Copywriting|Photography|Digital Marketing
Instagram videos – January-February 2022
neilhickson.co.ukInstagram videos – January-February 2022 The post Instagram videos – January-February 2022 appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukInstagram videos – January-February 2022 I’ve proven to myself over and over that video content on social media channels gets more engagement than still images or plain graphics. Here is a small selection of social media graphics that I wrote and edited in January and February 2022 for Instagram and Facebook channels. The post Instagram videos – January-February 2022 appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukThe copywriter’s guide to urination One thing I see business owners do over and over again is to cover their website with the words we, I, and us. Now, as a business owner you’re probably proud of what your company does, it’s natural, you can’t help yourself. If you have a product or service that you believe it, you just […] The post The copywriter’s guide to urination appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukThe copywriter’s guide to urination One thing I see business owners do over and over again is to cover their website with the words we, I, and us. Now, as a business owner you’re probably proud of what your company does, it’s natural, you can’t help yourself. If you have a product or service that you believe it, you just want to tell the world how good it is and quite rightly so. The thing is, that’s all about you. It’s like going for a first date with someone, and all they do is talk about is themselves. Now, at some point, you will want to know more about your date, but when you first meet, if it’s all one way, there probably won’t be a second one. What customers really need when they land on your website is to feel that you are interested in them and solving their problem. They typed their problem into Google, so that’s what they want an answer to. They need to feel empathy and that you really understand them and their needs. So that’s what you need to talk about. Them and their problem. Here’s what you need to do. Take a look at your website, your home page or one of your landing pages. If you’ve ‘wee’d’ all over it, you need to mop it up fast and change we for you. Look at re-writing the page so it talks about your customer and their problem, not just about you and how good you are. An example. ‘We are a great, award-winning agency, we have a fantastic team, we have worked with some prestigious clients. Change that to, ‘Are you looking for a website to promote your business, you need help to achieve your business goals, our company can help you. We’ve built websites for some prestigious organisations, so imagine what we can do for your business. You will get better results, more leads and more conversions. Never forget, it’s all about your customer, it’s not about you. The post The copywriter’s guide to urination appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukGive your audience what they want The post Give your audience what they want appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukGive your audience what they want There is little point in writing content for a blog post, podcast or video if your audience won’t be interested in the subject. The way to being a success is to be useful and provide something that people want. Quite often they want the answers to questions that your business can easily provide them with. Go ahead. Start by answering a question then people will enjoy consuming your content. Watch the video and I’ll explain. The post Give your audience what they want appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukMono magic in Pure Cheshire magazine The post Mono magic in Pure Cheshire magazine appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukMono magic in Pure Cheshire magazine <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/C066142C-A1DC-4D39-A655-4B36DC1761F3-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/C066142C-A1DC-4D39-A655-4B36DC1761F3-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/C066142C-A1DC-4D39-A655-4B36DC1761F3-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6576" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/E00A45CD-CDA1-48C0-B0A8-9ECF37BD5653-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/E00A45CD-CDA1-48C0-B0A8-9ECF37BD5653-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/E00A45CD-CDA1-48C0-B0A8-9ECF37BD5653-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6575" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6307FE68-0F74-4298-9AEB-46860A960BB3-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6307FE68-0F74-4298-9AEB-46860A960BB3-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6307FE68-0F74-4298-9AEB-46860A960BB3-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6574" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/39B61F67-47D6-4D59-9E19-472320435226-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/39B61F67-47D6-4D59-9E19-472320435226-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/39B61F67-47D6-4D59-9E19-472320435226-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6573" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/81E0E318-B10F-4602-8AE6-6CD8F5226997-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/81E0E318-B10F-4602-8AE6-6CD8F5226997-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/81E0E318-B10F-4602-8AE6-6CD8F5226997-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6572" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/10DBF33A-27AB-4754-AC55-C14E61C46AFA-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/10DBF33A-27AB-4754-AC55-C14E61C46AFA-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/10DBF33A-27AB-4754-AC55-C14E61C46AFA-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6570" /> If