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Landing Page Makeover Clinic #28: IntelligentEditing.com

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This is another addition to our ongoing series of tutorials and case studies on landing pages that work. Daniel Heuman’s software helps writers, editors, translators, and proofreaders prepare error-free documents with greater ease and speed. He tried and abandoned PPC (pay-per-click) advertising, as he discovered the folks who clicked through weren’t his best prospects. (That’s a technique that almost certainly deserves some more thought and attention another time.) Daniel is now marketing directly to prospects via email and showing some success, but he feels more can be done. Let’s see what we can do. The Goal: Generate enough free-trial downloads to sell 3 licenses a day. The Problem: If folks are downloading a free-trial and not converting, it’s a product vs. value problem. If the problem is growing the numbers of prospects to take the free trial, that’s a traffic problem. If interested prospects are visiting the site or landing page and not engaging with the message, that’s a conversion problem. The Current Landing Page (homepage): http://intelligentediting.com Value: $90.00 Click image for larger view The Maven’s 10-Point Critique My personal take is that Daniel needs to generate enough traffic – via organic, SEM and social media channels – to grow his own mailing list to which he can continue marketing to his heart’s content. A stronger, more effective homepage would offer an overall boost to his ongoing marketing efforts. #1– Make your case in the first screen with a strong, provocative headline. Why would a professional writer or editor pay $90 for additional proofreading functionality? The rational reason: Cleaner, error-free documents. The emotional reason: To look better in the eyes of a boss/client/customers. Sloppy work reflects badly on the writer and the company represented. Clean work makes everyone feel good and confident. So while the current headline: “Proofread Faster, Proofread Better” is a clear statement, I’m wondering how we can juice it up a little? How about: Just One Typo Can Rob You of Credibility and Cash You’ve just gone from “reasonable” to “irresistible” with a provocative headline that resonates emotionally with the visitor. #2 — Add more oomph to the tagline. Again, your tag is very clear on the most basic of benefits: Cleaner, Smarter, Better Documents That’s a good start, but then I’m thinking … why and for what? A great exercise for headlines and taglines is to take your basic feature or surface benefit and “Why? Because!”or “So what?” your way through it until the core emotional truth is revealed. Try working these words (or their variants) into your tagline: polished presentation reflection #3 — Invite your visitors to take your video tour from the get-go. You already have a nice little video, yet you’ve basically hidden it from view. Slap it on your homepage and do a voice-over track. I found watching the material without a guiding voice unnerving. Your voice-over would allow you to expand on the action in the video and highlight those areas of greater interest. Don’t hide the good stuff. Warm it up and share it. #4 — Be upfront about who this product is and isn’t for. The only place I see “MS Word for Windows” is in teeny type under your box