Discover how to write a business book

So you’re an expert at what you do. You know that. But how do you get other people to discover your fabulous expertise?

Imagine having a business ebook with your name on it. Imagine being introduced as ‘So-and-so, author of XX book’.

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

The truth is that publishing a book automatically gives you expert status.

It sets you apart as an authority in your field, and is a brilliant tool for saying to people, ‘Hey, I know my stuff. I’m a bit of a pro. You should probably do business with me ’cause I’m an EXPERT.’

It’s also good for raising your profile and getting more press coverage. Tip: journalists love experts who have written books.

And then there’s the speaking gigs that you’ll secure on the back of your book. Not to mention the new audience you’ll reach by promoting it.

Once you’ve got a book, you can even offer additional resources to tie in with it, like webinars, workbooks or e-courses. That’s a win-win.

But how do I write a business ebook? I hear you ask.

Take a look at these tips for writing your business ebook:

Repurpose existing content
If you’re already blogging for your business, then you will have stockpiled a load of useful content, without even realising it. By repurposing whatever content you have already written (blog posts, webinars, guest articles, etc) you will take a lot of the hard work out of coming up with 20,000 words.

Edit your ebook copy
Once you have your content, make sure you edit it to check the spelling and grammar and ensure it reads well. Don’t have the time to do it all yourself? Hire an ebook ghostwriter. An ebook ghostwriter will rewrite and polish your existing copy, or can even write your ebook from scratch.

Proofread your ebook
Read over your final draft, or better still, have a friend or professional proofreader read over it for you. This is an important stage in order to check for any mistakes. It’s best to read out loud so you can hear how the sentences sound and pick out any errors.

Find your ebook publishing platform
There are a number of ways you can self-publish a book. Try lulu.com,  Amazon’s Kindle Direct Platform, Smashwords or BookBaby, all of which enable you to publish electronically.

Interested in writing a business book? Leave a comment and let me know. And click the link to find out more about my ebook ghostwriting services.

Small business owners that I meet often say they want to get publicity for their business but don’t know what they need to do to get it.

PR is a way for a small business to shout about their achievements

This is where PR comes in. But ‘what is PR?’ I hear you ask. Well, PR stands for Public Relations, which is about creating a favourable public image for your business.

It’s a way to get your business ‘out there’ and to manage your business’ image. It also means that you are in control of what the public knows about your business.

PR is different from advertising because there’s no hard sell involved. PR is also much less expensive than advertising. A double-page ad in the Daily Mail costs more than £82,000 (yes, really!) – with PR there is the potential to achieve the equivalent of that coverage for free.

So, what does small business PR involve?

There are a host of ways that you can get publicity for your small business:

• Press releases – sending out a release about your business to journalists so that they will write about it

• Press launches/events – inviting members of the media to a launch or event to help raise awareness about your business within the press

• Winning awards – great PR as it gives the media an excuse to write about you and will paint your business in a favourable light

• Being quoted as an expert – this is fantastic for showing off your expertise and knowledge and positioning yourself as an expert in your field

• Appearing as a case study – journalists are always looking for case studies for different features. If you fit the bill as a case study, then you can use it as an opportunity to talk about your business as well

• Being part of a line-up - Journalists often need a line-up of readers or case studies for features. If you offer to appear in a line-up, you can use it as a chance to plug your business

So now you have the answer to ‘what is PR’, why not check out my PR packages. Do you have any queries or comments about small business PR? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you. 

Top tips for how to write great web copy for your business website

1. Keep it short & sweet

Make sure your sentences are short so that they’re easy to read and will hold your readers’ attention

2. Include headings & sub-headings

When people are reading web copy they tend to scan the page, so ensure you text is easily scannable. Use headings and sub-headings to break up the copy

 3. Use bullet points

It’s a good idea to use bullet points or numbered lists in your web copy, which are much easier to scan quickly than long blocks of text

 4. Utilise bold text and italics

Where suitable, use bold text and italics to break up the copy on the page. This prevents the reader from being overwhelmed with a huge block of text, and again makes it easier to read

5. Write keywords naturally

If you are writing your web copy to try and improve your business website’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), refrain from stuffing your copy with keywords. Instead, incorporate your keywords naturally. You should be writing for humans first and foremost.

