The Web Copy Blog

Do give a compelling promise early in the body copy that the material viewers are about to read is worth their while.  For example:

Be sure to read every word of this because the secret ingredient for turning your small business enterprise into a mega-success story is hidden in this article.

In the next example, I challenge them to read every word, because if they don’t, they’ll miss that thing they are dying to know.

Your first step is to read this article in its entirety. Please don’t just skim through it–I don’t want you to miss a single word, because when I expose web copywriting for you, you simply cannot fail to create the sales and profits you want on the web.

Another technique I use is to reveal a little-known fact, anecdote, or case study at the beginning, followed by a statement like this:

If you think that’s interesting, wait ’till you read what I’ve discovered.
This statement implies that more interesting information is about to be revealed. 

In the next example, the promise of “solid proof” is compelling, and makes readers continue reading with anticipation.

The career of writing no longer has to be synonymous with “starving.” An annual income of $100,000 or more–even on a freelance or part-time basis–is now well within your reach. 

This is absolutely no hype–and I’ll give you solid proof in a moment.  And if you think that’s exciting, wait till I show you how you can do it in as little as 6 weeks.

This is how it works when you put it all together: in your introductory paragraphs, tell your readers what you are going to say with a compelling promise.  In the body copy, deliver on the promise, and, in a concluding paragraph, remind them of what you just revealed. 

This boosts your credibility for delivering on a promise and paves the way toward making your reader welcome your offer.

Do establish early in the copy who is writing the piece and why the audience should believe the writer. 

This is where your (or your client’s) credentials, qualifications, or experience become important. 

They don’t necessarily have to be monumental; that is, you don’t have to be the leading expert or authority in a particular field, but your credentials must make you (or your client) believable.

Do write in the first person.  Whenever possible, remove the words we or our from your web copy and replace them with I. 

By speaking in the first person, it is as though one person is talking to another. We and our sound more corporate, less intimate and friendly. 

You can’t use this technique all of the time, but do use it when it’s appropriate.
Do use a drop letter (also called a drop cap) when starting your body copy. 

A drop letter is an oversized (often bold and ornamental) first letter of the first sentence of your body copy. 

Generally, it drops down two or more lines into the opening text of your body copy. 

Tests conducted by Ted Nichols have proven that starting your body copy with a drop cap increases readership because it draws readers’ eyes to it, thereby leading them to start reading the body copy instead of clicking away.

Do use multiple pricing structures.  Always remember that people fall into different price categories.  That’s why Mercedes-Benz makes that cost $27,000, $69,000, $85,000, or more. 

Most people fail to recognize this when they design their offers. As a result, their offers are static.  They usually have just one price and one offer.

Different pricing programs are structured to catch as many people as possible at the buying level at which they are willing to buy. 

Remember:  The value of any merchandise is what someone is willing to pay for it.
People also gravitate to different income promises: 

If you run a headline that reads, “How to Use Website Metrics to Boost Your Conversion Rates to 10%, 20%–Even 30%,” you’re likely to get more responses than if your headline reads, “How to Use Website Metrics to Boost Your Conversion Rate to 30%.”  Why? 

Because a broader spectrum of the audience can relate to–and believe–the three levels of improvement (10, 20, and 30 percent). 

Some people would have trouble believing anyone could get a 30 percent conversion rate, but might readily believe that 10 or 20 percent is possible.

Remember that when you write web copy.  Say I write the following headline to promote a web copywriting course:  “Earn $300 Per Hour as a Web Copywriter.” 

Very few people would read any further.  The claim sounds unbelievable, (when though it’s true.)  Some people think it’s not possible for them to earn that much.

If, on the other hand, I write, “Can You Really Earn $85, $125–even $235 an Hour as a Web Copywriter?” and a subheadline that reads, “The Web Price Index Says You can”, that would make more people read on, wouldn’t it?

Do call attention to the flaws or shortcomings of your product or service, but only if you can turn those flaws and shortcomings into benefits. 

When you admit the drawbacks of your product or service, you immediately increase your credibility. 

People think you are really up front and honest about the not-so-great aspects of your product, not just touting tile good things about it. 

The key here is that you should not call attention to flaws or drawbacks unless you can turn that “confession” into a benefit. 

Avis said it this way:  “We’re Number 2.  We try harder,” and turned a drawback into a unique selling proposition. I’m sure you’ve often heard this said:  “We’re not cheap, but we’re the best.”

Do ask an opening question.  When you open the first paragraph of your web copy with a question, it increases your chances of getting your readers to read on.

A well-designed question will cause the prospect’s thoughts to focus on what you have to say. 

Your opening question must, of course, be relevant and important and must speak to the needs of your audience. 

When crafted skillfully, questions point to the result or benefit of your product or service.
Do craft text links that are engaging and highly clickable. 

We already know that web visitors often scan the page instead of reading it word for word. 

When they do, their eyes gravitate to formatting devices such as words in bold print or italics, underlined words, bullets, and the like.  Text links or hyperlinks are also formatting devices.

Text links are those colored, underlined words that, when clicked on, send readers to a predetermined location in the same document, or to another webpage or website. 

These are even more eye-catching than bold, underlined, or italicized words because they’re in another color.

It takes more than a vague “click here” to compel readers to click through to the target destination. 

In order for the text link to be highly clickable, it must either convey a benefit or employ an embedded command.

Click here to find your million-dollar domain name.

Notice that this example contains an embedded command, conveys a benefit, is written in the imperative voice (starts with an action verb, assumes the subject you, and ends with the object of the action). 

