If you might be presently advertising free website templates web sites and have not set a excellent deal of believed into the content material in your site, you might be producing an incredibly expensive mistake. The content material in your site is invaluable for numerous reasons. First of all it offers site visitors for your site their first impression of one’s enterprise as well as the products and services you offer you. On top of that, properly written content material may be instrumental in selling your products and services for your potential buyers. Lastly, the content material in your site can impact the size from the target target audience you might be able to reach by assisting to increase your search engine rankings. With your content material capable of performing so a lot, it’s obvious you ought to be hiring a expert content material writer to aid you composing the copy to your site.

A single from the most fundamental reasons why the high quality from the content material in your site is so essential is because site visitors for your site will likely form their preliminary opinions about your unique website templates web page based about the content material in your site. If the copy is poorly written, doesn’t maintain the site visitors attention and doesn’t market your products and services properly site visitors are likely to exit your site with out producing a purchase. Conversely, when the copy in your site is properly written, interacts while using reader through premium website templates and promotes the products and services you offer you the visitor is more likely to investigate the site further to understand more in regards to the products and services and might create a purchase.

Nicely written sales copy also can be very persuasive and might compel site visitors to the site to purchase the products or solutions provided about the site. This is essential specifically when the primary objective from the site would be to sell the products or solutions. The sales copy ought to accurately describe the products or solutions provided, stress the significance of these products and services and compel the visitor to create a purchase. All of this ought to be done with out appearing to become blatantly promoting the products and services. Writing this kind of copy may be quite complicated and typically requires hiring a sales copywriter who’s experienced and skilled at composing this kind of useful and persuasive content material.

Lastly the content material in your site is very essential because it could significantly impact your search engine rankings. This is essential because high search engine rankings help your enterprise to reach a considerably bigger target audience. Internet users are typically searching for details rapidly and want immediate results to their inquiries. Search engines realize this profile and create complicated algorithms which help them to supply probably the most pertinent web sites when a user searches for a distinct word or phrase. This is essential to enterprise owners because Internet users realize the worth of search engines and are likely to only check out web sites which rank properly inside the search engines. This contains web sites which rank about the first web page or two of search engine results. Your enterprise might sell football jerseys and also you might have a properly developed site, a superior inventory and exceptional costs but if your site doesn’t rank properly in search engines you might be missing out over a excellent deal of free of charge promoting. If your site lands about the third web page or reduce most site visitors who search for pertinent terms will not likely check out your site because they’ll have discovered what they have been searching for on earlier pages. This is exactly where the content material in your site becomes essential. Websites containing content material which has been optimized for distinct key phrases will likely rank properly with search engine. Hiring a writer skilled in composing optimized content material can help to increase your search engine rankings so you can reach more potential buyers.

Copywriting is one of the most valuable skills any IM marketer can have.

Also, if you can write your own copy, then you won’t have to hire one because good copywriters can be expensive. Copywriting is a skill you’ll pay others a lot to do for you. But, even if you have the money to outsource, you will still benefit a great deal if you have a basic undertanding of what is being done. It’s the words and the copywriting that will make your sales and earn you money. Only through copywriting can you make sales, get optins, and produce those people who will buy from you for a long time.

Here are some proven tips and strategies to help you with your copywriting knowledge. All marketers are taking note of the latest trend in marketing like what can be seen at this Halloween Super Affiliate webpage

Try to imagine how you’d go about selling yourself on the product. Consider what motivates you to buy when you shop. So when you write your copy, just do it like you were selling the item to yourself. Avoid using any sales tactics that you would find irritating if they were used on you. Find products that are marketed in a way that makes you inclined to buy them, and copy some of those techniques. Remember that you are not only someone selling a product, but also someone who often buys products as well. If your sales copy would not even persuade you to buy something, it needs work! What words or facts about the product would turn you from a browser into a buyer? Once you’ve sold yourself, you will probably be able to sell to others too.

