Posts Tagged ‘copywriting’

Written by: Beau Blackwell, Client Knowledge Guru

We’ve got a great episode of Affiliate Marketing Today for you this week, with our special guest Chris Haddad, who is a master copywriter and has become extremely successful by creating powerful video sales letters that drive huge conversions! In this interview, he shares his secrets for creating video sales letters that get a massive response and keep viewers hooked in all the way until the end. Many copywriters don’t use his formula and end up losing out on a lot of sales. You can apply his techniques and advice to your sites and sales letters, whether you’re a vendor or an affiliate, and no matter what niche you operate in! You don’t want to miss this one.

Warning: Some of Chris’ product names mentioned in the show are a bit risqué!

Click here to listen now!

To become an affiliate for Chris’ hugely popular Text the Romance Back product, visit his Affiliates page now.

Written By: Tina Lorenz, Guest Author

As a direct response copywriter, marketing strategist, and mentor, I find a lot of marketers get frustrated and intimidated when they begin writing copy for their business. Maybe you feel that way sometimes too.

The good news is–even if you are brand new to marketing, there are simple steps you can take to instantly improve the power and effectiveness of your copy.

So let’s get to it…

#1: Create Compelling Headlines The Easy Way

Your headline has to blend benefits and curiosity. And it has to pack a punch, because you only have 7-8 seconds to grab your prospect’s attention.

The whole purpose of your headline is actually quite simple—it’s to get you to read the next line. So before you run screaming into the night over headlines, remember all you really need to do is entice your prospect to read the next line.

For example, if you wanted to write a headline brimming with both benefit and curiosity for an acne product, you might start with “7 Ways To Rid Yourself Of Acne In Time For The Prom.” Or if your product worked super fast and this were true, you could say “How To Clear Up Your Acne In 7-Days Or Less.”

If that were an accurate depiction of your product, and you were a prospect with acne, a headline like this would certainly grab your attention and pull you into the copy.

Of course the headline needs to be relevant to the truth of your product. You don’t just make things up to create a headline. So how do you get started?

There is something in copywriting we call “swiping” and it’s not unethical in any way if you do it correctly. It’s not plagiarizing—it’s borrowing concepts that are proven to work as headlines, and adjusting them to make them your own.

For example, the acne headline above could be changed to “How To Lose 5 Pounds In 7-Days Or Less”—you’re taking the basic premise of a compelling headline and “tweaking” it to fit your product.

You might be wondering where you find proven headlines you can use as inspiration—and there’s a very rich resource at your fingertips: Magazines.

Every time you are standing in line at the grocery store, you are surrounded with proven and tested headlines on all the major magazines. While you might be embarrassed to be seen buying it, The National Enquirer has some of the best headline writers around. Other fantastic resources are Oprah, Prevention, Men’s Health—the list goes on and on. A fast way to have a treasure chest of headline ideas is simply to go to magazines.com and start rummaging around.

Bookstores like Barnes & Noble are another valuable resource, as are book titles and chapter titles at Amazon.com. Just dial up the volume on your marketing brain, and keep your eyes open. There are ideas all around you for compelling headlines.

#2: Reduce Hype & Increase Credibility By Slashing Exclamation Points!

I challenge you to go through your copy today and do this one thing: Remove most of the exclamation points.

People often think, “OK, I’m going to make a lot of energy in this! I’m very excited! I’m going to talk like this all the way through my sales material to make my point! And the way I’m going to do it is I’m going to put lots and lots and lots of exclamation points!!!”

Seriously, do you actually talk this way? No, not really.

So be ruthless about taking them out—slash and burn your way through your copy. Don’t worry that you’re going to take the energy away. Too many exclamation points ramp up the hype and hard sell, which ultimately increases skepticism in the mind of your prospect.

Save these tiny emphasis points for when they really count—for those times when you have an especially important or energized statement you want to emphasize.

Even if it feels weird to do it, go through your materials, take them out, and reread your copy. I promise you will soon see and feel the amazing difference of this one simple strategy.

#3: Avoid Dangerous Questions

Another often overused “small but mighty” element of punctuation is the innocent looking question mark. It is very common for people who are just starting out to ask a lot of questions in their copy as their “conversational” element. They mistakenly think they are getting right into the mind of their prospect.