These kinds of text links are significantly more clickable.  “Give it a try, risk-free” as a clickable link is more effective than “Click here to order.”

Do use phrases that take the edge off the act of purchasing and make it look easy (painless) and that, ideally, convey it benefit:

Submit Your Online Reservation

Unlock the Cash Vault Now

Click Here to Get Your Name in the News

Become an Associate

Get [product] now

Attend the Boot Camp

This enhances the editorial approach to writing web copy.  If you can avoid using words like “buy now” or “order” inside your editorial web copy, do it.

How about sharing me your own experience based Dos and Don’ts of web copywriting?

Empathy is defined as the capacity to understand, be aware, be sensitive to, and vicariously experience the feelings, thoughts and experiences of another person. 

Frame-of-mind marketing grows directly out of that feeling of empathy. While many seem to be born with that ability, the good news is that empathy is not a genetic trait, but rather, a skill that you can easily develop.

The ability to view things from the perspective of your audience is not only valuable in copywriting and marketing, but for all social interactions. 

The more sensitive you are to someone’s frame of mind, the more persuasive you can be, the more rapport you can have with people, and, consequently, the more people will trust you and agree with you.

Let’s look at the frame of mind of people who are in the process of opening their e-mail.  The easiest way to do this is to put yourself in the shoes of your average e-mail recipient. 

Write down the thoughts that normally run through people’s heads as they open their e-mail box.  Here’s an example of the typical thought process:

Okay, who sent me e-mail today?  They are curious and eager to receive e-mail.  (A recent AOL/RoberASW study shows that people check their e-mail an average of 13.1 times a week.)

I’m busy and I just have enough time to read the good stuff. They scan their in-box for (1) personal e-mail, (2) important business e-mail, and (3) other things that they have time to read, usually in that order.

Let me delete all the junk mail so that it doesn’t mess up my in-box. People are inundated with commercial e-mail, free newsletters, and e-zines-and their forefinger is positioned over their mouse, ready to click on the Delete button. 

My e-mail box is my private, personal space, and I don’t want strangers and salespeople invading my privacy. 

Their in-box is a sacred place, and they are protective of it, inviting only friends, relatives, colleagues, and selected business acquaintances to enter. 

Some people may have additional reasons, but these are nearly universal. Most of us probably feel the same way.

For this reason, the fundamental rule for writing successful e-mail copy is to review the frame of mind of your audience before writing a single word. 

Clearly, when we want to sell our ideas or products to others, we need to create rapport, and one good way to do this is by aligning ourselves with them, which simply means being like them. 

People develop a bond with you because they see a reflection of themselves in you. An effective way to do this is by mirroring the language in which your target audience communicates, which allows you to gain instant rapport with them. 

The result is that they instantly like and trust you, although they may not know why. Can you see how useful this can be in the selling process–online as well as offline?

People online are used to the up-close-and-personal language that is so prevalent in e-mail, instant messaging, and text messaging. 

There is a one-on-one, in-your-face kind of intimacy in e-mail, and you have to work with it and not against it. 

You must understand who your audience is.  At the same, you should make it personal and conversational. 

Even you are speaking to CEOs, you don’t have to use the language to use the language of the boardroom. 

Speak to your reader’s level of intelligence and comprehension, but keep it friendly.
Just as in writing copy for your website, don’t begin your e-mail messages with formal corporatespeak:  “We at Widgets.com have been in business for 15 years, and we are the industry’s premier source of widgets.” 

That kind of language doesn’t only sound pompous, but it deliberately keeps your audience at arm’s length. 

It’s also boring, so your readers are likely to tune out.  Furthermore, how does the fact that your company has existed for 15 years fill the needs of your audience?  What’s in it for them?

Breaking the Sales Barrier
There’s another part of the equation that is rarely mentioned:  Getting your prospects to like you is important, but what’s even more important is letting your clients see that you like them. 

When that occurs, sales barriers really come down. When we know someone likes us, we believe that they won’t cheat, lie to, or take advantage of us, but instead will give us the best possible arrangement or the best possible deal.

For this reason, it’s crucial to write your e-mail as though you are writing to just one person that you’re fond of, not 1,000, 10,000, or 100,000 at once.  Don’t speak at or to your reader, but with him or her.

Since your audience’s e-mail box is a sacred place where only trusted people are welcome and invited, it is also the place where you can create the closest, strongest bond that can be forged between marketer and audience.

You must never damage that bond by abusing your readers’ trust in you. If they opted in to receive marketing tips from you, and it you don’t deliver on that promise but instead give them sales pitches for various products, you blow it.

If you treat their e-mail box as it dumping place for junk e-mail, you will also blow it.
People form opinions about you based on the e-mails you send them.

Often, you don’t know what those opinions are unless people happen to be vocal about them. Sometimes, people brag about the size of their mailing list, but as the saying goes,

“It’s not the number of eyeballs that matter, it’s the frame of mind behind those eyeballs that really matters.”

Just because you have a list of 50,000 or 100,000 e-mail addresses doesn’t mean that those people care a whit about you. I’d rather have a list of 1,000 devoted subscribers with whom I have a first-name relationship than 100,000 who couldn’t care less about tile.

That’s because I’d be more likely to make a significant number of sales from 1,000 loyal readers than from 100,000 strangers.

Please feel free to write me about the pros and cons you might see from the marketing methods described here.

