April 2004

Leverage the true power of the Internet, people come looking for you... "It pays to get discovered..."

"It pays to get discovered." As in "found," that is, not the credit card. Why, you may ask? Well, if you're like most human beings, you tend to attach greater credibility to the things you find out for yourself than you do to what someone else tells you.

So here's this: Yahoo! recently released statistics that show online advertising improves brand strength by up to 42%. "Brand strength" is judged by how much people: a) remember the brand, b) remember the ad, c) associate the message with the product, d) speak favorably about the brand, and e) ta-dah!--say they will buy the brand.

Yes, you tend to remember the brands you choose to search for. And of course that's what the Internet is all about--people searching for and discovering exactly what they're looking for. Of course you hope they're finding your offerings. And when people do find you on the Internet, they perceive you differently than when they read your ad in a newspaper or trade journal. You didn't buy space (though you can--and in some cases probably should--purchase Google adwords in combination with other techniques). You didn't force them to pass by your ad while they read their favorite publication. In fact, on the Internet it doesn't even necessarily feel like you're advertising. Instead, you emerge from the millions of sites on the web when the visitor says, hey, this is what I need/want/gotta have. Simply showing up under those circumstances gives you tremendous credibility--which is why optimization services are so popular now.

And as the search engines grow ever more sophisticated with their search algorithms, guess what has emerged as the strongest indicator of relevance? Not tricks, not hidden tags, not secret codes... No, it's plain old words--the content of your web pages. In today's Internet world, what you say is now critical for TWO reasons: 1) it's the most important way for people to find you online, and 2) it's your best chance to help them understand what you can do for them--and get them to contact you when they hit your web page.

If you've never considered hiring a professional to do your website copy, it just got even more important to think about it. If you think that old-time corporate speak and bland recitations of features are going to cut it in the future, I promise you you're missing the boat. The old ways will only work if you're a) hundreds of times bigger than anyone else and can offer the same commodity-type goods at much better prices, or b) you have no competition.

Now there's a good one... For more ideas about standing out from your competition, read blog for business.

Sincerely,
Barbara

Some of what’s going on at ReallyGoodFreelanceWriter.com:

• Helped develop brand positioning for a Fortune 500 technology company for its new target market


• Interviewed top executives for a Fortune 500 global manufacturer's newspaper


• Researched and wrote a technical white paper for a leading medical facility


• Began a long-term public relations program for an international manufacturer of construction materials


• Presented "29 Things You Need to Know about Press Releases” to The National Association of Women Business Owners


• Facilitated a seminar on "Blogging for Professionals" for the Cleveland Area Metropolitan Library's Continuing Education program. See entry on BlogforBusiness.com