But what you end up with is something like this…

“Do you feel like this? Has this ever happened? Are you spiritual enough? Do you want this one or do you want that one? Do you want more money? Do you want less anxiety? Do you want me to quit asking you questions?

It is question after question after question. And quite frankly, it’s irritating.

There are several reasons not to ask numerous questions unless you are extremely skillful in writing copy, and you know your target audience like the back of your hand.

For one thing you cannot afford the wrong answer. If you’re saying “Do you ever feel like this?” And they say “NO!” you’re all done right there. If you needed “Yes” and they said “No”—they are already gone.

It can also feel like you’re the guest of honor at a painful inquisition. Your reader starts feeling nervous or anxious—“I have to answer this; I have to answer that; I might get it wrong and I hate being wrong.”

I call them dangerous questions because you can’t afford the wrong answer. So if you already have copy riddled with question marks and you’ve been quizzing people up one side and down the other—here’s the solution. Turn the questions into powerful statements.

For example, instead of saying, “Do you have lots of painful headaches?” You can turn it into a powerful statement like this: “If you are sick and tired of painful headaches, here is the solution.” You turn the question into a powerful statement.

#4: The…Dot…Dot…Dot…

A handy little tool for smoothing out your copy is the ellipsis; the dot-dot-dot can bridge the gap in your copy and keep your reader moving forward.

Unfortunately, the ellipsis is often overused, creating a choppy “stop and go” rhythm to your copy. You don’t want that to happen, because your goal is a smooth flow to the sale.

The correct use of an ellipsis is as a little “cliffhanger” to the next concept in your copy, or as a connector. Used correctly, the ellipsis increases the conversational tone of your copy.

Here are some effective connectors where your ellipsis shines…

In other words…
Let me explain…
Here’s what this is about…
Here’s what to do next…

#5: Talk Your Copy

Talk to one and you talk to all. So act like you’re talking to one person. If you have to put a picture of your Aunt Martha next to your computer because you’re writing about a solution for arthritis and Aunt Martha has painful, swollen knuckles–you talk directly to Aunt Martha.

And when you do that, you talk to all the rest of the Aunt Martha’s out there too. You do not talk to a crowd. When you write “we all,” “they all,” “everybody” and “everything” you’re talking to the masses. And there is no personal connection when you do that.

It’s “you and me baby”–I’m talking to you and you’re talking to me. That is exactly how you write it.

Be real. Be authentic. Be transparent.

But if you have trouble getting from Point A to Point B with a conversational tone, here is a very powerful tip for you.

Talk your copy. Speak it, record it, “talk it” to someone else. Pretend you’re going to tell your mom about this fantastic widget you have that gets people on track or motivated or gets rid of their headaches–whatever it might be. Say it exactly like you would chat with a friend or family member about the product. Share why you’re excited about it, and what it is going to do for them.

A lot of times people get very self-conscious in their copy, which kills the conversation. It’s almost like you’re standing over to the side watching yourself write this epic sales letter and feel pressured to make it very meaningful from the get-go.

Forget all that. Just say it straight out, write the darn thing, and don’t self edit. You can always fix it later. Let it go, talk it, write it and then fix it. It’s always easier to tone down your copy and bring the energy level down if you’re too hypey, have too many exclamation points or “shouting”. It’s a whole lot harder to try and breathe life into dull copy. So just go for the gusto and then fix it later.

#6: Tell Em’ What To Do & How To Do it—Nicely Of Course

Always remember you need to spell out what you want your prospect to do. This is your “call to action”. Quite simply, it is called “direct response marketing” because we want them to respond with a specific action.

Keep in mind this is not an exercise in creative writing. You are SELLING. You want them to DO something.

But keep things simple—both for you and your prospect. Too many choices clutter people’s minds. And confused minds do not buy.

So don’t say “We have it in pink, purple, yellow, white, and green—and we have platinum, silver, gold, bronze levels, and then there’s the freebie…and you can pay in one payment, 3 payments, 6 payments, or on lay-away!”

It’s too many things for them to think about, and people don’t like to make the wrong decision. So if they are confused, they simply won’t make any decision at all.

