by Mark Bloom | Jun 28, 2016 | Editing
Do Small Business Owners Have So Little to Do?
Many small business owners are good writers, which is a good thing. When you’re small, you have to do everything yourself. So you write your own content for your website, and if you have the time and energy, you can write your own blog posts. You do it because you have to.
At Ray Access, we understand. We were in the same boat when we started — and we’re professional writers! Fortunately, we did a good job, and our company started to grow. For us, maintaining a weekly blog isn’t a big deal as long as it we keep it a priority. But we’re writers and editors here at Ray Access; website content is what we do.
Small Business Owners Think Business First
When you first start out, you have so many things to do that you barely have time to do any marketing, never mind writing blogs every week. But you do what you have to do and you force yourself to write your own content. You do it because you know it’s important. But unlike the principals behind Ray Access, writing isn’t your best skill. Building the business is your main — and only — focus.
And that’s the point. Writing your own content isn’t what gets you fired up in the morning or keeps you up well past midnight. And once your business starts to do well, you should be tending the store, not writing blog posts. You know that.
Yes, it’s your business, and you know it best. But business blogging isn’t autobiographical; it’s business writing. It just has to be good enough to be valuable to your readers. It only has to be effective at drawing visitors to your website. That’s the job of business blogs. That’s the value a professional agency like Ray Access brings to the table.
Spend Time to Write Your Own Content
If you write your own content, you may spend an afternoon on a 500-word blog post. You want it to be right; you want it to be good. You fret over each word, each sentence, and each paragraph. But maybe it’s like pulling teeth — the process just seems to go on and on.
Professional writers like those at Ray Access can write and edit a better blog post in less than half the time it takes you. Writing is what we do. It’s our passion and we’re good at it. If you hire us to write your content, not only don’t you have to spend the time to write your own content, but you can use that time saved to make more money running your business more effectively. It’s a win-win.
Online Writing Takes Expertise
Anyone can write a letter, but online writing is an art and a science. Even good writers often don’t get the nuances of online writing. Besides using keywords correctly, online writers have to accomplish a lot in a little space:
- Connect with the readers — generate trust by speaking to them, not at them
- Establish authority — state your credentials and experience to be believable
- Communicate your unique value proposition — explain what makes your company different
- Convert visitors into customers — contribute to the company’s bottom line
Can you do all that by writing your own content? If so, go for it. You’re the best person qualified to write your company’s online content, as long as you have the time and the energy to do it. But if you can afford even $150 a month, you can get high-quality blog posts twice a month that will drive traffic to your website.
The Often Overlooked Step
Even if you write your own content, you need to have someone else look it over before you publish. It’s no coincidence that publishing houses employ editors, even for big-name authors. Every professional writer knows that a good editor not only helps you avoid careless mistakes, but also actually makes the writing better — more concise, more on-target and more effective.
A professional editor isn’t an optional step; it’s required if you want your content to look professional. Here’s a good example of the value of editing. It takes a rambling thought and laser-focuses it:
BEFORE: “Buildings are filled with mechanical systems which eventually need maintenance, repair, or replacement. Modernizing your plumbing system can prevent future breakdowns as well as add a level of convenience and comfort to your home or business.”
AFTER: “Old buildings contain old plumbing. Upgrading the plumbing not only prevents costly breakdowns in the future, but also saves you money on maintenance, repair and replacement.”
Learn more about the editing services available from Ray Access.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jun 20, 2016 | Writing
Hire a Writer Who’ll Write in Clear Language
Ever come upon websites that are difficult to read? It’s frustrating. Even though they seem to match your search terms exactly — whether it’s “how to write with authority,” “how to hire a writer for website content” or something else — you can’t find the answers you need. Either the copy is too dense and hard to scan or the relevant information isn’t easy to pick out.
So, if you’re like us, you’ll click “Back” rather than trying to muddle through a website page that requires work to find anything. Colorful graphics are nice and sliding photos engage your attention for a minute, but after that, it’s information you’re after, not entertainment. Again, if you’re like us, you’re busy; you want answers and you want them now.