illustration. I’d give this more push so Mac users can grunt and grumble under their collective breath and move quickly elsewhere. #5 — Keep sprinkling the goodies that keep visitors thinking “This is for me!” Highlight the product’s ability to proof both British and American English. This capability strikes me as huge benefit for writers/editors working internationally. You also have a strong guarantee. Get it on a homepage badge and show it off. And you make customized versions — another wow, especially for those working in big organizations. #6 — Rework your navigation for greater clarity. You’ve hidden a lot of the product goodies in secondary position in terms of your primary navigation. I suggest the following revisions: Primary navigation HOME Features Success Stories (Testimonials & Case Studies) Reviews Resources Download & Pricing Contact Us Secondary navigation: About Us — FAQ & Tutorials — Forum — Blog — Support #7 — Build your traffic organically with smarter SEO. This is your current title tag for search: Intelligent Editing — Cleaner, Smarter, Better Documents A tagline, though, isn’t necessarily a good meta title — and it’s the title tag plus the content that Google sizes up and determines your topic and site relevancy. So let’s adjust and get some primary keyword phrases in the front of the title like this: Proofreading & Editing Software for MS Word Documents :: Intelligent Editing I didn’t do the research to determine if these are indeed the best keyword phrases , but you get the idea. Frontload the terms that your prospects are using to find you … and add the product name, too. #8 — Build your mailing list with a newsletter and a blog. Since your email campaigns have been pretty effective for you, that means you need to add more names to your list so you can continue doing — and expanding on–– what works for you. Add a newsletter sign-up and offer one or more of your current resources as a bonus for subscribing. Add a blog, too. It doesn’t have to be fancy or involved. See tumblr.com or preposterous.com for some easy-to- implement ideas. #9 – Connect with your prospects with social media. Build your authority in this niche space on this niche topic via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. If there are writer/editor specific social media venues, make sure you have a presence there, too. Social media is a long-term strategy to building credibility and a fan base that trusts you and ultimately your products for purchase #10 — Tweak your homepage with one big Call to Action. Click image for larger view I’ve tweaked your current homepage to reflect and illustrate the suggestions I’ve made here. (I know you didn’t want me to, but honest, I just couldn’t help myself. ) You could easily flip the placement of the video and headline/bullet/call-to-action sections. (Mea culpa for the incomplete sentences, dangling participles, and other little idiosyncrasies that make editors weep and gnash their teeth. All I can say in my own defense is this: “I’m a copywriter.”) My thanks to Daniel Heuman for his patience and support of Heifer International. Look for my next makeover in approximately 4 weeks. About the Author: Roberta Rosenberg is The Copywriting Maven at MGP Direct, Inc . Find her @CopywriterMaven on Twitter. If you’re interested in a private page makeover, site audit, or other services, please email Roberta directly .

