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Out of ideas and out of the market

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010
Steve Kellas

Steve Kellas teaches web copywriting to businesses across the UK

You were a copywriting machine. Even though you had lots of other work in your marketing department, you figured that surely you’d be able to pull together the copy regularly. Your newsletter, or blog, or Twitter feed started out with gusto. You had your 3 articles to publish each month in your newsletter, you posted twice a week on your blog, you Tweeted like @chrisbrogan. Heck, you even had a calendar to follow.

And then it happened. You went silent.

It was small at first. You felt a little twinge of anxiety opening Twitter. You had nothing to say. No biggie, you skipped your Tweets for the day and went back to business.

Then a week went by and you’ve been too busy to blog. No worries. You’ll blog next week.

After 3 or 4 months of newsletters going out regularly, you suddenly ran out of content to email to your list. You felt like you were repeating yourself.

You need professional help

I have seen this happen time and again to busy marketers who felt they could keep up. And you can, for a while. But, eventually something else takes your attention away. You start to fall behind. Then, before you know it, your company is virtually silent online, and you’re out of the market against your more prolific competitors.

This is where the professional writer – the copywriter – can really be your best asset. Here are 5 reasons you need one:

  1. Your copy will be professionally written: Sorry, but if you’re not a copywriter, you’re not going to do a great job. You just don’t have a way with words like a pro does. It’s nothing personal. I’m not good at sculpture and mechanical things. So I pay someone else to be good at those things for me.
  2. Costs less than doing nothing at all: Your marketing works really hard, so why let it suffer by going silent after all that work? Or worse, losing customers because they stop receiving things when they expect them (newsletters, blog posts) and figure you’ve shut down?
  3. When you get busy, they keep writing: This might be obvious, but if you’re paying someone to do a service for you, they keep doing it until you stop paying. So, even if you go on holiday to Mallorca, your newsletter content will be written, your blogs will go up, and your customers will still get what they have come to expect – good content from your business on a regular basis.
  4. You don’t have to come up with all the ideas: Even though we copywriters do occasionally get ‘writer’s block’, we know what to do to get out of it. You probably haven’t had the experience too many times, so it’s harder to get un-stuck. We can help you in the ideas department. In fact, many of us thrive on coming up with ideas.
  5. Scalable content: you don’t have worry about succeeding. There. I said it. If your blog becomes popular, and you find that you should be publishing more frequently, then having someone who can ramp up with it is a great asset. After all, you are already really busy doing your marketing job.

Are you struggling to keep up?

Maybe it’s time you allocated a small portion of your budget and delegate the task of copywriting to a pro.

We’d like to help. Get in touch

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Posted in Blog Copywriting, Copywriting Services, EMail Copywriting, Social Media, web copywriter | No Comments »

Why a good blog ghostwriter should be heard but not seen

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

Derryck Strachan is the Managing Director of Big Star Content

We are blog copywriters for several large clients. Mostly we’re ghostwriters. I could tell you who we work for, but I’d have to kill you, as they say. No really, the terms of our Non- Disclosure Agreements are that strict.

Confidentiality is one of the drawbacks of what we do because I can’t list all the great clients we work for. However, discretion is one of the key factors that corporate clients look for. After all, we’re writing on very technical subjects on behalf of some very senior people, where demonstrating high-level expertise and accurately replicating a very idiosyncratic tone of voice is crucial.

The ghost in the machine

Our clients don’t want their clients to know that actually they’re outsourcing their blogging to a copywriting service. Why? Because their readers have invested in the personal brand of the writer. Destroy that illusion and you destroy the connection.

When is Gordon Ramsay not Gordon Ramsay?

We don’t work with Gordon Ramsay, but I’ve met one of his ghostwriters. One of them. It’s an illusion we all buy into – that successful people are still writing their own content. Even though key personnel are generally too busy to write regular blog posts (let alone get involved in social media marketing) readers still expect it to come from the author they’re following.

It doesn’t even bear much examination – to imagine someone like Gordon Ramsay, or Duncan Bannatyne, or Jamie Oliver, or Richard Branson (none of whom we work with) taking time out of running their multi-million pound empires to write a personal blog every day, or a newspaper column, or a book every six months, just doesn’t stack up. They may do some of those things occasionally but generally the time-money equation doesn’t stack up.

When you’re earning hundreds of pounds an hour why would you spend an hour, two hours writing when you can get someone to do it just as well, if not better, for £40 a hour?

And yet, we ignore that fact and maintain the illusion that they have written it themselves because we don’t want to read Arthur Thomkinson’s Great British Pub Food (Ramsay), or Diane Smith’s 30-minute meals (Jamie), or Alan Stewart’s Wake Up and Change Your Life (Bannatyne).