Website Mistakes to Avoid
Bad writing and bad formatting often go hand-in-hand. Sometimes, websites lean more in one direction than the other, but either problem by itself is enough to obfuscate the information visitors are seeking. Some of the worst offenses that are emphatically not user-friendly include:
- Large blocks of text with little or no white space — give readers some room to breathe
- Four- or five-syllable words that you have to look up — as Steven Krug wrote: “Don’t make me think!”
- Misspellings or gobbledygook that doesn’t make sense — they undermine readers’ trust
- Incorrect word usage — it’s frustrating if the meaning isn’t clear
- Keywords that do not relate to the topic — don’t waste readers’ time
- Links that don’t work (especially “Read More…”) — double-check all links before you publish
- Long sentences — people read differently online; make it easy for them
- Taking too long to get to the point — unless your website is a magazine, write to inform
It’s this last annoyance that drives us to get right to the point in this blog post. Because we respect our readers and we want to deliver value in our blog.
How to Write for People
Too many times, clients hire a writer to create “marketing-speak” that pays little respect to readers. When you hire a writer at Ray Access, we insist on writing for people — your audience and your customers — not search engines or ad agencies. We’ve dedicated our blog to advise those of you who can’t or don’t yet want to hire a writer right now. Maybe you’ll hire us later, when you get so busy that you can’t find the time.
To that end, listed below are several writing tips you’ll find useful when you’re struggling with writing your website content. This is “good as gold” advice:
- Picture your ideal client as you write
- Imagine she’s standing right in front of you
- Write like you talk
- Leave out, or fully explain, industry lingo that your ideal client wouldn’t understand
- Write in short sentences — one thought for each sentence
- Keep paragraphs short, no longer then three or four sentences each
- Break up the text with subheadings, making your content easier to scan
- Make your margins wide; reading across large screens is hard on the eyes and neck
- Spellcheck, spellcheck, spellcheck
- Get another pair of eyes on your writing before you publish it
- Re-read your work at least once before sending it to an editor (like Ray Access)
You Can’t Be Too Simple
You won’t insult your readers if you make your copy clear, simple, concise and to-the-point. It’s not about dumbing down your copy; it’s about clearing up your message. Unless you’re publishing a white paper for an institutional trade organization or academia, give your readers a break.
You prove nothing when you learn how to write with big words and long sentences. You prove nothing when you try to sound intelligent — except that you aren’t. Don’t hire a writer who is condescending and doesn’t listen to you. If he tells you he can write it better than you can say it, run. You know your business, and you know what you want to tell your prospective customers about your business.
Now you know better how to write website content. But you can always contact Ray Access to hire professional writers and editors.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jun 13, 2016 | Small Business Advice
Keeping Up When Everything Keeps Changing
WordCamp Asheville Lessons and Takeaways
WordCamp is a weekend conference held in different cities around the globe. All the conferences focus on educating people how to use WordPress — an open-source foundation for building websites. At the same time, each one is organically produced by local people. WordCamp Asheville took place last weekend (June 4–5, 2016), and 2016 WordCamp lessons came in many forms.
A still from the video from Mark’s presentation at WordCamp Asheville in 2015. Watch the video.
Mark spoke at the conference with a well-received presentation titled “You’ve Written Your Blog; Now What?” But the conference provided many opportunities to learn beyond the scheduled sessions. There were networking events, corridor conversations and a “Happiness Bar,” in which WordPress experts of all stripes made themselves available for one-on-one assistance.
WordCamp for Writers?
At Ray Access, we’re writers, not website developers. And while we built our website, rayaccess.com, with WordPress, we had a little help from our friends. In fact, our website is still in a process of evolution. But all websites are never really done. Even now, there are tweaks and content added almost every week.
Because the sessions formed four tracks, including one for all users and another for business people, we didn’t need to be a developer to get valuable tips and advice at the conference. The 2016 WordCamp lessons included:
- How to connect your WordPress website to social media
- How to integrate email marketing into your website
- Where to go for your keyword research
- How to use analytics
- Why Facebook is the gorilla in the room when you talk about social media
- How to drive traffic to your WordPress website
- How Google ranks your website
Particularly Valuable 2016 WordCamp Lessons
If you want to know what we, the writers at Ray Access, consider the most important thing we learned at WordCamp Asheville, then you’re about to be rewarded for reading this far. It doesn’t matter if you use WordPress or not; if you have a website and you blog, this information will help you.
