Focus on Grammar First and Your Writing Second For Maximum Results

If you’re like most Internet marketers, you wouldn’t hire a copywriter for most of your projects–and for good reasons, too. First, you know that most of your projects are simply too small to bring in a high-powered copywriter and pay them $50-100 per page.

And second, few others know your product and your market as well as you do. No matter how hard you try to convey important points about your product to the copywriter, you know you’ll lose something in translation.

So what can you do? Your first option is to continue to write sub-par copy for most of your sales letters; and simply hope that it will do the trick.

However, if you’re more realistic with yourself, you’ll probably quickly see the problem with doing this–namely, that you’re leaving hundreds or even thousands of dollars on the table every time you create a sales page that converts 1%, rather than 2% or 3%.

And this is precisely why you must learn the art of copywriting: it will not only save you money, but it will also ensure that you have a master copywriter working on every project you initiate.

Above all else, mastering basic writing skills is important. No matter how persuasive you are verbally, if you cannot put those words into clear, thoughtful, grammatically correct writing, your arguments may prove more off-putting than enticing.

And this is precisely why I recommend developing your basic writing skills before you try to delve deep into copywriting and other forms of sales writing.

When it comes to copywriting, no one is going to be impressed by your good grammar. In fact, no one will notice your grammar at all unless it is bad. And this is precisely why it is important to think about good grammar being the starting point for any sales letter–not a lofty goal to achieve.

If you have a weak background in writing, there’s a good chance you are frequently making grammatical errors that most readers perceive as a poor reflection on you. For instance, you might use sentence fragments often; or you might have subject-verb agreement issues. Either way, you are probably repeating these mistakes again and again without even noticing it.

In fact, writers make these mistakes all the time. And when they do, it not only makes them look bad, but it can even confuse the reader by providing the wrong information.

So what can you do about it? You can start by identifying your areas of weakness; and then practicing grammar drills to improve.

Doing “grammar drills” isn’t on the top of the list of the things you want to spend your weekend doing, but if you truly aspire to be a MASTER copywriter–not a mediocre copywriter–you must start by mastering grammar first.

As with most things in life, your time is probably best used concentrating on your problem areas. So, rather than re-learning English grammar in its entirety, you should eliminate your weaknesses.


Visit Brian’s website, http://www.FastCashFreelance.com and learn about freelance writing and writing for money as a part-time or full-time writing career.

How to Use Bullet Points Effectively in Your Sales Letter

When it comes to copywriting, your primary objective should be to convert readers into buyers. If your conversion rate is 1%, then you should aim for 2%. And, if it’s 2%, then you should aim for 3%. Push yourself hard to improve your writing; and the results will pay off in consistently thicker profit margins.

If you talk to most skilled copywriters, they’ll tell you that bullet points should be a prominent part of any sales letter. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using short or long copy, bulleted points get the job done in ways that paragraphs often cannot.

Bullet points and ordered lists provide your readers with a simple means to capture a lot of information without having to wade through dense writing. For instance, they can drink up an entire list of benefits; or they can skim a list of ways in which their businesses may be transformed if they begin using your new technique.

Now, beyond simply using bulleted points frequently, you should also try to use them the right way. Below, I have compiled a short list of ways in which you can use indentions in your writing that should help you to significantly increase your conversion rates:

  1. Keep bullets short. If your bullet points are actually paragraphs, you’re doing something wrong. The goal should be to summarize, not expand on, important benefits and features of your product.
  2. Alternate between bolded and un-bolded. Great copywriters, such as the late Gary Halbert, often used this technique; and claimed that it made it easier for readers to digest.
  3. Communicate only one idea per bullet. Bullet points work best when they’re short and succinct, so avoid long-winded, multi-sentences.
  4. If you have several large, dense paragraphs that contain many thoughts, break them up into smaller blocks. This will improve readability and the flow of your sales letter in general.
  5. Use bullet points to convert long copy into short copy. If a long copy sales page is converting poorly, then change it to a short copy page. This has the potential to change things up and allow you to increase the conversion rate.

If you practice these rules consistently when you use points, the quality of your sales pages will improve over time. It is simply a matter of practicing and observing those who use bullet points well.


Visit Brian’s website, http://www.FastCashFreelance.com and learn about freelance writing and writing for money as a part-time or full-time writing career.

