What’s the Best Length for a Business Website?
Planning a website from scratch is a bit like building a house. Where do you begin? How many rooms should you have? Is it possible for a kitchen to be too big? A website can be designed in an infinite number of ways, with an infinite amount of content. If you start without a plan, you’re basically building a house with no blueprint. And that’s not a house I’d like to live in. Your website content can be broken down into two primary categories—the number of pages on your site, and the amount of content on each page. Here’s how to get started. How Many Pages Should My Website Have? If only…
Plain Text vs. HTML Emails: An Easy Guide for Non-Marketers
An email is more than just an email. Some are simple text, like they were written by a friend. Others, especially in ecommerce, are flooded with images, videos, gifs, and other visual elements. There are reasons why some companies keep their email formats simple, and others go for more complicated designs. We’re going to talk about the types of emails you could send to your email list, and what to know before you choose. Plain Text vs. HTML Emails: What’s the Difference? A plain text email is just that: an email that consists of simple text. It has no images, graphics, videos, gifs, or colors, and it’s easy for ALL…
8 Common Copywriting Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
If I stepped into my kitchen right now and tried to whip up a Beef Wellington, it would not go well. Could I make something halfway edible? Maaaaybe. But I’m not a trained chef. Nor an amateur chef, to be honest. My husband is the cook in this family. I just eat gratefully and do the dishes. If you’re a small business owner or marketer, you’ve probably had to step into the role of a copywriter. But crafting effective copy is a skill that requires training and practice, just like running a successful hotel, event venue, restaurant, or making Beef Wellington. And if you’re not a copywriter by trade, you…
11 Overused Words (and Spicier Options to Try Instead)
There are over 170,000 words in the English language. Yet most of us only use around 1,000 words in 89% of our everyday writing. We default to the same overused word choices over and over, which can make each new piece of writing sound much like the last. While there’s value to plain language, we never want to be boring. Next time you write, do a search for any of these yawner words, and swap them out if you can. Overused Words (and Some Spicier Options) These are words that spring to mind without even thinking about them. If something is decent, it’s good. If it’s better than good, it’s…
Get Inspired: Hospitality Copywriting Examples to Feed Your Muse
Good copy does a lot of things. It establishes a brand voice. It connects with the brand’s ideal customer. It clearly explains the product, service, or offer to that customer. And it does all that in a way that makes the prospect want to buy it. One of the best ways to get a feel for good copy is to immerse yourself in it! So I’ve chosen a few examples of hotel, event venue, and restaurant copywriting to serve as inspiration. Each of these independent companies is based in the Austin area, since that’s where I live. My guess is that one may have an internal marketing team that wrote…
Features & Benefits: The BFFs of Great Sales Copy
There was a time in my life where I spent 0% of my days researching skincare. Alas, I am not as young as I used to be. So now, I spend a significantly larger amount of my free time looking up serums and toners, moisturizers and creams, in an effort to stave off the irrevocable vestiges of time marching across my face. The other day, during one of my research seshes, I came across this product description: Are your eyes glazing over yet? Do you have any idea what this product is supposed to do for you other than the vague “target multiple signs of aging at once?” Because I sure don’t. …
Small Copy, Big Impact: Writing Your Call to Action
Ever go to a big event, like a music festival or a food fair? You wait in line and present your tickets, and then…you freeze. Faced with multiple stages, stalls, or activities, you’re unsure where to start. In this scenario, you’ve already paid your admission fee, so this temporary glacial moment is no big deal. But when it happens to people who visit your website—who haven’t decided whether to spend their money with you—this indecision can spell the end of the sale. Even if your business doesn’t technically operate online, chances are you have an online presence. Restaurants take online orders, hotels have web-based reservation software, wedding venues schedule site…
A/B Testing for Better Email Marketing
If you have an email list (and you’re actually using it), you’re probably aware that email marketing has a great ROI. Every time you send an email to your list, you’re either nurturing those leads or trying to make a sale. But if you’re paying attention to the numbers (which we’ll discuss more below), you probably find that some emails do their job better than others. An email you thought was going to be a big money-maker turned out to be a dud. Or one that you dashed off in the five minutes between a site visit and a health inspection brought in beaucoup bucks—and you have no idea why.…
Key Email Marketing Metrics—And What They’re Telling You
In a perfect world, email copywriters could follow a very simple writing formula. They’d type in the same magic words for every single client and get huge sales week after week. Clients would be thrilled. Copywriters would be thrilled. Everyone would be thrilled. In the real world, it doesn’t always work out that way. Each client is different, and so is their market. While there are tried-and-true copywriting tactics that improve your chances of getting great results, there can also be a lot of trial and error along the way as you figure out what your audience responds to. Assessing what works and what doesn’t can be as simple as…
What Is Voice of Customer Data and How Can It Improve Your Copy?
Anything with the word “data” in it sounds intimidating if you’re not a spreadsheet junkie, but it’s not that scary! In fact, we could remove the word “data” entirely from the term, and it would still mean the same basic thing. The voice of the customer (VOC) is basically how a customer would describe you, your products, and services. But it’s their voice, right? So instead of you and your marketing team sussing out what you think customers think, using VOC channels lets them tell you. Directly. In their own words. Why is that valuable in copy? Copywriting is how you convince a potential customer that your service or offering either solves their problem…