Here’s the most effective way to blog. It’s not the easiest or the most efficient, but if you really want to drive traffic to your website, then you must follow this five-step process. It’s so cool, w’ll probably write more about it in the future. In the meantime, though, here is a trade secret.
5 Steps to Blog Effectively
These steps come from Leah Quintal of JB Media Group:
- Brainstorm your topic. Discover the questions that people — and your potential customers — are asking and address those topics.
- Do your keyword research. Find the keyword phrases that get high volume but have low competition.
- Find out if others have filled that niche. Use the chosen keyword in a Google search.
- Write your content. Finally! Don’t write your blog post until you do steps 1–3.
- Promote your blog post. You’re not done until you’ve put your words where your audience can find them.
Information from these 2016 WordCamp lessons will change the way we blog in the future. We hope they’ll help you too.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Jun 7, 2016 | Content Marketing
Choosing the Best Keywords for Your Website
So you have someone doing SEO (or search engine optimization) for your website. He gives you a long list of the best keywords that were trending the day that he checked. Good. He scans your website pages to make sure each one is rich with appropriate keyword saturation. Check. And he gets a few links for you on other websites. Check and mate. Except…
The first problem is, like anything to do with SEO, the process takes time. Even the best keywords aren’t the end-all, be-all of SEO. The second problem, in direct proportion to problem #1, is that during the time it takes for you to rank well, the Google algorithms indubitably change.
Why SEO Matters
The reason you do SEO is to ensure that you get on the first page (or least on the second page) on a Google search using the best keywords. You’re trying to reach consumers who may not know about you yet. They’re searching for you based on your product or service or location, not your name. Experts have coined this an “organic search.”
If someone puts your company name in a Google search box, you ought to get top billing in the results. You have a big problem if you don’t. For example, we once had a client who got the content for his entire website from Wikipedia. He copy-and-pasted articles directly. As a result, you couldn’t find his site through Google with a guide dog. The company was penalized for plagiarism by search engine algorithms.
Algorithms are written by people who like to think they’re smarter than the average geek trying to beat the system. And they often are. Google algorithms play such a huge role in determining whether your future clients can find you that they almost hold your fortunes in their hands. And the best keywords in the land won’t help you if you break too many ethical rules of Internet conduct. The client in the example above now ranks high on the first page because we’ve delivered fresh, unique content.
What’s a Writer to Do?
Ultimately, the algorithm writers at Google are in the business of servicing their own clients. Their aim is to give people a positive experience. When a person types in “best burger in town,” they don’t want to see links to a site selling new cars that call themselves “best burger cars in town.” That doesn’t even make sense. But, if “best burger” is the number one trending keyword, an unscrupulous SEO expert may try to slip it in to beat the system.
The best approach, therefore, is to think like Google. Your customers are their customers. Treat them as such. On your website, give people the answers they’re seeking. They’re looking for you, so make it easy from them to find you.
You could keep an SEO guy on staff or on permanent retainer so he can continually keep up with trends and algorithm changes. Or you could address your potential clients on your website with unique, valuable content. As long as you’re giving people (and the search engines) good reasons to check out your website, you’ll get decent rankings eventually.
Just Follow Basic Rules for the Best Keywords
The best keywords are those that help your potential customers find you. If you truly are a burger shop, then imagine hungry tourists and locals salivating over the best burger in your town. Use “the best burger in town” as your primary keyword phrase, follow a few key rules and you’re good; you’re using common sense.