A ghost writer isn’t just for celebrities

The same is true for businessmen and women from all sorts of organisations. They don’t have the time. You don’t have time. But how can you trust someone else to do it for you? Surely your tone of voice is unique? Surely no one else can represent your expertise? Surely no one else will be good enough?

We work at the top end of blog copywriting so we make sure that our work is indiscernible from the work of even the most expert team member or senior executive. It needs to be because often their readers are their peers, competitors, and a part of their real world network. In short, they could spot the difference and they want the knowledge and expertise of a particular individual not Derryck Strachan (unless you’re reading this blog of course).

Horses for courses

Frequently our work is better than the real author. Again, it’s an issue of time and focus. We’re dedicated to finding new subjects to write about, ensuring posts are targeted to the right audience and the right keywords.

Our clients generally don’t make a living by writing. They make money by running businesses selling a diverse range of products and services. It may sound obvious but a professional writing service should be better at writing than you are. It sounds obvious but we make our living writing, so we have to be good at it.

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How to write a killer blog post in 15 minutes. Ten pro copywriter secrets for INSTANT content generation (PART ONE)

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Derryck Strachan is the Managing Director of Big Star Content

01. Use a punchy headline that works and promises content in a list format.

Also, make sure your headline includes a promise or a series of promises that the reader will receive information that will be of benefit to them. You wanted to read this article because I promised you several things:

  • That I would show you how to do something you don’t already know how to do but that would be useful to you if you learned it
  • That you would be able to learn this thing in a very short space of time
  • That, on finishing the article, you wouldn’t just be able to do it in an average way, you would be able to excel at it
  • That I would impart some secret information that you don’t already possess
  • That I am an expert, so increasing your desire to read what I have to say because what I say must therefore have more value than if written by some average Joe
  • That the content would not be challenging but easy to read because it’s a list

02. Provide your content in a list format.

People love lists. They’re easily digestible with information in bite-sized chunks. They’re also easy to write because your content is clearly defined by the topic of the list. For example, if I told you to write a blog about why Twin Peaks is one of the greatest TV shows of the last thirty years you may struggle. If I asked you to list the five greatest things about Twin Peaks you would be able to rattle them off (provided you’re aged at least 30 or a serious TV nerd)

There are endless types of list you can create. Here are a few

  • Reasons why each of your USPs is so important (for example, “Seven reasons why you need to focus on consistency in your [insert business] service,” “The top 10 reasons why reliability is important to [insert product]”)
  • Top ten things about your sector (with one being directly related to your product or service)
  • Top ten mistakes people make when shopping for your product or service
  • Ten best, ten worst
  • Ten most influential people in your sector (in your city, in your country, in the world)

03. Act like a good SEO copywriter and get your keywords in there

As Robert McKee is so fond of pointing out story is structure – use your keywords to provide the structure for your article, the scaffolding around which you build your content. You already have the list to work with, so when you create the headline for each point, use your keywords as a starting point.

Like here – I wrote down “SEO copywriter” as the title for point 4 then fleshed it out. Get your main keyword in the title and your main and secondary keywords scattered around the blog or article, especially in places like sub-headers.

If it’s a blog post then you can use these keywords as the anchor text for links back to the relevant pages on your main site. If it’s an article, don’t go overboard on the keywords – some article sites reject article with too many keywords. They will also reject article that are overtly promotional or with too many links to your site. Check each article site’s guidelines for their submission criteria.

04. Make sure you give out at least one genuinely useful thing

Even if your content is largely off the top of your head, make sure you give out at least one genuine insight that you know as an expert in your field. Readers want valuable information that they can take with them although in my experience, blogs have a cumulative effect on both readers and search engines. Success is about the consistent delivery of relevant content over time PLUS dogged promotion of that content through social media, commenting, guest blogs, email marketing and other channels. An individual blog post has to give just enough to get each reader to sign up and stay with you.

05. Split your blog post into two parts

Ten points are an awful lot to do in one go – how about making a two-parter or even a series of blogs on the same topic? Make sure that you make some big promises in the first part to get people coming back for more.

End of part one. Next time:

  • One major tip on how you can create a never-ending stream of content,
  • A template for INSTANT article generation,
  • Why controversy works
  • Why TV advertising is a total waste of time and money.
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Posted in Blog Copywriting, Copywriting Articles, Copywriting Tips | 1 Comment »

Why your blog is rubbish

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Aren’t blogs great? Your opportunity to inject a little personality, a little zest, zing and zap to your website. That’s not to say that your site in itself isn’t engaging and informative, worth a visit in its own right, but blogs just add that splash of colour, a loose collar, a ‘hey have you heard’? – intimacy that people enjoy. Keeping visitors regularly updated with considered input and info won’t do your SEO any harm either. The search engines like nothing more than an active site with plenty of juicy interesting content. There are the link building opportunities too. Your blog as a fresh source of content makes a great destination. Blogs – the interesting, human face of your organisation.

