Today I’m excited to share a guest post from Holly Jackson of Cottage Copy. Holly is sharing her suggestions for improving the writing on your website to help market your unconventional biz. Thanks Holly!
Today I’m going to give you three easy ways to improve the parts of your website that freak you out the most. All the advice you read on the web says that you have to be yourself while being professional, but there aren’t many practical tips on how to actually do that in your writing. I’m a fan of easy and actionable marketing items, so today we’re going to do just that.
1. Dig Into Yourself, and Find Your About Page.
I had a consulting session with a client the other day who was struggling with putting together a website that reflected her eclectic personality. Over the course of the session, she told me a quick story about how her business came to be. She had been kayaking, and had dropped her Blackberry in the water by accident. As she watched it sink down to the bottom of the river, she experienced a moment of clarity about two major things in her life. First, she realized that she really needed a tougher case for her electronics (she now is starting a business that manufactures them). More importantly, she realized that she’d literally watched a thousand business connections from her current job sink to the bottom of the river, and she didn’t care one bit. In fact, she was happy. She knew at that moment she had to start a business.
I paused for a moment in shock, and then told her that if she wrote out that story exactly like she had told it to me, she had an about page better than anything I could have given her.
Chances are that you started your business because you were passionate about your art and your products. Your about page is far more than a place to show off your credentials; it’s a place to show off why your business was created in the first place. Many of us have these flashes of understanding that cause us to start a business, even if we didn’t see them that way at the time.
When was your moment of clarity? What did it teach you? Dig deep, find it, and put it out there for everyone to see.
2. Speak to the Average User.
Whenever you run any kind of speciality business, you get used to working with certain terms. I spend hours each week talking about ROI, bounce rates, narrative copy, and white pages. It’s easy to forget that these sound like Greek to someone who doesn’t work in my field.
Owners of any kind of creative business (including arts, crafts, and jewelry business owners) can easily fall into the same trap. This seems to come out especially clearly when you’re putting up a store. As a writer, I frequently find navigating these sites to be a challenge.
“Click here to view the cool color wheel.”, I’ll read. And then I won’t click, because I don’t think I could tell a warm color from a cool color at gunpoint. I feel intimidated, and stupid, and like I’m not the right buyer, even if I think the product is gorgeous.
When you write your products and product descriptions, make sure that you’re writing for non-artists as well as your colleagues. When in doubt, don’t assume that any terminology that you know will be familiar to your audience, and keep things as user-friendly as possible.
Having said that, this doesn’t mean that you have to write for the average third grader either. Make your copy as wacky and stylish as you want: you can write in voices, turn it into a film noir, or make bad puns as long as you’ve covered the basics first. Once you’ve nailed down the details clearly, the sky is the limit on how creative you can be.
3. Blog As Yourself.
Everyone knows they need a blog. Most people even have one. What everyone doesn’t know is that blogging as yourself, warts and all, is the best way to convert readers into fans and customers.
If you’re struggling with finding your blogging voice, try this experiment. Sit down and write a post that is purely about yourself: it can be about your dog, your day, or just something you read online that bothered you. Don’t worry about whether it’s readable, or even entertaining. When you’ve got it down, go back through it and try and figure out what statement it makes about you. Can you relate this issue or opinion to your business? Were you having a really bad day because starting a company is hard and you were on the verge of having a meltdown? That can be a very effective blog post.
Many people feel like once they start a blog, they have to be using it to sell all the time. Truthfully, it’s very hard to find your voice when you’re stressed out about selling all the time. In most cases, it’s better to leave the selling to your sales pages and let yourself run free on the blog. After all, your business is more than your art. It’s made from your heart and your passion, and you deserve to let that all hang out.
Holly Jackson is the mastermind behind Cottage Copy, and a specialist in marketing high-end weirdness. Her current passion is starting the new marketing revolution at her Kaffeeklatsch program.
