Use this Web Site Copy Checklist

Normally I talk about copywriting, that is, writing sales copy — writing to persuade people to take specific action, but this time I will give you a checklist for writing web site copy; “copy” is just the words on the page.

Writing copy for your Web pages is very different because instead of trying to persuade someone you’re trying to entertain and educate them with highly relevant information. These are very different approaches and require very different writing styles and skills.

I found this checklist from Heather Lloyd-Martin which has a lot of good points on how to tell if you are writing good Web site copy. I include the list here and add my own comments.

1. Is the content based on a customer persona document or readers’ profile?

Heather says, “How do you know how to structure your writing if you don’t know who you’re writing for?

Ask your client or supervisor for a customer persona document that outlines who the target customer is and their specific characteristics.

If the client doesn’t have a customer persona or reader’s profile document, be prepared to spend at least 30 minutes -1 hour asking questions about the intended reader.”

This is so true. Basically, it means that you need to understand who your target audience (your ideal customer) is and then talk to them in their “own language”.

You need to write the way they want to hear it.

Do they expect formal, very factual language? Then write like that.

Do they expect a casual manner or an educational one or a “best friend chatting” one?

You will get the best results when you give your prospects what they want the way they want it.

2. Is the copy based on keyword phrase research or based on a trending topic that resonates with your readers?

Heather says, “It’s tempting to blog about whatever strikes your fancy. The problem is – your readers may not care as much as you do.

Base your blog posts and site pages on reliable keyword phrase research. That way, you’re giving your readers they content they want to read.”

This shouldn’t be new to you, research (keyword, niche, etc.) is a well discusses topic.

The point is, even if you know it, are you doing it. Personally, I like to focus on 1 or maybe 2 keywords.

3. What is your main per-page keyword phrase focus (focus on two-to-three keyword phrase per page?)

Do Keyword Research First!

Run your research first, and then choose the best keyword phrase for your page.”

This is related to number 2, and is a common problem; many people do their research after the fact. This is better than not researching but usually just barely.

So, do your research BEFORE you create your content.

4. Is your main CTA (call to action) clear – and is it easy to take action?

Heather says, “Most sites (even blogs) want readers to take a specific action. In a sales environment, the call to action is purchasing a product. It could also be contacting the company for additional information.

Make sure that you tell your reader what you want them to do – and make it easy for them to take action.”

As with number 2, this is something most people know about but frequently don’t do.

So, if you want your readers to do something after they’ve read your article then tell them. For example, I’ve found that putting an opt-in form at the bottom of an article converts better than anywhere else.

5. Do you have a secondary CTA (such as a newsletter signup or downloading a white paper.)

Heather says, “Many sites have a secondary CTA. Many times, the CTA relates to lead generation (signing up for a newsletter.) Other times, it could be a link to related products or blog posts.

Make sure that your secondary call to action is clear and doesn’t take attention away from the main CTA.”

Generally, you should never confuse your readers and have a single call to action but, if you do, make sure it’s clear; clarity trumps everything else.

6. Does the page include too many choices?

Heather says, “It’s important to keep your reader focused on your primary and secondary CTA’s.

If your page lists too many choices (for example a large, scrolling page of products or a long list of related blog posts,) consider eliminating all ‘unnecessary’ choices that don’t support your main calls to action. Otherwise, your prospects may overwhelm and not take any action at all.”

This is related to number 5, don’t confuse your readers and too many choices can confuse.

7. What internal pages will you link to? What’s the anchor text?

Be Careful with Your Links

‘Dead end’ pages (pages that don’t link out to related pages,) don’t encourage further reading/interactions – and can be a cause of higher bounce rates.”

This is important both to your site visitors and to the search engines, always link to pages that are related to the topic unless the link anchor text is specific to the destination page.

8. What are the product/services features and benefits (if you’re writing a sales page.)

Heather says, “People make purchase decisions on the benefits of a product – not the features – so this is crucial. Make sure that you tell your reader how your product/service will make their lives better and satisfy a need.”

I’m sure you’ve heard it over and over, certainly you have on this site, but (for most things) benefits are what turn prospects into buyers.

Benefits touch deeper emotions that the more sterile features and these emotions are what make the sale easy.

9. Do you have vertical-specific testimonials (if you’re writing a sales page?)

Heather says, “General testimonials are fantastic – they offer third-party proof that your product or service is superior.

However, if you are writing a sales page for a specific vertical, always include vertical-specific testimonials (for instance, a real estate agent testimonial on a real estate landing page.) This will help increase your conversion rates.”

The closer your testimonials are to your target audience/ideal customer the more impact they will have and the easier it will be to convert them.

10. Is your H1 headline “clickable?” That is, does it convey a benefit statement or otherwise entice the reader to click-through from the search engine results page?

Heather says, “Readers initially quick-scan your content. Benefit-rich headlines tell the reader ‘what’s in it for him/her’ and entices them to keep reading.

Ensuring that your headline is compelling and has a benefit statement is a proven copywriting technique – and too powerful to pass up.”

You need to catch the attention and entice your readers to read more with your section heading. Benefit and keyword rich headings are great ways to do that but mix in some that aren’t like that to keep the search engines happy.

Note: the search results show your page Title not any H! headings that appear on the page but the point is very valid for titles and H1 headlines.

11. Does your headline include a keyword phrase?

Heather says, “Searchers are following the ‘search scent’ from the search engine results page.

When they reach the landing page, they are quick-scanning for their search term (or a variation) – so including a keyword phrase in your headline is important. Adding your keyword phrase to your H1 headline is also an excellent way to reinforce keyword phrase relevancy.”

This is obviously something that every SEO expert (real and fake) recommends.

Using the primary keyword in your headline or article title helps you visitors know they are in the right place and that they should continue reading; because of that search engines like to see your primary keyword phrase in your headline or title.

12. Did you include keyword phrase-rich subheadlines?

Heather says, “Subheadlines are an excellent way to visually break up your text, making it easy for readers to quick-scan your benefits and information.

Additionally, just like with the H1 headline, adding a keyword phrase to your subheadlines can help reinforce keyword phrase relevancy.”

Don’t have more to say than what I’ve said in the last 2 items. Just be sure you don’t over optimize your page and do this too much because the search engines are wise to this and have started penalizing pages that do too much optimization and it’s unnatural for every headline to have keywords in them.

13. Does the content provide the reader valuable information?

Heather says, “Google’s Panda update spanked sites with ‘thin,’ low-quality content that was poorly written. Before you upload your page, ask yourself if the content answers your reader’s questions and is informative.

If you find that you’re focusing more on the keyword phrase usage than the actual content, rewrite the page.”

Duh!

People who do this are the sleazy or lazy people who get slapped by Google and struggle to achieve success. They are the people who are building a real business instead of just trying to earn some quick cash.

14. Did you use bullet points where appropriate?

Heather says, “Bullet points help to highlight your content, making it easier for your readers to read. Use bullet points whenever you find yourself writing a list (such as a features-benefits list.)”

Heather said it well and concisely but this is also a place where using benefits is valuable because people do tend to read bullet points so your message is more likely to be read.

15. Did you use “too many” keyword phrase?

Heather says, “Remember, there is no such thing as keyword density. If your content sounds “keyword phrase-heavy” and stilted, reduce the keyword phrase usage and focus more on your readers’ experience.”

Well, of course, there is such a thing as keyword density as it’s just a mathematical formula but there is some disagreement about how important it is and what percentage is optimal.

It’s a fact that everyone (even Heather) knows that having some percentage of keyword density is very important; just look at the suggestions above (and below) where she tells you to make sure your keyword phrases are part of your content, that’s having some level of keyword density.

However, don’t miss the important point in what she said, that is, don’t make the content sound strange just to cram in keywords.

Provide high quality, valuable content on the subject and your keywords will naturally be in what you write, if it isn’t then the content probably isn’t any good so it won’t matter whether keywords are in it or not.

16. Is the “voice” of the page appropriate?

Make Sure to Talk Appropriately

Your content doesn’t have to sound formal, but it should sound like you talk (or like your sales team would talk to a prospect.)

Your customer persona document can help you find the ‘right’ voice for the page. Here’s more information about working with your page’s tone and feel.”

I mentioned this above but she makes a good point that you can get a good idea of the voice and tone from the persona you made.

17. Are your sentences too long?

Heather says, “Vary your sentence structure so you have a combination of longer and shorter sentences. If you find your sentences creeping over 30 or so words, it may be time to edit them down – or turn them into individual sentences.”

