JoAnn Takasaki
It takes a professional wordsmith to shape words into compelling messages that inspire, excite and compel. It takes a market savvy innovator who understands the interplay between the medium and the message to strategically use print, media and online channels to maximize a message’s impact. As the founder of GlobalWrites, JoAnn Takasaki brings these skills and more to a diverse client base comprised of corporations, small businesses, government organizations, non-profits and individuals.
Driven by instinct and experience, JoAnn spent the past fifteen years refining her craft and specializing in web-based copy for companies that need a competitive, global reach in an increasingly crowded online market. After earning a degree in English with a minor in International Relations from Smith College, JoAnn began her career working for non-profits before strategically positioning herself in the emerging Internet industry where she has been at the forefront of web marketing and online trends since 1996. She started in Sales and Marketing at an internet start-up, eventually moving into a Project Lead and management role for the Web Development and New Media Services department, helping the company quickly grow from 10 employees to 300.
By 1999, the internet was fundamentally changing the way companies did business and Bank United sought JoAnn’s expertise to take their “brick and mortar” services online. As Vice President of E-Commerce, JoAnn played a pivotal role in shifting the perception of technology from a back-office support function into a key business driver, with Morgan Stanley recognizing Bank United’s model as a “Best Internet Strategy.” She later went on to work for Idea Integration, one of Advertising Weeks’ Top 50 Interactive Agencies and a leader in developing e-marketing strategies and solutions for Fortune 500 companies like Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft.
Eventually, JoAnn abandoned the relative comfort of a corporate job for the freedom to showcase her diverse skills as a freelance consultant and writer–she never looked back. A multi-dimensional writer, JoAnn can easily shift from developing content for H-E-B.com to creating style guides and editing copy for several World Bank organizations to writing about regional travel destinations for online and print publications or delighting Houston foodies with editorial restaurant reviews for CitysBest.com. Her popularity as a Houston blogger resulted in a recurring segment on the Houston Fox affliliate’s news program where she covered the latest happenings in Houston. JoAnn’s rare combination of business acumen and creative drive led to the formation of GlobalWrites in 2011. To meet growing demands, JoAnn is leading a team of experienced writers, consultants and strategists to serve the unique needs of clients from anywhere on the globe.
While JoAnn is now focussed on growing GlobalWrites, she does continue to keep up with food, events, music and travel:
> Follow @WordsByJoAnn on Twitter
> Like Words By JoAnn on Facebook
SEO vs Copywriting: A Primer
Feb 13, 2012 in The Art of Copywriting, Writing ServicesTags: Search Engine Optimization, Web Copywriting
As a copywriting agency, we are constantly asked, “Do you do SEO?” To answer that, we have to explain the difference between copywriting and SEO. So, let’s start with the basics.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is “the process of making a site and its content highly relevant for both search engines and searchers. SEO includes technical tasks to make it easier for search engines to find and index a site for the appropriate keywords, as well as marketing-focused tasks to make a site more appealing to users.” (Search Engine Watch)
What is an SEO/SEM firm?
An SEO or SEM (Search Engine Marketing) company analyzes how well your website is ranking on search engines and/or directories and makes recommendations for how you can improve those rankings. This may include tweaking keywords/keyword phrases both in the main content of the page or in the hidden tags on a page. This is one aspect of search engine optimization that helps to promote “organic” or “natural” search results.
But as any SEO/SEM firm will tell you, page level keyword usage/density actually only accounts for 15% of search engine ranking factor according to SEOMoz. Whereas, your domain and your pages’ perceived value influences your ranking factor by 21% each — a whooping 42%! In other words, if other sites and people are linking to your site or pages in your site and think your content is relevant and important, then the search engines do too. Your site popularity based on its relevance to others is nearly 3x as important as keyword usage and density. A good SEO/SEM firm will help you with all the myriad of factors that influence search engine rankings.
What is copywriting?
