I recently came across blogger and copywriter Ryan Healy, and really enjoyed his blog. I took the liberty of sending him an email with a few questions, and what follows are Ryan's responses...
Hear Ryan's top 3 tips for growing your online business, and why copywriting is an important skill for all bloggers to learn!
Hi Ryan! You have an impressive history of working online as a copywriter for the last 8 years. What was it that inspired your transition to working online?
When I went freelance back in 2005, I had already been doing a lot of online marketing for the company I worked for. Plus, online advertising was exploding. So it seemed to make the most sense to focus on helping online businesses to improve their marketing.
Of course, I've been fortunate to have been involved with a few off-line projects as well. But to this day most of my work is online.
In addition to being a highly referred Direct Response Copywriter, you're also known as a Business Growth Expert. Do you focus mainly on the growth of online business?
Yes. I help online businesses get more sales from their current advertising efforts. If they're making 1 sale for every 200 visitors, I want to help them make 2 or 3 sales from the same volume of traffic.
Most times I'm hired to write a direct response sales letter. Sometimes I'm hired to do a copy critique or write emails or run some split-tests. Every situation is unique.
I've also helped a few off-line businesses in the sense that they generate leads online and close them off-line. Or vice versa: They generate the lead off-line (through direct mail or space ads), then bring them online.
With every year that passes it becomes harder to define businesses strictly in terms of "online" or "off-line." Many businesses choose a hybrid approach. And why not? There's money to be made in both places, and it's silly to cut off one or the other "just because."
What 3 tips would you share with ClickNewz readers to help them grow or improve their online business?
Only three?? Just kidding. 🙂
Here are three tips that come to mind...
Improve Your Online Business Tip #1:
Master the Execution of Fundamentals
The fundamentals of building and growing an online business never change. The basic formula is:
Targeted Traffic + Conversion + Remarkable Product = Sustainable Online Business
What have you done today to get more targeted traffic to your site? What have you done today to improve your conversion rate? What have you done today to make your product better?
You don't necessarily have to tackle all three areas in a single day. But I believe you should be doing one of these things every single working day.
It's work -- but it works.
Improve Your Online Business Tip #2:
Automate What Can Be Automated
If you were a door-to-door salesman, you'd have to knock on dozens of doors every single day to have even a fighting chance at earning a living. This is not something you could automate. You'd have to do it yourself.
One of the advantages of running an online business is that many sales functions and even fulfillment functions can be automated.
For instance: You can load up an autoresponder sequence with quality content and a few sales messages mixed in. The emails will be sent out automatically on the schedule you determine.
Surely I'm not telling you anything new. Most people who've been online for more than a couple months understand the importance of an autoresponder sequence. And yet very few people actually build out their follow-up sequence like they know they should.
This gets back to Tip #1. You need to become an expert at execution.
Here are a few things that can be automated: follow-up emails, opt-in processes, delivery of electronic products, delivery of physical products, etc.
If you begin to automate your business, you get to do the work once and then enjoy the fruits of that labor for a long time. (There is almost always a degree of ongoing maintenance involved, but it's minimal compared to the initial work.)
Somebody will point out: "But Ryan, you're a copywriter! You're just trading hours for dollars!"
Point taken. And it's something I continue to work on: Shifting my income away from activities that pay only once and toward activities that generate income for the long-term.
Improve Your Online Business Tip #3:
Avoid Unnecessary Distractions
There are a million and one things demanding your attention when you're online.
There are emails, Facebook updates, news alerts, RSS feeds, tweets, etc. If you're not careful, an entire day can flash by -- without you getting a single thing done to advance or improve your online business.
So whereas the first two tips I shared were "offensive," this one is "defensive." It's imperative that you stay focused and cut out unnecessary distractions.
Do you have email alerts turned on? Turn them off. Does Tweetdeck run in the background alerting you to every new tweet? Turn it off.
Half the battle is usually just managing and controlling the tyranny of the urgent-yet-unimportant things that crop up every day.
Do you feel copywriting is important to bloggers, since they don't create products & sales letters?
Absolutely! After all, every blog post title has to "sell" people on taking the time to read what follows.
(I've actually studied the most popular posts on my blog and on other people's blogs and have made some interesting discoveries, particularly about blog post titles.)
One commonality among all top bloggers is their ability to write well and be entertaining. Too many blogs have no life in them, no passion. They just bore me (and everybody else) to tears.
Plus, there's much to be said for learning how to engage people. By studying copywriting, you can learn a lot about how to capture people's attention and engage them -- both important skills for bloggers.
You offer a Free 39-Point Copywriting Checklist on your blog. Who is this checklist best suited for, and can you tell us what to expect from the download?
The check list is specifically designed for people who are selling things online. But affiliate marketers and bloggers can pick up a few good ideas as well.
When you get the check list, you'll see that each item is phrased as a question. And there is a check box next to it. After you read the question, you can then check it off if it is complete.
For instance, the first question is, "Does your headline enter the conversation that's already happening in your prospect's mind?" There's a check box to the left of the question so you can check it off.
There are 38 more questions like this. And while there isn't a precise order, the check list is organized so that things you should think about first are at the top, and things you should think about later are at the bottom.
The 39-Point Copywriting Checklist is available for free (with opt-in). Or feel free to simply peruse the 200+ free articles on my business growth and copywriting blog.
Ryan M. Healy
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TELEPHONE:
Open call-in hours 2-4 p.m. MST,
Monday-Thursday: 720-344-7788
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WEB SITES:
Blog - http://www.RyanHealy.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/healymonster
Copywriting - http://www.CopywritingCode.com
About Lynn Terry
I love your point about making sure your traffic is targeted! A lot of people are happy for any form of traffic but you will make a lot more sales if you are attracting 'ready to buy' customers.