Long sentences are hard to read so keeping them short is better for your visitors. You also want to vary the sentence length and structure so the search engines are happy.

18. Are your paragraphs too long?

Heather says, “Long paragraphs without much white space are hard to read off a computer monitor – and even harder to read on a mobile device. Whenever possible, make your paragraphs shorter for easier readability.”

Yes. Frequently I like to use one sentence paragraphs although I know that tests show it isn’t optimal for reading but for blogs with sidebars one sentence paragraphs look more like the more preferred 2-3 sentence paragraphs.

19. Did you edit your content?

Heather says, “Resist the urge to upload your content as soon as you write it. Put it away and come back to it after a few hours (or even the next day.) Eliminate any spelling/grammatical errors and see what you can do to tighten up the word count.”

Generally, I find coming back and spending 10 minutes the next day editing to be what works best for me.

Experiment until you find your ideal time but don’t just say it doesn’t matter and ignore it; your content will suffer for it.

20. Did you edit it again?

Heather says, “Once is never enough. Review your content at least one more time. It’s amazing what you can find to edit the second (or third!) time around!”

The second round catches most of those you missed, many of which will amaze you that you missed them; don’t forget to spell check after this editing pass.

My third pass is read aloud to make sure it reads well.

21. Does your Title contain one (or more) of your main keyword phrases?

Heather says, “Always include your main page keyword phrase in your Title – and work in other keyword phrases if they ‘fit.’”

Personally, it’s frequently very hard to fit in more than one keyword phrase into the title so don’t waste time trying it but, every once in a while, it works well.

One of the easiest ways is if there are naturally overlapping phrase. For example, if you have a keyword phrase of “inexpensive wedding” and another of “wedding dress” you can use “inexpensive wedding dress” to get both keyword phrases into the title.

22. Is your Title “clickable” and compelling?

Is Your Title Clickable?

The title’s sole purposes are to attract people and to get them to read further, if you aren’t doing that you aren’t doing your titles correctly.

You can try the Headline Analyzer (http://aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm) if you are stuck or want to see how “attractive” your title is.

23. Did you create a meta description?

Heather says, “Your meta description is like a short page summary – and it helps encourage searchers to click-through from the search engine results page. Although Google may not always use your meta description, it’s still important to create one. Don’t forget to weave in your keyword phrases.”

I’d never heard that Google doesn’t always use the meta description to display in the search results and it’s always worked when I tried it but Heather’s right, even if they don’t always use it, create a short summary for the times they do.

Make it compelling so that your ideal customer will want to click it after reading it.

24. Does the meta description fit the intent of the page?

Heather says, “If you’re writing an article or blog post, the meta description should be informational rather than sales-y.

Conversely, if you’re creating a meta description for a sales page, your meta description can be more promotional.”

This is really important because, if it doesn’t, then when someone comes to your page they will be very disappointed and leave (and probably never come back); I’m not sure I would make it “promotional” but I do make them be like mini-ads where I mention the primary benefit (as related to the keyword) and tell them they’ll learn more about it.

If they come from search engine results it will be noted that they left and your page will lose “points”.

Conclusion

Heather created a handy list and I hope you enjoyed it. As you can see I agreed with most of it and added some additional tips and clarifications.

If you use this checklist when you write your Web site copy (articles, etc.) you’ll be creating content that attracts prospects, back links and the search engines.

But, one additional tip, if addition to using the checklist for writing web site copy, don’t write really short content (at least most of the time) because it’s hard to provide read value in a few hundred words. My recommendation is to aim for, at least, 600-750 words but don’t be afraid to do more.

This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

Writing Web Site Copy is Different Than Sales Copy

It creates a “sense of urgency” as one step in the path leading the prospect to the land of the customer.

Why use scarcity?

One of the primary reasons, maybe THE primary reason, is because people put things off. Most people excel at it!

That’s exactly what you do not want.

The fact is, if the person doesn’t do what you what you want them to do there and now the odds of them doing it later aren’t that good.

So the goal of scarcity is stop your prospects from procrastinating.

The problem is that with digital downloads is that it’s pretty hard to say “only 23 copies” left because, well, it’s digital so you can just make another copy.

But, scarcity is still alive an well.

Here’s how to use scarcity with digital products…
There are a number of ways to add urgency via scarcity.

While you can’t really limit the quantity (in most cases) you can definitely limit your offer in a number of ways.

Limit the Time

One common way to limit your offer is to make it available for a limited period of time.

So you can say that the offer is available for only 2 days or 15 minutes or whatever is applicable for your situation.

This should be real though, don’t say that something is only available for a limited time if that isn’t true, that is, people can get the same offer after the time deadline.

Otherwise, people will quickly learn that you do that and you’ll lose all credibility.

Note: at the time of writing this the credit card companies have released new rules and guidelines that frown upon the use of countdown timers, an effective way of pushing time sensitivity.

Limit the Actual Offer

This can be an excellent way to use urgency.

How you do this is by taking parts of your offer and make them available for only a certain period or for the first X number of people.

The “parts” can really be anything, here are some ideas to get you started:

• Some or all of our bonuses, be they the products or services that will be included.
• A “special price”, same sales and fire sales are common examples of this but don’t limit yourself to just those ways.
• You could offer a longer guarantee for fast action takers.

The thing is that if you do this you need to be explicit in that it will indeed end and be sure to provide a reason for the urgency; it must be a real, believable reason though or it plain won’t work.

Sort of like the digital version of “I only have 12 more on the shelf.”

Unlike a physical product though you can word it so that you “may change the offer” and if they wait it may not be available.

An argument can be made that this treads the line on being deceptive and I personally wouldn’t do it because I think you don’t need it but many, more successful people than I think it’s okay.

I’ll leave it to you to decide if you are comfortable with it and it can help sales.

Just do it right or it will really lose it effectiveness.

Updating The Product

Since it is a digital product you can easily change it or update it; you could even use release or version numbers.

The changes don’t even have to be large changes, a few changes here and there, update a resource page, update to add new information or even add a new chapter.

You may ask though “great, but how do I use urgency with an updated product?”

That’s another excellent question.

There are two simple ways to do that. Each are targeted to a different situation, let’s look at them.

1. Urgency With an Existing Product

The way this works is that you say you are coming out with a new version and that the price or other parts of your offer are going to change with when the new version is released.

So the urgency is created by the deadline of the release of new product and the lose of the existing offer.

2. Urgency With a New Product

You do this by having a “pre-launch” or “pre-release” or “early bird” or “introductory” offer that will be changed once the product is finally released.

A simple example using price would be $97 during the 1-week, pre-launch but a lot more during launch.

Time Sensitivity

Please note that I didn’t say time urgency but “time sensitivity”.

What I mean is content that is either very fresh with a short “shelf life” or is really only valuable for a certain period of time.

Maybe because when the information is widely known it loses its value or when an event, season, activity or even a news item occurs then the information loses value.

The information doesn’t even have to be the entire product it could just a part of the product, a chapter or a bonus or something that is time sensitive.

Since the information is time-sensitive, if someone buys after the “event”, then the offer has less value.

Resource Limits

Depending upon the product or service, you can use urgency very effectively using limitations of time and other resources.

Some examples of this would make it easier to understand.

Say you offer a service… the truth is you can only handle so much business because you have only 24 hours in a day and even if you have people to help you there are still limits.

So if you build Web sites, write articles, provide coaching, or plan weddings or whatever, since you can do only so many you have resource limits and these limits can create a sense of urgency.

“This is available for only the first X people because that is all I have the time to handle and retain the level of quality you deserve and I require.”

My friend, Jason Anderson, had, and used, some urgency in a launch he did recently for iFlashVideo.

He and his team creates TV-quality custom videos.

They can only create so many videos and keep the quality.

They made sure they mentioned that on their sales page because …

• It was true.
• It was something that people should know.
• It was good marketing.

You should always, truthfully, point out that after the limit is reached the offer will change go up because you have to cover additional costs and other constraints.

Notice, I said you should ALWAYS point it out.

Sure it’s common sense but that doesn’t mean people are conscious of it so pointing it out bring it to their consciousness and makes it much more effective.

Just be sure to be specific about the date, or number, available for when your offer is valid.

If you have something different than a service type of thing then you can point out resource constraints like disk space or bandwidth as obvious limits with associated costs when those are exceeded.

