Archive for the ‘Copywriting’ Category

How to spot a fake testimonial

August 15th, 2010

Testimonials can be a very effective marketing tool. Kind words from happy customers go a long way in making potential clients feel good about your product, service, or company.

In fact, they are so useful, that many people cheat when it comes to testimonials.

I have to let the cat out of the bag here – very early in my writing career, I’d write “fake” testimonials for customers if they asked.

Being young, dumb, and broke, at one time, I’d write just about anything if you paid me to. And trust me, some people paid me to write testimonials. And sign them something like “Debbie K from KY” or “John J and Family, NY”. Or “Joe’s Pizza, NJ”

Notice the one common thread? Nothing verifiable. No “real” last names. No actual towns. No website links. Lots of “Dan F from NY”. But no “Dan Furman, Kingston, NY”

So, here’s some general advice on spotting a fake testimonial:

1 - No real last names. Or all the last names are amazingly common. In this age of the internet, pictures are even meaningless.

2 - No real cities. Or only big cities. Or all testimonials come from towns in the same 4 states (trust me, coming up with different sounding cities and towns is more work than most fake testimonial people want to do.) Obviously, a local business is exempt from this rule.

3 - No website links. This is the biggie. There should be a few testimonials with real, working website links.

I have a lot of testimonials on my website. Most have a link, all but one have a last name (the one requested it not be used, but I’m sure in the face of all the other proof I supply, I can be cut some slack there.)

Trust me – 15 testimonials and not one link to a business prettymuch means all the testimonials are fake (the only exception here is if the end users are completely non-business consumers, and even then, it’s very unlikely that not one of them owns a business.)

And, of course, it goes without saying that “Joe G, Alabama” really doesn’t think all that much of the product. In fact, “Joe” is the writer’s father’s name, and “G” represents his childhood friend’s nickname (Goober.)

It took me a long time to build up the testimonials I have. And I’m proud of them. Anyone who has real testimonials will tell you the same. That’s why I want to tell you how to spot the fake ones.

And no, I don’t write them anymore. It’s just not fair to the people who earned them.

<sarcasm> And now that my conscience is clean, let me get back to this term paper I’m writing for some rich kid. </sarcasm>

Posted in Copywriting, General Marketing, Success, Websites and Web Marketing | 2 Comments »

Honest business sometimes means not doing business

July 27th, 2010

Because of the nature of my business, I sometimes talk to startup entrepreneurs with a dollar and a dream. Which is fine. But sometimes, these dreams seem a little far-fetched to me. Usually when that happens, MLM or Network Marketing is involved.

Let me be plain up front – I am not a fan of MLM. Not at all. I think it’s a sleazy way of doing business, because the basic premise isn’t honest. The focus of the business is not on the products and services, despite what anyone says – the focus is on building a network.

Every now and again, I get asked to write sales copy for network marketers. I’m not one to turn down paying work, so if you want to hire me and take your shot with your MLM company, I’ll be happy to help (although if you ask, I’ll give you my opinion of MLM).

But, I *do* have to feel good about it. That wasn’t the case today.

This kind of thing I can get behind – we’ll sell product, we’ll have a page talking about “the opportunity”, etc – it seemed pretty close to a normal business. I was scheduled to start the project this week.

Then today, she e-mails me “the rules”, as laid down by the company. One of the products she’s selling is Sprint wireless service… but I’m not allowed to use the name Sprint. She’s also selling something called Clear4G, and I can’t mention that name either.

Huh? How am I supposed to sell a product online when I can’t mention the name? Sorry, no dice – I’m not doing it. I can’t in good conscience say to her “ok, here are your sales pages” when I *know* they aren’t going to sell squat.

So I call her and explain my point – she says “ok, how about just writing a lead capture page for the opportunity?”. We discussed it, but the same rules apply – I can’t use any names. I could just talk about “National Companies”, “Wireless” “4G” etc etc.

Yea, that’s do-able to a point, but you know, it’s not do-able by me. I don’t like pie-in-the-sky BS, and I don’t write for it. I also felt bad for my client – she was a bit bummed at these rules herself. The whole thing just didn’t feel right.

So I did the only thing I felt I could: I refunded her money. Even though I booked time for her, I could not keep this person’s money and do work I didn’t believe in. I’ll eat the time loss – I’ll be fine.

I may be $750 poorer, but I’ll sleep tonight. And I believe in Karma and stuff (that’s fodder for another post) – that $750 will come back to me.

Posted in Copywriting, General Marketing, Home Business / Entrepreneural Stuff, Success | 1 Comment »

Some e-mail tips for the masses

June 8th, 2010

Years ago, I used to work in computer tech support. It was 1996/1997, and computers (and the internet) were still somewhat of a novelty. At least for most people.

And I admit, the nerd in me took pleasure in the caller’s incompetence. I mean, really, how could you NOT know how to copy/paste? How could you not know how to create a shortcut. Etc. Etc. I even really got some of those calls that sound like an urban legend:

Caller: My computer boots to funny writing.

Me: What version of Windows do you have?

Caller: Oh, there’s no windows here – I’m in the basement.

Or how about this gem…

Caller: My screen says “press any key”, but there’s no “ANY” key on the keyboard… (yea, it really happened.)

Anyway, I look back now and can (almost) forgive some of the ignorance – like I said, all of this was new to many people.

But here in 2010, I am still somewhat shocked by some of the utter ineptitude I come across. Much of it has to do with e-mail. Now, these aren’t just regular homeowners (like the people I dealt with 14 years ago were) – I deal with businesspeople now. And frankly, I am a little surprised about a few things. So allow me to help – here are some things you just have to know about if you want to converse via e-mail.

Learn about your spam folder, and learn how to set the settings so you can accept attachments. I cannot count the number of times I got a curt “you never sent the file” when I did indeed send it. I always say “check your spam folder”, to which I get maybe twenty seconds of silence, then a quiet ”oh…”
Learn how to quote properly. I do not need to read the entire last week’s worth of conversation in our exchanges.
On that note, please lose the four-line signature about how this message was intended for so and so and there’s an army of lawyers standing by if anyone tries anything funny… Nothing says “spineless corporate weenie” quite like 4 lines of legal disclaimer at the end of every_single_e-mail you send.
If I have to register to reach you (as in those annoying spam protectors), well, I don’t. You’ll simply never hear from me. Stop hiding and take your Viagra e-mail like the rest of us.
Address book – learn it, and use it. It’s really not that hard. Trust me, sending me an e-mail as a “re” to a mail I sent you last year tells me you don’t know how to use an address book.
Please stop sending 10mb attachments unless 10mb is truly needed. It slows everything up. Learn how to compress a picture if you must. Or ask a ten year old to do it for you.

Ok, I know I’m a little snide here – sorry, that’s my inner tech support dude (he needs to get out every now and again). But in all seriousness, it’s every businessperson’s responsibility to learn how to use e-mail efficiently and correctly, for both you and the receiver.

Posted in Copywriting, General Marketing, Home Business / Entrepreneural Stuff, Websites and Web Marketing | 1 Comment »

A Sneak Peek

April 22nd, 2010

Here’s why I’ve been quiet – this will be the new Clear-Writing:

http://www.clear-writing.com/index10.html

As you can see, I’m going for MUCH more a “Dan Furman” angle than just writing. Now, it’s nowhere near finished – the links don’t lead anywhere, I’ll be rewriting the copy, I’m still not done thinking about what goes where, etc. But it’s finished “enough” for me to show it to you.

Look for a full unveiling sometime this summer.

Posted in Copywriting, General Marketing, Misc / Personal Stuff, Websites and Web Marketing | No Comments »

Faxes

April 14th, 2010

I just realized something…. I haven’t sent or received a fax in about 6 months.

Guess that’s kind of over, huh?

Posted in Copywriting, Home Business / Entrepreneural Stuff, Misc / Personal Stuff | 1 Comment »

I’ve been quiet

March 26th, 2010

I’ve been quiet lately – it’s because there’s a new website in the works. Essentially, I don’t like having “two” sites – I want to combine them. So basically www.clear-writing.com and this one will combine (more this one will be moved there, and both URL’s will point there.)

Basically, I want my blogging activity, affiliate stuff, and “me” over there, under one roof. It’s part of a slight re-invention. Not really, but I kind of want to move from “Professional writer Dan Furman” to “Dan Furman, professional writer and other stuff”. It’s not a huge change, but it’s big in my mind.

Anyway, I’ll still post here – just understand that most free time will be working on the site. Likely looking at a late spring / early summer (re)launch.

Posted in Copywriting, Misc / Personal Stuff, Websites and Web Marketing | No Comments »

Copywriting Prices – Oops, you plagiarized someone

March 18th, 2010

In my business, there’s a certain amount of price talk / price resistence that I have to go through. But you know, the old saying is true – you DO get what you pay for.

