The Copywriter's Toolbox

 If you want to increase your marketing results and get more qualified leads, you will need to improve the effectiveness of the copywriting on your website, print ads, emails and direct mail. This is vital because copywriting is your “salesperson in cyberspace, in print and in the mail” … and great salesmanship produces great sales … average salesmanship gets only average or worse results. Here are the copywriting tips that will improve your marketing results.  These are proven based on our copywriting work for over 450 businesses since 1978. This is a list of what your prospect is thinking as he reads your marketing copy.  It’s important to make sure everything is addressed on this list.  If you do this, your marketing results will improve dramatically. 1.  You’d better have done your research to know what benefits I want most from your type of product or service.  If you don’t, I won’t even notice you, and if I do, I won’t even give you a hearing. 2.  What do you do?  How will it hel

 Copywriting is one of the most important parts of internet marketing. Once you get visitors to your site, you must depend largely on your sales copy to convert the visitors into customers. Sadly, many webmasters neglect the art of web copywriting. Copywriting truly is an art, but have a checklist of important points is also helpful. Here are some of the major components of good web copywriting. 1 – Your Headline Does your headline grab the readers' attention and compel them to read further? It is essential that your headline do that. Web surfers generally move about on the internet very quickly. Research says that you have a matter of seconds to catch your website readers' attention, or they will move on. That is why your headline is so important. 2 – Your Introductory Copy Do the first few paragraphs of your sales copy reinforce the headline, and convince readers to continue reading? 3 – Benefits Does your sales copy sell the features or the benefits of your product or servic

 Add a little sparkle to your ad copy and increase your sales. Get started today with one or more of these tried and true techniques. 1.Hand Written Letter. Write your ad on a piece of paper scan it, optimize it, then publish the ad on your web page. Your sales will always increase when you add a personal touch. 2. Publish Famous or Respected Customers . Listing famous or respected customers who have purchased from you on your ad copy spark interest and trust. Others will think that if these people bought from you then they should also trust your business and purchase your products. Make sure you get permission from your customers before listing them on your website first. 3. Show Before and After Photos.   First show the problem picture. Besides this show the picture which show how your product solves the problem. 4. A Review.   Including a review about you, your business and or your product will instill respect for you with you customers. Increasing credibility increases sales. 5. S

 If there is one role to be filled in the Internet which matters most to a website, it is none other than content writers.  Of course we could not ignore the fact that web designers and programmers are also important in giving a good website.  However, it is the content that matters to the audience.   Contents are the traffic producers of a website.  In this age of information technology, almost everyone needs to get some information. Likewise, it is always a must to hire content writers to fill in the page of a website.  The website might have a good design. It might also be interactive, however without something to read on it, the website is as good as nothing. Being a content writer does not only entails that one knows how to write.  It also means that one knows how to keep in touch with millions of audience worldwide.  Here are some good tips for an emerging content writer who wants to pursue his profession in Internet writing 1. Write Clearly and Direct to the Point If a content w

 Ever wanted a job where you could spend all day, every day, writing clever and inspiring prose? Yes? Well don’t become a freelance copywriter! Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great job, and for some of us it’s a calling that won’t be denied. And you definitely do get to write clever and inspiring prose. It’s just that you don’t do it all day, every day. In fact, when you sit down at the end of the day and think about what you’ve done, the percentage of time spent writing is surprisingly low. So what does a freelance copywriter do other than write copy? Well, basically, they run a business. This article discusses 11 daily rituals involved with running a freelance website copywriting or advertising copywriting business (other than writing). It also provides some tips for performing them successfully.  1) Quoting Freelance copywriters serve many masters. They generally have quite a few clients, and spend quite a bit of time quoting on new jobs. When you quote, you’re calculating how much to c

  Looking for inspiration for your next marketing communication? Try the children’s bookshelf. Dr. Seuss has entertained young (and old) audiences for nearly 50 years with titles such as The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham. The reason why his books remain so popular says something about what makes for good writing (and reading), no matter who or where the audience is. Nouns and Verbs Nothing keeps readers moving like strong noun-verb combinations. If the sentence were a train, nouns and verbs would be the engine. Adjectives, adverbs and the other parts of speech make the train longer and slower. Dr. Seuss' sentences have strong engines pulling light loads to keep readers moving down the tracks. Lots of Periods A byproduct of eliminating the extraneous words is shorter sentence length. Lots of periods. Paradoxically, more sentences of shorter length increase reading speed and comprehension. Dr. Seuss, as are many children's authors, is a champion of the short

 Copywriting has again transcended from its usual form and practices into the new internet era; Copywriting as utilized by the Professional SEO business is also known as Internet Content Writing, Web Content Writing, amongst other terms. This article will try to tell you about the basics of copywriting and its advanced application on the SEO aspect. This article aims to provide the beginners in the Search Engine Optimization industry, an in-depth but friendly guide to seo content writing, as well as providing the more advanced copywriters with a guide to remind them of the several tricks they might have forgotten about the craft. This guide shall be divided into the three parts of the copywriting process: the before, during, and after. This is the first part of the guide dealing with the things a copywriter must do BEFORE writing the copy. Succeeding parts shall be posted separately because of the size. Before Writing Before doing any writing you should first know the purpose why

  The foundation for creating advertising copy that floods your newly designed website’s copy with cash-in-hand ready-to-buy customers is forged from the interview process between you and your copywriter. Subsequent research and the creation of a dynamite promotion all stems from the critical information gathered about your business, your product and service, your customers and your competition. The answers to the questions below are crucial to the effective and successful completion of the website writing portion of your project.  1.     What are all the product's benefits? 2.     What are all the product features? 3.     How is the product different and better than the competition? 4.     What does the buyer expect when he spends his money for this product?  Do we deliver? 5.     What methods, approaches and sales techniques is the competition using? 6.     How does the audience for the product differ from the general public? 7.     How much can the buyer reasonably expect to pay

