Archive for blog formatting – Page 3

Rant: The Problem with Formatting Sales Pages..

Even when you’re giving something away, for FREE, you’ve got to write good “sales” copy that spurs people into action. In today’s info-crammed world, that means you’ve got to grab busy peoples’ attention, and get them to click, and get them so excited that they take the time to type in their email address in exchange for your offer.

Unless you’re Naomi Dunsford of IttzBiz and know how to skillfully weave obscenities into headlines or emails, what cha gonna do? There are Internet gurus who’ve made millions teaching us lowly common folk with Ph.D.s how to sell socks to centipedes.

Entire Web fortunes have been made. Bare with me, I’m just getting started with this rant…

You think you’ve written a fairly decent sales letter, you’ve got all your benefits, your “AIDA“… (you’ve remembered to grab Attention, gain their Interest, spark Desires, address objections and ask for Action – with a sense of urgency, of course  – but you’re far from done.

The fun is just beginning. Now you’ve got to format your sales letter landing page, with a dynamite headline, cool graphics, arrows, ORDER NOW! buttons, subheadings, testimonials, bonuses…

Ay, ay, Chihuahua! (as we say down here in my home town of Ajijic, Mexico.)

Creating Great Sales Pages Read More→

Blog or Website: Do You Use WordPress as a Website?

Do you use WordPress for your business website? Many people do.  And I’d like to know if you do, how long you have used it as a website, and what your opinion of it is. Leave a comment if you’d like, since the poll only gives you a yes/no choice.

My content business, ContentforCoachesandConsultants.com, is built on a blog platform, although I don’t use it as a blog. I use it as a traditional website for my business, with product pages, etc.

I see a trend here. Many independent professionals want to be in control of their sites, without having to go through a webmaster, and without learning coding or programming.

WordPress makes it easy for anyone to update their own site. You can create pages, just like a website. It can be customized to look like a traditional website for any business, or you can get something customized specifically for your needs.

There are a multitude of talented web people available for customizing it for your needs. Once set up, you can easily publish fresh content, write sales copy, add product pages, and benefit from the facility with which WordPress works with the search engines. Smooth.

I stopped using Dreamweaver software for my websites over two years ago, and started afresh using a custom-designed WordPress platform. Together with my merchant cart, KickStartCart, it gives me everything I need to run an online business, build my marketing database, provide digital products and attract clients with content that’s optimized for search engines.

And, trust me, I’m not someone with a lot of tech skills. I didn’t grow up in the computer age. Demographically, I’m probably in the cohort of  “techno-old-farts.”

Please vote, either yes or no. The results will be shared as we gather more opinions. And if you’ve got a WordPress story to share with us, tell us in the comments how you’re using it for your business, please share your url so we can come check it out!

WordPress Beats Out Typepad 4 to 1 in Poll

Two-thirds of readers of this blog use WordPress as a blogging platform,  according to results of the poll set up 6 days ago. If you haven’t voted yet, please do so here.

Typepad users make up 14.5% of my blog readers, and the other platforms are in the single digits. Of WordPress users, 25.3% use a platform hosted by WordPress.com, 44% use a self-hosted WordPress blog.

Because of the overwhelming majority who use WordPress, my next teleseminar will be designed for WP users. Specifically, I’m going to interview an expert about how to create a sales page using WordPress. Stay tuned for a date, and… of course, a WP sales page where you can sign up for the free class and learn more WordPress tips.

As you probably know, I switched from a Typepad hosted blog a couple of months ago to self-hosted WordPress, with a Headway theme. So far, I’m very pleased with both the ease of posting, the design and widget features, and the SEO results. Read More→

How to Choose a Fascinating Photo for
Content Marketing Purposes

What should you look for in choosing a photo to illustrate your blog post? Or to illustrate any other type of web content, such as web pages or sales letter pages?

It’s rare that I don’t take an extra ten minutes to select a photo for each of my blog posts. Yes, no more than ten, but often it’s done in under a minute. I’ll share my tips for saving time on this. (This photo, from iStockPhoto.com took 35 seconds to find and upload…)

Why bother? Because the brain is attracted to photos and if you choose an interesting photo that evokes curiosity, you’ll draw more people into reading your blog.

Go to any photo site and register as a user (free). These are royalty-free photos you can use. If you’re using any photos for commercial purposes, you should purchase credits.

Use the search box to type in what you think you’d like to use as a photo. If you don’t know, just type in a keyword, especially an emotion or an abstract concept that you’re writing about. You’ll be surprised the variety of photos a word pulls up.

For example, in my previous post about grabbing readers’ attention, the emotion I wanted to convey was curiosity. A search for “curiosity” provided 787 pages of photos that included people, animals, babies… Most of which I wouldn’t want to use. I chose one of giraffes because it looked curious.

I’m looking for one or two photos that are attractive to the eye and pull in the kinds of readers I target – smart professionals. So I don’t want any boring photos of people who look happy and content. That may sound strange, but there’s nothing that’s compelling about happy and content people. It doesn’t trigger any reaction on an emotional level. Read More→

6 Ways Blog Formatting Engages the Reader’s Brain

What are the two most important parts of your business blog post? Most experts will tell you this:

  1. The headline
  2. The call to action

The headline is what gets read and spread. It’s your “shout-out” on social media sites, in feed readers, email updates. It’s the bait on your fishing hook which draws people over to your blog site to read your stuff.

Writing magnetic headlines is crucial. And you know yourself that a well-crafted headline gets more traffic than a bland one.

The call to action is what gets you business results and turns readers into clients. Even when it’s not a direct “go-buy-click-here” request, it’s part of your funnel process. It starts the participation process.

But hold on there, wait a minute. There are 6 ways to format your blog posts that will  help prime your readers for action. It happens before you ask readers to do something. It must happen, otherwise your readers won’t even read your complete post, they won’t get to the call to action part.

You must engage their brains. You must get inside their heads by triggering unconscious desires and thoughts.

Okay, that sounds a bit oowy-woowy and sneaky, maybe even dangerous. I’m not talking hypnotic suggestions or even tapping into Freudian drives of sex or fear…(although, heck, that sure works, too!)

But if your blog content doesn’t appeal to one of several persuasion triggers (reciprocity, social proof, etc.) then you’re not doing enough with your posts. Your readers may scan your post, without getting their thought processes going, and move on.

It’s not complicated. You’re probably already doing it (unconsciously)! How?

1. Every time you tell a story, you’re tapping into primitive drives to listen and pay attention. As humans, we’re wired to sit up, pay attention, and become alert when someone says, “Let me tell you a story…” Read More→