This will give greater emphasis to the information most relevant to the web page. Google knows that the content at the top of a web page is more likely to represent the page as a whole and its a good idea to make Googles life easier.

I’m a big Foo Fighters fan, I went to see them last year at the Manchester City football club stadium, the show was fantastic, the sound was perfect. Two memories of the gig stand out for me, firstly; We stood midway towards the stage and to our surprise as they started playing the crowd swallowed my wife and me up into the center of a massive lively mosh pit.

Lucy didnt like being in the center of it all, probably the two half naked sweaty blokes either side of us, but I recall my gig shy wife commenting on how pretty and cute it was that some of the crowd brought balloons to pass around the stadium, she didint realize people where throwing condoms at Dave Grohl, very rock n roll.

The other was the sound of one of my favourite riffs of all time at loud volume echoing around the stadium “Everlong”:

Heres another little Foo Fighters taster in case you havent heard: Long Road To Ruin:

Tone is integral to this process.

Before putting pen to paper, or finger to keypad, once again consider your audience!

Whatever you’re selling, whatever angle you’re promoting, it’s crucial to imbue it with a voice and personality that speaks direct to the reader.

Doing so can prove a technical challenge. The copywriter is faced with a barrage of tools equally capable of excavating or burying the emotional selling point of the product.

Like a good golfer, pick the right club.

It’s no good strapping a tag-line to face cream proclaiming ‘it does what it says on the tin’. This is unlikely to appeal to the intended audience and who would want to spread Ron Seal on their face? Not me.

Active versus passive

In exposing the emotional selling point of your product, decide whether to use an ‘active’ or ‘passive’ voice. When it comes to web copy there is no fixed rule on this but generally the ‘active’ voice imbues text with more immediacy and pace.

And given that people rarely read web pages word for word, why not try adopting an informal and personal manner as well?

An informal feel can easily be derived from first person usage of words such as ‘I’, whereas the third person, ‘he’ or ’she’, as well as the ‘passive’ voice, conveys a more formal feel.

Of course, this may suit your project. But either way, just make sure the shoe fits the foot. I call this the Cinderella Complex – no really, I do.

Tonal tinkering

Once you’ve settled on an ‘active’ or ‘passive’ voice, there are a number of other key elements you may want to consider.

Ask yourself this: is slang appropriate? Many sayings are geographically and culturally specific, so make sure your message isn’t lost in translation.

Also decide whether your copy is jargon heavy.

Consider for a second that clichéd moment in so many movies where a bemused president calls on his chief scientist to repeat his prediction of the world’s end “in plain English”. The scientist proceeds to translate the scientific equation into language the audience understands: “Mr President, all hell is about to break loose!”

So don’t overwhelm the reader with jargon and technical terms, distill your message down to its most basic elements.

Humour is also a tricky one. Numerous television adverts, for instance, embrace broad humour in a bid to grab the viewers’ attention. But in the case of web copy it can be hard to make a joke jump off a one-dimensional computer screen.

Humour, of course, is subjective: what one person finds funny will leave others scratching their heads.

Done properly though, it can help spice up your copy and sound a unique voice the reader won’t forget. But as we said at the beginning, let the subject and audience dictate the tone of your copy, this way success is a matter of keystrokes away.

And just remember, people scan webpages, picking out individual words and sentences, so make each one COUNT!

The only real dividing factor between The Good, The Bad, and The Copy, is how successful your content turns out to be in real terms i.e. does it sell your message and reach its intended target?

Well does it…?

As discussed in the previous post, get things underway by ring fencing your audience. This will automatically set you on the right travel of direction with regards to creating winning content.

Now you know who you are writing for it’s time to prepare the necessary ingredients.

Let’s make a cake

As a general guideline, it’s best to set your ego aside when writing for the web. All too often – and on occasion I have fallen victim to this –copywriters lose sight of their audience. Unless the subject demands it, avoid the pitfalls of novelistic devices and flowery prose. If you are writing web copy for a new line of washing machines, a Dickensian one page exposition might not be the most fitting approach.