- Never publish content copied from anywhere else
- Publish new content often (weekly if possible)
- Use the keyword phrase in its original intended entirety
- Sprinkle the content with one percent saturation (5 times in a 500-word webpage, for example)
- Place the best keywords you develop in the title or subtitle
- Put the keyword in at least one subhead
- Make sure the keyword’s in the last paragraph, too
- Put the keyword in the URL whenever possible
- Place the keyword in the meta-description, the bit of text that shows up in a search results page
Be nice to people who are looking for your product or service, and they’ll reward you with their business. SEO is not some technical behemoth that you can’t penetrate unless you know a secret handshake and the absolute best keywords. It’s just people trying to help people navigate a huge, huge mega-marketplace. When all else fails, revert to the golden rule and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
And if you need help with new, unique content that won’t insult your customers, contact Ray Access. We’ll take your best keywords and seamlessly insert them appropriately throughout your website pages.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | May 31, 2016 | Content Provider
And When to Hire a Professional Agency for It
Let’s face it, large companies have their own in-house writing teams, most likely as part of their marketing departments. So these corporate businesses almost always create their own content in-house. That leaves:
- Small businesses (including start-ups and solopreneurs) and
- Mid-sized businesses who may or may not have a writer on staff
So the decision to hire a professional agency often comes down to need and timing. But there’s more to writing online content than that. The goal of this article is to educate business owners on the demands of online content — what that content has to do — so you can better determine when you can write it yourself or whether you need to call in a pro.
Writing Blog Posts for Your Business
Why do businesses blog? No matter what your business, potential customers are going to have questions about it. Blogs work over time to build brand awareness, educate your customers and drive traffic to your website. The most successful business blogs are published consistently — week after week, every other week or at the very least once a month. The best blog posts are engaging, informative and entertaining.
If you have writers in-house who can deliver consistently good quality blog posts, then use those writers and give them free rein to experiment with topics and keywords. If you don’t have a writer you can trust (or any writers), that’s the time to hire a professional agency. Creating blog posts, which are usually 500–1,000 words in length, takes talent, but these writing projects don’t cost that much. So, as soon as you can comfortably afford even $150 a month (for biweekly posts), hire a professional agency like Ray Access.
Writing Business Website Content
Now that every business (and nearly every individual!) has a website, yours has to find a way to stand out. Unless you have absolutely no competition — for example, you’re the only plumber in town or you’ve invented the best mousetrap — you need exceptional content on your website. Unlike a blog, your website has to:
- Connect with your target audience
- Identify who your target audience is
- Generate trust in your business
- Establish your authority in your field
- Convert visitors into customers
This is a tall order for any writer. You can write your website content yourself or hand the task to an in-house writer whose background is English papers, technical documents or marketing fluff, but the results may not accomplish the bullet points above. And accomplishing all five is what you need. Anything less means lost revenue.
Hire a Professional Agency
Website content is arguably the most important piece of your website. It drives home your message. It explains your business. It sells your products or services. Unless you’re a bare-bones start-up, budget for website content like you budget for website development. If you spend $5000 for a website, do not think that $500 worth of content will make your website an effective lead generation tool.
Ray Access has expert writers and editors who can deliver website content that produces leads and converts visitors. Ray Access has many success stories from customers. In fact, one of our clients recently wrote: “Every time I get a call from a client who says, ‘I found you on the Web,’ I like you guys more and more.” That’s the reason you should hire a professional agency to write your website content.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | May 22, 2016 | Content Provider
“Shadow Writers” Explain What They Do
Recently, we attended a networking function where we found ourselves talking with a small group about our business, Ray Access. It happens. We mentioned that we don’t request or require a byline on anything we write for our clients. That’s not why we write. Both Mark and Linda have had their fair share of public acclaim; they don’t need attributions any longer.
In fact, we refer to our role as “ghostwriters,” since we feel it’s an accurate description of what we do. When we write, we stay in the background and remain anonymous. Whatever we compose — whether it’s website content, a blog post or a press release — our clients always get the credit for it. Always.
More Than Ghostwriters
Since the group seemed interested in how we managed to ghostwrite for other businesses, we explained that we write in our clients’ voices as much as possible. Sometimes, that means writing without contractions or using the first person or adding a touch of humor. With all our clients, we strive to strike a note that sounds like something they would actually say.
Then someone familiar with our work chimed in: “I think you’re more like a shadow than a ghost,” she said. “A shadow is faceless, but it’s still a part of you. A ghost may be faceless, but it isn’t real.”
Resonating Loudly
Writing for businesses is an art that takes practice and refinement to hit its mark. When you use the written word as a marketing tool, you need that copy to sing. Your company website needs to touch visitors with your own voice, reflecting your company’s distinctive perspective. Your words need to clearly establish your unique value position and represent you clearly.
