Google Keyword Tool © by Sean MacEntee

Last week, I was talking with a client about SEO strategy, and she asked me a simple question: “Why should we focus on just a few keywords? Why don’t we target hundreds of keywords?”

A web site can target as many keywords as you can add content for. But each individual web page should focus on no more than 2-3 keywords – and ideally, only 1-2 keywords. Too many keywords on a web page confuses Google. Tightly focused web pages see better results.

Let’s explore this in more detail.

How Google sees your website

A search engine is a computer program that trolls the internet, looking for new web pages. It analyzes each page it finds and indexes the page according to the keywords on the page.

When someone types a search into the search engine, the computer program/search engine goes through its index and looks for web pages that most closely match the keywords that person is searching for.

The keywords you use on each web page tell Google what that page is about – whether it’s loose leaf organic green tea or the Battle of Gettysburg – so that Google can decide whether that web page will be relevant to the person conducting the search.

Fewer keywords gives Google a clearer focus

If you’ve focused your page on just one or two strong keywords, then Google gets a clear picture of the content on your page. But if you’ve thrown a bunch of keywords onto that single page, you’ve utterly confused Google.

To illustrate, let’s say you sell Civil War memorabilia. That’s a fairly broad topic; you might sell Civil War uniforms, Civil War weapons, Civil War photographs, or even Civil War maps. Suppose on your website you have one

FtFrederick-1512-Edit copy © by Luigi Crespo Photography

Products page where you list everything you sell. Google finds this web page, and it tries to index this page according to the keywords you’ve used. Let’s see: Civil War uniforms, Civil War weapons, Civil War photographs, Civil War maps. Hmmm.

Now imagine your top competitor also sells the same memorabilia, but he has given each category of product its own web page. He has one page about Civil War uniforms, one page about Civil War weapons, and so forth. Google finds each of these pages and indexes them individually by keyword.

And finally, imagine someone is looking to buy a Civil War uniform. The person types “Civil War uniform” into Google, and now Google has to decide which web pages that person most likely wants to see.

So Google goes back to its index and looks for a web page that’s about “Civil War uniforms.”

First, Google comes across your Products page in its index. But Google sees that the page is about Civil War uniforms. And weapons. And photographs. And maps.

Next in its index, Google finds your competitor’s series of web pages. And Google quickly finds the one page that is just about Civil War uniforms.

Which page will Google think is more relevant to the person searching for Civil War uniforms? The competitor’s page that’s just about Civil War uniforms? Or your page that’s about a whole bunch of Civil War stuff?

Remember, Google looks from the perspective of the searcher. It wants to provide highly relevant search results. A more tightly focused web page will always appear to be more relevant, in Google’s eye.

The cumulative power of many focused pages

This doesn’t mean that you have to limit the overall number of keywords in your SEO strategy. It just means you have to keep each page focused. In fact, smart SEO strategy is to add as many tightly focused pages as you can.

Even though each individual page might not see huge amounts of traffic, the strength comes from the number of pages Google can find. More pages equal more opportunity for traffic.

Data backs this up, too. Marketing Sherpa recently surveyed more than 1,500 search marketers about the effectiveness of their top SEO tactics. A full 50% reported that content creation is a very effective SEO tool. The second SEO tool they identified was keyword research, with 43% finding the tactic very effective.

So it bears repeating: The most effective SEO tactic is to create lots of content – but keep each piece of content tightly focused on one or two keywords.

What does this mean for your website?

The most common SEO mistake I see on websites is on the Services or the Products page. Please, resist the urge to list all your services or products on a single page! Each one of your services or products is its own keyword. And just like our Civil War uniform example, using too many keywords on a single page dilutes the SEO strength of that page.

Instead, give each service or product its own page.

Incidentally, this is why search marketers love blogs. Each blog post is a single web page, and each post should focus on a unique keyword. Google loves this kind of targeted content, and you gain lots of opportunity to bring in loads of new traffic.

So go ahead – add that content! Just keep it focused and use a smart keyword strategy, and soon enough you’ll be seeing the SEO results that you want.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Unhappy Face © by Ryan Stavely

Most customer testimonials are a waste of space.

It’s not that I don’t like testimonials. It’s just that your testimonials probably aren’t very good. Oh sure, most testimonials virtually glow with all kinds of praise about a product or service. But that’s precisely the problem.

