​If you’ve been a copywriter for any length of time, you know the ongoing debate of what the ideal length of a sales letter should be. As long-time A-list copywriter Mark Ford notes, everyone purports to despise long copy, yet it has always consistently out-pulled and outsold short copy.
 
But what about social media posts? Is shorter copy is the ticket to higher sales?
 
Some say that copywriting has evolved—and social media is to thank (or blame) for it. But saying it has evolved is too broad a brush to paint this picture.
 
It’s more accurate to say that copywriting has expanded. Different media platforms may take center stage now, yet the same principles upon which advertising and marketing were built in the mid-20th century still apply.
 
So, in today’s social media-dominated world, how much is too much? Is it possible to optimize the length of a post to engage and convert readers? What’s the ideal length of a post to drive viral engagement that reaches as many people as possible?
 
As always, it’s up to you to find out what your unique audience wants and cares about. To know their pains and concerns so you can offer the best solution, service, or product for them.
 
Generally speaking, though, it depends on your forum. But to know for sure, you’re going to have to test and find out what works for you. Neither guessing nor being creative for the sake of it is going to cut it. 

It’s 2018: we get a lot of e-mails. Most of them are just sent to spam or deleted without opening. How can you make sure that your e-mails stand out against all the noise?

E-mail copywriting takes time, effort, and creativity— and can often be a daunting task. Let’s simplify the process of designing an awesome e-mail.
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It’s vital to keep in mind is what your customers will be seeing. 

Headed off to High Point Market? It kicks off tomorrow and if you've been procrastinating an event schedule, you're going to want to check out all the goodies organizers have planned for us.

High Point Market Events

Hopefully Hurricane Michael truly has cleared out and we get some nice weather!

If you’re like most small business owners, you understand the importance of SEO. But when it comes to implementing this important strategy, it can be hard to know where to turn.
 
After all, you’re an entrepreneur— not a technology wizard. The rules seem to change more often than you change your socks. And if you’re not quite ready to hire an expert to figure it out for you, you may be struggling to figure out on your own.
 
So, what are some easy strategies you can implement today to improve your search engine ranking and gain more business?
 
Optimize Keywords for RankBrain
 
When it comes to SEO, most are well aware that using the right keywords is essential. Every piece of content on your website should begin with keyword research to determine the common phrases your potential customers are searching for.
 
RankBrain has changed the game a bit. Google uses this artificial intelligence algorithm to deliver search results based on search intent and user feedback. And because RankBrain can understand what words mean, it’s more in tune with what users are looking for when completing an online search.
 
This algorithm strongly ranks content based on Latent Semantic Indexing, or LSI, keywords. These include any words or phrases that are strongly associated with your chosen topic. This might sound complicated, but never fear. Finding such keywords to include in your content is as easy as a simple Google search.
 
For example, if your topic is home décor, simply type “home decor” into Google and scroll to the bottom of the page to the related searches. This section reveals common search phrases associated with home decor, giving you examples of LSI keywords:

Remember when writing was somewhat pedestrian and simple? When presenting compelling and provocative prose to draw audience attention was solely a factor of how you string sentences together? You can suspend that, at least partly. Key in a migration of communications from print to digital is the necessary intrusion of technology, which means wording sentences and ideas in a way that they are captured and rechurned through algorithms on search engines.

But it’s possible that the race to tap into somewhat robotic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) may be a bit premature. There are still arguments to be made for focusing on the human target as opposed to a reliance on converting your input to a system that delivers ordered results.

By now you’re envisioning your 9th grade composition teacher’s pleas to embrace a conversational voice. Turns out there’s still a solid argument for that, because the predominant search entity, Google, still evaluates text for its readability and adherence to rules of approachable writing.

Here’s a rather protracted guide of how Google attempts to legitimize and rank search criteria. 
High on Google’s list is a reputation-based evaluation. How trustworthy is the source? How much expertise does the writer have? Low-quality submissions that are not verifiable will be ranked lower.
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And make no mistake about it: Google employs human beings to assess these things.