The Step-by-Step Copywriting Course Gives You:
A format that allows you to work at your own pace
This self-paced, self-study course contains an e-book study manual with insights, guidelines, do's and don'ts. Read it at your own pace, when you have the time.
Step-by-step instruction with lots of examples
You'll get step-by-step instructions and see real-life examples, pulled from actual advertisements that show you exactly how to (and how NOT to) write powerful copy.
Lessons so you can practice writing exceptional copy
We learn best with practice so I've provided assignments at the end of every lesson so you can immediately use your new skills.
Insight on how a professional would write it
This is a self-scoring course. Once you've completed each lesson, you can check the "Answers & Insights" section of your manual that contains the answers to the assignments, insights, examples of how I would write the copy and important points to consider.
THE 10 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COPY WRITING FOR THE NET:
1. Know Your Product
This is the cornerstone of good copy writing. Know your product and be passionate about it. Believe in it. If you don't, you shouldn't be selling it. It is not only unethical to sell something you wouldn't buy yourself, but also difficult and unpleasant.
If you have a product that you *know* will change your customer's life for the better, then copy writing becomes much easier. You're doing her a favor - offering this product at this price - believe that yourself first.
After that, killer copy comes naturally.
2. Know Your Customer
Before you write the first word, create a profile customer.
• Is it a techno-peasant housewife or an IT company executive?
• Income range?
• Age?
• Sex?
• In a hurry?
Select your words and page length to suit your reader - not yourself.
Then, once your web site is tailor made for her unique needs, it is time to test... Find about 3 people who more or less fit your profile customer's specs and let them loose on the site. Give them tasks like finding your e-mail address, getting to the order page, finding information on a specific product etc.
See how easily they find it and ask for general comments as they go.
Testing is absolutely vital.
My own sales copy always looks good to me - but I wrote it, so I know exactly how it's structured. Someone else might find it tedious or even confusing.
Confusing web sites is the NUMBER ONE reason people leave.
Swear at them if you must, but don't confuse them.
That is why you have to test.
3. Stress Benefits
Whatever you do, DON'T put you mission statement on your homepage.
We just don't care.
We want benefits! What can your product do for me? Right now!
• Can it make me rich?
• Can it save me time?
• Can it entertain me?
• Can it make me feel better about myself?
That's what people want.
Your product's greatest benefit should be right in the top header in bold red letters. Your first three or four words should hit them between the eyes.
You never read everything on every page you visit. You scan - you look for something that seems interesting.
Statistics show that you have 10 seconds to grab your visitor's attention. If you don't, she'll move on. No sentence starting with "Our goal is to..." has ever grabbed my attention. I don't care about you. I care about me. What does your site/product do for me? Right now!
I know this seems harsh, but you'd do well to take it seriously. It's been proven many times. E-consumers are very back-button-happy. It's a big web with lots to see. You HAVE TO give them a reason to stay on your site.
4. Establish Trus
On the Net you don't have the advantage of speaking face to face with your customer, so you have to load as much credibility into your words as possible.
How?
Offer a free trial, a money-back guarantee, testimonials, put your e-mail address, physical address and phone number at the bottom of every page, show a (small) photograph of yourself etc.
Most important: Speak to your visitor. Don't ramble about technical specs of your products. Imagine sitting down with a friend and telling her about something that can really enhance her life.
5. Use Headings Like This One
Break it up.
Short paragraphs.
Few people will read your entire page. Make it scannable.
Each heading should do 2 things:
• Grab her attention
• Give her clues about the content of the next two or three paragraphs.
Remember that reading from the screen puts extra strain on the eyes. Make the read easy, quick and informative.
6. Words (not) To Use
Good words:
Free; proven; discover; breakthrough; learn; you/your; benefit; first; complete; exclusive etc.
Bad words:
If; but; should; could; etc.
Powerful words:
Why say "If you want to get to the top of the Search Engines..." when you could say "Nail the search engines in five easy steps. Read on... ".
As a rule of thumb, assume that your visitor couldn't care less about you. Don't use "I" or "me" more than "you".
7. Keep It Short
I mentioned page-length up there at #2. The key is to keep it as short as you can. When you're done writing your killer copy, see if you can say it in half the words. Don't sacrifice quality though. Make it as long as it needs to be without dragging it out.
8. Create Urgency
Throw in something special for the first 100 subscribers or make it "this month only". Your word selection is important here. Don't say "Subscribe now!". Put a specific time limit to it - "Subscribe during July and I'll give you... ".