We expect you to have glowing testimonials. So most of us (read: most of your customers) don’t pay all that much attention to them. We’re skeptics at heart, and we can smell BS a mile away. So most of your customers automatically discount any testimonial you might use, because your testimonials are too nice.

Unless you know the right way to ask for testimonials from your customers.

If you ask your customers the right questions, great testimonials are a piece of cake. You’ll be able to craft killer statements that are compelling, incredibly persuasive and have no problem skipping right through the BS filter.

Even better, it’s amazingly easy. There are only 3 simple questions you need to ask. I’ve listed them below, and I’ve explained why these questions are so powerful.

To get the strongest testimonials from your customers, here are the 3 questions to ask (tailored to your business):

1. Before you started working with my firm/my product/my services, what concerns might have prevented you from buying this product?

2. After you started working my product, did anything surprise you? What has pleased you the most about my product?

3. Would you recommend my product, and if so, why?

Here’s why these particular questions make such a difference.

What concerns might have prevented you from buying this product?

This question serves two purposes. First, it gets your customer talking about the real issues going on in his or her mind before the purchase. And second, it builds trust in the rest of the testimonial.

To the first point, this is incredibly important for you to know. In fact, this question might uncover potential issues you hadn’t even considered. You need to know this!

To the second point, everyone is skeptical before making a purchase, on at least some level. By recognizing that skepticism and embracing that doubt, the reader can identify with the testimonial. He or she reads how someone else was concerned about the very same thing they’re concerned about, and now they’re interested in finding out what made that person overcome those concerns. Powerful stuff!

Did anything surprise you? What has pleased you the most?

Yeah, okay, this is really two questions. In a sense, it’s asking the same question two different ways. And this is important, because this lets you defuse the concerns you identified with the first question.

The question also gets the customer thinking about their results and the impact your product or service has made. Like the first question, you might be surprised by the answers – or you might be tickled pink by the richness of detail that your customers provide. It’s always fascinating to get into the minds of your customers and find out what makes them tick!

Would you recommend my product, and why?

This one is almost too simple. In fact, it’s easy to overlook. But it’s incredibly important. And that one little word – “why” – is the most important part of all.

If a customer likes you, it’s fairly easy to recommend you. They’re probably expecting you to ask for the recommendation, and they probably won’t think twice about it … which is why so many testimonials blandly end with, “I highly recommend this product.” Boooring!

It’s a whole different ball game if the customer has to explain why they’d recommend you. Now they’re putting their own integrity on the line, and they’re forced to reevaluate and clarify their recommendation. The end result is a testimonial that’s more specific, more believable, and more effective, too.

One caveat, when asking for testimonials: You might need to edit the responses, either for brevity or clarity. This is not unethical, as long as you honor the original intent behind the words. In fact, most customers will appreciate light editing that makes them sound more polished. If you’re unsure, feel free to run the final version of the testimonial past the client for approval.

So with that, have fun with these questions and start building up powerful testimonials that drive new customers to your door in droves!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Nice outfit, kid. © by p373

If one is good, then many must be better, right?

Not when it comes to your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP.

We all struggle with this. When we’re coming up with our USP – that core of our identity that spells out precisely what makes us different from the competition – we want to be as special as possible.

The problem is that we dilute our own specialness when we give people too many reasons why we’re unique.

Too much uniqueness

For example:

Here at ABC company, we provide you with outstanding microwave ovens. Our appliances are designed with a streamlined and elegant look, so they always fit perfectly with your kitchen décor. They provide the highest wattage available in the marketplace today, so your food cooks as fast as possible. And our engineers have spent countless hours designing the controls to be so easy, even a baby could use them.

You might read that and think it all sounds fine to you. But tomorrow, if someone asked you what’s so special about ABC company’s microwaves, would you be able to remember all that?

Probably not.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got the worst memory in the world. And truth be told, when I’m reading your marketing, I’m probably only half paying attention – so the chances of me remembering all of those things you just told me are pretty slim.

Give me too many reasons you’re unique, and they’ll all start to blur in my memory … until I really don’t remember much about you.

Keep it to ONE uniqueness

What if ABC Company positioned itself to be known as the company that makes …

-          The most elegant microwaves in the world.

