Words to the Wise

Sometimes, while I’m writing (or re-writing) web content for a client, they ask me if they should start an AdSense campaign to generate some extra revenue.

My usual answer is “no” because the cost of an AdSense campaign for most of my clients is way too high.

“But Jay,” they say, “AdSense doesn’t cost anything. Google gives you the code and you paste it into your website HTML.”

True. Every word of it. But the cost I’m referring to is the depreciation of your brand because you’re adding advertising to a site that wasn’t meant for it.

Why would you want to give visitors to your site an opportunity to leave your site and look for something else? Is the 25 cents really worth it? On top of that, it makes you look like you want their pocket change, not their dollar bills.

Don’t get me wrong. There are certainly times when AdSense makes sense (and cents) on a website. Take my Clayton, NC relocation website for example. It has ads, a job board and may soon have YouTube advertising. But the difference is that my Relocate Clayton site isn’t selling anything. It gives away every word of information for free with the hope that visitors will find the relevant ads enticing enough to click.

Last week, I met with my clients, and neighbors, from Out of the Box Party to talk about some things that could make their online presence a little more robust. After discussing ideas for content and layout, I asked how things with their new StatCounter were going.

Kim, the Marketing Director, said she couldn’t believe the power such a small (and free) piece of code could provide. She realized that much of what they had done online up to this point was truly guesswork - guessing about how people found them online, guessing what their popular pages were, guessing what keywords they should be focusing on, etc.

Now, the sister duo at www.outoftheboxparty.com has powerful insight into their website that allows them to market more effectively through their online catalog.

For example, it turns out that the most popular keyword phrase used to find their site is “party in a box,” which is light years from what they had previously thought.

Bottom line is that you can’t have an effective website strategy if you don’t know how people are using your site. If you’re unsure about how to install StatCounter’s code, email me.

A friend of mine uses Facebook to advertise their wedding photography business. Another uses it to promote their real estate agency.

So what does this have to do with description tags? Well, when you insert a URL or link into a Facebook message to another user or in a post to a group, Facebook automatically grabs the description tag of that page and pastes it into the message.

This makes for a new twist on description tags.

Since they hold little or no relevance in search engine ranking, anymore few people pay much mind to them. Yet, they are vital in terms of web traffic via search engines…and now, from Facebook.
Do all of your description tags make sense? Could they use a tune up? Are they too long? Too short? Here’s a quick guide to help you out:

Description Tags, with spaces, should be no more than 70 characters long. Without spaces, they should be no more than 62 characters long.

If you don’t have a description tag for a particular page, search engines typically take the first block of copy they see on the page. This isn’t always a great thing if your first bit of copy is a chart or has little to do with the page topic.

Jason Pedley to Write Property Listings, Data Sheets, Website Content and Other CentralAmericaSecondHomes.com Marketing Materials

News Facts:

• Jason Pedley, a North Carolina-based freelance copywriter, has announced he has landed a contract to create content for Central America Second Homes – a division of Sheldon Greene and Associates, Inc.

• Pedley will provide CentralAmericaSecondHomes.com with detailed feature property listings, property data sheets, pay per click (PPC) ad campaigns, and sales letters for each of the Central America properties that the site markets.

• Central America Second Homes is a pioneer in sales of Central America vacation homes and retirement property via the Internet. The company has a team of real estate brokers who specialize in selling Central America property to buyers worldwide.

• Central America Second Homes’ mission is to provide clients with the facts and information needed to make an informed purchase decision when it comes to buying vacation, investment and retirement property in Central America, and specifically in the countries of Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico.

• CentralAmericaSecondHomes.com offers original and up-to-date information and property pictures online as well as a free, detailed data sheet available via e-mail for each of the Central America properties the site represents.

• Jason Pedley is a North Carolina-based freelance copywriter with experience writing website content and doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for companies involved in real estate, gaming, tourism, dining, entertainment, retail, meetings and conventions, technology and public service.

