Google is forever releasing new features, most of which aren’t really of interest to the general user however today, things change. Google have added new search options. The next time you search for something, click ‘Show Options’ in the blue bar. Now you have a number of filters you can use to refine your search. These filters do make life easier but they are also the start of something big.

Type filters include: Video, Forums and Reviews

Time Filters include: Recent results, Past 24 hours, Past week, Past Year

There are also related searches and a ‘Wonder Wheel’

The type filters are going to make life easier for searchers to find what they are looking for and will be useful but won’t require changes from website owners. If you do run a searchable forum however, I would recommend your results display correctly in date order. To do this, go onto google and type:

Site:http://www.yoursite.com/forumdirectory

Then use the options to sort by date. Talk to your web designer about your choices if they don’t display as you would expect. Some coding changes may be required.

The time filters are the most important. The more recently your content was updated or added to, the higher you will appear… it’s as simple as that! If you don’t edit your site content regularly, add news articles, blogs etc. you will appear right at the bottom. Every time you add new content, you jump back to the top of the queue. So it’s important that you can and do edit your website and regularly!

What can you do if you have just a few pages of information for your company? Consider adding a Blog. A blog (like this one) is an easy-to-use list of articles grouped by category and keywords. It’s easy to find and construct content and could make a HUGE difference to your exposure. You’re obviously an expert at something, else you wouldn’t be able to run a business based on it!

If you have a community based site, consider opening the forums to all if locked down. Make sure Google can see it so posts are indexed regularly and listed in their search.

The final features are fun to play with and will actually help sites get better rankings even with less Search Engine Optimisation in place.

Have a play around, have fun and keep your website current.

Why?

Any of you reading this with children would have experienced the perpetual ‘but why?’ phase that all children go through. It is a question everyone learns ask from a very early age. Sadly, although my children are rapidly heading towards their teenage years, it is a question that is still being asked with annoying regularity.

When you talk to someone directly it is easy to keep their interest as you can hold their attention with eye contact, your body language, the intonation of your voice and of course dialogue. When you are communicating via the written word you can’t use any of these techniques.

But all is not lost; there is a very simple technique you can use to stimulate a ‘conversation’ with your reader.

Ask Questions

If you are not used to writing in this style it can sound a bit obvious. But it does work. If you ask your reader a question, I can guarantee that they will think of an answer.

Why?

Because its human nature.

They can be:

• Closed questions – those that have a yes or no answer. These are great for closing a sale. They force someone to make a decision to buy.

• Limited questions – those which offer a choice from a set of answers (e.g. which do you prefer, white wine or rosé?) to engage people.

• Open questions - those which have no fixed answers. By using these you hand over conversational control to your reader. They can take their time considering their answer. People love this type of question.

Granted, it will take a bit of practice writing like this as it isn’t a style that comes naturally to many people. But stick with it, it will work.

The author, Sally Ormond (Briar Copywriting), is a freelance copywriter who specialises in website copywriting

Social and business networking has seriously taken off, but how did we do business before then?

Before the Internet, we had the telephone directories. A content rich book of potential clients and suppliers… the problem was we had no idea who these people were, it was a gamble every time we picked up the phone.

The search engines took over from the telephone directories but weren’t much better. As websites are cheaper to set up, it’s even easier to fall into traps and scams.

Ok go back again, before the telephone. How did people do business? Well we belonged to lots of clubs, societies and went to meetings. We had country clubs, the masons, sports clubs, big dinner parties all in the name of socialising. All the big businesspeople socialised regularly, sharing their interests and lives with each other. As needs arose, contracts went out to friends, family and friends of friends. We were people, not businesses.

This form of networking has made a big comeback online, it’s not new, it was always here and should be treated that way. If we look on it as something new, we end up making simple mistakes by trying new things, or applying the principals of ‘the website’ to these potential relationships.

“Hi, I’m Simon, I’m a web designer, you can find out about me ‘here’, do you want to connect with me?”

The classic mistake, I’ve given simple information that will only encourage people to connect if they are either desperate for a website or are interested in websites… i.e. the competition.

Change that to:

“Hi, I’m Simon, I see you are in a band, I play trumpet myself although need to bring my standard back up before looking into bands, how is the live music scene lately?”

Now I’ve read their profile, I’ve found a similarity i.e. something which we can talk about. The best thing is that the conversation will interest us both and allow a natural connection. The verb ‘To Like’ stems from ‘To BE like’. I am now showing myself as a person, a business can’t play the trumpet. (some people would argue that I can’t either but that’s open to debate)

We follow the conversation(s) through and decide to meet up for a drink (a business can’t go for a drink). I have a new friend, someone who can and will vouch for me and talk about me whenever a related conversation comes up. I will never try to sell to that friend but they will like and trust me. They already know what I do without me ramming it down their throats, I don’t have to insult their intelligence by telling them ‘I’m a web designer’ over and over. The day comes, they need a new website or just some advice, or better yet, one of their 200 clients, 10 suppliers, 400 friends or 30 family members needs a website, I’ve accidentally earned some business from this relationship.

If I never get business, I still have a friend who I can rely on when I bring my trumpet skills back up to scratch and want to find a band in my area. Oh, he’s also an accountant, I can phone him about something now my tax return is due, I need to know how to process a proportion of my rent and bills as a business expense. (while I’m there, I need a new swimming pool, the moat needs cleaning, my other house needs furnishin………

And don’t forget, relationships are bi-directional. Keep checking for replies, keep replying if one is due keep that friendship going. If your spouse kicks you out and you don’t feel you can call them to borrow their sofa, you don’t know each other well enough, keep trying!

Join in on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ecademy etc etc. and make friends and have fun, pursue your passions and they (and the business) will pursue you. Be a person not a business. I can’t befriend a business.

And don’t forget to tell me if you like this blog, comment if you want to add or reply to this or any following comments. If you also play trumpet or are a member of a jazz band, connect with me. If you know any good free resources of some smooth jazz solos, I need something easy to get my skills and confidence back. (AND never start a new sentence with the word ‘And’ it’s grammatically incorrect.)

Freelance copywriters are great story tellers carrying on a tradition that is centuries old.

We have all grown up listening to stories – fiction as bedtime stories or fact from stories told to us about the ‘olden days’ by our Grandparents. The human race is preconditioned to listen to stories, which is why freelance copywriters exploit this fact in their sales writing?

I don’t mean ‘Once upon a time…’ stories – you wouldn’t be much of a copywriter if that was how you began every sales message (although I dare say there may be occasions when that could be very effective). But if you can incorporate a story within your copy, it will strike a chord with your reader who then will be unable to resist reading it.

How to incorporate a story

For a sales letter, you can easily don your storyteller’s hat in this way:

Dear Mrs Gregory,

Like you, Dorothy Jones found she was having difficulty in coming up with original material for her sales literature. She spent hours of her time trying to create something fresh and interesting. Then she came across Briar Copywriting. They were fantastic and, from her brief, produced a new and compelling brochure. Sales and enquiries have now increased…

If you are writing webcopy you can use a similar technique but your story would be in the form of a case study. By its very nature, it is already a story.

No matter what type of writing you are incorporating your story into, you must keep its content and subject matter relevant.

The author, Sally Ormond (Briar Copywriting) provides a comprehensive range of expert copywriting services to companies locally, nationally and internationally.