According to David Ogilvy, founder of the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency and author of Confessions of an Advertising Man and Ogilvy on Advertising,

“On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.  It follows that, unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money”

Here’s a plan for crafting never-fail headlines:

Step 1.  Write 30 to 50 headlines before you decide on the one you’re going to use.

Step 2.  Step back from the headline for a day and read it again with a fresh perspective.

Step 3.  Ask yourself, “How can this headline be better?”  “Is this the best possible headline for my objective, my target audience, and my product or service?”

Most important, don’t take shortcuts when crafting the headline. If you write a weak one, you will have failed, because no matter how good the rest of the piece is, no one will ever read it, and, consequently, no one will buy what you’re selling. 

Remember, the most important element of a website is the first screen, and the most important element of the first screen is the headline. Therefore, you must give it the attention it deserves.

The headline (or opening statement or its equivalent) is the most important component of any direct-response ad, whether it’s a printed sales letter or an “advertorial” on your web site.  If you don’t stop readers dead in their tracks with your headline, you don’t stand a chance of making a sale.

The sales-producing ability of your website is directly proportional to the number of people who read what’s on it. 

That is, the more people who read your web copy, the more sales it will generate.  Therefore, the headline must grab the reader’s attention, since its primary purpose is to stimulate people to start reading the copy.

John Caples (the advertising industry’s advocate of rigorously tested, measured, and verifiable advertising effectiveness) said in his book, Tested Advertising Methods, “In a print ad, 75 percent of the buying decisions are made at the headline alone.”

I’m speculating that online, that percentage might be a bit less–perhaps 60 to 65 percent. 

Although I haven’t found statistics to support my contention, after factoring in the attention deficit, information overwhelm, and general skepticism so prevalent on the web, I feel reasonably comfortable with my speculation; 60 to 65 percent is still significant enough that you should take the subject of headlines more seriously than any other aspect of web copy.

What’s in a Headline?
Your headline should convey a benefit of interest to your target audience.  It must answer the reader’s unspoken question, “What’s in it for me?” 

There are two basic approaches to answering that question, and each stems from one of two basic human needs:  (1) to gain pleasure or (2) to avoid pain.

You can appeal to the human need to gain pleasure by pointing out how the readers can attain or accomplish something–or gain, save, take advantage, or profit–by using your product or service. 

More particularly, your headline can demonstrate how your product or service will meet your readers’ needs or solve their problems. 

Here are some classic examples of headlines with appeals based on pleasure:

The Secret to Making People Like You

How I Sold $200 Million Worth of Products and Services

Make Anyone Do Anything You Mentally Command–With Your Mind Alone!

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Why Some Consultants Earn $100,000 to $250,000 per Year While Most Struggle Just to Get By

Play Guitar in Seven Days or Your Money Back

Alternatively, you can appeal to the human need to avoid pain by showing how readers can reduce or eliminate undesirable things such as discomfort, embarrassment, loss, illness, mistakes, poverty, or boredom, to name a few. 

Here are a few famous ones that play on that need:

Do You Make These Mistakes in English?

Are You Ever Tongue-Tied at a Party?

You Can Laugh at Money Worries–If You Follow This Simple Plan

When Doctors Feel “Rotten,” This Is What They Do

Do You Have These Symptoms of Nerve Exhaustion?

Do You Do Any of These 10 Embarrassing Things?

All of these successful headlines are compelling. They not only capture the attention of prospective buyers, they also make an immediate connection with them. They give the reader a good reason to read on.

The Building Blocks of Winning Web Headlines
Headlines are the starting point of successful web copy.  If your headline fails to capture the attention of the reader, it doesn’t matter how good your body copy is because your reader won’t ever get there. 

According to master direct marketer and author Ted Nicholas, who reportedly has sold $500 million worth of products in 49 industries, a good headline can be as much as 17 times more effective than a so-so headline. 

Simply changing one word or one figure in a headline can dramatically improve the response.

A successful headline engages or involves the reader by
  Offering a strong, compelling promise
Open Your Own Personally Branded, Fully Stocked Online Store in 15 Minutes

  Highlighting benefits to the reader
The World’s Richest Source of Cash–And How You Can Tap into It to Start or Grow Your Business”

  Explaining exactly what the offer is;
Earn Your Master’s Degree Online in 18 Months or Less

  Appealing to the emotions
Will These Internet Trends Kill Your Online Business?

  Using specifics
How Adam Ginsberg Made $15 Million on eBay in 2003

  Arousing curiosity
Words That Command People to Do Your Bidding

  Calling out to a specific target audience

  The Sales-Closing Techniques of a Self-Made Billionaire

  Making an announcement
$2 Million Scientific Project Unlocks the Secret of
Aging:  How You Can Become Biologically Younger

  Asking a question
Does Coral Calcium Really Reverse Aging, Extend Your Life Span, and Cure Degenerative Diseases Like Cancer?

  Beginning with the words how to
How to Control the Mind of Your Prospects-And Influence Them to Buy What You’re Selling

Web headlines differ from advertising headlines because a web headline doesn’t always explain what the offer is. 

Instead, it wraps the offer in an editorial cushion.  Like the body copy, the headline should not read like an ad; rather it should read like an editorial. 

Remember, according to Ted Nicholas, five times as many people read editorials than messages that scream out, “I’m an ad!”  If an advertorial is prepared in a way that lends credibility, it can pull up to 500 percent more in sales!

When writing a headline that highlights benefits, remember that there are obvious benefits as well as hidden ones. 