-          The most powerful microwaves in the world.

-          Microwaves so easy, even a baby could use them.

Oh, that’s so much easier, isn’t it? One little thing to remember. I can do that.

What’s the real USP, and what are the supporting factors

I know, it can be tough to focus on just one thing. Restraint is hard! It’s kind of like the tendency to put too much on your plate at a buffet restaurant. Honestly, I always stuff myself silly at those places.

But you don’t necessarily have to ignore all the other things that make you special. You just have to know where your focus lies.

Case in point: I was recently rewriting an About Us page for a services provider. The page needed to point out what makes the company special, and I came up with a really fantastic first draft. The copy I wrote carefully pointed out the awesome expertise of their staff members, their stellar reputation for integrity, and their outstanding customer service focus.

Luckily, the CEO of the company knew better.

He asked me to focus on one thing instead: the ability of the company to execute, no matter what.

The other things were important, and we still mentioned them. But those other things merely supported the real USP, that this company executes what they promise, 100% of the time, no matter what.

Smart guy. And trust me, the second draft blew the first draft away. This company is now the company that consistently executes, no matter what.

See the difference?

So the next time you’re considering how to stand out from the crowd, pick ONE thing that makes you unique – and stick with it. You’ll be a lot more memorable.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Falling teacher © by Pitel

Challenge:

Anyone can say they’re an expert. So how do you make your claim believable? This was DK Innovative’s concern. They partnered with us recently to build a new website, and our top priority was to make sure their clients understood – and believed – the breadth of their expertise. Their clients, pharmaceutical marketing teams, are often stretched thin for time and resources.  DK Innovative helps them fill those gaps, with over 20 years of pharmaceutical marketing experience. The problem is that sentence sounds like a lot of marketing hooey. Our client needed to do more than just talk about their expertise. They needed to prove it.

Solution

There’s an old mantra in writing: Show, don’t tell. We set out to show real-life examples of how DK Innovative has applied their expertise to solve client problems. In other words, we created case studies.

We started by identifying recent projects that met two criteria:

• DK Innovative made a significant difference for the client, and
• The project would be of great interest to other potential clients.

We settled on three projects:

1. A multi-tiered online marketing campaign that tied a specialty product in with an episode of the TV medial drama House
2. The development of an iPad application that a client’s sales force could use in the field; and
3. Smart strategic recommendations that helped position a client as an attractive acquisition target.

Length was also an issue. DK Innovative’s clientele is busy; they want quick answers to their questions, so we kept the case studies as short as we could – about half a page. This let us hit the important points with just enough detail to make the stories memorable.

And finally, we focused on quantifying the results. The first project resulted in 10,000 clicks on the product’s website. The second project saved the client thousands of dollars. The third project helped the client double profits on one product and double sales on another.

After all, without results, expertise alone is meaningless, no?

As we set about writing the three case studies, we also made sure they were easy to find on the website. Each case study has its own page, under the general heading of “How We Work.” They’re also called out on the homepage with links, encouraging the reader to click and learn more.

See how we proved DK Innovative’s expertise >

Results

With the instant credibility these case studies give DK Innovative, they’re playing a starring role in DK’s lead generation efforts, too. DK recently embarked on an email campaign to warm prospects. The email starts out with a teaser sentence or two from a case study, and then refers the reader back to DK’s website to read more. The response so far is encouraging. By showing how other businesses approached and solved a problem, DK shines light on how they can help the reader solve their problems, too.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

published © by Zanastardust

So you’ve been reading a magazine or an industry newsletter for a while now, and you’ve got an idea for an article that you just know would be perfect for it – and would hopefully send a little business your way, too. How do you get your article published?

Truthfully, it’s not rocket science. You just have to understand these six simple rules of publishing…

1. Know which publications are right for you. Not all publications are relevant to your market; others are extremely competitive and might not be likely to accept your ideas if you’re not already a published author. Be smart in targeting publications for your article.

2. Know what topics will interest the readers. Remember, you’re trying to provide helpful information – which is NOT a sales pitch for your business. You can usually find readership statistics on the publication’s readership under the About Us section, or sometimes under the Media or Advertising sections. Read this carefully, and consider how you can you target your article (or your idea for an article) to appeal more directly to the publication’s specific demographics.

