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Social networks are more than just ad hoc links between people. Recent research shows that social networks also can transfer emotional traits  between people including happiness, anger and jealousy.  This is a great talk by Nicholas Christakis,  highlighting some of the latest research suggesting that network emotions are contagious.  Makes you look at businesses, schools and online networks in a totally different way!

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

Ever had the experience when you build what you believe is a great website, you have created loads of content, you get solid traffic to your site and then … (insert sound of crickets chirruping here).  This was the case for one lady who rang me this week and asked me to look at her site.

So what was going wrong? Here’s what I shared with her. If you want to create a well converting website, there are a few elements you need for success.

1. A hungry market. Are people actively looking for what you have to offer? You need to start with the market first – if there is no market for your product, then you will never end up selling many items. Sounds logical, but you would be surprised at the number of people who start with inventing a product and then try and find a market to sell it to.
2. A good product. People are looking for solutions to their needs – they are not looking for 100% perfection. Many businesses struggle with this, spending years perfecting their product before going to market. If you find yourself on the perfectionism loop – whack yourself on the side of the head and look at Apple. Was their first i-pod perfect? What about the 2nd or 3rd generations of i-pod? They created good products and then refined them as they went (on the basis of income from the earlier versions).
3. A professional looking website. When people visit your website for the first time they judge, based on the appearance of the site, whether or not your site can be trusted. If your site looks cheap or shoddy, with budget graphics and text that cannot be read in many browsers, they will click away. Your site needs to look professional, polished and easy to see no matter the browser type. Is your site search engine optimised so that your hungry market can find you? Does your site use images that reflect the images of your market? Can they see themselves, and other’s like them, using your product or service.
4. Logical navigation. Do you make it easy for people to work their way through your site, or do you hide bits and pieces on different pages? If you make it too hard, people will leave. If you are selling a product, then one page sites are great as every time you make people click away you give them the chance to leave.
5. Are you attracting the right kinds of people? High traffic is not the be all and end all. You want to attract people who are already interested in your product or service.  There is no point in getting loads of traffic to your site if they are looking for something else. They will see that you don’t meet their needs and click away. 
6. Does your text make sense and inspire action? If your text is confusing to follow, uses too much jargon, misses core pieces of information or doesn’t ask for the sale, then sales will be less than they could be.
7. Stacks of credibility. Can people read lots of success stories and testimonials? Can they see a picture of you and easily get in contact with you? If you are asking them to buy, is your site secure or do you use a trusted payment provider like Paypal? Do you guarantee your product or service?
8. Do you make choice easy? Many businesses offer too much choice. Keep choices simple – one option is perfectly fine. Two also works, but when you offer lots and lots of minor variations on a theme, then you lose people. They simply can’t make up their mind. Keep the choice simple (This of course doesn’t apply to shopping mall type of sites like Amazon, where people expect options).
9. Is your price right? You generally need to test to find the right price for your product.  Guesstimates don’t cut it – you need to test to find the right price the market is willing to pay.
10. Are your expectations realistic? A website generally will not generate thousands of calls or sales each week. 1% conversion on a site with these other points in place is normal, 2% is good. Above 3% and you can expect choirs and angels to descend.

If you want to boost your conversions, look at these 10 areas and work out which ones you need to refine for your site. Often the problem will be in more than one area, so keep digging, testing and editing until you hit on the perfect combination for your site.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

Yes, another personal post

This evening I attended the P&C meeting for Ferny Grove State High School. At this meeting the Acting Principal Mr Sutton provided his side of events leading up to the termination and reinstatement of the Music Camp. His side markedly differed from that reported to parents and students in the lead up to the situation.

If the events were as he presented, then I wholeheartedly apologise to him, the teaching body, parents and students who may have been affected by my views and comments. I recognise the passion and dedication of the majority of the teachers at Ferny Grove High School.  The teaching faculty achieves brilliant results in a number of areas, with general academic results achieved of a similar standard to many of the top private schools.