An obvious benefit is one that is immediately apparent.  Even then, the obvious must be articulated in a way that conveys value. 

For example, say you are trying to convey the money-saving benefit of joining a buyers discount club. 

Instead of writing a bland headline like “Save 20 Percent on All Your Purchases,” I’d write the following:
Discover How to Give Yourself a 20 Percent Pay Raise–Without Having to Squeeze a Single Cent from Your Boss

Do you see the hidden benefit?  When you Save 20 percent or more on everything you buy (as a discount buying club member), that’s the equivalent of getting a 20 percent pay raise (and you don’t have to pay taxes on that pay raise!). 

I’ve stated the obvious in a creative way, and added emotion and drama into it by using the action words, discover and squeeze.

A hidden benefit is one that is not immediately apparent and, at first glance, may not seem to be a reason for buying your product or service.

“A Tax-Deductible Vacation in Las Vegas” is a hidden benefit of attending a seminar in Las Vegas.

According to master copywriter and marketer Ted Nicholas, who reportedly spent more than $ 100,000 testing to find out which copy elements boost response rates, an ad headline draws 28 percent more attention if framed in quotation marks! 

The ad appears much more important because the impression that someone is being quoted adds credibility, which in turn makes it more riveting and more likely to be read. 

For example, “You, Too, Can Pick Winning Stocks–with 95 Percent Accuracy”

Whenever possible, use the imperative voice in your headline. The imperative voice is a grammatical mood that (as its name implies) influences the behavior of another or expresses a command.

Land a Better Job

Put an End to Migraines

Erase Your Negative Credit Marks

Cancel Your Debts

Stop the Flu Dead in Its Tracks

The imperative voice commands, leads or empowers your prospect to do something.  It starts with an action verb (such as blast, impress, improve, create).

It assumes the subject is you and ends with the object of the action.  If your verb is blast, the question is, blast what?  And the answer is, your competition. 

The headline is:  Blast Your Competition.  If your action verb is impress, the question is, impress whom?  Answer, your friends.  The headline is:  Impress Your Friends.

Do you have any special experience on headline; if so please feel free to share it with us?

Which of the suggestions given above about a headline you find it more impressive and why?

On the Internet, there are two fundamental ways of acquiring website sales:  The first is to generate traffic to your website (traffic generation), and the second is to convert your website visitors into customers (traffic conversion).

Web copywriting is the primary element of traffic conversion. Make no mistake about it, as a web copywriter, your primary function is as a traffic converter.  After all, what good is all the traffic in the world if you can’t get visitors to your site do what you want them to do when they get there?

Traffic generators are those things that drive traffic to a website. Traffic generators include high search engine rankings, investing in pay-per-click search engines, affiliate marketing, e-zine advertising, joint-venture endorsements, and similar devices. 

There are thousands of ways to generate traffic. When you write marketing communications such as free reports, promotional articles, online ads, newsletters or e-zines, SIG files, and search engine listings, you assume the secondary role of traffic generator.

SIG File:  Your Online Business Card
A signature file, also known as a SIG file, is, quite simply, your dinature. 

It’s the part of your e-mail message that appears at the very that tells your story–who you are and what you do–or features I product or service you are promoting. 

A SIG file can he delivered in plain text.
Think of it as your online business card that you can use as tool, because it gives you the opportunity to advertise your web’s product, or your services with every e-mail you send at no cost to

Example:
John Smith
Director
ABC Hair Restoration Clinic
http://www. URL.com

Get your *free* report:  “9 Facts You Must Know About Hair Loss Before It’s Too Late”.  Send a blank e-mail to 9facts@)URL.com and the report be sent to your e-mail box instantly.

Wagging the Website
On the Internet, what do online businesses pay the most attention to and spend the most money on? 

The website, of course, because that’s the highly visible component of the marketing mix.  The website is where a business displays its products and services.

It’s where you close the sale and take the orders. E-mail, on the other hand, is not glamorous and is therefore viewed as merely a supporting component of the marketing process, which is a big mistake.

Most online entrepreneurs and writers overlook the significance of e-mail, and as a result, they write e-mails haphazardly, almost as an afterthought. 

They regard e-mail as something that supports the objectives of the website, or as a vehicle for customer service, or as a way to send out special announcements. 

In other words, they regard e-mail as a low-cost, inconsequential accessory to their web presence.

While e-mail can and does make a fine supporting actor, used properly it can assume a starring role as the primary sales tool. 

E-mail can be used to direct what happens on your site, not vice versa.  In essence, you can use e-mail to “wag the website.”

E-Mail Market
Why Your E-Mail May Be More Important Than Your Website
I’m not suggesting by any means that a website is not important or that you should forget about putting one up. 

I am saying that if you rely exclusively on a website for your sales without using the power of e-mail to fuel those sales, your Internet business is not going to get very far.

E-mail marketing is a hot item in e-commerce.  A layperson may think of commercial e-mail as spam.
But to the marketing industry, e-mail is a gold mine that allows companies to speak personally and directly to prospects and customers and to carry on a relationship that contributes significantly to sales.

As you know, chances are, less than 1 percent of visitors to your site will ever buy your product or service. 

Even the best marketers with the most successful websites seldom convert more than 5 percent of their web visitors into customers when their website is their only marketing vehicle. 

That’s why an opt-in mechanism is vital for capturing your visitors’ contact information, developing a relationship with them, and, as a result, radically increasing the chance of ultimately making the sale.