3. Know what the editor wants to see. Look on the publication’s website for a Guide to Submissions (or something similar); you may have to conduct a search to find this, as sometimes it can be buried on a website. If you can’t find it, email the editor and see if he/she can email it to you. Read through this Guide very carefully; it will tell you precisely what to do. For example, what topics is the editor interested in? Does the editor want to see a completely written article, or does the editor only want to hear the idea for the article (called a “pitch” or a “query”)?

If the editor wants to see a query letter, this should include the general idea of your article, why your article will interest the publication’s readers, the approximate length of the article, and why you’re the right person to write the article. On the other hand, if the editor wants to see your complete article, know if you should attach a Word document to an email, cut and paste the article into the body of the email, or send it via snail mail.

Also, look on the publication’s website for an Editorial Calendar. Not every publication makes this public, but if yours does, you can see what topics the editor has planned for upcoming issues and you can try to target your pitch to one of those topics.

4. Know the timing for certain articles. Editors typically are looking fairly far out into the future. If there is a seasonal aspect to your article, then you need to start marketing that article at least 6 months in advance – or even earlier, to be on the safe side.

5. Know how the publication handles rights. Is it okay if the article has been previously published? Do you retain the rights to the article after the editor publishes it – for example, can you post the article on your own website, or can you see if other publications will accept your article also? Once the editor publishes your article, does the publication retain the rights to publish it again elsewhere, for example, on their own website or in a newsletter? Every publication handles rights a little bit differently, so it’s critical for you to understand what rights you’re keeping and what rights you’re giving away.

6. Know how to work with the editor. First, understand that editors are overworked and underpaid. Second, understand that editors have to work with many, many other writers – so make sure the editor finds it easy to work with you. If the editor asks for changes to the article, do so graciously. And third, understand that every publication is like a jigsaw puzzle, where everything has to fit together smoothly for it all to work.  Your article may be wonderful, but if important breaking news means that a new article needs to be included last minute, which means there’s no room for your article, well, that’s life in publishing. Don’t take it personally, and don’t take it out on the editor. Simply buck up and try again next time.

That’s it – six simple steps. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying that rush of pride that comes from seeing your name in print. Good luck!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Confusing Sign © by Eric Kilby

In your marketing, how do you know how to position your company?

Maybe you focus on your deep expertise. Or maybe you focus on your outstanding customer service.

But how do you know these point are your company’s biggest selling points? Do they really make your company unique?

Or are you just guessing?

Marketers like to talk a lot about the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The problem is that not enough companies understand what makes them unique.

I used to ask new clients what they saw as their USP…but I’ve stopped, because I was often dissatisfied with the answers. It’s just too easy to rely on a shallow USP, which isn’t particularly effective. So I changed my strategy.

Instead of asking my clients point blank “What’s your USP?”, now I ask a series of questions that I believe generate more honest answers. By combining the best parts of the various answers, we can fashion a more accurate, meaningful USP that resonates better with your clients. Could asking these questions of your own company give you a stronger marketing message, too?

Question 1: What about your products/services is most attractive to your customers, and why?

In other words, what is it that attracts people to buy what you sell?

Question 2: How do your products/services compare to what the competition offers?

There’s a surprising difference between asking a client how their company differs from the competition, versus how their products differ from the competition. By focusing on the product, the question becomes a little less personal – and the answers become a little more honest.

Question 3: What have customers said about your product/service?

Similar to question 2, but gets even deeper and lets the customer’s own words do the talking.

Question 4: What do customers say about your company?

Now we’re starting to get personal here, but because we’re using the customer’s own words, the answer has a bit more meaning.

And for the single most important question…If you ask yourself only one question, this is the one…

Question 5: Can you describe a time when you really made a difference for a customer?

Your answer to this question will lead you directly to the start of an amazing, strong, honest USP. Combine the truths of this answer with your responses to the other four questions, and you’re ready to go.

Since I’ve created this process, I feel the quality of the marketing communications I produce has skyrocketed. I’m always fine tuning things, however, and I’d love to know how you came to understand your own USP.

What questions do you ask yourself? Do they give you an honest answer?

And most importantly, how has a stronger USP impacted your marketing?

