This report analyses the top accountancy websites in Birmingham. We are focusing on which firms are most visible when potential clients search for accounting services using keywords such as “accountants in Birmingham”
Are you the first choice when someone searches for an accountant???
Domain Authority is a score that predicts how likely a website is to rank in search results. Websites with higher Domain Authority are more simply more likely to appear on top of serch results when potential clients search for accountants. In our analysis, primeaccountants.co.uk leads with a Domain Authority of 34, followed by jerroms.co.uk at 29, indicating these firms have the strongest digital foundation for attracting new clients.
The Keywords in Top 100 (2023) chart shows feltonsbham.co.uk leading with 420 keywords in the top 100 search results, followed by gondalaccountancy.co.uk with 256 keywords. primeaccountants.co.uk (194), careaccountancy.co.uk (159), and jwhinks.co.uk (157) formed a competitive middle group. Most notably, brindleys.co.uk had the lowest visibility with just 31 keywords in the top 100.
In the Keywords in Top 100 (2024) chart, primeaccountants.co.uk has taken a commanding lead with 621 keywords, showing remarkable growth. gondalaccountancy.co.uk and feltonsbham.co.uk share second place with 327 keywords each. jwhinks.co.uk (211), careaccountancy.co.uk (191), and jerroms.co.uk (190) show strong mid-table performance, while braccountants.co.uk has dropped to 52 keywords.
As you can see on the chart above, the traffic patterns don't directly correlate with Domain Authority or keyword rankings. This is because not all keywords are created equal - some keywords will have a higher search volume. To find out which keywords are driving the most traffic in your market, contact us today.
Ready to Dominate Your Market?
If you found our report useful and would like your website to dominate rankings in the accountants' niche, or if you want more insights on your competitors, call Blend Creative Minds on 0121 630 2350!
As any SEO practitioner will tell you, significant and sudden fluctuations in Google SERP (Search Engine Rank Page) positions can be caused by unforeseen Google algorithm updates.
As well as less frequent general algorithm updates (known as “broad core” updates, which can occur just a few times per year), Google also tweaks and makes smaller changes to specific pieces of its search ranking algorithm on an ongoing basis.
The term, “SERP volatility” is used to describe the greater or lesser extent of these constant ranking changes, and it is a crucial metric to watch since these changes can significantly affect your website’s organic search traffic. Sometimes, your site may experience a boost in search rankings and an influx of traffic, and at other times, just the opposite may be true. Sometimes, even a tiny change in Google’s algorithm can have a huge impact on your rankings.
A low volatility score means that rankings are unusually stable – for example, a particularly calm day in the SERPs might signal factors such as major public holidays when not much is happening.
A high volatility score might indicate that a major Google algorithm update has either just been implemented, or is about to take place. Usually, Google does not warn of these updates in advance. There is occasionally a notification on the official Google blog after the event has taken place, but even this does not happen very often.
So, what can be done about all of this? Well, we may not be able to influence or control when and how Google makes changes to their algorithms, fortunately, there are numerous online tools available which can help us to keep a watchful eye on things. These SERP volatility tools attempt to track Google’s algorithm changes by monitoring selected keywords and identifying fluctuations in the SERPs.
Here is a round-up of what we consider to be the best-of-the-best of these tools.
The comedically-named Google Grump is a free SERP volatility tool developed by Accuranker. The grumpier Google is deemed to be, the greater the fluctuations in the rankings.
The tool’s intuitive interface gives daily updates and allows you to segment data by time. Google Grump also helpfully displays a ‘G’ symbol above the graph whenever Accuranker is aware of an impending Google algorithm update.
Data is available for both desktop and mobile search results. At the time of writing, the tool gives results across seven countries, including US, UK, Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany and Australia.
Check out Accuranker's Google Grump here.
As you might expect from the name, the developer behind the Algoroo tool (Dejan SEO Agency) is Australian. Presumably, the idea is that the volatility of the SERPs can be likened to a kangaroo bouncing through the outback.