3c3b757d57button.gif Landing Page Makeover Clinic #28: IntelligentEditing.com

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Landing Page Makeover Clinic #28: IntelligentEditing.com

Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of June 7, 2010

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The following is a transcript of the Copyblogger editorial meeting in Austin, Texas, on June 8, 2010. BRIAN CLARK: I’ve had it up to here with Johnny Marr. Having him write the Weekly Wrapup was a big mistake. Always with the scones; constantly with the scones. He ordered five dozen of them to eat with his tea and then still ate my danish. Then he started throwing the stale scones out the window, to knock pigeons off the ledge. SONIA SIMONE: I’m tired of the Smiths references. Jon told a joke the other day and Marr said, “That joke isn’t funny anymore. It’s too close to home and it’s too near the bone.” Then he read one of my posts and commented, “Bigmouth strikes again.” Let’s face it: Time for a new Johnny. JON MORROW: We could get Johnny Thunders. Or Johnny Cash. Or Johnny Bravo. SS: Dead. Dead. Cartoon. JM: Johnny Carson. Johnny Rotten. Johnny Knoxville. Johnny Depp. The Johnny from that weird book about a study about a film about a house. SS: Dead, British, insane, charges $16 million to show up. Don’t know the last one. BC: [Sigh] I’ll just call Truant. Maybe I can keep him in line with those photos I have of him. You know the ones I mean – with the walruses. SS: Okay, next item on the agenda: Adding a “chicken farming” module to Teaching Sells. All in favor? So, to hail the triumphant return of Johnny B. Truant … here’s what happened this week on Copyblogger: Monday: Are You Too Lazy to Write Less? Chris Garrett wrote this short post about the value of brevity in promotional or sales copy. How long should something be? Long enough to get your point across… and that’s it. So if you were writing a teaser about this post, you might say that the post was about why brevity sells, and then stop writing. Read the full post here . P.S: In person, Chris kind of sounds like Ringo Starr, so this post is even more fun if you hear it in Ringo’s voice. Tuesday: How to Use Stories to Change the World Cheers go to Maggie Lemere and Zoë West for their project to share the stories of the people of Burma (who can’t efficiently share their own stories). On the other hand, jeers go to Maggie Lemere and Zoë West for writing a post that I can’t joke about while writing about it for the Wrap-Up. I could possibly go the Ralphie May route and say something stupid and then say how I understand, that a lot of people died in that joke. But instead I’ll say that I’m pretty happy to be able to make my stupid jokes freely and to not worry too terribly much about being shot for no reason. Then I’ll say that you should read this post, and that if you have any more thoughts about spreading the stories of the voiceless, you should really hop in on the comments and share them. Read the full post here . Wednesday: How to Rescue Your Readers from Purchase Paralysis There must be some seriously scared people around here recently. I mean, I got fired for missing the second of a 2-part fear post, and now this one by James Chartrand about frightening your customers. Or I guess helping them out of their fear — although I prefer to jump out at them wearing goblin masks and wielding a a bloody machete, which is basically the same concept. Whether you’re a firefighter trying to get someone out of a burning building or a marketer trying to get someone over their hesitation to buy, the concepts are the same. You have to acknowledge their fear and help them to move anyway. Then you have to dangle several stories above a raging inferno from the arm of Kurt Russell while he says, “You go, we go!” in a heroic fashion * . You want your customers to move out of paralysis and buy? Then set a building on fire. You heard it here first. * “You go, we go!” is distinct and different from Yu-Gi-Oh! ” Read the full post here . Thursday: Play Connect-the-Dots to Win at Online Marketing In this post, Sonia Simone cleverly tries to act as if she doesn’t spend hours each day doing connect-the-dot pictures by talking about it in the past sense. But the thing she says about connecting the dots in order to create a REAL pony? Yeah, she’s literally hoping that’s going to happen. She’ll deny it, but it’s true. In an online marketing context, connecting the dots is all about taking free stuff and putting it together to form a cogent marketing or business strategy without spending any (or much) money. You can get a great education from free stuff tossed out by smart content marketers, but you’ve gotta know how to go from one to the other as if you were turning dots into a picture of SpongeBob Squarepants, so read on. (Incidentally, this post made me think of Pee-Wee Herman singing “Connect the dots, la-la-la-la-la,” and now it’s stuck in your head, too. You’re welcome.) Read the full post here . Friday: What All Content Creators Need to Learn From Roger Ebert Just to show how totally out of the loop I am, I had no idea that Roger Ebert had a bout with cancer until I read this post by Mark Dykeman. And when I read the line about how he can’t talk, eat, or drink, I thought, “Wow, that would really suck.” But then you get an analysis like this one and you kind of walk away getting the impression that while it almost certainly DOES suck sometimes, losing a lot of his jaw doesn’t really keep a dude like Ebert down. Which leads to the lessons for the rest of us. You know, most of us being able to talk, eat, and drink, but still not pulling off what Ebert does, or even giving it nearly the effort that he has. If you’re creative in any way (or trying to be) or if you develop any kind of content (or are trying to do so), you should really read this to see what you can learn from a survivor. Read the full post here . About the Author: Johnny B. Truant has a dumb blog at JohnnyBTruant.com and is one of the guys behind Question the Rules . You should also really check out his Jam Sessions with Charlie Gilkey, because they’re filled with tasty informational nuggets that will make your business better.

Johnny Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap Up: Week of June 7, 2010