Good copywriting creates a sense of urgency without making the reader feel pressured into making a purchase. Any feelings of pushing, or pressuring, will fail completely. You can find great examples of this just from your own shopping experiences. Have you ever refused to buy something because you were getting hit with sales hype, or pressure? However, people will tend to buy from someone who is friendly, answers all their questions, and explains all the relevant benefits and features.

Copywriting is relaxed, conversational language - not a research paper for Professor Stiffcollar. You need to make a connection, so you want to talk like an everyday person. Your conversions will increase the more relaxed they are. They have to feel like they’re talking to you in their head. So take a huge hint, friendly joke, and don’t write your copy in a formal tone. If your market expects formal tones, then it’s smart to talk to them with it. Look at this Halloween Super Affiliate website

There are art forms to all excellent copywriting. Copywriting sells everything, and even when you see sales videos they contain a script. Most likely that script was written by a copywriter. Copywriters write all the TV commercials you see and the radio ads you hear.

If you can, you can always hire a writer to do the work for you. That’s fine to do, but you may want to understand the process and why things are being done the way they are.

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If you don’t really know, it can be deceptively easy to take something like copywriting for granted. If you look at well-written copy, it’s one of those things that just looks easy. But… try writing a great piece of sales copy, and you’ll quickly discover it’s not so easy to do. Sales copy is like no other kind of writing, and you need to know how to write it if you want to make money from your sales material. That’s the simple reason why so many businesses hire professional copywriters. You may want to consider learning something about it, though, even if you outsource so you can make a better judgement about how well your copy is written.

All the great copywriters relied on telling a story to make their copy better. You’ll see a lot of sales material that only discusses aspects of the product. To truly draw a site reader in (and get them to buy your product) you need to tell them a story. You have to be able to engage the reader, so your story must be something they care about. Most people do not read linearly, and they skip around, but ideally your copy is meant to be read and get the reader to click on something at the end. Many components of your sales material need to work right, but your story is critical because that’s where it all begins and most sales are lost. For the latest ways to make money online you need to visit this Halloween Super Affiliate internet site

If you want to keep your readers’ attention, break up your text. You may have learned in school that every paragraph should only contain one basic thought. You should keep this in mind. This does not mean, however, that one idea has to be expressed in one single paragraph. Web readers are turned off by huge blocks of text.

Be sure to separate long paragraphs into smaller ones. Even single-sentence paragraphs are perfectly acceptable in copywriting. If you want to keep your readers focused, break up your text.

It’s fine to break a rule for some effect, but avoid getting very cute about it. You pretty much want to always spell properly, but good copywriting ignore most rules of grammar. It will benefit you very much to at least learn some of the copywriting basics. Try to stay on the right side of the line between complete failure and getting it done. Find out how you can do this Halloween Super Affiliate webpage

Selling products and services is hard work. The best copywriters can make their work seem like it was easy to produce. To find out how much work and creative thought goes into writing good copy, just try to do it yourself. Copywriting is something that must be studied and practiced before you can master it. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Your copywriting skills will improve every time you make an effort!

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Writing good copy is not something most people can do effortlessly; like most abilities, it’s something that must be learned and worked at. It takes effort and much practice to learn how to write good copy. Many internet marketers simply don’t feel they can spare the time it would take to learn copywriting, so they outsource this work. Still, learning the basic skills of good copywriting can be helpful, even if you end up outsourcing all of your copywriting work to professionals. Writing good copy is a subtle art, even though the result can often seem effortless once it appears on the page. To take your own copy to a new level when you want to market your products, use some of these strategies.

Good copy has elegant and subtle aspects to it. You do not want to make people think you’re saying, “Buy this NOW!” These types of pages almost never see large sales volume. You want to write in a way that doesn’t make people feel they are being sold something. If you do not now, soon you will understand the importance of copy if your sales messages fail to convert.

