Keywords: Research vs Guesswork

Jelly Beans In Focus at 3/10 sec.

There are two main approaches to choosing the keywords that you use within your site:

Guesswork

You ask yourself, “what would I type into Google if I was looking for myself?” and write down everything you can think of. Job done?

Research

You analyse competitors, take your ‘guesswork’ list and put it all into Google’s Keyword Tool. You make a giant list and then weed out the chaff. You think carefully about which words are relevant, which are worth fighting for, which are too competitive and which are essential to your business.

The Importance of Keyword Research

If you’re knocking together a site for your chess club or your sister’s Barbie archive, then feel free to use the guesswork approach to keywords. But if your site is for business, it’s worth being more scientific when choosing keywords. Researching keywords means checking which keywords are important – so your choices will be based on reality, rather than a hunch. Keyword research doesn’t take long, it doesn’t make you a spammer and it does make a great deal of sense for the average business.

Coming to terms with ‘content’

Common questions from the content creator

Not so long ago, I objected to the word ‘content’ when used to describe the words and pictures that populate websites. ‘Content’ seemed degrading, a lowly term for what might be carefully-crafted copy, perfectly-composed pictures or a web-cam wizard’s captivating video.

So ‘content’ doesn’t sound amazing. It’s a bit like calling the words between the covers of Don Quixote ‘filling’, or ‘text’.

But ‘content’ is what everyone calls content. The word works.

And now ‘content’ is increasingly discussed in a smarter way. We’re not just writing some stuff because there are pages to fill; we formulate content strategies to help us think bigger about what we’re doing. We think bigger and demonstrate a bigger intention. Copy is more than copy and that’s great for the web because it means copy and content can rise to their rightful place in the world of the web.

So I’ve come round to content.

Why I want to talk to your people

Conversation, NYC, 1970

Good copywriters will talk to you. They’ll ask you questions that will draw out useful information. They’ll be bloodhounds on the trail of wounded meat. They know what they’re after: the pieces of information that matter most to your clients. Once they’ve found it, the good copywriter retreats to his lair to write.

Great copywriters want to talk to your people. They know that you don’t know everything, so they want to talk to Jane in the stockroom, Greg in customer services and your most loyal customers. Great copywriters know that the best way to reveal the heart of your business – the heart that must be captured, contained and displayed on the web page – is to delve deep.

Piling spam upon spam: why unsubscribe confirmation emails are evil

Spam, Now with Real Bacon!

Picture this, if you will:

You are a busy person. You get too many emails. Loads of those emails are irrelevant, but you get them every month, like really shit clockwork. You’re clever, so you take the time to unsubscribe. It takes a few clicks, but it’s a good investment of your time. You’re all done and you feel happy: one less piece of junk mail and few less RSI-inducing clicks.

Then, THE BASTARDS SEND YOU ANOTHER EMAIL.

Disappointed that you’ve abandoned them, the automated marketing machine sends you a good-bye message. So the marketing spammers recognise your desire for less email, and send you one last email.

Why can’t they just let it go? And why do some unsubscribe options demand a password that you didn’t even know you had?

If people want to leave your unstoppable spam machine, just let them. And never darken their inbox again.

Clients: reveal your budget!

Hide & Seek

Clients should stop being coy with their budgets and put their cash on the table.

Here’s why:

Compare like with like

If you ask two or three different service providers to quote for a piece of work, they will all provide a quote that involves different levels of service, different features and different elements. The three quotes may vary wildly in cost, mainly because the three quotes include different amounts of value. The lowest quote probably offers the least features, while the highest quote includes more stuff – more benefits, more features.

If you want comparable quotes, be honest about your budget.

Get a quote that you can accept

Hiding your budget is not a clever tactic and provides no benefit. Reveal your budget and receive quotes you can work with. Why hide your budget if it means you receive unrealistic and unworkable proposals?

Procuring services is not like playing poker, so show them what you got.

This post was inspired by Alex Cowell’s piece on budgets at the Cubeworks blog.

How’s the daddy? Researching men’s mental health

Father and son

Totally off-topic: this blog post is about my soon-to-be-wife’s research project. I’m blogging about it because Megan needs to interview new fathers who have experienced some emotional or psychological difficulties after becoming a father.

This is an under-researched area, but it deserves attention. Not least because the mental well-being (or not) of fathers has a direct impact on the health and well-being of their children. So for the sake of families, children and mothers, it’s important to consider how becoming a father affects men.

If you are a father with your youngest or only child under 3, and feel that you have struggled in some way postnatally, please contact Megan. Here are a few details from Megan’s advert:

The one-off interview will last between 45 – 90 minutes and will be conducted in a private setting to ensure confidentiality

Your expenses will be repaid.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what to talk about – your interview will be guided by questions.

I am undertaking this research for my Clinical Psychology doctoral thesis based at the University of Surrey. This study has received a favourable ethical opinion from the University of Surrey’s Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences Ethics Committee.