In view of this, writing powerful e-mail copy is one of the most important skills required for doing business on the web. You should never write e-mail unsystematically. If you do, you’ll be leaving a lot of money on the table.  Here is why:

1. Virtually every person who is online sends and receives e-mail, but not everyone surfs the web. 

E-mail provides greater visibility for any Internet marketer.  E-mail is also a far better vehicle than a website for distributing and collecting information, as well as for developing a dedicated following.

2. Relationship in marketing is at the very heart of all e-commerce.  You simply can’t build a relationship solely through your website, no matter how many interactive bells and whistles it has. 

E-mail, on the other hand, builds relationships. To produce an income, a website relies on people visiting and revisiting the site.

You may have heard the saying, “The money is in the list.”  What it means is that when you leverage your relationship with the prospects in your database (your list), you are more likely to close a sale. 

That’s because you give people a chance to know you and trust you. Even if your website gets only modest traffic, you can convert that traffic into more money than you can imagine through e-mail.

3. While it’s true that a website makes the front-end sale, you’ll be missing out on 90 percent or more of the potential profits if you don’t use e-mail to fan the flames. 

The real selling starts after the first sale is made, by multiplying that one sale into many, many more sales through follow-up e-mails. 
This is why the lifetime value of the customer–not the first sale–is paramount.

Lifetime Value of a Customer
How do you calculate the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer?  First, you figure out how many years your average customer does business with you customer lifetime). 

Next, you estimate how much business you’ll get from the average customer over that period of time (sales per customer). 

Then you factor in the number of referrals the average customer gives your company and multiply that by the percentage of those referrals that become customers. 

The formula will look like this:

Customer lifetime x sales per customer x number of referrals x percentage of referrals that become customers = LTV

Let’s plug in some hypothetical figures for an online bookstore:

Customer lifetime = 10 years
Sales per customer (per year) = $50
Number of referrals made by average customer = 4
Percentage of referrals that become customers = 26%
10 x $50 x 4 x 0.26 = $520

Next, subtract the cost of books sold, say $403, and that gives the bookstore a gross margin (gross profit) of $117 per customer. That’s the LTV of one customer to that bookstore.

If each customer has an LTV of $117, then the bookstore can easily determine how much it can reasonably spend to acquire each new customer and still make a profit over the lifetime of that customer. 

The profits probably won’t come with the first sale. They may not even come in the first year, since the cost of acquiring a customer call be high.

But if you build strong relationships and offer quality products and services, over the life of the customer, you should reap great rewards.

Note:  If the bookstore sells other things, CDs, DVDs, stationery, greeting cards, and so on, each new category introduces new revenue streams and significantly increases the potential lifetime revenue from a customer.

4. E-mail helps you keep the customers you have. It costs much less to keep an existing customer than to acquire a new one. 

It costs five to ten times as much to find a new customer as it does to retain an existing one. 

Additionally, loyal customers are more profitable to your business because they usually buy more of your company’s products, are less sensitive to price, and often refer other customers. 

They usually take less of your customer service time because they’re already familiar with your company.

5. An increasing number of traditional brick-and-mortar companies are discovering that a website is simply not sufficient for success in e-commerce. 

The Internet’s killer application–e-mail–is now the primary vehicle for interactive marketing. 

Why? E-mail is a highresponse-rate vehicle because it’s in-your-face, immediate, and inexpensive. 

It sells, promotes, informs, creates buzz, acquires and retains customers, reinforces branding, and provides customer service all in one fell swoop.

Having a mailing list of prospects does not mean you will automatically make money.  That’s not what “The money is in the list” means. 

The money is indeed in the list, but only if you know how to leverage that list through e-mail copy that deepens your relationship with the members of your list. 

You do this first and foremost by getting them to like you and gaining their trust.

In your e-mail, you can also use the same psychological devices you use when writing web copy.

But if you fail to get your e-mail audience to like and trust you, you won’t make sales.  It’s as simple as that.

How many times have you bought products that you didn’t particularly like, want, or need just because you liked and trusted the people who were selling them to you? 

Ralph Wilson, who according to the New York Times is “among the best-known publishers and consultants who preach the responsible use of e-mail for marketing,” exemplifies this premise. 

In addition to his reputation for providing outstanding marketing content in his website (Wilsonweb.com), he is well liked, trusted, and respected by hundreds of thousands of subscribers to his three e-mail newsletters (Web Marketing Today, Doctor Ebiz, and Web Commerce Today), something that undoubtedly contributes to the success of his online enterprises.
Which of the advantages that E-mail could provide you with that your online marketing has been reaping from?

Once you’ve written your copy, it is vital that you pay attention to how readable that copy is.  Short sentences and simple words make your copy more inviting. 

They also help to cut up huge blocks of text into bite-size paragraphs that are no more than three or four sentences each.

Microsoft Word has a tool that displays information about the reading level of the document, including readability scores. 

It rates text on a 100-point scale; the higher the score, the easier it is for people to understand your writing. 

Aim for a score of 70 or higher. It also rates your writing on a U.S. grade-school level.  For example, a score of 7.0 means that a seventh grader can understand the document.

When writing copy, aim for a score of seventh-or eighth-grade-level comprehension.

Words to Avoid in Your Web Copy
You already know that you should avoid using intellectual, rational, or right-brained words, opting instead for emotional words, but there are other categories of words you must avoid using.

Don’t use euphemisms (more agreeable or more politically correct words and expressions) in an effort to avoid words that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.

