Friday, June 27, 2008

15 Sure Steps To Copywriting Success

In marketing, copywriting is a valuable skill that everyone needs to employ. Whether you're a graphics designer, php script developer, or whatever the case maybe, having or at least becoming familiar with the principles of copywriting can work to your advantage.

And just to get you started, here are 15 steps to copywriting success:

1. Research first - Identify the problem, agitate, solve

2. Openings – open with stories- Stories are relationship building, lowers resistance, engages readers and connects with them

3.Copy should be scannable, use subheadings and lists

4. List the facts with bullets, features and benefits - State a feature, then say "so that..." and give the benefit of that feature to customers

5. FAQs – who, what, when, where, who, how

6. Objections - why would someone not want what you're selling?

7. Testimonials - use your best ones up high in the copy and spread the others throughout the copy

8. Order link inserted about 1/3 to ½ way down in the copy, not sooner because you need to make the case based on values and emotions other than the price

9. The product – picture them with it, how much better their lives are with it, benefits, paint the picture, and offer another chance to click and order

10. List the specifics of what they get

11. A guarantee-everyone wants some sort of guarantee, don't you?

12. A call to action-many people spend all of their time giving the details of their product and fail to ask the reader to take action. You MUST ask the reader to take action and buy, because if you don't, they won't buy.

13. Bonuses-Stockpile your offer with free bonuses. This adds value to your offer and it gives the apperance that the customer is getting over on you, the merchant.

14. Final arguments, repeated in a P.S. and PPS.

15. Make sure that your headline is catchy and appeals to readers. We also advise you testing different headlines. A great headline could increase your sales by 377% overnight

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Biggest Copywriting Mistake Marketers Make, Maybe Even You

What’s the biggest mistake that people make in their online business? The answer: People pay very little or no attention to their copywriting. What is copywriting?

The copy consists of the words that are on internet marketer’s websites, ads, etc. They need to know that there are specific copywriting techniques that have proven to be effective. For example, direct response marketing has been around for decades and involves a specific type of copywriting.

These copywriting tactics can and should be applied to Internet copy. If they don’t know about marketing and killer copy then they will fail on the Internet. They have to know how to recognize killer copy. So it is in their best interest to know all there is to know about copywriting.

There are three things that you need to have in both offline and online businesses:

1. You have to have a product or service.

2. You need people to sell their product and service to. This is your traffic.

3. You need a way to persuade people to buy your product or service.

You can persuade people through their website, emails, etc.

Tip: People never buy anything unless they feel like they are going to get more out of their product than what they pay them for it.

For example, if you sell a $100 product, people will buy it because they think that they will get more than a $100 worth of value out of their product.

Tip: Network, network, network! Go to conferences and seminars to not only learn new information, but to network. Networking is a great way to build your Internet business quickly.

Tip: The biggest value on the Internet is to discover products that help you market better.

For example, the product Audio Generator is a great product because it lets you create audios that will increase your business.

Tip: When you convey the experience of your product and service closer to the customer, you will convince them more that your product is worth its weight in gold.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Persuasive Copywriting Is The Key To Sales

Your online copywriting must persuade - it’s integral to getting your visitors or readers to register, subscribe, qualify as leads, and yes, even buy from you. It’s writing that must earn its keep.

And to effectively manage the quality of your online copywriting, you need to understand what works, why it works and how to make it work better for you. Whether you are the marketer responsible for the bottom line or the writer creating the copy, Persuasive Online Copywriting provides the tools you need to get results.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Copywriting that's benefits-focused outsells features 5 to 1

The key to effective copywriting: People don’t buy products and services because of features.They buy the benefits, so your copywriting needs to be benefit rich.

Many copywriters use benefits as the basis of their messages. When deciding to buy, people want to know what’s in it for them. So if you’re clever you’ll tell them up front. If you make the benefits ultra-clear, people can’t misunderstand.