Copywriters like to use stories in a sales letters because they’re a subtle but powerful part of bring the reader into the message. You never want to shout or advertise that it’s a sales message, even though most people know it is. Doing so will turn people off and that will be the end of it. A great new course in the new wave of internet marketing can be seen at this Halloween Super Affiliate site

Focus mainly on the virtues of your product, but if it also has weak points don’t try to cover these up. Make sure you make it clear that your product will be very useful to anyone who buys it. You know that there are definite benefits to using your product or services, spell these out. You naturally should make this product seem desirable and appealing. It’s also best, however, to admit that your product may be imperfect in some way. It can be a good idea to refer to some flaw in the product, though not at great length. Doing this will make your potential customers trust you more This makes your writing sound more honest and objective. Of course, you don’t want to overdo this either; focus primarily on the good!

If you want people to buy your product, let them know what it will do for them. Don’t leave anything out! You can’t assume that others are as familiar with this product as you are. You have all the information about it at your disposal.You may be an expert on it. Your prospective customers, however, will no far less about your product than you do.

Even if your product is fairly well known, you should never assume that the people who will be reading your copy are familiar with it. Include even the most seemingly basic facts about why this is such a great product. Taking the time to make sure your potential clients and customers thoroughly understand what you are offering them is just good business. Keeping up with all the latest online trends is not hard just take a look at this Halloween Super Affiliate Review web page

Copywriting, simply put, is what sells your products. The final destination for all your marketing and advertising efforts is your sales copy. It’s not exactly rocket science or quantum mechanics - but it will take some time to learn. Even if you decide to hire a writer to help you, you should have a working knowledge of what that writer does. So you’ll be able to write your own and have decent results if hiring a writer if you cannot immediately hire a writer.

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Effective copywriting is a key skill for anyone who is serious about their Internet marketing and wants to see bigger revenue from their marketing efforts. Properly choosing when and where to use keywords is one of the most important aspects of SEO copywriting.. One of the keys of good copywriting is search engine optimization. Embedding SEO within your sales copy plays a vital role in how your site ranks in the search engines. When done right, SEO copywriting is a creative way to include the critical keywords and key phrases that the search engines crave in an easy-to-read article or item that your site visitors will enjoy..e. The biggest difference between SEO copywriting and any other form of copywriting is that with the former, you must always remember that you are writing for both your readers AND the search engines.. By crafting excellent SEO content articles, you will be able to boost your search positions in almost any market you enter into bookmarking Demon. Here, I’ll show you some SEO copyrighting strategies that will assist you in designing the very best site with new and exciting content that will help to bring particularly interested visitors to your site.

You must ensure that you thoroughly investigate and contemplate your target keywords relevant to your enterprise in utilizing keyword research tools, especially as search engine copy writing centers on creating keyword related content for the Internet. Impacting your placement, this is critical in regards to not employing unspecific target keywords. When a search engine directs you to a particular website, your first impression will be based on the professionalism of the content you find.. Try implementing the SEO techniques that I listed in this article, and observe more on bookmarking Demon one. Because most readers choose whether or not to view your content after glancing at the headline, it must be engrossing. Excellent SEO copy can be written in a number of different ways that convert. Don’t be mislead. We’re not endorsing unproductive strategies like automated content spinning. We’re going to discuss methods that work..

One great method you could use to guarantee the solidity of your copy would be to hire an SEO copywriting specialist who could do all the work in your stead, as they have the right experience in formulating the kind of content you require for your work. You could employ specific keywords in the right areas of an article, like your article title or headline.. Your content may be of good quality, but if it is not enhanced for your website or product’s related keywords, it could become especially hard to bring in targeted users to your web page. You have to know how search engines work and make sure you’re using the right keywords in the right places when creating the content. The whole idea is to acquire a high ranking with specific keywords and convert your traffic through the provision of constructive content to readers..

