Psssst, looking for a guaranteed way to make money fast? Then you’re in the wrong place.

I don’t believe there is a guaranteed way to make money fast. Unless you have a full piggy bank and a hammer of course!

The Internet is awash with get-rich-quick schemes. Many will generate some degree of wealth for the creator. Almost all of them will fail to put money in your hands.

If you’re hell-bent on making a lot of money I suggest you study what actual confirmed rich people actually did, rather than allow yourself to be take in by schemes concocted by anaonymous scam artists.

There are plenty of books that describe how millionaires made their money. For example, The Millionaire Next Door provides enough detail to conclude that making money requires a lot more than joining some make-money-fast scheme.

I’ll go so far as to say any scheme that requires you to grow an extensive downline is a world away from the every-day tasks outlined in the The Millionaire Next Door. And odds are, you will not get rich by joining and/or otherwise participating in it. In fact, you are highly like to leave with less money than you started.

Everything we’ve learned about the universe over the last 200 years tells us there is no free lunch. A few people get lucky (e.g. lottery winners), but always at the expense of others (e.g. lottery losers). The overwhelming odds suggest that you and I will have to work for our money.

And frankly, I prefer it that way.

get rich quick, scam, scam artist

In September the Guardian confidently predicted that Apple’s domination of the tablet market was set to fall. The reason can be summed up in one word – Samsung.

With 20/20 hindsight we now know this prediction was (ahem) somewhat incorrect. Apple still dominates the tablet sector. Samsung has produced 3 exceptional tablet products this year, none of which has sold in numbers.

A question Samsung might be asking itself is “why?”

There is one well-known reason why Samsung’s tablet sales have fallen short of expectations. Apple has got into the habit of suing anything that moves companies that make products it considers too similar to its own. This has been especially egregious problematic for Samsung in Germany and Australia.

But Apple’s ‘shoot-first’ legal tactics haven’t been an issue for Samsung here in the UK or the United States.

In the US Amazon released the Kindle Fire, a $200 seven inch tablet designed to make it easy to buy from Amazon. It has sold well in the US – no doubt thanks to its low price, ‘better-than-stock-Android’ user experience and easy access to Amazon’s own App store.

So what’s holding Samsung back here in the UK? I may be able to shed some light on that. You see, Samsung makes a tablet that I am was very interested in buying. It’s called the Galaxy Tab 8.9 and in my opinion it’s the only tablet on the market that offers genuine advantages over an iPad…

• It’s 138 grams lighter
• It’s thinner
• It’s smaller
• It has a better screen

I am currently was looking to replace my notebook with a tablet. My laptop is was dragged all over London and used for a variety of purposes…

• Live demonstrations of websites/programming to clients
• Presentations to potential clients
• On-site running repairs via the CMS, FTP and/or SSH
• Training

An iPad can do does all of the above very well indeed. Even better – it has the added advantage of weighing 800 grams less, the battery lasts much longer, and it takes up less room in my bag. When you’re out all day on London’s overcrowded tubes and streets – less of everything is definitely more.

My thinking is that even less must be even more – hence my interest in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9.

But I have enough experience with Android devices to know that it’s best to try it before buying. I’m not willing to fork over £389 on an Android device until I know I’ll be happy with the result. I needed a chance to play with the device, and I bet I’m not alone in thinking this way. And right there we get to the heart of Samsung’s two biggest problems here in the UK…

• It’s selling the tablet through consumer electronics stores
• None of the stores I visited had the product in stock (most had never even heard of it)

In the UK consumer electronics stores seldom provide demonstrator models that are connected to the Internet. To properly assess whether or not a tablet is going to work for me, I need to give it a test drive while connected.

In the interests of balance I decided to find out whether I could perform such a test on an iPad. Strictly speaking, I didn’t need to do this because I know plenty of people that own one and had already determined it could do everything I needed it to.

Never-the-less, I wanted to compare the experience of shopping for a Samsung tablet versus an iPad and visited the Apple Store in Regent Street. Here’s what happened…

• Numerous iPads were on display, available to use, and connected to the Internet
• Pages and Numbers were already installed. I fired them up and marvelled at how much more useful these two apps are with the extra space and functionality available on an iPad versus an iPhone
• I visited the App Store and searched for both FTP and SSH apps. The App Store presented me with tablet-specific versions of these apps (another issue for Android tablets)
• I couldn’t find a mobile version of Firefox so I suppose I’ll have to make do with mobile Safari. I’ll give Opera a test-drive as that is available (I’ve now tried Atomic Web and Opera Mini. Atomic Web is worth keeping on my iPad, Opera Mini is headed for the great big delete bin in the sky)
• Apples employees didn’t bother me during my ‘test’. Several Apple store members hovered momentarily, apparently realised I was happy enough and gracefully hovered away

If you’ve ever visited a consumer electronics store in the UK, you’ll understand why the above experience is so special. Yet Samsung has chosen to sell its Galaxy Tab 8.9 through consumer electronics stores. I can only marvel at the idiocy of this move. Samsung UK apparently doesn’t understand what they have in the Galaxy Tab 8.9, and why it might appeal to business people (lighter, smaller, no-compromise on screen-size/quality).

