Lauren Jefferson - FocusCopy®

Why Is It So Important To Identify Your Target Market?

Marketing / By Lauren Jefferson / September 27, 2021 September 28, 2021

Have you ever felt as though you’re speaking into a void when it comes to your marketing materials?

What about talking to potential customers that end up nowhere near you making a sale?

No one likes to exhaust their resources. However, you might be doing exactly that if your main focus is on the wrong group of buyers. In fact, 80% of content is geared towards the wrong audience. Spending all of your efforts speaking to the wrong audience isn’t beneficial to your business or to those customers missing out on all you have to offer.

What you need to do is ensure you’re speaking to the right people. This way, you’re producing deliverables that can convert into sales.

Identifying your target audience is essential to any growing business, and doing so is easier than you might think!

Need a little oomph added to your business’s copywriting? Contact FocusCopy to learn how we can help your business grow.

Factors That Impact Your Overall Marketing

Identifying your target market is just as important as the product or service you’re offering. Because without talking directly to your target market, you likely end up losing a lot more than you realize.

Money

Did you know? The average small business spends an average of $9,000 to $10,000 per month for online advertising.

On top of your marketing budget, you also have monthly fees associated with your website and other tools you use to get your name out there. In addition, you have operations and supply costs to cover.

However, if you’re consistently speaking to the wrong demographic, all of those essential business elements aren’t being recovered.

Resources

On top of your budget, you have all of your deliverables that aren’t earning results because the audience you’re focusing on isn’t the right one.

Time

The time you spend planning, organizing, and executing your advertising adds up. Make sure your time is used efficiently by talking to the audience you really want.

Potential Revenue

The thing is, there are probably plenty of people who are interested in your business. But they’re not buying because they simply haven’t heard of you. Hone in on the potential customers you want by shifting your focus.

Valuable Assets

A fantastic web design, captivating copy, and a solid team are nothing without its consumers. You can have top-notch work simply decaying because it isn’t being seen by those who matter to your business’s revenue.

Need a little help? We can push your business in the right direction with crafted copy that targets your ideal audience.

How To Identify Your Target Market

Here are the 3 steps you need to take to redirect your business’s efforts:

1. Start With The Demographics

Find out the age, gender, income, and profession of your customers. You may have to make broad strokes to identify an ideal target audience, but the goal is to get your audience to fit 80% of what you write down for the demographics.

For example, your target audience may look like:

Woman-owned business that offers a professional service, 35-50 years old, lives in the US, works remote, mother of 3 kids, and married
30-year old multi-generational company who the son is currently taking over, 35-45 years old, lives in the US, grew up in the company, married, goes into the office or company building for work, bilingual (usually in English and Spanish)

The key here… Get specific!

2. Get Into The Details

Use psychographics to pinpoint your customers’ lifestyles, values, and personality traits.

For example, if we were to take the woman-owned business listed above, her personality profile may include being sociable but introverted, determined to make this work, values family over money, and relationship-focused.

3. Uncover Their Values

Narrow your funnel by learning your customers’ attitude, knowledge, and response to your services.

If you aren’t digging down and getting to the root of who your customers are, it will be tough talking to them about what you can do to serve them better. Your customers want to believe you understand them and are willing to go the extra mile to solve their problems.

They want reliability, honesty, and value. Understanding everything about them from their age range to their preference in politics helps inform your marketing endeavors.

How To Talk To Your Target Audience

Now that you have your audience, you should be able to talk to them directly.

Demand Their Attention

Don’t be afraid to call your customers out! There’s no need to beat around the bush and evade talking to a smaller group of people because you’re afraid it will single others out. People are much more likely to perk up and pay attention when they feel seen, heard, and understood.

For example, instead of saying “All-Inclusive Legal Services For Texans,” you should say, “Are You The Victim Of A Drunk Driving Accident And Need Legal Representation?”

The point is, you may be a law office that serves all types of clients. However, if your main focus is representing drunk driving victims or their families, you need to say so upfront. Don’t be concerned with leaving others out by zooming in on a specific demographic.

Instead of spreading a net that’s too wide, you cast a net towards a smaller, but more quality audience.

Get To The Point

You don’t need to worry about using a ton of fluff copy or over-explaining yourself. Too much copy is off-putting and can confuse your customers. Stick to their pain points and how you can solve their problem. Speak their language and use every chance to write in a voice you think they would respond well to.

For example, your audience may have a wealth of experience and knowledge in the oil and gas industry. They know their profession at an extremely deep level of understanding and respond well to efficient copy. In this instance, try to use words and phrases that you know they’ll be familiar with, even if they’re technical.

As another example, you might know your audience is largely made up of bakers who are in their 20’s. Again, it’s okay to use wording or practical phrases as they relate to the market your customers are in.

Place The Spotlight On Them

In everything you write, place the focus on your customers rather than on yourselves. There are certainly some aspects of your business that customers want to know about.

However, this doesn’t mean you want them to forget that you’re there to help them. It’s helpful to use copy centered on the customer in your above-the-fold website copy. And use wording like “you” more often than “we”.

Set Your Sights On A More Refined Focus With Writers Who Can-Do

Whether your business is 5 months old or 50 years strong, you need to identify your target market and understand who you’re speaking with. We understand because we’ve helped businesses in all stages of growth get where they need to be through comprehensive copywriting services that include identifying your target audience

Have a quick deadline? No problem. We’ll work with you to deliver high-performing copy in a timely manner. Worried about being shut out of input? Not with us! We believe open communication is key to a successful partnership

What are you waiting for? Get started with us today.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

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Create A Pillar Blog Post That Sells

Copywriting / By Lauren Jefferson / September 20, 2021 February 19, 2024

You’ve heard of a pillar blog post before, but can’t help but feel lost. You’ve been working on your marketing and you’ve nailed the use of keywords throughout your blogs. Or so you thought. That’s all it takes, right?

It seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Write relevant and engaging blogs and plug in the keywords as you go. But you’d be misinformed to think that blog posts with keywords are all you need to rank ahead of your competitors.

Now, you’re not entirely wrong. Blogging for SEO used to be an amazing way to boost your website traffic. However, content marketing has changed and requires a little more work than monthly blog posts.

Enter pillar blog posts. We’ll talk about what they are, and how you can create one that helps you make money.

Would you rather get pillar blog post assistance directly from the experts? Get started with FocusCopy.

What Is A Pillar Blog Post?

A pillar blog post is a long-form piece of content that is written covering a specific topic. It should be broad enough to offer a comprehensive look at the subject. Yet, it should also be definitive enough to get into some, but not all, of the nitty-gritty details.

How To Write A Pillar Blog Post That Sells

Find out what you need to get started writing a pillar blog post for your business.

Start the structure, then write! This will help you save time whenever you’re ready to write.

Collect Your Keywords

Before you sit staring at a blank page, you need to start with the keywords you’d like to target. Use whatever tools you normally would to narrow down some reasonably achievable keywords that apply to your business and what you have to offer.

When it comes to the keywords you’re aiming to target, make sure they:

Are relevant to your business
Can be combined in discussion with a service or product you offer
Are interesting enough to pull in your target audience

Once you have your keywords rounded up, you’re ready to put together an outline. Putting together the foundation of your pillar post will help you (a lot). That way, you have something to go off of when you’re writing, and you don’t need to struggle to come up with the next topic as you go.

Define Your Topic Clusters

If you’re unfamiliar with topic clusters, they’re truly simple to understand. What your pillar page is about will be your broad topic.