Do you have any queries or opinions about how to write web copy for your business website? Leave a comment below and I’ll respond. If you found this useful please share it with your networks.

• If you would like to discuss outsourcing your web copy to a copywriter please contact me today.

For more tips about how to make your website work for you, why not read my recent blog post on how you can win more business by offering a free report on your website.

I’ve been working with a business owner recently who knew she wanted to give away a free download on her site, but didn’t know how to go about it. She wanted something that would encourage people to sign up to her newsletter, but didn’t want to give away all of her knowledge for free.

Between us we came up with a plan for a report that would appeal to her client base. Then it was simply a case of doing a little research so that I could create a report that would speak to her ideal customers.

If you’re planning on writing a report yourself, or updating an existing report, then take a look at these tips:

Create a free report that appeals to your ideal customer

·      Do your research
Look at what your ideal customers would be interested in reading. Not sure what that is? Ask them! Post a poll on your business Facebook page, ask on any online forums, or start a discussion on LinkedIn

·      Offer something of value
Give your website visitors something they want to read. Make it interesting, but also useful. For example ‘How to…’ or ‘Top five tips for…’ Think about who your ideal client is and what problem you can solve for them

·      Include useful information
Use statistics, data, case studies, anecdotes, tips – anything you think your ideal customers might find helpful

·      Give practical advice
Give examples, which people will be able to relate to, but give practical advice too. This way people will really feel that they are getting something of value

·      Keep your text clear and concise
Whatever you write, make sure it’s easy to read. Have an introduction that explains what your report is about and then ensure the main body of text is broken up with bullet points, headings and sub-headings so that it can be scanned easily

·      Include a call to action
Make sure you include a strong call to action. Think about what you want the people who read the report to do. Call you? Email you? Visit your website?

·      Proofread your report
As well as checking your text for any spelling and grammar mistakes, it’s a good idea to re-read it at least a day after you’ve written it to try and spot any errors. Read it out loud so you can hear how it sounds and re-write anything that doesn’t sound right

·      Get it out there!
Once you’ve written your report, the most important thing is to tell people about it. Use an email programme like Mailchimp or Aweber to get people to subscribe to your list when they download it. Then promote it as much as you can on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and via email

Do you have any queries or comments about writing a report? If so leave a comment below.  If you need any help with writing a report for your website, then please drop me a line.

]]> http://dinabehrmancomms.com/2013/04/25/how-to-win-more-business-with-a-free-report-for-your-website/feed/ 0 http://dinabehrmancomms.com/2013/04/10/five-and-a-half-ways-to-make-your-homepage-shine/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=five-and-a-half-ways-to-make-your-homepage-shine http://dinabehrmancomms.com/2013/04/10/five-and-a-half-ways-to-make-your-homepage-shine/#comments Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:30:08 +0000 Dina Behrman http://dinabehrmancomms.com/?p=2154 Continue reading »]]> Today we have a guest blog post from Kate Codrington at Fruit Nation who is sharing her tips on how to make your homepage shine. Please share it with your social networks and if you’ve got any questions for Kate, please leave a comment below…

A homepage can quickly get out of date as your business moves on and you really don’t have much time to grab the attention of a visitor to your site; five seconds, maybe less? So the look of your homepage is crucial to your success.

I often see the need to tweak my home pages here and there (monitoring the effects with those lovely analytics), so before you take fright and click off somewhere else let me reassure you; even if you don’t have the time or money for a re-design here are some ideas that are easy and quick and will help to get you the business you want.

Most of us scan home pages rather than read them, so your uniqueness and your intentions need to be extremely clear. Here are some ideas to get you going.