Be very concise about what you have for them and give them a clear path to the sale or action. If you have more than one option to choose from, number them—list them sequentially. This isn’t the time to get creative or leave anything to doubt. This is all about an organized offer, laid out as literally as 1-2-3.

Use formatting to set your offer components apart. For example, you can use bold font for each number, bullet points, and spacing between elements.

You want a smooth flow to the sale or lead generation. Whatever your goal is, you want to clear away any obstacles and make it very easy for your prospect to successfully take action.

#7: Find Your Voice–Read All Your Copy Out Loud

I do this for every single element of copy I write. And you should too.

Here’s why. If you cannot successfully read your own copy aloud without stumbling over the words, feeling confused about what you just said, or even falling asleep at the wheel—something is wrong with your copy.

As you read it to yourself, or even better to a willing participant, you will definitely find the rough spots, points of confusion, and even typos. Keep a pen in hand as you go, mark the copy as you find the problem areas, and keep going. Then go back and smooth things out.

I even print out everything I write (yes, I recycle!), literally holding the pages in hand to read aloud. Keep in mind your prospect may do this too—and you want to see what THEY see.

Not only will you find the weak spots in your copy—you will also have a complete visual of how the copy flows. If there is too much dense copy on a page, you can break it up with bullet points, subheads, and more “white space” making it easier to read and comprehend.

Creating compelling copy is an art, and there is so much more we could discuss.
But even with these seven simple strategies, you can instantly power up your copy and effectiveness. If you already outsource your copy, this will also help you gain more clarity about the necessary foundation you want for all of your marketing.

About the Author

Tina Lorenz is called the “Queen of Copy” and “Millionaire Maker” because of her multi-million dollar online launches. Watch her free marketing videos at www.authentic-copy.com

Written by: Chris McNeeney, Guest Author

In my years as a super affiliate, I have seen some of the best and worst that copywriting has to offer and almost everything in between. ClickBank is awash with sales letters and copy for vendor products and it’s not always obvious which ones will convert to sales at first glance.

Even the ugliest site will convert browsers into paying customers if the copy is well written and does its job as it should – and if the copywriter understands how to sell to the niche in question.

In this post, I am going to teach you the copywriting elements that are vital to the success of any sales page (no matter how good or bad the design and graphics). The end result should be that your customers feel they simply have to buy the product you’re offering, without delay.

The Key Element of Converting Browsers into Buyers

One of the most important elements to concentrate on when promoting your own or someone else’s product is your sales copy. The better your copy converts, the more products you will sell and the more you will attract affiliates to sell your product for you. It’s all a virtuous cycle – and arguably your sales copy is the most important factor in the entire mix; perhaps even more important than the product or the affiliates you recruit.

If you can write a great sales letter, one that converts into sales, then you will have other marketers ‘eating out of your hand’ in a bid to promote your ClickBank products. Get it wrong and you won’t get any traction in the ClickBank Marketplace, and your product will stagnate and die.

The starting point of writing killer sales copy is to understand your market. By that, I don’t mean reading a few articles and assuming you know the market. You really have to do a bit of leg-work to understand who you are talking to, establish what they want, and research what’s already out there and what isn’t.

Find a gap in the market and fill it. Visit forums and find out what people are talking about, what their frustrations are, and how likely they are to spend money to get a solution to their problem or need. Read your competitors’ sales letters and sign up to their e-mail newsletters. Listen to the problems they talk about that the average customer has (e.g., “Aren’t you sick of diet pills that don’t work?”), along with which benefits they push hardest (“Lose weight without hunger pangs”). This will highlight important clues as to what is on the mind of your target audience.

So do your research and work out what is going through their heads. In other words, you really need to resonate with your potential buyer. If you can do this you can establish empathy with your potential buyer. If you do this, you are well on your way to a winning formula for your sales copy.

Getting Started

Now, before you exclaim, ‘But I can’t write copy,’ know that it is actually easier than you think. In fact, the transition from never having written a word of copy to being a ‘monster’ copywriter is perfectly achievable in just days – but only if you follow and implement some simple but extremely powerful copywriting rules.