Algoroo’s SERP flux metric is known as ‘roo’. Roo is calculated by adding together positive and negative movements for specific keywords in the SERPs. The higher the roo value, the higher the level of volatility. Whenever Google announces an internal update or algorithm change (which, needless to say, doesn’t happen very often), an annotation is displayed on the daily roo graph.
Tracking SERP volatility for Google.com and Google.com.au only, Algoroo offers a few interesting features, such as listing weekly ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, and giving examples of the webpages most affected by SERP volatility each week.
There is also an interactive feature which enables users to view different time periods, going back up to two years. This long-range historical data can be useful for analysing whether historical Google algorithm changes correspond to dates when your own rankings may have fluctuated significantly.
Check out Algoroo here.
Cognitive SEO’s alerts system can be set to automatically send you, your team or your client notifications of any sudden changes to your tracked keywords. This means it is possible to react on the spot to address and fix any potential issues, or to take advantage of opportunities that might otherwise be lost.
Based on 170,000 tracked keywords, Cognitive SEO is available in 12 countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, India, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and Turkey.
Updated daily, the tool tracks and analyses global search data. Local search data is also available for the US market. Data is available for both desktop and mobile search results in the US and the UK.
Check out Cognitive SEO's "Signals" tool here.
Mangools’ SERP volatility index tracks global changes daily, and is most useful for giving insights into the percentage of keywords with stable rankings compared with the previous day.
The tool includes almost 2 million keywords, and breaks down flux data for both desktop and mobile search results. The free version of the tool allows you to view daily data for the last 30 days.
Check out Mangools here.
If you think of the Google algorithm being a little like the British weather – i.e. difficult to predict and changeable – then you’ll understand why Moz chose to call their volatility tool Mozcast. The hotter and stormier the ‘weather’, the more change and potential turbulence in the SERPs. Mozcast tracks global changes daily, and you can also view up to 30 days’ history.
Another cool, interactive feature of Mozcast is the Google SERP Feature Graph. This allows you to track fluctuations across some of the major Google SERP features (e.g. local packs, knowledge panels and PAA boxes) for deeper insights.
Check out Mozcast here.
Rank Ranger’s ‘Rank Risk Index’ carries out daily analysis of keywords from more than 10,000 domains globally. It offers a 90-day data history, and also breaks the data down into desktop versus mobile search results.
Find out more about Rank Ranger here.
SEMrush Sensor tracks the daily rankings of millions of keywords, and is one of the most detailed SERP volatility tools in the market. Available in nine countries at the time of writing, results for the past 30 days can be accessed at any one time with the Free version.
The Sensor tool displays a daily volatility score (1-10, where 10 is a very high level of volatility), which can be viewed either in real-time, or retrospectively. A volatility score above 5 is generally considered to be high, and indicative of a possible Google algorithm update. When a change is detected, SEMrush shares any known information about the update.
SEMrush Sensor is a feature-rich tool offering many different ways to cut the data for a more granular analysis. It is possible to segment and compare the data by a number of SERPS features (including featured snippets, local packs, top stories and knowledge panels), specific subject categories (covering 25 industries), types of device (desktop or mobile), country, and HTTPS results.
Premium options enable even deeper insights, and if you are an existing SEMrush subscriber, you can also compare the data to your own website rankings, to better understand the impact of any algorithm changes.
Check out SEMrush Sensor here.
Serpwoo aims to engage users by emphasising how their volatility tool is different from all the others available online. Serpwoo’s tool promises a more relevant deep-dive analysis of the SERP volatility data. By tracking the movement of websites within the top 10 over time, Serpwoo gives users the ability to discover exactly what is happening to specific keywords in their chosen country.
This can work particularly well when monitoring the performance of a brand name, for instance. Users can log in daily to determine whether the SERP fluctuations are moving their positive properties up or down. They can also see how much new information is breaking into the top 10 search results for their specific keyword.
