Archive for the ‘Copywriting & Marketing’ Category

Over the years, while helping website owners improve their website copy, I’ve seen a lot of copy. Some was great, some pretty good, some mediocre and I’m sorry to say…some pretty bad. In this journey of helping people improve their online marketing messages, I’ve come to see that many people make a lot of the same mistakes over and over again.

So I wanted to share my 7-page guide with you to help you cut your learning curve and eliminate those mistakes that are so easy to make.

CLICK HERE to download your FREE copy of my guide to uncover the common copy mistakes.

Have you ever started online business or website and found yourself saying, “This market just doesn’t buy anything!”

You are most certainly not alone.

In this information age, full of free free free, sometimes we get all caught up in the hoopla and we forget we’re trying to turn a profit from our online venture. Of course, it’s all well and good to help people and give stuff for free, but we all gotta eat some time. The good news is, sometimes all it takes is a slight adjustment to your target market. Because realistically speaking, if you’re positioning yourself to attract people who just want free stuff…you’re going to have a heck of a time to get them to buy something.

Here are some common adjustments that might fit your own business

Disclaimer: These are not one-size-fits-all ideas. They may work or they may not for your market. You need to evaluate your own business and measure the results of any adjustments you make.

• Go from providing how-to information to actually DOING it for them (ex. software, services, ready-made projects). You can sell how to information, but there may just be more money in giving people the tools or already-done-for-you products and services.

• Go from the desperate portion of your market to the proactive. In some cases, the desperate buyer may be your target. Other times, you may find the more pro-active person who is always looking ahead, trying to prevent problems and ensure success may be a better target.

• Go from giving everything for free to showing your audience how to invest in themselves. You can give free information, recommend free tools and resources…but what’s that going to get you? Perhaps some very thankful readers/fans, but unfortunately, an empty bank account.

Take a good long look at your website, your subscribers, readers and your entire business? Who is naturally attracted to your offerings? Are they buyers? Are they their for a free ride? If it’s the latter…a target market adjustment may be in order and a lot of that has to do with the way we communicate with our readers.

Start by changing the way you speak to your readers – everything from your sales copy to your newsletter opt-in copy to your content. When you change the way you talk, you change those who are attracted to your marketing.

Here are some tips for changing the way you talk:

• Stop thinking you always have to offer a free resource.
• Make no apologies for recommending products.
• Make offers and recommendations regularly – they’ll get used to it or they’ll ship out (And guess what? It’s OKAY if a non-buyer ships out)
• Educate your readers about why they should purchase products.

You work hard in your online business. You painstakingly create content and products. But if you aren’t getting the results you’d hoped for…maybe it’s time to adjust.

Over the past 7 ½ years, I’ve met a lot of online entrepreneurs. I’ve learned their quirks (I’ve got them too). What holds them back and often, what finally gets them moving forward.

A little while ago, I asked our readers “what type of online entrepreneur are you”, but one thing that I find common to a lot of hopeful Internet marketers is that they never really get off the ground.

Sometimes it’s over-thinking every little step and they feel they can’t get started because they haven’t connected every piece of the puzzle. By the way, if that’s you, read this post.

But many times, people get stuck at the idea phase. They’re looking for that big idea, that perfect business… something that will help them find the right answers.

(Side note: If you’re looking for business ideas, you can find them here, including plenty of online business ideas).

But here’s the thing – when it comes to getting started online, it’s not the IDEA that’s important… it’s the DOING.

Ideas are a dime a dozen and what you’re doing today, may not be what you’re doing two years from now.

This is ONLINE business, which means (generally speaking):

• Cheap start up costs
• Low overhead
• Extreme Adaptability. You change, alter, drop or add without huge repercussions.

This is not a brick-and-mortar where you have to committed, have a business plan fully etched in stone and possibly need to borrow tens of thousands of dollars to get started.

All you need is a domain, web hosting, and a mailing list.

What if you choose the wrong market/business idea?

• Scrap the project and take what you learned to a new project.
• Keep it simple to start. You don’t need all the latest technology and create a massive virtual empire right out of the gate. Build a mailing list, start selling stuff and go from there.
• Track and monitor results: If you know what’s working, you know to do more of that. If it’s not working… do less of that.

In just over 7 years, I’ve changed directions a few times, keeping a very steady business growth along the way. I adapt to what’s most profitable and what I enjoy the most… and that’s what’s so cool about running an online business. You do whatcha like, kid.

It’s been a little while since I offered my Internet Marketing Copy Makeover and if you recall, I offered some pretty handy goodies last time around, if I do say so myself.

If you need some guidance for more persuasive writing and selling, here are some useful items you can pick up right now:

• Headline Tips: 11 tips and 11 headline starters.
• Sales Page Checklist: Know exactly what to include in your sales page…it’s a 17-point checklist.

And the Power Words Mentioned Last Week:

• 115 Power Words: A handy, printable list to add more oomph to your copy.

Then drop by to register for your hands-on practical guidance at Internet Marketing Copy Makeover (it’s my LAST session EVER). Registration deadline is this Friday, October 23, 2009. Don’t miss it!