Interested?

Please contact Megan Earl-Gray

Tel: 07577 845361

Email: researching.fathers@googlemail.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/researchingdads

WriteClub gets a logo

WriteClub now has a logo!

WriteClub has always been a loose connection of people, tumbled together with a light sprinkling of organisation, but the opportunity to have a logo and give our group an identity was warmly received.

WriteClub owes a massive thanks to Ayse Kongur, the graphic designer and WriteClub member who designed our lovely logo. Thanks Ayse! Ayse is a very experienced graphic designer who also travels widely, reporting on the graphic design industry and interviewing talented designers around the world.

Content strategy: the new name for copywriting?

Battle Formation

I’ve been hearing more and more talk about ‘content strategy’ recently. Unsure what it was, I went looking for answers.
I found:

What is Content Strategy?

Content strategy plans for the creation, publication, and governance of useful, usable content.

Necessarily, the content strategist must work to define not only which content will be published, but why we’re publishing it in the first place.

Otherwise, content strategy isn’t strategy at all: it’s just a glorified production line for content nobody really needs or wants

From: The Discipline of Content Strategy by Kristina Halvorson

I was hoping to discover an interesting new discipline, but I feel like I’ve just discovered a new way to describe copywriting.

More time passed, and I began to warm to content strategy.

Why? Because ‘copy’ is the most important but least respected part of the web. Web copy is often thrashed out at the last minute, after a hundred interaction designers, user experience designers, information architects, designers, developers and colour consultants have spent months refining their corner of the website – and that’s just plain stupid. Copy is neglected, but maybe it’s neglected because nobody has pushed a serious alternative – nobody has pushed a grown-up approach to producing copy.

Copy needs to be more than copy for it to be taken seriously. A copywriter needs to be more than just a rent-a-pen. There needs to be a method, a strategy, a process for producing amazing copy, and if content strategy can be all of that, then wonderful.

I look forward to learning more about content strategy.

Design update at Kendall Copywriting

Tidy workers = happy workers

Welcome to the new-look Kendall Copywriting site!

Regular visitors may wonder why things have changed, given that the old look was less than 6 months old. Well, as time passes you get a better sense of your website’s purpose, and it gradually became clear that to achieve my aims, the site would need a little refresh. So that’s what we did.

With a generous dose of web design wizardry from Guy Anderson of Zero G Media, my site was quickly given a new coat of paint and simplified navigation. Thanks Guy!

Free for all: using Ubuntu in my business

My new Ubuntu 10.04 LTS desktop

This blog post is about my experiences of using Ubuntu, probably the world’s most popular open-source operating system, in my business.

First, I must declare that I came to use Ubuntu because I was writing copy for Ubuntu. Without being involved with Ubuntu and Canonical (the business that leads the Ubuntu project) I may never have used Ubuntu. But these words are my own and they are not paid for, requested or endorsed by Ubuntu or Canonical.

The good

My computing needs have always been modest. Windows was always OK. But when my work with Canonical nudged me into installing Ubuntu on top of Windows XP, I realised that OK was far from good enough. Ubuntu made my old laptop faster, smoother and more reliable – and it did it all for free.

Ubuntu is an excellent operating system, but I want to assess how well it functions in a world dominated by Windows. First impressions were great because I could use Spotify, Dropbox and create .doc files just as easily as with Windows. So I was able to work in exactly the same way as I always had – except my computer was faster to start, faster to operate and faster to shut down. Ubuntu is different, so it took me a little while to find things and to get used to the minor differences, but it was surprisingly easy to ditch Windows.

For me, the best thing about adopting Ubuntu was the novelty of change. Ubuntu provides a fresh vista to eyes tired of gazing upon Windows. Ubuntu feels friendlier than Microsoft products too – it gets out of your way and lets you own your computer.

The bad

When you need help doing something in Ubuntu, you’ll often find advice that features all kinds of scary code, written by someone who assumes you know what to do with it. Far too many fixes require you to use the terminal or command line – something that the average computer user (and me) doesn’t really understand or feel comfortable using.

OpenOffice is the Microsoft Office equivalent that comes with Ubuntu. In a million ways, OpenOffice is amazing. It recreates an expensive Microsoft product and gives it away for free. That’s amazing. Thank-you to everyone who has ever contributed to the OpenOffice project. However, it does have its failings – although for me these are only obvious when I try to collaborate with people using Word. Track Changes and formatting do not carry well between the two programs, making it difficult for me to use in my work.

When I bought a new laptop (which I was forced to buy with Windows 7 already installed) it came cluttered with all kinds of junk. My fresh desktop was loaded with products – although this was probably due to Acer (the maker) rather than Microsoft. When you install Ubuntu you get a clean slate; your desktop is a blank space – because it’s your space.