Try to get them to buy on their first visit, because chances of them returning later are slim.
9. Get A Response
Hook'em the first time.
If they don't bookmark you, they probably won't find you again. Have a back-up response ready.
For example:
Let's say that you have a visitor that just can't make up her mind. With a bit more convincing, you'll hook her, but she's at the end of the page and thinking about the dreaded back-button.
So give her something - like a free subscription to your newsletter or a trial download. That way you survive in her memory and you get another opportunity to persuade her.
10. Spelling, Grammar and Formatting
I won't tell you that a typo will kill your sales effort. The same applies to grammatical errors. Use a spellchecker of some sort. I make a habit of pasting my text in MS Word and running a spell-check. It saves a lot of time later.
EASY ON THOSE CAPS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!
They look unprofessional. Use bold text and color to highlight important points.
A Confession..
I learned almost everything I know about copy writing in Joe Robson's "Make Your Words Sell" ebook. It sells for under 30 bucks last time I checked and it comes with an unconditional money-back guarantee.
Nothing to loose and so much to gain.
If you're serious about selling online, this is a must read. Joe is a copy writing wiz and the book does not waste your time. Just real, step-by-step advice you can use from today to turn more of your site visitors into customers.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
“Everyone lives by selling something.”
“Everyone lives by selling something.”
A thin man eats to live and a fat man lives to eat.
You don’t expect much from a cook, yet you expect a fine meal from a Chef.
How is it there’s such a vast difference in the way basic things are done? How is it those often almost unnoticeable differences produce such dramatically different outcomes?
These differences, my friend, are the result of:
Attention to detail
Passion
Commitment
The thin man, the cook, and the average sales person miss the mark on each count by just a little. Water at 211 degrees is just hot water, yet increase that temperature one teensy degree and you unleash enough power to pull a train with cars as far as the eye can see. Improve the way you sell one little degree and you transform from an average sales person to a top producer.
Read these three sentences placing emphasis on the italicized word in each sentence -
The red house is the one on fire.
The red house is the one on fire.
The red house is the one on fire.
Change the way you emphasize just one little word and the entire meaning changes.
The cook approaches the meal with the thought of getting it done. The Chef approaches the meal with the thought of creating an experience for the taste buds. The cook is happy when you are full. The Chef is only happy if you had a mouthwatering eating encounter.
The average sales person approaches sales with the thought of closing the sale. The top producer approaches sales as the beginning of a life-time relationship.
The average sales person thinks only of the process. The top producer is passionate about the engagement and discovery.
The average sales person always leaves a way out… a back door for escape. The top producer is all in all the time. There’s no need for back door options because the top producer’s focus is on the right option for both the producer and the new client.
Yes, sales is a process. However, sales done right is a passion fulfilled through a process.
6 Sales D’s
Yet another “no sale”. You followed your presentation exactly. You were on time looking good.
What happened? What went wrong?
You probably have run up against one or more of the 6 D’s of sales. You can’t sell when your potential buyer has one of these 6 reasons for not buying. They:
don’t like you
don’t trust you
don’t need what you have
don’t have a reason to buy now
don’t have the money
don’t have the authority to make a buying decision
If you act like a sales person your potential buyer automatically won’t like or trust you. They’ve been trained not to like and trust sales people. It doesn’t matter that you’re different or that you haven’t done anything to make them dislike or distrust you.
If you are a good person with good intentions there’s no valid reason for you to trigger the first two D’s. Change the way you position yourself.
If the reason the potential buyer can’t buy is because they don’t have a need for what you offer. Shame on you. You’ve needlessly wasted both your time and there’s. Make sure you prequalify every appointment so you’re only speaking with qualified prospects.
You overcome urgency and money by asking questions that help the potential buyer develop a reason to buy now and a reason doing so makes good financial sense. You never do it by telling them these things. It has to be their idea.
When you were qualifying the prospect before you met you should also have determined if they were the sole person needed to make a buying decision. If you don’t do that up front… telling you they can’t make a buying decision is an easy way to get rid of you without having to tell you the real reason they don’t want to buy.
Identify the D’s that kept you from getting the sale. Now how are you going to remove these D’s so the next sales ends the right way.
A thin man eats to live and a fat man lives to eat.
You don’t expect much from a cook, yet you expect a fine meal from a Chef.
How is it there’s such a vast difference in the way basic things are done? How is it those often almost unnoticeable differences produce such dramatically different outcomes?