If you highlight the benefits early on, people are less likely to lose interest before they’ve 'got' your message.


A feature without a benefit is about as much use as a one legged man in an arse kicking contest.A car might offer air bags as standard in the passenger and driver seats. Jolly good. But so what?


The benefit of having air bags in both front seats is that the passengers feel safer. If there’s an accident they know they’ll be protected. Because it leads with a benefit, the message suddenly has power.


You’re selling peace of mind, not airbags.In the same way, a hat might be shower resistant and UV proof. Big deal. The benefit is that you can wear the hat in all weathers: it’ll keep you warm and dry in winter, cool and protected from the sun in the summer. You’re not selling a hat, you’re selling comfort, convenience and value for money.


OK, a computer might have a few terrabytes of memory. But does this face look bothered? It’s a yawningly dull message until you realise the benefit: that you can save hundreds and humdreds of films to your PC without running out of space! You’re not selling bytes or even a PC, you’re selling hours of fun, education and entertainment.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

3 Profit-Producing Copywriting Tips

Copywriting for the web is a new method of writing any material that is bounded by search engine’s requirements and that which is anchored on the basic demand of the potential clients.

When you are doing an article for copywriting on the web, you need to make sure that you are hitting both entities in order for the copywriting material to be branded as successful and implementing.

Below are some of the basic tips on you can perfectly do copywriting for the web.

A. Focus on your material content and drive to the highest quality.

If you want to gain a sure hit on the traffic brought about by lots and more visitors on your article, then you drive your potential clients by what you can offer them – a highly relative content.

Logically, when people see your copywriting article material that is able to supplement the information that they need, the more that they will keep on coming back to re-visit your site and the material therein.

B. Work closely on having an equally powerful set of keywords on your copywriting material. The keywords are there to work as pacifiers of the search engines. When a search engine is able to see immense number of relevant keywords that are positioned on your copywriting material, it views then your site as something that is frequently being visited and accessed by a large number of visitors.

This is based on the logic that when a net user makes use of a search term during the finding process, search engines equate these search terms on the keywords that are on your material. If a match occurred, that means that there are keywords that are relevant and material.


C. Balance your keyword and your content. Do not go over the boundary of putting too much keyword that you forge the content of the material anymore and vice-versa. There must be an equal balance between the two to achieve the best of both worlds.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Reverse Psychology Works In Copywriting

Many people say that it is easy to write a sales copy and that there is really nothing to it. Well, all I can say is they are wrong!

For many, writing your sales copy is difficult. Having the ability to produce good copywriting is an attribute that not many people have. In copywriting, you need to realize that there are a lot of psychological principles that are involved in the process. Reverse psychology on the other hand, is even more powerful when it is used properly.

In this post, I am going to go over how reverse psychology works, how to apply it to copywriting and when is the best and effective time to use it is.

How Reverse Psychology Works

Reverse psychology is nothing more than a mind game you play and the object of the game is to confuse and distort the minds of others. I know it may sound complicated, but really it’s not.

In fact, you’ve probably used it and don’t even realize it. Let me give you an example of how it works, so that you can fully comprehend it.

If you have children, you can probably relate to this. When you tell children not to do something, what’s the first thing they do? They get into whatever it is that you just told them not to, why? Because you have accelerated their curiosity and desire to see what you have.

But if you were to apply reverse psychology, you would tell the child that they could have it. It wouldn’t be fun anymore, because you’ve taken away their desire to have it and as a result, they wouldn’t want it.

Moreover, you have accelerated the need to know why. Why are you giving it to them?
This does not only apply to children, this also applies to adults and they will react in the same way.

If you were to apply the same scenario to an adult, they would react in the same manner as the child did.

Applying It To Copywriting

The best and most effective time to apply reverse psychology to your sales copy, it is in your opening statement, when establishing your credibility, and in your guarantee. These are just a few important elements of your sales copy that are the most effective areas to use reverse psychology on your visitors.