Revealed The Secrets Of Increasing Site Conversion

So what does site conversion have to do with anything, why should anybody think about this esoteric topic? The answer is very simple because this is the metric that tells you how much money you are going to rake in; site conversion is a technical term to define the number of people who go from being visitors of site to purchasing a product from it or going through some other predefined procedure for the establishments which will ultimately result in some form of profit for the website owners. And, who does not want to make more money, so this is truly a very important metric and if you are webmaster, you need to start paying attention to it today.

Increasing your site conversion rate is probably one of the most straight forward ways to increase the profit that you make from your online venture. It would be impossible to stress the importance of site conversion rate further. Any increase in the site conversion rate will directly impact the total amount of revenue that you make from your online business.

Remember that when you are told that traffic is important to your online business and hence you should invest in schemes that will help you generate more traffic; the final aim of getting traffic s to convert the visitors into buying customers. So before, you start spending a small fortune to build the traffic that visit your site, you need to understand whether traffic from the various sources will have any bearing on your site conversion rate. The principle is quite simple, if you keep the course ahead of you when planning your move, you will be able to generate an efficient and lucrative response and a measurable conversion rate which will help you to pinpoint the source of buying traffic so that you can extrapolate the increase in conversion rate with set increase in traffic.

Here are some tips that will help along the way: It is essential to find a way to measure the current performance of your website in terms of its conversion ate before you incorporate any means to improve it. Once again, you need to understand that before you fix something, you need to know what is broken. Google Analytics is one such tool which will give you all the metrics that you need to understand the pure and simple figures of how your online business is doing. This is a free tool but t is very effective.

A good landing page: Your landing page or the home age of your website will often be the first impression creator, most visitors will take one look at the home page or the landing page and decide if they want to continue exploring the site or get out of there so make this page interesting; use relevant keywords wherever possible without turning your content into keyword filled gibberish. It is recommended that you separate any pay per click keywords into tight groups and then create a landing page for each of the keyword subgroups A tip to remember is that in order to increase conversion rate, you will have to integrate keyword usage with all other advertising approaches and the look of the landing page to create a thematically related website.

Get experimental with your headlines: This is one of the easiest and probably the quickest way of showing improvements in the content of your site. If you feel tat your writing skills are not up to par; get in touch with professional who can help you out; content is the king online and there are no two ways about it. The importance of copywriting when it comes to the conversion rate is significant and hence this is not the place where you should try to pinch pennies.

Analyze the pricing on your site: This again is hard core mathematics if you want the conversion rate to make a significant impact on your earnings from the website; you need to take a close look at the sources you are offering and how it impacts the number of people who buy from you. If you raise the price per product by 59% and this brings down your conversion rate by 10%; you will compensate for the business lost with the increase in price per product unit. On the other hand, if you reduce your price by 15% and this doubles or triples your conversion rate; once again, this is a savvy business decisions. So, test your prices in all direction and with all combinations.


Seomul Evans is an Online Marketing Services consultant specializing in Marketing Dental professionals and Medical Business Consulting.

http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com/

http://www.seo1-medical.com/

http://www.medicalbusinesscafe.com/

The Four Critical Components To Writing Attention Grabbing Headlines

This is not only one of my favorite topics but one of my favorite things to do: Writing powerful, “attention grabbing,” benefit driven, knock out punch headlines that are oozing with excitement that get your prospects to TAKE ACTION! (ok, clearly got carried away right there).

The headline of your sales messages, whether in an on-line ad, in the local newspaper or in an email subject line is responsible for 70% to 80% of the response from your sales message. The success or failure of any marketing effort rests, to a large degree, on the power of your headline.

Pay very close attention…

David Ogilvy is one of the most respected modern day marketing authorities. He revealed that, with the average headline, only 200 people out of 1000 will go on to read your ad. And that is where your profit is sitting. Capture another 200 customers with an exciting headline and you will double your sales. Lose 100 readers with a poor headline and you lose half your sales. Big difference.

Headlines are just that important. Even poorly written ads have been very successful because of the overwhelming power of interesting and exciting “attention grabbing” headlines.

Your prospects will decide whether to read your sales message in only two or three seconds. That’s all the time they will give you to scan your headline. Really, you and I are no different. We do not READ a newspaper, we SCAN the headlines, article headlines and ad headlines. We are looking for only what interests us at the moment.