“Copywriting is the art and science of writing words to promote a product, a business, a person or an idea; and carefully selecting, editing, weaving and constructing those words in a way that they’ll persuade the reader into taking a specific and measurable action.” (Copywriting.com)
What’s the difference?
As copywriters, it’s our job to write persuasively, compelling readers to take action. Our focus is to write interesting, informative, relevant, engaging, and topical content for your web site. We work hard to understand your audience, the message you want to convey to them, the action you want them to take, and then we write the words that will do just that — deliver the message relevant to your audience that makes them want to take action.
As 21st century copywriters, we are SEO-conscious. We are mindful of keywords and keyword phrases and include them in all the right places without “stuffing” the page. We understand the importance of page titles, meta and alt-tags and write them for you. We can work with your SEO firm to ensure the keywords/phrases that we use and the meta tags we write are appropriate. We work with your web development team to ensure the flow of content from page to page makes sense and that internal linking is used appropriately (another factor in search engine rankings.) We can help you keep your site fresh with new content, and can even help with the research and writing or editing of your blog. We can take it further and help you promote that content through the proper use of social media and write actionable tweets in 140 characters or less.
So, do we “do” SEO?
The things we do as copywriters are all part of your SEO toolbox, but GlobalWrites is not an SEO firm. We are writers and, by working with your SEO firm, your marketing staff, and your site developers, we convey your marketing message to help you achieve your business goals while keeping SEO in mind.
Learn more
>> SEMPO: Search Engine Marketers Professional Organization
>> Learn more about our Writing Services
>> Contact us to get started
A New Series: What’s Not to Love About…
Jan 17, 2012 in ViewpointsTags: Whats Not To Love
We’ll be launching a new, on-going series that we’re calling “What’s Not to Love About…” It will focus on the partners we work with, the clients we do work for, companies or people who inspire us, sites that inform us, books that educate us, and anything else we love that we think you should check out. If s/he-they-it has gotten us excited, perhaps s/he-they-it will do the same for you!
Keep track of this on-going series!
What’s Not to Love About…Houston Start-up Weekend
Jan 17, 2012 in ViewpointsTags: Whats Not To Love
January is National Mentoring Month — which reminds me of the incredible 54-hours that was Houston Start-up Weekend. GlobalWrites was a proud sponsor of the local edition of the global event that brought together business and technology entrepreneurial leaders to create and launch a product in a single weekend.
It sounded like a wonderful idea to bring all these people together for an intense weekend of creation, but I had no idea how they would pull it off. Brian Cohen, one of the organizers of Houston Start-up Weekend, tried to explain it to me beforehand but it took going to it to get a clue at the complexity of the event.
Some 75 entrepreneurs showed up, ready to roll up their sleeves. Some came with an idea and were looking for a development partner to make it real. Others came with technical know-how looking for a great product idea. Everyone came with an open mind. The meet-and-greet was like a speed dating event. Individuals or partially formed teams walked around not only looking for the right team members to fill out their ranks but also to build excitement around their own ideas. Only 12 teams would be formed that weekend.
Everyone was called into the auditorium and those with ideas had one minute to pitch to the crowd. Afterward, teams were formed and product development began. The teams did market research via personal interviews, social media, and online polls to hone their product features. They then came up with a better elevator pitch, a prototype, and a presentation in the remaining weekend hours. Some had never done this sort of thing before. Others had never done it in this compressed time-frame.
Throughout all of it, mentors walked amongst the hopefuls. They questioned assumptions and challenged participants to refine their product, their message, their plan. Two mentors in particular caught my attention: Grace Rodriguez of C2 Creative, DFJ Mercury and Culture Pilot; and Keith Casey of Twilio. (Thanks to both of you for taking time out of your busy schedules that weekend to grill me and offer up some great business advice!)
It might sound cliché to say, but I think everyone — sponsors, entrepreneurs, technologists, judges — came away from that weekend a winner. If you have a chance to participate in a Start-up Weekend near you or an event like it, take it. (If you’re foundering on where to take your business next, find a mentor. There are resources out there, like the SBA.)