Check out Serpwoo here.
Although it is important to keep an eye on SERP volatility, it is worth remembering that there’s always a certain amount of volatility in search rankings, and that this is normal. RankBrain – Google’s machine learning system - is becoming increasingly complex each day, and it would be impossible to keep up with the hundreds of algorithm changes that occur every year.
However, SERP volatility tools can be extremely useful as an aid in helping to diagnose SEO problems that may otherwise make no sense. We would recommend regularly checking multiple tools from the sources above, to ensure you have as complete a picture as possible.
It’s so frustrating when you experience an unproductive day.
No matter what you do, or how hard you feel you’re working, nothing seems to get done. You look at your to-do list at the end of the day and it seems just as large (if not larger) than it was before.
The good news is that there are lots of ways to deal with unproductive days. But, first, here are a few reasons why you're unproductive.
We all get overwhelmed at times. Massive to-do lists and promises made that we ultimately can’t keep all contribute to feelings of being overwhelmed.
You’re not alone if that’s how you feel, but recognising it is the first step towards productivity recovery.
This is something which leads to the aforementioned feeling of being overwhelmed.
If you don’t plan properly (i.e. you have too many or the wrong kind of to-dos on your list), you’ll never focus on the most important things. More importantly, you won’t build your days around tasks you can actually complete.
We live in a world full of incredible productivity tools. Are you using them?
The best news? Most of them are free, easy to pick up and, if you pick and stick with those that work best for you, they will quickly become an invaluable part of your work day.
Whether you’re working from home or within a big office, you’ll encounter plenty of distractions.
From colleagues to background noise, email notifications and social media, there’s lots of stuff vying for your attention.
Minimising distractions and interruptions will be key to making you more productive.
We’re not referring to gas and electricity here - this is your energy management.
With life being as busy as it is, many of us forget to sleep enough and take regular breaks. The result is tiredness that completely gets in the way of being productive.
Rest and a night time routine are important if you want to be at the top of your game.
If you think multi-tasking is the smart way to get a lot of stuff done, think again.
Multi-tasking is a sure-fire way to load yourself with several challenges at once which, ultimately, you simply can't overcome.
You’re not superhuman - none of us are. Focusing on one task at a time is the best possible way to get everything on your to-do list, done.
There’s no silver bullet to fixing the issues above - it takes time, persistence and a real desire to change the way you live and work.
Start by making sure you have a great night time and morning routine, and, if you feel you need to, switch off for the day and start afresh when you’re ready to smash that to-do list.
Just remember the key takeaway today - you’re not superhuman. We all have the innate ability to be distracted and focus on the wrong stuff. The key to becoming more productive lies in recognising those instances and working to reduce their toll on your working day.
We’re no longer in an age where setting up social media accounts for your business is a choice - it’s a necessity. This stands regardless of the industry within which you operate, or the size of your business. Social media can be a greatly effective platform for many types of small businesses, and although nowhere near as effective as Search Engine Optimisation, social is capable of driving more leads than you might expect. Sure, there are reports that organic reach on certain platforms is all but dead, but that shouldn't put you off. There are still so many opportunities to be had on social media, with new platforms like TikTok where organic growth can be huge, even if you have to spend a few pennies on the various advertising options that are available. The trick lies in picking the social media platforms that make the most sense for your business, its customers, and the market in general. Here are a few simple strategies for finding the social media platforms that will provide a genuine return on your hard work and investment. 
One of the most sensible places to start is your audience. Which social media platforms are they most likely to be found on? Where do they spend their time online when they’re at work or idly browsing their smartphone at night? Finding your audience shouldn’t be difficult. You know your customers, and, if you’ve done your homework, you’ll already have put together some audience personas for marketing purposes. Those marketing personas should provide all the insight you need about your audience. Are they likely to spend hours on Facebook? Or is Twitter where they’re more likely to be searching for advice, solutions, and - yes - products? If you draw a blank at this stage, it might be that you need to invest more of your time into another area such as search engine optimisation (SEO). That doesn't mean you should ignore social media entirely, but a shift of priority and time investment would probably make sense in such instances.