Since the majority of the readers decide if they want to read your content by looking at the headline, it should be attention grabbing.. This keyword placement makes the site look more SEO friendly as well as helping the reader navigate more easily. Synonyms and related words are good choices to use throughout your article to avoid excessive use of the keywords which lowers the quality of the article. By overusing a single keyword in your article, it could make it seem like a spam message. It would be good to get a ratio of 100:1, meaning there is a single keyword used for every 100 words in your article. Search engine optimization is a factor that needs to be taken into consideration when writing your articles.. You must edit your content every single time, after you are finished writing it. While focusing on your content, spelling and grammar errors can easily be overlooked. Study this article to gain knowledge of some terrific SEO suggestions to improve your on-line business.. The reader will sense an unprofessional businessman if he reads articles full of errors.

Search Engine Optimization is a not that old and is a growing industry, which goes through constant change and frequent updates, which is why it’s important to keep up with it. Creating influential copy that turns visitors into customers, SEO copy writers must be flexible enough to shift with these evolutions.If you’ve tried looking for any information online using the search engines, then you know how a good SEO copywriting differentiates from bad SEO copywriting.. Some marketers insist that you need your primary keyword in the domain name of the website too, but many sites get high page rankings even without this.. Great results come only from top quality copy; regardless of how wonderful your blog or website may actually be, without enough qualified traffic it will remain undiscovered.

Tony Robbins is a genius. One statement he made, has stuck with me forever. “There is no such thing as failure, only results.” I can relate to this statement in my own business. There have been a lot of changes over the last year. I’m just like anyone else. Times were tough. I could have quit. Blamed it on the economy, the government or that pesky aliens from outer space. The truth is-I had to change. Alter my course and make some minor adjustment. Okay, maybe some major adjustments, like a brand new website. It was really for the best. Refuse to change or bury your head in the sand and your business will be no more. It’s happening all the time. You see large corporations with their hands out asking for money. They have been told for years to tighten their belts, knock off the idea of giving fat bonuses and such-only to cover their ears. What about small business? A lot of time, they subscribe to the idea that if they slap up a website and raise their hand in the air, the customers will come. Not much thought is put into the content or how their target market will perceive the message. Frequently, they will send out some form of direct mail-either a colorful postcard or sales letter/flyer. When careful examined, the direct mail rarely contains any element of direct response. There is no headline to capture attention, bullet points to highlight the benefits or heaven forbid: a call to action. It’s hand waving at its best. What about tracking the results? Okay, when asked that question, most small business owners will confess they don’t know how to put together a mail out that they can track. Last year I offered free reports on how to improve phone book ads. After talking to the prospects, I was advised that they did get some calls. They just didn’t know how many. Prospects that called and got voicemail never stated they were calling because of the ad and if a live person answered…they did not ask the source of the referral. No matter what avenue a business is using to prospect, they must track results. It’s imperative to follow-up and offer assistance. There is a chance they will not get the business today. However there is always tomorrow. The key word here is to take action. Constant and never ending improvement will make your profits soar.

James Brown

http://www.livewire-copywriter.com

There’s a saying in my country that goes something like this: “A fisherman never says his fish is bad!” But should he if he wants to make more sales? “Hype” has become a word that many online marketers are shying away from.

Yet each person has his or her own definition of what constitutes hype. I just typed in the word “hype” at Answers.com and here are two definitions that the dictionary returned:

1. Exaggerated or extravagant claims made especially in advertising or promotional material: “It is pure hype, a gigantic PR job”

2. Something deliberately misleading; a deception: “[He] says that there isn’t any energy crisis at all, that it’s all a hype, to maintain outrageous profits for the oil companies”

Even from those two definitions we see that one indicates exaggeration which makes up the figure of speech called a hyperbole and the other suggests deliberate deception.

I think that most marketers will want to shy away from deceiving their prospects. From that perspective ‘hype’ will not just be wrong but unethical.

But what most people see as ‘hype’ normally involves a high-pressure direct selling sales letter that uses many superlatives and promises much more than the product or service can deliver. For example, to make the purchaser rich overnight with little effort on their part and instant success and gratification.