Well, then how come so many blogs are duller than ditch water? Maybe you’re a mega corporation then you may to an extent have your hands tied. It goes with the territory that size means systems and guidelines which can often shut down the sort of expression and personality needed for an interesting blog presence. You’ll need to work within a corporate framework.

But what about other organisations?

SMEs and smaller businesses don’t have the excuse of being constrained by red tape or excessive rules of engagement. How come so many blogs fail to deliver? How come so many of them are rubbish?

Here’s how to make people stop and take notice of your blog.

Sit on the fence – Don’t. Your opinions define you. Express them. Take sides, draw lines in the sand and be prepared to fight your corner.

Don’t try too hard – Needy is the biggest turn off there is. Sure you may be desperate to please. But the minute you let it show there will be rush for the door.

Be interested in your readers – No, that doesn’t mean pretend to be interested in your readers. It means if you can’t find it within yourself to actually care how your reader engages with your blog, if you can’t find a way of delivering something of use, of interest  for them, then don’t bother. Indifference is futile. You’ll be wasting everyone’s time.

Be prepared to be disliked or to make enemies – For example I am rapidly developing a severe aversion to so called SEO gurus who seem to think that polluting the internet with spun, machine generated copy created only for machines is clever. I have no problem expressing my dislike of them. If they want to call me out, then that’s fine by me.

Be yourself – We’re all different. The more you reveal your individuality the more important your blog will become.

Get to it.

Words by Martin Williams

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How to write a killer first blog post

Monday, June 14th, 2010


That’s it. You’ve taken the plunge. You’ve done all the technical stuff, chosen a nice design and fiddled around with your logo. You’ve mucked around with your blog CMS and worked out how to do all sorts of clever stuff like adding hyperlinks and funny pictures you’ve found on iStock of people wearing gas masks or eating ice creams.

So what do you write in that all-important first blog post?

Before you put fingertip to keyboard, you will of course have asked yourself some pretty important questions:

  • Why you are writing your blog in the first place?
  • What are your objectives and how will you know when those objectives have been met?
  • What “semantic space” do you fill (that’s basically defining what search terms are most relevant to what you’re writing about)
  • Who are you writing your blog for?
  • What are you going to write about? What are you NOT going to write about?

For example, this is my first blog post for Big Star Content. My primary (but not exclusive) aim with the blog is to open a conversation with people that are interested in my products and services.

That’s not to say that I’m going to ram sales messages down everyone’s faces. That would be unpleasant for everybody, especially me. But let’s be honest, my intentions are not altruistic – I want people to find this content interesting, engaging and useful but if it doesn’t support my business objectives then it’s not really a good use of our time.

I’ll be happy that it’s worked when I’ve created a community of people that are interested in my blog and want to engage in conversation with us about what we do. I’ll be ecstatic when someone contacts me to engage us for a full content strategy review or to book onto one of our courses.

The kind of keywords I’m interested in targeting are things like “web copywriter”, “SEO copywriter” and “copywriting service”. I know these phrases are effective at generating business for us. For a start they accurately describe what we do. They also work – I’ve been running PPC campaigns based on these phrases for four years and have an SEO strategy that pulls in a good deal of business.

If I’ve got it right then I’m going to be talking to two groups of people: one is marketing professionals who are interested in content services, the other is people interested in training. I’m sure I’ll also pull in other copywriters who want to check out the competition, comment on our blogs and point out our typos – if you’re in this group, you’re more than welcome.

These groups will almost certainly overlap and at some stage in the future, once we have built up a following, we’ll probably create separate channels of content so that you get to choose what stuff is most relevant to you. But that’s not important right now.

What is important, now I’ve defined all this, is what am I going to write about right now?

The great thing is that once you’ve answered all those questions, your first blog post should be easy.

It’s the ones that come later that are going to be trickier. Fortunately, you can always check back here for advice and useful commentary. Cheers!

Derryck Strachan is the owner of Big Star Content, one of the UK’s leading web content providers.

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5 blogging fails

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

While there’s certainly far more to successful blogging and blog copywriting than meets the eye, with a little consideration and preparation, blogging needn’t be difficult. Blog writing might seem to some to be child’s play, little more than the occasional sharing of a few casual thoughts, some gentle opining, a dash of humour, a hint of controversy and a few ‘so what do you thinks?’ but it deserves respect.

Blogging and blog copywriting, certainly isn’t easy for everyone; successful, well written and well followed blogs don’t just happen. You can make life a whole load easier for yourself by being aware of some of the common issues that surround blogs.