These differences, my friend, are the result of:
Attention to detail
Passion
Commitment
The thin man, the cook, and the average sales person miss the mark on each count by just a little. Water at 211 degrees is just hot water, yet increase that temperature one teensy degree and you unleash enough power to pull a train with cars as far as the eye can see. Improve the way you sell one little degree and you transform from an average sales person to a top producer.
Read these three sentences placing emphasis on the italicized word in each sentence -
The red house is the one on fire.
The red house is the one on fire.
The red house is the one on fire.
Change the way you emphasize just one little word and the entire meaning changes.
The cook approaches the meal with the thought of getting it done. The Chef approaches the meal with the thought of creating an experience for the taste buds. The cook is happy when you are full. The Chef is only happy if you had a mouthwatering eating encounter.
The average sales person approaches sales with the thought of closing the sale. The top producer approaches sales as the beginning of a life-time relationship.
The average sales person thinks only of the process. The top producer is passionate about the engagement and discovery.
The average sales person always leaves a way out… a back door for escape. The top producer is all in all the time. There’s no need for back door options because the top producer’s focus is on the right option for both the producer and the new client.
Yes, sales is a process. However, sales done right is a passion fulfilled through a process.
6 Sales D’s
Yet another “no sale”. You followed your presentation exactly. You were on time looking good.
What happened? What went wrong?
You probably have run up against one or more of the 6 D’s of sales. You can’t sell when your potential buyer has one of these 6 reasons for not buying. They:
don’t like you
don’t trust you
don’t need what you have
don’t have a reason to buy now
don’t have the money
don’t have the authority to make a buying decision
If you act like a sales person your potential buyer automatically won’t like or trust you. They’ve been trained not to like and trust sales people. It doesn’t matter that you’re different or that you haven’t done anything to make them dislike or distrust you.
If you are a good person with good intentions there’s no valid reason for you to trigger the first two D’s. Change the way you position yourself.
If the reason the potential buyer can’t buy is because they don’t have a need for what you offer. Shame on you. You’ve needlessly wasted both your time and there’s. Make sure you prequalify every appointment so you’re only speaking with qualified prospects.
You overcome urgency and money by asking questions that help the potential buyer develop a reason to buy now and a reason doing so makes good financial sense. You never do it by telling them these things. It has to be their idea.
When you were qualifying the prospect before you met you should also have determined if they were the sole person needed to make a buying decision. If you don’t do that up front… telling you they can’t make a buying decision is an easy way to get rid of you without having to tell you the real reason they don’t want to buy.
Identify the D’s that kept you from getting the sale. Now how are you going to remove these D’s so the next sales ends the right way.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Tao of Making Money
The Tao of Making Money
Tao means Way. The Tao of Making Money is the Way of Making Money. What natural principles does making money follow?
Making money is part of nature, and struggle is a symptom that you are out of harmony with the flow of nature, how things work. The word prosperity originally meant "to be in the flow".
I would like you to grasp something simple yet elusive to many.
First, let us hear a few words from the wise and successful, and then we can move on to the Tao of Making Money:
"To live through an impossible situation, you don't need the reflexes of a Grand Prix driver, the muscles of a Hercules, the mind of an Einstein. You simply need to know what to do." --Anthony Greenbank
"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult." --Seneca
"The world is not to be put in order; the world is order, incarnate. It is for us to harmonize with this order." --Henry Miller
"If we do not know what port we're steering for, no wind is favorable." --Seneca
"There is a science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches, and once these laws are learned and obeyed by anyone, that person will get rich with mathematical certainty." --Wallace D. Wattles
"The reality of life is that your perceptions - right or wrong - influence everything else you do. When you get a proper perspective of your perceptions, you may be surprised how many other things fall into place." --Roger Birkman
"Our life is what our thoughts make it." --Marcus Aelius Aurelius Antoninus (121-180), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher.
"What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step." --Antoine De Saint-Exupery
"Vision is not enough unless combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps unless we also step up the stairs." --Vance Havner
"Nothing comes from doing nothing." --William Shakespeare
"To your subconscious mind the solutions to your problems of poverty is to become rich, but it is logically invalid for it to pursue this course of action if it has been told that it will make you a bad person." --Simon Hall
"To be ambitious for wealth and yet expecting to be poor; to be always doubting your ability to get what you long for, is like trying to reach east by traveling west. There is no philosophy which will help man to succeed when he is always doubting his ability to do so, and thus attracting failure." --Charles Bandouin
Do you see a pattern there? Well, I will spell it out for you. Here, then, is the Tao of Making Money:
Wealth Consciousness + Mindset + Strategies + Action = Great Wealth Guaranteed
To understand it, let us look at it backwards.