If you’re an accountancy firm, Snapchat, Instagram or TikTok probably won’t make a huge amount of sense as a social media platform. In fact, you would probably be wasting your time. But, LinkedIn? That probably has some value. Selecting the most relevant social media platforms for your business will save you heaps of time. There’s no saying that Instagram couldn’t work for an accountancy firm if you’re creative enough and put a lot of time, money and effort into it, but it’s important to revert back to our first piece of advice.
Social media is largely a pay-to-play world these days. Which means, to get seen and noticed by the right people at scale, you probably need to spend some money on advertising. With this in mind, take some time to review the advertising options offered by each platform and consider how they might benefit you in terms of narrowly targeting the right people. If the targeting options you need don’t exist, it probably isn’t the platform for you.
This is an easy one. Which social media platforms are your competitors currently on? It’s important to remember that they might be wasting time on certain platforms, but you can learn from their mistakes. So, take a look at their engagement rates, and find out how many comments, likes and shares they are receiving on their posts. If you spot a competitor performing particularly well on Twitter, for instance, don’t be envious - get on there yourself!
Social media marketing can be fun and effective when approached strategically, but small businesses often waste time on platforms that simply aren’t relevant for them. Use our advice above, and you’ll find the platforms that will provide a measurable benefit for your overall marketing strategy.
There’s nothing wrong with email.
There, we said it.
Email is a digital form of communication that gets an awful lot of stick - understandably - from those whose lives it all but dominates.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to minimise this particular office distraction and own email - rather than it being the other way around.
So, how big is the problem? Well, studies suggest that the average email user checks their inbox 5.6 hours during every weekday. And, if you work eight hour days, that’s an unbelievable chunk of your time wasted.
It’s important to remember that email isn’t a method by which people can get hold of you urgently. It’s there for longer forms of communication that are neither urgent, nor mission critical.
With this in mind, you should be able to survive without it for at least a week, right? As with so many things productivity related, why not try and do this yourself? It’ll help you establish once and for all whether email is actually making you more productive or simply making you ‘busy’ (there’s a big difference).
Here are six brilliant strategies for providing yourself with an email-free work environment, without any detriment to your performance, productivity or ability to satisfy your colleagues and customers.
Good news: there’s loads of alternatives already out there.
For short, quick communication there are platforms like WhatsApp and Slack.
Many businesses have successfully moved their project-based email communication into project management platforms like Trello, and have reduced the amount of needless internal communication as a result.
When you start using these systems, email will naturally become your last resort.
Whatever happened to a good, old-fashioned phone call?
More importantly, how many times have you got lost in the depths of a long-winded email conversation only to rue your decision not to pick up the phone in the first place?
You’ll know, deep down, when a phone call makes more sense than an email. So, when you’re about to reach for the ‘compose email’ button, take a moment to consider if a phone call would be more appropriate and deliver a quicker answer. Nine times out of ten, it really will, and the likelihood is that the person on the other end of the phone will thank you for it too.
Do you really need help finding a solution to this challenge? Or have you actually had this conversation with someone before?
We often reach for email as a quick-fix when we can’t be bothered to find out the answer for ourselves. This is human nature - particularly when we’re busy.
When moments like this arise, try your best to find a solution yourself. That way, you’ll increase your own skill set and avoid wasting your - and others’ - time by sending an email.
The best thing about this strategy is that you’ll normally find the solution quicker off your own back than you would via email chasing anyway!
Have you ever cursed your inability to do anything other than continually check your email throughout your morning and late at night?
You’re not alone - many of us do this. But that doesn’t make it the right thing to do. Quite the opposite, in fact.
If email is the first and last thing you reach for each day, train your brain to look for something else to do during those times instead. Fine-tuning your to-do list, for example, is a great alternative, as is checking in with the latest industry news.