you’ve looked at my website you’ll see that I really love monochrome photography. This isn’t anything new to me, black and white is where I started all those years ago as a kid, developing Ilford HP5 and FP4 films and printing images on an old enlarger up in my parent’s loft. Is monochrome photography still relevant in this day and age? I believe it is. There’s something special with monochrome, a drama, a graphic quality. An image in monochrome has to have great composition because it hasn’t got colour to carry it and it needs to contain emotion to work well. Colour photography is great and I’ll always take colour images for commercial purposes and where colour it’s needed. But, when I really want to express myself and have the time to go into that deep creative concentration zone, monochrome is the medium I choose. I’ve been looking through my cuttings archive and found this nice spread that Pure Cheshire Magazine did of my black and white work back in 2007. Thank you, Louise Taylor, the editor at the time, for going against the grain and publishing a monochrome spread. Do you like using mono images? Let me know what you think. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/C066142C-A1DC-4D39-A655-4B36DC1761F3-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/C066142C-A1DC-4D39-A655-4B36DC1761F3-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/C066142C-A1DC-4D39-A655-4B36DC1761F3-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6576" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/E00A45CD-CDA1-48C0-B0A8-9ECF37BD5653-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/E00A45CD-CDA1-48C0-B0A8-9ECF37BD5653-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/E00A45CD-CDA1-48C0-B0A8-9ECF37BD5653-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6575" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6307FE68-0F74-4298-9AEB-46860A960BB3-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6307FE68-0F74-4298-9AEB-46860A960BB3-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/6307FE68-0F74-4298-9AEB-46860A960BB3-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6574" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/39B61F67-47D6-4D59-9E19-472320435226-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/39B61F67-47D6-4D59-9E19-472320435226-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/39B61F67-47D6-4D59-9E19-472320435226-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6573" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/81E0E318-B10F-4602-8AE6-6CD8F5226997-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/81E0E318-B10F-4602-8AE6-6CD8F5226997-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/81E0E318-B10F-4602-8AE6-6CD8F5226997-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6572" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="400" height="516" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/10DBF33A-27AB-4754-AC55-C14E61C46AFA-400x516.jpeg" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/10DBF33A-27AB-4754-AC55-C14E61C46AFA-scaled.jpeg 479w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/10DBF33A-27AB-4754-AC55-C14E61C46AFA-400x516.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (max-width:479px) 479px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6570" /> Follow Follow Follow Follow Privacy policy Name Email Message 1 + 7 = Submit Call me 07803 925446 The post Mono magic in Pure Cheshire magazine appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukCanal walk July 2020 The post Canal walk July 2020 appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukCanal walk July 2020 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1333" height="2000" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_7.jpg" alt="Image of grasses from July canal walk" title="Photo_7" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_7.jpg 1333w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_7-1280x1920.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_7-980x1470.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_7-480x720.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 1333px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6536" /> Whenever I’m photographing for myself these days, I tend to work in Black and White. I love monochrome images, but taking landscapes with no colour takes some work. Without the power and punch of colour you have to work much harder on your composition. It’s a great way to lose yourself getting totally absorbed in what you’re doing. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2000" height="1333" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_3.jpg" alt="another four leaf clover - Neil Hickson" title="Photo_3" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_3.jpg 2000w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_3-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_3-980x653.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_3-480x320.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2000px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6532" /> As we walked along the canal towpath, my daughter picked up her second four leaf clover in two weeks. She now has a collection of six. I’ve only ever found one in my entire life. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2560" height="1567" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/723AF3A6-37F9-433E-9091-622160CEBAE5-scaled.jpeg" alt="Horse trying to eat grass image" title="723AF3A6-37F9-433E-9091-622160CEBAE5" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/723AF3A6-37F9-433E-9091-622160CEBAE5-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/723AF3A6-37F9-433E-9091-622160CEBAE5-1280x784.jpeg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/723AF3A6-37F9-433E-9091-622160CEBAE5-980x600.jpeg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/723AF3A6-37F9-433E-9091-622160CEBAE5-480x294.jpeg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2560px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6547" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2000" height="1333" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_5.jpg" alt="image of ferns along the canal bank" title="Photo_5" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_5.jpg 2000w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_5-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_5-980x653.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_5-480x320.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2000px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6534" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2000" height="1333" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_12.jpg" alt="Images of blackberry bushes" title="Photo_12" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_12.jpg 2000w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_12-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_12-980x653.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_12-480x320.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2000px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6541" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2000" height="1333" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_2.jpg" alt="Unknown plant by the side of the canal" title="Photo_2" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_2.jpg 2000w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_2-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_2-980x653.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_2-480x320.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2000px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6531" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1333" height="2000" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_0.jpg" alt="Image of fence post in woodland" title="Photo_0" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_0.jpg 1333w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_0-1280x1920.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_0-980x1470.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_0-480x720.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 1333px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6529" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1333" height="2000" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_6.jpg" alt="" title="Photo_6" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_6.jpg 1333w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_6-1280x1920.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_6-980x1470.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_6-480x720.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 1333px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6535" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1333" height="2000" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_4.jpg" alt="image of beads of rain on a broad grass leaf" title="Photo_4" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_4.jpg 1333w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_4-1280x1920.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_4-980x1470.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_4-480x720.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 1333px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6533" /> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="2000" height="1333" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_1-1.jpg" alt="view of the Leeds-Liverpool canal from one of the bridges." title="Photo_1" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_1-1.jpg 2000w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_1-1-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_1-1-980x653.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Photo_1-1-480x320.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2000px, 100vw" class="wp-image-6546" /> The post Canal walk July 2020 appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukWhy write a blog post? To write a good blog post, first you need to ask yourself 'what is my controlling idea?' The post Why write a blog post? appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukWhy write a blog post? From the other side of an open-plan office, I could hear the frustration in her voice. She explained to her colleague that this blog post had taken up most of the morning, and there was no end in sight yet. I had to see what she was doing. “Angela, what are you trying to write” I asked? She explained that she was trying to write her first blog post, and it was about the services she provides and how businesses needed them. But, she had also added some story threads about her “own personal journey.” I could see her problem. Her blog post could turn into a very long and confusing read, mainly because she didn’t know where she was going with it. The controlling idea If you’ve read anything by Donald Miller of ‘Storybrand’ fame, you will be familiar with the term ‘controlling idea.’ The controlling idea is what you want your writing to do – the ‘why’ of your blog post. You can apply this to any types of writing: blog posts, articles, books, even your shopping list. Why are you writing, and what do you want your writing to achieve? Angela lacked a controlling idea, or, more likely, she had several, and that was her problem. It’s always going to be challenging to achieve a goal if that goal keeps shifting. Was Angela trying to help her customers? Was she trying to sell her services, or display her authority and knowledge? Or, was she trying to tell her life story? She was trying to do all those things, and that gets pretty confusing. If she was struggling to write it, how is her audience going to feel reading it? When we start to write, we all need a controlling idea. That’s at the heart of what we’re writing. Start with the very simple nucleus ‘what do I want this piece of writing to do?’ When you’ve found that, stick it on a post-it note and put it on your monitor. Keep coming back to it and asking yourself ‘is my writing serving my controlling idea?’ Some reasons to write a blog post Here are a few reasons to write a blog post: To help someone – with a single defined problem. To show I know what I’m talking about – authority in your area of knowledge. To motivate – give inspiration to someone. To engage – getting people to start thinking about something to the point they want to come back to you. To sell something – to point out the benefits of one of your products or services. For search engine optimization (SEO) – to get your website found. I could go on, but these are the first things that come to mind. The point is this: strip it back before you start. Ask yourself why you are going to the trouble of writing this and what do you want someone to do or feel after reading it? Get it down to one purpose and idea before you start. And be ruthless. Throw out anything that doesn’t support that original controlling idea. No side alleys, no mission creep. If you stick to this rigid and straightforward idea, the writing process will be natural and the outcome more powerful. Your reader will leave your page satisfied, knowing why they went to the trouble of reading it. If you need any help with your writing or blog posts, give me a call or drop me an email. Questions cost nothing, ask me one now. Call me on 07803 925446 Follow Follow Follow Follow Privacy policy Name Email Message 4 + 1 = Submit Call me 07803 925446 The post Why write a blog post? appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukWhat’s the biggest website mistake? The post What’s the biggest website mistake? appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukWhat’s the biggest website mistake? You wouldn’t make a movie like this! Why do it with your website? Imagine a movie set, a professional film crew. The director shouts ‘shoot,’ and the actors stand there motionless. After an uncomfortable pause, the lead turns to the director and asks, “what do we say?” The director can see the scene in his head. The set is great, the lighting so atmospheric. It’s going to look amazing, but there’s no script. Nobody wrote it yet. It gets crazier. The director asks, “where’s the script?’ The sound guy turns to him and explains, “It’s with Sarah in HR, she’s a pretty good writer and she knows a lot about this kind of thing, but she’s quite busy at the moment, so it’s not quite finished.” It wouldn’t happen, right? It happens all the time when people build websites. People choose their colours and fonts, make sure they’re ‘on brand.’ A web designer puts together a great looking site with random filler text. But, it’s all waiting to go online because nobody’s written the copy yet. Design is important, but it’s worthless if it doesn’t have the words. It’s the words that make things happen. And, is Sarah in HR the right one to write the web copy? We’ll see. Think about our movie scenario again. Before anyone goes near a camera, the script is written. It’s the start of everything because it’s important. Not only is the script written, it’s tested, pulled apart, re-written over and over again. People analyse the script to make sure it tells the story needing to be told. The script needs to be right before anything else is even thought about. Web designers know all the technical things needed to put together a website and make it look pretty. But what’s the point of a beautiful website that doesn’t get people to do anything or buy anything. Maybe it’s good for your ego, and boosts your confidence about your business, but it’s not necessarily going to sell anything. A pretty website is all about branding, and branding is important. But branding alone won’t sell your product or service. What about the script writer? Maybe you’re producing the words for your website yourself? If you’re in business, you probably know how to write pretty well. But here’s the thing, it’s not about the words, it’s about the ideas behind them and giving your audience what they are looking for. The writer within an organisation is often ‘cursed’ with too much knowledge. They understand the product from the wrong side of the shop counter, intimately, inside out. The insider knows every feature of their product or service, but often, in their enthusiasm to impress they introduce confusion. And confusion causes rejection. Insiders know facts and features but features only tell, it’s benefits that sell. Everything on a website needs to be written for the customer’s perspective. It needs to solve the customer’s problem in an easily understood way. And one final thing. Google doesn’t care what font you’re using, what your brand colours are, or if your site looks ‘cool.’ All Google cares about is that users find what they’re looking for and they view it positively by hanging around and actually reading it. It’s the words that matter, make sure they count. If you want to know why your words aren’t working for you call me now on 07803 925446. Questions cost nothing, ask me one now. Call me on 07803 925446 Follow Follow Follow Follow Privacy policy Name Email Message 13 + 7 = Submit Call me 07803 925446 The post What’s the biggest website mistake? appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukBuilding an online store The post Building an online store appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukBuilding an online store Setting up an online store has suddenly become a logical step for many businesses suffering in lockdown. If you have a WordPress based website, Barn2’s Multiple Product Page plugin can have you up and running very quickly. Lots of food businesses are now realising they need to be online to keep going. I’ve been working with Greenslate Community Farm in Billinge on their online marketing for a few years now and the inbound online marketing channels have been increasingly important in the farm’s income. Faced with the current situation the farm has had to shut down their adult learners care farm and cafe. The best way the farm could help the local community was to set up an online shop with options for ‘contact-free’ pickup or delivery, and this has all been put together by volunteers at very short notice. I’ve been running Woocommerce on the farm’s WordPress based website for a few years now. Selling courses and events with the free Woocommerce plugin and the Stripe payments gateway has been smooth and straightforward. But, taking it up to a full-blown online shop took some working through. Multiple Product Page plugin If you are familiar with online shopping (I guess we all are now if we can manage to log onto Ocado) then you’ll expect to see items grouped by what type of product they are. The Woocommerce Multiple Product Page plugin from Barn2 plugins seemed the ideal solution, so I bought it for £79.00 + VAT for a one-year subscription. You can find it here complete with demonstrations of how to set up and use it: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="861" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Elementor-Food-shop.png" alt="" title="" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Elementor-Food-shop.png 1920w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Elementor-Food-shop-1280x574.png 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Elementor-Food-shop-980x439.png 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Elementor-Food-shop-480x215.png 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 1920px, 100vw" class="wp-image-5686" /> This plugin allows you to layout your products on one page grouped by category, rather than one page for each product so it’s very user friendly. It’s allowed me to set up a nice looking and functional shop with barely an issue so I highly recommend it. As I write this, the Greenslate Farm online shop has been running for just under two weeks now (we started a couple of days after lockdown) and sales have grown day on day, far exceeding our expectations. Infact, the site has been occasionally sending users the ‘503 Server Busy’ message because of the massive upsurge in traffic. People need to buy online at the moment for many reasons, so there hasn’t been a better time to set up an online shop. It will keep some businesses afloat. More importantly, it will keep lots of people safe by giving them access to what they need with the option of ‘no-contact’ pickup or delivery. If you want any tips on how to set up an online shop like I’ve done here feel free to email me or give me a call on 07803 925446. If you think it would be useful for me to create a ‘how to’ guide or video let me know. Click on the image below to see the Multiple Product Page plugin in action a Greenslate Farm. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1920" height="806" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GreenslateFoodStoreImage.png" alt="" title="" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GreenslateFoodStoreImage.png 1920w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GreenslateFoodStoreImage-1280x537.png 1280w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GreenslateFoodStoreImage-980x411.png 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/GreenslateFoodStoreImage-480x202.png 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 1920px, 100vw" class="wp-image-5674" /> Follow Follow Follow Follow Privacy policy Name Email Message 10 + 14 = Submit Call me 07803 925446 The post Building an online store appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukFeatures vs Benefits The post Features vs Benefits appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukFeatures vs Benefits Sell the hole, not the drill bit Benefits are the most powerful way of selling online Humans are generally nice. Most are friendly, many generous. But when it comes to buying things, people want to know ‘What’s in it for me?’ To sell with words, you need to make good friends with the concept of BENEFITS. Features vs benefits If you’ve something to sell, you’ll want to dazzle people with all that’s good about your product or service. Most people start sales copy by listing the unique properties of what they do. That’s a great starting point, but most of the things listed will be features. There’s an old cliche when people are buying a drill bit, they’re really buying the holes it makes; that’s the true benefit of the product. If you’re selling tickets to a conference, you could mention the brand new state of the art venue, the amazing lunch, the list of influential speakers. Fantastic, but they’re all just features. Car brochures are notorious for listing features. They have endless lists telling you about the leather seats, cruise control and anti-lock braking systems. Again, these are features. Features are great, they help differentiate between products and services, especially when you get down to comparing one product against another. But features are dry facts, they don’t connect to people emotionally. To sell things, you need to show people the benefit of what you have. Benefits connect emotionally; benefits persuade. Dig deeper, when you have a list of features, follow each one with the words ‘which means that.’ Every time you list a feature, hit it with ‘which means that.’ Carry on hitting it until there’s nowhere else to go. Finally, you’ll arrive at your key benefit. For example. We are holding our conference in a new venue, which means that everything works well, which means that you can concentrate on the sessions, hear everything, and take it all in without distractions, which means that you get to make the most from your valuable time at the conference. This makes the conference worth all that investment. With a conference, the main benefits are what you learn and the contacts you make. Ultimately, you benefit from furthering your career and improving your life. Get that message across first, and you’ve sold your ticket. Going back to our car example, that list of exciting features means that you arrive at your location safely and in comfort. Those are the real benefits, so those are what should be right there at the front of your copy, perhaps as the title or at least in the first paragraph. So what? Another handy way of drilling down to the benefit of a product or service is to continually ask yourself the question, ‘So what?’ “This car has anti-lock braking.” So what? “If you brake hard, the wheels won’t lock up.” So what? “You won’t skid.” So what? You’re less likely to run into the back of another car when you make an emergency stop meaning you and your passengers will travel more safely. The true benefit of anti-lock braking is the safety it brings. ‘Protect your family, keep them safe.’ That’s the main selling point. Try this on your own products or services. Ask yourself the hard question, ‘Am I really selling the benefits of what I do, or am I just listing the features?’ Benefits sell Selling cars, conference tickets or soap, it’s the benefit that really makes the sale. Benefits connect the real needs of people with their desires and emotions. So, when you are trying to sell your product or service, make sure you get right down to the true benefits; put those first. If you’d like a hand with sorting your features and benefits, don’t hesitate to get in touch through my contact form or by giving me a call. The post Features vs Benefits appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
If you don’t like selling, try marketing
neilhickson.co.ukIf you don’t like selling, try marketing The post If you don’t like selling, try marketing appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson
neilhickson.co.ukIf you don’t like selling, try marketing If you don’t like selling, try marketing <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1080" height="1080" src="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/IfYouDontLikeSelling.jpg" alt="" title="" srcset="https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/IfYouDontLikeSelling-1080x1080.jpg 1080w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/IfYouDontLikeSelling-980x980.jpg 980w, https://neilhickson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/IfYouDontLikeSelling-480x480.jpg 480w" sizes="auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1080px, 100vw" class="wp-image-5455" /> I don’t like it, I always seem to be talking about selling these days. I was the most un-salesperson you could ever meet. The thought of trying to ‘flog’ something to people when they didn’t really want it used to make me shudder. I was right to feel like that. You shouldn’t shove things at people they don’t want or need. That’s bad selling. In some ways, that’s the difference between selling and marketing. But, hang on, when I set up my first business I quickly learned I wouldn’t be in business long unless I started selling. We all have to sell. But selling is far easier when people need your product. They are out there somewhere, those people that need what you do. You just have to find enough of them, and that’s really what marketing is about. It could also be that people need something that doesn’t yet exist. If there are enough of them, it’s probably worth developing a product or service that fits their needs. That’s another handy thing that marketing does. Ultimately good marketing ends up in selling, but only because people want or need your product. It’s mutually beneficial to the seller and the buyer. It’s about helping people. It’s about the benefits you bring to the world. I fell in love with the idea of marketing because I hated selling. And now I love what I am doing because I feel that I’m helping people connect with those that really need their product or service. My ‘take away’ from this little post is, ‘if it feels like you’re having to do the hard sell, then perhaps your product isn’t right for who you’re trying to sell it to.’ The answer to this problem is usually marketing. And the key to marketing is to find what the people need, create it, and then let them know it exists. If you get your marketing right you won’t need to ‘sell’ anything. Does this idea work for you? Let me help you with your marketing. Give me a call or ‘ping’ me the response form at the bottom of the page. Questions cost nothing, ask me one now. Call me on 07803 925446 Follow Follow Follow Follow Privacy policy Name Email Message 13 + 1 = Submit Call me 07803 925446 The post If you don’t like selling, try marketing appeared first on neilhickson.co.uk. Neil Hickson