Life Imitating Design

Words4TheWebwise – Copywriting and Website Design and Development

Making an Impression

Remember that old saying that ‘you only get one chance to make a first impression’? It could refer to you meeting someone for the first time, whether on a social level or for business. Maybe it was connected to your choice of a colour scheme for your corporate identity, your style of print advertising, your company logos on your vehicles, even your shop window displays. It could be related to your choice of clothes for a social engagement or an important business meeting, or even the type of handshake you employed when encountering new people. In the incredibly interconnected world of 2010, a good first impression is still very important and today your website is often the first place people will encounter you, your company and your products and services. You can’t simply put your brochures online, because writing for the Internet is very different than in traditional printed materials. On the web, you only have seconds to grab and hold someone’s attention, since people typically only scan pages quickly. However, your site must also provide all the relevant information, yet not get bogged down with too many details. Well-written text can also help improve your ranking with search engines and could make all the difference between success and failure. Potential clients will also appreciate being able to locate what they are looking for quickly and easily, which translates into good customer service.
Your online copy reflects on your professionalism or lack of it. You always need to take pride in what you have on the web, which is potentially visible to millions, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. If it appears that you don’t really care what your website looks like, the customer will assume that your products may be similarly slipshod. The quality of content on your site will always have a positive or negative effect on your visitors. In 2010, you still only get one chance to make a first impression, so make sure that your visitors get a positive one.

An Interview with Simon Rose – Author and Copywriter Part Three

What’s the difference between good and badly written web copy?

Don’t use meaningless phrase like ‘state of the art’, ‘second to none’ or ‘visit us for all your (insert industry sector here) needs’. A good copywriter will ensure that your site is free of things like this, which appear all too often online. They will include the best online search keywords in order to match your company, market segment, products and services to those customers on the web who match them. The World wide Web is a vast marketplace, crammed with almost unimaginable opportunity, but no one is going to find you by accident. You need to show them the way and the good copywriter will help you to do that, every time. You may also be too close to your product to see what its benefits are. A professional copywriter will help you communicate them effectively and help you build lasting relationships with your customers. People also don’t actually read web copy, but rather scan it very quickly. Consequently, it is vital that you get their attention and hold it. Although you need to include as much information about your company as you can to entice the reader, you also have to make the copy easy to read. Killer headlines and text broken up into manageable chunks will make your web pages easy on the eye. In the online world, less is nearly always more.

Is writing for brochures different to the web?

You can’t simply put your brochures online, because writing for the Internet is very different than in traditional printed materials. On the web, you only have seconds to grab and hold someone’s attention, since people typically only scan pages quickly. However, your site must also provide all the relevant information, yet not get bogged down with too many details. Well-written text can also help improve your ranking with search engines and could make all the difference between success and failure. Potential clients will also appreciate being able to locate what they are looking for quickly and easily, which translates into good customer service.

What else can you tell us about yourself?

I offer a wide range of presentations, workshops, and author-in-residence programs for schools and libraries, which you can learn more about here and I offer study guides for all the books.
I also conduct virtual author visits via video using the Skype network, and you can get some idea of how it works from my videos on YouTube. I also offer workshops for adults, both in person and online, as well as online workshops for children, which are proving very popular. I do a lot of work in summer camps each year, some of which you can learn about here. In addition, I work as a writing instructor with home school children, the Calgary Board of Education’s continuing education program, the University and am also an instructor with the National Writing for Children Centre.

Connect with me on my website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or visit my channel on YouTube.

Taking a good look.

I spend a lot of time infront of my computer. I don’t spend much time at all behind it, unless I’m plugging something in, but infront of it is where I spend most of my time.

I’ve been aware of ergonomics and the workplace for a long time, and since I would like to continue enjoying better than 20/20 eye sight for as many years as possible I do my best to look after my vision. I take regular breaks, change my eye focus and keep the lighting consistent.

But, I had neglected to go to the optometrist for a number of years, so when I moved to a new neighbourhood that had an optometrists office right down the street, I decided to make an appointment and see (haha) how things really.

Even if I did have all the equipment that costs more than an average vehicle at home, or know how to spot occular diseases, it’s not an exam I could have done myself. I can’t see in my own eyes, or objectively test my vision correctly. So thankfully, they have specialists for that now, and I can walk in, read some charts, and leave with an exact analysis of how my eyes are doing and whether or not I need glasses.