Here are four critical tips for writing your next powerful, “attention grabbing” headline for your home business enterprise:

1. MAKE SURE YOUR HEADLINE IS THE FIRST WORD GROUP YOUR PROSPECT SEES:

I know this may seem like a “no-brainer” but I see this mistake time and again, particularly in local newspaper advertising or on web sites. And even more amazing, the ads the newspaper “experts” use to promote themselves seldom follow this rule.

Take a look through your newspaper. Notice how many businesses start out their ad with their store name and location right at the top. HUGE mistake! This is a terrible waste of their prime “real estate.” It’s an ego thing and can easily cost them 25% to 50% of their potential sales.

Always keep in mind, the public could careless about you or your product. Sorry to be the one to tell you that. Tough pill to swallow sometimes, I know, but the fact of the matter is; they’re only interested in themselves and fulfilling their current desires. As humans, we are all self centered by nature. That doesn’t mean we’re selfish, just self-centered on “what’s in it for us.” Big difference.

Put your company name at the bottom. If the headline draws them in to read your ad, and you convince them to take action they will find your business name, no matter how small.

2. MAKE SURE YOUR HEADLINE DELIVERS THE PUNCH LINE:

The “punch line” is the unique and powerful part of your sales message. You aren’t telling a joke here. Do not save the best part of your offer until last. Determine the most compelling part of your offer and put it right at the top of your ad in BIG, bold print. Virtually shout it out! And make the wording active, not passive.

For example: “Save 50% On Your Next Suit” is passive. “Take Home Two Suits For The Price Of One” is an active headline.

3. USE ‘WORDS’ YOUR PROSPECT ARE SEARCHING FOR:

Here is another costly mistake you will see every day. Do not try to get everybody to read your ad by being vague or cute. “Everybody” is not your potential customer. Your prospects are only those who want today what you have for sale today. By trying to capture everybody, you will actually lose many of your most important prospects – the ones that want to give you money.

Your headline should sort out the buyers. Be specific. If you are selling Mens Suits, then say “Men’s Suits,” not “Mens Clothing.” Do not say “Men’s Clothing Sale.” Say something like: “Men’s Suits – Two For The Price Of One For A Limited Time.” The more focused your headline, and your sales message, the better the response.

4. YOUR HEADLINE SHOULD BE SHORT AND SWEET:

The headline should be as few words as possible, yet long enough to tell them what you are selling and why they should read your message. Usually ten words or less is a good target. The consumer will read longer headlines if the first four words grab their attention. If you need more words, start with a large, short headline leading to a smaller type, longer worded sub-headline.

Email ‘Subject Line’ Tip:

No matter what subject line you write, keep it short and sweet, because many e-mail programs cut off long subject lines. Here are the maximum subject line lengths (including spaces) in some popular e-mail programs:

AOL: 52 characters

Hotmail: 45 characters

Outlook Express: 64 characters

Yahoo: 80 characters

Here are some simple and fun ways to find profitable headline ideas:

  • Look through your newspaper every day. Watch for headlines on articles and ads that really grab your interest. Think about why those headlines worked on you…
  • While waiting to check out at the supermarket, read the headlines on the gossip tabloids. Those headlines are THE main reason, if not the only reason, millions of people buy them every week. Super market tabloids have the highest paid copywriting experts on staff who do nothing but write compelling and extremely profitable headlines. And these headlines are always good for a little entertainment too…
  • Your junk mail is a virtual goldmine of great headlines and sub-headlines. Save the ones you like for future use. Mix, match and adapt these headlines to suit your home business. If you see a headline used over and over again, it’s because it is making a lot of money for that company. You do not have to re-invent the wheel. Somebody paid $1000′s to write that headline, and $1000′s more to test it – and you get to use it free.
  • Practice writing good headlines in the subject line of your personal emails. This is fun practice and your recipients will enjoy it too. “RE: This Weekend” is passive and boring. “RE: Let’s Hit The Beach This Weekend” is active and exciting…
  • Buy a good book on marketing! You should be involved in at least one marketing or copywriting related book or course at ALL times. Continuing education in this area will be a HUGE difference maker in your marketing efforts. Hands down.

If you follow these tips, you will become an expert in no time – smarter than 90% of your competitors and 80% of newspaper advertising consultants.


Andrew J. Cass is a Home Business Development Expert and Professional Marketing Consultant. To learn how you can achieve more in the next 12 months than the previous 12 years and explode your Home Business empire, sign up for Andrew’s FREE Ezine at: http://www.TheHomeBusinessInsider.com