The result you want is wealth
Your results always follow your actions (and beliefs). If you don't get into a car and drive to London, you will stay where you are. If you don't get off the couch, you will stay on the couch. Simple: the result is the child of the action.
Your actions follow your beliefs. You cannot act outside of what you believe. Have you noticed that?
Your beliefs are simply thoughts that you think over and over again (mindset). And your thoughts can be organized into a system that works (a strategy). And a strategy can be learnt; all you need is to be exposed to it to come from not knowing to knowing.
Most importantly, your thoughts arise from your state of being (consciousness).
When you are happy, you have happy thoughts and you feel happy. When you are sad, you have sad thoughts and you feel sad. State comes first, followed by thought and then the corresponding emotion. You may not know it, but you always choose your state; it just doesn't happen randomly (maybe unconsciously, but not randomly, and you will learn how to make the unconscious conscious).
A state of being that believes in abundance, infinity, possibility, openness, flow, and so on, is a state of wealth consciousness. If you have a lack consciousness state of being as your predominant one, you cannot make wealth. It defies natural law and hence it is impossible. In fact, if you don't have wealth consciousness, you will not even believe or perceive opportunities to make money even if they are staring at you right in your face (you wouldn't know money if it hit you in the face).
You must first create within you a state of wealth consciousness. This must be your primary mission.
Your subconscious mind (the storehouse of your beliefs) controls almost everything about you. For example, it controls your autonomic nervous system. What is that? Here is what the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia says: "Autonomic Nervous System, in vertebrate anatomy, one of the two main divisions of the nervous system, supplying impulses to the body's heart muscles, smooth muscles, and glands. The autonomic system controls the action of the glands; the functions of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and urogenital systems; and the involuntary muscles in these systems and in the skin. Controlled by nerve centers in the lower part of the brain, the system also has a reciprocal effect on the internal secretions, being controlled to some degree by the hormones and exercising some control, in turn, on hormone production."
Which all means that your hormones, energy levels, actions and so forth are controlled by the subconscious mind. If you have told yourself that you are clumsy, the subconscious will work with your hormones, motor skills, and so on and make you act, move and talk stupid. If you have told yourself that you don't fit in social situations, you will find yourself standing in the corner not fitting. Whatever you say, boss. Your subconscious is like a computer. Whatever you program into it, it makes happen. No questions asked. You are the boss, and whatever you say, happens.
Your imagination, your thoughts, what you perceive, what you don't perceive, what you see and what you miss, how you act, what you feel... these are all determined by one thing: your programming, what you repetitively tell yourself (and what you repetitively got told or observed during your youthful formation years).
So how do you take the quantum leap, how do you step out of the box of your own thoughts and see beyond it. How do you program yourself for success? Well, the same way you create all programming: practice. Repetition. You have to not only find what works positively for you, but you have to practice that new positive way over and over until it becomes part of you. Positive thinking and self-help advice will not work unless you make it permanent for you by practicing it over and over. Your entire physiology has to be rewired; your neural pathways (which create pattern and memory) have to be redrawn. All this happens by practice.
Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Practice. Then one day, like with everything else you ever learnt through practice, you just find yourself automatically doing it! It becomes you! Take right action - repeatedly! Learn and practice right thought repeatedly!
Tao means Way. The Tao of Making Money is the Way of Making Money. What natural principles does making money follow?
Making money is part of nature, and struggle is a symptom that you are out of harmony with the flow of nature, how things work. The word prosperity originally meant "to be in the flow".
I would like you to grasp something simple yet elusive to many.
First, let us hear a few words from the wise and successful, and then we can move on to the Tao of Making Money:
"To live through an impossible situation, you don't need the reflexes of a Grand Prix driver, the muscles of a Hercules, the mind of an Einstein. You simply need to know what to do." --Anthony Greenbank
"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult." --Seneca
"The world is not to be put in order; the world is order, incarnate. It is for us to harmonize with this order." --Henry Miller
"If we do not know what port we're steering for, no wind is favorable." --Seneca
"There is a science of getting rich, and it is an exact science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws which govern the process of acquiring riches, and once these laws are learned and obeyed by anyone, that person will get rich with mathematical certainty." --Wallace D. Wattles
"The reality of life is that your perceptions - right or wrong - influence everything else you do. When you get a proper perspective of your perceptions, you may be surprised how many other things fall into place." --Roger Birkman
"Our life is what our thoughts make it." --Marcus Aelius Aurelius Antoninus (121-180), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher.
