Poor Copywriting has Disastrous Effects on your Business
I’m assuming you landed here because you read Page 1 of this article (Writing Internet Articles... the Good, the Bad and the Ugly). If you haven’t done so yet, please click here.
Although a good article, published in the right manner, can still be a real asset to your online business, poor copywriting can have disastrous effects on your reputation.
You wouldn’t call a plumber to fix a TV, or a painter to repair your lawnmower.
Why then do so many individuals with no discernible literary talent insist on becoming article writers, often to their own detriment and their company's destruction?
First Impressions last... This is especially true for poor copywriting
It is a well known fact that a potential customer will judge your business by its sales materials. And the simple fact is that any articles published online to promote your business do fall under the broad heading of sales literature, since you are demonstrating your in-depth level of knowledge of your chosen market-sector, and trying to entice potential clients into visiting your site.
Therefore, if your copy is riddled with spelling, grammar or (God forbid*) context errors such as ‘there/their’, ‘affect/effect’ and ‘manner/manor’, any reader will instantly form an opinion regarding your expertise... a really negative one.
Take the word of someone who’s been in this industry for well over a decade: ’Poor copywriting can kill your business.’
This fact is aptly demonstrated by the general state of English language advertising in the Republic of Cyprus. Here, an increased influx of British expatriates and property buyers during recent years has created a widespread need for English sales literature. Overall standards, however, have failed to keep up with demand and it is often small business which pays the price for poor copywriting efforts, as potential clients desert it for its larger rivals according to the universally held perception that better copywriting equals a better product.
Sad but true.
In 2009 alone I’ve seen a large number of local businesses fold, as the prevailing economic situation has forced British expatriates to be more careful about how they spend their cash.
Back on the subject of web authoring, the past couple of years have seen the Internet article scene getting caught up in what I call the ‘Greenbar Madness’ of Google PR, which manifests itself in a number of ways, all of which share a common symptom: "I’ll just publish any old load of codswallop, get a load of inbound links from it, and my Google PageRank will go up."
Oh dear... If only it were that simple...
Although of short-term benefit on one hand, this approach to web promotion will ultimately do more harm than good, since your shortcomings as a copywriter are not only exposed to the world in general through discussion forums, newsgroups and other social networks, but those links you covet so desperately are no longer worth a bean in Google’s eyes. Congratulations on wasting your time, making a total fool of yourself, and damaging your reputation as a result all in one stroke.
Here's a novel idea:
Take a look at your existing articles, and if you suffer from poor copywriting, pay a professional copywriter to produce a couple of quality articles per week for you to publish instead.
For the small amounts of money it will cost you it's an outstanding investment; not only will it raise your professional reputation, and get you more paying customers, it will also get a better quality of inbound link for your website.
I’ll leave you to think this over as I wait for the Fundamentalist/Techie lynch-mob to arrive at my office.
*Damn... now I’ve gone and offended the religious zealots as well as the techies. Looks like I just can’t win this week.
