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Creative Inspiration | What the Font?!

Serif versus sans serif

What The Font Creative InspirationThere are two basic types of font faces -serif versus sans serif. But which is better? In fact, which is which? Let’s start there. Serif is the kind with finishing curly cues or finishing strokes on the ends like Times New Roman. Sans serif is the straight lined counterparts, like Arial. “Sans” is French for “without” so I guess sans serif means “without serif”.

Generally speaking, serif faces are thought of as more formal. It’s used in literature while sans serif holds court with technical and mathematical works. So in other words, techno geeks go for sans serif while literary snobs like serif.

So it makes sense that online there has been a trend to using sans serif such as Arial or Verdana (my favorite of late because the letters are almost squared, wide and easy on the eyes). Our eyes get tired much faster when reading online (we read 25% slower online than off). Maybe it’s the glow of the computer screen. Or maybe it’s being in an uncomfortable chair instead of curled up on the couch with a book. Whatever the reason, Internet surfers have billions of pages to get through. We don’t have time to get hung up on extra motion in the letters.

Font size is another big consideration. While I’m personally fond of 10 point font, I understand for some people it’s harder on the eyes. Using a 12 point for text is pretty common. And of course a larger size for headlines and subheads (depending on your design). I lean toward 18 point for headlines and 14 point for subheads – on the small side for some readers. Since it doesn’t matter how good your copy is if it isn’t read, take your target market’s needs into consideration.

Something to remember when using obscure fonts is that everyone doesn’t have the same fonts you may. That means the time you spend experimenting with wild fonts is all for naught. The person on the other end will get a standard font like Courier New (yuck!).

Author Resource -> Copywriting guru Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been helping entrepreneurs and copywriters get their marketing messages razor sharp since 1999.

Get free access to 5 tips to turn your “blah” sales message into red-hot copy that ROCKS… at RedHotCopy.com

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Copywriter Trick Unveiled: How to Write Better Copy Faster | Business Inspiration

“Talent alone cannot make a writer. There must be a man behind the book.” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Goethe

I’m going to share with you a method guaranteed to get your copy razor sharp in a hurry. It’s an old trick I learned in journalism school, and it works great to get those creative juices flowing. Since I’ve been
using it regularly again, I write circles around my former output times. The words are just at my fingertips.

How did I do it? (More importantly, how can you do it too?) Well, you probably already know you must havecuriosity to become a good writer.  Take your natural curiosity to the next level and become an avid observer.  When you’re driving, look at the car next to you on the road. Pick up a can of beans in the grocery store. Check out your shampoo while in the shower. Notice the colors and smells. What qualities does it have that sets it apart? What would make someone want to buy what you’re looking at?

You’re surrounded with opportunity to sharpen your writing skills. It’s easy.
Here’s how –

  • Describe appearance of product
  • Identify Features (look for complementary and contrasting qualities)
  • Single Out Main Benefit
  • Create your Benefit Statement or Summary

Let your imagination go. This is only an exercise. If it were a real product, of course you’d do your research. But our goal isn’t to actually sell this copy to a client. It’s designed to open up and free your mind.

THE RULES:

  1. You don’t have to write down your observations. Just practice doing
    them. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your writing improves.
  2. Limit yourself to five minutes on each “product.”
  3. Brainstorm. Do NOT edit yourself until you’re done.
  4. Stop on time.

Here’s a case in point. Today, I took Shadow, my border collie/chow mix, on a hike through the mountains. (I should say, he took me. If you’ve ever walked a trotting pony on a leash, you have an idea what it’s like to walk Shadow.) So, while being drug behind my dog, I noticed pretty yellow weeds lining the path. I picked those to represent my “product” and played my copywriting game.

DESCRIBE APPEARANCE: butter-colored spray of petals, braided green stem, burst of color, gently moving with the breeze.

IDENTIFY FEATURES: soothing, calming, appealing color contrast to trees, heaviest around the path as though guiding hikers

SINGLE OUT MAIN BENEFIT: Rejuvenating

BENEFIT STATEMENT: “After hiking with these soothing butter-colored wildflowers lining the trail, you’ll return rejuvenated and ready to face the day.”

Maybe not award-winning copy, but with practice I’m sure I’ll do better on our next walk.

Author Resource -> Copywriting guru Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been helping entrepreneurs and copywriters get their marketing messages razor sharp since 1999.

Get free access to 5 tips to turn your “blah” sales message into red-hot copy that ROCKS… at  RedHotCopy.com

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Creative Inspiration | What the BLOG?

Blogs Are the NEW Secret Weapon for Reaching Your Tarket (target market). Just like you, I hate being marketed to. Every day we’re bombarded with over 3,500 marketing messages. And frankly I’m sick of it! But blogs are different. Blogs are a two-way conversation between blogger and bloggee (plus all the readers in between). Through commenting and cross-linking, you can share feedback. You can build your network. You can become, dare I say it, an Internet Celebrity!   What the Blog Creative Inspiration

See, blogs add humanity and instantaneous expression to the web. Like ezines, blogs are a way for your customer to get to know you.

However, unlike ezines, blogs help you with search engine rankings. Did you hear me? I said, unlike ezines, blogs help you with search engine rankings. That’s a big one.

Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Week, even the FCC (Federal Trade Commission) all believe blogs are here to stay. Michael Powell, chairman of the FCC, started one. His initial post drew over 30,000 readers. A Microsoft spokesperson says Bill Gates is considering starting a blog. And filmmaker Michael Moore built a blog to promote his controversial movie, Fahrenheit 9/11.

But who has time to read a blog anyway? Exactly! The job of a blog is to cut through the information overload and deliver searchable, relevant and current content. Blog Ads recently conducted a survey of over 17,000 blog readers. Here’s what they report:

Blog readers are older and more affluent. 61% of blog readers are over 30, and 75% make more than $45,000 a year.

Blog readers are more cyber-active. 54% of their news consumption is online. 21% are themselves bloggers and 46% describe themselves as opinion makers.
Blog readers are media-mavens. 21% subscribe to the New Yorker magazine, 15% to the Economist, 15% to Newsweek and 14% to the Atlantic Monthly.

Whether on the left or right, blog readers have traits in common that often are absent in today’s public spaces: passion and initiative.

Blog readers have apathy towards traditional news sources. 82% say that television is worthless. 55% percent say the same about print newspapers. 54% say the same about print magazines.

Meanwhile, 86% say that blogs are either useful or extremely useful as sources of news or opinion. 80% say they read blogs for news they can’t find elsewhere. 78% read because the perspective is better. 66% value the faster news. 61% say that blogs are more honest.

Blog readers appear united in their dissatisfaction with conventional media and their rabid love of blogs.

Don’t you want to be a blogger too?

Author Resource -> Copywriting guru Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been helping entrepreneurs and copywriters get their marketing messages razor sharp since 1999.

Get free access to 5 tips to turn your “blah” sales message into red-hot copy that ROCKS… at  http://www.RedHotCopy.com

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Starting Your Own WordPress Blog | Creative Inspiration

Starting your own blog on your own hosting involves a little setup. It’s really not overly difficult and there are even some hosting companies that will set up your blog for free. Here are step by step directions on how to start your own blog with an email host using WordPress.

Start a Blog Creative InspirationStep 1: Install Blog

Install blog using Fantastico or Simple Scripts available in your hosting control panel.

If you host has Fantastico or Simple Scripts then installing a blog is a fairly easy and quick thing to do. What you do is login to your web site’s control panel, and find the smiley face, the Fantastico Icon, and click on it. You’ll see a section in most control panels for WordPress, click on it.

Then you click the ‘install WordPress’ and fill in all the information that it asks for. An important step to remember is the location that says ‘install in directory’. If you want the blog installed on your main ‘index’ page you’ll want to leave the box blank. If you want it to be installed in a different location, such as [http://www.yourdomain.com/blog] then you’ll need to put ‘blog’ in the box.

Step 2: Add Theme

Choose appropriate theme and upload to server using FTP. You upload the unzipped theme to: blog location/wp-content/plugins.

Go into WordPress dashboard and activate the theme. Activate them by going to Presentation and then scrolling down until you see the theme. Click it and it will be activated on your blog.

Step 3: Customize

Customize blog by
– adding appropriate header – edit the ‘header’ section in ‘Appearance’>’Editor’
– changing colors in stylesheet ‘style.css’
– editing sidebar – remove/edit blogroll/links, adding RSS links, add opt-in form
– set up categories

Some premium themes such as Thesis and Headway make the directions above unnecessary as customizing is as easy as filling out the options you’d like and clicking what you want.

How to change the header:
Go into the header section and look for the files that make up the header.

Feedburner.com:
Go to feedburner and ‘burn’ a feed. You’ll want to use that feed to allow people to subscribe to your feed so that you can track the sign ups and also get statistics on your feed.

Step 4: Add Plugins

WordPress plugins are available on the WordPress website.

Plugins I like to add
– Akismet – to prevent spam
– Action Popup – this is a premium (paid) plugin
– Podpress
– All in One SEO Pack
– Broken Link Checker
– Comment Luv
– DISQUS
– Feedburner Feedsmith
– Search Meter
– Tweetable
– WordPress Related Posts

Step 5: Posts

You’ll want to get a good number of posts 10-25 before you start promoting your blog. The idea here is that you don’t want to send people to an empty blog or else they’ll never return. You want to have a blog full of useful information that you can then start promoting.

You want to create some solid content and some really good articles that you can refer to. Create a category for this but it is also a good idea to include it in a header menu so that people can find it fast. Include it with the normal content listings such as ‘about’, ‘contact’, etc and label it ‘articles’.

Step 6: Marketing

There are many ways to market a new blog:
– post to other blogs and leave a ‘signature’ when allowed
– add your signature to forum posts when allowed
– submit articles to directories – do this once a week with targeted directories
– send messages to your list when you post a new blog post
– pay per click marketing
– advertising
– guest posts on other people’s blogs

Blogging can be seriously advantageous to your business. It allows you a place to connect with your potential audience very frequently and get your message out there more often. While it may take some time and effort to get your site up and running in the beginning, you’re sure to enjoy the many benefits that blogging can offer in the long run.

If you are ready to get your business blog set up so it attracts your target market and potential customers then join me as I teach you in my online video, webinar and email coaching program everything you need to know about creating great business websites and blogs with WordPress.