Not many people use an opening statement in their sales copy. The opening statement is a only a couple of sentences that are before your attention grabbing headline. The opening statement is used to set the stage for your attention grabbing headline.

One of the first opening statements I used in my sales copy was: Before you think about listening to another so-called expert, you need to read this first… It seemed like everyone was using this opening statement, so I used reverse psychology and came up with: The so-called experts are getting nervous…. This made my conservation rate triple, because people wanted to know why the experts were getting nervous.

When you are establishing your credibility, every sales letter always talks about how successful they are and not how they got there. People are reactive towards realistic situations, in my sales copy I talked about how in debt I used to be and how I had no money to market with. This insured my visitor that I knew how they felt. I’ve been there and you can promote your web site without paying a cent for advertising, because I did it.

Other people would rather brag how much money they are making, people don’t react well to braggers. Just because someone makes a lot of money, doesn’t mean they know what your talking about, or doing for that matter. People love stories, it pulls them right in, especially if it’s a story they can relate to.

Another area where reverse psychology works great, is in your guarantee. Having a strong guarantee is the most important element of your sales copy, without it no one will buy from you, period.

When you are presenting your guarantee, make it risk free and reverse the risk.

Comfort your visitor by reversing the risk, insure them that you have more to lose out of the deal than they do.

How?

Well, you are the product creator, your name and reputation are on the line. If you create a poor product, then it will reflect on your credibility, not to mention that you stand to lose a ton of money in the process.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Copywriting Sources To Die For

9. Net Words - Nick UsborneNet Words is a true golden nugget for copywriters. This book reveals Nick’s rare strategies on how to write powerful and compelling copy for the internet by showing you how to drill deep into the minds of your readers and helping you find and develop the “voice” of your website. One of the things I like most about this book is that Mr. Usborne takes the time to give great examples of what to do and what NOT to do when writing online copy.


8. Movies in the Mind – Colleen Mariah RaeThis book is not directly related to copywriting, but to narrative and descriptive storytelling. In this book, Mrs. Rae shares an innovative collection of techniques on how to write a compelling story that pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the last word is read – which is a very desirable skill for any copywriter.


7. Triggers – Joe SugarmanMr. Sugarman is one of my favorite copywriters of all time (no wonder two of his books made it to this list). In “Triggers”, Joe shows us 30 valuable sales tools that you can instantly put to use to make your writing more persuasive. The concept of triggers is that by understanding human nature, we as copywriters can come to understand how our audience will react to certain situations or techniques.


6. Influence – Robert CialdiniI’m a big believer in the theory that in order to become a great copywriter, you must first learn as much as you can about human nature; and this book is as good as it gets. In his book, Cialdini unveils with juicy details and plenty of examples the six principles of influence and human persuasion: Reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity.


5. Tested Advertising Methods – John CaplesThis classic book is a must-read for anyone involved in advertising, marketing or copywriting. In Tested Advertising Methods, Caples guides you step-by-step through the whole process of creating a powerful ad, from developing a good hook, to crafting a winning headline to writing a good first sentence, to creating the perfect close. What I love about this book is that the principles Caples teaches are truly timeless and never affected by ever shifting social trends or industry changes.


4. The Copywriter’s Handbook – Bob BlyCan you really write a book that teaches someone the craft of copywriting in 350 pages? Most copywriters would consider this an impossible task, but Bob Bly pulls it of brilliantly in this great handbook. The book starts out by explaining to beginner writers that their job is to craft copy that sells, and then goes on to explain exactly how to do it. This perfectly structured book belongs in the bookshelf of anyone who aspires to become a great copywriter.


3. The Robert Collier Letter Book – Robert CollierRobert Collier is probably the most plagiarized copywriter ever. Collier’s amazing ability to write persuasive and hypnotic sales letters has never (in my opinion) been matched. This book is a true classic and worth reading from cover to cover. It includes a collection of Robert Collier’s most profitable sales letters; but most importantly, it includes the precise instructions on how to craft compelling copy that converts prospects into buyers, how to take the guesswork out of advertising and how to keep customers satisfied and coming back for more.


