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Rick Saldan is an excellent
inspirational speaker who tailored the seminar to the needs of the
individual students being instructed. This office thanks the Mayors Office
of Information Services for having such a vendor.
Timothy K. Lynch
Office of Fleet Management
City of Philadelphia
Rick has a magical approach that provides a clear and
concise message specifically designed to the needs of his
audience. Rick will provide all the motivational magic you
will ever need, propelling your organization to the next
level of greater success.
Thomas Mulhern
Frontier Communications
Rick Saldan is a compelling and absorbing motivational speaker and
magician.I have been to five of his
Motivational Magic presentations and it is amazing how he keeps our
college audiences on the edge of their seats.
A highly entertaining performer with great comedy flair. Rich content to
increase students' productivity, peak performance and motivation. If you
need an outstanding motivational speaker for colleges, Rick is definitely
one of the world's greatest speakers and magicians!
Dr. Rob Gilbert, Sport Psychologist,
Montclair State University
Rick Saldan has the wit, wisdom and sorcery of a wizard. He
has a dynamic personality, and all will enjoy his
captivating stories, comedy and magic!
Dennis Slaughter
Credit Suisse First Boston
Rick Saldan delivers a first-class show! A pro in every
sense of the word. Funny, unique, entertaining and polished.
Brian Letscher, Actor
Hawaii Five-O, NCIS, Cold Case, Law & Order and The Mentalist.
Rick Saldan is a wonderful combination of master magician, comic
improviser and first class speaker. The audience loved his program, which
was music to our ears. If you love celebrity motivational speakers such as
Tom Hopkins, Dale Carnegie and Zig Ziglar, then you'll love Rick!
Dottie Burman, President
Burtley Productions, Inc.
Rick Saldan
is an incredibly talented performer and motivational speaker with great insight. He shares many powerful
motivational messages that will enhance your life for the better!
Jack Murray, President
Dream Illusions
Rick is one of the best inspirational speakers on
the scene today. Funny, fun loving and highly energetic. If you want to
make your next event into an extraordinary one, then invite professional
speaker Rick Saldan and his amazing Motivational Magic.
Andres Lara, President
Inspiration Times Magazine
Copywriting Makeover: Know Where Your Customers Are In The Buying Process Part 1 of 2 Author: Karon Thackston
When you begin to write copy for any product or service, there are a few things you have to take into consideration. The first is always your target audience: who you’ll be writing to. Finding out about the needs and wants of the audience members, their communication styles, their lifestyles, and a multitude of other elements are “musts” before writing one word of copy.
But something most people neglect is giving due attention to the buying process as a whole and where your target audience is within their own process. Understanding this can, oftentimes, make or break the success of your copy.
When AEwebworks (an online, dating-site software developer) approached me about rewriting their website copy, it became immediately apparent that their copy could benefit from paying some due diligence to the buying processes of their customers.
The Problems
My primary concerns with the copywriting on this site included the lack of synergy within the copy, the use of testimonials, the lack of focus on the target customer’s buying process, and the inability for the copy to support the search engine goals of AEwebworks. In its present state, the copy contained few mentions of keyphrases.
You can view the old copy in PDF form at this link: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/AEWebWorks-Original.pdf.
When I first read the copy, it felt as though I was being pitched to from all sides. The headline spoke to someone thinking of entering the online dating site industry. The body copy did not support that headline; rather it spoke to someone who had already made the decision to launch or improve a dating site.
The use of testimonials at the bottom of the home page posed a challenge for two reasons. The first was the sheer location. The design of the site was such that it appeared nothing fell “below the fold” (what was first seen when the home page loaded onto a browser). The second challenge was that many of the testimonials were from people asking questions or stating they were considering trying the dating software… not actual customers attesting to the benefits they’d personally experienced.
In addition, while the information included in the body copy was good, the information given on the home page needed to outline why AEwebworks was better than the competition. In its present state, it did not. That meant finding those aspects of buying dating software that were most important to the customer and highlighting them within the copy.
Lastly, I needed to focus the home page copy on only two or three keyphrases and increase keyword saturation for those phrases. This also meant creating a copy strategy that would allow me to use the keyphrases effectively without making the text sound stiff.
The Solution
As always, I started the project by gaining a good understanding of who the target customers were, what they wanted, their fears, their likes, their dislikes, and anything else I could discover. After a good bit of research, and after reading the completed target audience analysis from AEwebworks, I felt I had a good understanding of those I would be writing to.
In order to combat the lack of synergy within the copy and the lack of focus on the target customer’s buying process, I created a copywriting plan. From my research I found that installation, upgrade policies, and support were the three most common gripes buyers had about dating software. I decided to make overcoming those obstacles the focal point of the copy instead of the actual features and benefits.
That may sound like an odd choice, but that’s where recognition of the buying process comes in. Considering that the majority of visitors to the site had already made the decision to launch a new site or had chosen to upgrade an existing site, they were already well versed in the features of dating-site software and their associated benefits. Yes… the benefits did need to be mentioned; however, other issues proved to be more pressing to this particular group of customers.
The use of testimonials on the home page was easily corrected by simply deleting the ones that did not directly apply to actual users of the software. I chose two for use within the copy and suggested that, as AEwebworks gets more testimonials, they create an entire page that visitors can read.
That left me with overcoming the inability of the current copy to support the search engine goals of the site. I suggested AEwebworks review their keyword choices to be sure they were targeting the ones most likely to bring in qualified customers. After a review, they provided me with a revised list to choose from.
I selected three keyphrases for each page in order to allow an adequate level of both keyword saturation and natural language. For the home page, the terms “dating software,” “online dating software,” and “dating script” were used.
After all the hoopla with Google, AEwebworks was in foul shape as far as search engine rankings were concerned. I had to pay particular attention to creating copy that impressed the search engines AND their site visitors in order to help them regain ground with their positioning and sales efforts.
The plan was in place. Now “all” I had to do was write the copy. In part two of this series, you’ll get all the details on how I turned “OK” into “Wow!”
Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to check out Karon’s latest e-report “How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.
