A Few Strong Words…

One dime is all it cost me and,
I found out for sure you know
That you double-crossed me.
Just how much can I endure?

That little refrain opens the song Innocence by Harlequin for those of you who don’t recognize the words. Of course “one dime” is a metaphor for “a phone call”, harkening back to the days of payphones. But in twenty years from now — maybe less — kids listening to this song will have no clue (a) what a payphone is and (b) that it used to cost a dime.

This also assumes that (a) Harlequin will be still relevant in 20 years and (b) that they ever were…

Although it is interesting to see turns of phrases recede into history, this is not a good thing for the copy that we write for our clients. Often we don’t even think about the copy we write as “aging”. But it does, if we don’t write it correctly. It reflects badly on us (and our clients) giving an unpolished, unprofessional feel to the marketing materials.

Luckily, there are a few things that we as writers can do to prevent it.

Use Absolute Dates

You’ve likely seen this yourself: on one page of a website, it says that the company has been around for “15 years” and in another spot see that the company started in 1991. When you do the math, that’s 17 years. Either they can’t count, or they haven’t updated their marketing materials in a while… If they are this unconcerned about their own business, how concerned will they be about yours?

Use absolute dates where possible. Unless the company started recently, give just the year (for new companies, you can give the month and year). By all means, if it is relevant to the copy, use the exact launch date. But don’t say “seven years ago” or any similar phrase that will be wrong next year.

Update Your Website Copyrights

This is a common one, and especially frustrating because it is so easy to fix. Have you come across a website that says “Copyright 2005″? How does it make you feel? For me, I wonder if this is just another site that got forgotten. Who knows what’s been going on in the past several years?

Here are two ways to keep your copyright notices up to date:

Find and Replace

In Dreamweaver or any other HTML editor, use the Find and Replace tool to change “Copyright 2005″ to “Copyright 2008″ or (better yet) “Copyright 2005-2008″. This lets people know that you are still around, and in the case of the latter, that you’ve been around for a while.

JavaScript

This is my favourite method because every year on January 1, the script updates my copyright notice automatically. It does involve a bit of code, but it is not that difficult. Here is the code that I use for this site:

var d=new Date();
yr=d.getFullYear();
if (yr!=2007)
{
document.write(’<span>© Copyright 2007 ‘);
document.write(”- “+yr);
document.write(’ ‘);
document.write(’<a href=”http://www.strongwhitepapers.com” target=”_top”>Graham Strong</a> ‘);
document.write(’All Rights Reserved<br>’);
document.write(’For more information, please ‘);
document.write(’ <A href=”mailto:gs@strongwhitepapers.com”>Contact Graham Strong</a>’);
document.write(’<br>’);
document.write(’ <A href=”http://www.strongwhitepapers.com/privacypolicy.htm”>Privacy Policy</a> / <A href=”http://www.strongwhitepapers.com/termsandconditions.htm”>Terms & Conditions</a>’);
document.write(’</span><br>’);
}
else
{
document.write(’<span class =”footertext”>© Copyright 2007 ‘);
document.write(’<a href=”http://www.strongwhitepapers.com” target=”_top”>Graham Strong</a> ‘);
document.write(’All Rights Reserved<br>’);
document.write(’For more information, please ‘);
document.write(’ <A href=”mailto:gs@strongwhitepapers.com”>Contact Graham Strong</a>’);
document.write(’<br>’);
document.write(’ <A href=”http://www.strongwhitepapers.com/privacypolicy.htm”>Privacy Policy</a> / <A href=”http://www.strongwhitepapers.com/termsandconditions.htm”>Terms & Conditions</a>’);
document.write(’</span><br>’);
}

Basically what this code does is tell the computer to check the year. If the year is the same as the launch date (in this case, 2007) then it simply says “Copyright 2007″. If the year is not the launch date, then it says “Copyright 2007 - Current Year” (i.e. 2008). You can see the results at the bottom of this page.

Feel free to cut and paste this into your own HTML editor, and change as necessary. You’ll notice too that I’ve added some links to my privacy policy, etc. You can remove these lines if they do not apply. Don’t forget to change “2007″ to the year you launched your website. Then save the whole thing as a JavaScript file like “copyright.js” and upload to your server.

Then place the following code at the spot on the page where you want to insert it:

<script language=”JavaScript” src=”copyright.js” type=”text/javascript”></script>

Save, upload, and you’re done!

