Social Media

Does it make sense to make improvements to older web pages?

(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

I got an email from Sally, who has taken my course on Web Content Optimization.

She asks:

“I’m working with a client who wants me to create a lot of new content pages. Which is great. But as I look through their site I see a lot of existing pages that could be improved. Should I mention this? Is there a benefit to improving existing pages?”

I love this question. Mainly because nobody has ever asked it before!

And the answer is yes, there is huge value to improving old content.

The older that content is, the more important it is to update it and improve it.

Here are a 3 things to watch for and to do…

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Do I write the page’s headline first or last?

(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

Great question from Lynn who is taking my course, How to Write Better Headlines.

The answer to whether I write the headline first or last is… yes.

I do both.

Let me explain. And this is the case whether I’m writing a page of content or a sales page. Same process.

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If Tony wants to get conversational, should he start with social media?

(What follows is the outline I wrote in advance of recording the video. They’re my talking points. Not a regular post or article. Just an outline.)

Here’s Tony’s question…

“The company I work for is fairly small, but has adopted a rather formal and stiff tone of voice when communicating with our customers and prospects. If I want to change this – I work in marketing, and started there recently – and want to follow your conversational approach, would it make sense to start with our social media channels?”

Tony, I think there are a couple of places to start that make sense.

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How to introduce your clients to Conversational Copywriting.

This question is from Stacey H., who has taken my course, Conversational Copywriting.

Instead of simply replying to the Stacey’s message one-on-one, I decided to share both her question and my answer with this short video.

(What follows is the outline I wrote for myself in advance of recording the video. This is just an outline. Not a regular post or article.)

First, Stacey’s full question:

“Nick, I just completed your Conversational Copywriting course and I love it. It feels so right to me! And I have one client who I think could be open to this. But how do I introduce the idea to them? How can I get my clients to be conversational?”

Thanks for the question Stacey.

OK… maybe more than one question to unwrap there.

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Online, you’re often writing headlines even when you’re not.

Online headlines on mobile device

I know, today’s headline is a bit of a brain-twister.

Here’s what I mean…

There are places online where we write headlines, and are fully aware that we’re writing headlines.

Examples include the headline you might write for a website’s homepage. Or at the top of a blog post. Or on a review page. Or on a sales page or landing page.

These are the places we expect to find headlines.

But how about an email subject line? Is that a headline?

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As a freelancer using social media, only two audiences matter.

Social media crowdSocial media can be a wonderful tool for freelancers. But it can also be a time sink.

It’s all too easy to spend hours a week feeding the social media beast, without getting any measurable value in return.

All too often we focus on numbers. We want more friends and followers. We want more clicks and more positive feedback.

Once things start rolling and our numbers start rising at a healthy clip, it’s easy to develop a minor obsession. All of a sudden we are spending more and more time finding ways to increase the size of our social media audience.

If this is happening to you, you should press the pause button, sit back and ask yourself this simple question: “Who are these people?”

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