The Short Cut To Copywriting Success

One of the fastest ways to get yourself from 0 to 60 writing great sales copy is to leverage the years of experience of some of the great copywriters who have already tried, tested, and proven the elements of copywriting. In short, we are going to cheat a little by building up a big pile of other marketers’ copy and swiping it (a.k.a. “the cheat sheet”).

Note: before I proceed, I want to be very clear on something. I am not suggesting you break copyright rules by copying other people’s work – you simply cannot do that – it would be copyright infringement. But the good news is, we don’t need to. Instead, we can examine and discover the successful elements, phrases, hooks, and buzzwords that are being used, and spin them to work into our own copywriting. In other words, we are going to extract the most important elements and rework them into our own sales letters. This is not only lawful – but its common practice in successful copywriting circles. The trick is to go to other niches and take elements from the most successful sales letters there for your own inspiration.

For example, let’s say you want to write copy for a bodybuilding product. You might come across a Forex sales letter with a headline that reads:

“Just In: Renegade, Grass Roots Trader Exposes Forex Loophole and Siphons Off $3,000 In 30 Days.”

You have a lot of words you can work with and use here, such as renegade, grass roots, exposes, loophole, siphons, etc. So if your niche was bodybuilding, you could work those words into your own headline:

“ Renegade Bodybuilder exposes muscle-building loophole and packs on 8 lbs of muscle in 3 weeks.”

The idea is to take the words and adapt and fit them to your own copy, whilst keeping the same elements of newness (renegade), something uncovered (loophole, exposed) and, very importantly, how quickly something can be achieved (6 days / 3 weeks). This method should not only be used for your headline, but also for your sub headers and the body copy of your sales letter.

Benefits Are Vital

Why? Because it’s a proven fact that people will buy something based on its benefits. Benefits are simply what the customer gets out of buying a product – in short, they’re the reason that people decide to buy a certain product. For example, if you have a product on making money, people will buy because of the perceived benefits that making money will bring, such as being able to pay off debts, improve their lifestyle, and by doing so appear more attractive to people around them. If it’s a more advanced guide, benefits might be very specific – for example, if it’s a blogging guide, one benefit might be “generating a flood of backlinks to your blog.”

Also, there’s a deeper psychological aspect here. Whilst people think they just want to make more money, in truth the benefits they will gain from doing so are much deeper than it at first appears. So it’s not enough to just sell the ‘idea’ of making money – this is far too general and unfocused. Instead, you should sell the benefits that will have a knock-on effect as a result of making money. So the more you understand the deep reasons behind why people want something, the more likely you are going to be able to tap into a person’s psyche when writing sales copy.

Check Out What’s Working

The best place to start when researching what is and isn’t working in a given niche is to check out the top performing products in that niche. This is easily achieved by heading over to the ClickBank Marketplace and doing a keyword search in a given niche. Alternatively, you can check out affiliate niches or the top ClickBank products on my site, Affiliate X.

For example, let’s look at dating. We know that Internet dating is a huge market that continues to grow repidly, but what about digging deeper into the dating niche?

Doing a search in ClickBank on any aspect of dating will bring up the top performing products, which are easily identified by their high gravity score. Take a look at the headlines of the top performers. The headline is the most important part of the sales copy. If you don’t grab the reader’s attention at this point, you will have lost them forever. A headline should be compelling, intriguing, and raise curiosity so the reader wants to read on. In the same way, the sub header should pull the reader in with a taste of what’s to come.

Generally, a good formula for a headline is: “How [someone like the customer] [got the kind of benefit the customer wants] in [x days].” For example, “How a 27 year old renegade Forex trader made $1,000 with a breakthrough new robot in 10 days,” or “How a 21 year old scrawny kid stacked on 13 lbs of chest muscle in 31 days.”

Remember that empathy is a powerful copywriting tool. If you can identify with the reader and show that you understand their problem or need because you have been “in their shoes” yourself, that helps build trust. Explain your situation and how you worked to discover a solution, and now you want to share it so that others don’t have to go through the same hurdles and problems that you did.

Empathy in any situation is beneficial, but in copywriting it’s essential. For this very reason, your story (i.e., how you arrived at this point) should make up a major part of your copy. It’s important not to underestimate the value of empathy within your copy – get it right and your copy will result in insane conversions.

