When that special time of year rolls around, retailers know that holiday spirit means killer instinct. It’s the time when retailers need to boost their competitive edge and make sure that buyers get that special something from them — and not from their competitors. There are a few ways to do this, but none so effective as communicating special promotions and deals directly to target audiences. That’s why Content and Article Writing is offering a new product: the email string.

The email string is a series of ten emails designed to target a specific niche market or customer demographic. The emails can be used to communicate information about promotions, special discounts and promo codes, new product arrivals, etc., and are a great option for staying connected to a specific customer base. It’s effective, but sending emails to customers is only half the holiday battle: when customers receive promotional emails, it’s also important that they feel called to action. To ensure high response rates, CAW’s content writing service uses top-notch content writers and carefully crafted web copy that is optimized for target audiences. The result? Customers that feel like they’ve gotten valuable information from a trusted source.

How can the email string be so effective? There are really three reasons. First and foremost, good content writing is good content writing. And quality advertising will always be effective if you can just get it into people’s hands. Second, choosing the strategy of target-specific emailing sends the right information to the right people. If the same email is sent to everyone, maybe only forty or fifty percent will respond. Everyone’s different, and not everything applies to everyone. If people in certain demographics receive emails specific to their own interests, the likelihood of a greater response rate increases dramatically across the board. And third, holiday retailers tend to flood the traditional market with TV commercials and radio spots—so heavily, in fact, that they can become ineffective. The email, on the other hand, sets itself apart as a reprieve from the flurry of traditional advertisement.

Need more good reasons to try it? Emails typically speak to customers in a setting where they’re already in a position to buy something, i.e. at the computer—as opposed to when they’re driving or watching television. The email string is also a formidable tool for brand management in general. A regular series of specially crafted emails creates an image of a company that cares about communication and about providing value to its customers. Contact us today to learn more.

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Imagine that you were a tourist guide to local restaurants. Your job is not only to offer your clients the best restaurant information you can, but to also satisfy requests for such things as “Italian food” or “Sushi.” Now imagine that half of the restaurants in your area decided to change what’s on the menu each day, so you never knew what they had. Which restaurants would you feel more comfortable recommending: the ones with the unpredictable menus, or the tried and true places that always deliver an exquisite, though unvaried, dining experience? If you really cared about customer satisfaction, you might feel safer recommending places where you knew what to expect.

When users search for information on the Internet, search engines are like tour guides. They try to give users the most relevant, reliable information possible. So it’s easy to think that websites with dynamic content (constantly changing menus) would be something that most search engine spiders would tell engines to avoid, i.e., rank poorly. And since satisfying the web crawlers is a key part of search engine optimization, you might think that having dynamic content on your web pages is something you want to avoid yourself. But this isn’t really true. Dynamic content is not only more interesting from a user standpoint, it can actually give your website more SEO potential, not less.

While it’s true that dynamic websites certainly have their usability and productivity advantages, it’s easy to understand why dynamic content might be a problem for SEO. Dynamic URLs, for example, are not especially SEO friendly. Nor is it easy for search spiders to get to dynamically generated pages—like those that result from users filling out forms and inserting user specific data. And it is a little bit tougher to maintain SEO friendly title, meta, and image tags within the confines of a dynamic website. However, all of these issues can be dealt with relatively easily. Experts in SEO can turn even the most dynamic sites into spider webs in no time, re-working URLs, tags, and even entire pages into more crawlable content.

With the possible pitfalls avoided, dynamic websites can actually keep the search engine spiders coming back for more. Spiders are not only looking for the static elements of a website to be optimized, but also for those elements to be balanced with a constant stream of fresh, relevant content. Why? Because that’s what users want—and the spiders work for search engines designed to optimize the user experience. So remember, spiders—and users—will keep coming back unless they have a reason not to. And dynamic content is just the thing to keep things appealing. After all, who wants to eat at the same restaurant every day?

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Google is synonymous with Internet search. What is search synonymous with? Answers. The world wide web provides an information highway on which travelers seek out answers to their questions. Think of how often you may be looking for a product or service and decide to “Google it.” Many Internet users resort to the same method of finding what they want. If you’re a small business with an Internet presence and stellar content writing, chances are you want to be found by these users. Google knows this and offers you an opportunity to be found via it’s Adwords program.

