The Pendulum Swings towards Well Written Words

Regular readers of the Copywriter’s Crucible will be aware of my ongoing theme: businesses need to invest in well written, informative and useful content if they want to convert browsers into buyers. In an ad averse culture, marketing is no longer about carpet bombing sales messages. But about building trust and confidence with content of value.

Don’t dictate. Discuss and educate. I even wrote an ebook about it.

Until recently, many internet marketers were interested in content primarily for search engine purposes.

This created a flood of ads for writers to hammer out bundles of 50 x 500 word articles, which had to be original, unique and not, presumably, copied & pasted from a competitor. But often with a budget of only $2 per article, it’s difficult to see how these articles could have served any marketing purpose other than for purely SEO.

Sadly, up till now the approach to online marketing has largely been that of throwing money at pay-per-click ads and getting as many people to your website as possible, without considering what you’re going to do with them when they arrive.

Few people are ready to buy the first time they visit your site. Why are they going to spend any time there or return if there’s nothing to captivate their interest?

Well, the pendulum finally appears to be swinging in the favor of the web savvy copywriter and the smart marketer.

Supported by my own experiences, it would appear that businesses are starting to realize the value of well written content that’s attractive to readers as well as the search engine spiders.

Last month, marketing consultant Nigel Temple posted an article on New Media Knowledge entitled ‘How to Attract More Clients’ in which he discusses the need to invest in buyer’s guides, ‘how to’ articles and content of value in order to convert browsers into buyers. I’d recommend anyone with an interest in internet marketing has a read, and in particular any business who chooses writers based on the lowest bid.

They might think they’re saving money for the Christmas party. But if they invest in well written content then next year they might be hiring out the whole venue, and not just the function room.