In fact, I’ve used that for a membership site because if I exceeded a certain number of members I’d have to move to a more expensive server to handle it and hire additional help.

Conclusion

Yes, you can easily use scarcity with digital products in a variety of ways:

1. Limit the Time
2. Limit the Actual Offer
3. Updating The Product
4. Resource Limits

Making something scarce, makes the thing more valuable and places more urgency on the offer; the basic law of supply and demand.

It’s an very effective technique and something you should always try to incorporate when you are trying to get someone to do something.

Do you have a great way you use scarcity?

Do you have any problems where you don’t know how to use scarcity?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://GetYourBonusesNow.com

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This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

Scarcity: Does It Work With Digital Products?

What is the one thing you must split test if you can one split test one thing?

The answer is easy when you think about it, but only a fraction of people I ask this get it right.

What is your guess?

1. An eye-catching, curiosity building headline that pulls your prospects right in
2. A compelling, interesting story that gets your prospects to say, “that’s me!”
3. Making your prospects ABSOLUTELY SURE your product works quickly and easily with truckloads of glowing testimonials
4. Having so many benefit bullets that they’d feel foolish if they didn’t do what you asked
5. Including a rock-solid, almost unbelievable guarantee
6. Having an offer they “can’t refuse”
7. Nailing the P.S. so they must go back and look at see what you say
8. None of the Above

Got your answer?

If you’re not sure look at each one and say to yourself “if everything else was bad but this was spectacular then I’d want to do what they ask (buy the product, etc.)

This is so powerful that it makes people buy things they don’t even know they want!

While obvious after thought it may not be what you think.

Got your answer ready?

Theone thing, the most important thing in a sales letter to get people to take action is:

F. The Offer

Yes, the offer.

While all of the choices (except H!) are very important, the offer is most important.

Interestingly, the most popular answer from people is the headline.

They justify this by saying “if you have a bad headline people might not read your sales copy and see your “killer” offer.”

While that may be true, nobody takes action because of the headline.

That isn’t even the purpose of the headline and if you try to “sell” in the headline you’re going to fail.

Why is the Offer So Important?

This answer is simple also.

It is what the prospect actually gets, what provides the benefits, and that is the bottom line.

Wouldn’t you rather have a stinky old salesmen, in a bad, slept in suit, who rambles on forever but can’t hardly even explain what he’s got but who hands you the keys to a $250,000 Porsche over a fine looking, fine smelling, Armani suit wearing, Harvard Ph.D. who has a golden tongue who hands you a toy car worth $1.29.

Sure you would, because, while the second guy might be more pleasant to deal with, what you end up with in the end is worth the stinky old guy.

And that, my friends, is the essence of the offer and why the great copywriters known that if there is one thing you can’t afford to get wrong it is the offer.

If you’re having trouble turning prospects into customers the first place to look is at your offer.

Now, you might say, “the offer is great” and it might be, but it isn’t great to your prospects; so either fix the offer or get new prospects.

An exaggerated example is, if you open a Tiffany’s with the absolute finest in jewelry and you are selling it for half what anyone else in the world is selling it for but you are located in the poorest region of Bangladesh then you aren’t going to get a lot of buyers (a lot of thieves, yes, but not a lot of buyers!)

How to Make a “To Die For” Offer?

Easy answer, exceed expectations.

No, that’s not even right, extravagantly exceed expectations.

To do that you need to understand the general expectations of your prospects otherwise how can your exceed them.

To do that you need to, as Dan Kennedy says, “Get ‘Into’ the Offer”.

Whatever cliché you want to use: “walk a mile in his shoes” or “climb into his head” or whatever, you need to understand the motivations and expectations from the prospects point of view.

That probably means using the product or service yourself, and it certainly means talking to true prospects.

It may even mean going to the places they go to, eating the things they eat, entertaining yourself at the places and in the ways they do, depending upon the situation and the action desired.

Then you take those expectations and give at least 10 times more although 100 times is better.

A quick way I like to do this it to make a little chart like this one:

In the first column, I write what the general expectations are of the prospects. That is, what they usually will receive (maybe from competitors) in the situation.

In the second column, I then add what would be considered to be things that people wouldn’t normally expect.

In the third column, I write what would be so unexpected that people look at the offer in a completely different way.

This works for everyone in every industry and niche and helps you to craft a truly extraordinary offer.

An Example of a Great Offer

To show you what I mean, let me use an offer I created in the last couple of weeks as part of a promotion for Mike Filsaime’s The 7 Figure Code; he is giving away his $1,297 premier home study course and some bonuses for just a shipping and handling fee.

Given the nature of what Mike is providing particularly to affiliates, general expectations are that people will promote with an affiliate link and, in fact, that is what most people did.

It might even be within current expectations that affiliates would provide a little something extra, maybe one or two of their products, something like that (although very few are doing that in this situation).

To exceed expectations, you might add some things like paying the $15.99 shipping cost for the prospects and/or adding those products, maybe throwing in a tele-seminar about how to best get value from Mike product.

I wanted to do more so I decided to pay the $15.99 shipping so the product was really free.

I decided to add some products that were specifically chosen to provide more depth in the areas critical for being successful using The 7 Figure Code.

I decided to provide more than just 1or 2 products because there are more than 1 or 2 critical areas.

I then decided to provide various rights to the products so people could actually earn more money by selling them (this would be particularly important to people who are newer and don’t have a lot of products and services they sell).

I then said to myself, “times are tough and people might need some extra money, if only to pay for some of the cost of having an online business and many people did not get the invite to be part of the promotion and maybe they’d have liked the opportunity.”

Yeah, I talk a lot to myself

So I thought about what I could do and I came up with a way to provide people with just those things.

I let people sign up with me (like a sort of affiliate) and promote the products themselves.

I provide them with a special, personalized link which they can use and for everyone they send through there link and who get Mike’s course and bonuses will get $5.

So the offer wildly exceeding anything anyone would expect; you can check it out here.

They get:

1. Mike Filsaime’s $1,297 home study course, The 7 Figure Code
2. Mike’s 2 bonuses
3. A refund of $15.99 to cover the shipping and handling fee
4. A number of additional product that strongly complement and support The 7 Figure Code giving them additional value by helping them succeed more quickly and easily
5. Rights to the product so they can sell them and get more money (hopefully using the things they learning in The 7 Figure Code!)
6. A way to earn additional money by promoting for product for themselves

A lot more than your expectations, right? Certainly a lot more than anyone else is doing!

Conclusion

The most important thing about getting more sales is the offer.

Everything else is important but the one thing that makes people actually act is they offer.

Have everything else wrong but have a fantastic offer and you will make sales, maybe a lot of sales.

Having a bad offer but great sales copy will get you few sales.

To craft a powerful, compelling offer you need to do more than exceed expectations, you need to create an offer that so far exceeds expectations that even people who aren’t that interested perk up.

Provide value 10 or 100 times what is expected and you’ll land the hook and you’ll sleep very well at night because you are doing the opposite of taking advantage of people you are giving them so much their lives are enhanced in the process.

Check out my offer for The 7 Figure Code for a good example of this.

What’s the best offer you’ve seen?

What’s the best offer you’ve done?

How could you change your offers to be extraordinary?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://GetYourBonusesNow.com
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

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This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

The Ultimate Way to Get People to Buy Things They Don’t Even Know They Want

This time I want to look at an important topic that you don’t read a lot about and that I call the “neglected little sister, the sub-headline; fortunately, it builds directly upon the Most Powerful Psychological Tool!

Even the term is confusing because it is used for 2 entirely different things in a sales letter.

First, it is used for the secondary headline under the primary headline. You know…

“Buy My Wonderful Product So That YOU Can Become a Trillionaire,
Live Forever and Sleep with Every Beautiful Women on the Planet”

And You Won’t Believe Why I Will Pay You For the Privilege

The second part, “And You Won’t Believe Why I Will Pay You For the Privilege”, is the sub-headline.

The other use is to break up the sales copy into sections to keep it interesting, be informative, and as a “skimmer magnet” — to stop and capture the attention of skim readers.

Both are important but this time I’ll be talking about how your can use sneaky techniques to…

make the sub-headline underneath the headline do its part.

If It’s On a Sales Letter it MUST Have a Purpose

One of the cardinal rules of writing sales copy that has spectacular conversion rates it to put in only things that advance the prospect toward a sale (or list sign up or making a telephone call or whatever).

