instead, they should be well-written, useful, and engaging, with relevant keywords naturally woven throughout the text.

One of the most successful and efficient ways to use SEO Target Pages is in support of product and service pages, but without being directly promotional.

For example, a good structure for an SEO Target Page would be:

First, identify a problem that customers experience or a challenge they face that is solved by one or more of the products/services that your business supplies. Initially, discuss the problem, especially how it has the potential to impact the business in terms of profitability, productivity, safety, risk, etc.

Secondly, discuss possible solutions to the problem, mentioning a type of equipment or specialised service that could be a solution – preferably without mentioning your company name yet or specific products.

Finally, show how the product or service you provide is a definite solution and explain why it is a better choice than other, competing, products (assuming it is not unique and there are competitive products available).

At the bottom of the article, link out to the relevant product page(s), for example, using a tagline like “Click Here to find out more about the Widget XYZ1000 and why it is the best choice for <restate the problem that the product/service solves>

NB: Target keywords/key phrases should be based on the problem or solution (or both), with geotargeting if applicable, not on your business name. So, for example:

Choosing Target Keywords and Key Phrases

XZY1000 lawn mower is not a great target key phrase, even though it contains a good keyword, i.e. “lawn mower”. Having a model name too prominent will probably result in Google (or other search engines) classifying the text as promotional/sales material, rather than useful content.

Instead of the product name/model number, rather use a benefit. So, some better choices of key phrase would be:

Affordable lawn mower
Efficient lawn mower
Easy to operate lawn mower
Easy to use the lawn mower

or even terms that rephrase a common problem or concern for potential buyers and users, e.g. breakdowns due to poor design or sub-standard materials, or downtime and high maintenance costs. Examples of this type of target keyword/phrase could be:

Rugged lawn mower
Durable lawn mower
Low-maintenance lawnmower

If the business targets a specific area, or the product is only distributed in certain areas, geotargeting can be introduced by adding a town name, suburb, or region as a secondary keyword, e.g.

Efficient lawn mower Durban
Easy to use lawn mower LaLucia
Durable lawn mower KwaZulu-Natal
Low-maintenance lawn mower South Africa

Of course, main keywords can also be paired with multiple secondary keywords, e.g.

Low-maintenance lawn mower Johannesburg
Low-maintenance lawn mower Durban
Low-maintenance lawn mower Cape Town

How to use Keywords/Phrases

With some thought, it should be possible to come up with at least 2-10 keyword ideas for each product or service. Once you have done this, either:

Write a dedicated SEO Target Page for each keyword and link back to the relevant product/service page
Write an SEO page that combines several similar keywords into a single piece of content, e.g. one listing all the benefits rather than each in a separate article, or a single article that simultaneously geotargets multiple locations

Neither of these choices is automatically right or wrong. The strategy chosen will depend on the circumstances, keywords, budget, client requirements etc.

By following this technique, you are surrounding each product or service page, that is by nature promotional, with a “net” of primarily non-promotional content focused on gathering search traffic, engaging website visitors, and then sending them over to a sales page – after they have already been interested or “primed”.

Topics and Intent

Before settling on the actual keywords/phrases you will use, do some research into keywords, e.g. search volumes, competition etc. (the Google AdWords tool is good for this), and also think about the intent of users, i.e. how potential customers think and search. Instead of simply targeting a bunch of random, obscure keywords, group them logically into topics or themes that reflect the needs and interests of potential clients.

SEO Target Pages are generally kept off-menu:

To avoid cluttering up your site’s navigation bars/tabs
Because their primary function is to find people that aren’t already familiar with your business, product, or service, and attract them to your website, rather than to distract people already on the site and interested in purchasing from the product and service pages that are, hopefully, constructed and written in a way that encourages conversion

Please note that these are simply some general ideas, SEO Target Pages can be used in many ways, and writing them properly can be quite intricate. If done well, they play a big role in adding more quality content to your website.

You may also enjoy: Why you need to add more quality content to your company website – and keep on adding it

Need Help?

If you need help with creating SEO Target Pages, Product and Service pages, or any other aspect of expanding your business’s online presence and content marketing program, contact me to discuss your content needs.

I am a full-time, freelance copywriter and website content writer. I am based in Durban (South Africa), but supply high-quality content to clients all over the country, and internationally as required.

Darrell Cuthbert (a.k.a. Darrell the WordTiffie)

+27 72 225 8074

[email protected]

Why you need to add more quality content to your company website – and keep on adding it

14/5/2018

By: Darrell Cuthbert

Search engines, like Google, are always on the lookout for fresh, original, relevant, useful content. Give them what they want, and they will reward you with better rankings and more traffic

Search engines, like the mighty Google, are always on the lookout for fresh, original content that is relevant and useful to your target audience (website visitors, leads, customers), engaging, and well-written.

Give the search engines what they want, and they will reward you with what you want:

Better search-engine ranking positions (SERPs) – i.e. on which page, and how far down the page, your website pages appear

More traffic to your website. More traffic = more people looking for the products or services you offer. More website visitors = more potential leads/prospects, that you can convert into customers

Improve Your Content

Some of the ways you can improve the amount and quality of the content on your website are.