Doing so will insult the intelligence of your audience. While you think you are trying to spare your readers’ feelings and sensibilities, using euphemisms may backfire and cause readers to be more offended than if you had just been straightforward. 

For example, don’t call overweight people “metabolically challenged” or people who suffer from hair loss “follicularly challenged” or poor people “economic underachievers.” 

People see through these euphemisms and may think you are actually condescending.

Don’t use buzzwords (important-sounding words or phrases used primarily to impress laypersons) if the buzzwords don’t play an integral part in your selling proposition. 

In other words, don’t use buzzwords just to show people that you’re cool, that you’re hip to modern lingo, or to impress them with your vocabulary. 

Some examples currently in use include proactive, downsizing, supersize, outsourcing, actionable, and impact used as a verb (as in “impact your business”).

Buzzwords sometimes alienate people who don’t understand what you are talking about.  They may also make you sound pompous or pretentious. 

Even worse, you may be using words that have gone hopelessly out of style (without your knowing it), which makes you appear so twentieth century.

Don’t use corporate speak.  The way you write web copy is distinctly different from the way you would write a corporate communication or even a literary or journalistic work. 

You’re not going to win any literary awards for writing excellent web copy, but you are going to win sales.

You may pride yourself on writing flowery prose or businesslike correspondence, but those things don’t cut it in web copy. 

For instance, the words, “We are committed to your success,” don’t mean anything to people anymore.  It’s tired, it’s boring, and it doesn’t convey tangible benefits.

Don’t use clichés.  I believe the avoidance of clichés applies to all genres of writing.  They diminish the value of your writing. 

Clichés make your writing look terribly dated, which in turn may affect how your readers view your offer. 

If you are behind the times, what does that say about your product or service?
Don’t use tentative adjectives. 

These are words like pretty as in ‘pretty good,” very as in “very impressive,” or quite as in “quite wonderful.”  Such words rob your writing of conviction. 

You must either drop the word altogether and simplify your sentence, or replace the word with a compelling one that dramatizes the thought you are trying to communicate.

Do communicate. We’ve all heard the Internet referred to as the information superhighway. 

In fact, it’s practically a cliché.  But information is distinctly different from communication. 

The Internet is filled with people who can inundate you with all kinds of information; the person who has the ability to communicate is the one who will rise above the clutter and the noise–and actually be heard or read.

Author Sidney J. Harris once said, “The two words ‘inforniation’ and ‘communication’ are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things.  Information is giving out; communication is getting through.” 

In marketing, you want to use words that communicate, words that will create interest, trigger enthusiasm, and motivate people to action.  Words that will “get through.”
How do you attempt to make your web cop readable?

How do you control yourself in word selection and word economy while writing copywriting?

We all know that most visitors to websites don’t become buyers on their first visit.  Maybe not even on the first several visits.  What you want to do is find out how to reach them again.

The best way to do this is with all opt-in mechanism (a tool to get a reader to agree to accept your e-mailed information and correspondence). 

Remember, the odds are against people buying something the first time they visit your website. 

After all, they don’t even know you.  Therefore, you must develop an irresistible–and easy–way for your visitors, at minimum, to give you their e-mail address before they go.

In my opinion, crafting your opt-in offer is infinitely more important than crafting the offer for the product itself. 

That’s because you can get as much as 90 percent of your business from those with whom you build an e-mail relationship. 

This is the usual objective, but I advise you not to be shortsighted and focus only on selling, but also on building relationships.
What mechanisms do you employ to build relationships with your visitors?

The first paragraph is crucial because it is where readers are likely to stop reading if you don’t provide them with sufficient reason to continue. 

Ideally, it should immediately demonstrate that there are desirable rewards for reading on.

There’s no need to be lengthy or elaborate. Often, short, punchy, easy-to-read sentences suffice as long as they hold the viewer’s attention. 

One device that some leading copywriters use is to ask a question that will grip the readers’ interest and compel them to continue reading.

The Offer You Can’t Refuse
The offer is the very heart of your copy.  It is the reason the copy is being written.  When writing copy for offline consumption, once you have captured the attention of your readers you need to present your offer as soon as possible to let them know what you are selling and what kind of deal you’ll be making. 

When writing web copy for direct-response offers, that’s not necessarily the case.  Particularly when writing editorial-style web copy, you must be careful not to uncover your hidden selling too soon. 

If you do, you will remove all doubt that your editorial is actually an ad in disguise.
Whether you are writing copy for on- or offline use, your offer needs to be clear, concise, and above all irresistible. 

For example: Own this deluxe set of knives that never need sharpening for just $19.95–and you’ll never buy another set of knives again. 

It comes with a lifetime replacement guarantee.  In the unlikely event that any of these knives should break–we will replace any or all of them free of charge–forever.

Your offer must align with your target audience’s desires and needs and, as you know, must appeal to their emotions.

What motivates people to buy?  Steven Reiss, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Ohio State University, in his book Who Am I? 

The 16 Basic Desires That Motivate Out Action and Define Our Personalities, describes his theory of human motivation. 

Reiss, who spent five years conducting studies involving 6,000 people, discovered that these 16 desires–power, independence, curiosity, acceptance, order, saving, honor, idealism, social contact, family, status, vengeance, romance, eating, physical exercise, and tranquility–motivate all human behavior. 

Other studies add the desire to belong, security, integrity, consistency, ownership, exclusivity, safety, admiration, and acknowledgment.

All of these complex human desires can be grouped into two basic human needs:  the desire to gain pleasure and avoid pain.