Don’t Ignore The Competition

When writing your copy, you may be tempted to ignore the competition and hope that potential buyers will see your product for what it is and just buy it. Don’t make this mistake. Instead, explain in your copy why your product is better because it covers an angle that isn’t covered in competing products.

Try to think of a unique selling point that makes your product different from the others out there. Maybe it’s a better value, easier to understand, quicker to implement, or has better proof. Whatever the unique selling point is, elaborate on it and make it stand out. Just put yourself in a reader’s shoes – if you wanted to buy a product on dating women or learning to play the guitar – would you just check out one product? No, of course not; you would check out what’s available from a selection and then choose the best one.

Which brings us nicely to…

The Power of Proof

The number one reason why people don’t buy a product is because they don’t believe its claims. How many times have you thought to yourself, “that sounds too easy” or “that sounds too good to be true?” This is why it’s so important to demonstrate empathy within your copy.

However, the second element that cannot be overlooked is proof that your products does what it says it does. If you can provide screenshots of profits you’ve attained using the product, or a live working example, or even testimonials from existing customers, then you are on to a winner. Once you have the proof, it will be easier for potential customers to identify themselves with the benefits your product will deliver and they will want it for themselves.

To Conclude

It’s important to understand that in order to write great copy that will convert into sales, you DON’T need to be an experienced copywriter. It’s as simple as breaking down the sales copy of highly converting web pages out there, and carefully working out why they are selling. That’s just something that comes with a little digging and a bit of experience.

It doesn’t matter what niche the sales copy is in. You can swipe the buzz words and curiosity elements within the headlines, sub headers and sales letter body and rework those to your suit your own niche. Well thought-out copy and strong proof will almost guarantee your sales pitch will convert into sales. Once you have mastered these essential elements, you’ll be able to create copy that converts in any niche you choose.

About the Author

Chris McNeeney is the owner of Affiliate X – a resource for ClickBank affiliates with affiliate tools, affiliate videos, and training information.

Written by: Lars Clausen, Guest Author

If you’re a new ClickBank vendor, writing the text for your Pitch Page can be an intimidating task. When you’ve got nothing but a blank page on your screen, it can be tough to know where to start. One technique that I’ve discovered over the years for writing effective Pitch Page copy is what I call the “block approach.”

Basically, it just involves breaking your Pitch Page text and design into separate blocks of content, which you can easily rearrange and edit separately. Block designing gives you layout flexibility, easier editing, and a solution for writer’s block. To successfully create a Pitch Page using blocks, all you need is a clear sense of who your product is intended for (your target audience) and the difference it will make in their lives (value).

Here are the 5 steps to take to build your Pitch Page using the block approach:

Step 1 – Create primary blocks

During creation, the order of these blocks doesn’t matter much. If you get stuck, put aside the block you’re working on and start on another. At this stage, perfection isn’t the point, as you’ll do your editing later.

You’ll want to create:

• 3-5 headlines consisting of problem, solution, and benefit statements
• 3-5 text blocks focusing on benefits and descriptions
• 1 bullet list of thought-provoking questions
• 1-3 bullet lists that focus on benefits
• 1-2 testimonial blocks, preferably with pictures. Before you ask for a testimonial, write down what messages will be helpful and invite your testimonials to include specific statements. Once the testimonials arrive, edit them if necessary and ask for permission to use the edited versions.
• 1 set of images that support your product’s value

Step 2 – Arrange these blocks into an initial layout

Again – don’t worry about perfection in this step. Just test out a sample layout that you can read over to see if it flows well and makes sense to the reader.

Step 3 – Evaluate as if you were a member of your target audience

Does your rough draft connect with your target audience? Does your Pitch Page clearly deliver the benefits and the value of your product? If you had the problem or concern they have, would your sales copy address that need and make it clear why your product solves the need?

Step 4 – Add secondary blocks to the page

First, you’ll want to create subheadings that emphasize benefits, smooth transitions, and create page flow. Next, create “urgency messages” that raise the purchase priority for your reader. These elements tie your primary blocks together and add to the strengths and urgency of your arguments.