I had this client I did some website writing for early last year. I did a nice job for her, but I know I was definitely stretching her budget. No surprise that once I was done, she went to someone else to do the additional webpages. Someone about one fourth the price of me (and I’m not that expensive, so this other person was working dirt-cheap.)

Well, she just came back to me last week. Know why? Because her other writer was cutting/pasting his work from other sources. She found this out from copyscape - the new copy she paid for was shamelessly lifted from somewhere else. This is bad, because not only could it hurt her with search engines (duplicate content and all), she could find herself with a nasty cease and desist letter. And trust me – the company who was ripped off isn’t going to care that some no-name copywriter did it.

Let me explain one reality of writing – it takes time.

Let’s take web copy. It usually takes me, a professional writer who’s been doing this for years, several hours to write a quality 300-400 word webpage. It’s not something I bang out in ten minutes. Or twenty. Or even an hour. NOBODY can. Trust me, writing good, engaging copy is hard work.

So, that person who will do it for $50… what do you really think you are getting there?

The reality of the situation is this: There are two ways it can be done for $50…. either they are working for pennies, or they are cheating. If they are working for pennies, trust me, they aren’t good enough to get someone to click/call/buy (which is why you want writing in the first place). And if they are cheating… well, you’re the one who will get into trouble for that. You’re better off doing it yourself.

Just food for thought – you do get what you pay for. This doesn’t just go for copywriting, of course, but for any business.

Don’t mean to sound frustrated, but it does frustrate me from time to time. Especially when I get the curt “I found someone who will do it WAY cheaper”. I can just envision those people also saying “Why golly gee, Mr. Goober Flatire… you’ll fix my brakes for just $20??? Wow, the reputable garage wants $200… boy, they must really be crooks. So yea, go ahead and fix em’!!!”

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Keywords and Search Engine Position – the truth

February 19th, 2010

As a copywriter, I get a lot of “make sure you get my keywords in, because I want to rank”. And, because I wrote the copy, I even sometimes get “hey, my site isn’t ranking – what did you do wrong?”

Let me tell you the truth about Keywords and Search Engine Rank: Keywords are almost meaningless when it comes to ranking in the search engines.

Now, before anyone gets all up in arms over this let me explain what I mean by that.

To start, let’s establish something: Keywords are immensely powerful in getting a page or website ranked. In fact, on their own, they can propel a site to #1 on Google within hours. That’s how powerful they are.

But wait Dan… didn’t you just say they are meaningless?

Yes, I did. They are both meaningless, and incredibly powerful. I think you’ll understand this better if I just show you the test I did.

Last week, I ran a test with keywords. The two posts that preceded this one were test posts that I put up on 2/11/2010.

The first post was about Dracula smoking cigars with Godzilla. And within two hours, that post was #1 on google. Really, if you typed in Dracula Godzilla Cigars, that post is #1 (this one will likely eventually beat it, too.) Here, see for yourself

Let me repeat that – within two hours, it was NUMBER ONE on Google. You didn’t even need to put quotes around it or anything – just those three words.

Man, that’s serious power. If you had a business that people used those terms to search for, you’re gold.

Then I did a second post maybe 15 minutes later. This one was about home based business advice. I don’t need to post you the Google link – I’m likely still waiting for it to show up in the top 1000. Never mind the top 100, or the top ten. And forget #1. It’s been a week, and that post simple doesn’t show up (edit – it’s now October 1, 2010 – still nowhere to be found. That’s what happens to you if you have online competition at all. In plain terms, keywords – by themselves – are almost meaningless if you have any online competition.)

So, one post shoots to number 1 within two hours. The other doesn’t show up at all (after months). Interesting, huh? So, what’s the difference?

Could it be that maybe, just maybe, there’s ZERO competition for the dracula/godzilla/cigars one? That nobody out there is using those combined words for any of their webpages? (which, by the way, saddens me – I’m a huge Godzilla fan, I like cigars, and Dracula was cool too!)

And for the home based business one there’s… I dunno, maybe FOUR MILLION competitors? (or so – I lose count.)

So that’s why I say Keywords are Meaningless. Most of us are in businesses with ample competition. It goes without saying that almost all of the competition is going to use the same popular keywords. Even if you get creative and use some odd keyphrases, everyone has access to the same keyword tools – it’s unlikely you will be the Godzilla outlier. Plus, it’s the popular terms that get used the most.