This style of writing has become so popular on the internet that most people have become immune to such letters. The kind of sales copy that now stands out is the one that is more down-to-earth and shows a human side. By ‘human side’ I mean openly admitting to the downside or faults of your wares.

This of course is a counterintuitive approach. Who wants to admit that they are selling ‘faulty’ products? In fact, the real purpose of a sales letter is to get a sale not to drive people away. So, if logic and common sense hold true, you should show all the great benefits that your product or service offers. And be silent about the weaknesses.

But a big issue especially on the internet is a matter of credibility. And when you are willing to say that your product or service is not the perfect solution then your credibility just shoots through the roof! You become believable and transparent and it shows that you have nothing to hide.

In other words, it’s when you are weak that you are strong. Those words are taken from the Bible story about Paul who prayed to God to take away his “thorn in the flesh”. His request wasn’t granted but instead he was told that he is stronger when he is weaker. You see Paul was such a “perfect” Christian that he needed something to remind him that he was still human.

There is something interesting I realize about the American public. They are willing to forgive you of the most serous blunders whether public or private … if you admit to them. But if you are found out while trying to hide these ‘imperfections’ then the public and media will rip you apart.

The same will happen in your marketing as well. If you admit to the weaknesses of your products then you WILL make more sales. Let us look at some ways in which you can do this:

A. This one is obvious but you should still say that your product is not for everyone and then define your market. This works to build exclusivity for your product and at the same time show that you are not trying to sell to the entire world.

B. Admit that there may be better products than yours but they are more expensive. You can then show that yours will be a bargain for the price.

C. Instead of pretending to be a “guru”, state that you are just starting out and that’s why you are so reasonable in your fees. (If this is the case.)

D. Be honest about the ‘average results’ that your product brings to your customer. It’s customary to show your best results in the testimonials you use with that disclaimer tucked in fine print at the end: ‘these results are not typical’. Since the law requires this why not just be upfront about it.

E. Always under-promise and over-deliver! This will be appreciated by your prospects every time.

There is a period just after placing an order when your customers go through a moment of regret and psychological dissonance. “Was I foolish to make this purchase? Did I pay a fair price? I wonder if this will really work?”

That’s why you should always follow up a sale with a note of thanks for the purchase. This will help to reassure the new customer during this critical period.

But if you promise more than you could deliver then this period of regret will lead into a request for a refund or even worse-a lost customer for life. On the other hand, if you deliver more than you promised then the customers feel smart about their decision and for ‘discovering’ you. You’ll have a customer for life!

So even if your “fish” is perfect maybe you should sell your customers on your catch being just ‘great’ and allow the customers to discover your fish is really perfect.

You’ll catch more customers in the process … and maybe more fish too!

Ray L. Edwards is a freelance copywriter, copywriting coach, Internet marketing consultant and published author. He has made his clients millions of dollars online and can be contacted about his services at Copywriter

Simply because your prospects are convinced that your product is the best thing since slice bread, doesn’t mean that they’ll buy right away.

In fact, most people will want to think about it for a little while. There is that little voice in all of us that resists being sold. We think that if we caved in to that salesman then we aren’t really strong. We feel almost like a sucker to fall for his pitch.

This adage is a meaningful one: ‘People love to buy but hate to be sold’.

Even after we’ve bought that item that we must have, there is still some mental dissonance (referred to as ‘buyers remorse’) that torments us. This is one of the major reasons for refund requests.

So you have to provide as much urgency and incentives as possible for your prospect to make that purchase right away. Here are seven of the most effective strategies to push them over the decisional edge.

1. Make a Limited Offer

This is probably one of the more popular strategies to get people to buy now. Don’t let its popularity of use fool you though. Once you can show that your offer is limited in availability then the perceived value instantly quadruples. Limited quantity offers work much better than limited time offers because you don’t know when the items will run out.

2. Offer Bonuses

This is another popular tool used to get buying decisions. The bonuses should be related and complimentary to the main product. This increases the value of your primary product and makes the price appear much less for the value the customer gets. You should try and avoid offering rebates or discounts if you can; offer a bonus instead.