Copyrights on Brochures

Sometimes you’ll find the need to add a copyright notice to a brochure, ebook, PDF document, or some similar document, which can lead to dated material. First you may want to consider whether it is worth adding in the first place. After all, in this day and age, people will take any information that suits them, and a copyright notice will not stop them.

(Not that this is right, mind you. My point is: Why put up an ugly chain link fence to keep tanks out of your yard?)

However if you feel that you must add it, then you should update it every year, or at least before you send out the copy again. There is no easy way to do this — you’ll simply have to go through these documents and do it manually. (Find and Replace is a great shortcut though.) Sometimes you can do this right on the PDF file if you have the full version of Adobe Acrobat, though usually you will have to change it on the original file (Word, Quark, etc.) and reprint the PDF.

Version Control

Quite often we use a date at the bottom of a document to designate the version. Usually, this is in the form of a date i.e. Jul08. Obviously, this can lead to a dated feel to your documents.

Sometimes this is fine. For example, if it is an internal document like a policy paper or a guidebook, it might actually be beneficial to have the date listed somewhere in the document.

But if the document will be sent out the general public, this will make the document look dated after a number of months or years.

Here are two ways to track the document date/version:

Encode the Date

You can easily convert the date on a Gregorian Calendar (the one we use now) to what is called a “Modified Julian Day”. The description of this calendar is fairly extensive so I won’t go into it here (Google it if you are truly interested) but essentially it is a calendar based strictly on the number of days. For example, July 30, 2008 converts to 54677.

The math used to calculate a Julian day is fairly straightforward, but luckily there are converters on the Internet that will do the work for you like this one:

http://www.diagnosis2012.co.uk/conv.htm

Today’s date will automatically be inserted, so just scroll down to the “Modified Julian Day” box to find out the number. Add this to the bottom of your documents instead, and only the very enterprising will know how to convert this back to the original date.

In the future, when you want to check the date on your document, go back to a converter, enter the Julian number, and calculate the date.

Record the Date Internally

You can simply keep a version date built right into the original document. For example, you could name your Word file “My Document 080730″ so that the date is right in the file name. When you create your PDF, leave the date out so that the name is simply “My Document”. Not as slick as the above example, but just as effective.

Dated File Names

This one was just mentioned above, but it warrants its own section. Don’t add dates to PDFs or other file names that you are sending to the public. Yes, people can look up the date in the PDF or Word properties, but there’s not much you can do about that short of reprinting every few months.

Remove “Last Modified” Tags from Your Website

Um, really? This is a classic case of “just because we can do it doesn’t mean that we should”. Back in the old days, it was cool to show when you last updated your page. Microsoft FrontPage made it even more popular by adding a button to the program that automatically inserted this on your page.

But really you are just setting yourself up. Yes, the information may still be current, but that won’t be the perception if you advertise the last time you set your rates was January 23, 2004.

On the flip side, you can easily add a line of script that tells the website visitor that your website was Last Modified today — every time they come to visit. I do not recommend this. Not only is this misleading, but your visitors are not stupid. They’ll figure out the trick eventually, and could be ticked off that you are trying to throw one over on them. (Because hey, you are…)

And does having the last modified date on your web page really add any value anyway?

My advice: take out these tags altogether.

Conclusion

There are likely times when you do not have control over your clients’ websites, ebooks, brochures, and other finalized documents. Perhaps you are just there to write the copy, and a graphic designer does the rest. If this is the case, the only things you have control over are how dates are presented within the copy.

But if you notice other things about your clients’ content (i.e. out-of-date copyright notices on their websites, etc.) it wouldn’t hurt to mention it to them. They may not act on it, but they’ll appreciate your attention to detail — and that will certainly help you get the next project they have.

What about you? Any ideas for avoiding dated content? Let me know by leaving a comment!

~Graham

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In the first two posts of this series, I asked Do Blogs Work? and What the Heck is Blog ROI? As I’ve mentioned, I think it is important to measure your Blog ROI, but there are difficulties with this since your “investment” is mostly in time rather than money. The other difficulty, which I want to cover here, is measuring the success of your blog. In short, what defines a successful blog?

Brian Clark at Copyblogger wondered out loud if RSS Subscriber Numbers Were Bogus. He states that the best way to measure the success of your blog is to measure the number of subscribers you have.