You’re only checking your email during those times because it’s become a habit, so try forcing yourself to develop an entirely different habit each time, instead.
Telephone, (there’s that word again), your project management system, WhatsApp, Slack - there are so many ways you can be contacted these days, so make sure people are aware of them.
It’s important to be careful here, of course - you don’t want messages flying at you from all angles. But, if someone has recently told you that they were expecting a reply to their urgent email, politely explain that it isn’t the best way to get in touch with you if something needs to be prioritised.
The more you do this, the more you’ll find that people will gradually reduce their email communication with you. Instead, you’ll only hear from them when something needs your urgent attention, leaving the stuff they do email you about only worthy of your time when you have the time to devote to it.
One of the most effective ways to rid yourself of email for a week is to devote that entire week to yourself.
Granted, not everyone has the luxury of doing this, but if you’re a business owner, freelancer or operate independently in some other way, use that power to spend time on yourself, with no distractions.
You could work on that marketing plan, your website or finally develop the product idea you’ve had for ages. Whatever it is, spend a whole week devoted entirely to that and set an out of office on your email to let everyone know that you’ll get back to them on your return.
The title of this blog post says it all: a week is probably as long as you’ll be able to survive completely devoid of email.
You'll need email going forward, certainly. It’s a fact of life, but it shouldn’t cause so much anxiety and stress as it seems to do for many people.
And if we can leave you with one piece of advice today, it’s this: always take on board computational kindness when working with email. The concept comes from a great book called Algorithms to Live By, and works on the basis that there’s actually a great deal of computer science in the way humans make decisions.
When it comes to email, this is pleasingly simple. For instance, before you click ‘send’, check that you’re only including the people who need to see your message. It’s all too easy to send emails to masses of people when only a few need to see it.
This creates more issues than you think. It might only take you a few seconds to include those extra people, but it generates lots of lost time for that person and the likelihood of more replies to your email that you’ll need to deal with.
You can apply computational kindness to all elements of email management. So, after you’ve had your break from email for a week, be kind to yourself and others when you reach for that inbox once more.
Have you ever been described as a ‘morning person’?
Maybe people prefer to call you a ‘night owl’.
It’s common for us to define ourselves as the type of person we are either early in the morning or late at night. But how does this relate to you being more productive?
Evening routines are vitally important, but today, we’re going to look at the importance of the morning routine. More specifically, we’re going to consider how and why it can make you more productive.
We’ve all read or heard about the successful CEO billionaire who wakes each morning at 5am (even at weekends). For these people, this early morning start has enabled them to scale greater heights with their businesses than they ever thought possible. Or so we’re told.
This might lead you to believe that you need to get up at 5am too, if you want to be super successful.
The truth? You don’t have to do that at all. Unless it genuinely works for you, which for some people is the case (‘morning people’, specifically).
But, if you struggle in the mornings, here are two reasons that 5am start isn’t needed:
- you, like every human on this planet, have your own natural rhythm. If you’re not cut out for early mornings, that’s absolutely fine.
When you’re having a bad day, there's a strong chance it got off to the wrong start. And, often, this is because your morning routine was out of whack.
Virtually everything you do each day will be tempered by how you started the day. If it was a great start, you’ll approach even the biggest challenges the day throws at you with a far more positive mindset.
The ‘body clock’ isn’t an old wive’s tale - it really does exist.
It’s actually more specifically known as the ‘circadian rhythm’, which is a 24-hour cycle we all experience. It’s responsible for the balance we have between sleeping, eating and various other activities.
It also greatly influences willpower. This can be thought of as a form of energy which drives us to do everything we do. This energy is at its height right after a restful sleep. As the day passes, willpower is used and subsequently depleted.
If you have a consistent, effective morning routine, your willpower will remain far stronger, and will also last for longer.
It might not always feel like it, but just like dogs, humans love habits. We practice rituals in so many areas of our lives because they provide us with security, routine and rewards.