3. Give a deadline

If you give a deadline by which the offer will close or the price will be raised, then this will build real urgency and increased sales. You should make sure that the deadline is kept, or if you extend the offer you should give a reason why you did this. There are many websites that use a script that continually changes the deadline. But this method can really backfire as you can lose credibility with your customers. When customers buy right away only to see the same price after the deadline is gone, they feel cheated and tricked.

4. Offer a ’surprise bonus’

We’ve already said that bonuses are great decision helpers. Well, the ‘mystery gift’ or the ’surprise bonus’ also increases sales because of the suspense element injected by this unknown. There are many people who will buy just to find out what the surprise gift it. This reminds me of the Cracker Jack boxes of candied popcorn I’ll buy as a child just to get the surprise gift inside. It still works, even with adults.

5. Reward for fast responders and penalty for slow responders

As a teenager I’ll attend summer youth camps that I’ll have to register for a few months in advance. All the forms came with a deadline after which you’ll have to pay a higher price. I always tried to register early so that I’ll get the lower price. This sure defeated the procrastination bug in me.

A slight variation to this is the sales of tickets for an event that will carry a higher price if you chose to pay at the door. This encourages ticket sales because those who bought the ticket are assured of a lower price.

6. Games of chance.

You’ve may have seen this strategy in selling magazine subscriptions. You are pitched on subscribing for a chance to win a Caribbean vacation or a digital camera. The only way you can win will be to get an entrance by making the purchase. It’s a gimmick that works very well for Publisher’s Clearing House. There are many other companies that use this method as a lead generation tool as well.

7. Make it easy to respond.

This may be the least obvious strategy of all but it’s often overlooked. Do you want your prospect to call? Then offer a phone number in big bold type. Should they fill out a form then make the form simple to fill out. You can even pre-fill the options to make this a multiple choice type survey sheet. Do you want them to click on a link and fill in their credit card information? Then tell them so. Even though it may be obvious to you this doesn’t mean that it will be obvious to your prospects.

If you give your potential customers too many hoops to jump through then they’ll more than likely abandon the sale. There are many big company websites that take you through multiple steps just to give them your money. These are the same companies that complain of abandoned shopping carts.

So provide easy and multiple ways of ordering-phone, fax, credit card, money order, online merchant and whatever is practical for you.

I’ve read many websites where the copywriters seem to almost apologize for asking for the order. There is zero incentive for me to order now. It’s as if they are saying, “Now that you’ve read this, you can go away and think about it. Then come back and make your order.” Don’t bring me to the top of the decisional mountain and then allow me to slide right back down the other side-a lost soul. … I mean a lost sale.

After getting me excited about your product or service then sell me (I mean let me buy) and encourage me to feel really good about it.

Make me feel lucky that I got in on that great deal.

The best deal since the invention of slice bread!

Ray L. Edwards is a freelance copywriter, copywriting coach, Internet marketing consultant and published author. He has made his clients millions of dollars online and can be contacted about his services at Copywriting

For any marketer, attention is a precious commodity. Considering that consumers are bombarded with thousands of advertising messages each day, the question of how to make your message stand out from the crowd becomes even more critical.Any successful sales letter must accomplish two things:

1. It must sell the prospect on reading the sales message all the way through

2. It must lead the prospect to the most desired action, whether it’s to make a purchase or subscribe to your newsletter.

If the copywriter fails at Step 1, then Step 2 becomes an impossibility. In other words, it’s unfeasible to make a sale if the sales message is not read. Many copywriters overlook Step 1 and, therefore, even though they have a great offer and close the message is not “attractive” to read. The bottom line is that the sales letter suffers from Attention Deficit Sales Letter Disorder - ADSLD!

Direct marketers know half the battle is won if they can just get their letters opened. Much thought and testing go into determining the size, design, color, message and layout of the mailing envelope. These marketers know if that envelop is not opened, then the letter is not read and the sale is not made. Simple.

