Importance of Good Sales Copy

Good day to you. I hope your Saturday is shaping up to be a
fabulous day. It's cooking here -- we're baking in 94 degree
sunshine -- but a dip in the pool should cool me down for a
while.

This week I wanted to continue our discussion about the
biggest mistakes businesses make with their websites. Last
time I spoke about the importance of search engine
optimization on your website.

Today I want to cover the importance of your copy. I've
seen a lot of people spend a ton of money on website
design. Then when I ask them if they want help with their
sales copy, they say "No thanks, I'm going to write it
myself."

My first reaction is always, "Are you sure you want to do
that?" As a former Adjunct Lecturer of English at Queens
College (City University of New York), I can honestly say
that most people can't write a sentence, let alone a
paragraph.

Between lack of organization, inability to string thoughts
together, poor word choice, lots of typos, and a million
other grammatical problems, most people could not write a
compelling sales letter if their lives depended upon it.

You may be different. You may be part of the one percent
out there who can do it on your own ... but if you lack
formal education in writing and have no real experience
writing sales copy for a living, then you should turn it
over to a professional.

That said, here's some advice:

1. Use compelling keywords and phrases. Go visit your
competitors' websites and look at their META tags in their
source code. Compile a list of the most critical words for
your business, product or service and start looking for
ways to incorporate those keywords and phrases into your
sales copy. This will keep you focused and also help your
search engine ranking.

2. Do not start out writing a sales letter from scratch.
Instead videotape yourself talking about your business,
product or service -- or tape record yourself -- and then
just ramble for 30 minutes. Then play it back and take
notes. Use those notes for an outline and start organizing
your thoughts so they flow and tell a story. Then start
hanging flesh on those bones.

3. Free write -- don't draft -- just write whatever
thoughts come to mind and don't worry about time spent,
spelling errors, punctuation errors or other grammatical
road blocks. The object here is to open the flood gates --
then go back and start distilling the best keywords and
thoughts -- and from that formulate an outline, etc.

4. Use emotional hooks to grab the reader's attention early
and often. The best way to do this is to tell a story. I
have seen many boring, me-too products and services out
there. People bring these to me and ask me to make them
more compelling. Usually, I ask the creator or founder to
tell me why and how they created their business or product
or service. That's when you see the sparkle in their eye,
and hear the emotion in their voice. That's what you need
to write about. Forget about all that sales stuff. Write a
compelling story that grabs readers' attention and you win.
The object is not to sell but to get them to read the whole
sales letter. If they read it to the end, you have them
hooked and you can ask for the sale. If you can't use a
real story, then make one up.

5. Paint word pictures. Use words and phrases and
descriptions that describe the features, advantages and
benefits of your product or service, and be sure to focus
on the emotional reward. If your product saves people time,
then use words to describe what they can do with all of
their new free time. They can spend time tanning on the
beach, smelling the ocean, listening to it roar, while they
lift their sunglasses to look at their watch and smile. They
have all the time in the world to relax and sip margaritas.
Can't you picture yourself there now?

6. Use a spell checker. Use a punctuation checker. Leave
time to proofread. Have someone else read it. Put it down
for a few hours for a day or two. Then reread it again.

7. At the end of the writing exercise, before you publish
it on your website, ask yourself an honest question: would
you buy your product or service based upon your sales
letter? If not, go back to the beginning and start again.

I recently came across a VERY novel software tool that will
allow you to blast your sales messages to cell phones. So if
you have been compiling a prospect and customer database,
and are wondering why people are not responding to your
email campaigns, it may be time to consider using this
tool and method instead:

Text My Readers
http://textmyreaders.com/vip/?e=spidy

I hope this info is helpful to you. Send me your questions,
and I'll be happy to respond with some free advice. If you
need help with a sales letter or email series, I may still
be able to fit you into my June/July calendar. Just send
$375.00 via PayPal to info@schneiderman.net (50% deposit) to
hold a spot open, and the balance is due upon delivery!

Until next time,

Steven