Jewelry Assembly Chicks
I have a “specialized” website (I don’t really sell stuff, I sell a service) that I really had to take apart and reword and it has made a huge difference. As for writing descriptions, put dictionary.com and urbandictionary.com (that one is good for when you need new words for your blog! Fun!) up on your tool bar. It’s great to just click on it when you get stuck for definitions or need a synonym, instead of sitting there trying to think of new words. And blogging about yourself?? So true. At first my hubs said, “Really? Who can relate to that?” Well guess what? A lot of people! So do blog about trials and tribulations because we can learn from your mistakes, what wisdom you’ve gained on some new fangled product or gizmo and any insider tips to avoid disasters. I, for one, want to know! Thanks again!
Holly
@JewelryAssemblyChicks
When I first started blogging, I blogged about all of these professional marketing and copywriting things 100% of the time. I got no comments. One day, I got really frustrated with work stuff and blogged about it, and all of the sudden I had all these comments and interactions! People really do want to know about you the person as well as you the business, even though everyone says that your business blog should always be about your audience and never yourself.
Stephanie
Holly, my blog followed the exact same pattern!
Granted, I still don’t get a TON of comments on my blog… but when I started it, it was exclusively about the things I was doing to start my business. It was more a place for me to record my thoughts than a marketing tool at that point, and the first 20 or so posts got a grand total of 4 comments. As soon as I let a little bit of my personal life find its way into my blog, suddenly it seemed like some people out there were interested in what I had to say.
Stacey Halphen
I love the advice about blogging. Within the last couple of weeks, I finally decided to face my fears and face my blog head on. I had not been writing on my blog in part due to the fear that I would not write the proper content for a blog linked to my stationery business. What has helped me most is to let go of what I think I should be blogging about, and just write from my heart. I know I have only written a few posts since facing my fears, but I am really proud of the content.
Gina
I love #3. I try to do that as much as possible. Personally, I don’t enjoy blogs that are all about promoting a business and not at all about the person behind the business.
Holly
@Stephanie
That’s great that you’ve found that balance with your blog. It’s a hard line to walk sometimes, and it can make the writing process harder on some days. I think in the long run, you’ll create more fans that way though.
There are so many choices online when it comes to spending money, that it helps to be someone that people care about and want to support. Clearly you’re doing that well!
@Stacey Ooh, stationery? I love stationery. It’s so easy to get sucked up in the idea of “proper content” and just write a flavorless blog because you think you have to. Proper content, for your blog, is truly whatever you choose to make it.
Congratulations on facing your blogging fears. I still have them some days, so I really admire people who are taking the challenge of blogging head on.
@Gina
I agree, a blog needs to have a personality for me to keep reading. And for many people, their business is based on their personality, so it’s all one thing, really.
The Amber Dawn
Wow! Funny how the most repetitious and obvious “tips” and “hints” you read all over the place can actually be described in a way that makes sense! Before reading this, I wouldn’t have believed it. Thank you so much, I’m going to have to go see if I can continue the trend and use this fabulous bounty of knowledge to my advantage.
Make, Do & Send
This makes perfect sense! Thanks for giving me some food for thought 🙂
Faith
I’m slowly warming up to the notion of including descriptions about the artist (me!) on my website and blog. It’s hard because I’m probably the only girl ever who hates keeping journals and diaries. I’d rather write about non-fiction content and how-to stuff.
However, the benefit of describing something about the artist and her creative process is that it builds a sense of connection in cyberspace to at least replace the feeling of meeting in person. This also builds trust and communication, along with approachability.
Mary
I was just thinking about my blog this morning. I had been talking about product and selling for a few weeks and was so bored that I couldn’t stand it. So two days ago, I started talking about the stuff that interests me about the world. Then, I wasn’t bored. I guess what I am saying is that if I am bored, then maybe others are too.
Julie
JeffSorry mean to say I like big black dicks and black hanging low balls I am 13 but I still allow my daddy to butt rape me..he’s got a bf and he let’s me suck him off and I soawllw his semen I would like to try eating PuSsY someday but I’m scared. DW do you still take it up the Butt by Haley?