Our economy is changing – we buy things now from people we never have met (and never will meet). Websites like eBay and Amazon use a customer rating system to add credibility to sellers, but independent websites don’t offer the same peace of mind to visitors. So, how can you inject some credibility into your website to help differentiate you from the phoneys? A few tried-and-true methods can help put your future clients at ease:
• A “Testimonials” page with quotes from past clients. If you don’t have any testimonials, start asking for them now.
• Case studies, including any real statistics or real results (i.e. don’t round “103 clients” to “over 100 clients” or “47%” to “about 50%).
• Lists of previous clients and projects.
• Facts about your reputation and stability (including the number of years in business, number of employees, and the size of your operations).
• Photos of real company employees (no stock photography, please!).
There’s tons of cool stuff available for writers on the web these days – some of which you may not even know existed. Listed below are a few of my favorites to help you think, organize, create, manage, and most importantly, write.
Buzzword: This is a free online word processor from Adobe. It runs just like any other word processor – just through a web processor. As long as you are connected to the internet, you can access your Buzzword documents. Cool features include a “share” button which allows you to share your document for edits with other buzzword users without having to email. Additionally, the same version of the document is available to all viewers no matter what edits are made – a definite plus for documents that go through multiple edits with multiple collaborators.
WriteWith: Just like its name says, this web application allows you to work on documents with others, in one functional program, without having to email. It was designed by two news editors who recognized the need for an efficient program to allow collaborative work and project management. WriteWith lets you upload documents directly to the site, assign tasks to other users, edit docs and see the changes immediately. It even keeps a history of all the edits you’ve made – just in case. This program is great for group projects and is extremely efficient.
Wrike: This project management software will send “to do” reminders to your whole team, create tasks from your email, and will create easy-to-read Gantt charts of project timelines. Also, different parts of the plan can be communicated to employees depending on their parts in the project. It’s a great way to keep your whole team on the same page while offering one, simple collaborative environment. One word – efficient.
Mozy: This program is awesome for a copywriter, or any writer for that matter, who must save multiple drafts of multiple projects. The free version of Mozy lets you store up to 2GB of your docs online. This means, if your computer crashes, your office gets struck by lightning, or you simply want to make some room on your hard drive, your documents will always be safe and accessible online.
FreeMind: This is super cool mind mapping software that helps you brainstorm, map out your thoughts, keep track of projects and timelines, and lets you change fonts and colors. Basically, you can organize your thoughts any way you want. Sure, this is a good tool for creative writers, but it’s also great for other types of writers who lack organizational structure otherwise.
Question: How do I draw more traffic to my website?
Answer: Write and publish articles online. Not only will pull more traffic to your website, but you gain credibility by establishing yourself as an expert in your field.
For example, if you are trying to attract people to a website promoting your Kickboxing Academy, then you would write articles like How to Throw a Punch, 10 Reasons to Try Kickboxing, Self Defense Techniques, and so on. Anything and everything having to do with Kickboxing is fair game – even How to Start Your Own Kickboxing Academy.
Since you are the expert, assert yourself as such so that your readers know your website is the real deal.
Question: What do I do with the articles after they are written?
Answer: There are tons of free, online article posting sites where you can submit your articles, and webmasters can use them as content for other sites. Some article posting sites include www.ezinearticles.com, www.articledashboard.com, and www.shorttext.com. These are just a few, but a simple Google search will give you lots more.
Question: What happens to my articles after they are posted?
Answer: Webmasters can use your articles for their sites as long as they don’t change any of your content, and they give a link back to your website. While they get free content, you get to keep your copyright on the material, tell a bit of information about yourself and your site at the bottom of the article, and get a link back to your website. The more sites that pick up your article, the bigger the boost you will see in traffic to your website.
Websites need to be written to accommodate a wide audience of readers – the on-the-go information gobblers, the meticulous fact verifiers, the image-minded visual learners, and the web savvy personalities who love interactive tools. This is why demonstrating important information on the same page so that it accommodates many different learners is actually a good thing.
There are several ways to reinforce your message so that it appeals to different learners. For instance, perhaps you want to show how much money your widget will save customers. You can demonstrate this point by:
1. Just writing it. Perhaps the headline in your copy will read “Our Widget Saves 32% Over Others” — and then expound on that idea in your copy.
2. Making a chart showing how much money your widget will save over those conventional widgets, for the visual learners.
3. Adding an interactive tool to your page, like a calculator where customers can type in how much they’re currently spending on widgets versus how much they could be saving. Some readers really gravitate toward interactive tools.
4. Creating graphics that illustrate how cost-effective your widgets are (maybe a graphic of a widget handing someone money – the sky’s the limit here).
By demonstrating the same information – namely, your widget’s money-saving value – in four different ways, you have effectively communicated your message by accommodating many different types of learners. Though it may seem redundant, you can grab the attention of more people by offering the same information in different ways. If a reader missed the headline, interactive tool, and graphic, but you were able to catch his eye with the comparative chart, that’s effective web communication.
I’m not normally one for change, but I am all for the evolution of grammar rules. We don’t all need to talk like our third-grade English teachers.
Most of the outdated rules have gone the way of the dinosaur, but there are a few stragglers. One in particular that keeps lingering is the rule against ending sentences with prepositions. The title of this blog post is an exaggeration of course, but even in other, more casual instances, writers still balk at sentences ending in prepositions.
In most instances, it can actually enhance your writing to go ahead and close with the preposition, especially in cases where you’re trying to sound less formal. Most of the time, by trying to avoid ending with a preposition, the sentence gets really convoluted and unnatural.
Let’s look at this familiar little adage:
There’s nowhere to go but up.
“Up” is a preposition, which means that every American textbook from the 1940s would decry it. So let’s try it this way:
Up is the only direction one can go.
Wow. If that had been the saying, it probably wouldn’t have stuck around long enough to become a cliché.
There’s just no reason to detract from your stellar sentence structure just to keep your old English teachers happy. Go ahead – try it out. Unless you’re writing in the most formal of tones – or if you’re writing for someone that might pick you apart for doing it – ending with prepositions can only take the level of your writing up.
