Compiled into one thread... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copywriting for Beginners; Lesson 1: Introductions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are several ways to start your sales page. Storylines, and questions are the most popular as they allow your potential customer to get involved and connect to the message you are wanting to put across to them. These introductions will also allow you to build a relationship with your reader to put them in a buying mood. Storyline: One of the most popular beginnings is to tell a story. The story will tell how you have personally battled the exact same problems as your reader and will empathize with them. This will immediately connect to you reader and they will b able to see how you have gone through these problems and understand exactly what they are going through. This will help you to connect and begin to build a relationship with your potential customer. Of course your story will end by your finding a solution by using your product or service. This is a popular way to draw your reader into your sales page. Questions: another popular way to get your reader's attention is asking 3 questions to begin with. This will often start with a statement like, "are you facing these problems:" and continue on with the 3 questions. When the reader answers yes to these questions he immediately gets involved and is drawn in to the rest of your sales letter. This is a quick way for your reader to get involved and connect to what you are going to say. When you use these two powerful introductions you can draw your reader into the rest of your copy and they will be interested in what you have to say. Plus when you put them in a buying mood they will be more inclined to buy your product and service. So do not just start your sales page directly with your sales pitch, draw your potential customer into your sales letter gradually and more subtly with a storyline or questions. You will convert more sales this way by subtly pre selling with an introduction and creating a buying mood in your potential customer, instead of trying sell directly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copywriting for Beginners; Lesson 2: Long letter, short letter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a lot of argument about long and short sales copy. Some people argue that with the fast paced style of the Internet a short concise sales letter is required. Others say that long copy is more effective. After all the longer the sales letter the more benefits you can fit in and the more time you have to convince your potential customer to buy. Here we will discuss briefly the advantages of long copy. Short copy: concise and to the point no doubt, but the shorter the copy the less time you have to let your prospective client get to know you. Short is good if you are offering a free product but if you want your visitor to become your paying customer then long copy with benefits and interesting content is the way to go. Long copy: There are several advantages to long copy. Here are a few: Relationship building: Can build up a relationship with your potential customer. With long copy you have time to build and develop a good rapport with your potential customer. Do not ramble: The important thing to remember is not to ramble, with long copy this is the worst mistake. You will need to keep your reader riveted to your sales copy and to do this you will need to keep them interested and curious to know more. If you allow your potential customer to lose interest and become bored with your copy, they will lose focus and your hard work will be wasted. Keep them interested by showing them that, without a shadow of a doubt, your product or service will make their life easier and resolve their problems. More room for benefits: Keep them interested by showing them that, without a shadow of a doubt, your product or service will make their life easier and resolve their problems. Answer your potential customer's questions: More room to answer all the questions your potential customer might have. Answer all the questions that they could have about your product. Overcome objections to the sale: leave no stone unturned to overcome all objectives to the sale. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copywriting for Beginners; Lesson 3: Originality -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Being original is what will make your sales copy stand out from all the other sales pages and ads out there. By all means get ideas and see how a sales page should look from the masters, but even if you use a couple of ideas be creative and make them different. The average consumer is simply fed up and bored of hearing and seeing the same old ads, in a slightly different skin and definitely bored of seeing the same type of sales pages again and again. So how can you break through the boredom and thrill your potential customer? Here are a couple of ways you can put a different twist on your sales letter and make it unique. When you use a standard opening like the 3 questions or a storyline, make them different. Tailor them to your market and create a unique story or set of questions. Your reader will be relieved to see something different, even if the plan is the same and they will be prepared to give you a chance and read into your sales page. Once they start to read you know you can keep them interested. Put your unique personality into your sales page. Your writing style, the way you approach your customer and many smaller things, all show your own creativity and make your sales page different. Writing good sales copy requires you to be creative and make your sales page different. When you do this you will get your readers attention and quite possibly make a sale. Put yourself in your potential customer's shoes and ask yourself this question; would you be excited about reading the same old sales page you have read many times, or would you rather read a sales letter that is different? Now you know the answer. So make your sales page original and put your unique qualities into it. It will be well worth the extra effort and time you put into it. You will be surprised at the difference it will make and the sales you will achieve, just by taking the time to be original and creative. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copywriting for Beginners; Lesson 4: Purpose of the sales letter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When you write your sales copy, be aware of the purpose of your sales letter. This will make a difference to your whole concept and layout. You will need to take into consideration, whether you are offering a free product, a service or product. Free: Means just that, you are in reality offering your reader a free gift, which is usually a precursor for your main product or service. You are in effect getting your foot in the door. For this purpose you will not have to have a long sales page. This is because you will obviously not have to persuade a person that much to except your free gift. A service: A service will need to be a very personal sales letter that will build up a good rapport with your reader. To bring a personal touch is good for any sales page, but is especially important for a service. The more your reader can trust you, the better your chances are of them hiring you. Testimonials will also build trust: They also prove that you can do the work you claim to do. There is nothing like word of mouth proof. Testimonials and endorsements are strong ways of backing up what you claim and can often be the factor that actually gets the reader to buy. Your experience counts: Potential customers want to be sure that you are experienced as well, so you should always include some information about your credentials when you write a sales page for your services. A product: while emphasis will be put on customer relationship marketing, quite a bit of your sales technique should also define your USP, unique selling point of your product. The potential customer wants to know exactly what your product is and how it differs from similar products that your competitors are selling. As you see different purposes for your sales letter should be taken into account and be given some thought before you even start to write your letter. So try to tailor your sales page according to what you are selling or offering to get the most out of it.
Ordinary users cannot delete threads, but I have reported them; so they should be gone soon. Sorry about all this by the way.
long or short sales copy, you've hit a controversial topic among copywriters. Some swear by short copy saying that people just won't read all that sales copy, and others swear by long copy. From my experience as a copywriter, it should be as long as it takes to get the sale. It's a lot like door to door sales, if you have a 500 word limit and leave as soon as the limit is reached, you could be missing out on a lot of sales. In today's world, if your ads give your prospects what they want (information on how to solve a problem), they will read every word of your ad faithfully.