Too often, writers tend to create copy that seems to say everything, but never in a way that connects with your audience. And since your website is often the very first contact potential customers have with you, it’s critical that your writing clearly capture your mission and your ideas. It has to resonate with your visitors. It has to read as if you were talking personally to each and every person who reads it.
The Ghost vs. The Shadow
Some say the ghost is the fearful one — it’s an unknown phenomenon, an other-worldly spirit. It can only be malevolent. To others, the shadow evokes more terror. It’s a dark, scary figure from the deepest recesses of your imagination, lurking just beyond the edge of sight. If you find yourself in an old house or a cemetery at night, both can be terrifying.
On the other hand, there’s Casper the Friendly Ghost. A ghost may be nothing more than a trick of the light, an electrical discharge. Who can say? Shadows also may be nothing to fear. Some people love to dance and twirl through the sunshine with their shadows following close behind. You can be lost without a shadow. Just ask Peter Pan.
We Choose the Shadow
The real-world difference between the two is more concrete than either a ghost or a shadow is on its own. When it comes to describing Ray Access, “ghostwriters” is the more common phrase. It has come to mean “writing anonymously for someone else.” But “shadow writers” is the term that better reflects the essence of what we do for our clients. Shadow writers combine the best aspects of “job shadowing” with the elemental basics of “ghostwriting.”
So until another, more striking comparison reveals itself to us, we at Ray Access choose to be called “shadow writers.” In the corporate world, we’ll still answer if someone is seeking ghostwriters, but now you know that we plan to straddle the line between stalker and friend. When we write for you, we become your shadow, acting as if we are an extension of your consciousness — your very voice, if you will.
We’ll ask how professional or how casual you want to come across. We’ll learn about your company, your vision and your mission. We’ll listen for your voice. We’ll research all about your customers: what they like, what they want, and what they value. We’ll copy your vernacular and your attitude toward your business. We hope to be so much like you that your readers cannot tell the difference between you and your shadow writers.
The brighter the light you shine on your story, the longer your shadow plays to its intended audience. To learn more about how Ray Access accomplishes its shadow writing, and how your company can benefit from it, contact us.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | May 16, 2016 | Blog Writing
Hit for Batting Average or Swing for the Fences?
When you’re blogging for your business, you often have several goals in mind:
- You want your blog posts to attract visitors, especially new visitors, to your website.
- You want every one of your carefully crafted articles to go viral, bringing your company fame and fortune.
- You want your blog to have a consistency that reinforces your brand identity.
So what’s most important? Or do you need all three for successful business blogging? The experienced writers at Ray Access can answer these questions, but to make it more understandable, especially to those of you who appreciate the nuances of the sport of baseball, the explanations below come in the form of an analogy using the National Pastime. Everyone, even those who don’t like sports at all, should understand the key concepts by the end of this article.
Goal #1: Attract Visitors
Attracting visitors to your website is akin to bringing fans to the ballpark. If your team doesn’t bring in paying fans, your team may fold or be forced to move out of town. Either way, it’s bad for business.
The more fans you can entice to come to the park — through promotions, advertising or producing an exceptional product (i.e., a winning team) — the more successful your business. So attracting visitors (especially new visitors who’ve never seen your team) is actually the Number One job of business blogging. If your blog doesn’t do that, you might as well pack up and go home.
Goal #2: Go Viral
Having a blog post go viral is like hitting a homerun. It’s a big success, the best possible outcome from business blogging. Going viral means your blog post has been seen by thousands or hundreds of thousands of potential customers. It’s been shared on social media and garnered many comments. A viral blog post is like showing your company’s commercial during a telecast of the World Series.
But to accomplish viral business blogging, you need training and luck. It’s more difficult than it is to hit a homerun. And experts have stated that hitting a round baseball with a cylindrical bat is the most difficult thing to do in any sport. Hitting a homerun, then, is even more complicated. Yet somehow, it happens.