"What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step." --Antoine De Saint-Exupery
"Vision is not enough unless combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps unless we also step up the stairs." --Vance Havner
"Nothing comes from doing nothing." --William Shakespeare
"To your subconscious mind the solutions to your problems of poverty is to become rich, but it is logically invalid for it to pursue this course of action if it has been told that it will make you a bad person." --Simon Hall
"To be ambitious for wealth and yet expecting to be poor; to be always doubting your ability to get what you long for, is like trying to reach east by traveling west. There is no philosophy which will help man to succeed when he is always doubting his ability to do so, and thus attracting failure." --Charles Bandouin
Do you see a pattern there? Well, I will spell it out for you. Here, then, is the Tao of Making Money:
Wealth Consciousness + Mindset + Strategies + Action = Great Wealth Guaranteed
To understand it, let us look at it backwards.
The result you want is wealth
Your results always follow your actions (and beliefs). If you don't get into a car and drive to London, you will stay where you are. If you don't get off the couch, you will stay on the couch. Simple: the result is the child of the action.
Your actions follow your beliefs. You cannot act outside of what you believe. Have you noticed that?
Your beliefs are simply thoughts that you think over and over again (mindset). And your thoughts can be organized into a system that works (a strategy). And a strategy can be learnt; all you need is to be exposed to it to come from not knowing to knowing.
Most importantly, your thoughts arise from your state of being (consciousness).
When you are happy, you have happy thoughts and you feel happy. When you are sad, you have sad thoughts and you feel sad. State comes first, followed by thought and then the corresponding emotion. You may not know it, but you always choose your state; it just doesn't happen randomly (maybe unconsciously, but not randomly, and you will learn how to make the unconscious conscious).
A state of being that believes in abundance, infinity, possibility, openness, flow, and so on, is a state of wealth consciousness. If you have a lack consciousness state of being as your predominant one, you cannot make wealth. It defies natural law and hence it is impossible. In fact, if you don't have wealth consciousness, you will not even believe or perceive opportunities to make money even if they are staring at you right in your face (you wouldn't know money if it hit you in the face).
You must first create within you a state of wealth consciousness. This must be your primary mission.
Your subconscious mind (the storehouse of your beliefs) controls almost everything about you. For example, it controls your autonomic nervous system. What is that? Here is what the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia says: "Autonomic Nervous System, in vertebrate anatomy, one of the two main divisions of the nervous system, supplying impulses to the body's heart muscles, smooth muscles, and glands. The autonomic system controls the action of the glands; the functions of the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, and urogenital systems; and the involuntary muscles in these systems and in the skin. Controlled by nerve centers in the lower part of the brain, the system also has a reciprocal effect on the internal secretions, being controlled to some degree by the hormones and exercising some control, in turn, on hormone production."
Which all means that your hormones, energy levels, actions and so forth are controlled by the subconscious mind. If you have told yourself that you are clumsy, the subconscious will work with your hormones, motor skills, and so on and make you act, move and talk stupid. If you have told yourself that you don't fit in social situations, you will find yourself standing in the corner not fitting. Whatever you say, boss. Your subconscious is like a computer. Whatever you program into it, it makes happen. No questions asked. You are the boss, and whatever you say, happens.
Your imagination, your thoughts, what you perceive, what you don't perceive, what you see and what you miss, how you act, what you feel... these are all determined by one thing: your programming, what you repetitively tell yourself (and what you repetitively got told or observed during your youthful formation years).
So how do you take the quantum leap, how do you step out of the box of your own thoughts and see beyond it. How do you program yourself for success? Well, the same way you create all programming: practice. Repetition. You have to not only find what works positively for you, but you have to practice that new positive way over and over until it becomes part of you. Positive thinking and self-help advice will not work unless you make it permanent for you by practicing it over and over. Your entire physiology has to be rewired; your neural pathways (which create pattern and memory) have to be redrawn. All this happens by practice.
Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Practice. Then one day, like with everything else you ever learnt through practice, you just find yourself automatically doing it! It becomes you! Take right action - repeatedly! Learn and practice right thought repeatedly!
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