The primary reasons for the sub-headline are:

• Reinforce the headline
• Expand on the major point/benefit
• Add some new point/benefit
• Explain the “attention getting” headline or to “complete the thought”
• Compel the reader to read the first line of the body copy

While most sub-headlines do all of those, the last one is the most important one.

Remember each section – even every paragraph and sentence — of sales copy is meant to get the person to continue to the next section.

I’ve heard this called “reading gravity” or a “slippery slide”, because if your copy is compelling enough it is like gravity taking them down a slippery slide, they just can’t stop reading.

It’s more than that though, it’s meant to get them to continue but be in a slightly altered mental place. You don’t want them just reading you want them to take action.

With each word, sentence, and paragraph you are slowly getting your prospects to view the world as you want them to; at least in regards to purchasing your product (or whatever your call to action is).

The sub-headline is the same.

The headline caught their attention and broke them out of the trance they had in their head, allowing you to enter into that conversation.

Now the sub-headline needs to get them to the next section slightly more inclined to “buy” than they were before.

Let’s Look at Some Examples

I’m going to take you through an exercise I do periodically to for ideas and my swipe file; I particularly like to do this because I am strictly an Internet Marketer and looking outside of IM helps me get ideas outside from my boundaries.

The point here is not to do that but to look at the actual sub-headlines and “feel” them.

I’ve taken 4 random magazines from the reading pile my wife and I have and selected a number of actual ads to demonstrate the use of a sub-heading in action.

Remember that these all come with pictures that help support the ad (and sometimes clarify the headlines) but it is still important to look at the headlines on their own, particularly the sub-headline.

When you read them you need to put yourself into the mind and shoes of a prospect and be aware of what you feel changes inside you when you read them.

It will probably be a slight change so you have to pay close attention but notice the change and why you change; that change may be you want to read more or not but be aware of it and why,

Let’s look at the ads …

From Time Magazine:

For Ford:
Headline: THE MOST FUEL-EFFICIENT MIDSIZE SEDAN
Sub-headline: THE 2010 FORD FUSION + HYBRID

For ZOSTAVAX:
Headline: IMAGINE THIS BLISTERING RASH ALONG WITH STABBING PAIN AND YOU’LL HAVE AN IDEA OF WHAT IT CAN BE LIKE TO HAVE SHINGLES.
Sub-headline: IF YOU HAD CHICKENPOX AS A CHILD, YOU COULD GET SHINGLES NOW.

For Starbucks: (purchasing bags of coffee)
Headline: CAN’T BEAT HAVING A STARBUCKS THREE MINUTES FROM YOUR OFFICE.
Sub-headline: EXCEPT WHEN YOUR MEETING IS IN TWO.

For Hilton HHonors Program:
Headline: Olympics Glory lasts forever.
Sub-headline: Your chance to witness it only lasts through December 31.

For ADVAIR:
Headline: Asthma has 2 main causes.
Sub-headline: Treating both with ADVAIR helps prevent symptoms.

For SPIRIVA:
Headline: MY GOAL IS TO BREATHE BETTER EVERY DAY.
Sub-headline: Once-daily SPIRIVA helps people with COPD breathe better.

From Smithsonian:

For the United States Mint:
Headline: ROOSEVELT WANTED A COIN THAT REFLECTED THE GLORY OF A NATION.
Sub-headline: WHAT HE GOT WAS A MASTERPIECE.

For Bose:
Headline: New. Quieter than ever before.
Sub-headline: Introducing Bose QuietComfort 15 Accoustic Noise Cancelling headphones,

For Stauer:
Headline: The Curse of the Perfect Gift
Sub-headline: 20 carats of polished natural emeralds linked with 14K gold for under $200!

Headline: How Do You Spell Pearl Necklace?
Sub-headline: F-R-E-E.

For Mucinex:
Headline: Chest congested?
Sub-headline: For long lasting relief, evict mucus.

For Jitterbug:
Headline: It doesn’t play music, take pictures, or surf the Internet.
Sub-headline: Introducing the NEW Jitterbug. It’s the cell phone that offers simplicity for everyone.

For New York Life:
Headline: SMART SAFE GROWTH YEAR AFTER YEAR
Sub-headline: Guaranteed growth, in good times and bad.

From Family Circle:

For Olay Professional Pro-X Intensive Wrinkle Protocol:
Headline: As effective at wrinkle reduction as what THE DOCTOR PRESCRIBES.*
Sub-headline: At half the price.

For Martha Stewart Crafts:
Headline: Tinseltown.
Sub-headline: Martha Stewart tinsel glitters.

For Lee Jeans:
Headline: JEANS THAT INSTANTLY SLIM YOU.
Sub-headline: NEW SLENDER SECRET JEANS. DO YOU HAVE AN INSTANT?

For Symbicort:
Headline: COPD left me short of breath.
Sub-headline: Now I take SYMBICORT.

For Newbridge Silverware:
Headline: GIFTS DIRECT FROM IRELAND
Sub-headline: FOR YOU HOME AND YOUR LOVED ONES

For Lyrica:
Headline: One thing that doesn’t change with the season:
Sub-headline: Diabetic Nerve Pain.

For Genentech:
Headline: Learn to spot a leading cause of blindness before it happens
Sub-headline: You might be in for a real WAKE-UP call.

For VYTORIN:
Headline: There are 2 sources of cholesterol. Food & Family.
Sub-headline: Only VYTORIN treats both.

For Febreze vacuum bags:
Headline: Don’t just vacuum… freshen!
Sub-headline: Fill the room with freshness as you vacuum.

For Swanson Chicken Broth:
Headline: HOLIDAY SUCCESS RESTS ON SWANSON.
Sub-headline: THE ONLY CANNED CHICKEN BROTH WITHOUT ADDED MSG.

From Health:

For Dove with Nutrium Moisture:
Headline: What makes the new Dove different?
Sub-headline: Here’s the story before the clothes.

For L’Oreal Revitalift:
Headline: WANT TO STOP DEEP-SET EYE WRINKLES?
Sub-headline: Start with the first nonstop AM + PM eye repair duo.

For Vaseline Sheer Infusion:
Headline: NEW Vaseline Sheer Infusion
Sub-headline: Superior moisture across all layers of skin

For Kashi:
Headline: Do What Comes Naturally
Sub-headline: EASY TIPS FOR A STRESS FREE SEASON

For Lipitor:
Headline: I never thought it could happen to me.
Sub-headline: A heart attack at 53.

For Kellogg’s Special K Bar:
Headline: Great taste.
Sub-headline: Less waist.

For Toviaz:
Headline: If you can draw a map to every bathroom in town…
Sub-headline: Today is the day to talk to your doctor about overactive bladder and TOVIAZ – a pill that comes with a plan.

For I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter:
Headline: Butter taste.
Sub-headline: Better Health

For Plavix: (heart attack medicine)
Headline: You’ll never forget that day.
Sub-headline: PLAVIX can help you from going through it again.

Well, that was more than I planned on but each illustrates at least one point and some of them probably convert well and some of them seem pretty terrible (but you’ll only know from testing).

If you “felt” and analyzed your reactions you’ll have learned something; I got several interesting ideas just from finding them!

How to Make a Great Sub-headline

The sub-headline needs to be compelling and build curiosity so people will read the first sentence of the sales copy.

For example, I like one I have in my swipe file from Joe Sugarman, it reads:

“A new consumer concept lets you buy stolen merchandise if you’re willing to take a risk.”

That will get most people reading more of the sales copy, that’s for sure!

The key here is to take the headline and add to it – explain, give more info, etc. – in a way that does excite their curiosity.

Let’s look at a quick example of Mike Filsaime trying to do this with his Butterfly Marketing sales page by having this attention grabbing headline/sub-headline:

“Overdose Warning Required”

Consumer Warning: Use Of This Product May Have Such Explosive And Instant Results Of Cash Surging Into Your Merchant Account… The Result Of Which Could Lead To Getting A Phone Call From Your Merchant Account For Unusual Activity!

Now, I don’t know what traffic he’s driving to this page (what exact keywords, etc.) but I think I’d have used the sub-headline as a headline and used some of the copy he has later as a sub-headline. Maybe something like:

Many People Have Had Their Cash-Packed PayPal Accounts Temporarily Frozen for Review After They Discovered and Applied the Little Known “Butterfly” Techniques

Hmm, not bad. Could use some more thought and revision but not bad for a few seconds thought.

You can see how it reinforces the headline by using more “exact” language as well as some powerful motivating words.