My comments were intended to broaden the debate and not create divide – but this has not been the result. For this reason I have removed my previous blog post and issue an unreserved apology for my comments.

Ingrid Cliff

Freelance writer & parent

As a card carrying people watcher from early childhood, I love to find out what makes people tick. So I went to Uni and studied Psychology and then spent decades in the field observing how employees and people responded to different situations (and then tried to work out why they did what, on the surface, looked like totally illogical behaviour).

I grab my latest copies of psychology and neuroscience research with all the unbridled joy of a kid being let lose in a Darrell Lea chocolate shop with an unlimited budget … but I have to tell you … a lot of the best research is boring to read. I mean dead boring. I mean it is so boring and soporific that I swear that they use it to knock people out in sleep clinics.

Which is why I love this You Tube Video (thanks Brandrally for sharing it). It takes normal, rather boring research and turns it into a work of art. This is the ultimate example of why Powerpoint should be banned and more creative ways adopted to get messages across are adopted.

What’s the video about? Well in a nutshell, why motivating employees with money sucks, and why cash bonuses as an employee motivation strategy suck even more. Interesting viewing!

Love to hear your thoughts about both the video and the technique.

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

This evening we were lucky enough to attend the media preview of Robin Hood, courtesy of Blue Room Cinebar. Originally all discussion of the movie was embargoed until Thursday (the official launch date in Australia). But as  some US reviewers have jumped the gun, the embargo has been lifted. We did have to hand in our mobile phones to MIB style security guards just to make sure of no early pirate movie leaks.

As long term readers of this blog know, I love approaches that take something that is well known and then adds a twist. The latest Russell Crowe Robin Hood movie, does just that. If you are looking for the traditional retelling of the Robin Hood tale, this film is not for you. If you were not taken by the Batman re-tellings, Smallville or Merlin then you may find this version of the tale a tad too loose an interpretation. However, if you are open to a rollicking good yarn that very loosely tells the story of how Robin Hood came to be an outlaw, then book a ticket to see the latest Robin Hood movie.

Brilliantly cast, with stunningly lush scenery and sets (worthy of an Oscar in its own right) and excellent costumes, the movie is an interesting combination of massive battle sequences, the odd bit of light-hearted laughter and a dash of romance … and yes, the stage is set for a sequel.  Russell Crowe gave a solid Gladiator in leather tights performance, Cate Blanchett was stunning as an emancipated Lady Marion and Max von Sydow was absolutely brilliant as Sir Walter Loxley.  My personal favourite was Mark Addy as Friar Tuck – exceptional casting.

There was also an interesting combination of historical attention to detail (the castle siege wouldn’t look out of place in a High School history lesson) and thumbing their nose at history (Marion in full armour fighting the invading French).

As an aside, fans of Monty Python will find the odd reference in the movie to keep them amused. Obviously the group we were with were not Python fans  as we were the only ones giggling at “None shall pass unless you answer this riddle …”

From a business perspective, 10/10 for clever marketing by Blue Room Cinebar in Rosalie. The preview was open to the media as well as top clients of the cinema. The clients gained exclusive access to a brilliant movie, and refreshed their memories of how great the Blue Room Cinebar is for private screenings for clients. (I gather the next Sex & the City Movie has weeks of group bookings already locked in). Other businesses take note of how you can reward your best clients. (Declaration of interest – yes, I am a regular client of the Cinebar and yes we had free tickets tonight, but no financial payment for this review).

In terms of movie ratings, I give Robin Hood 3.5/5 and my daughter gives it a 4/5 (and Blue Room Cinebar a 5/5). It is not an Avatar movie, but still great escapism nonetheless.

Love to hear your thoughts of the movie

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter

We all get the odd time in our life when we stare at the digital clock on our bedside table at 4am and wonder whether we are the only person awake on the planet. Years ago it was because I was pacing the floor with crying babies, trying to help them learn the difference between night and day. Every now and again I would pop the latest baby in the car and take them for a 4am drive, waving to all the other bleary eyed parents doing the same thing as we did laps around the local area. I learned then that there was a surprising number of other people with the 4am blues.