As an example, this may be “Facial Plastic Surgery” if you’re a cosmetic surgeon. Or you may want to talk about “Air Conditioning Maintenance” if you own an air conditioning company. Both of these are broad enough to have the ability to discuss a bunch of other topics within them. These are called topic clusters and will consist of related topics you go a little more in-depth with. However, you shouldn’t worry about discussing each one in too much detail. You only need to talk about each topic enough to give a comprehensive view and why it’s essential.

Using our example as a cosmetic surgeon, you may want to discuss the following under your “Facial Plastic Surgery” pillar blog post:

Rhinoplasty
Chin implant
Cheek enhancement
Brow lift
Lip fillers

For your “Air Conditioning Maintenance” pillar blog post, you may want to cover:

HVAC definition
Common problems resulting in AC failure
DIY fixes
Benefits of AC maintenance

As you can see, there are several things you can talk about. Each one of these things makes up a topic cluster. Flesh out your topic cluster based on the broad topic you’ve chosen. Then, you’re ready to move ahead with your pillar page.

Don’t Forget The Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks define your content – ultimately defining it as a pillar page. Adding hyperlinks into your content allows the reader to click and reach another page on your website. Whether it takes them to a more in-depth blog or service page, these links will help Google navigate your website, improving your ranking.

Another important element here is making sure that the linked page is also hyperlinked to your pillar page. This way, your reader can get right back to the pillar page without any trouble. It creates a sort of full-circle moment and helps Google understand what your website is about. Then Google can determine whether you’re offering valuable content rather than stuffing keywords into copy that isn’t well-written or helpful.

Is A Pillar Page A Blog Post?

Yes and no. This can be difficult to understand because pillar pages look like web pages but are longer than regular blog posts. The truth is, they’re a combination of the two with a purpose.

Your typical blog posts are pretty specific, and the reader knows exactly what to expect from it. This type of blog post is probably about 1,500 words. Its topic is narrowed, coming from the expert (you), and can contain many keywords to help your ranking.

However, you can think of a pillar blog post more as a what-you-need-to-know page. It’s full of topic clusters, which help organize your content as you go. You can talk about them all on your pillar page, but you wouldn’t go into as much detail as you would on a devoted blog. You can also use the space to answer commonly asked questions your clients are most likely to ask.

Can I Use My Page As A Blog Post?

Yes. As mentioned above, pillar pages have an interesting blend of blog and website components. Additionally, you can use them as blog posts for your business as long as they have the necessary aspects needed to serve as a pillar page genuinely.

How Long Is Too Long For A Pillar Blog Post?

Let’s start by saying pillar pages do need to be long. And they certainly need to be longer than your regular blog posts. However, there’s no need to go overboard and write 20,000 words on a single page. Your sweet spot will be at 2,000 words. It’s okay to go over a little bit, but you don’t want to overwhelm your readers and force the topic if you’re starting to lose your intention.

If you’re having trouble and don’t know where to start, talk to the team at FocusCopy.

Perfecting Pillar Blog Posts For Clients In All Industries

Google and its algorithm can be a nightmare to navigate, especially if you’re not too up-to-date in the digital marketing world. But that’s okay! As a business owner, you’ve already done so much and perfected your own craft. So, if you feel like you know where to begin, but don’t have the time and tools to do it yourself, allow the experts at FocusCopy to guide you.

We can not only walk you through the process, but you’ll have open communication every step of the way.

What do you say? Let’s grab a virtual coffee and get going on your digital marketing goals.

Need help writing pillar blog posts for your business? Contact FocusCopy for help.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words

5 Effective Lead Generation Ideas To Earn More Leads

Marketing / By Lauren Jefferson / September 17, 2021 February 20, 2023

Finding the best lead generation ideas doesn’t have to be a lengthy or complicated process. There are certainly ways to freshen up your pool of potential customers without having to spend a ton of time, resources, and money.

Maybe you’ve been feeling uninspired about reaching out to earn more business. You might feel stuck in a routine, finding it hard to break through that barrier to see new opportunities.

The truth is, we know because we’ve been there ourselves.

Feeling uninterested and unmotivated can take a toll on yourself, and your business. But lucky for you, we’ve got 5 quick tips you can use to kick your brain back into high-gear. That way, you can narrow down your next steps and focus on what you’d like to see happen first.

Implement These 5 Lead Generation Ideas

Put your budget towards the back of your mind for a second. There’s no need to start sweating bullets because most of these ideas won’t cost you a dime. This means even if one of these tips isn’t exactly the route you want to take, it isn’t a wasted effort. It’s just an additional opportunity to find out what works.

Share these best lead generation ideas with your team and collaborate on how you can go about implementing them. You might be surprised at how much others want to become involved. It can even reignite your inspiration and passion to help get you back on the right track when promoting your business.

If you see something you like but don’t want to write it yourself, give us a shout!

1. Get Social & Connect On LinkedIn

As the most trusted social network in the U.S., you could be part of an expansive group of professionals who can help one another out. Whether you have 5 or 500 connections, keep it moving!

Continue to ignite new relationships with your target audience and others within your industry. Even if you reach out and connect with people who say they aren’t interested in your services at the moment, their circumstances can change. And when they do, you’ll be right there to remind them that you’re available.

Keep in mind that connecting goes beyond sending an invitation. It also means posting articles, sharing news, and discussing industry-related content with others. By bringing value to your niche, people will begin to notice you more and remember your name when they think of products or services similar to your own.

LinkedIn Ads

If you have a little extra money to work with, you can put it into a social media ad budget to give yourself an extra boost. But it isn’t completely necessary. You may be surprised how far simply connecting with others can take you.

2. Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Referrals In Your Meetings

You’re already talking to customers who know you and value what you do. At some point, it’s okay to reach out and ask for referrals to help your business grow.

If you’re stuck on feeling awkward, start by saying something like, “I really appreciate your business, and I’m hoping to expand my business to serve others like yours. Do you know anyone who may be interested in what I have to offer?”

It doesn’t need to be complicated or sound pushy at all. The worst-case scenario here is that your clients don’t have anyone they can think of immediately. But they may have someone in mind for the future!

Again, take the chance to ask for more business without being too aggressive, and stay true to your brand voice.

3. Type Up A Guest Blog Or Two

The term “guest blog” might sound strange, but it does have a purpose. Guest blogs are blogs you write for someone else’s website discussing matters your industries have in common. Within that same blog, you’ll feature their (and your) services.

As an example, say you work as a professional flooring supplier and installer. You may find a mutual partnership with a real estate agent, home building company, or others who work in construction and real estate. You’ll then write your blog on a topic like “The Best Types Of Woods For Flooring”. But then you’ll feature your partner’s services and link back to yourself. This way, interested readers can visit your site from theirs.

Doing guest blogs boosts your reach, SEO efforts, and gives you a little more recognition outside of your primary audience. According to Optinmonster, “62.96% of readers perceive blogs with multiple authors to be more credible.”

Ultimately? Guest blogs can benefit both your partner and yourself.

4. Put Your Perspective To Paper & Post A Blog

Publishing a blog on your own website is a little less complex than a guest blog but is also one of the best lead generation ideas you can integrate. Blog posts from you (the expert) establish yourself as an authority figure and help you outrank your competitors on popular search engines like Google.

As long as you practice the following key aspects of blog writing, you’ll do just fine:

The blog topic is helpful, educational, or interesting
Punchy headings and subheadings
Call-to-actions (CTAs) throughout
Images when necessary
Links and sources wherever needed
Proofreading before you hit publish

5. Revive Your Online Presence With New Website Copy

When was the last time you updated your website copy? If it’s been longer than a few years, it may be time to take a second look. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to scrap every bit of information. It does, however, mean that you need to take a deeper look to ensure your website’s copy answers the following questions:

Who do you serve?
Who are you?
What value do you bring?
How will you solve the problems of your customers?
What is your reputation?
Is your contact information easy to find?
How much do your products and services cost?
Are your call-to-action buttons clear?

