First there was SEO.

Then came PPC.

Now the latest TLA (three-letter-acronym) in search engine marketing is SMO.

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A review of BRW's "definitive guide to winning on the internet": Australia Online, in the form of a letter to the editor.

Dear Sir

I regret to inform you of my grave disappointment with your flagship edition Australia Online. Given that it was billed as "Your definitive guide to winning on the Internet" I was hoping for at least a couple of insights and some inspiration on how to realise a return on investment on business websites.

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To create good website content you first have to understand how people read on the web.

People don’t read websites word for word – they scan the page looking for the information they want. Therefore your website content should be written for scanners:

• Online text should have roughly 50% of the words you would use for print
• Include lots of bullets, lists and meaningful sub-headings
• Use links to break longer information up into parts.

Despite being one of the most efficient, cost effective and intelligent marketing weapons, direct response marketing (aka DR) has an image problem. It's usually associated with junk mail, infomercials, and ads for nasty porcelain figurines in the back of the TV guide.

However, the principles of DR can be applied widely and it doesn't have to be "tacky" or "low rent". Knowledge of DR is particularly important for internet marketers as the web is the most interactive and responsive of all marketing environments.

DR is all about getting people to take action. And that's also the goal of your website e.g. click here, download this report, sign up for our newsletter, read this, buy now, etc.

Last month Will Swayne from Marketing Results invited me to join him on a podcast to discuss how to apply the principles of DR copywriting to websites.

Listen in and you'll discover how to write direct response website copy without appearing “tacky”. Those hype-y, looooooooooong scrolling sales letter-style websites are obvious examples of online DR copywriting (which some may consider tacky), but there are also many other useful applications.

If you read just about any book on how to write well it will tell you to avoid cliches. Unfortunately most website owners haven't read those books.

Two of my all time most hated, worn out web cliches are "innovative" and "solutions". Trouble is, sometimes clients actually ask me to include these words in their copy. One client even described them as "power words"!

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In the nine years I've been working as a website copywriter I've met many people who sell their services as web marketers: web designers and developers, copywriters, web marketing consultants and strategists, interactive agency bosses and creative directors, etc.

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of meeting someone who I rate as one of Australia's great web marketing brains.

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Recently I was talking with a client about some fresh content I was writing for his website. He asked me about seeing some "concepts" and maybe even some "storyboards". Thinking about it later I realised he was talking the language of advertising. I wondered if he viewed each new piece of content as a mini ad.

My philosophy on websites is to take a publishing approach with a marketing orientation. A publishing approach in terms of creating and managing the content and a marketing orientation for the substance of the content.

Perhaps I am blinkered by my background which is in marketing and publishing. But I am not alone in my beliefs. In a recent article for RainToday.com, David Meerman Scott wrote: "The best websites are designed by marketers who have learned to think more like successful publishers."

Recently I found this quote on an online marketing agency's blog: "Macromedia Flash is the key to making your websites look funky."

It really got me wondering. Why do you want to make your website look funky? And more importantly, what's the ROI on funky?

I'm no great fan of Flash. It has its place and I believe it can improve the ROI of a website. But only if it offers something that's both useful and efficient.

Most of the Flash I see is gratuitous "show business" and does a website more harm than good. I fully endorse Gerry McGovern's acerbic observation: "What is a Flash intro except a fourth rate TV ad by someone who knows that they will never get the chance to do a real TV ad?"

I think the main reason Flash remains so popular is that many website owners are still under the misguided impression that their website will be better if it looks "funky". And their web developers/agencies don't know enough about what makes a successful website to advise them otherwise.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of marketing managers I meet that know next to nothing about marketing.

Having completed a marketing degree I know how poorly university prepares students for the realities of marketing products and businesses. I've learnt a lot more about marketing from reading books by the gurus than three years of tutorials and lectures.

One person who knows a hell of a lot about marketing and is not afraid to share his wisdom is Seth Godin. Check out his one-page list of powerful marketing truths.

No one builds a website to fail.

And yet many business websites fail to meet basic customer needs. Poor writing is often to blame. The information is vague, badly written, poorly organised or impossible to find.

A good website copywriter can help remedy these problems. Here are five reasons why you need a copywriter on your website team:

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