If you really put in the effort for every one of your posts in your business blogging efforts, you may get lucky and have some of your posts go viral, but that kind of effort takes time. You have to:
- Find the most attractive, most topical, most desirable and least competitive keywords (i.e., get your head in the game)
- Write a blog post that captures the imagination of your target market (i.e., refine your art through batting practice)
- Promote the blog post to the right audience at the right time for maximum visibility (i.e., make sure the media’s watching when you swing)
- Hope that the day you publish your masterpiece isn’t a big news day and your blog post gets swallowed in a sea of indifference (i.e., pray the game doesn’t get rained out)
Despite your best efforts, luck is always a factor. All you can do is put your best on display. The rest is up to the public — or at least the sliver of the public that forms your target market.
Goal #3: Blog Consistently
When you’re business blogging, being consistent week after week is similar to hitting for a high batting average. A hitter with a .300+ average gets on base more often than a slugger trying to hit homeruns every time up. That makes him “a tough out,” meaning he always finds a way to get the job done and so more often comes through in the clutch.
In business blogging, that kind of consistency has value. It shows you’re dedicated, professional and committed. When you post a new blog every week, you may hit homeruns rarely, if ever. But people get talking about you. Maybe they even look forward to your next blog post to appear.
Like hitting for a high batting average, business blogging takes focused and consistent work. You need time to come up with your topics. You need skill and practice to write week after week. And it matters that you write well. Producing garbage isn’t valuable to anyone. You can’t be up at the plate hacking at pitches like a golfer. You need a clean, level swing and a good batting eye.
Which Approach Scores More Runs?
Homeruns are dramatic. They can take your breath away, especially when they come at opportune moments. But if you swing for the fences every time you step to the plate, you may strike out more often than connecting. Dave Kingman is the perfect example of this all-or-nothing approach. Kingman hit 442 career homeruns, averaging 37 per season, which would put him in the top five most seasons. And yet Dave Kingman is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Hitting for a high average is also a beautiful sight — lacing line drives to the outfield wall, blooping base hits just over the infield’s reach and occasionally blasting a pitch into the seats. Most batting champions these days are not homerun hitters. 
Tony Gwynn is the perfect example of this consistent approach. He averaged a .338 batting average over 20 years, easily good enough to be in the top five most seasons. Tony Gwynn is in the Hall of Fame.
So in the end, when you take on the project of business blogging, you’ll score more runs by being a consistent hitter than by swinging for the fences. If you try for a homerun all the time, you may not publish often enough to make a difference. And your odds for an article going viral actually increase the more often you blog. So follow the example set by the writers at Ray Access: blog weekly, promote your work, and connect with your audience.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | May 8, 2016 | Content Marketing
Don’t Scare Visitors in Your Online Marketing
Most business people know the difference between advertising and marketing. Advertising is a direct pitch to sell your goods or services, while marketing covers the entire process of connecting with your present and future clientele. Advertising is just one component of your marketing efforts.
As a rule, marketing tends to carry more ethical components, giving customers room to make decisions without the pressure of a “buy now” promotion. And while “buy now” calls to action are part and parcel of your overall marketing scheme, good online marketing doesn’t pressure customers; instead, it attracts them with a wink and a nod, a compliment and respectful banter.
Online Marketing Works
Marketing works because it empowers your customers to take more control of their buying decisions based on common sense, education and bonding. Customers end up liking your advertising because you’ve taken the time to consider their needs and build relationships — even if those relationships are simply virtual.
You can and should use your website, blogs, social media and email to attract customers to your business. Once they realize how much they like you, your products and services sell themselves. Online marketing works today and will continue to grow as the most popular medium for building your business.
Tips to Attract Buyers
Marketing isn’t deceitful or cunning at all. In fact, honesty is the best policy when it comes to online marketing efforts. Some of the most productive, least threatening and cheapest ways to use this powerful medium include:
- Make it easy for visitors to navigate through your website. Place social media buttons clearly, put your phone number, address and email on every page. Clearly mark each link so that your guests feel welcomed and appreciated.
- Create good content. Respect your visitors’ time. Let them know right at the top of your web page who you are and what you do. Invite them in with easy-to-read content that includes well-crafted website copy, relatable graphics and entertaining and informative videos.
- Give people what they need. Online guests don’t always know the right questions to ask. Adding an informative, thoughtful FAQ page can help. Make sure that your contact forms work and that you answer questions in a timely manner. Responsiveness builds trust, and trust leads to easy buying decisions.