If your website can answer every single one of these questions and reads well, you’re probably okay. But even if it already does, it may add value to your business if you freshen up the copy while staying consistent with your brand voice.

Feed Your Focus With A Little Help That Goes A Long Way

Are you worried about not having enough time to execute these tactics? Even some of the best lead generation ideas amount to nothing if you can’t incorporate them in a timely and efficient way.

But don’t feel too overwhelmed. We’re the copywriting experts who know effective branding begins with compelling copy. You may be considering a massive email marketing campaign. Or perhaps you’d like to start small with a blog or two. Whatever you choose, we’ve got your back!

Get started on creating the best lead generation ideas for your business.

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words

What Are The Benefits Of Surveying Your Target Audience To Make Business & Marketing Decisions?

Marketing / By Lauren Jefferson / September 13, 2021 July 22, 2022

Surveying your target audience to help you make business decisions may not cross your mind. But there are some big benefits to doing so. For starters, you may want customer insight into an ongoing situation or upcoming event. In this case, customer feedback can be an excellent tool to gauge which direction you should take.

You can’t expect all of your clients to respond or submit feedback. However, any observations you receive could be constructive. Google found that less than 40% of marketers use surveys to help make business decisions. This means it’s an overwhelmingly unused resource for a business owner to take advantage of. Aside from getting customer feedback, surveys have many other benefits as well.

Searching for a stellar team of writers to help create whatever is on your to-do list? Contact us to get started.

6 Benefits Of Surveying Your Target Audience To Make Business & Marketing Decisions

Ideally, you want to talk to each and every one of your customers. By doing so, you can find out where their head is at and how they feel about your services. However, the reality is that this is pretty impossible to accomplish. But there is another way to reach the insight you’re looking for. For example, online surveys can ask questions you may not be able to ask in person.

In addition, digital surveys can:

Be easy on your budget
Cast a large net all at once, reaching your target audience
Be simple to create yourself
Managed easily through software like SurveyPlanet or SurveyMonkey

Need help with your digital marketing endeavors? Reach out to FocusCopy and see what you’ve been missing.

1. Get A Gauge On Current Conditions

Events beyond your control can dictate how you conduct business. But you can use surveys to get ahead of the curve. As an example, the pandemic left many business owners stuck on figuring out their next steps. Because there is so much controversy surrounding the pandemic, it can be hard to read an audience. This makes it that much more difficult to make smart decisions that can help expand your business.

Nevertheless, proactive businesses took it upon themselves to send email blasts surveying their customer base. They asked questions regarding the pandemic to get a feel for their audience’s current wants and needs. And then tried to offer a solution.

Ultimately, digital surveys helped businesses think about their availability, remote and delivery services, and more.

2. Keep Customer Feedback In Mind

Help Scout says that for every customer who complains, there’s 26 more who feel similarly but don’t say anything. However, you should keep in mind that 95% of customers share their bad experiences with friends, relatives, and acquaintances. As a business owner, you don’t hear every complaint. But many potential customers are hearing more than you know.

These findings may not seem fair. Nevertheless, there is a way to reach out and hear more from customers who may be dissatisfied. That’s where surveys come in. Keep a pulse on your audience and check up by sending surveys every once in a while. This way, you can find gaps in areas such as your:

Business model
Marketing tools
Management or employee service
Wait times
Repetitive problems
Poor customer service or resolution

Getting feedback in these areas can help you decide what needs to be addressed. In addition, it can tell you where you’re doing well. From here, you can make changes in management, operations, and other departments as needed.

3. Surveying Your Target Audience To Reorganize Priorities

Additionally, surveys can help you rearrange your priorities and get to the root of what really matters to your customers.

You may find that certain products or services are more popular than others. You might even find you have an untapped potential by offering something else you didn’t think of before.

Say you’re a nutritionist and personal trainer who offers packages geared mostly towards healthy eating advice. However, you might get survey results that say people would rather pay more to get additional workout and exercise programs. Even more so, you find your audience isn’t all that interested in one of the packages you offer. This may be the ideal time to consider realigning your priorities and focus less on nutrition by balancing those services with exercise options. Doing so shows you’re capable of listening and allows you to offer something new to current customers based on direct responses.

Adaptation is key to a business’s long-term success. Your priorities shouldn’t remain the same every month or year. By often surveying your audience, you won’t run the risk of falling behind the market. Or losing customers by not actually offering the services they most want.

4. Manage Your Reputation

It’s important to maintain your online reputation the best you can. You may not agree with every survey response you receive. But there is always a way to respond with professionalism.

Say you’re hearing a ton of negative comments about your production times. However, you know that your company works as fast as it can to get products to your customers. This may be the time to create a marketing campaign that gives customers an inside look at production, why it takes so long, and the value in not cutting corners.

Your audience will value their feedback being addressed and come to better understand how your business operates.

5. View Your Business From The Customer’s Perspective

Surveying your target audience is an opportunity to see your business through someone else’s eyes. Responses can shed light on an idea or opinion you may not have ever thought of before. There may even be additional opportunities to do some good like making charitable donations or offering discounts to essential personnel. You might find out you can make a certain aspect of your business even stronger.

6. Give Management And Employees A Chance To Adjust

You’ve conducted a survey and see that perhaps you’ve been focusing all of your efforts on delivery services. If most of your customers say delivery is seamless, but a few of your staff are poorly trained, rude, or make continual errors, it may be time to make some tough decisions.

Getting both positive and negative feedback helps your ability to come up with a game plan. In this case, you may want to congratulate your team on amazing delivery services. However, you will also need to transition and spend more time and resources on training. If necessary, you may need to let go of workers who are unwilling to learn, adapt, and alter their work style. But by doing so, your client base will see you’ve improved and potentially become repeat customers.

Make The Best Business Decision By Choosing Expert Copywriters

After you’ve surveyed your audience, you might feel ready to take the next step but don’t know where to start. Have a list of deliverables in mind? What about a marketing campaign you’re SO ready to get fired up?

Whether you need completely new website copy and additional pages, or just a few blog articles to send out, we can do it all!

Get started on creating the best lead generation ideas for your business.

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Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words

5 Signs You Need To Improve Your Website Copy

Copywriting / By Lauren Jefferson / September 10, 2021 September 7, 2021

How do you know for sure when it’s time to rework and improve your website copy?

There are a few tell-tale signs, but the biggest indicator is that your business is slowing down. You may feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. But there’s no need to panic because you can help yourself by making changes to your website right away.

Maybe you’ve reached a lull in your day-to-day. You may find yourself spending less time speaking to customers and making sales. Or you could be having an entirely different problem altogether. Perhaps you are talking to people, but they’re the wrong crowd. This may leave you asking yourself, “Where are these people finding me?”

You’re not alone. It happens to businesses everywhere. But what most companies don’t know is that it could be their website. And since 88% of users won’t revisit a site once they’ve had a bad experience, altering your copy for the better is something to consider. If your website isn’t self-explanatory, concise, or geared towards the right audience, it may be time to improve your website copy.

Need new website copy on a timeline that works for you? Reach out about our web writing services.

When To Improve Your Website Copy

If you’re running into these problems, it’s time to reevaluate what your website is truly telling people.

1. You Keep Answering The Same Questions In All Your Calls

Picture this… You pick up the phone or respond to an email, and you end up answering all of the same questions all day long. What gives!?

If you know for a fact that people are visiting your website but continue to call anyway, they may not be getting the correct information they need upfront. This can be frustrating for several reasons. It’s a waste of time repeating yourself and is disheartening for both you and your customer. Wouldn’t it be better if everything they needed was right there online? Chances are, you’re paying for your website anyway. So, you might as well get the most out of your money and make it go further with fresh copy.

