Throughout my research, I’m always surprised when I stumble onto websites that are professionally designed and seem to offer great products and services, but lack or fail in certain important elements.

Elements that, with just a few short changes, can help multiply the results almost instantaneously.

Generally, I have found that there are seven common mistakes. I call them the “Seven Deadly Sins.” Is your website committing any one of these?

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Part of my job as a copywriter includes, from time to time, creating names for businesses, products, and services. Choosing a name may be the single, most important business decision you will ever make.

We are constantly bombarded with marketing messages. Limited by people’s very short attention span, your marketing message has to be effective to the degree that it must communicate its essence and create top-of-mind awareness within an extremely short amount of time.

Names are often the best tools — and sometimes the only ones — for accomplishing this efficiently.

In the game of positioning, your name has to stick firmly in the mind of the marketplace and must do so instantly. While uniqueness is an important factor, there are many other elements that can help the anchoring process — elements that help a name become memorable as well as chosen when a customer experiences a specific need or desire.

So, here are some simple rules to follow when choosing a name for your company or product.

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One thing in copywriting that I often see as a problem is the fact that the audience is not targeted for the offer. An untargeted, unqualified prospect won’t buy, no matter how good the copy is. (Or at the very least, they will ask for a refund once they smell the coffee.)

But that’s not the topic I want to discuss.

It’s the second biggest copywriting problem. And that is, the copy doesn’t speak to the customer at the stage of awareness at which they happen to be. This is pivotal to ensure that the copy is long enough, or strong enough, to qualify, educate and sell the prospect.

What are these “stages of awareness?” There are four.

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