Space

More space is good! Viewers are NOT going to read in-depth descriptions of your product or service on the home page, they are going to decide if they like and trust you, and that takes just a couple of seconds. So have a look and see what you could edit out.

Statement

Does your site state what you do in one sentence? Would a viewer ‘get’ what you offer at a glance? Try re-working your description so that it is short and conveys your unique service or product without jargon, fluff or platitudes. Write it in the language of your niche market.

Next step

Is it clear at a glance what you want your viewer to do? That might be to sign up to a newsletter, give you a ring or buy a product. A change as simple as using a contrast colour, enlarging the font a little, or leaving more white space around the ‘call to action’ can make all the difference.

Above the fold

Are all the important things visible on your screen without having to scroll? Not all screens are the same size or proportion so it’s worth taking a peek at your site on a friend’s computer to check.

Look alive

Your website is a great way to showcase your latest activity and show the world what an up-to-date groovy business you are. If you have a page on your site with a blog, the latest research, your CPD, industry news,  you can signal this on your home page. ‘Get the latest news” ‘Try February’s recipes’ and so on. You can also insert your twitter feed, or your favourited tweets which show what you’ve been up to.

Images

OK, I know I said these would be quick and easy but here is the ‘half’ bit because it’s more something to think about. Real images of real people get a far better response than generic images from a photo library. Your images should make your heart sing and resonate similarly with your niche market. Have a think about whether the images on your home page grab your viewers attention, and if they don’t start to think about a creative alternative.

I am assuming that you have a site you can edit yourself fairly easily, so you can make these changes (and if you don’t give me a ring!). If you rely on someone else to keep your website up to date, you can still use these ideas as a way of thinking about your next re-design. Let me know how it goes.

Kate helps small business owners take charge of their websites and social media at Fruit Nation. You can find her on Facebook and Twitter, Linkedin and Google +

As a small business owner, you need to create an effective marketing mix and utilise lots of different channels to get yourself heard. Whether it’s using social media, blogging, newsletters, or PR,  you need to maximise your marketing efforts.

So take a look at these powerful statistics that I’ve pulled out from the article to show you why you need to focus on your marketing today…

Top ten reasons you need to focus on your marketing today

Are You Active On Social Media?

• Using social networks like Twitter and Facebook boosts website traffic – companies with 1000 Facebook likes or more gain a whopping 185% rise in web traffic, while businesses with 51 to 100 Twitter followers generate 106% more traffic than those with 25 or fewer followers (MarketingProfs)

• 48% of companies have gained new customers through Twitter and 42% through Facebook (iMedia Connection)

• There are one billion posts per day made on Facebook. The average user spends nearly 7 hours per month on the social networking site, and one out of every five pageviews on the Internet is on Facebook (Visual.ly)

• There are 400 million tweets per day on Twitter. A million new Twitter accounts are opened each day (Visual.ly)

• Blogging generates leads. Companies that publish new blog posts once or twice a month generate 70% more leads than companies that don’t blog at all (MarketingProfs)

• On average, companies that publish 15 or more blog articles per month generate five times more web traffic than companies that don’t blog at all, and those that blog 9-15 times per month generate three times more traffic than companies that don’t maintain blogs (MarketingProfs)

• 57% of companies that blog have acquired a customer through their blogs (Polaris B)

 Are You Regularly Creating Fresh Web Content?

• Statistics show that the more content you have on your website, the more leads you can expect to get. On average, companies with 51-100 web pages generate 48% more traffic than companies with 1-50 pages. And more landing pages and more blog posts mean more leads. On average, companies that have published 200 or more total blog posts generate five times as much traffic as those with 10 posts or fewer (Polaris B)

Is Your Website Up-To-Date?

•  78% of internet users say they use the web for product research, and almost half (46%) of all searches on an average day are for information on products and services (iMedia Connection)

So you also probably know what a drain on your time it can be. We’ve all been there, you log on to Facebook and two hours later you’re still ‘laughing-out-loud’ at YouTube videos of cats playing the piano…

While it’s good to throw yourself into social networking, you don’t want it to take away from actually running your business. Using social media management tools can be a good way to combat this.