- Inform the media of important changes, highlights and hallmarks to your business through press releases. Loyal customers appreciate knowing that you are transparent and want everyone to have a chance to get to know you.
- Rely on SEO, which includes keywords and market targeting, sparingly. Excessive SEO efforts turn off tech-savvy buyers who have seen enough of the tricks now to tell when their searches are being compromised.
Keep up to date with regular blog posts and emails to show your customers that you don’t take them for granted and continue to provide value. Build stronger relationships with continued communication through your blog.
- Add value to your relationships with exceptional email newsletters that create a buzz, give your clients a one-up on those who don’t subscribe, and save them money, time and resources.
- Use informational graphics to attract attention. Infographics are one of the leading attractors of successful websites. They are exponentially more productive than cartoons or stock pictures. Infographics also give you authority, something that you can’t buy with ads.
Now What Do You Do with Them?
Once you’ve built a customer base that is working (i.e., generating reliable income), you can use those same marketing techniques to give your customers reasons to stick with your company, even as competitors pound their doors for attention. You respected their time and attracted them to you, now:
- Review your website and blogs regularly to catch errors that may have made it past the editing team.
- Include in-depth, long-form content to your site that goes beyond the sound bites.
- Respect their ideas and ask for tips on how to make your service or product even better.
- Reward longevity with discounts, deals and insider info.
- Expose your customers to the real influencers in your industry by curating expert guest blog posts.
- Rely on your relationship and ask for referrals.
- Hire an editing team if you don’t have one.
The Best Course
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” is a universal mantra that covers every kind of ethical argument in any religious denomination. It’s also a good business practice, especially in your online marketing efforts. Think about your experience as you visit other websites. What do you like to see while searching, shopping or researching.
Give your visitors the same kind of content and ease of use that you appreciate. They’ll thank you with continued loyalty. That’s a win for your online marketing.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | May 3, 2016 | Asheville
A Small Hotbed of Creative Entrepreneurs
Although we can write for any business in the English-speaking world, Ray Access is located, physically, in Asheville, NC. Why is that important? In some respects, it’s not important at all — everyone has to live somewhere. In that light, Asheville is just another spot on the map.
But it’s not. Asheville is a vibrant mountain city of about 80,000 (350,000 if you count the surrounding metro area). It’s not only where Ray Access is located; it’s the place that gave birth to Ray Access. Asheville, NC, is gaining a reputation as a hotbed of creative entrepreneurs. The city has turned a great place to visit (for the Appalachian Trail, the Biltmore Estate and the Blue Ridge Parkway, to name a few highlights) into a great place to live.
Artistic Roots
Back before the population and business boom, rents were inexpensive here — especially in the warehouses down by the river. Artists moved in and transformed the area into the River Arts District. Today, artists of all sorts call Asheville home. The artistic bent has the city leaning decidedly toward “offbeat,” so Asheville has truly become a creative mecca.
Painters, potters, furniture makers, glass blowers and sculptors feel inspired in Asheville. Videographers, writers, storytellers, dancers, actors, musicians and instrument makers have moved here to set up a shop… or a stage. If you know an art form, chances are you’ll find it in Asheville, NC. It’s a place that combines respect for its cultural past with a willingness to adopt new things.
Small Business Incubator
Asheville used to support only three industries:
- Hospitality, thanks to tourism
- Construction, thanks to people moving here
- Health care, thanks to several large hospitals
While those three industries still employ a lot of people, the city today is home to a dynamic small business culture. In fact, 96 percent of businesses here have fewer than 50 employees. The Small Business Administration, University of North Carolina in Asheville and Asheville-Buncombe Community Technical College offer support for small business owners. Mountain Bizworks, a micro-lender, backs small business loans and sponsors educational workshops.
The city boasts dozens of networking meet-ups, a burgeoning tech scene, more craft breweries than you can visit in one weekend, and very popular One Million Cups (1MC) chapter. In fact, Ray Access presented at 1MC in Columbia, SC, which is not only the capital of South Carolina, but it’s also home to a large small business community. And yet, Asheville’s 1MC meetings routinely attract more than twice as many entrepreneurs.