The rest

I love the fact that Ubuntu makes computing more affordable. I love the fact that every six months my computer gets a free makeover (a new version of Ubuntu is released every six months). I love the fact that every six months my computer gets to take advantage of new technologies – all for free. I love the fact that I’m free of Microsoft, and that I don’t depend on such a questionable organisation for anything. I love the fact that all around the world, people are busy making free software.

So, for the time being, I’m sticking with Ubuntu.

WriteClub London: after the event

IMAG0039

What can you expect from a WriteClub get-together? That’s a question that lots of people ask, so here’s a sketch of last week’s WriteClub.

A total of 8 people were present. Including: two science fiction authors, two copywriters, an entrepreneur, a web designer (who writes short stories), a journalist and a project manager.

The Book Club is a loud and lively pub, so we just chatted in pairs and trios. Despite many of us meeting for the first time, it felt like we were a gathering of old, familiar friends. Perhaps our shared love of writing was enough to unite us, or maybe it was just the booze talking.

We variously discussed work, writing for pleasure, reading our work aloud, improving performance skills, the purpose (or lack thereof) of WriteClub, day jobs, freelancing and yurts (and loads of other stuff that I wasn’t privy to).

If you’re looking for a massively popular high-powered networking event, ask someone who wears a suit to recommend something. If you want to talk to people who share your love of writing, then come to WriteClub.

Copywriters – how can we kill the jargon?

Panama Business 2

Copywriters! It’s time to fight back against jargon. Who’s with me?

A battle-cry

We all know that good copy is concise, open and easy for everyone to understand. Good copy relies on captivating stories, clear messages and compelling benefits. Jargon and management-speak are not part of the good copywriter’s toolbox. A large part of a copywriter’s work involves detecting BS, stripping it from copy and replacing it with something real.

How do we fight the tide of jargon?

We know the perils of jargon, but how do we handle clients who love it?

I have clients who cannot bear to call their spades “spades”, because “spade” doesn’t sound sophisticated enough, or because (allegedly) the garden managers they sell to do not respond to such lowly language – these captains of industry must read of “soil-shifting leverage devices” – anything but “spade”.

I argue, I persuade, I persist. But however hard I try, some clients remain locked to their ideas, convinced that pseudo-smart fancy-pants copy is the best thing for their business.

Please help!

I want to know your secrets, your tactics and your tips for dealing with clients who love jargon. Do you cite evidence – perhaps a book or a blog post. Do you have stats? Is there a pie-chart I can lob at recalcitrant clients?

Please sponsor me – I’m cycling 60 miles for YOU!

Cycle Path

Well, I’m not really doing it for you. I’m cycling 60 miles for Norwood, The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Bliss, The Down’s Syndrome Association and Heart’s Have a Heart.

The ride starts in Hove, heads towards London but then loops back towards Hove. Luckily, I live in Hove.

So how about it? Small donations are as valued as the massive ones – and thanks to the wonder of the web you can do it all directly:

Sponsor Leif now.

Thanks!

WriteClub: all change for London

For the past few months Al Robertson and I have been meeting in a London pub and inviting other writers and non-writers to join us. And it’s been jolly nice. We’ve met journalists, science-fiction writers and copywriters that we would not have met otherwise.

But the venue was never quite right and we eventually decided that a subtle shake-up of the time and place might help us attract a bigger crowd of writers (and non-writers).

So we’re moving to the appropriately-named Book Club and starting earlier at 6pm.

Our WriteClub email list is growing and currently has over 60 writers. It’s a handy place to pass over work that doesn’t suit you and equally handy for finding work that does!

Join us, or miss out:

WriteClub starts at 18:00 and lasts as long as it lasts. Come and go whenever you like. Bring friends, family or acquaintances. All kinds of writers and non-writers are welcome, so don’t worry if you’re just starting out or not even a writer – you’re as welcome as everyone else.

The Book Club

100 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4RH

Nearest tube: Old Street (The Book Club is a <10 minute walk from Old Street)

Future WriteClubs

As summer unfolds, we may venture beyond The Book Club and mingle in parks, with cans of lager, boxes of wine and packets of chip-sticks.

Want to support WriteClub?

The value of a group like WriteClub is the members – we all benefit from knowing each other. And I don’t mean we benefit financially; we benefit through making friends, through learning about our profession or our craft, through sharing hard-earned wisdom and we benefit in deeply intangible ways just from leaving our usual enclaves and meeting new people.

So the only thing WriteClub needs is people. You know people that WriteClub doesn’t. Please tell your friends about WriteClub. And even if you’ve never been, please write a blog post about WriteClub, or tweet about it, and make sure you come along.

WriteClub in London

This Thursday, WriteClub returns to London.

So if you write stuff, or occasionally think about writing stuff, then join us!

WriteClub is a friendly, informal networking group for all kinds of writers. It’s a chance for people to meet other writers, swap tips, ask questions and meet good people to pass work to.

We’ll be in the Yorkshire Grey pub. To spot the group just look for books.

Full details: http://write-club.net

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