Hopefully, making people want to read more about what the “butterfly” techniques are and how they were so successful that people’s accounts were frozen for review.

Of course, Mike can afford to buy the best copywriter’s in the world and test his sales copy a million different ways so that headline is likely better performing for his audience but the point he was trying to do and that I am trying to make is to let the sub-headline be the helpful supporting, behind the scenes person who actually gets things done; in this case make the prospect curious enough to read on.

That curiosity can come from anything but it must be there and usually the “sneakier” the better.

Conclusion

Curiosity, the “most powerful psychological tool” it the key to having a mind-blowing sub-headline.

Sure, most people don’t even think much about it but it is an important part of a sales letter and can give that little extra push to the prospect who was attracted by the headline to get them to read on.

Go through the examples above again and “feel”. Do it with magazines, newspapers, Web sites, etc. that you come across and your sub-headlines and the rest of your sales copy will get much better.

Just remember that the headline gets someone to climb up to the top of the slippery slide to action but the sub-headline is the thing that starts their momentum.

Do you have any example of great sub-headlines?

Do you use them? You should

What types of things pique your curiosity enough to compel you to read on?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

David

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button on the page or Tweet this:
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Sub-headlines: The Neglected Little Sister

This time we’re going to talk about what Joe Vitale calls “the most powerful psychological tool any Hypnotic Writer can use.”

Joe Sugarman says it is “the one major psychological reason that makes direct marketing so successful today” and he’s sold millions of BluBlocker sunglasses using this technique.

He’s also said that in 1973 he sold thousands upon thousands of (at the time revolutionary) pocket calculators using the technique.

What appeals to us in many deep, visceral levels so much that it’s been used in virtually all of the most successful direct response marketing campaigns online and off?

What has its roots in our primitive needs to find food and make better tools?

Well, that is what we’ll be looking at today.

Yes, I mean…

Curiosity

Yep, good old fashioned curiosity is the copywriter’s bosom buddy.

What is Curiosity?

I looked it up and found this definition for curiosity:

1. A desire to know or learn.
2. A desire to know about people or things that do not concern one; nosiness.
3. An object that arouses interest, as by being novel or extraordinary: kept the carved bone and displayed it as a curiosity.
4. A strange or odd aspect.

That really sums it up and, anyway, you know what curiosity is because you were curious enough to continue reading to find out what I was talking about

Anyway, as I’ve said before, great copywriting is like putting together a puzzle and curiosity is an important corner piece.

Why is Curiosity Important?

Basically it’s important because everyone wants to understand things they don’t know that they think will be valuable to them.

If someone knows something you don’t and you think it would be good for you to know it then you want to know it. The more valuable you think it will be the more you want to know it.

For example:

• If I know how to write sales copy that converts at 10% and sales letters are important to you then you want to know too.
• If I know how to drive a golf ball 400 yards and golf is important to you then you want to know too.
• If I know how to make triple the average tips waiting tables and you wait tables to you want to know what I know.
• If I know how to [fill in the blank] and it is important to you then you want to know too.

Curiosity is an extremely powerful force of motivation; this need to know gives us power and superiority over those who don’t know so the more you know the more power you potentially have.

It’s how we were built in order to survive and it is still one of the driving factors in the human experience (ever have a 2 year old!) and plays a huge factor in successful sales campaigns.

How to Use Curiosity?

P.T. Barnum was THE master at creating curiosity.

He was famous for his side shows acts which he developed (and marketed) so that they created more than curiosity, they create an urgent sense of curiosity.

There are many ways to use curiosity in your sales copy but one of the, if not the, best way to use curiosity is the “secret”.

Look at some of the most successful headlines in history:

• How To Win Friends And Influence People
• Do You Make These Mistakes In English?
• Why Some People Almost Always Make Money In The Stock Market
• How I Made A Fortune With A “Fool Idea”
• Do You Do Any Of These Ten Embarrassing Things?
• They Laughed When I Sat Down At The Piano — But When I Started To Play!
• It’s A Shame For You Not To Make Good Money — When These Men Do It So Easily
• What Everybody Ought To Know…About This Stock And Bond Business

Each at least hints at a secret, from the secret of how to influence people to the secret of succeeding in the stock market.

Bottom Line/Personal had a great headline that made lots of sales and it was based on a secret it was “What Never… Ever to Eat on an Airplane!”

Makes you curious doesn’t it!

Here’s another examples of using curiosity in a headline; this is another of the most successful headlines of all time:

Amazing Secret Discovered By One-Legged Golfer
Adds 50 Yards To Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks And
Slices… And Can Slash Up to 10 Strokes From Your Game
Almost Overnight!

Can you see curiosity in it?

I’m sure you can, because a real prospect (a golfer) would be really curious to know the secret of the one-legged golfer!

Secrets torment and tantalize, they start small and chip away resistance until a person just has to know. The person feels like they’ve got to know the secret; like the secret that helped the one legged golfer and they imagine how it would help them!

Of course, secrets aren’t just for headlines.

You can build an entire story in your sales page around a secret; it can be everything from a conspiracy to a forecast.

You just need to arouse curiosity by hiding or obscuring something that the prospect wants to know and that can only be found out by the prospect doing what you want them to do.

Just leave out a few critical facts and you’ve got that curiosity starting.

• Maybe you talk about the solution to their problem but you don’t tell them what the solution is.
• Maybe you talk about the results they can have but you don’t tell them exactly how to achieve those results.
• Maybe you hint at valuable information but don’t actually divulge it.
• Maybe you have a “rags-to-riches” story but how the “riches” were achieved isn’t spelled out.

You can see that they all pique the prospects curiosity by promising to tell secrets, directly or indirectly, that they know but that most people don’t know.

In headlines, there are some proven and powerful techniques for planting the curiosity seed and they work well in the rest of the sales letter also, here are some of them:

• Use a “how to” which tells them how you can show them how to do something they want.
• Make a big, bold promise and back it up with a big, bold guarantee.
• Ask a question they don’t know but want to.
• Make an outrageous statement and promise to show how or prove it.

It really isn’t more than that, just hold that tasty carrot out so they know what they’ll get (the strong benefits) and let it do its work until they’ll follow you just to get the carrot (the secret of how to get the benefits); both together are important.

Just don’t forget that call to action

The Seeds of Curiosity

As far as I know this was coined by Joe Sugarman, at least he’s the first person I heard who named it.

It is a create way to use a sort of “mini-curiosity” to keep people reading from one paragraph and section to the next.

You see this a lot on TV and in good sales copy.

How it works is that at the end of a paragraph you add a short sentence that gets the reader to want to read the next paragraph. Joe has some good examples so I’ll just use them:

• But there’s more.
• So read on.
• But I didn’t stop there.
• Let me explain.
• Now here comes the good part.
• And here’s why.

These are sort of subconscious cues that spark a person’s curiosity just enough to read the next paragraph.

Don’t you just want to know the explanation or what the “good part” is?

Anyway, don’t over do it but it’s a great way to use little bits of curiosity to get people to keep reading your sales copy and that should improve your conversions.

Conclusion

Curiosity, the “most powerful psychological tool” and “the one major psychological reason that makes direct marketing so successful today”.

Sounds pretty important, doesn’t it?

Well, it is!

Curiosity is creating an “itch” that just must be scratched.

It’s such a powerful motivator because of the perceived advantage it gives the person who satisfies their curiosity; they believe it will give them power and superiority whether it is making more money, having a better love life, hitting longer golf shots, or having more successful children.

To use it, you tantalize the prospect with benefits and that you know how to get those benefits.

You weave a “spell” of curiosity so that their innate desire compels them to do what you want (buy, sign up, etc.) just to get the answer.

Promising to divulge “secrets” is a great way to do that.

How do you use curiosity?

Do you have any examples you really like of using curiosity?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button on the page or Tweet this:
What’s the Copywriter’s Most Powerful Psychological Tool http://bit.ly/1ZVDTd (via @DavidHusnian)

O.O.Y. In case you’re interested, here is where you can get Sugarman’s Copywriting book and Joe Vitale’s Hypnotic Writing book.

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What’s the Copywriter’s Most Powerful Psychological Tool

Great copywriting is like putting together a puzzle where each piece trigger that emotional or leads the reader down a nicely paved path toward your ultimate goal.

We’ve talked about many of the pieces in the past and will talk about many in the future.

So we’re going to look at two more “puzzle pieces” that are actually pretty fun to use (hey, I don’t get out much

The first is one that psychologically prepares the prospect to easily purchase what you want to sell at the price you want them to pay.