I tried very hard to get my hands on the Galaxy Tab 8.9. This includes asking Samsung where I might find one, only to be told they didn’t know either (slow face-palm).

No wonder Samsung can’t sell tablets. Frankly, it doesn’t deserve sales. It’s as if Samsung has given up.

I certainly did and bought myself an iPad from Apple’s Covent Garden Store. The purchase experience was second-to-none in terms of a retail experience here in the UK.

ipad, samsung galaxy tab 8.9, tablets

There’s an inherent aspect to human nature that has most people find themselves dissatisfied with the status quo. This aspect of human nature can be seen in Apple’s launch of the iPhone 4s, and in a comment left by an iPhone 3GS owner: I’m waiting for the ‘true’ new iPhone.

Apple may be impressed with itself having released a shiny new iPhone, but frankly the 4s doesn’t hold a candle to its existing Android competitors. Let alone the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Apple’s problem isn’t that the iPhone 4s is a poor phone (it’s not). Apple’s problem is one of human nature. We’re never satisfied with what we have, especially when there’s something much better on the other side of the fence.

My view is that our evolution is driven by an innate dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs. As a rule of thumb, a company can expect its customers to quickly grow accustomed to even the most incredible technology.

Consider the world into which your grandparent’s grandparents were born. This was an alien world as far as you and I are concerned. No electricity, motors cars, computers, telephones (let alone anything resembling a smart phone) or TV. One child in two died before puberty.

Yet the incredible discoveries and inventions that literally changed the world are now taken for granted. Almost every parent dies before his/her children. It’s possible to make a free call to the other side of the world using a mobile phone (via Skype). These developments are amazing. You and I should be gob-smacked by them. We’d certainly miss this technology if it vanished.

Yet neither you or I are astounded at the ‘miraculous’ world in which we are privileged to live. We have to stop and think about it before experiencing any sense of wonder or privilege.

Why is that? Why is it that we human beings take such ‘miracles’ in our stride?

I think it comes back to an inherent state of dissatisfaction (or striving for something better) that is literally written into our DNA. If human beings as a species were generally happy with our lot, I think we’d still be swinging from the trees.

As marketers it’s essential to keep this in mind when promoting a new product. And Apple’s latest iPhone offers a useful lesson in this regard.

In my view, Apple made the right decision when it named its newest iPhone the 4s rather than the 5. The 4s does not compete head-to-head with the best Android phones. And going forward, the new iPhone will look increasingly poor against an overwhelming onslaught of Android-based competitors. It would have been damaging to the brand to pretend otherwise by naming it the iPhone 5.

I think Apple made the wrong decision by releasing the 4s. The 4s already looked shabby compared to the 6-month old Galaxy 2S. And each new high-end Android phone to hit the market will reinforce how tired the iPhone 4s is.

I think the biggest problem with the iPhone 4s is it’s tiny screen. All those pixels would be far more useful if displayed across a bigger screen. The existing iPhone has the space in which to seat a bigger screen.

When the iPhone 5 is finally released it will almost certain contain a bigger screen. I’m sure Apple will make much of this fact. Yet those of us actually buying phones will know that the competition have had better and bigger screens for over a year.

Apple is now playing catch-up, yet its still charging as if they offer the market the leading phone. The company is no different to any other, and its iPhone will not compete for long on those terms.

Tech savy people aren’t tempted by this phone. Gradually the message will spread, and regular folk will begin to realise there are better phones out there for the money.

Human dissatisfaction with the status quo will drive this trend, and Apple will continue to see its market share erode as a result.

apple, human nature, iphone 5, marketing

Companies do the craziest things. Take Amazon for example. They have created an awesome new tablet, given it an uber-sexy name, priced it lower even than my wildest dreams, and then refused to sell it to me.

I’m not kidding. I tried to buy the damn thing and got fobbed off with some rubbish about living on the wrong side of the Atlantic.

