I heard a talk recently by some higher up in a marketing company about the loss of communication skills (or skillz) by the younger sect, because they use U instead of “you”, etc. He probably mentioned 10 examples or so.
That would be fine and all if the company’s brochure didn’t have ”B2B” in big letters, right on the first page.
Oops.
I remember, way back when I started my writing business, making the first “Clear-Writing” website. It was basically a left hand table for navigation, and right hand space to put the “stuff”. I coded it myself in notepad. It was nothing fancy, but it looked nice, and did the job.
For several years, my little homemade site worked well, but as I grew, I felt it really didn’t represent my professionalism, etc. I’m an “ok” web designer, but my skills are much more suited to 1998 than 2000-something. And in looking at competitor’s websites, it was clear many others were “nicer” than mine. So I hired out – my friend Kelly Rao of Web-Eze did it for me (I basically had her code one page, and I took it from there.) It came out great – it looks wonderful, it’s easy to take care of, etc. In fact, it’s the site I’m still using today.
And that got me thinking – that website is more than 5 years old. Which is an absolute lifetime in internet years (internet years are like dog years on steroids.) So last month, I started thinking – “gee, is it time for another update?” To answer this question, I looked around to see how I looked compared to others… and I was pretty surprised at what I found:
It is abundantly clear to me that web design is getting worse. Many of today’s “modern” websites, by and large, look like crap. The proliferation of the WYSIWYG / CMS-era of web design has churned out millions of cookie-cutter sites that just look bad. They look blocky, the text looks awful, they can’t space anything well (you should leave a space in between bullet points, etc) – it’s just awful.
My five-year-old professional copywriting website looks infinitely better than any CMS site out there. Even this site you’re reading, which started life last year as a wordpress template (but uses traditional HTML coding in the meat of the pages), looks tons better than most sites out there.
I don’t want to sound old-fashioned, but the move away from traditional HTML coding has really changed the web design business. It’s likely opened the door to a lot of people who really aren’t skilled web designers, and I’m guessing CMS sites are a lot cheaper and easier for the end user as well, but I have to say, I’m not impressed with the look. It’s akin to a stately old house versus cookie-cutter tract housing.
Personally, I’m not using CMS style websites anytime soon. This blog is as close as I’ll get. All else being equal, I really feel a CMS designed site will hurt you business-wise.
Any web designers want to chime in?
Know what I do (or don’t do, to be more accurate)?
I don’t do business with websites that don’t provide a phone number. Not because I want to call (I don’t), but because it makes me feel like they are hiding something. I’ll make an exception for huge, well-advertised sites like Amazon.com (who has proven to be very adept at customer service), but otherwise, if you don’t provide your phone number, I’ll pass.
Why many companies feel they are too good to get away with not posting their phone number is beyond me.
So here’s a tip – not having your phone number on your website is almost certainly costing you money. Trust me – as disturbing as the thought may be, there are a lot of people like me out there.
I get a lot of e-mail from aspiring writers asking for work. I’m almost always nice, and say something like “don’t have any work now” or something similar. Truth is, I already have a few people I use for overflow (yes, I’m talking about you, J, G, and M), and they probably aren’t getting unseated until they wish to. But hey, you never know – maybe someday I get a project where I need five extra hands/pens/whatever – a good “have any work for me” request just might pay off someday.
I got one the other day that won’t pay off, however. But it made me laugh enough to write a post about it:
Hello I am <name deleted> from India. I am a professional writer. I can provide well researched high quality content for you. I have a content provider team of writers. Please give me a chance in your company. I would be highly obliged if you give me a chance. Thanks
I don’t even know where to start here. Let’s break this down a little:
- Ok, you think maybe, just maybe, you could write some type of personal greeting? “Mr. Furman”.. “Dan”.. “Clear-Writing guy”… whatever. I mean, you are a “professional” writer, right? This should be standard stuff.
- I’m not an English teacher, but c’mon… How about some proper punctuation? Like after “Hello”… at least throw a comma in there. Again, professional writer and all.
- Maybe a space or two as well. Just cramming everything together makes it hard to read, Mr. Professional Writer.