Update your website copy and make sure to include the following:

Who you are
What your business does
How your business helps customers
Easy-to-find FAQ answers
Contact information throughout the website
Pricing upfront (you can always give a starting point)

Have each one of these elements ready to go on your website, and you should be golden.

2. The Leads You’re Getting Aren’t The Ones You’re After

There’s nothing more disappointing than talking to someone who you realize doesn’t need your services at all. It can be even more confusing if they end up asking for a business or service similar but not the same as yours. So, where do you go from here? Take a look at your website’s copy and then have others outside your organization give their honest feedback. Find out what it’s saying to them and where there’s a disconnect. Then, when you see where your website is having trouble, approach the following areas with rewritten copy:

SEO

Target the right keywords. You can also pinpoint keywords you audience is searching for when looking for your business. For example, some SEO tools may tell you to rank for “health coach” but you know your audience would search for “functional medicine”. SEO tools are simply that… Tools! Use your brain to steer your keyword research.

Homepage Copy

Be direct and let customers know what you offer and how you can help. Don’t forget a call-to-action button. Nearly 70% of small businesses end up leaving one out! If you don’t want people calling you, don’t list a phone number. BUT if you want people to schedule a discovery call instead, link your calendar to the primary button.

Branding

If you need to make adjustments in your branding of any kind, ensure that’s reflected in your website copy as well.

3. It’s Time To Improve Your Website Copy Because The Line Is Dead

Here’s the worst-case scenario… You’re not getting any leads at all! Again, this is disappointing but shouldn’t hinder your efforts to make a change.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to figure out where you should start:

Is my website easy to navigate? Are there any broken links?
Am I working on my SEO?
Are there any significant errors in my website’s writing?
Is my contact information all there?

If anything seems to be completely off, now is the time to act and change it. Once you’ve answered these questions, you can even make a checklist of what you need to do before you get started.

4. Business Has Changed Due To The Pandemic Or For Other Reasons

The pandemic has taken a significant toll on businesses worldwide. Many companies scrambled to make drastic changes to their business models. However, while doing so, you may have missed updating your entire company website. That’s okay because you can do it now.

Go page by page and read through your business’s website copy. Find out where you need to make changes or updates and write them down on a to-do list. Consider improving your website copy for the following COVID-related reasons:

You’ve made alterations to safety protocols
Shipping and delivery has changed
You have team members listed who no longer work there
Appointments or scheduling is different

In addition to changes prompted by the pandemic, you might have changed your branding and need your website copy to match it. It’s essential to keep your website copy up-to-date, primarily if it affects your customers.

5. Your Website Has A High Bounce Rate

For starters, your bounce rate is the number of times someone views your website and ends up leaving quickly. This type of behavior typically tells us that your website isn’t what they’re looking for or the information on it is insufficient enough for them to take action.

There are a few tools you can use to check your website’s bounce rate, including:

Google Analytics (free)
Statcounter
Parse.ly

What Is A Good Or Bad Bounce Rate?

You’ll want to aim for a bounce rate between 26 to 40 percent. An average bounce rate is between 41 to 55 percent. A bounce rate between 56 to 70 may mean you want to make improvements to your website copy. If you see a bounce rate of over 70 percent, it’s time for a facelift for your website.

When Your Website Isn’t Speaking The Right Language For Your Industry…

There’s FocusCopy. We’re a team of writers who connect with you to understand what you do and who you are. We dive deep into your business goals and what you’d like to accomplish. Then, we take on the task of writing for your business with your target clientele in mind. Download our free guide to start updating your home page with ease.

When Was The Last Time You Updated Your Home Page?

Answer these 6 questions and spruce up your home page in 15 minutes (or less).

5 Key Questions To Learn How To Discover Your Brand Voice

Copywriting / By Lauren Jefferson / September 8, 2021 August 31, 2021

Learning how to discover your brand voice sounds complex and tedious. But once you start answering the questions you need to ask yourself, it becomes quite a bit easier.

Now, you may think: Is it really a big deal if I don’t have a brand voice?

Do I need one?

Yes! And not because we’re telling you to do so, but because companies with a brand voice sell better and make more money. It’s the one thing that gives you the warm and fuzzy feeling when they hear it. A well-developed brand voice is both familiar and trustworthy.

Everyone knows about the big brands like Apple, Google, and Coca-Cola. But even today’s large companies started small not too long ago and increased their revenue by creating a brand voice that’s all their own. These companies include ones like:

Billie: Billie launched in 2017, raising $6 million at its initial stages. By 2019, the razor company dedicated to women raised $25 million, led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing Group.
Poo-Pourri: Saw an 80% increase of $15 million to $27 million in sales after a digital campaign went viral.
Casper: The mattress company earned $100 million in less than two years.

On top of each of these being great ideas, what do they all have in common? Their branding is recognizable and pushed them to the next level, seeing a huge return on their investment.

We’ll walk you through the 5 questions you should be asking to learn how to discover your brand voice.

Struggling to find your brand voice or unsure of where to begin? We’ve got you covered. Get started with us, and we’ll write it for you!

What To Ask To Discover Your Brand Voice

Did you know it takes about 5 to 7 impressions for customers to start recognizing a brand?

Finding your brand voice can be overwhelming to think about. But it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. In fact, if you have about 20 minutes, we’re sure you can answer these questions yourself and get started.

Grab a pen and a clean sheet of paper or notebook. Don’t worry about being too detailed. Even if you scribble your answers quickly, you’ll have an outline to go off of when you’re ready to think about it more deeply.

Reading along for a quick skim? That’s okay, too. These questions aren’t tricky and shouldn’t leave you confused.

1. Who Is Your Audience?

Let’s start with something you may already be familiar with.

In other words, this question is asking, “Who the heck are you talking to?”

If your audience is primarily middle-aged men who are married and lean on the conservative side, write it down! If you cater more to a younger audience that’s diverse and single with no children, write that down. Or maybe you aim for high net worth individuals who consider themselves workaholics. Whatever the case may be, jot it down and have it on paper.

Pinpointing who you’re talking to will eliminate a ton of other brand voices that currently exist. Doing this can also help you get a more narrow idea of how you’re already talking to your audience during the following steps:

Initial conversation or consultation
Following up on the exchange if necessary
Sale
Thanking them for their business
Responding to positive and negative feedback
Reaching out to get them to return, sign up for something, or any other call-to-action (CTA)
Talking to returning customers

Running through your business model or sales process gives you a better idea of your tone, wording, and other aspects of your brand voice.

Need some extra help? We have a special process to help businesses establish their own brand voice with a handy guide.

2. How Are You Different From Your Competitors?

You’ve likely heard this time and time again. But it’s because it’s important to decipher what makes your business unique and different from your competitors. This answer could include things like longevity, special certifications or licenses, quality of staff, and so on.

Then, you need to ask why your audience would care about what makes you different. You can then place your focus on turning those unique features into benefits for your customers.

3. Who Do You Want To Sound Like?

Whether you’re hoping to mimic your own voice or that of someone else, it’s important to decipher what you plan on sounding like. One way to get this down in your notes is to list a bunch of adjectives that describe your brand.

Some examples include:

Witty
Friendly
Relaxed
Casual
Professional
Educated
Authoritative
Inspiring

You don’t have to use these exact adjectives but think of some on your own. They could even come from client testimonials you’ve read or heard in the past.

This step leads us right into the next one…

4. What Do You Want To Avoid?

This part isn’t as fun but is oh-so-necessary. Consider what you’d like to avoid when moving forward with your branding. Write down a bunch of adjectives that you want to refrain from or avoid altogether.

Another way to do this step is by writing down negative adjectives you’ve heard about your business to help you decide how to steer away from sounding that way.

For example, perhaps you’ve read the reviews, and people tend to say your business is inconsistent and sloppy. It’s harsh and may not even be true. However, it’s essential to listen to feedback and turn it into a positive opportunity by seeing what you can do with it. First of all, consistency is key. Then, sounding too informal may not be the best decision depending on the market you’re in. If people expect you to sound professional, you can still do so while showing your human side.

5. What Do You Want People To Feel About Your Brand?

Finally, go back to who your target audience is. Then ask yourself what you’d like your clients to take away from interacting with your brand. Envision their absolute best “buying” experience and explore those feelings and emotions. Whether you sell a product or offer a specific service, it’s critical that you walk through their process, focus on their pain points, and understand how your business helps. Find some descriptors or even personal stories that accurately encompass your brand.

Don’t Lose Out On More Money And Get Help Finding Your Brand Voice

86% of customers say authenticity is important to them when deciding which brands to support. This is why it’s even more important than ever to make sure your business has a brand voice to showcase. This doesn’t mean you need to make the next viral TikTok. It just means people value businesses and business owners being themselves.

What do you say? Are you feeling inspired to get going on your brand voice?

If you don’t want to go it alone, reach out to us for help on learning how to discover your brand voice!

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words

4 Productivity Tips For Entrepreneurs To Accelerate Marketing Results

Entrepreneurship, Marketing / By Lauren Jefferson / September 3, 2021 August 29, 2021

Maintaining daily productivity is a delicate balancing act. Between your personal life, mental and physical health, and all the daily tasks involved in building your business, learning how to keep everything straight is a bit of a curve.

But once you have a foundation for managing every little detail, you’ll find that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to doing.

And your business will grow as a result!

So to help you start tackling your ever-growing to-do list, keep these productivity tips for entrepreneurs in your bookmarks for a reference guide, and you’ll see your marketing results catapult!

Accelerate Your Marketing Results With These Productivity Tips For Entrepreneurs

If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “there has to be a better way to do everything,” it’s time to lay down a foundation that will catapult you to success.

Most productivity tips for entrepreneurs are like habits. They will take time to apply and implement. But if you practice patience as you’re trying new things and keep showing up each day, these habits will eventually stick.

Does your business need website copy that connects with your audience? Feel like you’re wearing too many hats? FocusCopy brings clarity and engagement to your B2B marketing so you can close more leads. Want to get started? Schedule a call so we can talk about your goals!

1. Find The Routine That Works For You

If you don’t feel like your current routine is serving you and your goals, it’s time to reassess. Routines are the most crucial, make-or-break component of your productivity.

Working at different times each day will drain your energy fast – not to mention waking up at different times or going to bed at different times.

A routine is what keeps you on track. It’s what guides you through each hour of the day. It helps you stay focused. And most importantly, it is what tells you when it’s time to step away from your desk.

A good, consistent routine will improve your productivity significantly. A bad, chaotic routine will leave you feeling drained all the time and like nothing is ever getting done.

While it can take quite a while to find a routine that works for you and make it stick, once you find your groove, you’ll find you’re able to produce results on a consistent basis.

Don’t be afraid to experiment a little when creating your routine. While it’s common advice to start work early in the morning, we all have different biological clocks.

If waking up at 4:30 every morning isn’t your cup of joe, think of your ideal wake-up time and when you feel the most focused. Then, build your schedule around those hours. When you wake up matters much less than how consistent you are with your schedule – which brings us to our next productivity tip.

2. Stay Consistent

Consistency can be a bit of a double-edged sword. When you consistently practice good habits, your productivity will soar. But the more that harmful habits start to creep into your daily routine, the more your productivity will suffer.

All those little short social media scrolls can start to add up. And before you know it, you’ve lost an hour to distraction.

Start by tracking your time! We are habitual time trackers. Every single task we have in our process is timed. It holds us accountable and helps us focus on the task at hand. We track all our time inside ClickUp (affiliate link here), but we also use Flow (a Pomodoro timer app) if we need to be seriously focused.

At first, building consistency is difficult. I’m not going to lie to you. It takes time, patience, and diligent effort to put good habits into practice.

However, consistency begets consistency. The more you do a certain habit, the faster you will be consistent. This doesn’t mean that some days aren’t going to be slightly harder. Whether you’re feeling more tired than usual or just not feeling it at all, it’s normal to have off days. But consistency is what helps you show up anyway.

And remember, what you put into your business is what you will get out of it. So as you might imagine, putting in the effort every day will start to add up.

3. Take Breaks Seriously

Breaks are huge. Even though it can be difficult to designate a stopping point when it feels like you have so much you want to accomplish, even entrepreneurs need rest. Remember, we’re humans – not machines!

And in reality, long workweeks can actually cause us to see diminishing returns on the time we put in. And since time, not money, is the most valuable investment you can make in your business, use it wisely. All of this is to say: quality, not quantity!

Pro tip: it is okay to take breaks in your marketing. This is your permission slip to take a break when you need it most. Can’t handle the amount of business you have? Turn back your marketing.

4. Find Your Flow

The structure of your schedule acts sort of like a predictor for the success of your day. In other words, you cut out unnecessary distractions that go into making multiple decisions when you have a clear idea of what you’re going to be doing and when.

It might not seem like making decisions can harm your productivity, but you would be surprised!

Did you know that high-performing entrepreneurs and leaders often talk about wearing the same thing every day? That’s because they’re cutting out the number of decisions they have to make (and thus, the number of distractions). As it turns out, more choice isn’t always a good thing.

And while it might sound extreme, some researchers have recently estimated that we make thousands of choices in our day-to-day lives. The exact estimation? 35,000!

Can you imagine how much extra fatigue builds up as a result? From choosing what and when and where to eat, to our clothing for the day and the tasks we set for our business – try to make fewer choices, not more!

Time-Block Your Emails & Meetings

Speaking of decisions, think about creating a time block for responding to your emails or taking meetings over Zoom.

Designate a time in which you will have your inbox and Calendly open, and then do your best to commit to that timeframe. In a way, time-blocking is kind of like setting healthy boundaries. You need them. Your emotional health, your relationships, and of course, your productivity all benefit from boundaries.

Because pausing your work to respond to messages or meet with clients can slow down your work significantly. Every distraction or notification you switch your attention to can cause you to lose focus and steam on the task at hand. And once you stop working on something, it can be much more difficult to get back into the groove. This also means…

Avoid Multitasking

You’ve probably heard talk before about “being in the zone” or even felt like you were in the zone yourself while you’re working on something engaging. And that’s actually because “being in the zone” is a real psychological phenomenon!

It’s called “Flow”. And when we enter a flow-state by eliminating distractions and focusing our attention on one thing at a time, we can actually produce a lot of results in a shorter period than if we were constantly switching our attention from one thing to another.

A good way to keep your focus on a singular task is to turn your phone onto airplane mode, mute notifications on your desktop if you’re working on your computer, and then set a timer!

Try to work on just ONE THING for as long as the timer is counting down, and see how much you accomplish. Setting a timer is also a great way to help you get out of a slump on a particularly low-energy day.

Looking for more helpful content for your entrepreneurial journey? Stay up to date with our newsletter and content for tips and tricks, marketing advice, and support. Sign up for the FocusCopy Insider’s List!

Delegate Tasks

Similar to cutting out distractions, if you have a team, delegate tasks so that you can focus your attention on other priorities.

Your team is a group of people you should trust – so you know that by delegating them an assignment, they will be able to rise to the occasion.