Excuse me? This is me you’re talking to. ME! Have you checked my order history lately Amazon? I think it only fair that you make an exception in my case. Either that, or start selling the damn thing here in the UK.

Here’s why I want a Kindle Fire

It’s lighter and smaller than an iPad. The iPad is too big and clunky for the use I have in mind. I need something I can use comfortably while on the tube. I get a lot of use out of an iPhone App called QuickOffice Pro. It has the ability read, write and edit both Word and Excel documents. I use it to…

• Review notes on the tube while traveling to meetings
• Make notes when heading back from meetings
• Write Proposals when heading to and/or from meetings
• Create, edit and/or review financial projections

QuickOffice Pro syncs with Dropbox. This means my notes, proposal, and/or spreadsheet are on my laptop when I arrive at or get back from meetings. The work I’ve done while on the tube is ready and waiting.

In other words, QuickOffice Pro and an iPhone allow me to be productive while on the tube. This time is no longer lost. And it’s especially valuable if there are delays on the tube.

An iPhone does an adequate job but I’ve been looking for something bigger. I want more screen real-estate and a larger virtual keyboard. I’d use this device to run presentations too, and leave my laptop in the office.

I looked long and hard at the iPad, and almost pulled the trigger. In the end I decided it’s just too big and heavy. The Kindle Fire is a far better fit for me.

Other tablet makers offer a 7″ device, but none of them can replace Apple’s App and support infrastructure. Amazon can. And now they have (what looks like) the very product I’ve been looking for.

I have already tried to place an order through my Amazon US account. No such luck. They won’t ship it to my UK address. The question is, why won’t the buggers sell it to me?

amazon, ipad, kindle fire, tablet

Some people engage in a relentless pursuit of perfection. Others never seem to get anything done.

I suspect a large number of people in group A also find themselves in group B.

When it comes to your web marketing, it’s worth considering whether or not perfection is required to achieve your aims. Especially when you consider the nature of the Internet.

Offline marketing items can’t be changed after the fact. If you have 5,000 brochures printed, and then discover there’s a typo, you’re stuck with it.

The web is an altogether different proposition. It can be changed after the fact.

This means you can publish your latest marketing piece as soon as it’s ready, and then improve it over time. In other words, I’m advocating a “publish now, perfect later” approach to web marketing. Here’s why…

Let’s say any given marketing piece will take 7 days to perfect. If you publish today, you give the piece an extra 168 hours to work for you. There’s a good chance you’ll make sales as a result of its appearance during that time.

There is nothing to be gained from withholding something because it’s not yet perfect. If there are legal reasons to wait, naturally you should wait. What I’m talking about here is waiting only because you yourself feel the piece needs to be perfect before it goes live.

perfection

Take your pick
Pick a piece of online copywriting you like. Even some of mine! Cut and paste it into a new document. Then print and read it. Odds are you’ll find it doesn’t work as well in print as it does in pixels.

Is this harder to read?
Writing for the web is different, because reading a screen is different. It’s harder than reading paper, so work to make web copy less difficult to read. Tempt the visitor to keep going.

Yours sincerely
The web is informal – when did you last see a webpage beginning “To whom it may concern”? Use the first person and active constructions. Take liberties with grammar and construction, as long as you know what you can get away with.

Byte sized*
Break a chunk of copy into short paragraphs – it looks less daunting.

Ask a designer
Any designer will tell you about the advantages of white space. That works on-screen too.

Love spiders
Pepper web content with headlines and sub-heads. It leads the visitor on. And it’s an SEO technique for grabbing spiders.

Key words and phrases
Only humans read print. But web pages are read by stupid software. It doesn’t understand what you’re saying, it just indexes words and phrases. So, repeat key words and phrases more frequently than you’d do for a human reader. However, spiders aren’t going to spend money with you so, for the sake of the humans out there, learn to repeat key words and key phrases unobtrusively.

Pixels, not print
Always proof check for typos and grammaticals by reading your copy as a print out. You’ll see more mistakes that way. Then proof read for sense and readability on screen, because that’s where everybody else will read it.

Keep it short
Bored yet?

*deliberate mispelling. But you knew that anyway.

content, copy, Copywriting, grammar, grammatical errors, search engine optimisation, SEO, webcopy, writing

Unless you’re a word nerd, it’s likely you’ll occasionally write wrong but right, as far as your spell checker is concerned. It may be that you don’t know the difference between one way of spelling a word and another. It may be that your brain/finger coordination was taking a nap. Or you may have been hoping the spell check would help you out. What am I talking about? Words that have another meaning when wrongly spelt. It matters. On a website, there are those who will decide not to do business with you, if they think your spelling is sloppy.