Step 5 – Edit

Many successful authors live by the credo that “writing is editing.” A block approach makes editing simple. You can edit individual blocks to increase their clarity. You can rearrange blocks to increase the power of the Pitch Page. If something is missing, you can just create and insert a new block, rather than having to completely redo your page content.

Try out the block approach when you design your next Pitch Page. I think you’ll find that getting in the habit of working one block at a time will help you avoid writer’s block, keep you from throwing away your whole project and starting from scratch, and let you get your Pitch Page finished faster!

About the Author
Lars Clausen works on the team of PitchMagic, an automated Pitch Page and Thank You Page creation tool.

Posted by: Michel Fortin, Guest Blogger

For Part 1 of this series, click here. For Part 2, click here.

6. Messages

I spoke about meta-messages in an earlier point. Words are not messages. They are symbols used to convey them. As such, words mean different things to different people. The words you choose can literally change the meaning behind the message (this is what’s often called the “meta-message”).

For example, words can emphasize, support, or even contradict the message. People may read your copy and understand the basic message. But with certain words, they can make assumptions — assumptions that might be counterproductive to the sale. So the words you choose are important, as they may impact the reader in different ways. Here are at least three techniques I use:

A) Repetitious Words

As the old adage goes, “Repetition is the parent of learning.” Like the earlier point on emphasis, repetition aids comprehension, especially of complex or important ideas. However, the key here is not to repeat the same words over and over, but to use different examples to illustrate your point.

To that end, paraphrase, or substitute certain words with synonyms, and add new pieces of information each time the idea is repeated. For instance, in order to drive the message “privacy policies promote purchases” home, that message can be repeated with the following:

• “Privacy statements increase sales,”
• “Confidentiality is a key to online success,”
• And “respecting visitors’ privacy is profitable.”

B) Emotional Words

Again, words are not messages in themselves. They have different meanings to each of us and can be interpreted differently. While many words can be used to communicate a single message, the words you choose can dramatically alter its emotional impact. In copywriting, it is not so much the message that’s important, but the meaning behind it. For instance, look at these differences:

• “Cost” versus “investment;”
• “Beautiful teeth” versus “beautiful smiles;”
• “Skinny” versus “slim” or “slender;”
• “Products” or “services” versus “solutions;”
• “Cost-effective” versus “return on investment;”
• And “house” versus “home.”

C) Positive Words

Avoid using negative words. Say what it is, not what it isn’t. Dr. Maxwell Maltz, author of the bestseller “Psycho-Cybernetics,” states that the brain is a goal-seeking organ — it needs a goal in order to function. For example, if I told you not to think of a white carnation, you will have hard time since your brain needs a goal — it will naturally picture what it is supposed to avoid because the mind can not function when blank.

But on the other hand, if I told you to think of a pink carnation, you will then think of a pink carnation and not a white one — I gave your mind a goal. Similarly, stating what something isn’t can be counterproductive since you are directing the mind, albeit in the opposite way. If you were told that dental work is painless, for instance, your mind would still focus on the word “pain” in the word “pain-less.” Here are some other examples:

• Instead of saying “inexpensive,” say “economical;”
• Instead of saying “this procedure is “painless” or “pain-free,” say “there’s no discomfort with this procedure” or “it’s relatively comfortable;”
• And instead of saying “this software is error-free,” “bug-free,” or “foolproof,” say “this software is stable.”

7. Urgency

Add urgency or scarcity to your copy. Use a technique called “takeaway selling.” As Jim Rohn once said, “Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.” Procrastination is the biggest killer of sales — particularly online, where the chances of a prospect staying or returning to a Web site (in order to think about buying) are scarce in today’s click-happy world.

Takeaway selling is in fact based on the concept of supply and demand. As the saying goes, “You don’t know how much you want something until it’s about to be taken away.” Look at it this way: if you give a chance for your prospects to procrastinate, they will.

So add a deadline or some kind of constraint, such as a time-sensitive or quantity-bound offer. Such limitations implore at some unconscious level, “You’d better read this and take action now!” Put an actual end-date or a specific, limited quantity to your offer. But always make sure to back up your limitation with a logical, genuine, and easily justifiable reason in order to avoid appearing misleading or disingenuous.