Then there was the hyper manic years when I was buried under killer deadlines doing government reform. We would work until 11pm, duck home for a few hours sleep and get up at 4am to do it all over again. As I would walk to my car at night, I would wave at the other hyper manic workers in brilliantly lit inner-city buildings. It was almost as if there was a private club in the CBD that only those powered by adrenalin could join.  Those years were unsustainable … if ever so seductive.

Running my own business, there were the 4am cold-sweat blues in the early years, worrying about everything including the leap of faith into the unknown.  There was also the odd “all-nighter” thrown in to meet deadlines.  Now though,  I generally sleep the sleep of the peaceful and content, with the odd 4am thrown in to remind me of what once was.

So how does sleep deprivation impact on business? If you look around your business, you will find a good handful of your team have the 4am blues. That’s where mistakes are made, industrial accidents occur and less than positive decisions get made.  We expect parents of new babies to be “business as usual” within a few weeks. We drive our team to impossible deadlines. We don’t consider the impact of life changes on work performance.  We feel lack of sleep and tiredness is a badge of courage to be worn and worked through.

What if there was another way?  What if you chose to take a different approach? There is a lot to be said for siestas, snooze pods, for nanna naps in the late afternoon. For sending that tired person home early (on full pay) to catch a few hours of precious sleep. After all, you are responsible for creating a safe place of work  and reducing all known work hazards. Don’t tired people fall into this category?

For me, this morning after I pick dad up from the hospital (yes, his heart surgery went well this time), I will take my day more gently. I will step away from the keyboard, put down the pen and do less dangerous things.

How do you deal with the 4am blues?

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance writer

If ever you have had the “joy” of watching late night TV, you get to see hours of infomercials. Infomercials are simply extended ads that follow a fairly set pattern. Usually the problem is identified in wonderfully emotive terms, with the product presented as the solution to the problem. You then get to see the product demonstrated (more than once), followed by people talking about how great the product is. You see another demonstration and you then get your first whiff of the low low price.  You get an incentive to take action and then, depending on the length of the infomercial, you get more people talking up the benefits of the product, more product shots and an even better reason to pick up the phone and call.

It’s all very predictable … and the reason it follows a set format is it works like gangbusters!

Normally I am immune to infomercials – I think I am one of the few people on the planet that deliberately turns on the TV to watch the ads and checks if the “pattern” has changed.  So, imagine my surprise when I found myself hand on wallet the other day after watching an infomercial. What happened?

Well for starters this ad wasn’t on my home TV – it was on a TV in a pet store window right where the cute puppies and kittens were located. Yes, we had stopped to admire the pets and our attention was caught by the TV in a pet pen. The TV was on a loop, demonstrating the latest and greatest pet shedding tool and the demonstration was simple and darn effective.

This was very clever marketing as the pet shop had a captive audience of the right sort of customers who did not have their barriers up against buying. People who look at puppies and kittens generally have their sales defenses down. They are not expecting the sales pitch so it sneaks in under their radar.

In addition, people who love pets usually have the problem of pet hair at home. So the placement of the ad was extremely clever. Now normally no-one gets excited about pet combs, but thanks to the infomercial these extremely expensive pet combs were walking out the door of the pet shop.

Given our fur family (and tumbling tumbleweeds of pet hair), we rapidly became one of the proud new owners of this particular pet hair comb.The point is we were not intending to go out and buy a pet hair comb when we went shopping – yet the cleverly placed product demonstration sold us.

So was it a good buy? Heck yes! We have 3 cats and by the time the comb had done it’s job we had enough fur to knit another 2 cats.  A few less fur tumbleweeds will tumble through our house this week.  It was a win-win solution for both us and the shop. (The comb was a Furminator if you are looking for a pet comb).

So, the next time you think about your business, think about where your ideal customers hang out and how you can visibly demonstrate the great qualities of your product or service to them.  A simple infomercial may see your business boom just like the little pet shop in the shopping centre.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

We put your business into words

Heart Harmony – Freelance Copywriter