Since copywriting ultimately is about fulfilling human desires and needs, the more successful you are at representing your product or service in a way that plays to those desires and needs, the more successful your sales copy will be. 

When articulating the offer, your primary viewpoint should always be that of your reader.  In other words, you need to focus entirely on your reader. 

One of the best ways to pull your reader into your copy is by weaving the words you, your, or yourself throughout. 

This gets your readers involved in what you are saying and makes them feel as though you are writing to them. 

Your offer must summarize the key benefits and advantages of the product or service you’re selling. 

This is effectively done through bullet points–to make the copy more readable and inviting.  Following are examples of bullet points for a software program aimed at novel writers:

  Walks you, step-by-step, through the process of writing your story–it’s like having a personal writing mentor and tutor interactively showing you how to write a great novel.
  Simplifies the process of developing a solidly constructed plot and outline for your novel–the plot generator gives you instant access to thousands of suggested plots from virtually all kinds of stories.
  Enables you to create rich, dynamic characters with the easy-to-use character developer.
  Allows you to instantly find answers to specific questions, and get targeted advice for resolving problems while you write.
  Provides suggestions to over 100 stumbling blocks that frequently face beginning novelists.
  Includes a troubleshooter function that takes you from your writing problem to its remedy with a click of the mouse.

Testimonials: It Can Happen To You
Testimonials add credibility because they are the actual words of real people, not actors or spokespeople. 

They can be quite disarming because your readers are able to identify with other people’s experiences with your product or service.

You can obtain testimonials by simply asking for them when you fulfill orders, or by calling or e-mailing customers and asking for their comments. 

What was their experience with your product or service:  Did they enjoy it?  Are they glad they purchased it?  When you get positive comments, ask permission to use them in your ad, and don’t forget to get a signed release.

The best testimonials are the ones that are specific and, preferably, quantifiable.
With the ABC product, I lost 10 pounds in 9 days without dieting.

I earned 5 times my salary in my spare time by following the ABC system.

Talking About Money:  How To Introduce The Price
First and most important, you must never introduce the price until you’ve stated the offer.  If you do, the majority of your readers might click away before ever learning the more salient points of your offer. 

Second, when you do introduce the price, equate it with a ridiculously minor purchase, or reduce it to a daily cost.

Minor-Purchase Technique
Here’s how the minor-purchase technique was used to introduce the price of a book about how to write news releases:

Bottom line is, for a few bucks more than the price of a movie for two (with pop.com), you can get your hands on the secrets that would mean truckloads of hot leads, sales that would make your head spin, a surge of cash flowing into your business, and first-rate recognition for you and your product that money just can’t buy.

Daily-Cost Technique
Here’s how the price was introduced for a shopping cart service that costs $29 per month:
For just $1 a day, you can now automate your . . .
  order processing
  e-mail marketing
  ad tracking
  credit card processing
  recurring billing
  affiliate program
  the digital delivery of your electronic products

. . . and all other e-commerce activities your website requires.

This tactic, known as equating also can be used when you are conveying a time frame in your web copy. 

For instance, “In the time it takes you to brew a cup of coffee, you’re done with your marketing for the day.”
What else do you do to meet your web copy readers’ desire and needs?

Frequently, the sale is clinched on the promise of a money-back guarantee.  This is where you eliminate the buyer risk, thus removing any remaining obstacles standing in the way the sale.

Simply stating “Money-back guarantee” is an ineffective of a guarantee, however.  You have to craft the guarantee as compellingly as possible so as not to waste this prime opportunity for closing the sale.  A common template for creating a guarantee is as follows:

Do this [whatever you’re asking them to do], and if you don’t [achieve the result you’re claiming they’ll get], then simply give us a call, and we will cheerfully refund your entire purchase price.

For example,
Take the ABC system for a test drive.  If you don’t triple your sales in 60 days, then return it for a full refund.

By removing the risk, you make it easier for the prospect to say yes.  It is a well-documented fact in direct marketing that the number of people who will take you up on a compelling offer significantly outnumber those who will ask for a refund.

Try the Memory Foam mattress pad now, risk-free.  If it doesn’t give you the most restful sleep you’ve ever had, or if, for any reason, you’re not completely satisfied with it, just let us know within 30 days and we will issue a nohassle refund, and even send you a Merchandise Return Label so that you can send the mattress pad back to us at no cost to you–we’ll pay for the shipping. 

In the unlikely event that you would be less than thrilled with your new Memory Foam mattress pad, should you decide to request a refund, the 2 Memory Foam pillows are yours to keep and enjoy as our gift just for taking us up on this offer.

A strong guarantee conveys conviction, which has the power to persuade your prospect.  It is sometimes possible to construct a guarantee that is so compelling that it could be the reason why someone chooses your product or service over your competition. 

In fact, your guarantee could be so powerful that you might ,also consider using it as your headline:

Drive This New Pontiac for 30 Days–and If It’s Not the Greatest Car You’ve Ever Had, We’ll Buy It Back.

Drop 5 Strokes on Your Golf Game Today–Guaranteed

Benefits and Features
Features are the attributes, properties, or characteristics of your product or service.  Benefits, on the other hand, are what you can do, what you can have, or what you can be because of those features. 

People buy benefits–not features.  This is one of the most important lessons you can learn in writing copy. 

For example, people don’t buy a power drill for its impressive specs; rather, they buy the holes that the power drill makes.