It’s “devilishly” subtle and works great when done right.

You see it a lot both on the Internet and off it, but lately Internet Marketers have so abused it that is some niches it doesn’t work as well; it still works but you just have to do it better.

What am I talking about?

Contrast and Compare

Contrast is when you compare one thing to the other to make the perceived differences much greater and make the one you want them to choose look even better than it did.

But you never want to do an apples-to-apples comparison because that brings you down to the lowest common denominator and, to be honest, it may make you look bad; it don’t mean your offer is actually bad but it may appear bad and it isn’t the value of the deal it is the perception of the value of the deal that is important.

Always compare apples-to-oranges.

Selling a $97 dollar e-book, don’t compare it to the $27 e-book (or even the $97 e-book) compare it to the $997 home study course.

Selling a $997 home study course, compare it to the $1,997 (plus expense for travel, food and lodging) 3-day seminar.

Selling a $1,997 3-day seminar, compare it to the $9,997 coaching program.

Heck, if you’re selling that $97 e-book compare it to the home study course, the 3-day seminar and the coaching program.

By the time you get to $97 they’ll be thinking what a great bargain they’re getting.

A great example of this I heard about from Yanik Silver.

Some company was selling a book.

They had a premium version in a special custom case that was signed by the author for over a thousand bucks.

They had something like a “corporate” version that sold for hundreds and they had the one they really wanted to sell – just a regular book – for about $25.

After hearing about the higher priced versions they were thinking how much they saved by buying the cheapest one not “what am I getting for my $25?”

I can hear the thoughts now.

“Do I really need that special case and author’s signature or should I pocket those many hundreds of dollars?”

“Do I need … or should I save that couple of hundred bucks and just get the regular book?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Man, I’ll save over $1,000, I’m taking these guys to the cleaners!”

And now you’ve got the sale you wanted to get at the price you wanted to get and, as a bonus, you actually do get some sales for the higher priced versions.

Contrast and compare is also great for doing down sells; you’ve probably seen those.

You go to a sales page and try to go off it and a window pops up and says, “hey I’ll give you the same deal except this one or two things for half the price.”

So now the prospect is not thinking about spending that $47 they’re thinking how they’re getting almost the $97 offer for less than half price.

Can you say buy, buy, buy? Those things convert like crazy.

Whatever apple you are selling you can find one or more oranges to compare it to. You can even compare it to a peach and a pear and a banana!

Conclusion

Contrast and compare, it works, and gives you another piece of the puzzle.

In essence, you find something that is similar enough (both “fruits”) that you can compare favorably to in one or more specific and desirable ways – is less expensive, works faster, gets better results, is more popular, whatever.

Then you present the “orange” and compare and contrast it to your “better apple”.

This has always improved conversions and likely always will.

Next time we’ll look at another of the C’s of great copywriting, one where you drive your prospects wild

How do you use contrast and compare?

Got any great example of using it, either yours or someone else’s?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

David

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button below or just copy and paste this into Twitter (or send it out to your list):
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Apples-to-Oranges, Using Contrast and Compare to Make More Cash

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end”

Essentially, what this means is that once someone has started down a path it is much easier to continue down the path than to change to a new path.

There have been psychological studies showing this to be true, even if there is no rational reason to continue, even if there are reasons not to continue.

In fact, my mother did just that. She started down a career path that she didn’t like due to circumstances and necessity when she was young and stayed in that career for decades long after the necessity passed; in fact, she is still in that career while admitting she has always hated it.

That’s a large scale example but I used it to show the point Da Vinci was making in a big way.

Fortunately for us, it is true even in small things and can be used to turn your conversions from simmering to boiling.

It’s all about what is called…

Commitment and Consistency

Psychologists have found that we have a desire, bordering on obsession, to be consistent with what we have done in the past; or at least appear to be consistent. Some call it one of the prime motivators of human behavior.

Once a person has made a choice, that is, a commitment, they are hell-bent on being consistent with that choice; this is caused by internal and external pressures and often causes us to act in ways that are harmful (remember my mother).

Now matter how tentative or concerned someone is about making a decision, after that decision is made they become, at least for some period of time, significantly more confident in it.

There are many theories of why this is true and in many aspects of life commitment and consistency is very valuable (don’t you want it from your friends, family co-workers, etc.); in fact, think of what things would be like without, it actually be hard to trust or rely on anyone because you’d never know what they would do or say.

Using Commitment and Consistency

That’s what it is but how can it help you increase your conversions?

It’s really “easy” if you think about it.

Remember that once a decision is made, no matter how small, the next one will be easier to make in a consistent manner and it gets easier and easier.

So, just get a commitment, or series of commitments, and your prospects are more likely to remain consistent with those choices and decisions.

What’s interesting and useful to you is that the commitment can be small and not always even directly related to the ultimate goal.

What you want to do is to turn a lead into a prospect and a prospect into a customer.

So you need to get the lead to make some commitment to you and the path you want them to take; that is, the path to being a customer.

How to Get a Commitment

The first step in the process is finding something where you can get an easy commitment from the person.

I remember reading in Cialdini’s Influence book about how the Communist Chinese successfully did this with Korean War prisoners and it really hit home.

I may not have all the facts right but it went something like this…

The prisoners would be asked to make a very small “commitment”, for example, they’d be asked if America was “perfect”.

Now, most people will say, “no America isn’t perfect.”

They may have difference reasons for thinking why it isn’t perfect and they many people even might think or say “but it better than the alternatives.”

In that one small answer, the commitment was made.

Then they’d be asked for something that wasn’t perfect and so it would go slowly.

Eventually they’d be asked to write a list of the things they’d already said and then the list would be talked about in “discussion groups” and eventually it was broadcast to both prisoners and to soldiers still fighting throughout Korea.

Now the person was a collaborator and many of the prisoners made subtle, subconscious changes into their mindset and do actual acts of collaboration.

The percentage of people who did this was astonishingly high particularly for trained soldiers who were just supposed to stick to name, rank and serial number.

It really shows you the power of commitment and consistency and how you can use it to help you get more sales.

To start you need to get even a trivial commitment or agreement from the lead or prospect to get them to make a decision in your favor and subtly change their self-image in relation to you.

Then get increasingly larger commitments that are internally consistent with their previous decisions until they make the final commitment and purchase.

You can do that same thing on your sales and squeeze pages.

Start, like the Chinese, by asking a series of questions that you know people will answer in the way you want, particularly a positive answer.

Maybe it is a “do you want” type question of some kind “do you want more money”, do you want to lose weight”, etc.

When they answer yes, now you have that seed of a commitment and they have started the habit of answering yes.

Sprinkle these types of questions throughout, making them increasingly specific towards your goal and adding to their commitment (and their desire to be consistent).

What I and others do is to create a plan and included in that plan are questions and statements that lead to a commitment.

Then consistency kicks in as the person become more and more committed.

It’s not hard but does take some practice to get it right.

Try it, you bank account will thank you for it!

Conclusion

Commitment and consistency are innate human behaviors that are consistent through time and culture.

They can be used to drastically increase your conversion rates.

The key is to get a small, essentially trivial, commitment from the person reading your sales copy and slowly build on that by getting further commitments from them that are consistent with the ones already made.

Eventually you lead the person to make the decision you want them to make.

How do you use commitment and consistency?

How does it use you?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button on the page or Tweet this:

Get a Commitment, Get a  Sale – The Power of Commitment and Consistency http://bit.ly/QK00Y (via @DavidHusnian)

O.O.Y. There is a lot more to this commitment and consistency stuff but I am trying to be consistent with my commitment not to write huge blog posts so sign up for my free copywriting course to learn more.

O.O.O.Y. Cialdini’s Influence book has a chapter about commitment and consistency; it’s one of his 6 rules of influence. It’s an interesting book if you want to learn more about how to influence people and how people influence you. Get it at http://StreetGuideToCopywriting.com/Recommends/CialdinisInfluence

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Get a Commitment, Get a Sale – The Power of Commitment and Consistency

Last time we talked about building trust using testimonials.

Testimonials are just one form of credibility builders and this time we are going to look at more of them.

The more you can build your credibility with your prospects the more likely they are too buy; that explains why many professional sales letters spend so much time on doing it – it really improves conversions and puts more money into your pocket.

Great sales copy, meaning sales copy that converts well, always contains many types of “proof elements” and many of them don’t actually have anything to do with your product or service.