Sure it sounds good, but does it sell?

Have a look round your room right now – unless you’re sat on a beach – and you’ll be amazed by the extent of copy that falls into your eye line. No doubt you’ve forked out hard-earned money on some of these products so the chances are the copy attached to them is successful.

Typically, but not always, triumphant web copy veers away from the complexities of creative writing in favour of the simplistic.

So complex sentences, long words, jargon-heavy paragraphs may make us look smart, but given the trend for people to scan online, it’s often not the best route.

The key objective is to sell the message.

Flip the coin and where appropriate use short sentences, be snappy and to the point, deploy simple words that are easy to read and don’t require a dictionary.

As George Orwell recognised: why use a long word when a short one will do? Atta-boy George!

Boy George?

So take unnecessarily long words out and parachute simpler equivalents in. In doing so, why not use contractions such as ‘don’t’, instead of ‘do not’, or ‘you’re’, as opposed to ‘you are’.

By limiting the verbiage and getting straight to the point, not only will your content cater for the needs of the online reader, but the visual layout will also become more succinct and easier on the eye.

It’s a win win situation.

Less is often more, just let the subject and your audience dictate the copy.

Wordpress Categories

Wordpress categories are your table of contents, at the front of a book there’s a “Contents” which showcases the main chapters of content for the book. The Categories are the hierarchy of your content.

A blog post normally has one category, though it may fit in one or two categories, or even in sub categories.

Wordpress Tags

Tags are your index words, at the back of a book is an “Index”, a listing of words which you can find specific information. Just like your index in a book your Wordpress tags are a link, but, a hyperlink to related information.

A blog post normally has two or three descriptive tags.

Clients will want you to design and then build the HTML newsletter template, this normally takes me about a day or two. Then each time they want a newsletter my clients send me the plain English info and any images/ photos and I glue it together, test and then send.

Email Marketing Software

I use Campaign Monitor for my email campaigns and I highly rate them, affordable for you and your client the system has some great features; link tracking, multiple subscriber lists,  in depth reports, side by side comparisons and customized email greetings (”Hello John”). It gives you everything you need managing the forms, subscriber lists and reporting, Oh and they also guide you through white listing so your emails will get past spam filters.

Testing HTML Email

The annoying part is testing HTML Emails but Campaign Monitor has that covered too with a built in spam and design test (small cost), but you can also simply open a Googlemail account, Yahoo mail, Hotmail et all, set up a testing account on Outlook /Thunderbird etc and do your own testing the same way you would test your web pages for all the different web browsers.

Both Parties Profit

Usually companies want a newsletter to go out monthly so the potential regular earnings are well worth your good time and as a website marketing tool the returns for your client in terms of conversions can change their business.

Why Companies Should Use Email Marketing

It’s a great way of drawing users back to your website every month, its a great way of informing customers of a product or service release, update them on your latest news or blog posts, ask them to fill in a survey or give feedback, or simply for entertainment.

Your keeping your customers aware of your brand and your products/services, sharing special offers and making them feel special.

The Last Judgment

The most famous fresco is Michelangelo’s Last Judgment which took four years to completion in 1541. Situated on the altar wall, it depicts the souls of humans rising and falling to their fates, judged by Jesus Christ.

The last judgment was famously censored by prudent priests after Michelangelo’s death; Spearheaded by Biagio Da Cesana who  said “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully,” and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather “for the public baths and taverns,” .

Michelangelo went on to get his revenge as he worked in Cesena’s semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld (far bottom-right corner of the painting) with Donkey Ears, with Cesena’s nudity covered by a coiled snake.

It is said that when Cesena complained to the Pope, the pontiff responded that “his jurisdiction did not extend to hell, so the portrait would have to remain.”

Sistine Chapel Video