Now you’ll notice in the comments section that this brought forth a whole slew of ideas about what makes a blog successful. It boils down to these:

• Number of Subscribers
• Number of Comments
• Number of “Regulars” (Subscribers who actively read and comment on every post)
• Amount of Traffic (or “Hits”)

I’m going to add two more here that weren’t mentioned, but (in my opinion) should be:

• Number of Trackbacks (Most useful for measuring the success of an individual post, but could also be aggregated…)
• Number of Blogroll mentions and related links

Defining Your Own Success

Everyone, it seems, has a different viewpoint. But before you can measure the success of your blog, you need to define your end goals. If you derive ad revenue from your blog, then amount of traffic and number of subscribers will be important. If you are trying to create a community, then number of comments and number of contributing regulars is more important.

If you are trying to attract new clients, then I think traffic is best measure of a successful blog, with number of subscribers only a secondary measure. Here’s why:

Ultimately it is readers, not just “subscribers” who will become your clients — this, I’ll assert, is a theory and one that I will track in the future. But it is an educated guess, based on the following.

We know that SEO works. People search for certain keywords, find links to your website, and convert into sales. We also know that blogs help boost your SEO on several different levels: providing more content to be “found” in searches, increasing your relevancy, and others.

So it follows that no matter what you call your content, whether “articles” or “blog posts” or “web pages”, readers will find your content and in turn contact you about your services.

However this doesn’t mean that you should ignore building both your subscriber list and your number of comments. They are important perceived measures — a potential client who stumbles upon your website will likely be impressed with your subscription base and the number of comments your posts generate. You will more likely be seen as a thought leader in your field.

It also doesn’t mean that subscribers will not become clients as well. In fact, some very well may. And these will probably become your best clients, the champions of your services, and clients with whom you’ll build a strong, long-lasting relationship.

Another advantage of trying to build your subscriber list and comments section is that they are good measures of your own content. If you are engaging your readers enough for them to comment and subscribe, then your content will be more likely to connect with your potential client as well.

Lastly, it is also important to note that building your subscriber list, trackbacks, blog roll mentions, and other links to your site, will build your readership. It’s fairly obvious: the more links back to your blog and the more recommendations you get, the more people who will drop by to visit. So although these measures may be “secondary”, they are still important objectives that will help you reach your primary goal.

The Difference Between Blog Posts and Other Web Content

There is a difference between blog posts and other types of web content. The most important is the lack of a call to action. The better articles and web pages have a clear call to action — contact me for a quote, download this free report, etc. Landing pages of course are the ultimate example of this. But blog posts don’t usually have calls to action.

I think this is one area where there is definitely room for improvement. In fact, if we are going to use our blogs to attract clients, we need to somehow incorporate a stronger call to action into our blogs.

I don’t have the answer to this one yet, though I am developing a few ideas… Feel free to chime by leaving me a comment below!

So What Does It All Mean?

My conclusion: blog success for freelancers is ultimately about boosting your readership. Subscribers and engaging comments are also important because they help develop your own image as a thought leader. But just as SEO is about attracting visitors and converting them to clients, so too are blog posts.

However, there are problems with this in the way that we currently blog. With no clear call to action, blog posts will likely not be as effective as other types of web content like landing pages and optimized websites.

Am I wrong here? Is my logic warped? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

~Graham

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A couple of weeks ago, I asked: Do Blogs Work? I was surprised to find that this topic took off like a rocket, and was picked up by several bloggers across the Internet:

• How Do You Feel About Marketing Your Writing Business?
• What is Your Writing Blog Doing for You?
• Inspiration Points: Abraham Lincoln’s Secret
• When Blogging Is Not Enough
• Do Blogs Really Earn Business?

In comments to my original post and in these follow-ups, some said blogs could improve your business, if done the right way and if part of a larger marketing plan (notably James from Men with Pens). Others said that the time and work involved could be better applied elsewhere, if you are looking at a purely marketing point of view. A third group said “Who cares?” since blogging for them is just for fun.

Tom Chandler of the Copywriter Underground also pointed out that some freelancers may use a blog as a way of avoiding less desirable but more active methods of marketing like cold calls.

(If you like, you can read all the comments here.)

But except for a select few, bloggers are not sure what impact — if any — their blog is having on their marketing efforts. I realized that I was in that group of people who couldn’t accurately measure my blogging results.

So, I decided to put my money (or at least my time) where my mouth was, and set out to devise a way to determine Blog ROI.

Why the ROI?

Should we measure any type ROI in the first place? I think so. I think it’s important to gauge how well our marketing efforts are working. But some marketing methods are definitely easier to measure than others.