This is exactly how you should approach your morning routine. The more consistent and predictable it is, the more easily your mind will be able to get on with, and cope with, whatever tasks and challenges present themselves each day.
Unless you genuinely benefit from waking up at 5am each day, just focus on a morning routine that works for you.
The key lies in consistency. Your body and mind are at their best when you commit to consistent sleep patterns and a consistent morning routine. Don’t let them down.
Copywriting is a skill that has remained resolutely relevant, regardless of how marketing continues to evolve.
This is for one very simple reason: words work. Get them right, and they will inspire people to buy into your brand, and buy stuff from your company. It’s as simple as that.
Get them wrong, and they can do significant damage to your brand. Again, a simple concept.
With this in mind, here are some traditional, basic copywriting rules that still apply - even in the digital marketplace.
The unique selling proposition isn’t a gimmick - it’s vital if you’re to beat the competition.
Any copy that is written for your website needs to keep the USP firmly in mind at all times.
There’s plenty of reasons you see lots of bullet points, lists and short sentences on web pages:
Writing words is a design process in itself - never forget that.
The 80/20 rule absolutely applies when it comes to headline writing.
Spend 80% of your writing time on the headline - even if you only start with a working title - and you’ll end up with something that’s riveting, relevant, and capable of drawing people in.
Conversational copywriting is something that has developed over the years, but it has never been more important.
This is the process of writing as though you’re having a conversation with one person. Write as you would talk to them; it’ll result in copy that’s very readable, engaging and which talks with the audience rather than at them.
When someone reads about your products or services, they might be thinking that:
Dispel each of those thoughts within your copy.
Appealing to your audience’s emotions is a classic copywriting technique and one of the most effective techniques.
You might want to make people feel happy, joyous, sad, or as though they’re missing out. Whichever emotion you need to leverage, use emotive words alongside poignant images for maximum impact.
Which of these statements sounds more appealing, alive and clear?
“This kitchen aid will save you time.”
or
“This kitchen aid will help you make the best chocolate cake your family will ever eat!”
There’s no comparison, is there?
Customer testimonials aren’t a new marketing tactic; they’ve been used for decades to demonstrate that it isn’t just the product supplier who thinks their stuff is great.
Referred to more commonly these days as ‘social proof’, customer quotes or full-blown testimonials make brilliant, persuasive copy.
You might find them on social media, online reviews, or by proactively seeking them out from existing happy customers but wherever you get your examples of social proof from, use them judiciously in your website copy.
You can’t skimp on copywriting. Implement these basic copywriting techniques, and your brand image will linger positively in the minds of existing and potential customers for years to come.
With 2020 in full swing, you’ll either have made great headway on your new year’s resolutions, or failed them completely.
This isn’t unique to you, either. We’ve all made resolutions at the turn of the year that we’ve failed to act upon.
Some are more common than others, though. So, with that in mind, here are the top new year’s resolutions for 2020, according to Statista, and why they're so often failed.
The new year brings about lots of renewed desires to get fit, but this is one popular resolution that’s incredibly easy to lose sight of.
The reason is obvious. It’s easy to join a gym, but it’s much harder to make it a habit. Thus, those first few visits are fleeting and it’s another membership card that gets lost at the back of your drawer.
Just like getting fit, losing weight is a common new year’s resolution, but it’s far easier said than done.
The desire to shed a few pounds is often the result of far too much Christmas excess, but therein lies the problem: it’s a short term goal that is neither achievable, nor timely. Before you know it, you’ve hit March and haven’t made a dent in your weight loss goal.
Along with your new gym membership and promise to lose a bit of tucker will be an improved diet.
After all, you spent the festive period filling your face with all sorts of terrible food, and warm, winter takeaways have become far too common an occurrence.
Unfortunately, healthy eating isn’t always particularly fun, and if you’ve tuned your body to enjoy food of the fast/junk variety, you’ll have a hard time accepting healthy ingredients over a sustained period of time.