2. Advertising Secrets of the Written Word – Joe SugarmanThis book has been described as “a complete direct marketing course from one of America’s top mail order entrepreneurs”. In my opinion, that hype-sounding description falls short on describing this amazing book. Page after page, Joe Sugarman takes you by the hand, details his thinking process and teaches in a very entertaining way the craft of writing record-breaking direct response copywriting. Each valuable piece of advice he offers is backed up with great examples from his days at JS&A.


1. Wizard of Ads (Trilogy) – Roy H. WilliamsControversial as it may be, I’m a huge fan of “the wizard”. With his creative and unconventional approach to advertising, Mr. Williams has made this trilogy of books my personal favorite. Drawing from fascinating anecdotes, the wizard teaches his copywriting methods through a series thought-provoking essays. It doesn’t matter if you are new to copywriting or a well-seasoned pro, you’ll find this trilogy enlightening and a most worthy addition to your bookshelf.

Monday, June 9, 2008

SEO Copywriting At A Glance

SEO Copywriting, or to give it its full name, search engine optimization copywriting or search engine copywriting, is the technique of writing the viewable text on a web page in such a way that it reads well for the surfer, and also targets specific search terms.

Its purpose is to rank highly in the search engines for the targeted search terms. As well as the viewable text, SEO Copywriting usually optimizes other on-page elements for the targeted search terms. These include the Title, Description and Keywords tags, headings and alt text.

The idea behind SEO Copywriting is that search engines want genuine content pages and not additional pages (often called "doorway pages") that are created for the sole purpose of achieving high rankings. Therefore, the engines cannot possibly view SEO copywritten pages as undesirable, and the rankings they achieve tend to be as stable as those that are achieved by other search engine optimization techniques.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Copywriting Success With Stronger SEO

Copywriting-One thing that can be said about search engine optimization copywriting is that it works for suitable websites and for suitable search terms.

SEO Copywriting can achieve rankings that tend to do well across the search engines, although no page can do equally well in all engines. It is sometimes said by practioners of search engine optimization copywriting, that the method tends to maintain its rankings as the engines tweak and change their algorithms, whereas other methods produce less stable rankings. This can't be true.

If 2 pages are in the top 10 search results; one getting there by the SEO copywriting method and the other by different search engine optimization techniques, they are both there because they match the engine's criteria (algorithm) quite well. When the criteria is changed, the match that each of them had is necessarily changed. The matches could become closer to, or further from, the engine's criteria.

Whether each page goes up or down in the results depends on what changes have been made to the engine's criteria. It is a matter of chance, and not a matter of whether SEO copywriting was used or not.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

SEO Copywriting With Ease

You might be a link building whiz kid or an SMO expert, but both search engines and visitors to your site want content. These SEO copywriting tips and tricks won't turn you into Shakespeare, but if you listen up they might just make writing a little easier.

Free Information

Think of your copywriting content as your opportunity to provide "free information". For example, pretend you have a site selling high heels. Be sure to have extensive product descriptions of each shoe, but also create articles. Write articles on proper foot care, what styles are in right now, and what kinds of shoes you'd wear to see mom or go to the club in.

Web-Friendly Copywriting

Notice how I broke this post up into small paragraphs with subheads in bold. Do the same in your SEO copywriting. It can be difficult to read online, but creating bulleted lists and including lots of white space will make your visitors love your site. Remember that content isn't just for search engines. Having a high ranking site doesn't take the place of happy customers.

Go With The Flow

Make sure your content flows. Read it outloud and see if it makes sense. Avoid run-on sentences and long paragraphs. Use spell-check and grab a dictionary. There's no reason to use a "dollar" word where a "penny" word is just fine.