For example, it is fairly easy to track your costs and your response rate (along with other important statistics) with Google Adwords. Ultimately, this allows you to track your Return On Investment or ROI. The idea of course is to measure how effective your marketing is in terms of dollars (pounds, drachma…) spent. The formulas are so simple even a writer can use them:

• Adwords costs/Number of New Contracts = Cost of Acquisition (of Each New Contract/Client)
• Income Generated/Adwords Costs = Income Generated Per Advertising Dollar

Now here’s the “tricky” one:

• (Income Generated-Adwords Costs)/Adwords Costs*100 = Return On Investment or ROI (represented as a percentage)

If I spend $1,000 on Adwords and get $5,000 in contracts, then my ROI is:

($5,000-$1,000)/$1,000*100 or 400%.

By trying different marketing methods and comparing the results, you can gauge which advertising method gets you the best bang for your buck. You can do this monthly, yearly, or during the life of a specific Adwords campaign.

The Difficulty in Calculating Blog ROI

So if we accept that we should measure ROI of our marketing, and we look at blogging — at least partially — as marketing, then it follows that we should examine our Blog ROI.

But how do you measure blog results?

First of all, the investment is in time, not money (except, perhaps, for any web or graphic design work you contracted out, etc.). And second, unless someone says: “Hey, I read your blog, and I want to hire you…” there is no obvious way to make a direct connection between your blog and a new client and/or contract.

I should point out that this question is not new in the corporate world, where the demand for demonstrated Blog ROI is likely much higher than the freelance world. I came across two articles (there are many) that became my reference points:

• http://www.rickwhittington.com/blog/calculating-business-blog-roi/
• http://blogs.forrester.com/charleneli/2006/06/calculating_the.html
  

Now I think that it is important to point out that these posts are written with larger companies in mind. Charlene in the Forrester blog asks how corporate bloggers can justify their blogging time. As she says, blogging is part of her work as an analyst and (hopefully) gains goodwill for her corporation, among other things. But she cannot accurately gauge how her blog here will impact sales over at another part of the company.

And that is a big difference. Freelancers generally handle the front end and back end of marketing and client acquisition, so we do have that advantage. Whereas measuring impact is almost impossible at a larger company, there must be some way for us freelancers to see how many (if any) clients we attracted directly or indirectly through our blog.

I’m going to try to find out just how easy it is to measure, and share that with you in coming posts. In the meantime, let me know how you feel about Blog ROI. Is it important? Am I on the right track here? Am I off my rocker? Let me know!

~Graham

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Here’s a thought that makes you glad it’s Friday: Paris Hilton is a more famous writer than you.

I caught a bit of David Letterman last night (a re-run, I think), and Paris Hilton was a guest. Now don’t get me wrong, she seems like a nice person. But what is the fascination? She is like a train wreck still happening, marked by the incessant, nails-on-a-chalkboard screech of the brakes that never quite take. I truly hope that the “ditzy blonde” image she portrays is an act.

But what is most depressing is that she is a published author. People who haven’t even read Shakespeare or Fitzgerald or Tom Robbins have read Paris. Of course at the bottom of the cover — if you squint — you’ll see that the book was written “with Merle Ginsberg”. She is even more famous as a writer than the writer who actually wrote the book.

I know this is starting to sound a bit like a rant. It’s not really meant to be, but hey, read into it as you will. I like to think it’s more a commentary on the state of the world today (or likely how it has always been…)

And for us corporate copywriters out there, it is an important lesson. Talent and hard work are great, but marketing is everything.

~Graham

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It nagged at me before I started this blog, it continued to tug at my sleeve as I wrote, and now it’s starting to whisper in my ear with increasing volume… If we are writing blogs to increase sales, are we going about this the right way?

James over at Men with Pens says that he and Harry generate business from their blog. That, for many of us, is a great end result. But I can’t help but feel that most of us are sort of huddled in these little dark alleys across the Internet, quietly talking about writing amongst ourselves. Although it is certainly social and helps us all develop our writing/business skills, I’m not sure it is useful for attracting new clients.

I think blogs have a lot of great potential, but for me anyway (I can’t speak for anyone else) there is room for tweaking.

What do you think? Are blogs about sharing writing tidbits and patting each other on the back? Should we expect to derive measurable business from blog writing? Or is it all just for fun anyway? I’d like to know!

~Graham

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