For the online marketer, there are no envelopes to be opened even though some webmasters create a Flash introductory page that can act like an envelope. When a prospect comes to a website the message is there to be read. But how can this prospect be enticed into reading the sales letter all the way through?

Here are a number of ways that I remedy ADSLD for my copywriting clients:

1. Several tests have shown that a RED headline gets attention over any other font color choice. Red is often associated with danger but it also says, “This is important, read me!”

2. Remove anything from the page that doesn’t support the sales message or distracts from the sales message. This includes most animated graphics and bright colors for the page background that competes with the foreground text. Nothing beats just plain black font against a white background. If you can keep the number of colors used to three or less, this will also help readability.

3. Keep the text table width under 700 px. If the text is set too wide, then it becomes tedious to read from one line to the next because too much head and eye movement is involved.

4. The headline must engage the reader to read the rest of the message immediately. Headlines that work best are those that promise a BIG benefit for READING the letter, induce some curiosity and written in large bold type. It should also have some ‘newsy’ element to it as well.

5. The format and layout of the sales letter should be inviting to read. 12 pt. Arial font works well online, paragraphs kept under five lines and appropriate highlighting, bolding and subheads all make the letter appear easy to read.

6. The lead in, or the hook for the sales letter must arrest the attention of the reader and seduce them into wanting to read the entire letter. This can be best done by making a bold promise for reading the letter itself. Great hooks include stories, factual statements of a surprising kind and a strong testimonial from a user of the product. Whatever method is used, the lead in has to break into the conversation already taking place in the readers head. Using popular news items you know will be familiar to your target audience is another effective strategy.

7. There should be prompts all along the letter that encourages the reader to keep reading. This could be as simple as writing: “Keep reading …” One of the best strategies is to begin a thought process and break it with another subject and return to complete the thought later. This can be done simply by writing, for example, “I’ll tell you how I lost 38 lbs in just 3 weeks, but before I do so let me tell you … [other parenthetical idea or story goes here]” You’ve planted an initial idea which requires resolution and the reader must continue reading to gain it.

8. Be UNIQUE. If all of the sales letters in your industry look and read the same then why should a prospect read yours? You should try to go for a unique look and feel for your website. This may mean using a mascot, a humorous twist in your message or what can be more unique than your picture or story? The fact is that you want to stand out from the crowd and don’t be afraid to push the envelope sometimes. One of the cardinal sins of copywriting is to be boring.

9. Focus your message on the reader, not on your company or product. This is a major downfall of big corporation who think everyone should just know how great their companies are. But your prospect is basically motivated by selfish desires. The questions you must be answering all through the sales letter is “What’s in it for your reader?”

Often there is a debate about just how long a sales letter should be. Keep in mind that any person will read a 1,000 page book if it’s all about them. A book about your company? … that’s another story altogether.

With thousands of marketers coming online you’ll need to fight more and more for the ATTENTION of your prospects. I’ve been able to use these same tips I’m sharing with you to win attention and increased profits for my copywriting clients. You can do the same for your marketing message as well.

Ray L. Edwards is a freelance copywriter, copywriting coach, Internet marketing consultant and published author. He has made his clients millions of dollars online and can be contacted about his services at http://www.webcopy-writing.com

In this article I would like to look at the matter of persuasion. How do you get your prospects to take action?

I remember as a door-to-door salesman, my instructor often said that you must understand ‘why people buy’. It has a certain ring to it doesn’t it? If you know why people buy then you must gear your ads towards these ‘psychological buttons’.

Before I go any further, I would just like to mention that this is in no way ‘manipulation’. It’s just common sense that you don’t approach someone about an important decision when they’re angry. Every wise wife knows how to place their husband in that ‘mood’ before they spring their special request on him!

Even kids wait until their parents are in a good mood before they tell them the cost of the special outfit that they MUST have.

Having cleared the air let’s look at these important principles.