Additionally, if you don’t have a team yet, think about forming one if you’re at that stage of your business. Having a group of people you can depend on is huge for a business owner’s productivity. And feeling like you’re supported can help you combat feelings of imposter syndrome that so many entrepreneurs face today.

“Eat The Frog”

Speaking of sayings… Have you ever heard the advice, “eat the frog”? This means that before you do anything else on your to-do list, you tackle the thing that is giving you the most anxiety or that feels the most daunting.

When we get the harder things out of the way first, we actually help our productivity because we gain a sense of accomplishment before we even take lunch.

This can boost our motivation and help our minds stay clear and focused because we aren’t distracted by all that dread building up in the back of our minds.

While it’s perhaps the most difficult time-management skill to put into practice, (and can certainly be the most intimidating!) with all things, we get better the more we do something. And adopting this habit early in your entrepreneurial journey will help you see incredible results.

It’s okay if you have to season the frog a little first, though. No judgment here!

Want To See Your Marketing Results Catapult?

The life of an entrepreneur and business owner involves wearing a lot of hats. But connecting with FocusCopy for all your copywriting and content marketing needs allows you to hang up your writing hat and focus on other parts of growing your business. We want to help you succeed by converting your prospects into long-term clients, as well as offer you support on your entrepreneurial journey. Find out more about our services and let’s hop on a call!

Focus Your Copy On Conversation & Conversion

Let’s Grab A Virtual Coffee With Us To Discover How To Boost Your Words

Why You Need A Blog As A Health And Wellness Coach

Marketing / By Lauren Jefferson / September 1, 2021 February 19, 2024

Calling all coaches! Have you ever thought about why you need a blog as a health and wellness coach?

You may think they’re only for semi-famous coaches or professionals who use their website as their main source of traffic. You may even think you just don’t have the time for it because it won’t benefit you.

But health coach blogging of any kind can do wonders for your business as well as the brand you’re building. And they’re not just for cutesy photoshoots to share on social media platforms! In fact, Harvard Health Publishing says that health coaching is effective.

Blogs that are written in your voice share a sense of your personal side, which helps your audience to connect with you more. Blogs also help place you as a quality resource or authority within your field, which looks incredible to readers who are open and willing to learn more about what you have to say.

Still not convinced? Read on and find out more about why you need a blog as a health and wellness coach.

Have other questions about copywriting for your business? Reach out to get going on blogging, website writing, and so much more.

4 Major Reasons Why You Need A Blog As A Health And Wellness Coach

The best part about blogging is that you don’t need to overthink it. As long as you have genuine advice and put it together in a way that makes sense, you’re golden!

Not to mention, having one blog, even if you aren’t sure what you’re doing, is better than having nothing at all.

Let’s take a look at exactly why health coach blogging can help you.

1. Boost Your Website’s Ranking

When it comes to battling it out for a better online ranking, health and wellness coaches who already blog have a leg up. However, it’s important to say that it’s never too late to start blogging. Because the algorithms change so much, no one is guaranteed a top spot on any search engine. Boosting your website’s ranking takes some time and work, but can improve greatly with blogs.

The cool thing about blogs is that they have a few elements built within them that bump up a website’s ranking without thinking about it too much.

Target Those Keywords

Keywords are going to look like what most people would search when hopping online. In the health and wellness industry, for example, that may look like the following phrases:

Finding a local holistic health and wellness coach
Delicious vegetarian recipes with added vitamins and minerals
Best exercises for maintaining a balanced mind

On the other hand, they may look more bare-bones like:

Health
Healthy living
Mental health
Wellness tips
Daily health practices

As you can see, many search terms range from extremely broad to very specific. But that’s what’s great about the internet…there’s something for everyone.

Target certain keywords surrounding your business by using some helpful (and sometimes free) tools like Yoast SEO and Semrush.

Include Headlines And Subheadings

Headings and subheadings may seem like they appear because an English teacher told you they had to be placed within an essay forever ago. And they were partly right!

Not only are they an ideal way to break up the text, but they also provide some mega bonus points in the SEO department.

Place in headlines and subheadings that include your target keywords or phrases. Doing so will place your blog above others without headlines and you’ll show up easier without having to search for specific terms.

Come Up With Relevant And Original Content

This is important because you don’t want to get too caught up in replicating someone else you may admire. You also don’t want to get flagged for plagiarism. One way to avoid these things is by using your blog as another form of communication with your clients.

In other words, talk to your audience in your blogs just as you would speak to them in person. It omits the use of words or phrases that you wouldn’t normally say and prevents you from sounding too cookie-cutter.

Set Internal Links

Internal links are all a part of playing the game of SEO. These links lead to other pages on your website, leading your audience where you’d really like for them to go. Whether that’s a contact or purchase page, internal links help them get there quickly.

Furthermore, using these links within your blogs helps your website rank as Google is able to find it easier. They help gauge how your website is put together and what you find to be a priority. If Google finds it important, it’s more likely to rank higher than other pages and websites.

Add Videos And Images

Videos and photos are a fun way to keep your audience engaged throughout your blog discussion. They can even help pull them in and persuade them to read a blog they didn’t intend on reading. In addition, if you’re explaining something that may be tough to understand, photos and videos can help.

Choose high-quality images that are relevant to your subject. Then, by adding a caption, your image is about 300% more likely to be seen than the body copy itself.

2. Establish Yourself As An Authority Figure

Who do you turn to when you’re searching for information online?

Chances are, you read blogs to get information from people or organizations who have an established blog page. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean they are the end-all and be-all of the subject matter you’re searching. But it does mean they did the work to put together the material and publish it online. Because of this, you and others are more likely to see them as authority figures and return to them for more information in the future.

You know your material, and you have a passion for it that goes unmatched. Show it with a blog packed full of your insight and best practices wrapped up in your voice. Ask for engagement and thoughts. Get others involved in the discussion and answer your clients’ frequently asked questions comprehensively.

3. Lead An Audience To All Other Tools Offered

Blogs are a natural way to lead your target audience to your services and products for sale. This step is better known as the one that hopefully makes you some money!

For example, you’ve just written a blog on ten best practices for meditation at home. Someone reading and getting to the end of your blog may want to know who they can hire to help them with more stuff just like that. Here’s where you come in with some killer call-to-actions (CTAs).

These CTAs can be:

Interested in my services? Contact me today to get started on your health and wellness journey.
Ready to reach the better version of you? Order the health and wellness package that fits you best.
Tired of feeling mentally exhausted? I can help. Call me today to get started.

They’re simple but effective ways to lead someone to another level of your business. The end goal? Getting them one step closer to making a buying decision.

4. Build Your Brand

Finally, health coach blogging builds the brand that is you and everything you have to offer. You may be on every social media platform that exists and then some. Or you may be sticking to your website. Wherever you are in your business journey, blogging can help expand your audience and target those you want to work with.

When people read your blogs, they get an idea of:

Who you are
Your voice
How you can help
Why they should care about you

Anything that puts more of a face to your business as a health and wellness coach couldn’t hurt.

Now you know why you need a blog as a health and wellness coach. Remember, ranking with SEO methods is just as important as making it less about B2B writing and more about the human-to-human connection.

Having trouble navigating your branding? Contact us today and we’ll get started from scratch just for you.

No Time To Write? Not A Problem.

You believe in helping others. And we believe that you have something important to say. This means there’s no need to hold back when it comes to marketing your own health and wellness business.

If we know anything, we know blogging as a health and wellness business does so much more than people realize. If you’re aware of why you need a blog as a health and wellness coach and just want to get started, you’re in the right place. With us, you’ll get a better blogging plan and a copywriting team whose main move is making your business its top priority.

Grab a cup of joe with us and see how health coach blogging for your business can get you results and revenue you may be missing out on.

