Does your website's sign-up page cut the mustard?

Will your website's sign-up page attract readers into a relationship with you?

Read Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Signup Page" for a list of the essential elements. Then, click through to read Tim Bednar's blog post that inspired Kawasaki.

Top four email mistakes to avoid when you've got a referral

You've probably used a referral to ask a stranger for an informational interview or a chance to talk about your business. If you make your initial contact by email, please avoid these common mistakes:

• Burying the name of your mutual acquaintance in the body of your email
• Not making it clear immediately what you're seeking
• Not identifying yourself clearly and succinctly
• Putting the burden on the other party to follow up

When I've got a referral, I often put the referrer's name into my subject line. For example, "Allan Loomis referred me" or "Allan Loomis suggested I talk with you." The familiarity of that person's name raises the odds that the recipient will open your message.

People are busy. They don't want to read a long email to figure out what you want from them. Back in my job hunting days, I would have led with "Allan Loomis suggested I contact you for a brief informational interview about how you manage your investment-related writing needs." Only then would I give a brief blurb about my combination of investment knowledge and journalism experience.

You can write "I look forward to hearing from you." But don't expect your recipient to follow up. The burden is on you because you're the person requesting the favor. I increasingly find myself writing "I will call you follow up."

Pay attention to these tips and you'll increase your odds of success.

Copywriter's "Fifteen Fixes for a Failing Website"

Don't wait until your website fails to read "Fifteen Fixes for a Failing Website."

Each of his fixes is a good way to make sure your website stays on track after you launch it. Especially his advice to keep your site aligned with your objectives.

Facebook vs. LinkedIn

Should you use Facebook or LinkedIn for your business' social networking?

Matt Dickman's Techno//Marketer blog explains why some choose one over the other. I'm using LinkedIn for the reason that Dickman gives: it's defined as strictly business vs. Facebook's more personal orientation.

Do some research and plan a strategy before you delve too deeply into social networking. It can be a big time sink.

"How to Design a Bad Presentation: Ways to Misuse Visuals, Text, and Animation in a PowerPoint Presentation"

"How to Design a Bad Presentation" from TechSoup gives you good advice on mistakes to avoid.

I agree that each slide should "focus on one primary idea."

Improve your home page's performance

"8-Point Checklist & Useful Hotlinks -- How to Improve Your Homepage Performance Significantly" from MarketingSherpa gives useful tips.

I like the idea that you should focus your home page on your most important target audience.

As author Anne Holland says, "Although your home has to serve everyone -- prospects, press, investors, customers, HR recruiting, partners/distributors, etc. -- dividing the real estate into even sections for each one will create a mishmash so no one can find anything."

"Top 10 Website Mistakes: Are YOU Making Them?"

"Top 10 Website Mistakes: Are YOU Making Them?" by Karyn Greenstreet lists common website mistakes.

I'd like to emphasize mistake number 7: "Not identifying the benefits of your products or services." I see this way too often.

Tips for helping you write marketing materials

I liked the following tips from Robert Middleton's blog post on "Ending the Writing Struggle."
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Make a list of ten or more problems your clients have. It could be anything they struggle with or don't know how to do. If you've worked with a few clients you should know what those things are.

Just finish these sentences:

My clients struggle with...

A common mistake my clients make is...

I wish my clients would learn how to...

If only my clients had this resource...

Doing this costs my clients money...

I bet you could fill in five or more sentences for each of these problems, right? OK, guess what? Those exact issues become the topics of your marketing writing.

"How to write exquisite subheads"

Copyblogger accurately notes in "How to write exquisite subheads" that subheads can turn scanners into readers.

I especially like his advice that a subhead should "express a clear and complete benefit."

The two most important words are...

Copyblogger's lessons in "The two most important words in blogging" apply equally to any form of marketing communication. Pay attention because using these words will make your communications more persuasive.

See if you can guess the two words before you surf to Copyblogger's site. If you have attended my presentations on writing investment commentary, you should know one of the two answers.

I must again credit Michael Stelzner's Writing White Papers blog with pointing me to an interesting post.

________________________
http://www.investmentwriting.com

Bad vs. badly, according to Grammar Girl

When should you say "I feel badly" instead of "I feel bad"?

Learn the answer at the Grammar Girl blog.

Too busy to read her post? You can listen to her podcast.


________________________________
http://www.investmentwriting.com

"No-Frills Freelance Marketing" by Kristen King

Kristen King offers some great, no-hassle marketing tips in "No-Frills Freelance Marketing."

If you don't use a signature line in your emails, do it today!

Once again I must thank Michael Stelzner for a great post directing me to Kristen's advice.

________________________________
http://www.investmentwriting.com

I enjoyed the following post by Alan Sharpe.

