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4 Key Elements of Any Ad or Sales Copy

Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 at 12:16 pm

Continuing in the same vein as Teaching a New Dog Some Old Tricks, let's take another page from the Yellow Pages. That is, below are the 4 key elements of any sales material, Yellow Pages-style.

Headline
Copy
Visual Appearance
Call to Action

Headline

About 90 percent of any sales copy material success is attributable to your headline. I made that up because I don't know the actual figure and it's a Saturday afternoon and I'm too lazy to check.

But suffice it to say that your headline plays a critical role in your sales success. Think of it this way: How many sales would you get if you didn't have a headline? Perhaps that's the importance of the headline.

You have to grab your readers' attention. Say in just a few words exactly WHY your reader should buy from you. If you're a plumber, "Plumber" is not a good title. Perhaps

"How to Clear a Plugged Drain in Less than 10 Minutes"

Is better.

Or,

"Clogged drain? Party Starts in Less Than 1 Hour?"

might be even better.

You get the picture. Grab the reader's attention and tell them why they should call you. It's not about the service or product but what that product or service can do for them.

Copy

Just as your headline grabs your reader's attention, you sales copy should expand on the product or service benefits you have to offer. It should answer your visitor's questions and tell them more about what you have to offer them.

It doesn't have to be fancy or long-winded, either. In fact, if you just list 5 bullet points and then expand on them a bit, you're most likely way ahead of your competitors.

Visual Appearance

This mostly refers to illustrations, artwork, whitespace, and consistency of font and. It has to do with drawing your reader in to read the rest of your sales copy. If things are too cluttered, it will be hard to read and most people will click away. If you use a lot of varying colors and fonts, those elements may distract your reader from your value proposition and they may click away.

The occasional book cover graphic or logo, however, will keep your reader interested and get them to read more.

Call to Action

Your call to action is what you want to get your readers to do. If you're a service business, you may ultimately want your visitor to call you for service. If you run a retail establishment, you may want to draw your visitor into your store. If you're an internet marketer, you may want your reader to fill in a form leaving their email address and name so that you can contact them later.

Of course, if you are a publisher, your ultimate goal is to get your readers to buy direct from your order link.

Establish what your ultimate goal is for any ad at the very beginning of the process; that will drive what your call to action will be.

Then, just go do it!

Sales Copy Training from John Carlton

Saturday, September 4th, 2010 at 10:41 pm

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I suck at copy writing. I'm one of those dummies who think that if you build it, they will come.

They won't.

You have to write, or get written for you, compelling sales copy in order to get people to buy your stuff.

You really do. I'm dead serious.

Look at all the guru sites. They became gurus in the first place because a) they had an idea (don't we all?) and b) they put up a fantasmically-awesome sales letter.

Maybe they wrote it.

Or maybe John Carlton wrote it.

He's the sales letter god. His many students include "internet marketing gurus" like:

And countless others.

Everybody has their own thing and their own style. That is a given. And all those gurus up there? They know how to write copy. But when John Carlton speaks, they ALL listen.

Just like those old EF Hutton commercials. Remember those?

If you want to skyrocket your sales, you owe it to yourself to start following John. I'm not kidding.

Sales Page Basics in 11 Simple Steps – Part 7: “Don’t Hang Up Yet” Subheadlines

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 9:31 pm

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In our last installment, we went over giving your customers more. We found out if they want more. Now we’re going to talk about “sub-headlines” and how they get people to (drum roll please) BUY!

Your primary goal for a prospect in reading your sales letter is for her to make a purchase. Right? In order for her to whip out the ‘ol credit card and buy, she’s going to need to make it through your sales letter.

One of the major problems in sales letters is they get boring along the way. Unless your sales letter is well crafted (most aren’t – but yours will be because you’re reading this ) the attention span of the reader tends to drift after about 30-45 seconds.

But wouldn’t you like to know how to keep leads interested until they read the sales letter in its entirety? Here’s how you can do it…

You just found out one of the tactics that I love to use to refocus the reader’s attention to what I am saying. It’s known as a “subheadline.”

You see, headlines aren’t solely reserved for the beginning of your sales letter. They can be used effectively throughout the sales letter. In fact, I recommend that you use them.

A subheadline does several important things…

It pulls back the attention of a reader who is about to drift away.
It introduces a new idea or train of thought.
It works as a stand alone major benefit of your product.
It solves more of the reader’s problems and answers more of her questions.
It basically does whatever you want it to do.

I love to use subheadlines about 3 times per sales letter (more or less as needed — just don’t go overboard). You want the subheadline to accomplish similar goals as your main headline. A subheadline should be written in such a way that it grabs the attention of “browsers.” Some readers will quickly skim through your sales letter — you want them to stop and take a closer look when they come to your subheadlines.

I like to do a couple of things with subheadlines that effectively re-grabs the attention of reader…

3.7.1 Ask a question. That’s what I did in the above example. “But wouldn’t you like to know how to keep leads interested until they read the sales letter in its entirety?” A subheadline is a great place to ask the reader a question. Interaction = involvement = interest = I’ve still got a shot at making the sale. ) And whatever question you ask, follow up by leading them into the next paragraph…

Here’s how you can do it…

Learn more…

Find out all the details…

Let me show you…

You will after reading this…

3.7.2 Make an “If” statement. Another great way to use subheadlines is to make an “if” statement. “If” you’re willing to do this, then here is what will happen. It lets the reader know that THEY determine the outcome. They are in charge. Results are based upon their response. Here are a few examples…

If you’re willing to invest 5 minutes of your time, then I’ll show you exactly how to pull in 500 new subscribers each month…

If you can follow simple instructions, then there is no reason why you can’t do this…

If you can write a shopping list, then you can create your own information product to sell online…

Up next, Part 8: But wait! There’s more. There is ALWAYS MORE!. Ginsu knives beware!

