How to shoot yourself...
In The Foot
Please Read Below
Giving away my copywriting secrets...
May not be the best thing for my copywriting business.
For you though...
Read on, for this advice could actually make you a lot of money.
Now, what exactly have I just done above? Please allow me to explain...
Dear Internet Marketer
Hello. My name is Mark Andrews and my area of expertise is helping internet marketers to make money online with their sales letters.
Have you ever struggled to write a sales letter?
Do you find writing sales letters difficult?
Would it be true to say that sometimes you find yourself getting very frustrated trying to write your perfect sales letter?
Ok - now lets examine the above to find out what is happening here...
A sales letter will typically start with a preheader. This is the very first thing the website visitor will read on your sales letter. On this thread, the preheader is in the very top left hand corner. That is the preheader.
The preheader has just one primary function. And that is to get you the reader, to read the main Headline.
Right below the preheader is the main Headline. Headlines are very, very important. Their function is to grab the readers attention. Short attention grabbing headlines typically work better than long main headlines (some may disagree).
In my view ... if a headline is too long, the reader can feel overwhelmed almost instantly. You don't want your website visitors to experience information overload instantly which is why in my humble opinion, short headlines work best.
Now, the main Headline, grabbing attention with it is just one purpose - the main purpose of the Headline however is to get the reader to read the first sentence.
Likewise the first sentence must be kept very short. You do not at this stage want to overwhelm your reader with too much information. The first sentence should be made up of around 6-8 words. This first sentence has one primary purpose...
To get the reader, surprise, surprise to read the second sentence and so on and so forth all the way down your sales copy.
The longer a visitor reads your sales copy the better the chance that you can direct this person into a direct course of action of your choosing.
Take Your Shoes and Socks Off
Now, a sales letter should be a single column website with no sidebars or other distractions. The last thing you want your sales letter reader to do is to be distracted and to click out of your proposal or online sales pitch.
In essence when compiling a sales letter you are creating a very slippery sales funnel. In the copywriting trade we call this 'gravity pulling copy'.
Every word, every sentence, every paragraph is written specifically to tug on the readers emotions.
You have to understand that a lot of people online do not buy into products and services for completely rational reasons. Often, they will buy on emotion only.
Your visitor coming across your website is looking for a solution to a problem that they have.
They either want to save money, make money or save time. And often at this stage they are feeling rather frustrated and exasperated. In short, they are in emotional pain.
It is the job of the copywriter or your sales letter to take this reader by the hand and lead them from a position of emotional pain to joy and pleasure. If you can do that with your salesmanship in print, you'll have customer for life, putting more money into your life.
Grab a Marker Pen and Touch Your Toes
Now, lets backtrack a little bit...
The next part of your sales letter is all about creating the perfect buyers environment.
Think about a shop, let's say a bookshop.
You walk into Bookshop A. It looks like a great little bookshop on the outside, you walk through the door to be greeted by one hec of a mess.
Books are arranged untidily and in no real order. No smiling, happy salesperson to greet you, the person behind the counter hardly lifts their head to acknowledge your arrival at their business. Unimpressed you turn tail and walk out the way you came.
Perfect buyers environment not.
Walking down the street a little way you come across another bookshop - Bookshop B.
My what a difference! You walk through the door, the atmosphere inside is warm and welcoming, the shelves are laden with thousands of books across a massive range, it's well lit, everything appears to be arranged in a very orderly fashion. And look! There are even comfortable chairs where you can sit down to read any book of your choosing. A sales person comes up to you, genuinely smiles and asks how they can help you.
Now, which bookshop sets the best buying environment? Which bookshop would you feel more relaxed in? Which bookshop would you most likely buy from? Think about it.
With salesmanship in print you can't do some of those things. However, you can set a great tone to your sales letter to show the reader that you really do care about them.
Use a preheader - a preheader is there to get the reader to read the main Headline.
- The main Headline - It's there grab the attention of the reader -- keep it short.
- First sentence must be kept short - 6-8 words is enough.
- Identify with your website visitor's emotions - lead them from emotion pain to emotional pleasure.
- Sales copy should be slippery 'gravity pulling copy' - everything you write must pull the reader down towards your offer, you direct call to action.
- Use a single column layout with no sidebar distractions.
- Create a perfect buying environment by asking questions...
Moving along...
When you insert 'Dear ... ' - Do not use, Dear Friend, it sounds fake and does not lend to your credibility. Use more direct salutations or greetings.