It Rubs Off
The point is that Asheville, NC, offers a supportive environment for small businesses. You can’t attend a networking event without meeting 12 entrepreneurs. The city loves new businesses. Even the local Chamber of Commerce recognizes the importance of small businesses in the community.
In the end, all that support rubs off on every business that opens its doors here. The general population shops at locally owned stores. Restaurants buy locally grown meat and vegetables. Businesses buy from local suppliers. It’s a cycle that keeps small businesses in the black.
Ray Access is proud of its Asheville, NC, home. And now you know why working here helps us make a difference in the local community (by hiring and buying local) and in the global community (by producing effective and creative content for any business that wants the best). Contact Ray Access today to discover what makes us special. Ask about Asheville and receive a five percent discount on your first month of blog posts!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Apr 22, 2016 | Website Content
Making Converts out of Your Website Guests
You wouldn’t use a Sunday evening dinner party as a platform for converting liberal-minded guests into hard-core gun-rights advocates. Your motive would be not only inappropriate (unless they knew what to expect before they arrived), but also unrealistic and probably unsuccessful. Making converts out of unwitting guests before you’ve set the groundwork for your pitch, while not totally impossible, is an uphill struggle.
Converting visitors into true believers is never an easy task. Conversion does not exist in a vacuum. To be successful, you need to have:
- A compelling story
- Hard, believable statistics
- Trustworthy testimonials
- Applicable features and benefits
What’s In It For Me?
Successful, consistent conversion requires proof that the unconverted will be better off in the long run if they adopt your way of thinking. And they must be in a receptive mood. Whether you are making converts for your political candidate, church or business, the basic rules of meeting human needs remain in play — and always trump the pitch.
To that end, you must find out what makes people tick. What your audience really wants needs to be front-of-mind before you begin making converts out of your visitors. Building a message, service, product or cause that’s designed specifically to meet those human needs while fulfilling other pressing desires leads you to successful conversions. Build it and they will come.
Web Conversions
Sometimes, the analytics of SEO (search engine optimization) can become mind-numbing for luddites and non-techies. In web analytic parlance, conversion simply means turning visitors to your website into paying customers. Conversion is the goal, the reason your website exists. Conversion is how you stay in business, grow your company and sustain your existence.
The rest of your SEO — keywords; fresh, unique copy; links and backlinks; long-form original articles and more — drive visitors to your website. You may be doing a bang-up job of getting them there, but now you have to concentrate your efforts on not just keeping them there, but making converts out of them.
Conversion Theory
So here are seven basic steps you can take, without a whole lot of energy or resources, for making converts out of your visitors to grow your business:
- Spell it out. Don’t leave it to your visitors’ imaginations to figure out what you do, who you are, and how to make a purchase. Nice flowery, ambiguous copy may please your English teacher or your poetry club, but clear, straightforward language results in higher conversions.
- Use calls to action. Leave no room for questions when making converts. “Buy now,” “Click here for more information,” “Call us today,” “Choose the best option for you” and/or “Hire Us” — all are calls to action that are at the core of conversion marketing.
- Make it easy to convert visitors into customers. Provide online payment plans that are open to everyone. Whenever possible, avoid sign-ups and extra demands of customers before they are allowed to buy (unless you want to remain exclusive — then by all means create hoops).
- Provide answers that are relevant to your customers without making them ask. Let them know how long delivery will take, for example, or when they can expect a returned call. Provide easy access to contact numbers and contact forms and then follow-up on those contacts.
- Make your offers clear and easy to use. Keep options limited to two (three at the most) to prevent analysis paralysis. It’s usually best to display prices to individual consumers, but if you’re a B2B site that caters to small and medium-sized clients, provide a few special offers just to let visitors know that you’re competitive.
- Display testimonials throughout your website. And yes, even on the front page. Testimonials help making converts out of visitors by reassuring them they are in good company. Drop names. Just like in job interviews, conversion tactics leave no room for humility.
- Have your website assessed for ease of use. One of the services Ray Access offers is a web assessment. While you may have a new website that you can easily follow, you need to know how well the average Joe and Jane (or Mark and Linda) can navigate your site.
Still not convinced? Contact us today for more information. The longer your website isn’t making converts from your visitors, the more money you’re losing.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