1. Scarcity - People go after those opportunities or products that are limited in availability. That’s why you must show in your ad that your offer is for a limited time or in limited quantities. Field tests

have shown that limited-quantity ads pull much better than limited-time ads. Procrastination is still a large part of human nature, so there’re always those who would wait until the last minute to act. If the prospect knows that the item is in limited quantity, there’s no way of determining when they’d be all sold out.

2. Herding Instinct - Your prospects will better respond to your ad if you can show that people JUST LIKE them are responding. Just recently a high school senior knocked on my door selling magazine subscription for a college scholarship program. She used that number on me - she was sure to let me know that my neighbors had bought subscriptions! We all just want to keep up with our neighbors. Needless to say, I fell for it. Whether I would read the magazine is another story.

I often point this out to my wife and you can try looking for this pattern as well. You would seldom find a satellite dish on a single home on a block. You often find dish receivers in pairs or more. One neighbor gets that service and the other follows. The same goes for gardens and lawns. Nobody wants to be the sore thumb! This is where the use of testimonials comes in. Your testimonials say “See, a lot of people like you are making this decision”. Use lots of testimonials.

3. The desire to pay back a good deed - If someone thinks that you’ve given him or her something of value then there is a strong desire to pay you back the favor. One example is that of AOL that marketed their service by giving away those floppy disks. They

literally blanketed the USA with these floppy disks. They still do but now with CDs and 1000 hrs free etc. Do you think that this is working for AOL?

In your marketing efforts you must give something of value FIRST - this builds loyalty and results. Always show the value of what your ‘free’ service is - never just say ‘FREE’. Show the value of the gift then say that it is free. This is important because you want the person to place value on your bonus. (You’ll notice that in all the bonus ebooks that I’ve given through these articles that I first tell you the value of them -and even go out of my way to prove the value sometimes.)

4. Authority - People will listen to you if they see that you have authority on your subject. There was a TV commercial that used this line - “My son-in-law recommended that I take _____ for my heartburn. Why should I listen to him you say? He’s a doctor”.

You may think that you do not have authority on what you are advertising. In this case appeal to authority figures - quote from a respected journal, expert … you get the idea.

5. Commitment - If someone has made a PUBLIC commitment to something then they are more likely to follow through. Find some way of getting someone to make a commitment and he or she’s more likely to follow through than if they did not. That’s why any motivational trainer would tell you that it’s important to WRITE your goals down -you are more likely to complete them!

Just today I received a sales letter in the mail for which I had to send for free information. My physical act of commitment was to peel a nice red label marked “free” and place it in a designated spot on the mail back card. Now you know why they make you

do this little silly stuff.

Only if weddings worked the same way!

6. Your ‘likability’ - People would respond to your offer if they like you. It’s hard to sell to someone to whom you have no relationship even if it’s just a ‘perceived’ relationship. This is one of the most

overlooked areas of marketing on the Internet.

The Internet can seem a little cold sometimes. I’ve found that even after making email contact with my prospect I still have to make voice contact before they sign up for my offers. At the same time the Internet is a wonderful tool to build relationships through

emails, message boards, instant messages … the list goes on. It’s a known fact that someone would buy from you if THEY think that YOU like them. Give people value, more than they expect and you have a customer for life!

7. The eternal “what’s in it for me?” principle - As your prospect read your ad this is the question they are seeking an answer to. Make sure that you give them plenty of answers. Appeal to their desire for recognition, wealth, better health, and security -yes all those nice things on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - all the way up to self-actualization. (Check out a Psychology 101 text book if you are not familiar with Maslow -you will glad you did.) But do not forget to appeal to their FEAR of pain and loss.

Field research has shown that people are more responsive to loss than gain. Be sure to show them what they would LOSE if they don’t get your product.

Read through your ads again and see if these buttons are pressed!

Ray L. Edwards is a freelance copywriter, copywriting coach, Internet marketing consultant and published author. He has made his clients millions of dollars online and can be contacted about his services at Copywriter