So here’s an A-to-D list of words that are often confused (more on another day) with just one definition of the meaning of each, and an example of correct use. Take care that it’s not your site that confuses words and confuses customers.

Accept/Except
Accept – to agree. Except – to exclude
I’d be happy to accept this award and everybody is welcome, except politicians.
Warning: If your spell checker automatically corrects misspellings, and you meant to type expect, but didn’t, it might correct it to except. And vice-versa.

Access/Excess
Access – a way to enter. Excess – too much
When they accessed the storeroom they found a shortage of bread and an excess of  butter.

Advice/Advise
Advice – that which is given. Advise – the act of giving advice
I’d advise you to accept her advice.

Affect/Effect
Affect – to influence or alter in some way. Effect – the result of being affected
We have been badly affected by heavy rain, the effects have been local flooding.

Aid/Aide
Aid – to help. Aide – a helper
I was able to come to her aid, and send her my aide.

Already/All Ready
Already – something that has already happened. All ready – everything is ready
We have already received the new price list, and we are all ready to introduce the new prices.

Alter/Altar
Alter – to change. Altar – a piece of church furniture
The cabinet maker altered the altar.

Altogether/All Together
Altogether – in total. All together – assembled
There were eight of us, altogether, and we were all together in the kitchen when the fire started.

Anecdote/Antidote
Anecdote – a story based on experience. Antidote – a way of negating, especially illness
He told an amusing anecdote about his detox diet – the antidote to Christmas excesses.

Baited/Bated
Baited – loaded with bait, ready to attract. Bated – suspenseful
We baited the hooks with strips of mackerel then waited with bated breath to see if the  fish would bite.

Bare/Bear
Bare – naked, unadorned. Bear – to carry
He gave us the bare bones of the story about three wise men who came bearing gifts.

Boarder/Border
Boarder – a lodger. Border – a line delineating one territory from another
Dominic, her boarder for nearly a year, was held up in a passport queue at the border.

Brake/Break
Brake – an object used to retard progress. Break – damage to an object
If you brake hard when carrying eggs in the car, you might break them.

Buy/By/Bye
Buy – to purchase. By – close to. Bye – to progress in a competition without playing a match
I’ll buy the cottage by the village green. Federer progressed to next round after being given a bye when Nadal injured his shoulder.

Cache/Cachet
Cache – objects stored for later collection. Cachet – status, respect
The expedition left food caches along the route, for their return journey; after all there’s a certain cachet about eating caviare after reaching the summit.

Canon/Cannon
Canon – a member of the church heirachy. Cannon – artillery
In the siege of the city, even the Canon fired a cannon.

Capital/Capitol
Capital – the main city of a nation or state. Capitol – a building serving as a seat of government
The capitol building is in the nation’s capital.

Carat/Carrot
Carat – a weight measurement for gems. Carrot – a long orange vegetable
A one carat diamond weighs 200 milligrams but one carrot, though worth a lot less, weighs considerably more.

Checker/Chequer
Checker – something which verifies. Chequer – a pattern of repeating squares
The baggage checker wore a yellow and black chequered jacket .

Cite/Sight/Site
Cite – to quote. Sight – something seen. Site – a location
In his defence, he cited the fifth amendment. This is the site of the new building, which at 37 storeys, will be quite a sight.

Complement/Compliment
Complement – a ship’s crew. Compliment – saying something nice to someone
They sailed with a full complement and the Captain complimented them on their smart appearance.

Confidant/Confident
Confidant – one in whom you place trust. Confident – being sure you can achieve something
He was confident he could rely on absolute discretion from his confidant.

Continuous/Continual
Continuous – without pause. Continual – repeating at frequent intervals
The conveyor belt should maintain a continuous flow but there are continual interruptions because of power outages.

Days/Daze
Days – periods of 24 hours starting at midnight. Daze –  bewildered
After the accident, she spent days in a daze.

Defuse/Diffuse
Defuse – to remove a fuse. Diffuse – something spread thinly
Cooler temperatures and weak, diffused sunlight helped defuse the tension that had built during the heat of the day.

Desert/Dessert
Desert – arid lands. Dessert – a sweet food course
After their desert picnic, they enjoyed a cooling dessert.

Die/Dye
Die – cease to live. Dye – to colour
I nearly died when I saw how they had dyed my favourite shirt.

Discrete/Discreet
Discrete – separate, individual. Discreet – capable of retaining a confidence.
There were several discrete parties to deal with, but our lawyer was very discreet about their interests when negotiating a settlement.

More to come, and as our slogan says, you won’t go wrong when you work with Write.