Mashable refer to 5 common business blogging mistakes –

01. Treating your blog like a Press Centre – Exactly how impersonal can you make your blog? Have you killed it by dressing it in a suit and calling it Ken? This is something we’ve already discusses in Is Your Blog Copywriting Just a Press Release In Disguise?

02. Not Blogging regularly – If you don’t blog regularly not only do any potential followers think ‘light weight’, you also miss out on potential SEO benefits. Besides which – the more you write, the better you write.

03. Not enabling conversation – How hard is it to ask questions? Why do people find it so difficult?

04. Making new content hard to discover – You need to seed. It’s a big old interweb and unless you actively work to make your blog discoverable you may end up a little lonesome, on your ownsome. Engage with social media and other bloggers to be seen AND be heard.

05. Finally, and quite rightly, they highlight the dangers of expecting too much too soon. Blogging is a long term commitment. The more instantly you expect to see results – loads of comments, hordes of visitors and re-tweets – the more disappointed you will be. Be realistic.

We’ll look at these ‘blog fails’ more in detail in future Bigstar Copywriting blogs. In the meantime though, can you recognise these ‘blog fails’ too? Are they issues that you have come across or suffered yourself? If so, maybe you have some advice to newbie bloggers on how to best avoid them.

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How to make more people read your articles

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

We’ve looked at headline and content copywriting as ways to keep your blogs fresh and interesting. Here in part 3 is another important aspect of presenting your work in ways that engage and stimulate your readers: the inclusion of all-important imagery. Paint your pictures and colour the imaginations of your readers with mental imagery, metaphors and actual pictures that relate to the piece and add deep and often significant weight.

In his You Ought to be In the Pictures article that talks about memorable copywriting, well-known copywriter and white paper specialist Michael Fortin says, ‘Your objective is to encode the message in a way that the chances of it being decoded and interpreted in the same way, as intended, are good if not higher.’ He continues: ‘to that end, you must first know your “receiver” — and if you’ve done your research, you do. Then, you must use the words that will help paint vivid pictures in her mind.’

Take care though, as you don’t want to ‘over egg’ your writing. Without careful and skilled use of language you can easily undermine your relationship with your reader by employing too many clichés or excessively flowery wording…. sorry; screw things up. In his article, Fortin refers to writing an email to sell email software specifically to florists. He uses the following copy as an example of suitable wording. “Your customers’ emails are like fresh cut roses. You must handle them promptly and efficiently. If not, disgruntled customers can prick and hurt your business — or wither away, never to return.”

A little rich for these tastes but Michael Fortin is a successful man and clearly knows what it takes. Approach colour with caution and try your best to avoid overused, hackneyed expressions and obvious puns.

The other imagery you should try to include is an actual, relevant picture, a photograph or other image of some kind. Again try to avoid clichés – you know the type. At the moment there seems to be a plague of business type people shouting into megaphones, shaking hands or sporting oversized eyewear. Sonia Simone on Copyblogger writes in The Lazy Blogger’s Guide to Finding Great Post Images how useful images can boost the strength of your headlines. She’s right. Statistics even show that good imagery contributes strongly to articles being read through arousing curiosity, provoking interest, defining your style, breaking your copy up into manageable chunks and generally enticing the reluctant, the weary or the wary.

Check out also, Jonathan Muller who lists a number of other benefits to including images in his The Importance of Pictures in Your Blogs post and Seth Simonds who shares this great How I discover and Use Images on My Blog article that explains how he finds Creative Commons photos on Flickr.

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How great money-making headlines write themselves

Friday, September 18th, 2009

How to keep your blogs fresh part 1 looked at how as a blogger or copywriter you can create great written content by adding your unique perspective to other people’s ideas, either by interviewing them or using their existing writing. Part 2 takes a look at how you can easily create compelling and profitable headlines.

Great headlines are important. Critical, in fact. Compelling headlines scoop up readers and draw them effortlessly to your content, your message and your call to action – and eventually (you hope) to greater profits. Your headline might be the point at which your reader first engages with your work, but it needn’t be the actual starting point of your work itself. Don’t beat yourself up over a headline – at least, not before you’ve written the piece in the first place. Analysis paralysis has done for many a writer, businessperson, scientist, performer or sports person over the years. Don’t fall victim, too.

Take your initial ideas and go with the flow, shake them down and see where you end up. Don’t, whatever you do, get hung up on the headline. By the time you finish writing your article, your post or whatever you are working on, your headline will be writing itself. There I just did it… I wrote this blog headline-less right up until the idea for the line, ‘your headline will be writing itself’ magically appeared. At that point I knew I had the basis for a decent headline to this article. A little tweak, a little shuffle and hey presto – ‘How great money-making headlines write themselves’.

Writing fresh innovative content is tough. Headlines can be even tougher. Don’t let your headlines get in the way of your writing.


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