- You write “I have a content provider team of writers”. That sentence makes no sense. I understand what you were getting at, but please… that’s something a six year old would write. I understand English is probably not your first language, but you ARE claiming to be a “professional writer” asking this English speaking/writing writer for work, so you get no slack here.
Ok, I’m done ripping the poor guy. May he find work somewhere… but it’s not going to be in writing.
I’ve said earlier that cheap competition from India doesn’t faze me. This kind of stuff is exactly why. Hope you are enjoying your week.
I got interviewed by Leslie Truex of Work at Home Success - turn up the volume, as my voice seems low (which is nothing like it is in real life… ask Maryellen 
)
This was from my old blog, but it’s still rings true now:
A funny thing happened today. I had a client send me an e-mail, and a very important piece of the message (what he wanted from me – a press release) was in the subject line.
I never saw it.
I never realized I did this, but if it’s an e-mail from someone I know, I typically just half-heartedly glance at the subject line and get right to the message.
I must have been doing this for years, and it never mattered much. I’d just say “Oh, an e-mail from Dave – let’s see what he has to say today.”
Today it mattered – a vital piece of info was the subject line, and I blew right by it. Imagine how stupid I felt when I later replied and he said “where’s the press release I asked for?”
I looked at the e-mail again…. what press release??? Ohhhh…. Errrr…. he must mean the one he mentioned RIGHT IN THE SUBJECT LINE.
I wonder how many other people do this? I wonder if YOU do this? Next time you check e-mail, pay attention to the subject lines from people you know – do you just glance at them and get to the message, or do you really read them?
I know what I’ll be doing from now on.
I was asked by an aspiring copywriter the other day how to go about scheduling work. She was concerned with “ok, I tell a guy I’ll write for him this week… then I get more e-mails all wanting work… they all need a response…. one wants work now, another by Friday, three more need stuff next week… how do I schedule everyone?”
Now, I never really thought much about scheduling before, but she had a point – depending on the week, the above can/does happen. So maybe by listing how I schedule work, I can help a reader or two. By the way, the following is how I do it for my business, but the same rules can apply to almost any home-based business or service-type business:
All inquiries get a response within 1 working day. I’ve learned to check my e-mail less often, as it can be maddening to get e-mail after e-mail as you are working. I’m still working on this, though, as I have a bad habit of checking e-mail more than I should.
I have an information sheet I attach to the first response to everyone. This sheet has info about me, my business, links to samples, and basic prices. It saves a ton of time, because it answers two big questions: “can I see some samples” and “how much?” Now, the prices on it are generic prices, but they immediately cut out the “oh, I was hoping you’d work for $10 an hour” guy (believe me, they do exist.)
I never put anyone new on my schedule without money. Never, ever ever ever. EVER!! Man, If I had a dollar for every time someone said “yea, let’s do this”, then when it came time to do it, said “nah”, I’d be a rich man. Money gets you on my schedule - everything else is just talk. Seriously, this is the biggest, best piece of scheduling advice I can give – you do not exist on my schedule unless I’ve collected a 50%, non-refundable deposit (or 100% prepay if the project is under $750 or so).
Newbies have a real hard time with this rule. One of the hardest things to do when starting out in business is to ask a client for money. But you have to do this. I know it sounds a little harsh, but if you do not do what I advise, I guarantee you will get burned. A lot. There’s nothing worse than losing other business because you held time for someone, and when the time came, they bailed.
In relation to the above, it’s first-come, first-serve. Say I have two weeks from now open on my schedule. I will tell everyone that’s when I can start their project. First one (or two) with the cash gets on my schedule. Stragglers get bumped. This is clearly spelled out in my proposal form, and also by me in our communications. I have had situations where someone took a week to get in their deposit, and they got bumped. It’s never been a problem, because they understand – I can’t “hold” time for anyone.
Plus, I’m well worth waiting for 
I do not typically agree to “hard” deadlines. Most deadlines are completely arbitrary. In the case of advertisements and magazine articles, yea, ok, I realize a very real deadline exists, and I’ll promise (and make) the deadline. But otherwise, I’m not going to do a rush job just because the boss said “I want it by next week”. Again, most clients totally understand this.