AdWords, as the name would suggest, is essentially online advertising that is driven by keywords. You create an advertisement using words that relate to your business. Let’s say for instance that you own a plumbing business. You create an ad with the words plumbing, drains, clogs, etc., any type of word that may be related to what you do. When a user searches for those terms Google will display your ad on its search results. Think of AdWords as a type of ambassador: it provides the opportunity for an introduction between two parties seeking each other out. Ultimately AdWords allows you to target your audience. Google knows they’re looking for something you offer and it puts you in a position to be found.

Businesses aren’t the only ones that can benefit from AdWords. Bloggers can monetize their blog post writing using the exact same service. Remember that Google doesn’t just place ads in their search results, they also display them on partnering sites. Bloggers can use free space on their site to support advertisements, allowing them to profit off of their existing space. If you’re a blogger this can be a viable source of passive revenue.

Speaking of revenue, the cost of advertising is something to consider in your business budget. The beauty of AdWords is that you only pay if your advertisements are clicked on. Why is this beneficial for you? Because it allows you to advertise without a constant source of overhead. In other words it relegates the cost of advertising to something incidental, not something set in stone. Google also allows you to determine how much you pay per click. The flexibility and the potential wide reach of this service is something your online business can’t afford to pass up.

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If you’re a publisher one of your biggest goals is to have an audience for your content. Just because you have an audience for your article writing doesn’t mean they are all located in one place. The Internet allows individuals anywhere on the globe to access your information. How do you make your content easily accessible to individuals that can literally be anywhere? You offer your content as a subscription. Allowing subscriptions to your content allows individuals to take your content anywhere they go. How is this accomplished? Its accomplished with feeds.

A feed is a way of automating content delivery via subscriptions. It takes all of your updates and instantly beams them to the appropriate places. Your readers can then view the new content from their web browsers or their mobile device. It is also a convenient way for other websites to redistribute your content to their readers. If you’ve ever casually browsed a site of interest, often times there will be a subscription button located at the bottom of the page. This button links to that particular sites news feed. Once you’ve clicked and subscribed, you will always be informed of recent updates. If you’re a blogger with a following, providing your readers with a news feed is the perfect way of keeping your audience hooked.

Google’s Feedburner is a simple and effective way of creating feeds for the content that you produce. Not only this, but Feedburner can provide metrics so that you know who is interested in your content writing. After all, part of being a successful online publisher,is knowing the impact that your content has on readers. Without easily attainable benchmarks, it becomes difficult to know whether or not your writing has any influence on your audience. Not only do you receive metrics and a way of distributing your content with Feeburner, it is completely cost effective.

Increasing your reach to potentially interested readers boils down to convenience. How convenient is it for them to find you? More importantly how easy is it for them to access your subsequent content? Truthfully Internet users are all about the convenience. Need proof of this? Think about your email inbox. You’re used to having information sent directly to you on a daily basis. Users don’t want to have to repeatedly seek you out for your content. Using Feeburner makes you accessible to your readers. Accessibility is perhaps one of the most valuable assets you can have as a publisher.

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Being visible in a sea of competitors is of vital importance to your business. You may be a writer, blogger, or online entrepreneur. You may be extremely good at what you do. But how do you get noticed online? Being noticed gets you business. In the Internet arena there is an array of weapons that will get you the attention that will allow you to succeed in online business. Google Webmaster tools will provide you with the appropriate arsenal to get your content writing noticed by Internet users seeking out information.

Google’s webmaster tools are aimed at one thing: providing you with detailed reports about your page’s visibility on Google. In order for Google or any other search engine to display your site it needs to become familiar with it first. This is called crawling. In other words a search engine has to appraise your site before it can rank its relevancy in comparison to a search query. After Google crawls your site it indexes all of the words on your site as well as their location. This allows the search engine to compare a search query to your page to determine if it’s appropriate to display in its search results.

If you’re an internet entrepreneur that engages in blog post writing; webmaster tools can help you manage multiple sites. Google will allow you to add up to one thousand sites on this particular service. It should be mentioned that ownership of your site must be verified. Because of the technical aspects of this, consulting with a professional can be of significant importance. Once all technical aspects have been seen to, the generated reports will give you all of the necessary information at a glance.

