-----------------------------------------------------Page 81-----------------------------------------------------
Section 2: Recipe No.18 | Observe
Hot Tip
For a master class in the power of
observation check
out Seth Godin . This self-made marketing expert uses everyday experiences to
comment on sales and marketing.
A search on the term ‘mini motos’ in Wordtracker’s Keywords tool.
The tool’s Related Keywords search will find hundreds of topics you could write about. Here is an example:
1. Your business sells a mini-size motorbike, known as a ‘mini moto’.
2. Type ‘mini moto’ into the Related Keywords tool and you will find related words such as pit bike, mini bike, and pocket bike.
Wordtracker.com
The Web Content Recipe Book | 82
Prepared exclusively for qin yu
-----------------------------------------------------Page 82-----------------------------------------------------
Section 2: Recipe No.18 | Observe
3. Use each of these phrases as seed keywords in the Find Keywords tool and you’ll discover a whole world of possible content - enough for thousands of pages of writing.
Back your observation up with research
Let’s go back to Godin. He is excellent at pinpointing problems and providing interesting solutions in an informative, chatty tone. In some blog posts he quotes experts, finds statistics to support his arguments, gives examples and links to sources. Yet the depth of his lateral thinking rarely ventures beyond 300 words.
Get inspired
As Yogi Berra, former New York Yankees baseball player, said: “You can observe a lot just by watching.” Develop the habit of active observation. Practice it.
Wordtracker.com
The Web Content Recipe Book | 83
Prepared exclusively for qin yu
-----------------------------------------------------Page 83-----------------------------------------------------
Use an
inspirational quotation
“…what is the use of a book” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?”
19
This quotation is taken from ‘Alice In Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll. A quotation can be a great basis for an article. This quotation tells us a lot about why and how
asks me include plenty of color in an article, they are asking for descriptive, emotional language. So, I use plenty of adjectives , or describing words.
we write.
Think of Alice’s Wonderland. It is filled with fantastic
The literal meaning suggests that we should include pictures such as photographs, graphics, or illustrations. You should also think about creating visual images with the words you use. Try to write as though you’re having a conversation with a friend.
Building pictures
When you read a novel it’s often possible to visualize the story. This is because the author will have chosen their words carefully. The same concept applies to good business writing. So, how do you translate what you see into words on a page for someone else to read?
A splash of color
In journalistic terms many editors will talk about color. They don’t mean white, green and brown , but a vivid description that brings the story to life. When an editor
Wordtracker.com
color and imaginative description. And is so much more interesting than most business writing.
Conversations
Many business writers could benefit from making their writing more conversational, and less formal. Pose questions. Engage. Ask your readers to think.
A good way of doing this is through an opinion piece based around a quotation.
Comment is free
A good quotation isn’t dependent on the person who said it. It doesn’t matter if it comes from a football
pundit, a politician or a pop star – it is your interpretation that will interest readers. Here are some quotations you could use in your writing:
The Web Content Recipe Book | 84
Prepared exclusively for qin yu
-----------------------------------------------------Page 84-----------------------------------------------------
Section 2: Recipe No. 19 | Use an inspirational quotation
“You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side.” W. E. Gladstone, British
Hot Tip
‘Learn to write well, or not to write at all.’ John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby.
Wordtracker.com
Liberal politician and Prime Minister.
“Things are seldom what they seem. Skim milk masquerades as cream.” W. S. Gilbert, English writer of satirical verse.
“The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.” Tony Blair, British Labour politician and Prime Minister.
“The thing with high-tech is that you always end up using scissors.” David Hockney, English artist.
“I always say, keep a diary, and some day it’ll keep you.” Mae West, American film actress.
“Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” Gore Vidal, American novelist and critic.
“Three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write.” Anthony Trollope, English novelist.
“A hungry man is not a free man.” Adlai E. Stevenson, American Democratic politician.
“The chief business of the American people is business.” Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the USA.
And, of course, no list of quotations would be complete without reference to the playwright Oscar Wilde:
“Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.” “The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” “I can resist everything except temptation.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written.”
There is a useful list of business quotations at Woopidoo .
The Web Content Recipe Book | 85
Prepared exclusively for qin yu
-----------------------------------------------------Page 85-----------------------------------------------------
Make a video
Videos make great content for your website. Use them to show your customers the full potential of the products you sell, or showcase your own expertise.
20
Show customers how to use products
You can’t underestimate the power of video. Lauren Luke’s career is based on uploading great content. In 2007 she began uploading tutorials to YouTube , the free video site, on how to apply makeup . Luke now has more than 295,000 subscribers and her channel has been viewed more than 8 million times. Such success led her to launch her own cosmetic line in April 2009. If you work in an industry where people need to be shown how to use your products, video could offer a great opportunity.
Show what products can do
The champions of video are Blendtec with their Will It Blend? videos. I’ve mentioned them elsewhere, but it’s worth noting how often they choose to blend items that are popular and frequently searched. They blended the iPhone when it was first launched; they blend computer games and the latest cameras. They do this to capture the online traffic that is generated by people searching for these sought-after items. They also take requests from their viewers, which means there’s another layer of
interaction. Ask your customers what they want to see. Similarly, National Web Design shows people how to
improve their web design skills. This is helpful, not only to customers, but also as a way of educating and engendering trust in prospective customers. The site includes a six part series on web design through a content management system that has attracted many thousands of views. Note how the company responds to comments, which further engages customers. The videos are kept to under 10 minutes. If you have a complicated or in-depth video, you might want to split it into more manageable chunks.
Wordtracker.com
Video interviews
You may want to be more adventurous and use videos to interview people. EConsultancy.com does this well. The digital marketing and e-commerce site has a YouTube channel , which is mainly made up of videos with its own experts or relevant guests. Next time you attend a conference or discussion, you may want to create a video.
The Web Content Recipe Book | 86
Prepared exclusively for qin yu
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment