Karon Thackston
Karon Thackston Quick Facts
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
Matt Cutts Reveals Google's Updated SEO Copywriting Strategy
By Karon Thackston I've been suspicious for years now. Just from paying attention to the sites that come up in the search engine results pages (SERPs), I've seen differences. What I was finding was that the top sites didn't always have the exact keyphrase multiple times in their copy. It appeared that (with all Google's updates over time) we've moved away from strictly using the keyphrase as-is and more toward using the individual words within the keyphrases as we write. I su
August 29, 2012
Article
Mastering the Art of Writing Sexy Bullet Lists
From short ecommerce product descriptions to enormously long sales letters; ask any copywriter and they'll quickly tell you that bullet points are one of the most valuable tools in their skill set. Why? Because they almost always get read. Most people (and many professional copywriters), however, struggle with writing captivating bullet points. Follow along and I'll show you one quick process for cranking out an endless list of persuasive bullets that will help your copy conv
February 17, 2012
Article
Using Personas to Draw in More Customers
By Karon Thackston Whatâs the golden rule of copywriting? Know thy target audience. Why? Because you canât effectively write and/or persuade people that you know nothing about. In order to convince customers that you are the obvious choice to solve their problem, you have to know: ⢠Who they arern⢠What their problem isrn⢠Why itâs a problemrn⢠What they want done about itrn⢠How much they can spend to solve itrn⢠Their preferred communication stylern⢠Who
January 23, 2012
Article
How to Optimize Copy When You Can't Use Keywords
By Karon Thackston What's the first thing you think of when writing with keywords? Probably one of the first is that keywords and phrases are descriptive of the products and/or services you're writing about. But, what happens in those circumstances where you can't (or don't really want to) use your chosen keyphrases descriptively? Is Your Product/Service Really Cheap? One of the primary things that causes this dilemma is the word "cheap." There's a big difference between some
January 9, 2012
Article
How to Optimize Copy When You Can't Use Keywords
By Karon Thackston What's the first thing you think of when writing with keywords? Probably one of the first is that keywords and phrases are descriptive of the products and/or services you're writing about. But, what happens in those circumstances where you can't (or don't really want to) use your chosen keyphrases descriptively? Is Your Product/Service Really Cheap? One of the primary things that causes this dilemma is the word "cheap." There's a big difference between some
August 25, 2011
Article
Case In Point: Developing An Ezine Built To Last
© 2003nhttp://www.creatingezines.com nnJill Whalen is well known for her search engine optimization talents. Sheâs equally well known for her ezine, High Rankings Advisor. From its inception in 2000 until today, she has built an exceptionally loyal subscriber base of over 15,000 that would literally follow her to the ends of the âNet and back. How did she do it? Weâre about to find out!nnKARON: Hi Jill⦠thanks for your time.nnJILL: No problem, Karon.nnKARON: Let me s
February 4, 2011
Article
Is It Time For A Copy Facelift?
© 2003nhttp://www.copywritingcourse.comnnI just had to laugh! During a recent conversation about how often you should change your copy, I had one person tell me âWell, if there were any *good* copywriters out there, theyâd be able to write it once, and it would work forever!â Oh really? Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.nnIt is extremely rare for advertising copy to last for extended periods of time. Changing your copy is a given, the reason being that
February 4, 2011
Article
Case In Point: Designing A Site That Demands High Traffic
by Karon Thackston ?2002 http://www.ktamarketing.com nnMarnie Pehrson may not be well known for driving traffic to Web sites, but she should be! Her ability to get literally hundreds of thousands of page views a month is simple astounding! (NOTE: I said âpage views,?not âhits.?BIG difference!) I had to ask her to reveal her secrets so that we all could learn how to create a Web site that simply demands high traffic.nnKARON: Hi Marnie. I really appreciate you taking the ti
January 10, 2011
Article
Is Your Ad Killing Your Brand?
by Karon Thackston ?2002 http://www.copywritingcourse.comnnItâs funny to me how companies spend thousands of dollars to develop a brand only to wreck it when they create their advertising campaigns. They pour over colors, fonts, logo designs, Web site creation, USPs, and target audience analyses. But then, when itâs time to bring their message to the public, it all falls apart.nnCase in point: a local technical college in my town has recently begun to run a television cam
January 10, 2011
Article
How Poor Usability Can Kill Your Copy and Conversions
By Karon Thackston nnIt's funny how we, as website owners, don't always think like our visitors. A course of action that might seem perfectly obvious to us may stop our visitors right in the middle of their buying process. Take, for instance, e-commerce–type copy. Do you realize that what happens after your customers read your copy could make or break your sale? I'm not talking about shopping cart abandonment. I'm talking about good communication that keeps the buying c
October 13, 2008
Article
Understanding & Communicating with Your Customers
It happens all too frequently with novice copywriters. In fact, many pros also make the same mistake. Telling your site visitors what you want them to know instead of what they want to hear is never a good idea. And, the fact that this happens so regularly truly confuses me because every day - all day long - we tailor our communication to those around us. For some unknown reason, we start telling instead of sharing when we write copy.nnIn order to convey our marketing message
October 1, 2008
Article
Stop the Slaughter of Innocent Copy!
by Karon Thackston © 2007, All Rights ReservednnIt's one of the worst things to ever happen in the search engine copywriting field: the discovery of keyword density. I won't venture off into a discussion about whether keyword density is still a valid measure of search engine optimized (SEO) copywriting success. I will say, however, that the mere introduction of this concept led to the mutilation and destruction of innocent copy all across the globe. Without any regard to flo
February 27, 2007