Sales Page Basics in 11 Simple Steps – Part 6: You Want Fries with That?

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 4:39 am

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In our last installment, we went over benefits. We told the reader what results they might expect if they purchased our product. Now it’s time to see if they want more.

I’ve never been to McDonald’s or any fast food place (or even a restaurant for that matter) where they didn’t ask me “What else do you want?” It comes in various forms, of course…

Would you like fries with that?
Would you like a drink with your order?
Are you saving room for dessert?
Would you care for some appetizers to begin with?

Basically, what they are asking is, “What else do you want?” Ad copy isn’t much different, only you provide the answers to the question before the reader even asks.

In other words, your ad copy spells out clearly what the reader wants…

…and then promises to deliver it.

In your ad copy you want to explore as many of the things people want that can be obtained from your product. Actually sit down and write out a list of as many different things your leads would like to receive as it relates to your product. Let me give you an example. Here is a short list of things that you might think your prospects would want from an information product about newsletters…

All of the information that they will need in order to launch and profit from an Internet newsletter.
Answers to all of the questions they have about publishing an Internet newsletter.
Not a lot of fluff, just the information they need.
Specific instructions for beginners and little known advanced tactics for seasoned veterans.

Knowing that your product DOES in fact deliver those things, it is easy to write a few lines of copy addressing those very wants…

In Profit Pulling Newsletters, I cover everything you need to know to rake in profits from your very own ezine. In fact, I compiled a list of the 25 most frequently asked questions about publishing an ezine…
…and I answered every single one of them! That’s right, in Profit Pulling Newsletters you’ll discover the answers to those burning questions that everyone wants to know. Everything is covered in these 80 pages of nothing but the facts…

Do you see how easy it is to deliver in your ad copy exactly what your reader is wanting? All you need to do is THINK like your website visitor. Get into his mind.

You can even set up a survey or poll with a free prize and let them TELL you what they want in a product before you even begin writing the ad copy! Or, visit some forums and ask questions. Contact your friends and associates online. Ask your mentor. Read the popular ezines in your target field — there are lots of ways to find out what your visitors are looking for.

There are a few questions that I like to ask in order to think about what your visitor is probably wanting that you can use yourself in developing ideas for your own ad copy…

What are some intangibles that are important to my prospect? Possible answers: Step-by-step instructions, answers to her questions, personalized assistance, input from “experts,” scientifically proven results, sympathy for his situation, someone who’s been in her shoes, etc.
What are some problems that my visitor is facing, and how will my product solve them? HINT: Use your ad copy to PRESENT a problem the reader has and then offer a solution. Here is an example…

One of the biggest problems that most eBusiness owners face is generating traffic to their website. It seems like everyone has “ideas” — but these “ideas” don’t seem to be producing results. Have they worked for you?
Finally, someone is going to show YOU some tactics that really produce. Here are thirteen easy ways you can attract more visitors to your website…
What might happen to the prospect if her problems remain unsolved? Spell it out…

I’ve seen way too many people develop a great product, put up a perfect website and sales letter, and then watch it just sit there because they didn’t know how to attract visitors. They invest all of their time and money into opening their cyber-doors only to realize that they have no customers walking in. And so they quit in failure.
But that’s not going to happen to you! Because you WILL generate traffic to your website. Here’s how…

Explore the mind of your visitors. What do they want? Do they want fries? How about dessert? An appetizer? Something to drink?

Let them know that they’ll get exactly what they are looking for when they order your product.

Up next, Part 7: Bringing back the reader. (When interest fades, use sub-headlines)

Sales Page Basics in 11 Simple Steps – Part 5: What’s In It for Me?

Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 11:36 pm

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In our last installment, we went over Involvement. We got our reader’s attention and then got them involved in a conversation with themselves where they had to ask some questions. Their answers led them right here.

Here is where you grab your 9MM handgun and start unloading your clips. You fire your big gun of bullets. In other words, you begin to immediately launch into a list of BENEFITS to the reader. Remember, we left off with “which category are you in?” question. Here’s what might follow…

benefits

See what happened? We listed the 6 of the most important benefits to the reader in a “bulleted” list. You’ve got them in your sights now, so fire away with your best shots. Give them the best stuff, the most important benefits to them. You want to answer that age old question,

“What’s in it for me?”

Make sure you focus on the BENEFITS to the reader and not the FEATURES of your product. No one cares about your grass seed, they just care about their lawn. They don’t care if you have the top selling course in the world, they just care about how it will help them. No one cares about hearing of your awards and accolades, they want to know how they can

(a) eliminate pain, or
(b) increase pleasure

Here’s your chance to tell them. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER try to sell the lead your product. I know that may sound contradictory – since you are wanting to sell the product. In your ad copy you NEVER want to try to sell the lead your product. Instead, you want to sell them the END RESULT of using your product. Remember, we make purchases for those two reasons (eliminate pain, increase pleasure). What is the END RESULT going to be? What can they expect to achieve in using your product or service? Will they lose X pounds? Will they earn X dollars? Will they become more popular? What can they expect?

How will they benefit?

Give them a *reasonable* expectation as to what your product will produce in their lives. Word to the wise: don’t hype. Nothing blows it quicker than to say something that is completely unbelievable. After all, would you keep reading if someone wrote, “Lose 75 pounds overnight?” Or “Retire as a millionaire by the end of day?” C’mon, we’re emotional creatures, but we’re not stupid. Don’t make outrageous claims, but do point out the benefits of using your product or service.

Got it?

Up next, Part 6: What else do they want? (Upsells, add ons, and extras)