Not counting testimonials, I have identified 15 more ways to build credibility so let’s get started!

15 Credibility Builders

Here is a quick look at the credibility builders, we’ll look at some of them in more depth below:

1. Awards won by you, your company, or your product or service.
2. Biographical sidebars
3. Case studies
4. Contact information (address and telephone number)
5. Endorsements from celebrities or public figures
6. FAQ sheets
7. Media appearances
8. Photos of yourself and, to a lesser extent, of your product
9. Press clippings
10. Quotes from experts
11. Referrals and references
12. Sales figures or other “hard” proof that would be applicable
13. Scientific studies
14. Statistics or quotes from credible third parties
15. Tell your prospects you can’t solve all their problems, but you can solve a percentage of them.

That’s a lot of ways to build credibility and that’s good from you because it gives you lots of options and gets you lots of sales!

It All Starts with You

Ultimately, the prospect needs to trust you and that means you have to be out there; be honest and transparent.

Start by showing a picture of yourself. If you are using a persona then you need to find a picture that is representative of that persona.

Make sure the picture is appropriate for your target audience. By that I mean, is you are selling expensive financial information then formal business attire would be more appropriate (not a picture of you playing with your kids) whereas if you are selling sports equipment then an informal, sporty look may be just right.

If you have media appearances or photos/videos of you teaching the information that’s really powerful also.

Include some personal information about yourself, enough to get the prospect to start identifying with you and building a more personal, emotional bond than they would with a boring “sell-sell-sell” type sales letter.

One great thing to do is put your contact information on the sales page. Make sure the prospects feels that can contact you in multiple ways so include your address, your telephone number, your fax number, your e-mail address, even your Twitter name!

You can use excerpts from press releases as credibility builders. Even though they are originally written by you they do increase people’s trust in you.

Finally, use any organizations you’re associated with that will impress your prospects.

Let me give you a real life example of that

My aunt is a consultant to companies on cultural diversity, she has a Ph.D. in the subject.

She appears on TV as an expert, has published books and articles on the subject and she’s been consulting for many years for many large organizations.

She always used “Ph.D.” after her name but after she changed it to “Ph.D., UCLA” her conversions increased nicely.

She made only that change, nothing else.

She was afforded additional credibility and believability because she could now tap into the prestige of UCLA.

What Other Say About You

Testimonials fill this role but you can and should go beyond testimonials.

If you can get celebrity endorsements you’ll have one of the most powerful credibility builders there are. In general, they don’t even have to be associated with the product in any way although some products in some niches it is better to have a person who is a celebrity in that niche.

Note, you can frequently buy a celebrity endorsement and they aren’t as expensive as you’d think unless you’re going after a really big name.

You can get a certain amount of celebrity endorsement that is brand related rather than personal. For example, the “As Seen On …” type of thing still works great and isn’t that hard to get.

Quotes from experts and authorities are very good, particularly I some niche. For example, quotes from doctors and nurses in a health niche can really help build your credibility.

One way that people says things about you that isn’t commonly thought of is awards. If you or your product have won awards these can be tremendous credibility builders; display them and tout them.

Facts, Just the Facts

If you can show sales figures, income statements, traffic figures and other information that “prove” the value of your product or service this build some credibility and also gets people thinking that it would be something they want to have.

Scientific studies, statistics and data from highly credible third parties, even if it is only vaguely related to your product, give your prospects an increased level of comfort.

You essentially piggyback off the credibility of the third party, groups like professional associations (American Medical Association – AMA), government agencies (Food & Drug Administration – FDA), professional media (Wall Street Journal), consumer media (CNN), educational institutions (Harvard) and consumer watchdogs (Consumer Reports).

The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

You can also build credibility by telling your prospects that you can’t solve all their problems but then showing them how you can solve most of them.

For example: “We can’t solve all your debt problems but imagine what your life would be like with the 94.5% we can help you with.”

What this does is make you seem more credible and not just some scam artist trying to take them for everything they have; your claims won’t be as unbelievable and they’ll be more confident in you and what you are offering.

The use of a specific percentage increases the trust because it sounds like a real number that was actually calculated which makes a bigger impact on the prospect.

Ultimately, the truth is the best thing you can do. If you aren’t truthful it will come out in your copy and it will be noticed by your prospects, even if it is subconsciously.

Don’t give false or misleading figures.

Don’t give false or misleading deadlines.

Don’t give false or misleading promises.

Be truthful.

Once you lose your reputation of being honest then people will always wonder when you’re telling the truth and when you are not. This will hurt you more than anything else.

Conclusion

It is simple, the more credible you appear to your prospects the more cash you’ll get.

There are many ways to improve credibility and you should include as many of them as possible because there aren’t many individual credibility builders you can use that will be enough to get the sale.

Here are the 15 ways to build credibility we looked at:

1. Awards won by you, your company, or your product or service.
2. Biographical sidebars
3. Case studies
4. Contact information (address and telephone number)
5. Endorsements from celebrities or public figures
6. FAQ sheets
7. Media appearances
8. Photos of yourself and, to a lesser extent, of your product
9. Press clippings
10. Quotes from experts
11. Referrals and references
12. Sales figures or other “hard” proof that would be applicable
13. Scientific studies
14. Statistics or quotes from credible third parties
15. Tell your prospects you can’t solve all their problems, but you can solve a percentage of them.

Don’t neglect these. Make more money!

What credibility builders do you use?

What new ones can you add that have helped you?

Leave a comment and let me know.

Talk soon,

David

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button on the page or Tweet this:

Explode Your Sales by Building Trust with Credibility Builders http://bit.ly/5S5Df (via @DavidHusnian)

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This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

Explode Your Sales by Building Trust with Credibility Builders

If the prospect doesn’t trust you it will be very hard to make sales; emphasis on VERY and HARD.

There are various ways to build trust, some of which we’ve talked about in the past, but one of the strongest ways to build credibility and trust are testimonials.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term testimonial, basically it is an independent 3^rd party verification that your solution does, in fact, do what you say it does.

Or, in other words, it is people raving about how great the product and you are.

When it comes to persuading prospects about how good your product is, testimonials are right at the top of the list.

Scattered throughout your sales copy, you continuously strengthen the various sales copy points you’re making, just make sure the testimonial supports the sales copy the prospect just read or is about to read.

We’re going to look at the various types of testimonials, how to create powerful testimonials and how to get testimonials even if you don’t have any customers yet!

Types of Testimonials

Testimonials can be so much more than the typical “your product is great” letters from customers.

Sure, those are great and you should use those that are believable and interesting; but enhance them by giving it an attention getting headline and be sure to include as much name, location and contact information as you can get; don’t forget that pictures really add to the believability.

But there are other testimonials, the ways are really limited by your own creativity but here are some ways that have proven highly effective to get you started:

• Write a “breaking news article” by interviewing some customers, about 4 to 6, about their experiences with your product.
• Get someone to interview your customer or do it yourself if you can’t find anyone. Ask tough questions about your product, play devil’s advocate and let the customer overcome your questions and objections; use the audio (or video) as the testimonial. This is a remarkably effective way of building trust with your prospects
• Create a case study about some of your customers, that is, a story about how a customer used and was helped by using your product.
• Ask your customer to create a video of them actually using your product or of results they’ve achieved (before and after work particularly good in video).

Creating Powerful Testimonials

You’ll find that many of the testimonials you get aren’t really that good. They might be poorly written, vague, sound insincere or just boring.

The obvious solutions it that if you don’t like them then don’t use them but, with a little work, you can get great ones or turn less than great into great!

Most people give the same type of testimonial, either one that says how great the product is or a sort of “before and after” testimonial; that is, they tell you their problem and how the product solved it, generally with some raving about greatness thrown in.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with those (get as many as you can but, to stand out and be more believable, you can’t stop there, go one step further.

What you want are much more powerful, more “get them where it counts” testimonials.

In particular, you want testimonials that talk about specific benefits and that tell a story about a real person who had a real problem and who is absolutely elated with the product that, finally, gave them a solution.

Now, you’re probably wondering how to get such a perfect, “dream”, testimonial.

Luckily, it’s easy. It’s just a matter asking for it. Here’s what to do:

• Contact your customers and interview them; don’t spend more than 15-30 minutes; use this to get that interesting, real-life story that your prospects will relate to.
• Then ask the customer if you can use the interview as a testimonial.
• Assuming they say yes, say that you’d be happy to create it for them but they will have final approval before it’s used; emphasize they will be able to say yes or no.
• Then take the interview and craft as compelling, heartfelt testimonial as you possibly can. If the interview was good you should have some great material to work with.