Copywriting, grammar, grammatical errors, spelling, web, webcopy

My usual advice on writing for websites is keep it short, keep it relevant, avoid repetition, and make sure key search terms are included in the page copy (as well as the page title, headers, tags, etc). There’s an exception; the FAQs page. That’s where you can relax a little and expand.

Frequently Asked Questions WILL be read by those with real interest in doing business with you (they’ll be read by your competitors too!) Because potential customers come to FAQs seeking answers, you don’t need to worry about crafting words to grab their attention in the first couple of seconds, and convincing them to buy in the next two. You can use more words without boring the reader. You can insert some jargon. You can build in plenty of internal links. You can include a raft of H2 and H3 headers, much loved by search engines. You can cover a single topic from several angles by varying the question. You can include lists – which you’d normally avoid doing. And you can pack in key words and phrases.

Effectively, there’s no limit to the number of FAQs you can pose but, for readability, once you get beyond about ten or twelve, start breaking them into topic groups, to tidy the page visually. Unless an FAQ is deep down technical, limit answers to no more than 50 words or so. If you need many more, consider linking from a summary answer to a sub-page with the full answer in glorious Technicolor.

Many web copywriters regard FAQ’s as a chore. They’re actually a powerful SEO weapon. That’s why, at writeltd.com, we love them.

web copy copywriting FAQ SEO

Here’s a heads up for those of us who want to learn about web marketing as a discipline, rather than wallow in the usual hype and empty promises. It’s an in-depth series of articles about the Web Marketing Process. It’s being released in bite-sized chunks on The Lead Generation Blog.

Here are direct links to each part. Naturally, I suggest you start with part one!

1. An overview of The Web Marketing Process.
2. Objectives – 1st installment
3. Objectives – 2nd installment
4. Objectives – 3rd installment

The next instalment (still on objectives, thus hinting at the depth of information on offer) promises a marketing plan you can use when running your own campaigns. In fact, this is what parts 2-4 have been building to.

As new instalments go live, they’re announced on this Twitter page. I suggest you start following it, so you can continue with the series.

Web Marketing, web marketing process

The words are those of Saul Pett, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. He never wrote web copy, but his sentiment is just as true for web writers. It’s what lies behind the tyranny of the blank page, or the Microsoft Word screen, empty except for a flashing cursor.

Every copywriter has his or her routine for getting started, and it’s something you have to develop for yourself. Look first to your assets, the things that make it easier to hit the keys.

You have a brief. Someone has told you what the objective of the web page (or the entire site) is – and if they haven’t, go back to them and talk it through. So, you know the effect you have to create.

You have an audience. Once again, you have been briefed on the target market that the website owner is aiming at, and why they might be interested in the proposition. If that wasn’t included in the brief, go back and define your audience.

You know the language to use. The audience brief should have included the language they speak – not Serbo-Croat or Mandarin – but the depth of knowledge they have of the product or service being offered. The deeper their understanding, the more specific the language you can use.

You have your research. You’ve analysed competitor sites, looking at key words, spotting points of difference. You’ve read the collateral your client already has. You’ve looked at competitor literature and webpages. You’ve considered what works, and what doesn’t. You’ve talked with potential users and stakeholders in the business.

And you have your greatest asset, a writer’s skill.

With those assets, it’s time to start clicking keys. It almost doesn’t matter what you write. This is not yet a draft, not even a skeleton. It’s just a pile of bones. When the pile begins to grow, you can arrange the bones, promoting some, discarding others, looking for new ones, until you have the skeleton of a narrative – the story that is going to convince readers to take whatever action is your client’s objective.

Now put flesh on those bones. Rely only on your own skills. DON’T CUT, PASTE AND EDIT MATERIAL FROM OTHER SITES. That’s not the action of a writer, but of a thief. And your readers will know that it’s stolen. It just won’t hang together. It won’t flow. It certainly won’t convince.

So, write it. Print it. Read it. Correct it. And then leave it alone, for as long as your deadline allows. What you do now is think. The hard bit.

Have you said enough? Have you said too much? Have you missed anything? Are all the keywords there, and at the right density? Is there a different, better way of convincing your audience?

When you’re through, rewrite. Rewrite until you’re convinced it’s as good as it’ll get. Sounds tough? It is. Dorothy Parker said “I can’t write five words but that I change seven.”

Only when you’ve satisfied yourself that it couldn’t possibly be better have you arrived at a first draft you can present to your client. And if they’re a good client, they won’t want you to rewrite it! Yeah, sure.

copy, Copywriting, web, webcopy, writing