Whenever you’re putting a product or content on the Internet, you want to know how you’re doing.Webmaster tools provides instant feedback on your site and its visibility. Its a convenient way of knowing how to make your site more appealing to search engines. With its diagnostics, help center, and generated html for your specific needs, it’s a hard tool to beat. Don’t leave your visibility to chance: start using Google Webmaster.

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After all of the effort you’ve poured into content writing, one of the biggest questions you must ask yourself is if your material is getting noticed or not. Are you seeing visitors to your site? If so, how did they arrive there and, more importantly, what were the items that they clicked on. Understanding the key interests of the visitors viewing your site will help you provide better content. If you’re in the business of selling a service, it will help you better understand and subsequently meet the needs of your audience. Google Analytics provides the tools to answer all of these questions.

It isn’t enough to have information based on an isolated incident. What you should be concerned with is the overall trend regarding the views that your content receives. This type of feedback will allow you to consistently target the most profitable areas of your site. Look at it this way: metrics will help you avoid scattering your energy; and focus your efforts. It’s better to focus on a specific need to address as opposed to tackling too many items at once. Another way in which Analytics can help you is by informing you of your ROI.

Return on investment is an important consideration when it comes to online marketing. All effort is not without a cost somewhere in the production line. Do your results justify the expenses that you incur with your online business? Having this information is a valid indicator of the health of your online business. If you’re pouring in more money than you’re earning on your article writing, it’s time for a change of strategy. That can’t happen however, without the appropriate metrics to justify such a decision.

Ultimately Analytics show you the health of your business. Not only this, it will show you the ways in which you can improve it. Simple changes to your online marketing can sometimes yield the biggest results. Content, even though it is intellectual property, is still costly from a time and effort perspective. Make sure that your business thrives with the appripriate metrics to help guide your all important business decisions.

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Writing content or ad copy that generates profits is an art form. If you are looking to have your websites, brochures, emails, and advertisements work for you, well-written advertising copy works round the clock to get you just what you need. If you don’t pay attention to this, your advertisements won’t sell, your brochures won’t work and your marketing campaigns will go down the drain – all because you didn’t think copy was important. Here are some tips to bring out great copy:

Do you pull emotional triggers?

Focus your copy on some of the most primal aspects of humans such as fear, vanity, good looks, insatiable greed, etc. When you write out hitting on these primal emotions, you are virtually tapping into the golden reservoir of potent emotions that drives consumer behaviour. Before writing, find out what triggers your target audience and hit on a single emotion at a time – one emotion or idea per advertisement.

Meek ad copy never wins

Nice guys and decent copy that aims to please everyone finish last. You’d never be able to arouse emotions and hence trigger call-to-action on your advertisements if you prefer to stay in the comfort zone. Spineless and boring content, unfortunately, is the staple of many advertisements which means lost marketing dollars for companies. Your potential customers have brief attention spans and are notoriously impatient; make the best use of the few seconds you get to make an impact. Irk some, irritate some, and pull out anger and curiosity. That’s the winning recipe for successful advertisements. Are you doing it yet?

Believe in your products and make bold, truthful claims

Predictable advertisements with stale copy, trite words, and expected promises will eventually lose and fade out. You need simple copywriting with powerful words that can shake prospects out of their comfort zones. You need to write to elicit a response. Use humor, ask questions, shake the world they live in, and give them something to think about. Anything less won’t do. To do this well, you need to have solid products or services that you believe in. Make bold claims but truthful ones. Honesty goes a long way here.

Test, test and test some more

No campaigns can ever be successful if you don’t test them for effectiveness — be it an email campaign, classified ad, poster ad, hoardings on the street, brochures, and even banners used for promoting your products and services on the web. Plenty of tools exist to help you with the testing and later measuring your advertisements for effectiveness which means that you run out of excuses to test your campaigns. Look for response rates, effectiveness, and even ROI – launching campaigns without these pillars is a sure-fire recipe to lose money on advertisements.

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Email marketing is hot, happening and seemingly the only ‘right’ way to market your products, services, brand or business. So much is discussed about email marketing that the information overload could literally make you trip over some fundamental inclusions in your email marketing campaigns putting you in the danger zone already. No matter what you are trying to promote using emails, here are some important inclusions you should consider:

The “From” name and Subject line

If first impressions matter, then the “From” name and the subject line are the points of focus for your subscribers to get those first impressions from. Your first name or your business name should feature prominently and consistently – this is important to ensure that your subscribers recognize you or your brand name immediately as this increases the chances of your email being opened and read. Your subject line is probably the most important since over 60% of subscribers decide whether they should open the email or not based on the subject line. State the purpose of your or the call for action or both, if you can. Just don’t have anything related to spam on your subject line.