We’d all like a bit of extra cash in our back pockets, wouldn’t we? That’s why one of the most common new year’s resolutions is to ‘save more money’.
It sounds simple enough at first, but if you head into this particular promise without setting boundaries or drawing up a proper budget, those savings will probably never materialise.
A better idea would be to hit the job search resources with the aim of increasing your income (and subsequently saving more money), but few people think deeply enough about this kind of new year’s resolution.
Perhaps you’ve always wanted to play the piano. Maybe writing is something you want to invest your personal time in.
Whatever hobby you passionately wish you could get into, setting it as a new year’s resolution is almost always doomed for failure.
The reason is simple - goals of this kind are usually too lofty. Rather than telling yourself “I promise to practice piano twice per week to begin with”, you’ll say, “I’m going to learn to play piano”.
Which promise do you think is most likely to stick?
New year’s resolutions regularly fail, but if you instead break them down into SMART goals, you’ll stand a much better chance of finishing the year fitter, healthier, lighter, and with a brand new hobby under your belt.
Stories are taking over social media.
Head onto Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook, and you’ll regularly be directed by the user interface towards your friends’ and followers’ latest stories.
These are usually a collection of photos, videos or captions added over the course of a day that chart key moments, achievements and stuff people want to share.
They’re big business, too, which is why brands invest considerable time and expense in creating their own stories.
So, what can WhatsApp bring to the table? In fact, did you even know the world-renowned instant messaging platform had a stories feature?
WhatsApp doesn’t call its story feature by that name (although they do have their own stories worth reading here), but most people use it in a similar fashion to features like Instagram Stories.
Known as the ‘Status’, this is a section of WhatsApp where you can add photos, videos or text. Just like the other platforms offering similar functionality, the updates appear one after the other and can be viewed by other people.
So, you’re a business. And now you know that you can use WhatsApp’s status feature as a storytelling device.
But how could this fit into your marketing campaign? More importantly, is it really an element of WhatsApp marketing?
This is open to much debate, but there’s no escaping the fact that it demands some exploration if you’ve started using WhatsApp in your business as a way to communicate with customers. This useful guide to WhatsApp Business app is a great starting point.
Just like Instagram Stories, you can use Instagram to capture key elements of your business during the day and post them for people to see. The key here is to tap into the desire to gain a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what goes on within your business.
Photos could be taken in your office, at events, or of staff. Captions could be used to tease new products that are on the way and you could use video to capture brief customer testimonials or staff opinion.
We’ve already noted that WhatsApp doesn’t refer to this feature as a ‘stories’ option, and that’s probably the biggest differentiator against the social media based competition.
The other is the fact there is no algorithm. On platforms like Snapchat, an algorithm dictates who gets to see specific stories, but WhatsApp statuses are available to anyone who has access to them (more on that in a moment).
Also, you can’t include links as easily as you can within Instagram stories, making the inclusion of calls-to-action rather tricky.
Don’t expect any pay per click options any time soon, either, because WhatsApp isn’t pitched as an advertising platform - yet.
In recent years, WhatsApp has had a strong commitment to privacy, and the same can be said for the Status feature.
It’s entirely up to you when it comes to who can see your status updates. Press the ‘Privacy’ button at the top of the screen, and you can choose to only share your stories with contacts or specific people. You can even exclude specific contacts from seeing your statuses.
We’ll reiterate again that WhatsApp isn’t really designed for stories use, but the status feature is a compelling option for presenting a very specific, close-knit group of people with updates on what your company is up to.
Copywriting is as old as the hills, but that doesn’t make it any less relevant in today’s digital society.
In fact, when you think about it, copywriting is more important than ever due to the sheer volume of content we now digest on a daily basis.
So, if you’re blogging for ‘boring’ industries, or writing copy for a brand new website and you’re only just starting out, we’ve got thirteen tips to get you off to the best possible start.