Tom - Thanks! A great tool for seeing which sources of traffic produce sales is AdTrackz.
Ryan
Fantastic interview. I really took something away from this and I'll be sure to check out that checklist. A thing I wanted to mention though was that a lot of bloggers do sell their own products. In fact, I personally feel selling your own product is the best way to monetize your site. Keeping that in mind a lot of bloggers should learn how to write copy so they can write their sales page (or outsource) and pre-sell their visitors on the blog. Obviously copy writing is not an easy thing to do, sometimes it's best to just hire a copy writer in my opinion. Thanks for the tips, especially number 3 I needed to read that :-D.
Hey Paul,
Thank you. Glad the timing on Tip #3 was right. It's one of those issues that needs to be revisited regularly.
Ryan
I really think that #3 is an important point.
We get distracted too often and don't foucs on the really important tasks to run our businesses.
Thanks for this good interview and the insights given by Ryan.
You are welcome! 🙂
Thanks for reading and commenting. I enjoy the feedback.
Ryan
I can't handle the third point. To be honest, I have so many distractions online, during my online sessions. Ryan is right, you'll just simply end the day without accomplishing all the activities within your schedule if you tolerate all of these distractions. Successful people in online business know how to manage their time wisely. All of us must have that kind of attitude.
Anthony,
One suggestion that works well for me is to start your day by doing the #1 thing on your to-do list. Don't check email. Don't check Twitter. Just get right to work.
This often builds momentum that lasts all day.
Ryan
I agree! I start my day with a small note on my desk that contains the top 3 priority tasks on my agenda. I do those FIRST. The rest of the day just lines up beautifully when you kick-start it with a sense of accomplishment!
That was quite a business primer! Focus on the basics that earn money for your business and keep improving.
So simple...and HARD!!
🙂
Great tips and some stuff that really got my brain ticking this morning.
Some great points. I like the one about distractions, although my 3 young distractions there's only so much I can do about until bedtime.
I can relate to that Stephanie. It's one of the reasons I started getting up before sunrise to start my work day. I get a lot done before they ever get up, then nap in the afternoon. It's a schedule that works for me so that I can run a successful business AND be a full-time mom.
Of course, every phase has its own challenges, and I've had to adjust with their schedules over the years. Fortunately my children understand that if I don't work, we don't eat - which really helped. But you still have to find that balance between parenting & profit. My children are my top priority, and always have been.
Sunrise? Eek! I'm a nightowl, to my husband's dismay. Staying up for work for me is a balance between his feelings and my need to get something done.
But it's sure great being able to have the kids as top priority even when it makes for tough working hours.
I agree with Anthony above, distractions are killing me. And what's funny is that the distractions all talk about how to get distracted further. On Twitter, I read about how to get the most of Twitter. It's insane.
I really need to cut some of the noise, if I'm ever going to get anywhere.
As for copywriting, it's so critical a skill. Most bloggers should take a course in it. We all sell something, somehow. And via the web, it's words that get us a piece of the action.
The noise - yes - and there's lots of it! 😛
I work "with blinders on" (not literally -lol). I turn off audio notifications, phone ringers, close windows & programs, etc. It takes a lot of self-discipline and intentional actions to FOCUS, but it definitely makes the difference!
Targeted traffic - I like to call them "ready, willing, and able." All 3 criteria have to match to get a sale.
Number 3 is definitely my Achilles heel. Resisting the opportunity to check my business email every two minutes is almost impossible.
But isn't automation considered as spam.These days if you'll keep on sending emails to your costumer he gets easily frustrated.How to tackle this.Thanks.
Christa - Automation is not the equivalent of spam. You can manually spam somebody or you can do it automatically. You can also automate your bill paying, but that has nothing to do with spam.
This is a great writeup - I so agree on avoiding distractions, Sometimes, a good way to deal with a distraction is to actually allow yourself some time to wallow in it for a while. It also helps a great deal to have a good mate to talk through; so that you can hear yourself voicing the issue - I have had good laughs at myself as a result of that!
Those are tips which are worth remembering. Especially from a veteran in the field. Nice sharing it with us.
This is my first exposure to Ryan's blog. Tons of great useful info for bloggers. Thanks!
Great thoughts. I would argue that everyone is always selling something, be it online or in person. What you're selling may not be a product, but a message, an idea or point of view. With that in mind I reread the article and most of what is being said fits that idea too - great sell!!
That was an awesome interview with Ryan Healy.Very informative answers provided by him.Thanks Ryan!
Love the points you tackle. I think copywriting are for businesses only. If your writing a personal blog then copywriting is optional. People can judge how professional the website and the company is just by looking at the content, After all content is king.
hi all!
i'm a newbie in affiliate program, i want to learn more about affiliate marketing. Last month, I've started by joining CJ.com, great affiliate. And now I'm still learning about the affiliate program, and there are some terms that I still don't understand, such as conversion rate. Can you tell me what that conversion rate, and what are the effects
Thanks for sharing.
I can't do anything unless I have all noise distractions turned off, and am completely focused and really into what I am about to write. Otherwise I am off in la la land doing something else except what is important.
I also don't usually write for search engines, I write from the heart and what I feel. Then when I am done I may go back and tweak the title, and URL. Then after a while of the post or whatever, being hit by visitors, I look at my analytics and may tweak the title yet again or "massage" it, to better fit the search terms people are using to find my content. That usually will bring in even more traffic.