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Google Product Manager Interview

Finding The Right Copywriter

Why did you hire your copywriter? It's a fairly safe bet that your answer includes one or two of these reasons:

• You needed someone with experience
• You needed an expert in their field
• You don't have time to do it yourself
• You don't have the right skill set to create effective copy
• You wanted to make sure your copy worked

Basically, what it comes down to is that you're serious about making your business a success and the best way to do that is to surround yourself with experts who can make it happen for you.

What does your copywriter do?

Have you ever asked that question?

Not many people (other than copywriters) understand what it takes to create amazing copy. So, what happens after you've briefed them?

Well, they will spend a lot of time getting to know:

•  You
•  Your company
• Your style
• Your products/services
• Your target market and their needs
• Your brand  

Then they'll research your competitors and what's happening in your market. If necessary, they'll make suggestions about how to tweak your original brief to ensure optimum results.

 

Once all the background has been done, they'll use their experience and expertise to create your copy, using tried and tested techniques to get the most out of the words.

 

They'll go to great pains to make sure the writing is firmly focused on the reader, providing them with everything they need to counter any objection they may have and to reach a buying decision.

 

The writing will then be shaped and laid out for optimum effect.

 

I'm sure you'll agree that's a lot of value.

 

The first draft arrives

 

You receive your first draft and, in light of all that I've said above, why oh why do you turn round and say…

"Oh, I think it would be better like this…" 

…and promptly make changes to the layout, wording and, worse of all, fill it with ‘we' and ‘me'?

Granted, there may be a few things that need amending, but you hired a professional writer because they understand how copy works, and how to use it to convince your readers to buy.

To illustrate this point, let's say you were about to have some plastic surgery done. After your consultation, during which time your surgeon outlines the procedure that will take place and how the surgery will be performed, would you say…

"Actually, don't you think it would be better if you did…?"

No, you wouldn't because they are an expert in their field and you trust their judgement.
Make sure you do your homework first.

Rather than leaving your search for a copywriter until the eleventh hour, plan ahead and look around.

Have a search through Google and see who you can find; ask for referrals from trusted local businesses.

Make a short list of people you think you could work with, and then phone them for a chat. If you get on, invite them in for a meeting so you talk over your project face to face. Ask for samples of their work - and don't be put off if they don't have anything to show identical to what you need. They don't need to be experts in your industry - that's your job. Their job is to create copy that sells.

As you are going to be working closely together it's essential you ‘click'.

As for their fee - let's put it this way, if they'll do all that you ask for the price of a tea bag, you're looking in the wrong place.

 

Good copywriting isn't cheap, but it is an investment that will continue to work for your business for as long as it's ‘out there'.

 

As with everything in life, you get what you pay for.

So, when you next need expert copywriting help make sure you find the right person for you and trust them - they know what they're doing.

By Sally Ormond

NJ Woman Prosecuted for Facebook ID Theft

Although there’s been a lot of discussion about the potential for criminal prosecutions arising from online impersonation, New Jersey is one of the first states to see an actual prosecution for identity theft on social media. The lucky winner is Dana Thornton, a somewhat unbalanced-seeming 41-year-old woman from Bellville, NJ, who is accused of creating a fake Facebook page to defame her ex-boyfriend.

And defame she did, if the accusations are true: apparently Thornton used photos and personal information about her ex-boyfriend, a narcotics detective from northern New Jersey, to create a Facebook page where she then posted extremely unflattering statements supposedly made by the man himself. For example, the profile proclaimed that the individual in question liked to spend money on prostitutes, had herpes, was “high all the time,” and summed it all up with this sweeping self-indictment: “I’m a sick piece of scum with a gun.” As there’s no leniency for catchy turns of phrase, Thornton faces up to 18 months for fourth-degree identity theft, “for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for himself or another or to injure or defraud another.”

While this might strike the casual observer as just another colorful slice of New Jersey life, the court case is actually important because of a decision already rendered by the court -- specifically, the ruling that the case can proceed under existing identity theft law, even though the statute doesn’t specifically include electronic media as one of the venues where identity theft may occur.

State Superior Court Judge David Ironson brushed off an argument to that effect from Thornton’s lawyer, who said that the case should be dismissed because the statute didn’t mention electronic media. In his ruling Ironson wrote: “The fact that the means of committing the crime are not set forth in the statute doesn't lead to the conclusion that the defendant didn't commit the crime.” The NJ legislature is currently considering amending the identity theft statute to explicitly include electronic media. Currently only New York and California have laws explicitly banning online identity theft.

by Erik Sass,

What is Quality Score?

According to Google, Quality Score is Calculated from:

• The historical clickthrough rate (CTR) of the keyword and the matched ad on the Google domain; note that CTR on non-Google sites (such as AOL.com) only ever impacts Quality Score on our search partners - not on Google
• Your account history, which is measured by the CTR of all the ads and keywords in your account
• The historical CTR of the display URLs in the ad group
• The quality of your landing page
• The relevance of the keyword to the ads in its ad group
• The relevance of the keyword and the matched ad to the search query
• Your account’s performance in the geographical region where the ad will be shown
• Other relevance factors