Here’s a list of some tools that I like or that have been recommended to me. Of course, scheduling posts shouldn’t replace actually interacting with people online – you should ideally aim to do both.

Where Facebook is concerned, you might also want to consider the effect one of these third-party apps could have on your Edgerank (the algorithm Facebook uses to decide how many people see your status updates).

So take a look at my list of social media management tools, and find the ones that will help you get ahead in your business.

Use tools to manage your social networking

Hootsuite
My personal favourite. Designed to ‘save your time and sanity’, the Hootsuite dashboard offers a simple solution for monitoring, engaging and measuring your social media networks. It enables you to schedule messages to be sent out across various platforms, and provides customised reports using social analytics tools. It also allows you to manage multiple accounts at the same time.
Free, or $9.99 a month for upgraded version

Tweetdeck
Billed as ‘Your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now’, Tweetdeck is a Twitter app that allows you to arrange your feeds into manageable columns and then filter them so you only see what matters to you. You can also schedule your tweets, and you can monitor and manage unlimited accounts. Very good for filtering content, however, as of May this year, Tweetdeck will be available as a web app only, and will no longer support Facebook integration.
Free

Buffer
With Buffer you can click on interesting articles, videos or images whilst surfing the net, and they will automatically be shared with your networks throughout the day. The app allows you to post to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A handy tool that you can use in conjunction with other apps.
Free, with options to upgrade

Vertical Response
The Vertical Response social media marketing app claims it can help you to publish an entire campaign for the month in less than 20 minutes. It allows you to post the same image, link or status update to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in one go, or you can schedule an entire month’s campaign in advance.
$18 per month

Sprout Social
This tool aims to streamline your social media efforts, by allowing you to manage your social presence across various networking channels, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and more. It enables you to monitor your activity and check analytics – you can compare yourself with competitors, check past conversations with customers and make searches based on location.
$9 per month

For more help with your social networking, take a look at these secrets of a successful social media campaign and to really supercharge your efforts, why not try some of these tips for improved social media. 

Do you have any thoughts or questions about these or any other social media management tools? Leave a comment below and let me know. And for help with your social media campaign tweet me at @DinaBehrman, or contact me here.

Make your website work for you with SEO

The purpose of search engine optimisation (SEO) is to make sure your website is working as hard for your business as it possibly can…

Humans are your number one priority!

Rather contrarily, although the work is still called search engine optimisation, your top priority must always be to make your website the best it can possibly be for the humans who visit it.

In the early days of SEO it was relatively easy to game the system to get high rankings in search results. Mind you, the techniques used to achieve this invariably resulted in websites which were less than user-friendly to visitors, but search engines weren’t clever enough back then to figure that out.

That’s all changed. Search engines are now extremely sophisticated and use hundreds of algorithmic elements to determine the quality, relevance, usefulness and importance of a website. Google is committed to improving the user experience. If you always keep that in the back of your mind while you develop your website, you’ll keep search engines happy and reap the rewards.

Keyword Research and Copywriting

Make sure you understand the language that people are using to search for what you sell. For example, you might sell quilts but are customers using the word “duvet” to search for them? Seasonal or fashion trends might also affect how people search for things.

Google’s Keyword Tool is very useful to discover and analyse keywords, their popularity and competitiveness. You can unearth lots of keyword ideas or search trends you hadn’t thought of.

Work your keywords into the copy of relevant pages of your website and into headings and meta tags too, but don’t overdo it – excessive use of keywords is “black hat” (bad SEO) and search engines are clever enough to spot it.  Your copy should read naturally; make it enticing and user-friendly to humans.

Above all resist the urge to use copy from another website, no matter how good it is. Apart from the obvious copyright issues involved, Google is striving to downgrade websites carrying duplicated content. Make sure your copy is unique and original.