 To write successful copy, you need to know as much as you can. It goes beyond reading background materials, reviewing old marketing pieces and doing some cursory research on the Web. You need to get inside people’s heads. Start with your clients. They know their business and their customers better than you do. (If they don’t, they should. You can help them learn more.) How? Use a marketing/creative brief to get the information you need to ace the copywriting (and marketing) assignment. (A marketing/creative brief is a tool used by ad agencies and corporate marketing and creative departments.) Following is a marketing/creative brief adapted from one I used during my stint at a Seattle ad agency. Even though I now work solo, I still use it today. (Begin form) Marketing/Creative Brief (Note: Designed for B2B; much of this brief is also applicable to B2C.) Good input is key to a successful project, campaign, or marketing program. This marketing/creative brief is designed to elicit good in

 Every week I receive a couple of emails from people seeking advice on how to get into freelance copywriting. While there’s no simple answer, and no answer which applies to everyone, there are a few tips which I believe will help most people make the move into freelance copywriting, and survive the first few months at least. 1) Invest in a website The best place for any freelance advertising copywriter or website copywriter to start is to fork out for a website. A website is invaluable because when you cold call and email prospects, you’ll need to direct them somewhere that gives them more information. Keep your website simple, include a portfolio page, add any samples of any sort of copywriting you've done, talk about the places you've worked, the clients you’ve written for, and include any testimonials you’ve received. Make sure you include your address and contact details as well, so people don't think you're a fly-by-night operation. Of course, it doesn't hurt t

 As websites and electronic commerce are becoming more and more common, business owners and marketing managers are realising that quality web copy is every bit as important as impressive design. And with the ever increasing importance of search engine presence, the role of web copy has never been more critical. But in such a relatively new field, customers are still coming to grips with what they can expect of their website copywriter. The question a lot of people are asking is, “How do I know I’ll get what I pay for?” Before engaging a website copywriter for your next project, ask them whether they’re able to provide you with the following ten essentials… 1) Fixed Quote A lot of website copywriters will tell you they only work on an hourly rate. They’ll cite varying requirements, rapidly changing technologies, greater incentive, the risk of customer indecision, and a host of other reasons why they can’t provide a fixed quote. But don’t be fooled. You have a right to know what the job

Anyone who’s ever tried marketing IT products or services knows that it’s a specialist field. Your customers in the IT industry have very unique and specific requirements, and that means you do too. In order to write compelling copy around your offering, you need a copywriter with a solid understanding of the IT world – someone who’s not afraid to call themselves an “IT Copywriter”.  So how do you know when you’ve found an IT copywriter? And – more importantly – how do you know what to expect from them? The following 10 tips will give you a good understanding of the qualities to look for – the things that make a copywriter an IT copywriter.  1) IT background Perhaps the most beneficial quality in an IT copywriter is a solid background of some sort in the IT industry. If your copywriter shares an understanding of your domain, you’ll spend far less time explaining the benefits of your product or service. Remember the last time you watched someone glaze over as you waxed lyrical about the

  From the perspective of a business owner, webmaster, or marketing manager, the change exhibited by the Internet is profoundly exciting, yet profoundly disturbing. The information (and misinformation and disinformation) it offers, the business benefits it promises, and the rules it is governed by change at such a rapid rate that it’s almost impossible to keep up. These changes have led to a growing appreciation of the value of quality web copy. This appreciation has, in turn, led to an influx of opportunistic ‘copywriters’ promoting themselves as website copywriters or SEO copywriters. Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few excellent SEO copywriters out there, and you should definitely shop around. The purpose of this article isn’t to scare you; it’s to help you find the SEO copywriter who’ll deliver honest service and excellent results. So with that in mind, take a look at the following ten tips. These are the things you have a right to expect from anyone wearing a name badge that

 Do you use weak verbs?  Are you needlessly redundant, or robotic in your use of long sentences? Do you sometimes overstate the obvious? Here are 9 handy tips that can improve and economize your writing. We all learned how to write in school, but in advertising, there are some simple techniques that experienced writers use to convey messages with greater impact and brevity.  Without being too tutorial, you’ll find these 9 tips quite handy when writing your next sales letter, brochure or web page. Avoid the wimpy verbs—is and be. These “do-little” verbs only occupy space and state that something exists.  So don’t write “There is one simple omission that can transform a sentence from boring to brilliant.”  Do write “One simple omission can transform a sentence from boring to brilliant.” Similarly, avoid “We will be running the new program from our Dallas office.”  Instead, opt for “We will run the new program from our Dallas office.”  Place the longest item at the end of a series.  Start

 It’s pretty much a given…when you hire a copywriter for your newly designed web site, your getting someone with above average writing skills. But the best copywriters are more than merely good writers. They are expert interviewers, researchers and marketers. Before sitting down to compose those lead generating or sales gems, they must completely understand all the benefits of your product or service, your goals for the project, what makes your customers tick and what distinguishes you from the competition. If your copywriter is not covering these topics and asking these questions before he begins writing your copy, you will not get the biggest bang for your buck. Website copywriting components: ·        Project Objective  Is the purpose to make a sale, educate your customers, raise market awareness of your product or service, enhance your company image…or perhaps , internally, excite your sales force, improve company esprit de corps, build company loyalty? ·        Target audience: Wh