Don’t just stick with limiting orders or time, either. Think about the offer. Perhaps your offer contains certain bonuses or a pricetag that, in its current combination, must be limited — especially if the bonuses come from third parties over which you have no control. The product (especially if it’s a digital one, which is often perceived as limitless) may not be limited. But the offer, in its current state, certainly can be.

Also, urgency can be applied to current events, situations, or circumstances. For instance, not taking action soon may cause the reader to aggravate their current problem that your product solves. The longer they wait to buy, the more they lose out.

The Bottom Line

Look at your copy and read it carefully with a discerning eye. Does it violate any of the above laws — in other words, is it easy to scan, does it grab people’s attention, and above all, does it excite them about your products or services? And more importantly, do people truly understand the meaning behind the message in the way you anticipated? Or do they interpret the message differently?

If you can, have someone else read it and tell you what they understood — you might be surprised!

Craft a message that jumps out at people and compels them to respond — or, at the very least, to read further — using the seven elements above. Finally, remember that you should tweak and test your copy regularly, and the above pointers are great places to start. Because you never know: one little change can potentially send your conversation ratio through the roof.

—————–

Michel Fortin is a marketer, copywriter, and author of many books and courses. For more information about Michel, including how to get your hands on several free ebooks, visit his blog and sign up free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.

Posted by: Michel Fortin, Guest Blogger

For Part 1 of this series, click here.

3. Bullets

Insert bulleted lists within your marketing copy. If at any point you list more than three items, use bullets! Bullets are short, captivating, and pleasing to the eye. They give the reader a visual break, especially with the long copy salesletter style. Most importantly, they reinforce the offer, help deliver straight-to-the-point benefits, and are clustered for greater impact.

An effective way to incorporate bullets is when they follow the words “you get” or “reasons why.” This grants the reader the ability to know exactly, item by item, what they are getting out of responding to your offer. For example, use bullets after the words “with this [product], you get” or “here are the reasons why you should buy [this product].”

Again, people scan. If you scan up and down a salesletter, you will naturally stop at anything that’s visually out of place. Along with pictures, graphics, and boxes, bullets are indented and keyword- or keyphrase-driven. So bulleted lists provide eye gravity, help to stop scanners, and force them back into the copy.

4. Postscripts

Postscripts (or “P.S.’s”) at the end of a sales copy are great tools for a number of reasons. While they can surely be used to restate or summarize the offer, postscripts can also emphasize the critical points mentioned earlier in the copy and especially in the headline — such as the element of scarcity — that can give that final “push” prospects need to go ahead.

An extra bonus not offered in the copy as a last-ditch effort to close the sale, a link to the order page with emphasis on the fast approaching deadline, or an alternative (such as a downsell to an alternative, perhaps lower-priced alternative) are all elements that can be used very effectively with postscripts.

Don’t limit your copy to a single “P.S.” Add a “P.P.S.” or more. And don’t just stick with plain body copy. Like bullets and headers, they are some of the elements people read first before they read the entire copy. They really work! For example, add FAQs (frequently asked questions) in the postscript section. You could also include testimonials, case studies, or a video.

5. Emphasis

In speech, we use tone, pitch, rhythm, and inflection (i.e., emphasis on certain syllables, words, or expressions) to stress the message being conveyed, its meaning, or certain key points we wish to drive home. On the Web, however, there are no verbal cues like these. People can’t grasp the context and meta-message (i.e., the message behind the message) of what is written.

Fortunately, HTML is an effective tool to address this problem. Since most people will scan a Web site, through text formatting we can accentuate certain words or phrases that we want the reader to read and understand — words to which we want the reader to pay greater attention and grasp an underlying or implied meaning.

Things like bold lettering, italics, underlines, colors, font sizes, tables, borders (borders and framing text help to increase readership by about 20%), and so on can make a message and particularly critical points of the copy more impacting and forceful.

Emphasis also aids comprehension, especially of complex and critical ideas, and can be used to drive home important points. Like speech, it can make the message more seductive and meaningful. Take, for instance, “I love you” versus “I *LOVE* you!” The latter is more appealing, more invigorating, and more significant. The emphasis implies, “I really, really do love you!”