I generally schedule work by the week. Generally, I say I will start a project “the week of xxx”. And time to completion is usually “1-3 weeks” (for most things). This gives me a ton of flexibility.
In regards to timeframe, I’m almost always finished early, by the way. But doing it the way I do allows for emergencies, overlap, etc.
In my years of doing this, I have found my way to work very well. I realize the above sounds a little “firm”. It is in a way, but you kind of have to be. Trust me when I tell you: good clients do NOT have a problem with the above. Professionals know this is how business works. For example, if someone has a problem giving me a deposit to block out time for them, trust me, I know they aren’t a serious client.
Now, I’m also flexible on the above for many returning clients. If we have a good relationship, I’ll squeeze you in, get it done by Friday, forgo a deposit, etc etc. That’s also good business.
Hope this helps someone. And if you take just one thing from this, take the “get the money to schedule someone” part – it’s easily the most important part of how I do things.
I just got an e-mail from this guy in the UK about an hour ago. He needs articles written. Specifically, 1,000 word articles.
He tells me that he has 4 writers in the US currently writing for him at the rate of 7.50 GBP per article, and can I match that rate?
So I’m looking at this and thinking… “wait, there must be some other meaning for GBP… because he can’t possibly mean British Pound, could he? Because that translates to about 12 bucks and change. And a professional 1,000 word article is like… prettymuch a half day’s work at minimum for any writer. Probably a full day for many, also”.
But of course, he did mean British Pounds and not “Gobs of Beer and Pretzels” or some other form of trade I might be interested in (those brits can certainly make some excellent beer!)
Anyway, I wrote back with a polite note saying essentially “not even close”, although I really wanted to say “are you @#$%ing kidding me??” But the professional in me says to keep it clean and instead complain right here.
But my point of this post really isn’t to complain about the guy… what puzzles me is there are writers out there who will actually work for this (I’m probably stretching this that these are real writers working for this rate. They are probably cut and paste hacks…)
But let’s assume they are writers…. listen, that rate isn’t even worth “well, I’m getting experience”. Because you aren’t. What you’re getting is friggen exploited for some moron’s SEO purposes. Wake up, chumly – there’s plenty of good paying work out there – don’t give guys like this the satisfaction of exploiting you.
Anyway, there’s my “need a good night’s sleep and won’t get it until the construction guys finish” rant for the week. House looks great – probably another week to go.
I was interviewed on the radio yesterday, (a talk radio Home Based Business show). In it, I talk about business in the current economy, what I did to combat such and make business better, etc etc – it’s a solid half hour of Dan goodness (this is assuming you think a half hour of me is good, of course - I imagine there are a few folks out there who would think that’s 29 minutes too many, but I digress…)
Ok, click this link: Dan Furman Interview . Then look to the left, click “Home Based Business”, then look for the 8/13 show in the list- that one is me. Save it to your computer, then pour yourself some coffee (or perhaps something stronger.)
Happy listening.
I got this e-mail the other day from a reader who owns and operates a Winnipeg Pet Sitting Service (hey, if you write me as letter this nice, the least I can do is give a plug). It was so nice I thought I’d reprint it here (with her permission, of course).
Hi Dan,
This is my first ever “fan mail”, but I am totally compelled to write you, and tell you how fantastic I think your writing advice is.
I purchased your book at McNally Robinson (in Winnipeg) which led me to your site. Several times I went into the bookstore and read snippets of your book “Do the Web Write”, until one day I figured I should just go ahead and buy it, and enjoy it at home.
As a young woman and home-based business owner in Winnipeg Manitoba, I built my own website (winnipegpetsit.com) when I started my pet sitting business.
My website is my hub, so it’s very important for it to be the best “face”
for the business I can make it.
With your advice on secondary landing pages, and google AdWords I’ve done a lot of restructuring, and all of your suggestions are working. I’m also working on a fly-out menu (it’s a work in progress), because I think it will give more structure and flow to my site.
But your most valuable advice has definitely been on style. I’m reading all of your articles on your site, and I love them all. You always say that your reader should want to take action, and your articles seriously compelled me!
Thank you, I’m a devoted reader now.
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