We’ve all heard the news/rumors…ahem…thinly disguised pitches that sales letters are dead. Some even say that copywriting is dead.

It’s a social web. Everyone’s on Face book, on Twitter and they’re all talking to each other. They look to these places as their source of news, recommendations from friends and more.

So…if they’re getting recommendations, why would we need to sell anything, right? They buy what their friends tell them to. All we need to do is infiltrate the social networking thing and we’re golden, right?

NOT LIKELY!

Consider a few things:

• Facebook has approximately 300 million users (source).
• Twitter has approximately 79.7 million users (source).
• The Internet has approximately 1,668,870,408 users (source).

All of the Internet is not connecting via social networking. You miss a ton if you focus on the social web. Of course, a large chunk of your target market may be available on these social sites, but you still can’t get away from the need for copywriting skills.

Look at the reality:

• Of those Facebook and Twitter users, you can bet  many are not active.
• And many of those who are active, may listen for opinions (so a good reputation amongst social network users is a good thing)…but they will still do their own research on what product is good for them.
• And even those who may follow friends like lemmings on a regular basis, still need to be persuaded to open their wallets.

In other words, you’ve got work to do beyond chatting it up on Twitter.

While sales copy always has its place in online selling, it’s not all we’re talking about when say say “copy” or “copywriting”.

Ultimately, copywriting is about PERSUASION. We are constantly persuading our prospects to listen, click, sign up and buy. That doesn’t change whether you’re posting a Facebook update, tweeting from your mobile phone, blogging or demonstrating your product.

Without persuasion, no one listens.

And if they aren’t listening, they aren’t clicking, signing up or buying. That’s not good for business, now is it?

Some Quick Persuasion Tips:

• Speak with authority, but relate to your audience.
• Know what you want people to do. In other words…have a plan, a desired call-to-action.
• You can still be social, while being direct (think of a big sister giving advice to a younger one…she’ll do it forcefully, but with love).
• Use power words (NEW! Get a handy-dandy list of 115 power words here) and add oomph to what you say.

More Help with Persuasion (& Copywriting Skills!):

Internet Marketing Copy Makeover is now accepting registrations for the LAST time EVER.

This hands-on, practical program with one-on-one guidance will help you become more persuasive with your words and get more people to take action…no matter what your call-to-action. Register.

Since my humble Internet marketing beginnings in 2002, I’ve seen a lot of strange stuff that people do online to make a buck.

And a lot of it  seems comes back to people simply forgetting (or ignoring) the fact that business revolves around people.

Whether it’s spamming an established forum / community because they just want to get their product out there.

Or using software to crank out a bunch of garbage in hopes of gaining traffic and ad clicks.

Or burning out a list so fast with the highest commission offers of the latest junk products.

Sometimes people don’t think beyond the now, beyond the desperation or whatever is making them forget there are people on the other side. After all, without people, NO money gets spent. Of course, a crash and burn strategy can produce some results, but generally speaking, one time only.

The random person who clicks on your link at a forum isn’t worth as much as the potential connection you could have made with the forum members.

People who are given crap to read on your site never come back to read more crap.

A subscriber who is so angry you promoted yet another high-priced product that didn’t do what it said for which they received received horrible customer service, isn’t buying anything again.

But sometimes it’s not as blatant or reckless as that. Many of us realize that we need humans to survive in our businesses, but we struggle the fine line between building content for humans and gaining the favor of search engines. I was reminded of this in this great post by Annette called Optimizing Your SEO Writing Process – and as she says: “hint – you might be writing your articles backwards”.

You’ve probably heard the advice, “Write content for humans not robots.” In other words, please people, not search engines. But that’s easier said than done, right? If you can’t get the humans to come (via search engine listings) how are they going to read your delicious content?

Well, that’s the piece of the puzzle Annette has helped solve. She talks about a 5-step process where you still do your keyword research in advance, but your actual optimization takes place later – after all your writing is done. One thing Annette doesn’t mention are off-page factors like including your keyword phrases on links coming into your content…those keywords carry a lot of weight.

The point is – it’s still about and it has always been about people. They click our links and they buy our products…and when you treat them right, they do it over and over again. Keep it mind…next time you try to please a robot, think how you can please a human instead.

Have you ever heard of copy being referred to as “Million Dollar Copy”?

It’s kinda hard not to come across that term when you work online, and I don’t know about you, but I find the phrase to be a bit distasteful. I think the word “million” puts people on instant alert, and they’re not as open to learning the concept behind it.

As a copywriter I’ve formed my own perception of what this phrase means, and I’ve come to the conclusion that every business owner needs to be using “million dollar copy” in their business – whatever their business.

It’s really not complicated, let me explain…

First, it isn’t necessarily copy that sells a million dollars worth of product. The factors that go into turning that kind of volume include a lot more than the copy itself. Any copywriter who tells you otherwise should be avoided.