Send me an email and let me know!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

One piece of advice frequently tossed around is that people won’t read a lot of copy on websites. Keep it short, they’ll say. Put everything into bullet points, because the less copy the better.

To this advice I say, “Hogwash.” People absolutely will read copy on websites, and lots of it, as long as you’re smart about what you say and how you say it.

What are your visitors looking for?

Visitors to your website are there for a reason; they’re not there just to browse around, they’re looking for specific information.  Maybe they’re trying to determine if you offer the particular service or product they need.  Maybe they want to know if you have the credentials to back up your claim.  Maybe they want to know where you’re located or your hours of operation. These are specific goals.

Your job is to help visitors easily accomplish those goals – with as much copy as it takes to get the job done, no more, no less.

The best websites are like newspapers

Consider the low-tech newspaper. Most people don’t read every single article. Instead, we pull out the sections that interest us (Sports? Business? World News?), and from there, we skim through the headlines until we find an article that interests us – and then we stop and read that article.

No one expects every reader to read every word on every page.  Instead, the newspaper is intentionally designed to make it easy for us to jump in, find specific information, and jump back out again.

Think for a minute about the sheer quantity of information contained in the average newspaper. And yet you know right where to go to find your favorite columnist, the funnies, or the score to yesterday’s game. You can stay and browse through the other sections if you have time, but because you understand how the newspaper is organized, you don’t have to.

Your website can work the same way. It’s absolutely possible – and effective – to maintain a large quantity of information on your site…so long as the navigation is clear and intuitive.

Poor formatting propels the myth

Of course, as with many myths, there’s a kernel of truth to this one about short web copy.  Long pages of densely packed paragraphs are hard to read and don’t work well on websites. Whether your web page has 500 words or 50, you always want to format the copy to be reader-friendly.

Again, think about how newspapers are set up.  Short, informative headlines.  Short articles, with the most important information located in first couple of paragraphs. East to scan. Easy to read.

Feel free to use bullet points and graphics in as many places as you can.  Just don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater in your drive to keep everything short.

Let the answer determine the length

This is the heart of why the short-web-copy myth is so dangerous.  Different visitors to your website will have different questions.  Your challenge is to anticipate those questions and thoroughly answer each one with just enough copy.

This is important. If you’re too hung up on trying to cram a 500-word answer into 50 words, you’ll compromise your ability to provide the answers that your visitors are looking for.

And please, don’t fall into the “we want people to call us to find the answer” trap.  The truth is that visitors are not going to call you. They’re going to hit the back button on their browser and keep searching for their answers, until they find what they’re looking for – probably from your competitor’s website.

Example: Chamberlain Marketing Group

Chamberlain Marketing Group designs high-quality branded merchandise for some of the largest firms in the country. They recently conducted an audit of their website, and they found that their website was not sufficiently answering most of the questions their customers frequently ask. Important information was often either missing completely from their site or buried and difficult to find.

Case in point: a screen shot below of their page that explained their internal infrastructure system.

"Before" screen shot

The page contained good information, perhaps, but it was dense and difficult to read – which meant that very few people bothered to read it.

Chamberlain knew that for their website to be effective, they would need to add content and improve the way in which they present the content to their readers.

So they started over. They revamped their navigation into a main horizontal navigation bar and a vertical sub-navigation menu that was visible on each category sub-page. They rewrote almost every page, and they added almost 20 pages of new core content. Each page leveraged short paragraphs, clear headers and subheads, and bullet points as needed.

The effect was remarkable.

Consider the screen shot below, of that same technology page, in its new format. Now look back at the old page again. Both pages contain essentially the same amount of information. But which one would you prefer to read?

"After" screen shot

Stacey Austin, Marketing Manager at Chamberlain, said, “We’ve managed to put the right amount of information on each page, without overloading the reader. It’s inviting and friendly, but still professional. Everyone is thrilled.”

There’s a lesson here for all of us. Stop worrying about keeping web pages short, and start worrying about providing enough information and presenting it in the right way. It’s imperative to the success of your website.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Search-Engine-Marketing © by Danard Vincente

Wondering how to optimize your press release?  It couldn’t be easier.

Wondering why you need to optimize your press release?   If you’re planning on using an online distribution service like PRWeb.com (my personal favorite, for being cost-effective and generating good results for my clients), you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck and make sure that people can actually find your press release.