Offer Self-Assessments, Not White Papers

Are you a business-to-business direct mail marketer looking for something better to offer than white papers? Consider self-assessment surveys. But first, let’s clarify a few things. I’m assuming you’re a B2B direct marketer who uses direct mail to generate sales leads rather than make a sale. You are mailing to prospects that you hope are in the early stage of their buying cycle, the time when they are identifying their need, gathering information on solutions and establishing specifications for any vendors they choose to interview. This is the stage of the buying cycle where white papers are so effective, because they help prospective customers discover their needs and learn about solutions. But if your offers of white papers are not generating the response rates they once did, try offering a self-assessment survey instead. A self-assessment survey, as the name implies, is a survey that your prospects take on their own, usually online. It’s not administered by a sales person. And it doesn’t try to sell anything. Your prospect simply visits a special page on your website, or your page on a hosted survey vendor, such as www.surveymonkey.com, and answers questions. The system then processes the prospect’s answers, assigns a score, and, typically, compares the prospect’s results with industry standards or benchmarks, and recommends steps for improvement. Prospects like online self-assessments because: 1. Self-assessments don’t involve a phone call with or visit from a salesperson 2. They help business people discover their needs or challenges in a way that seems free of bias, since the assessment is a test more than a series of qualifying questions coming from a salesperson 3. Prospects can take the assessment any time, day or night, which is convenient 4. Self-assessments appear more objective than white papers, since they ask industry questions rather than deliver answers written by a particular vendor 5. Prospects usually learn something about their needs and possible solutions, for free Businesses like offering online self-assessments because: 1. Self-assessments don’t involve a time-consuming phone call or visit with an unqualified prospect 2. They help a business uncover a prospect’s needs or challenges in a way that is free of pressure and manipulation 3. Self-assessments appear more objective than white papers, since they ask industry questions rather than deliver answers written by a particular vendor. This makes them a more attractive offer, since self-assessments appear less self-serving 4. Online self-assessments are a cost-effective way to fill the sales funnel because no printing and mailing costs are involved If you decide to offer your B2B prospects an online self-assessment, make sure your questions give your prospects value for their time investment while helping you identify and qualify your prospects. You can even take a self-assessment right now, and evaluate your effectiveness at, you guessed it, lead generation. Visit http ://www.kmaone.com/SA1leadgen.htm

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan Sharpe is a direct mail copywriter who helps businesses attract new clients using direct mail and email marketing. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com

© 2006 Alan Sharpe. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).

"The Trouble with Elevator Speeches" by M. McLaughlin

Most elevator speeches are too self-centered, according to "The Trouble with Elevator Speeches," which appeared in the MarketingProfs e-newsletter.

I like this suggestion: "Instead of tooting your own horn, encourage clients to talk about the issues as quickly as possible. Remember, most clients don't really care about your business. They care about their own problems."

Michael W. McLaughlin of Management Consulting News wrote the article.

Alan Sharpe: "How to write a direct mail sales letter"

Alan Sharpe gets your priorities straight in "How to write a direct mail sales letter."

Your first goal must be to grab your reader's attention. All of your work will be for naught if you can't do this.

I also agree with his suggestion to identify your prospect's problem. If you can tap your prospect's pain -- and offer a solution -- you've got a good shot at winning a client.

Thanks to Constant Contact's "Writing Compelling Promotional Copy" for directing me to Sharpe's website!

Handy list of marketing blogs by category

Marketing Sherpa is collecting votes for the best marketing blog of 2006.


Their ballot includes links to marketing blogs organized into marketing categories such as business-to-business, email marketing, search marketing, marketing to specific demographics, advertising, public relations and more.

Two marketing newsletters I like

I subscribe to e-newsletters from both MarketingProfs and MarketingSherpa. Both provide practical articles on a variety of marketing topics by a mix of experts.

In the most recent issue of Marketing Profs, I particularly enjoyed Nick Usborne's "The 'Tail' of the Headline: Rethinking the Call to Action."

If I had to pick between the two newsletters, I'd go for Marketing Profs, probably because their articles are more relevant for writers than Marketing Sherpa's.

Marketing Profs also offers a daily blog with multiple contributors.

Check out these newsletters and tell me what you think!

D. Huff on "Five Reasons Your Site Isn't Showing up in Google"

If you act now, you can read about "Five Reasons Your Site Isn't Showing up in Google" in the current (April) edition of Dianna Huff's Marcom Writer e-newsletter.

She lists five items your website person ought to be taking care of for you. Things like making sure that your home page is not a form nor a splash page. These technical things would never in a million years occur to me on my own.

"Can not" vs. "cannot"

Which is right? "Can not" or "cannot"?

Habit tells me "cannot," but I can't find this peculiar spelling in the index of any of my style guides.

However, Wikipedia gives me this quote, in which I've added the bolding to "cannot":
In this regard, the following quotation from The Chicago Manual of Style deserves notice:

Rules and regulations such as these, in the nature of the case, cannot be endowed with the fixity of rock-ribbed law. They are meant for the average case, and must be applied with a certain degree of elasticity.

I haven't thought about this issue in years. I usually work around it by using "can't."

What's your practice?

"Move Over, Strunk & White: There's a New Kid in Town"

Chip Scanlan's latest article in his "Chip on Your Shoulder" e-newsletter talks about a new book on writing, Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style by Arthur Plotnik.

Here's a good quote from his Q&A with Plotnik:
"Have faith in the power of language to compete with anything. Does language still matter in this supposedly dumbed-down world? You bet it does -- and will, until people stop using words to symbolize everything that stimulates them. Nothing has ever stirred juices and roused souls more than well-chosen words. Almost always you will soar above the crowd or be lost in it depending on how you use language."

Here's an excerpt from Plotnik's book.