In fact, it’s quite possible to sell a million dollars worth of product with less-than-perfect, even mediocre, copy – if you get enough of those other factors right. It’s just a lot harder.

Don’t make things harder on yourself than you need to.

The first thing that differentiates Million Dollar Copy from ordinary copy is that it converts a higher than usual percentage of targeted prospects to buyers.

After that, it’s not quite so obvious.

The main factors that separate “Million Dollar Copy” from everything else are, in no particular order:

=> The copy creates appropriate expectations in the reader. It highlights every benefit, while never exaggerating or misleading – even by omission. It also never leaves the reader feeling manipulated, whether they order or not.

=> It increases the likelihood that the prospect will not only use the product, but use it correctly and get the results they’re looking for.

=> It doesn’t call attention to itself. It communicates with the prospect without them thinking about anything but the product and what it will do for them.

=> It’s more powerful every time you read it.

=> Instead of just trying to provoke emotional reactions, it creates an experience that engages real prospects. When this is done correctly, the reader feels as though they’re interacting with the copy and the benefits of the product while they’re still reading your letter.

=> It doesn’t start with the letter or end with the order. It begins with the way the prospect talks internally, and sets the stage for any communication that follows the purchase. It’s part of the customer’s experience with your product and your company.

True “Million Dollar Copy” focuses on building your business, rather than just making the current sale. It sets a positive tone by which your firm is judged, reduces refunds, encourages future sales, and helps to create customers who feel more like “partners in the product” than just “buyers.”

Put in its shortest form:

“Million Dollar Copy” starts in exactly the same place as the prospect, and guides them through a positive experience that makes your product a necessity in their mind.

Think about that. Go back and look at your existing copy and see how much of it can be changed to make it fit this model better.

If you’re not sure, have someone else read it and tell you how they feel as they go through the copy.

Then consider how that fits with what you’ve just read.

Writing sales copy can be a challenging and time-consuming task, but it can also be fruitless if you don’t take the time to test your writing. If you want to be sure your sales copy is going to lead to maximum conversions you need to test, test and test again.

Test various Elements of Your Writing

There are many parts of your webpage that you can test for conversion potential. As well as the actual words of your copy, you can test the placement of each element, and the order in which you place them. The following list gives you a few ideas of the elements you can change and test the results:

- sales copy wording
- headlines
- images
- guarantee
- price
- returns policy
- security assurance
- whole page layout
- color scheme

The crucial factor when testing changes to your sales copy is only to make one change at a time, and measure the results of that change. If you make more than one change at a time you will not know which of the changes is responsible for the increase or decrease in conversion rate. You may end up undoing changes that have actually improved your sales, while keeping changes that have reduced them.

Take Time Over Testing

The time period over which you test your writing is crucial. Testing over a day or so may not produce results you can trust, and you will be making decisions based on misleading conclusions. You should look to test each change for at least a week, preferably two, to get a good idea of the effect it has had on your conversion rate.

I can almost hear your next question. If I can only make one change at a time, and I have to test each change for two weeks, isn’t this going to be a very long process? Well potentially it could be, and you need a certain degree of patience when you are testing your writing, but you can speed up the process by using split testing.

How to Increase Effectiveness by Split Testing

The principle of split testing is that you have two or more versions of your webpage running at any one time, allowing you to measure the effectiveness of each one. An example of a true A/B split test would be to have two versions of the product page that are shown alternately to visitors to your site. You can measure the conversion rate from each version of the page to see which is more effective.

Low cost software programs are now available that allow anybody to perform split testing on their web pages. The number of versions of your web page that you can test at any one time depends on the sophistication of the program that you choose. No matter how many variations you have you should always make sure you have an original control page, and that the other pages are tested against this to see the relative effects of any changes.

An alternative to having two versions of your page displayed for every other visitor, would be to have one page displayed consistently for a day or a week and then the next version displayed for the same period of time. The results of this will be less accurate as other factors may affect your conversion rate over those time periods, but you will still be able to gauge the results of your changes.

What Will You Measure?

Before you begin testing you need to determine what it is you are trying to achieve with your writing changes, and measure this factor in your tests. Some examples of factors you could measure are:

- sales conversion rate
- time visitors spend on your webpage
- ppc AdSense income
- no. subscribers to your webpage

So Let’s Recap

When you know which parts of your writing and webpage layout are most effective, you can use these elements over and over again to profit from your online business. Let’s just recap the main things you need to consider when you are testing your web pages;

- Don’t only test your wording; look at placement and prominence of your copy as well as images and other elements of your page.

- Only make one change at a time and measure the results of this against an original control page.

- Make sure you test over a significant period of time, preferably two weeks, but never less than a week.

- Decide what basis you will be using for measuring the success of your changes.

You may be surprised at the results of your tests. Finding that simpler wording sells your product better than the clever copy you originally slaved over can be disappointing. Trying to guess what your audience will respond to is never easy. Regular testing is the only way to ensure your writing is bringing you the best possible results.

If you need more help writing effective sales copy, and want to fast track your efforts, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Copywriting Sweetie course.