Look at it this way – if you are a Houston carpet cleaner, you and probably 100 other businesses use “houston carpet cleaning rug cleaning shampooing drape upholstery” etc etc etc – all the expected stuff is going to be used by all of the businesses in the area. So just using the keywords isn’t enough.

Now let me be clear – I’m not saying you can ignore keywords. You can’t. Not using them would be a killer. But using them is probably not going to help you rank high either. Keywords are one of many ranking criteria search engines use. Thus, you’re generally using the keywords simply to pull you even with everyone else on that particular ranking criteria.

That’s what my home based business post did – it pulled me even with other home based business pages in regards to page title and opening keywords. But it lost heavily on “the other stuff”. So it’s lost amongst the sea of competition. But the Godzilla one… well, that scored a clear knockout. NOBODY out there has more information about godzilla and dracula and cigars ALL ON THE SAME PAGE. There’s no need to look at anything else – put Dan #1. Yay, I win!!!

But I won nothing, really. Nobody else was even playing. Understand what I mean? Keywords are necessary, but they aren’t particularly helpful, either.

Now this always leads to the question of “ok Dan, just how DO you rank?”

Well, to answer that, I’ll start by saying I’m no SEO expert. But I do have a high natural ranking on some competitive keywords, so I do know a little. But I think I’ll save it for another post.

So to sum this up, I essentially wanted to dispel that keywords are IT when it comes to ranking. They aren’t (unless your name is Dracula Godzilla and you own a cigar shop, of course!)

Posted in Copywriting, Fun Stuff, General Marketing, Home Business / Entrepreneural Stuff, Websites and Web Marketing | 3 Comments »

Dracula smokes cigars with Godzilla

February 11th, 2010

Ok, this isn’t so much a post about Dracula smoking cigars with Godzilla as it is to prove a point. In other words, this post is a test. A test that has to do with business and marketing. More to come in a few days.

And now, I’m off for the long weekend (I may even smoke a cigar… although not likely with Godzilla and Dracula. That would be kinda cool, though…)

Enjoy your President’s Day Weekend, everyone. I’ll return to this test next week.

Posted in Copywriting, Fun Stuff, General Marketing, Home Business / Entrepreneural Stuff, Misc / Personal Stuff, Websites and Web Marketing | No Comments »

Bad Dates and Such

December 7th, 2009

For anyone hoping that I was going to spill details of a date gone bad, well…. let’s say I never had a date go bad.

Regardless, this little essay does indeed involve dates – calendar dates and similar. It’s mostly directed at websites, but the lesson learned can be applied to almost any business.

In very simple terms, if you are going to “date” anything, you’d better make sure you are dedicated enough to stay on top of it. There is no more certain way to say “I don’t give a @#$%” than having Mother’s Day stuff still up on Father’s Day.

Or still having your “Winter Blowout” on April 9th.

Or having a dated news item on your home page that is six months old.

Or posting the date you updated your blog, and the last update was four months ago.

Seriously – what would you think if you came to my blog, and the last entry was written four months ago? Would you wonder what happened? It may seem trivial, but it’s a big negative.

Because it essentially says you let the little details slip.

The same goes for brick and mortar businesses. How many times have you seen one that keeps sale prices up after a sale is over? Or has the big sign outside advertising last week’s bargain?

In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say that “most” things with dates end up just like what I describe above. They get neglected, then forgotten. Most people and companies are great starters. But there are very few finishers.

Be a finisher. Take the Mother’s Day stuff down the day after Mother’s Day. Post to your blog regularly. Your quarterly newsletter should come out four times a year, not three. And your “recent news” needs to be…. well…. recent.

Neglecting updates is a killer. It really is. No matter how nice a website is, if people see “old” things on the front page, or they see a blog that was last updated last season, it puts a tiny sliver of negativity in their heads. And that’s something no website (or business) wants. This is partially why I don’t recommend that companies put “company news” right on the homepage, because after a short burst of updates, that’s the first thing to get neglected. I’d rather not know any of your news than know that your last noteworthy thing happened at 2008′s Spud Show.

It’s on my whiteboard next to me right now: “12/21 – 1/4 – VACATION (don’t be too lazy, though – change the websites dates.)”

Yes, it really says that (except that I don’t write in italics). If you have dates on your website, put changing them on your planner right now.

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