When writing copy that sells, therefore, you want to keep your eye firmly on the benefits.  The best way to distinguish benefits from features is with the following exercise: 

Begin by stating the feature.  Then follow it up with the sentence, “What that means to you is . . .” or the phrase which means that you can. . . . ”

Feature:  Intel’s new microprocessor for mobile PCs has a speed of 2 gigahertz.

Benefit:  which means that you can play online games wherever you go

Feature:  The Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M laptop is a 2–GHz system.

Benefit:  what that means to you is, you can take it with you on your summer vacations and road trips so you can listen to MP3 music files, entertain the kids with DVD movies, store your digital photographs, and stay connected with family and friends via e-mail.

One of the cornerstones of writing sales-pulling copy is the unique selling proposition (USP), the thing that sets you, your product/service, or your business apart from every other competitor in a favorable way.  It’s the competitive advantage that you proclaim to your prospects, customers, or clients.

Three of the best-known USPs are these:

Avis Rent A Car:  “We’re number two.  We try harder.”

FedEx:  “When it absolutely, positively has to get there overnight.”

Domino’s Pizza:  “Fresh, hot pizza in 30 minutes or less.”

More than just slogans, these USPs convey the idea that no other company, product, or service compares with theirs.

Amazon.com proclaims itself “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore,” a claim that has been accepted without question by the media, both online and offline. 

Its USP implies that it has the best selection of books; in essence, “if you can’t find it here, you can’t find it anywhere,” thereby distinguishing Amazon from all other bookstores. 

Although Amazon.com is indeed the largest online-only bookstore in the world, Barnes & Noble is “the world’s largest bookseller,” if you include both on-and offline markets.  Amazon.com has managed to blur that distinction by achieving top-of-mind positioning with its USP.

A USP positions your offering as being different from, and consequently more valuable than, your competitors’ offering. 

It distinguishes your product or service from everyone else’s, and in a world that’s flooded with products and services of every kind, creating a strong USP is absolutely imperative. 

It gives your reader a specific and compelling reason to buy from you instead of your competitors. 

It not only establishes the direction of copywriting, but is the undercurrent of all marketing efforts as well.

There are online companies whose USP is clearly conveyed by their domain name.  Lowestfare.com (which claims to provide the lowest airfares in the air travel industry) and Internet-AudioMadeEasy.com (which claims to enable people to easily add streaming audio to their websites) are examples of these. 

One way to develop a USP is by starting with the words, “Unlike most of its competitors . . . .” then filling in the blanks about what differentiates you or your product offering from those of others. 

For example, Unlike most other fat-burning products, ABC Product makes you lose up to 5 pounds of pure body fat per week–without the use of stimulants that may be harmful to your health. 

Another way to develop a USP is to highlight a feature or benefit that only your product or service contains or features.

Serious Magic, a software company, sells a product called Visual Communicator.  Its USP is that it enables people with no technical experience to create with ease–in minutes and with out any video editing–video presentations for websites, DVDs and PowerPoint that have the professional look of a TV newscast. 

The specificity of the USP (“people with no technical experience,” “professional look of a TV newscast in minutes,” and “without any video editing”) is compelling and serves to differentiate the product from other programs offering video creation capabilities.

The possibilities for crafting a USP are endless.  The key is to adopt a USP that fills a void in the marketplace that you or your product can genuinely fill.  Remember, too, that a USP can even be used as a headline or as an underlying theme or branding mechanism for all copywriting.

The best way to explain the concept of cognitive dissonance is to tell you a story–actually, a fable. 

You probably remember this Aesop’s fable.  There once was a fox who tried in vain to reach a cluster of grapes dangling from a vine above his head. 

Although the fox leaped high to grasp the grapes, the delicious looking fruit remained just beyond his reach. 

After several attempts, the fox gave up and said to himself, “These grapes are sour, and if I had some, I would not eat them.”

This fable illustrates what former Stanford University social psychologist Leon Festinger called cognitive dissonance. 

Cognitive dissonance is the distressing mental state in which people “find themselves doing things that don’t fit with what they know, or having opinions that conflict with other opinions they hold.”

The fox’s withdrawal from the pursuit of the grapes clashed with his thinking that the grapes were tasty. 

By changing his attitude toward the grapes, however, he was able to maintain an acceptable explanation for his behavior.

You can put this to effective use in your web copy by giving your readers a compelling reason to buy early in the sales process. 

This, in turn, will make them more likely to buy when confronted with the actual buying decision. 

Your readers have to be able to take ownership of that promise and cling to it so tenaciously that no other thought can pry it away from them. 

Any doubts or obstacles that may occur to them during the sales process will be overcome by the original belief, paving the way to a home-run sale.

How can you use cognitive dissonance in your web copy?  In the beginning of your web copy, you have to get your reader to say, “Yes, that’s exactly what I need!”

You can do this by crafting a well-articulated promise and inserting it very early in the body copy. 

Next, get readers to take ownership of that promise and cling to it so tenaciously that no one can pry it away from them. 

That way, any doubts or obstacles that may arise during the sales process will be squashed by the original belief, thus paving the way to clinching the sale. 

Here are examples of well articulated promises:
By the time you finish reading this article, you will know how to consistently pick the hottest stocks that are on the upswing right now–so you can make a killing on the stock market every time.

What if I told you I could show you how to increase your ability to ethically influence others, naturally, without sounding like you’re making a sales pitch. How much more money and success could you create with that skill?
What do you do to deal with the doubts or obstacles that may arise during the sales process?