How long has it been since you’ve had your website analysed and examined? Is it starting to look a little blurry compared to the competition? Is the copy a bit short-sighted? Did people visit when it was brand new (out of curiosity) but had Google since forgotten you even exist?

Perhaps you are starting a new company or range of products and you need a new website. What exactly should be on that site, and (more importantly) what shouldn’t?

A free website analysis will let you know exactly what can be done with your site and how it can be improved to get your site higher in Google rankings and attract more visitors. This is not a set routine, since the ways to improve any site (or tailor make a new one) varies with different needs.

You will also get a list of prices so that you know exactly what it will cost. Nobody likes surprises (unless they’re gift wrapped).

Some examples of what is included in your report:

• Design elements – from complete new design to tidying up.
• Copy – Google will never find your site if you don’t have sufficient quality and quantity of text on your site.
• Keywords – while search engines may not depend as heavily on keywords as they used to, they still help.
• Image Optimization – large images and poor quality pictures will make pages slow to load and unattractive.
• Multimedia – enrich your visitors’ experience by adding motion and video. There are good ways to do this, and bad ways, and you need to make sure that all that content really is going to make the site better, not more of a hassle for visitors.

Contact NBurman Design for your free proposal, and find out how much better your business can look!

The trick to most design, is knowing when to stop. To rip-off a quote, Design is like morality – it consists of drawing the line somewhere.

I see it all the time when I’m out driving. It might be a pretty fancy car to begin with, and probably more than able to leave my family-approved mode of transportation in the proverbial dust with little effort, but the guy sitting next to me at the lights has probably gone a little too far. That little extra chrome, the further up the range rims and California beach approved tail fins may look cool, but they aren’t exactly going to improve performance too much. Not in proportion to what they all cost.

Sometimes I see it onstage or at a music store. A prettier piece of maple or shinier tuners may look cool on any guitar, but when the rubber hits the road (or pick hits the strings) what are you really gaining?

With design, I like to call it Design ROI, or Design Return On Investment. You could spend twice as much on a business card so that you have a little foil stamping on it, or spend the money trying out fourteen different typefaces, but what are you really gaining? Is that foil REALLY going to persuade business card holders to make that phone call? And is a typeface with 10% higher x-height really going to make you look 10% more professional?

Now, I don’t mind if someone wants to spend twice as long on a project if I’m getting paid for it, but I’m not about to rip off anybody or make them pay for their indecision. Sometimes, it comes down to trust.

Trust your designer to know what they are doing. When you get one or two choices, believe that these are the best choices available, and not the first two that popped into someone head. Make sure that the extra time and effort put into a design truly is an investment and the cost of which can be recovered by the added professionalism and functionality of the product.

I’m interested in efficient design, design that gets the job done and is accurate, exactly what the clients needs and wants, and is going to go out there and show off a business for what and who it truly is.

I just want your clients to notice when you’ve gone the extra mile. If it’s effective, they will. And they will be calling.

Sometimes all I have is a question …

I haven’t really been convinced whether Telus is faster than Shaw or vice versa, there is one thing of which I am convinced – FREE can be suspicious.

When it comes to service, I have to admit that I have been rather more pleased with Shaw. There’s no contract to sign (people do move, you know) and Shaw does have a better handling on their billing. That’s a long story. Maybe another day …

But one thing that irks me, is how Telus can (or should) give away stuff so freely. How much money are they really making if they can afford to give away large computer screens, desktop PCs and laptops? $44.95 for a laptop AND ADSL? Does that seem a little odd to anyone else? Why should I have to be bribed to use their service? And why should I be locked in for so many years just to get a low grade computer that I don’t need anyhow?

If you subtract the cost of the freebies from the price you pay over 36 months, your service is costing $23.59/month. While I don’t want to pay too much, I don’t expect a decent internet connection to be so cheap either!

I don’t know. Something doesn’t smell right, and it’s not one of the friendly critters from the Telus commercials.

I tried working from a park bench, but it didn’t work out too well. I could never find a suitable plug to run my extension cord from, and my monitor won’t run on batteries.

Now I have an office.

My office, however, is in my home. Rather than renting a nice, glass and brushed aluminum space that will make any meeting feel as though you are in a stock photo shoot, I decided to save my money, charge less for my services, and make great design available to smaller businesses and larger businesses who just don’t like being ripped off.

That I thought was just common sense.

When it comes to meeting, I am more than happy to frequent a local coffee shop, or your own office. Just make sure you have good coffee!