The Pre-header has a purpose

The first line of text on your email is the pre-header and it has a purpose although most marketers and businesses miss it altogether. The pre-header appears directly below the subject line and it helps complement the subject line. Alternatively, you may use it to add a call-to-action, put out a discount code or a coupon, and point your subscribers to your recent blog post or an article. It’s a small thing, this pre-header, but can do a lot for subscriber response.

The All-too-Important Headline

Some email marketers think that it isn’t even about the actual email; it’s more about the headline. From the annals of advertising history to present date Internet-led marketing efforts, the headline has always enjoyed a high degree of importance. 9 out of 10 subscribers go by the headline alone. Keep your headline short, sweet, pointed and loaded. You could use humor, intrigue, mystery, questions or even shockers – the key is to stick to the point and make it relevant.

Customization

Nothing reads worse than an email that’s not addressed to anyone in particular. Forgetting to customize your emails to each of your subscribers is the sure-fire recipe for irreparable damage – especially with the tools and features available with every email manager at your disposal. Start with the first name included in every email going out to every subscriber. If your email copy has the name repeating, make sure you include the first name tag throughout. Keep the copy personal too – one person to the other.

Visuals

Images and other visual elements have a great role to play in providing for the aesthetic feel of your email, increase responses for your call-to-action, enhance the look of your email and help communicate a lot more to your subscribers within the limited space available. The Pareto’s 80/20 rule is the best thumb rule for you to follow – keep the visuals to about 20% of the email content with text making up for the rest of the 80%.

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Some email campaigns get good responses and other campaigns go bust. Make no mistake: subscribers ignore even some of most well-optimized email campaigns launched by experts. Why does that happen? What can you do to make sure your subscribers open your emails? What insights can help you shoot better emails that work for you? Here are some insights to help you avoid the mistakes most publishers make:

Don’t explain what’s on the landing page; just point it to them

Don’t patronize your subscribers. When you take the liberty of actual writing out what’s in it for them on the email itself, they have no more curiosity or inclination left to check out what’s on your landing page. The selling is a job the landing page has to do with the help of well-written sales copy. The email’s job is that of an usher – point, show the way, cajole, invite, tempt, or just inform readers what they need to do next.

Stories are for books, not emails

The Email Marketing Handbook 2011 of Marketingsherpa.com clearly states that stories don’t work on emails based on studies conducted from over 10,000 email campaigns. To an extent, they do. When stretched, however, they have negative consequences with subscribers who don’t have the patience to go through the entire block of text. In fact, subscribers discard or abandon any email that requires their undivided attention for more than 30 seconds; if the trend continues on the part of the business or the publisher, subscribers “unsubscribe” without further ado. Try to keep the content and email writing exercises to a maximum of 150- 200 words in most cases. Simplicity never goes out of fashion, does it?

Emails are not an alternative for large print ads

Yet another mistake most publishers or businesses do is to create a full HTML version of a heavy-duty print advertisement equivalent. Once or twice, it makes sense to send out glossy advertisements to promote your products and services this way. Doing it every time walks you to a dead end with regards to your Internet Marketing efforts, doubtlessly.

First, there’s nothing of value (except for the offer itself) within a full-HTML ad type email. Second, most email programs don’t allow displaying of images unless users click on the option to “display all images” – email programs have this feature to counter frequent malware, spyware or virus threats that come off email spam; and finally, emails are for establishing long-term trust and evoke strong responses to your call-to-action and not to add up advertisement impressions.

More than one call-to-action is disastrous

Were you ever confused while standing at a supermarket aisle and left scratching your head as to which product (in any class of items you look at) you should pick? What do you think happens when you send out an email to a strong list of subscribers and have multiple call-to-actions? Think about it: What would you do if you were to click here, buy now, download this and check this out – all within a single email? Ogilvy – the founder of O & M Advertising Agency – writes in his book “Every advertisement should have a single idea”; this piece of wisdom still holds truth. Have a single, clear, and bold call-to-action within your email.

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