Here’s an overview of how the process works:

1. You upload your optimized press release to the service website.  Be sure to include a link to your website when it asks for your contact information.
2. The service gives your release a page on their website.
3. The service also sends out an automatic feed to subscribing journalists and bloggers.
4. As bloggers pick up your press release, they’ll add it to their blog.
5. This is where it gets interesting.  Because your press release includes a link to your website, every time a blogger adds your press release to their blog, Google counts another incoming link for you.
6. Incoming links are one of the key criteria Google uses to rank websites.  When Google finds a lot of links to your website, it decides your website must be well-written and therefore popular, and so it ranks your website higher.

So while you thought you were just writing a press release to let the local newspapers know that you’ve moved your offices, lo and behold – you’ve actually created a tool that can improve your website in the search engines!  I’ve actually seen press releases place higher in the search engines than the corresponding website.  Not a bad return on investment, eh?

And like I said, optimizing the release is super simple.  Here’s what you need to know:

Step 1

Choose one strong keyword or phrase.  Not sure if you’ve got a strong keyword?  Visit Google’s keyword tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal), type in your keyword or keyword phrase, and see what comes up.

Resist the urge to choose more than one keyword phrase.  A one-page press release is just not long enough to truly optimize for more than one phrase without your writing sounding ridiculous.

Step 2

Put your keyword phrase in your headline, as close to the beginning of the headline as possible.

Step 3

Put your keyword phrase in the first sentence of the press release, preferably within the first 90 characters.

Step 4

Add your keyword phrase one to two more times anywhere in the body of your press release.  Make sure it sounds as natural as possible, since you don’t want to sound weird to your readers.

And that’s it!  I told you it was simple!

Now that you know how to optimize a press release and you understand how this tool fits into your overall search engine strategy, be on the lookout for opportunities to create press releases.  Have interesting company news to share?  Write a press release!  Want to comment on a hot news item?  Write a press release!  Affected by developments in your industry? Write a press release!

Keep writing those press releases, and start planning for all that new website traffic they’ll bring!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Binoculars portrait (dscn4659_mod_vign_sm) © by gerlos

Everyone loves free publicity.  And if you know how to write a press release effectively, it could be just the ticket.

The press release is the first step toward getting your company name printed in newspapers, trade magazines or online industry websites.  But well-written press releases follow a particular set of journalistic rules.  Here is my simple system, so that you too will know how to write a press release like the pros.

Define Your Angle

Why will anyone take the time to read this press release?  You have to have a news-worthy angle.

Company news – things like a move, a new hire, expansion into new services, or winning an award – are frequent reasons to write a release.  But what if you could tie your company news into what’s happening in the broader world?  Suddenly your press release becomes relevant, not just promotional pap.

Can you link your company news item to a current event?  Is there an issue that the public should be aware of?  Or even better, are you doing something controversial?  The media love these kinds of stories.

For example, a local business management and marketing consulting firm recently appeared on a local business news program, and they wanted to publicize this in a press release.  In creating our angle, we focused on some provocative comments he made on the show – which gave us a much more compelling story to tell than simply relaying the fact that he appeared on the program.  As a result of this angle, our release was picked up by more media outlets than we would have seen otherwise.

Make the Title Strong

The title of your press release should clearly explain your angle.  Try to grab the reader’s attention, and never be cutesy.  Keep it short if possible, particularly if you intend to email the press release to an editor since most email inboxes will display only the first 50 characters of a subject line.  If you’re planning on submitting this press release through on an online submission, you’ll want to optimize your title for the search engines – a topic I’ll discuss next month.

What’s Your Lead?

Also written “lede,” your opening sentence engages your reader and encourages him or her to read more of your piece.  There are a few standard types of leads, such as:

• A descriptive story or an anecdote.  If you do this, save the end of the story for the end of the press release, in order to build a little suspense.
• A compelling fact or statistic.  Even better if it’s surprising.  Just make sure it’s accurate.
• A counter-intuitive statement.  This can arouse curiosity and engage your reader.
• A statement that reinforces your reader’s beliefs.  Get people nodding their heads in agreement, and they’ll keep reading.