Depending on who you’re writing for and the type of copy you need to produce, you’ll need to do a fair amount of research to ensure everything is factually correct.
Keyword research is particularly important here, but don’t forget to research common pain points, stats and any claims you’re making.
When researching keywords, think about voice search, too. 55% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by 2022, which inevitably means that most searches will be started with voice. However, for the foreseeable future, this is likely to be simple stuff like driving directions and opening times - regardless, your copy needs to be written with that in mind.
People don't want to read boring, functional page copy. We live in an age when storytelling is vital, and in order to do that effectively and draw people in, you need to inject your personality.
Copywriting is about your client’s product or business, but there’s nothing wrong with using your personality to make the words jump off the page.
The headline of a web page or blog post is what will draw people in initially. Therefore, you could have the best possible copy in the world beneath it, but if those initial few words don’t work, your hard work will be wasted.
This is so important, we’re going to mention it twice.
Any form of copy you produce - be it a blog post, product description or service detail page - needs to have a beginning, middle and end. Most importantly, it needs a hook and a cliffhanger to keep people reading.
A second pair of eyes on your copywriting is vital. Even if you’re only writing a 200-word product description, getting someone else’s input on your words will help you identify errors and missed opportunities.
Just make sure you pick someone who will offer honest, genuine advice. And be ready for constructive criticism.
Stuck? Writer’s block? Just write!
One of the best tips for copywriters, regardless of their experience, is to simply write. It doesn’t really matter what falls onto the page, either; the right words will be in there somewhere, and you can refine later. Just getting stuff on the page will get rid of any form of writer’s block.
Copywriting is a form of design. Pages need to look visually inviting if people are to dive in and start reading.
That means you need to avoid long paragraphs and blocks of text and instead mix in bullet points, headers and imagery.
Remember what you learned at school about writing?
Forget all of it. Well, most of it.
Decent grammar and correct spelling are of course important, but if a sentence feels cumbersome just because you’ve followed ‘the rules’ - break those rules. Some of the best copywriting on the planet doesn’t follow common guidelines of any kind.
Email, Facebook, smartphone notifications... the world is full of distractions that seem to be designed to put copywriters off the task in hand.
When you write, get yourself into a situation where there are as few distractions as possible. Turn everything off (yes, even email), and, if it works, put your favourite focus playlist on. And just write - don’t let anything get in the way.
When you write, pretend you're doing so for just one person. Sure, the audience might be colossal in reality, but if you focus your attention on just one person, you’ll write the most compelling copy possible.
This works, because when people eventually hit that web page, they’ll feel it was written for them and them only - and that’s one of the best ways to encourage positive action on their behalf.
People don’t want to read about how great a company is or how many awards it has sitting in the board room - they want to know what’s in it for them.
When you’re writing copy, always think about the solution. And, while writing for that one person (see previous tip), think about how the product or service will benefit them - what problem will it solve or what question will it answer? It’s all about them, after all.
Anger, sadness, happiness, frustration; appealing to a particular emotion in copywriting is a powerful way to engage people.
You’ll know which emotion you need to appeal to based on the product or service you’re writing about, but whatever it is, don’t be afraid to pull those strings hard.
Humans are emotional animals, and one of the best ways to make us do stuff is to identify and play on a specific emotion. You can do that brilliantly with words.
What do you want people to do?
Imagine writing loads of web copy that’s brilliantly engaging but never grabbing a single lead or sign-up from it. What gives?
You probably forgot to include a call-to-action. And this is a common mistake. Your CTA might be to download something or make a purchase, but whatever it is, it should be clearly visible at some point (or several points) within the copy. Don’t leave home without it!
If you like writing, copywriting is a brilliant career choice. But it isn’t easy, and you’ll encounter times when the words just don't flow.
When that happens, revisit this blog post and heed our advice. None of the tips above will result in overnight success, but with a concerted effort, you’ll become a much better copywriter in time and should be able to build a roster of very happy clients.