Keep your website updated

If you visited a website a number of times over the course of a year and it never changed, would you bother going back? Probably not. And stale websites with out-of-date information and nothing new to talk about are as much a turn-off to search engines as they are to visitors. Why rank a website highly when it doesn’t make any effort to remain current, topical…interesting!

A blog is an ideal way to keep adding fresh content to your website. Keep other pages updated too. Encourage visitor feedback in the form of comments – it all counts as content.

Links

One of the signals Google uses to determine the quality and importance of a website is the number of links pointing to it. It makes sense: if you find something really useful or interesting on the internet, chances are you’ll share it (ie link to it) on your own networks (for example your blog, website or social media).

Google uses this very natural human behaviour as a strong signal of authority around that topic.  If the content on your website is so awesome that it encourages lots of links to it, you’ll benefit in several ways:

• Potentially lots more visitors to your site
• Enhances your brand to a wider audience
• Increased authority to search engines, resulting in higher ranking and better visibility in search results

Link-building is a huge topic, but here are a few tips to get you started:

• Social media is an obvious way to promote the content on your site and encourage others to link to it too.
• Research and compile a list of relevant or complementary (but not directly competing) websites in your industry and approach them to ask if they might link to your website as a useful resource.
• Offer to write an interesting guest post for someone’s blog or website – it’s usually acceptable to include a link or two to your own site in your author profile.
• Write press releases, include a link to your site, and submit them to online news sites, magazines etc.
• Never buy links in an attempt to boost your link profile. Search engines will penalise websites it discovers doing this, or perhaps remove them from their index entirely.

Patience, perseverance and realistic expectations

Above all, SEO takes time and perseverance to achieve results. Every change to your site, every new link, takes time to filter through to search engines, so don’t expect immediate improvements in ranking or traffic volume.

And don’t trust any so-called expert who claims they can “guarantee Page 1 ranking”. No one can guarantee anything of the sort. SEO is hard work and there are no short-cuts to success I’m afraid.

I’m often asked, “When is SEO finished?” Brace yourself…it never is! Here are a few reasons why:

• It’s advisable to revisit keyword research every so often to identify new trends and update your copy if necessary.
• Link-building is an ongoing effort.
• Creating regular fresh content is always a part of your SEO strategy.
• Search engines regularly modify their algorithms, which sometimes has an impact on your site’s ranking and traffic – more analysis needed to find out why and what to do about it.
• And just when you sneak ahead of your competitor in rankings, they up their game and outrank you again!  You can never rest on your laurels.

SEO is a wide-ranging topic with much more to learn than I’ve outlined here, but what I can say is you’ll find it hugely satisfying (and addictive!) when you start reaping the rewards of your hard work. Your website visitors will thank you for it and you’ll earn Google love too.

I wrote a more in-depth article about understanding search engine optimisation a while back, but it’s still entirely relevant and very informative. If you have any other questions about SEO, I’ll be glad to help.

About the author: Mandy Cochrane is an internet marketing and SEO consultant at Web Scene Marketing. Contact 01963 824822 or email mandy@webscenemarketing.co.uk.

As you may well know, Pinterest is a content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects to their pinboard. Last year I wrote posts about What you need to know about Pinterest and Top brands successfully using Pinterest and what you can learn from them. 

But as a small business, how can you get the most out of Pinterest?

Small businesses can use Pinterest

1. Get started

Firstly you need to open an account and create a Pinterest business page. This is a relatively new function from Pinterest so if you already have an individual account with Pinterest, you can convert it to a business page. If not you can simply create an account and verify your business website. Check out these tips for verifying your website. If you can’t do it yourself, you may need to ask your nearest technical whizz. I got the lovely Rob Peters from Fresh Eyes Consultancy to help me out.

2. Start pinning

Install a ‘pin it’ bookmarklet, and you’ll be able to pin images and videos as you find them whilst surfing the net. When you pin an image or video, Pinterest will automatically link it back to the original page. Add the ‘pin it’ button to your website so that others can pin images of your products, or your blog posts, etc.