How To Sustain A Business’s Growth & Generate Leads With A Book

Marketing / By Lauren Jefferson / August 27, 2021 August 24, 2021

Ever fantasized about writing a book?

Your name on a shiny hardcover.

But beyond the spine wrapping around your words, there’s another reason (a more profitable reason) for you to write a book.

My friend, author of 20+ books, and the founder of Plug & Play Publishing, Weston Lyon and I sat down to talk about how to build a business with a book.

Not a professional writer? Don’t worry about it!

Plenty of business owners and entrepreneurs have written about their experiences and expertise, because it matters. Ultimately, you don’t need to be a professional writer to have something to say.

My friend, author of 20+ books, and the founder of Plug & Play Publishing, Weston Lyon and I sat down to talk about how to sustain a business’s growth and generate leads with a book.

What Are You Doing To Support Your Profit Centers?

Hitting every avenue of your profit centers is going to be the key to unlocking your business’s unlimited potential. It’s also important not to neglect one over the other. As you may already know, running a business takes a semi-seamless tango of the two to keep your company running smoothly. In addition, focusing on both profit centers keeps customers happy, too.

Front-End Profit Centers

The front-end of your business is the part that current and potential clients are likely to purchase or order because it’s geared towards a new client relationship. Your front-end profit centers include business efforts related to marketing, public relations, how you make your sales, and so much more. In other words, front-end centers include pretty much anything that attracts clients to your company.

Deliverables, such as digital ads, printed brochures, and pamphlets, can all resemble front-end examples. These types of deliverables often take the cooperation of several people or departments to produce. However, as we’ve said before, it takes more than the focus of one profit center to keep up with a successful business.

How To Improve Front-End Profit Efforts

Consider how your business strategies help the front-end part of your business. If it’s been a while since you’ve evaluated your strategies and you seem to be hitting a wall in growth, it’s time to go back to the whiteboard.

A few items you should take a look at and expand upon include:

Social media
Blogs
Website copy and design
Email campaigns
Additional learning opportunities to stay on trend

Need help with blogs, website copy, or other areas of writing for your business? Schedule an appointment with me to see how FocusCopy can help.

Back-End Profit Centers

Your back-end profit centers are going to relate to what happens behind the scenes of your business. This includes areas such as whoever deals with finances, administrative needs, and other forms of documentation. While this particular profit center isn’t seen by your customers, it’s where your profits lie. A back-end profit center that operates smoothly creates the flow of the business and sets the foundation for increasing its revenue every year. It’s essential and works in conjunction with the front-end to create a comprehensive business plan.

Better Support For Back-End Profit Centers

Similar to your front-end efforts, think about the last time you questioned whether your operations are running smoothly enough to continue to see growth. If you feel as though you’ve reached a standstill, it’s time to bring the team together and find active solutions.

Some areas of your back-end profit center you should focus on include:

Time management and efficiency
Gaps or areas of lost revenue
Ways to support your departments and team members
Software and applications used daily
Sales methods

Allowing yourself to question and rethink each one of these can ignite inspiration and get you on the right track once again.

How To Generate Leads With A Book

A book at the end of the day is an authority builder. When I first met Weston Lyon, he asked for my home address. Even though I may have thought that was an interesting question (especially in today’s digital world), I was absolutely thrilled to find his book, Stop Chasing Prospects, in my mailbox.

Immediately, Weston jumped up as an authority. It’s one thing to be able to self-publish books for business leaders. It’s a totally different thing to work with a self-publisher who has also authored 21+ books.

So how do you go about generating leads with a book?

Give It Away For Free

This sounds counterintuitive, but wait a second. Because chances are, you’ve received items for free (or nearly so) that kept you going back to the source. And we know what you’re thinking. Giving your book away for free doesn’t have to include you standing in your own storefront passing them out to every person you see. There are a number of ways to get your book in someone else’s hands that doesn’t feel too pushy or salesy.

Ship It And Eat The Shipping Costs

Just like Weston did with me, you can be straightforward with the people you talk to and offer to send them your book free of charge. For starters, who doesn’t like receiving free stuff? Second, whoever you send it to is likely to be excited about it and feel valued that you’re willing to share something with them that is so personal to you.

Here’s an idea… say you’re not too comfortable with asking for this information in a one-on-one conversation. You can create a simple form fill page on your website asking for customer information with the incentive that they’ll receive a free copy of your book.

Worried about getting too many requests? Shoot an email with the page linked and say it’s only available for the first 20 people. Create a sense of urgency and you may be surprised at who jumps at the chance.

Position It For Free With The Person Paying For Shipping

Another way to bring your book to the forefront of someone’s mind is offering to send your book with a small shipping fee only. It’s better than asking someone to pay for the entire book plus shipping costs.

Don’t be afraid to make it a bit more enticing by offering a sneak peek (a page or two) of what you have to offer. Leave your audience hooked and wanting to know more. All they need to do is pay for shipping, and your knowledge can be theirs!

Include It Within A Subscription

Another good example of giving your book away for free is by seeing if you can include it with a subscription someone is already interested in. Audiobook and KindleUnlimited are just a couple examples of subscription-based services that also offer free books. This works because someone knows they want to pay for the service anyways, so why not get a free book with it? And if your book happens to help them out, all the better!

Sell It At Speaking Events Or Conferences

Finally, use your book to your advantage when performing at speaking events or conferences. The bottom line is people who are interested in what you have to say will be engaged enough to want to hear more. This is the ideal opportunity to talk about your book and lightly touch on its value without giving it all away.

Reach A Level Up As A Business Owner

If you can learn how to generate leads with a book, you can uplevel your entrepreneurial spirit. Don’t overthink it! Whichever route you choose, keep it simple and feel free to continue connecting with your customer base because you have a true passion for what you do. They’ll be glad you’ve shared your ideas and opinions, and who knows? They may even ask to hear more from you in the future.

Learn more and watch Wondering Whether Writing A Book Is Your Next Step? An Interview With Weston Lyon.

Interested in writing a book to grow your business?

Access author of 20+ books, Weston Lyon’s eBook on the 27 reasons why business owners say you should write a book.

Top 10 Mistakes Business Owners Make When Copywriting Themselves

Entrepreneurship / By Lauren Jefferson / August 25, 2021 February 20, 2023

As a business owner, you have a lot on your plate. But avoiding inevitable mistakes business owners make when it comes to copywriting is essential. While writing for your business may seem like a small task and the least of your worries, it affects how people view you and your services.

Ask yourself… How many times have you come across something poorly written or executed, and you simply want to give up on the entire purchase?

Whether you were looking at a menu at a restaurant or a website for a service you need, you likely didn’t stay long enough to see more. Every day, spelling mistakes, errors, funky layouts, and so much more cause readers to move on to a company’s competitors. If your business has old copy full of misinformation and mistakes, you could be losing out on revenue.

While it may not feel fair, people turn elsewhere because they don’t take businesses seriously when business owners make mistakes within their copywriting.

We’ve got the art of writing for websites, blogs, and numerous other assets down. But we realize not everyone knows what to avoid.

Read on for more information about mistakes business owners make when writing their own deliverables.

Too short on time to write for yourself? Give us a shout and get started right away.

Top 10 Mistakes Business Owners Make When Copywriting

Some of your most prized characteristics as a business owner can end up being your downfall when it comes to copywriting. Whether you’re a perfectionist or focused on being super-efficient, it may not be the best approach to take when writing.

It’s a hard pill to swallow, but it’s true!

We’ll walk you through each step and talk about the things that could get in the way of your writing.

1. Proofread Or Don’t Publish At All

We know we sound like a broken record, but it truly is important to proofread and pinpoint any errors you can find.