Visit www.jasonpedley.com for more information about Jason Pedley’s copywriting and SEO services.

Please use this URL to access a purpose-built del.icio.us page, for more information about Jason Pedley: http://del.icio.us/jasonpedley

Visit www.jasonepdley.com/resume.html for Jason Pedley’s history.

Quotes attributable to Freelance Copywriter Jason Pedley:

• “Central America Second Homes leads the way in marketing Central America properties via the Internet. The company’s website, www.CentralAmericaSecondHomes.com, is the most content-rich site for Central America condo hotels, villas, single-family homes, fractionals, and other types of real estate.”

• “Most of the properties offered are in the preconstruction phase, when prices are at they’re lowest. The properties are also on another continent. These factors provide a great challenge in describing them to potential buyers and helping these buyers form a vision of what their life will be like in a second home in Central America.”

Quotes attributable to Maria Lopez, Realtor for Central America Second Homes:

• “Whether they’re buying a vacation home or a retirement home in Central America, potential buyers want as much information as possible to get a true sense of what a property offers. Jason does an excellent job of taking the information about each property and turning it into an experience for our website visitors.”

• “Not only is Jason gifted when it comes to describing our properties in copy, he’s got a thorough grasp of public relations and advertising. We fully intend to make use of all his marketing skills in a number of areas, including our Social Media efforts.”

Please email press@jasonpedley.com to arrange an interview and/or for additional quotes.

About Freelance Copywriter Jason Pedley:
Jason Pedley is a freelance marketing, public relations and advertising copywriter who provides value to his clients by writing copy that is on time, on target and on budget. His copywriting experience has brought him projects in gaming, tourism, real estate, entertainment, retail, non-profit, technology and other sectors. To learn more about Jason Pedley, his services, and how they can help your organization, visit www.jasonpedley.com or email him at press@jasonpedley.com.

Contact Info
Jason Pedley
860.886.3455 cell
press@jasonpedley.com
www.jasonpedley.com

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In Part I of this topic, I told you what the DMCA is, how it protects you and what to do when someone steals your web content and posts it as their own?

In this part, I have a sample letter you can send to the person/company you think has infringed upon your copyright.

It’s a format that my client uses and, given the topic, I’ve asked her to let me use a modified version of it here. It usually scares the offender into compliance.

Dear Company Name:

It has come to our attention that you have made unauthorized use of copyrighted content from COMPANY NAME’S website, www.yourdomain.com.

On your website, the content on this page regarding TOPIC, http://infringingsite.com/contentpage.html, has been plagiarized from our page at, http://www.yourdomain.com/contentpage.html.

You have used our content verbatim without permission and have consequently violated federal law.

Please be advised that COMPANY NAME has reserved all rights in these works and has registered copyrights therein.

In addition, we have the handwritten notes, dated rough drafts, and various versions of this document edited by the principals of our corporation as supporting evidence that these works were created by COMPANY NAME.

We also have dated file transfer logs that indicate when these pages were added to our website.

As you neither asked for, nor received permission to use our work on your website, you have willfully infringed upon our rights under 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq. and could be subject to substantial penalty fines.

We demand that you immediately remove from your website ALL of the infringing works derived and/or copied from COMPANY NAME materials.

If we have not received an affirmative response from you by DATE at TIME, indicating that you have fully complied with our request to remove the plagiarized material from your website, we intend to take further legal action against your company and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

We have already taken screen capture images of your site with our copyright material and have forwarded these images to our lawyers to maintain as evidence in our legal action against you.

Regardless of your intent to comply, we will also immediately file a Notice of Digital Millennium Copyright Act Infringement with Google, Yahoo, MSN and all other search engines demanding to have your website removed and banned from all search results.

You can read more about our rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) at http://www.google.com/dmca.html.

We will be monitoring your website closely for other copyright violations of our materials.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Very truly yours,

NAME
TITLE
COMPANY
www.yourwebsite.com
you@yourwebsite.com
(010) 555-1212