Make Your Point Quickly

However you start that first sentence, make sure to quickly segue into the meat of your content.  Explain the five W’s – Who, What, Where, When and Why – within the first two paragraphs.  Get to the heart of the matter quickly, and then use the remaining space of the press release to elaborate.

Journalists refer to this as the “inverted pyramid.”  The content of your press release should be like an upside-down triangle – with all the important details included up top, and the fluffy supporting stuff down at the bottom.

Keep It Simple

In the “olden” days of faxes and snail mail, the mantra for press releases was “one page only.”  With the prevalence of emails, it’s easier to fudge a little on length.  Just don’t fudge too much.  One page is great, two is the limit, a page and a half is common.

How do you keep it simple?   Avoid round-about, confusing sentences; get straight to the point and eliminate every single unnecessary word.  Wordiness doesn’t make your piece better; it simply shows the reader that you have no idea how to write a press release.

Provide a Call to Action

Always tell the reader what to do next.  Your call to action might be to visit your website at www.YourWebsite.com, it might be to call your office at 555-5555 for more information, or it might be to look for your product in the household goods aisle.  Tell people what to do!

Know the Formatting Rules

Provide contact information (name, title, phone, email) and note whether the contact is available for interviews.  I usually provide this information up top, although some companies place it last.

Next, state whether the item can be released immediately (“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”) or after a certain date (“FOR RELEASE MAY 1, 2011”).

On the next line comes the title.  Bold the title, and if you prefer, put it in a larger font.  Any formatting beyond that is unnecessary.

Now you’re ready for the body of the press release.  If you’ll be sending the press release to publications outside your immediate geographic area, it’s common practice to start the body with your location (“NAPERVILLE, IL – Today, Freelance Writing Solutions announced…”).

At the end of the document, provide notation to let the reporter know there is no more to the press release.  Three hashmarks – “###” – or the word “- END -“ are most commonly used.

And there you have it – a well-written press release!  Now that you know how to write a press release like a pro, stay tuned for next month’s article where I explore how to optimize your press release to get noticed by the search engines!

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions

Business Planning with Plan-Too © by plantoo47

With 2010 drawing to a close, I’m busy writing a business plan for 2011.

Not all of our marketing speaks to our clients and prospects.  This business plan will be a purely internal document; no client will ever see it.  And yet, it may be the most important piece of marketing communications I’ll write the whole year.

If you need help writing your business plan, here’s the simple template that I’m using.  I hope you find it helpful.

Business Plan Template

Cover page.  Even though it’s an internal document, it still needs to feel “official”.

Vision Statement.  Clarify why you’re in business, what you offer, and to whom, with a simple statement.

Business Environment Overview.  Identify your target market, and explain their needs and problems.

Competitive Analysis.  Identify your main competition and create a basic SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

• Competitor Strengths
• Competitor Weaknesses
• Opportunities for Your Success
• Threats to Your Success

Operating Plan.  Explain what you do and how you do it.  If you’ve been providing the same services for years and don’t expect to change in 2011, this section could be short.  If you’re considering changing in 2011 the mix of services you offer, this is your opportunity to flesh out your plan.

Marketing Plan.  Look at your marketing and sales at several levels:

• Value Proposition.  What’s unique about your company, and what benefits do you give your clients?
• Sales Goals.  Set targets, both hard and soft.
• Sales Plan.  Map out everything – your branding (New website content?  Print ads?), your marketing (Direct mail?  Cold calls?  Networking Events?), and your client-relationship building (Regular newsletters?  Social media?  Holiday cards?).

Management Plan.  Include your bio and the bios of any partners/associates.  Click here for advice on writing your bio.

Financial Plan.  Include P&L statements from the last 2-3 years, as well as year-to-date, and identify the financial goals, beyond the sales goals from your marketing plan, that you’d like to achieve in 2011.

Following this template for writing a business plan will give you a thorough, meaningful document that will guide you through the next twelve months.

If, however, you need more than an internal document – if you need a business plan suitable to share with your bank or investors, please consider hiring a professional.  A writer with experience in business plans has the right skills and an impartial, arm’s-length distance from your organization.  This allows the writer to ask the tough but critical questions your plan needs to address – which can make all the difference in the success of your plan.

Learn more: Freelance Writing Solutions