Here are some things you can do to help you:

• Figure out what you angle will be after you hear the story, comments and
• Decide what key benefits to you want to emphasize in this testimonial; don’t always emphasize the same thing unless it is the sole or wildly most important benefit. This could be about the product, the results or about the experience; all are important, necessary and can be powerful.
• Decide how you can best position this testimonial for maximum impact
• Decide what will make your ideal prospect say “I am just like that” or “hey, that’s my situation”

Getting several of these will allow you to judiciously use them throughout your sales copy since they are likely to focus on different things. Plus, you’ll probably get lots of little tidbits that you can weave into your sales copy!

Getting Testimonials When You Don’t Have Customers

If you have a new product that doesn’t have any customers you’re probably wondering how you’re going to get any testimonials.

Not a problem!

Here are a few ideas you can use to get testimonials if your have no customers yet:

• Provide free copies of the product to a select group of people with the understanding that that are expected to provide testimonials, good or bad.
• Send out review copies to people in the your niche and have them review it for their Web site, mailing list or an independent review site like e-opinions.com. Then quote those reviews giving proper attribution. This can be a good thing to do even if you do have testimonials.
• Do a small private launch at a drastically reduced price to get some customers and then get testimonials from them for the public launch.

Conclusion

We looked at how to use testimonials in a sales page to build trust and, ultimately, skyrocket your sales.

We saw some of types of powerful testimonials you can create, well beyond the standard “you’re great” letters.

We also looked at how to get testimonials when you don’t have customers yet.

Before I finish I want to show you how powerful testimonials can be I want to tell you a very short story I heard.

There is this star copywriter who put together a 24-page tabloid promotion that was about 80% testimonials; which is almost unheard of!

He really had to convince the company to try it because it wasn’t cheap to create and send out and there was great risk.

The copywriter felt that testimonials were so critical and powerful for this product because the main obstacle was trust in the product so he wanted lots of proof.

When I heard about it, it was about 15 months after and the client had mailed out over 10,000,000 copies and was still sending them out by the boatload.

Oh yeah, it had made them a substantial profit.

I wouldn’t suggest you try that except in very rare cases but it does point out the power that testimonials can have in making you lots of money you wouldn’t make otherwise.

Do you use testimonials?

If so, how and if not, why not.

It’s important enough to think about how and why/why not so leave a comment explaining it to help you understand your thinking better or to ask questions that will help you understand.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

O.Y. Don’t forget to retweet this! Use the button on the page or Tweet this:
Explode Your Sales by Building Trust with Testimonials http://bit.ly/2iicwi (via @DavidHusnian)
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This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

Explode Your Sales by Building Trust with Testimonials

Wondering what I could add to my sales and squeeze pages that would make a difference; what could I test to see if it worked?

Then it hit me.

Something I read a little while ago, in combination with something my wife said to me this morning, made it all come together

There is one area I hadn’t even tapped that would build trust, reduce competition and improve conversions.

One area that few people, that is, few competitors, use to build trust and shut out competitors.

Remember, the sequence of steps a buyer goes through is:

1. They get an idea or become aware of something new, they do a little preliminary looking around
2. They let it soak in and become interested, they have a question now and then that needs answered to increase their interest
3. Then they do some real research
4. They then select the product or service they want
5. Finally, they buy.

These steps may take days, months or even years but ultimately, if they buy, they go through all those 5 steps.

Looking at that, it became clear what I had been missing out on and what I needed to do…

I needed to deepen and widen the top of my sales funnel.

Make the entire sales funnel one big super sales letter using all the regular copywriting techniques just spread over many pages that people will read over a long period of time

Normally Internet Marketers focus on steps 4 and 5, some maybe even focus a little on step 3 but nobody focuses on steps 1 and 2.

Sure, you need to focus on buyers because that’s where you’re going to make your money; but I’ve heard that only 10-20% of people at any particular time are actually ready to buy (that is, are in steps 4 and 5) which means that 80-90% aren’t buying now (sounds like a waste .

So what are they doing?

It turns out that most of the others are in steps 1 through 3. Few, if anybody, are marketing to them.

Yeah, you’re saying, I’m not going to waste my time and money marketing to people who aren’t buying. I know I’ve said it myself.

What if though, you did? What would happen?

How could you tap into that 90% of the Internet that is being ignored?

If you are providing these people with their first looks at a particular topic you could actually shape their view of the topic and even control their eventual selection criteria.

By building a relationship, by communicating with them, very early in the buying sequence you can do just that.

By providing great, informative content to help and educate them, you start building trust with them while they’re just “babies” in the topic.

Have something for all the early steps then they’ll have a level of comfort with you and allow you to guide them to you when they are ready to purchase.

Just inform, entertain, guide and engage them BEFORE they are thinking of buying, then when they’re ready to buy – tomorrow, next month, next year – YOU are the trusted source and will have a huge advantage over your competitors.

To do that you need to find the keywords the “idea”, “interested” and “researching” people are using when they go to a search engine.

Create Web pages and Web sites that provide lots of free content. Video, software, tools, guides and those types of things are really good for this; anything that will catch their attention and will get you viewed as someone knowledgeable and trustworthy.

Try to answer all the questions people in the early stages will ask; just like trying to answer all the questions a good prospect has on a sales letter.

Don’t try to get the “idea” and “interested” people to join a list or anything. Very few will be ready at that point so make sure the content is truly free without any obligation to do anything; don’t worry though as you’ll be able to get them on your list later.

Then get those Web pages ranked highly for those keywords you found above.

I know it sounds like something I should be talking about on my web traffic blog but you’re doing this to get conversions just like “normal” copywriting.

The earlier in the process you can get people to like and trust you, the easier it will be to get the sale whenever they are ready to buy.

Plus, it will mean that many of them won’t even look at competitors because you’ll have already got them trusting you; effectively shutting out the competition. That type of connection is priceless to a marketer.

Where do you start?

Let’s look at an example to help you see the types of things you can do to broaden your sales funnel.

Let’s say you sell Asian vacation packages. What are the initial questions someone would ask if they just decided to go on a vacation?

• What are the cultures like?
• What’s the weather like?
• What time zone will you be in?
• Is there political turmoil?
• How safe is it? Is there a lot of crime? What type?
• Are there any health issues in the area? What vaccinations will you need?
• How long is the flight?
• Are there any specific environmental issues to be concerned about?
• What activities are available?
• What will be the visa requirements?
• What currency is used? What is the currency conversion rate?
• And on and on…

Now I’d want to make a number of different pages addressing all those questions. No selling, just great information and resources.

Here are some examples of pages and sites you can make that target those people early in the process:

• Make pages that provide information on the culture, include image, etc. and reference places like Wikipedia
• Hook into weather.com and let people see the average weather for various time periods
• Have a map and a list of the various time zones; use something like Google Maps
• Create pages with RSS feeds of news for the various areas
• Give updated information on local safety conditions
• Provide slideshows and videos of various activities and “must see” spots
• Create a currency calculator and put it on a page
• etc.

Really anything goes as long as it is desired, useful and doesn’t sell.

Remember the point is to build trust and slowly move them down the sales funnel towards a sell at their pace, not yours.

Conclusion

By widening and deepening the top of your sales funnel you’ll capture more people earlier in the sales process gaining their trust and blocking your competition.

Do this by providing highly desired content and other resources to people in the early stages of the buying sequence.

Discover the question these pre-pre-pre-buyers will have and answer them as well as others they may not even think of at the time.

Be creative in your questions and in your solutions.

Just remember, don’t sell just, just build trust.

I will admit, I haven’t done this and don’t know if it will work, I just thought of it and wanted to share it, but I think it will work and will be trying it myself; it is something you should consider though.

This is somewhat radical thinking, so please let me know what you think or if I am crazy by leaving a comment.

Talk soon,

The Shameless (Ethical) Marketer
http://www.Twitter.com/DavidHusnian
http://www.8-8-8Sale.com
http://www.MusicForInternetMarketers.com
http://www.SecretsOfGoogleAdWords.com
http://www.MadMondaySale.com
http://www.2ForTuesdaySale.com

.

This post from: Street Guide to Copywriting. To read more post like this, head over to Street Guide to Copywriting

Want More Sales? Create a “Super Sales Letter” and Widen Your Sales Funnel!