Copy that converts starts with this, trailblazing women in media & copy resource of the week

Hey, hi, howdy, and welcome to Issue #14 of The Subhead, a bi-weekly newsletter about copywriting, marketing & media, and a look at some of the women who make it great.

Here’s what’s on deck in today’s edition:

✨ This week in freelancing

✨ Copy that converts always starts with this

✨ Trailblazing Women in Media: Jessica Lessin

✨ Copy Resource of the Week: 5 Ways to Improve Any Webpage

✨ Just for Fun

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This week in freelancing …

Recently, I’ve been writing articles for my tech client on the topic of surveys – top survey incentive ideas, how to increase survey response rates, how to use surveys to improve mental health in the workplace, how to write survey reminder emails, and so on. I’m darn near going to be a survey expert after this!

In other freelance news, I may soon be working on a website copy project for a healthcare client, fingers crossed. I’ll find out about that next week.

If it happens, I’ll be working with a couple of other writers on the project, and lemme tell ya, I welcome that with open arms! I haven’t been part of a team on a copy project since … back at my last ad agency job, I think?

On an unrelated note, I’m thinking about switching up the sections in this here bi-weekly newsletter. The section I share after “This Week in Freelancing” has been, up to this point, (what I hope is) a useful blog post/article from my website on the topic of copywriting or similar.

Not sure what I’ll be doing with this section going forward (or precisely when I’ll make the change), but I’m open to any ideas, if you got ‘em!

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Copy that converts ALWAYS starts with this

Sure, I’m a copywriter for hire, but I firmly believe that if you’re just getting started online, whether you’re launching a solo business or some other kind of online project, you should write your own copy rather than hire a copywriter – at least in the very early stages, and especially if you’re on a tight budget.

Doing so will help you get a bead on who your ideal clients are, figure out what your USP or meaningful difference is, and learn how to create messaging that appeals to your desired audience based on those two things.

And those skills? Will serve you very well for the rest of your online journey.

Now, if you’re in a place where you can easily afford to hire a great copywriter, then, by all means, have at it!

But if you’re writing your own copy for a website, landing page, email campaign, special one-off promo, or anything else, and you want it to be the very best it can be, then the most important and useful thing I can tell you is this:

The first step is NOT opening a Google or Word doc and letting the ol’ creative juices flow.

No, the first, uber-important, non-negotiable step is research.

IF you want copy that converts browsers into buyers, or casual website visitors into email subscribers, or any other kind of important conversion that helps you achieve your business goals, then no writing happens until the research has been done.

What kind of research, you may ask?

I share my basic 101 level research process here, along with application of the process to a wedding photographer writing their own copy, so you can see it in action:

Copy That Converts ALWAYS Starts Here [+ my research 101 process]

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Trailblazing Women in Media: Jessica Lessin

Jessica Lessin is founder & CEO of The Information, a digital-first technology and business publication based in San Franscisco.

I’d been vaguely aware of Lessin and The Information, but it wasn’t until I started doing the research for this mini-profile that I discovered just how successful – & influential – her media company is.

Lessin, formerly a tech reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal, has covered Silicon Valley and the tech industry for a couple of decades. In 2011, she was part of a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for a series on digital privacy.

She founded The Information in 2013, and has grown it to one of the largest subscription journalism communities in the world. A subscription runs $399 a year for total access.

Subscribers include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings (and likely lots of high-profile women as well, though I couldn’t find names of any of them during the course of my research), along with other executives, entrepreneurs and investors from tech, media and finance.  

How does The Information stand out among the many other tech publications out there? As Lessin says, “We recruit the best reporters, give them the freedom to write about important topics and tell them not to worry about the small stuff.”

According to CNBC, “Through the combination of the best talent in the reporting industry, high standards for reporting and sourcing as well as a focus on analysis, The Information has become the go-to daily read for business leaders in more than 60 countries.”

Their deeply reported articles cover Apple, Facebook, and Google, among others. Topics include early scoops on acquisitions, secret terms of VC deals and what they mean for employees, and the lack of diversity among tech investors, to name just a few.

What I find remarkable is that Lessin owns The Information, having used her own money to start it – there’s no venture capital, no corporate owners – and has no plans to sell.

Read more about Lessin’s thoughts on monetization, and the subscription model and how it aligns with her mission of producing deeply reported, high-quality content about the tech industry.

And finally, learn more about how Lessin’s media company has “survived a decade of media tumult” and built a sustainable subscription model by understanding their niche inside and out, and catering to that niche* in this Vanity Fair article.

[*Lessons for all of us doing anything online & trying to build a devoted audience for that thing.]

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Copy Resource of the Week: 5 Ways to Improve Any Webpage

This week’s copy resource is a short and straightforward article about improving any web page using our good friend, specificity (includes stellar before and after examples).

We’ve all landed on those websites where we’re greeted with a dull headline like, “We provide marketing solutions for all your business needs,” or similar.

That headline gives you zero idea what this company does. I mean, “marketing solutions” could be anything. There’s no context.

And yet, I see headlines like that all the time. (It’s especially egregious with marketing and ad agencies, for some reason. Which is odd, since they are ostensibly in the business of persuasive communication.)

Anyhoo, if your web copy lacks clarity, it won’t convert, simple as that.

If you want to avoid that fate, then apply the 5 simple tips here:

5 Ways to Improve Any Webpage by Adding Specificity

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Just for Fun

If you like the actor John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Chicago, and many others) as much as I do, then you’ll probably love this interview with him from the fine folks at Blackbird Spyplane.

(Read this article if for no other reason than the unexpectedly delightful discourse on clowns.)

And finally this week, I feel blessed to have been very lightly mentioned in one of my favorite newsletters, Ann Handley’s “Total Annarchy.”

She has a section in each bi-weekly send called “Department of Shenanigans,” and there in the 03.17.24 edition, to my great surprise, was my “contribution” – such as it was:

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS
Unhinged Nextdoor Subject Lines as pure poetry.

(via Total Annarchy reader Kimberly Houston)

It’s the little things, people! 😊

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That’s all for this week, my friend.

Be well. Stay curious. See you again in two weeks, on April 21.

Warmly,

Kimberly