3. Check out the competition

Check out what your competitors and other small businesses are doing on Pinterest. Search for their boards using Pinterest’s search function, and follow any that are of interest.

4. Create relevant boards

Create boards that are relevant to your business – e.g. products and services, team members, case studies, ideas, how-to articles, etc. Take a look at Pinterest’s guide to what works.

Create relevant Pinterest business boards

5. Add useful descriptions

Always add a full description of whatever you’re pinning, with a mention of your business, so that if your pin is ‘re-pinned’, people will be able to see exactly what the image is and where it came from. Include relevant keywords to help your pins show up in searches. 

6. Include a price if relevant

If you’re selling products, be sure to include a price in the description. If you add the £ sign, a banner with the price will appear over the image

7. Use great images

Pin interesting images, which are more likely to be re-pinned, giving greater exposure to you and your business. If you have a blog, include an image in your blog posts, then pin them to Pinterest. This will create a link back to your site, driving extra traffic there.

Use great images on your Pinterest business boards 

8. Show off your personality

Use Pinterest to show the fun side of your business – pin team photos, pictures of your office, work events (obviously only pin appropriate images…)

9. Interact with your customers

Encourage your customers to pin to your boards -  maybe get them to pin photos of them using your products?

10. Be Pinteresting!

Pin lots of interesting stuff, share your pins on social media and encourage your networks to follow your boards. Oh, and don’t forget to click the button below to follow me!

Are you on Pinterest? Leave a comment with your page and I’ll follow you. Got a question about how you can use Pinterest for your small business? Drop me a line.

Copywriting can help your business…

In fact, your business copywriting – your brochures, marketing materials, promotional leaflets, and web content – can make or break your business. Good copywriting will help you to promote your products and services, by enabling you to engage with your prospects to let them know what it is you’re selling and why they should use you.

But bad copy can prevent you from getting your message across, and worse still, can make you look unprofessional. Well-written content, with good spelling and grammar, will help you to convey the right image for your business.

So how do you use copywriting to win more business? Take a look at these tips…

Copywriting for your website
Good copywriting is an essential element of your website. Your website is your shop window, so it’s important that the words you use on it do the right job. Your web copy should be engaging and informative, as well as being easy to read. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short so that they are easily scannable. You may also choose to include SEO in your web copywriting, by using strategically placed keywords and phrases.

Blog copywriting
Blogging is great for business – but the success of your posts depends on the content you use for your blog. Utilising copywriting tips can help you to create fabulous blog posts that will benefit your business. Use blog titles that will arouse interest in your readers, whilst also being short enough to share on social media. Keep your paragraphs brief and easy to read and break the text up with sub-headings and bullet points. Keep your posts clear and concise, and write to whatever length feels right – don’t have long rambling copy for the sake of it, but if you’ve got lots to say, you shouldn’t cut your post short.

Brochure copywriting
Writing a brochure can be a good way to distribute information about your products or services to potential clients. One of the most important things to remember when crafting copy for a brochure, is to make sure you write about the benefits, rather than the features of whatever it is you’re trying to sell. Also, think about who is going to be reading the brochure, and write for them. And always ensure you include a relevant call to action.

Leaflet copywriting
If you decide to write a leaflet then you need to use informative copy that catches the reader’s attention. Your leaflet or flyer might be part of an advertising campaign, a way to display technical information, or part of a direct mail campaign. As you only have a small area to play with, your copy needs to be brief enough to fit in a small space, whilst still containing enough information to convey your message.

Newsletter copywriting
Use a printed newsletter or an online e-newsletter to stay in touch with your customers. Make sure you use eye-catching subject lines that encourage people to open the newsletter and read on. Break up the text with headings and sub-heads, keep the content relevant and interesting, and always include a strong call to action.

Do you have tips or queries about website, blog, brochure, leaflet, or newsletter copywriting? If so leave a comment below. And to discuss any of your copywriting needs, get in touch with me today.