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of June 7, 2010

Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of May 31, 2010

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Last week , Brian threatened to replace me as the writer of the Copyblogger Weekly Wrap-Up. All because I left for vacation without writing up the second post from last Friday, and chose instead to lay on the beach ogling bikini girls. The ensuing confrontation on Monday was quite heated. “Yeah, I ditched … what are you going to do about it?” “I MADE you and I can BREAK you,” Brian responded, frothing angrily. “It’s JOHNNY’S wrap-up,” I yelled back. “That name has mindshare, baby. You can’t fire me now because then there will be no JOHNNY. Check and mate!” Unfortunately, he outfoxed me and I will retire after writing this intro. I hope you enjoy the remainder of this Wrap-Up, which has been written by the former guitarist for The Smiths, Johnny Marr . Here’s what happened this week on Copyblogger: Tuesday: How to Dominate Your Niche Without Apology This rollicking post was written by one Nathan Hangen, who explains why apology is bollocks when you’re trying to do your internet bloggery thing. Why stop in advance of trying to make a point to tell your readers, “Right-o, this is just my own opinion, and I’m not trying to convince you that it’s totally on the mark – you can just take it as being my own thoughts on the matter.” That’s rubbish, and much too British for most of you. If you want to dominate your niche, you say what you have to say as if it’s fact, and you don’t pussy-foot about it. Consider that Morrissey wanted us to play “Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning” and that several of us said, “Steven, honestly … what’s with you saying, ‘Hooray’ repeatedly while the girl is going under?” Do you think he knuckled under and said, “It’s my opinion that this lifeguard is lazy and might do such a thing?” No. He said, “Shut up and play, Johnny … I have a hair appointment.” Read the full post here . Wednesday: 8 Reasons Rich People Hate Their Lives I have to say that I didn’t initially agree with the title of this post. Smiths money has me richer than the queen, and now I’m in Modest Mouse and they pay okay too, and I don’t hate my life nearly as much as I hated playing “Vicar in a Tutu,” which, when you think about it, very few rich people are required to do. Yet, some bird named Sonia wrote a whole report on the topic, and I see where she’s going with it. There are successful people like me who love their lives, and people like Morrissey who seem miserable with everything including success. So what makes the difference? You should read her report to find out. (Honestly, Morrissey was a downer even in the best of times, and I’m pretty sure his lawn cuts itself because it’s so emo. So I’d wager that one of the 8 reasons rich people hate their lives is “because they’re Morrissey” — that depressive wank.) Read the full post here . Wednesday part 2: Scribe: New Versions & Better Features I can’t wait to get my proper new website and use Scribe on it. Then when people use Google to find out “ who wrote the greatest Smiths song ever ,” they’ll know it was me, not that miserable fop Morrissey. In fact, let me ring up my web designer this instant. “Hullo? See here chap, is my website live yet?” “You’ve said that before … that joke isn’t funny anymore. I bloody well need an answer!” “Look here – when you say it’s gonna happen now , well when exactly do you mean?” click Bloody web designers. Read the full post here . Thursday: 10 Surefire Ways to Land More Customers This post by David Brim explains how to treat your customers as if they were fish, even if they aren’t fish. If you want them to bite on your offers, you have to “bait the hook properly.” If you want better odds of landing customers, you should “go where the fish are.” If you want to get more business out of existing clients, you “roll them in beer batter and deep fry them.” And if you’re working an upsell, you “serve them with chips and a pint.” So if you want to land more customers, read this post. You could even do it while eating those fish and chips. Just don’t go crazy with the vinegar on the chips, because then you’ll stink and your customers will just say, “Bugger off; You Reek-A!!” Read the full post here . Friday: How to Build a Successful Business with a Small Audience It’s a shame that Truant got sacked because I understand he has some sort of fixation with gnomes, and this post about “small audiences” was cheekily topped with a photo of lawn gnomes. (Lawn gnomes are diminutive, hence a brilliant play on the synonym “small.” Get it? Jolly good fun!) The post itself by Jonathan Mead (who I understand is not diminutive) is about creating a profitable business without having scads of subscribers and readers. Essentially (and Jonathan explains how this is done) you do this by making that small audience very loyal. Which makes sense, really, because though The Smiths weren’t as massively successful as say, the Rolling Stones, our fans would hop into wood chippers on our command. Even the ones who weren’t suicidal already, and I’d guess that was at least 25 percent of them. Read the full post here . About the Author: Johnny Marr is the critically-acclaimed former guitarist for The Smiths , a current member of Modest Mouse , and the composer of “How Soon is Now?,” the greatest Smiths song ever written.

2ad6771f80Johnny.jpg 150x150 Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap Up: Week of May 31, 2010

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Johnny’s Copyblogger Wrap-Up: Week of May 31, 2010