It helps to read your own text out loud and see if you can find any common mistakes business owners make along the way. Remember when we mentioned people judge your business based on the way it presents itself? According to RealBusiness, nearly three-quarters of web users pay attention to the quality of copy on a business’s website.

What To Look Out For:

Spelling
Grammar
Flow
Incorrect use of capitalization
Punctuation
Sentence structure
Acronyms not easily recognized by your audience

While not everyone reads with thorough deliberation, people are still paying attention. Proofreading is especially important if you’re passing along information that requires it to be correct. This means, being one digit off on your contact number or a period mark shy of a complete email address could set your potential customers into a frenzy of confusion when trying to reach you.

Could they look it up elsewhere and find the correct information themselves? Sure. But they shouldn’t have to when they’re relying on you to give them the information they need. They may start to think that if you can’t be trusted to offer the right information, why should they trust you with their business?

Don’t leave it up to your customers to decide whether your company can be trusted and proofread before hitting publish on your marketing assets.

2. Bring The Focus Back To The Customer

Oftentimes, we notice that businesses get so excited about what they have to offer, that they forget why they’re in business in the first place. And with a whopping 63% of consumers (76% for B2B buyers) who expect your business to know their unique needs and expectations, there’s little room for error.

But it’s my business. So shouldn’t the writing be about me and my business? Isn’t that what my customers care about?

No, not really. This can be one of the toughest realizations business owners have to deal with, but it’s important to say.

Your customers care about what you can do for them. Talking about yourself, your story, image, and even community involvement are going to be pretty useless in the long run if you don’t remember to think about your business as serving others.

Too much of you isn’t always a good thing. You’ll bury your customers and lose your initial goal.

If you’re reading your existing or drafted copy and start to think it’s looking a little saturated with your business and less about your customer, take a step back. This doesn’t mean you need to scrap everything you’ve written. You can use that information for newsletters, email updates, and other marketing materials.

But if you know you need to pull the focus back towards the customer, try these few steps and ask:

What do you do?
Why do you do it?
What’s the reason someone should care?
Why again? (Yep, repeat the above step.)

It’s easy to lose focus when writing material for your business, but do what you can to bring it back to your customers.

Need help revising and reaching the main goal? We’re the team with the know-how to help.

3. Features Are Not Benefits

Like focusing too much on yourself, writing about the features of your business can cut into how it can benefit someone.

For example, if you’re a brand new hospital opening in a busy neighborhood, you may be inclined to say things like:

Large Parking Lot
Plenty Of Staff
Daily Appointments Available
Fully Staffed Cafeteria
Innovative Machinery

All of these things don’t sound horrible. But they also don’t map out the genuine benefits to someone who may need to go to this hospital. All of these things are features rather than benefits.

A few ways these can transform into benefits include saying:

Easy Access And Private Parking Lot Off I-72
2:1 Patient Ratio With Friendly Staff
Short Wait Times For All Appointments
Healthy And Affordable Food In A Fully Staffed Cafeteria
$80 Million In Updated And Innovative Machinery

With these examples, you’re giving your readers details about your features combined with benefits without bogging them down with too much information. Take a look at your writing and see if you can spruce up any of your features and transform them into benefits.

4. Look At The Big Idea

Your benefits, business plan, and everything in between includes great information. However, try to avoid getting distracted from the bigger picture. What is it that you want to accomplish? Stick to your end goal and ensure you have Call-To-Actions (CTAs) throughout your writing that match your goal.

Before writing, consider your big picture. Some examples of this could look like the following:

Are you looking for more social media followers?
Do you want to inform people about who you and your business are?
Is there a product you’re pushing that you want people to buy?
Are you attempting to establish a voice?

Whatever your goal is, it should reflect in your writing. This leads us right into one of the next critical mistakes business owners make when copywriting.

5. You Forget One Or More Call-To-Actions

If your writing doesn’t include Call-To-Actions (CTAs), you’re missing out big time. According to Wordstream, “Emails with a single call-to-action increased clicks 371% and sales 1,617%.“

What Is A Call-To-Action?

A Call-To-Action, or CTA, is a button or clickable link that says “Buy Now” or “Call Us Today”. They’re buttons that inspire your reader to take action right away. Without them, you’re forcing your reader to search further to take action with extra steps. Customers want their experience to be as easy as possible. If you’re asking them to do it on their own, they may talk themselves into taking action later, compare by going elsewhere, and so on. You want them to have the option to make a decision right away after they’ve read your compelling copy.

6. Avoid Hitting Publish And Forgetting About It Altogether

Once you choose to publish your copy, you may think you’re good to go for many years into the future. This is just not true. You need to tap into engagement and get feedback from your audience to find out if there is room for improvement.

Don’t get us wrong, publishing your copy is a big step and is a huge cause for celebration. Especially if you have copy you’ve been working on for a long time, trust us, we’re toasting with you on finishing! But don’t forget to check back on it every so often and ensure the messaging, Call-To-Action, and everything else still rings true.

If you’ve changed your business model in a significant way, have new products available, or anything else that needs to be addressed, do so in your copy by updating it regularly. Revisit your copy if it’s been a while and you feel it may be outdated. Finally, double and triple-check to ensure everything looks good and is mobile friendly.

7. Perfectionism Kills Potentially Great Copy

As a business owner, you’re probably a little bit obsessed with perfection. And there’s nothing wrong with that! When it comes to running your business, having a type-A tendency is a must. But when it comes to copywriting, it can be an absolute nightmare.

Why? Because when you keep writing, saving, going back to writing, and so on, expecting it to be perfect, you’ll never get it done! And you’ll have likely missed your window for getting your message out there at the right time.

We know it’s easier said than done, but let go a little and get your copy out there once you’ve hit all of the important aspects of your bigger picture.

8. Keep It Simple

You work within your industry, but chances are, most people reading your copy don’t. They may even know nothing about your business, who you are, or what you do. So it’s important to write as if you’re speaking to someone who knows little to nothing, which may mean cutting out complicated text or technical jargon.

We get it! You don’t want to have to feel as though you need to “dumb down” your copy because you believe your audience is smart. And that may be true! But for someone who is new to your business or may not be within the same industry you are, too much high-level text can be intimidating and throw someone off from reading what you have to say.

In addition, making the text too complicated can lead your audience to your competitors. Keep it simple and make it easy to follow.

9. You’re Keeping Your Copy Too Top-Secret

In other words, don’t be shy about your copy! Give it to a second pair of eyes to take a look at and make sure you’re moving in the right direction.

Similar to perfectionism, you may be hesitant to share your copy with others until it’s done. But additional members of your team can help identify errors and make suggestions.

Because they’re seeing your writing for the first time, they’ll be able to read it as a consumer and know if it’s sending the right message. Choose someone you trust for this task. Whether it’s a co-owner, manager, or someone else who has a little bit of writing experience. Trust select members of your team and let them help you.

Furthermore, be careful about sharing your copy with too many people. One or two opinions are helpful. Any more than that may begin to cloud your judgment and produce conflicting ideas or suggestions.

10. You Aren’t Really Proving Your Point

Here’s where your previous experience and past results come in handy. In other words, if you have a point to make, then prove it with facts and figures. This may mean you need to dig into your revenue files, ask your financial department, or search for information online. But it’s worth it if it’s impressive.

Are you attempting to convince someone to buy your start-up product? Let them know you’ve made over $5 million in sales in the past year.

Would you like people to put a little more faith in your services? Let them know you have a 4.5-star rating on Google, Yelp, or any other review sites.

It’s okay to brag about yourself a little to prove a point and convince others to trust in your business. Feature your highlights in places like main headlines, subheadings, or callouts. Keep in mind that these are likely the areas of your writing that they’ll read when scanning your text.

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