When you introduce yourself, present yourself as an expert in your field of expertise straightaway. It's important at this early stage for the website reader to have positive signals popping off in their subconscious mind.
You can do this with the creation of your/the perfect buying environment.
Start by asking questions that the reader can only say 'Yes!' to in their mind. It's always good to get a prospect nodding or saying YES to themselves very early on. Doing this, you are positively identifying with the visitors concerns or worry. They will think, YES, this person really does understand my needs!
Don't worry too much about perfect grammar etc. Many top copywriters myself included, we break just about every grammar rule possible. You do not need to concern yourself writing with perfect grammar typically (for the average internet marketer).
On the other hand...
If copywriting for a corporate website, perfect grammar will certainly lend itself well to their credibility. For most online sales letters however, do not overly concern yourself with this. It's a lot more important for your words to have a strong impact.
When writing paragraphs keep them to about 2-3 sentences. Shorter sentences are better than very long sentences. Keep them snappy and to the point. This will help your sales copy offer in print appear more riveting.
Draw a Big X On Your Foot
Break up large amounts of test with subheadings. These will help the reader to receive your information into their mind in good bite sized chunks without again, overwhelming them.
Do not use jargon in your sales letters (a trap many software programmers fall into and technical writers too), do not use long words that few will understand. Write as if the prospect is sitting right across the table from you and explain everything simply.
Use bullet points to draw attention to your key benefits. benefits are a lot different to product or service features. Bullet points are also great for your speed readers who are just skimming over the sales letter.
Remember that the reader will be asking one question in their mind all the way through reading your sales copy namely...
"What's in this for me?"
They will also have questions in their mind. Try to identify what these questions and/or objections will be and answer them in your sales letter - this will greatly aid you to get that sale!
Try and include any of the 5 senses into your sales copy. For example if you are offering an information blueprint or system (we don't like to use the word ebook), get that product into their hands in their mind...
"Imagine now, using this blueprint to success, holding it in your hands, quivering with excitement - just a few seconds from now... "
Build excitement, enthrall your readers, tantalise them, tease them, nudge them downwards, encourage them, cajole them and sometimes don't forget that you can give them a big good old hefty kick up the bottom - to get them to take the action that you so desire!
Do not though use humour in your sales copy - this is a bad sales tactic which can backfire massively. If you want humour in your sales copy, leave that only to the most gifted and experienced copywriters. Generally speaking best avoid using humour full stop.
Lie Back and Get Yourself Comfortable
Testimonials are also very important, these will add credibility to your offer. Only use the best ones and remember to seek permission to use any customer testimonial first. Only use genuine testimonials, fake ones stick out a mile. Put each testimonial in it's own separate box.
Create scarcity when it comes to the final approach, for example...
"This one time best deal price is only available if you act right now."
"This offer is on a strictly come first basis only available to (insert limited number) - when it is sold, it will be sold out for good!"
That is creating scarcity.
Make sure that you carry all of the risk, this is called Risk Reversal.
Offer a personal guarantee that you will carry all of the risk so that the visitor has nothing whatsoever to lose buying into your product or service. The guarantee typically works better the longer it is. Think about it this way...
You offer a 1 day guarantee. What does that say to the reader? That you have very little faith in your product or service. And if they don't like it, what will they do? Why, they'll immediately ask for a full refund.
Now, do the opposite, offer a full 365 days guarantee and you take away all the risk and what's more they'll never get around to asking you for a refund as other things in their life take over.
Take Aim At The Big X
At the very bottom of your sales letter use a signature, it always looks more professional. Obviously not your real one. Use a free signature tool online. I would post one up but I'm guessing that at the moment I do not have enough posts to point you in the right direction for that.
You can end your sales letter with...
"To you continued success!" (or something similar)
PS - points are very important, you would be surprised how many people actually do read them. Use them wisely. Use them to draw attention to your key benefits and your solid guarantee etc.
I hope that you found this first thread of mine in this section useful to you and that your next sales letter makes you a million dollars!
The very best of luck to all of you personally and if I can do anything to help you out, please just get in touch by pm (or post below) - I'll be delighted to help you out if I can. My URL address will appear in my signature below upon getting up to the mandatory 10 posts.
Cheers!
Mark Andrews...
And Fire!
*** My apologies about the formatting on the bullet points, not sure what happened there, that's outside of my control - sorry about that and also I was sure I was in the Copywriting Section when I clicked on New Thread but it appears that this thread is in the wrong section now, would you mind terribly mods or Admin popping it across into the correct forum please, this thread? Thank you so much! ***
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