Check back for Part 3 of this series on Thursday!

Michel Fortin is a marketer, copywriter, and author of many books and courses. For more information about Michel, including how to get your hands on several free ebooks, visit his blog and sign up free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.

Posted by: Michel Fortin, Guest Blogger

There are certain things you can do immediately to help you drastically improve your sales copy. Granted, writing persuasive content is in itself deserving of an entire book. But given a choice, I believe there are seven simple tips for increasing attention, readership, and desire of your current sales copy. Here they are.

1. Headline

You might have heard of the famous “AIDA” formula in direct marketing. Successful direct response web copy is contingent on your adherence to that well-known formula. AIDA is an acronym that stands for:

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

The first part (i.e., “Attention”) is probably the most important on the Internet. Crafting a headline on your site’s front page that immediately captures the prospect’s attention is critical to your success. Why? On the web, our attention span is enormously short. You only have a fraction of a second to capture a person’s attention and pull her into your copy.

If the prospect hits your front page and does not immediately feel a need to read further, she’ll leave at the single click of a mouse. And if so, the rest of the formula goes straight down the tubes, no matter how great your copy is. Therefore, in order to limit my writing to the confines of this short article, here are at least three important things to remember when developing headlines.

A) The 3 Top Human GOALS

The first is to focus on the three most important goals in human nature, which are to either save (or make) time, money, and energy. (And by energy I mean “effort.”) These three are possibly the most common and easiest ways to build headlines, because everyone wants to save time, make money, or work less.

B) The 3 Top Human DESIRES

The second is to focus on the three greatest human desires, which are greed, lust, and comfort (or convenience).

Of course, when I say “lust,” I don’t mean the topic of sex. But there is a way to use sex in a headline without appearing crass or even pornographic. Whether your product or service helps to make a person feel good, sexy, attractive, powerful, potent, virile, appreciated, happy, loved, etc, these are all elements we desperately seek. It all comes down to emotions!

C) The 3 Top Human TEASERS

Third, use an element of curiosity, scarcity, or controversy in your headline. For example, with curiosity you want to produce intrigue. Don’t mention everything to your readers — give them ample information but not too much so that it pulls them into the copy. Leave an interesting tidbit out or keep them on the edge of their seats, eager to read and absorb more.

Here’s an example. Don’t say, “How to Triple Web site Sales.” Instead, say, “Discover these six unconventional secrets for tripling Web site sales!” People will then wonder, “What are they?”

2. Headers

On the Web, people don’t read. They scan. They seldom read entire Web pages from top to bottom. If the headline is compelling enough, then the likelihood that they will read the entire body copy will be greater. However, the chances of that happening 100% of the time are very small.

One way to overcome this is to use headers at every two or three paragraphs so that, when the reader scans the page, headers pull readers into the copy. Similar to the headline, don’t be vague or general. Use benefits. Be specific. And think keywords. Rather than saying “Background,” “Profile,” or “History,” say “The Strange-but-True Story of How Michel Fortin Went From Colossal, Bankrupt Failure to Becoming a Million-Dollar Success.”

Just as the headline is meant to grab people’s attention and get them to start reading your copy, their desire to restart scanning and jump a few paragraphs is almost excruciating. Time is scarce, and with so many things vying for our attention both in our lives and on our computer desktops, people get easily distracted — and more so today, with the Internet, than ever before.

So write and include headers throughout the copy to get readers to stop scanning any further, and to continuously bring them back into your salesletter. Write your salesletter as an amalgamation of several “mini-articles” with headlines for each, strung together in one flowing, fluid letter that keeps them riveted from the first word to the buy button.

Be sure to check back next Monday for Part 2!

Michel Fortin is a marketer, copywriter, and author of many books and courses. For more information about Michel, including how to get your hands on several free ebooks, visit his blog and sign up free to get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips by email, along with blog updates, news, and more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com.

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Marketing Coordinator

We’ve just released a new “how to” video for ClickBank publishers, which shows how to create a customer-facing ad that will be used in our forthcoming ad platform and will soon be included in our XML feed. This video walks through the process of creating an ad step-by-step, and also includes information on our quality and content guidelines, plus some tips on writing effective ad copy. Check it out!