Rewrite, and expand where appropriate, the content on your website’s exiting static pages (home, about, products/services/offering etc.). Focus on the needs/problems of your customers and how you can solve them rather than being too salesy. Tell the story of your product, brand and business. (If you are starting up a new website, have your initial content professionally written)

Add extra, detailed product and services pages, e.g. one per product or product line, grouped together under category pages if required

Create a series of off-menu SEO target pages to “hook” people searching the internet and send them to your website. (Click Here to find out more about what these pages are and how they work)

Add more posts to your company blog, especially those that contain non-promotional, useful content. If you don’t have a company blog, start one ASAP. Regularly publishing new blog posts is one of the best ways to keep your business’s website fresh and growing. Over time, this will do wonders for the value of your website, from a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) perspective, and in terms of making your website more useful and valuable to website visitors/potential customers

You may also enjoy:What are SEO Target Pages and how can they be used to increase Website Traffic and Sales Conversions?

Need Help?

If you need help with expanding your business’s online presence via a content marketing program, contact me to discuss your content needs.

I am a full-time, freelance copywriter and website content writer. I am based in Durban (South Africa), but supply high quality content to clients all over the country, and internationally as required.

Darrell Cuthbert (a.k.a. Darrell the WordTiffie)

+27 72 225 8074

[email protected]

Make Your Content Work This Holiday Season

1/12/2017

By Darrell Cuthbert

Make Your Content Work This Holiday Season

So, we have reached that time of year again when many businesses scale down their activities and staff start taking leave and going away on holiday.

At the same time, this is also one of the peak shopping times of the year, so there is still plenty of activity in some sectors of the B2C, retail and related industries.

However, many back-office functions and B2B operations come to a virtual standstill at this time of year. This does not mean, though, that your website and social media channels should do likewise.

A lot of consumers have more time on their hands than usual, either because they are on vacation or just because things are quiet at work – and for a lot of people that means more time spent online.

Aside from consumers, many business owners and managers use the Christmas and New Year holiday season to strategize and think about the year ahead, and this often includes internet searches to see what the competition is up to industry news, and to find information about products and services that the business can make use of to operate more efficiently in 2018.

But what if your company website, blog, and social media channels all observe complete radio-silence from mid-December to mid-January?

This type of gap where nothing new is posted can really cause your content marketing program to lose momentum – and lead to customers and potential customers losing interest and moving on to other sites and pages, including those of your competitors.

However, keeping a website, blog, and social media accounts up to date seems an impossible task in many businesses, with employees starting to go on leave.

Two simple strategies can help though:

Plan Ahead
Automate Content distribution

If this sounds complicated, it really isn’t.

Plan Ahead

Think about subjects and themes that are topical at this time of year, and an angle that opens up the door for you to link your product or service offering to the subject or theme (in a natural, subtle way – not a spammy, hard-sell, in-your-face way).

Write a couple of blog posts/articles for your company website using the above

Write a series of social media posts on the same theme as the blog articles (varying lengths and styles for use on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc.), using the articles as inspiration and source material

Put together some more social media posts that are non-promotional, but also topical where possible (e.g. fun facts about the season, interesting information about general industry trends, comment on relevant third party articles or other material spotted online (Google alerts are a great way to keep in touch with this and find topic ideas).

Automate Content Distribution

Pre-schedule blog posts to go out on relevant dates, assuming your content management system (CMS) allows for this. If it doesn’t, you can either:
- Save the posts as drafts and diarise the correct publication date. It should only take a minute or two for you, or a staff member) to log in on the relevant day and release the post
- Publish all the posts before going away, and possibly forward-date some of them manually if your CMS allows for this (it’s a bit of a con as the post will appear online with a date a few days, or weeks, ahead of time – but generally very few people check blog post dates, so it will probably go unnoticed)

Use a service like Hootsuite or Buffer to pre-schedule social media posts (I use Hootsuite, but that’s a matter of personal preference. I have friends and colleagues that are die-hard Buffer fans, use whichever works best for you)

Link social media posts to your blog posts or the third-party content you are referring to as relevant.

By taking the actions suggested above, you can make sure that your company website and social media accounts keep working right throughout the holiday season – even if there is nobody in the office.

© D Cuthbert 2017

Are you struggling with keeping your company blog updated, or maybe you want to start a business blog, but have no idea where to get quality content to post?

A large portion of the work I do consists of ghost writing blog and social media posts for businesses of all sizes, and in diverse industries.

Contact me now to discuss your blog and social media content requirements.

15 Common Grammar Mistakes People Make Online

3/11/2015

By Darrell Cuthbert

Grammar mistakes, along with syntax, diction and spelling errors, have probably been around as long as there has been written language. It seems, though, that the rise of the internet has made the problem worse.

Maybe this is because less care is taken with writing destined to be displayed on a website page or used as a social media post than if the intention was to print it. Or possibly it is simply a case of people writing for the web that would not have generally been published in the past.

Either way, making basic language usage mistakes in your online content immediately brands you as an amateur writer and makes readers (potential customers) wonder about your lack of attention to detail in other areas.

If you write for the web, or any other medium, do your best to make sure that every piece of content you produce is well-written and as free of errors as possible.

This great infographic from Copyblogger explains 15 of the most common grammar mistakes people make when writing for the web.

Have you spotted any of these grammar mistakes lately, or maybe even made some of them yourself?

15 Grammar Goofs That Make You Look Silly

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

© D Cuthbert 2015

Your/You’re, It’s/Its, There/Their/They’re, Affect/Effect, Then/Than, Loose/Lose, Me/Myself/I, Improper use of the Apostrophe, Could of, Would of, Should of, Complement/compliment, Fewer / Less, Historic / Historical, Principal / Principle, Literally, The Dangling Participle