Sunday, June 26, 2005

Copywriting Is Not One-Size-Fits-All by Karon Thackston



by Karon Thackston2004
http://www.copywritingcourse.com

I was in shock. Honestly, I shook my head when I read his email. I meant no disrespect; I just couldnt believe he really felt that way.

Karon, I want you to write the sales letter for my site. How much will it cost me? read his note. After looking at his home page and evaluating his target audience, I didnt feel a sales letter would be the best type of copy for his site. When I sent him my suggestion he replied with something along the lines of, No sales letter? What other kind of copy is there?

Was he a fan of sales letters? No, not especially. Did his question come with a sarcastic tone? No, it was a genuine question. A lot of what he had been exposed to online was sales letters. So much so that he thought this was the *only* type of copy to have on a website. Thats what all the gurus were telling him, so it must be true. Even though he had been to countless sites that did not have sales letters, he never realized the differences.

I pointed him to several sites that had a wide range of copy to show him some of the other styles.

Catalog Copy - (one of my favorite types to write!) http://www.gortonsfreshseafood.com

Long Sales Copy - http://www.copywritingcourse.com

Short Sales Copy - http://www.landmarkcreations.com

Brochure Copy - http://www.toyota.com

Shopping Cart Copy - http://www.amazon.com (works especially well for books)

Of course, these are just a few. What was his response? Now I feel stupid! Of course, there are several types of copy. I dont know why I thought I had to have one particular kind for my site.

From there we worked together to better understand his audience and create copy that would appeal to them.

Copywriting is not one-size-fits-all. Im not saying sales letters dont work. Like every other type of copy, they do, given the right environment and the right product/service. What I am saying is you shouldnt box yourself in by assuming you *have* to have a particular type of copy. Just because one style of writing works well with someone elses site doesnt mean it is right for yours. Just because another person is selling a similar product or service doesnt mean you have the same audience therefore it doesnt mean you should use the same type of copy.

In fact, there may be several different types of copy that work equally well for your site/customer. After all, diversity is part of advertising. Take the time to investigate your product, service, and customer then research copywriting styles. When you do, youll likely discover that you have several options. Test those options in order to find the one that pulls the best response. *Thats* the type of copy that works best for your site.


About the Author
Copy not getting results? Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to check out Karons latest e-report How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy) at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.

Getting that Magical Click by Fazly Mohamed



This article explains how to get people to click through to your targeted web page. We define the targeted webpage to be your profit pagebe it a page of your own or one of your affiliate sales pagesany page that has the potential to earn money for you. Getting traffic to the targeted page is the most important thing you need to do whether you are a marketing pro or a newbie in the world of web marketing. You need traffic (and their money..) to play with.

NOTE: Make sure your sales page does its job perfectly. We wont bother about making any sales hereall we will focus herein is, to direct the visitors to the sales pagethe sales page should do the rest. Many affiliate sales pages do a fantastic job in making the sale, but if it's your own sales page, it would be better to take sometime and make sure its in good shape.

If you have any marketing experience on Internet, you know how difficult it is to get some exposure to your adbe it an email ad, a small ad running under an article you write on a webpage, or a small classified ad. Exposure is defined here as getting your ad visible to the usersthat is, getting them just to see your ad. This will cost you good money in most cases. But the most annoying thing after putting in some great effort and investment to get your ads appear in front of the visitors' eyes is, to see them click away. You must make the maximum use of this hardly earned ad space.

By following a simple strategy, you can dramatically increase the clicks to your page. Rememberwe are only bothered about making the visitor click to the site - the site should do the rest.

Follow this simple 2-step formula.

1Killer Initial Appearance Line
2Develop Interest and PUSH to the site

NOTE: The discussions may consider one or two niches such as email ads, pop up ads etc. But you can easily apply this formula to any kind of promotional material you use, once you master it.

1Killer Initial Appearance Line
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Get the attention of the readerThis is the most important thing. If you fail this step, you lose the game early. This step stresses the importance of the initial appearance of the message to the visitors. Putting it simply, it could be the subject line of an email message or the first line of a classified or popup ad. You must make the visitor wanting to find out more.

Lets say that you encounter emails in your inbox with one of the following subjects.

1. Great Digital Camera Offer
2. Featured Digital Camera This Week
3. Make Your Photos Speak and Sparkle
4. Fine Photos Ever Shine
5. Revolutionary Digital Camera For This Holiday
6. Cheap Digital Camera - Special Holiday Offer

- TIP: Always put yourself in your visitor's shoes to test the effectiveness of an ad -

Brainstorm the above wellpretend you are the visitor - this should give you some idea of how to get this step right. Most probable results to the above would be to kick open the ads 3 and 4, and throw the rest to the bin. Let's analyze what inspires the above behavior. If you analyze closely, all of the above but 3 and 4, doesn't tell anything other than something similar to "a great camera offer". Ads 3 and 4 speaks about getting your photos better. Do not promote the 'product but the 'benefit'. Customers buy benefits and not products.

2Develop Interest and PUSH to the site
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Now you have the visitor looking for details. Tell and stress the benefits and features of the product and what the product has to offer for him/her. Sell the benefits and features. Never sell the product itself.

Proofread it, putting yourself in your visitors shoes, to verify the letter truly captures the interest of the reader. This requires some skill and experience, but you will be fine with time. Visit a good sales page and read through the first portion of it to get some idea on developing interest in the reader's mind.

TIP: If you are promoting an affiliate product, here is an easy way. Their sales pages are usually of high quality, as I said earlier. Read through and extract the most interesting part out and make the modifications accordingly, to fit into the context and put them in your ad.

All you need to do at last is, as it is obvious, to link the target page, with something like more.. . The length of the ad can vary according to the context / space you have. This is a good classified ad for example, to your reference.

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Make Your Photos Speak & Sparkle

Snaps are the memories of merriest moments of life. Why take blurring photos when you can produce high-quality lively ones that keeps your greatest occasions as is, even decades later? Find out HOW by visiting NOW
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Get the style? I bet this captured your interest.

So lets wrap up. All you need to get more clicks at ad exposure is,

- Write a Killer Initial Appearance Line
- Develop Interest and PUSH to the site

I hope this article is informative to you. Have a nice day

Thank You
About the Author
Fazly Mohamed is a successful internet marketer and the author of some high quality publications. To get his valuable tips continuously, send a blank email to fazlymohamed@autorespond-it.com . You'll get a bonus report of the latest business model on the net with comprehensive information, if you join today.