Copying them word for word can ingrain into your mind what it feels like to compose high converting landing pages and emails. It’s almost as though you can plug into the writer’s mind and see through their eyes how they constructed a compelling argument on the page.

Studying different styles of copywriting can also help develop your own. Just as music composers are influenced by other musicians, you can evolve your writing style by sponging up the techniques and wordplay written by some of the greats.

Here are a few links to examples of high impact sales letters to add to your swipe file, as well as inspirational audio interviews with a couple of copywriting legends:

Info marketing blog Gary Halbert swipe file- this blog offers an analysis of some of the ads written by master copywriter Gary Halbert, which you can download as pdfs.

Perry Marshall interviews John Carlton + Three Sales Letters– in exchange for your email address you can access three John Carlton sales letters and audio interviews, all for free. You can’t say fairer than that.

Michel Fortin interviews Gary Halbert and John Carlton- If the previous interviews left you begging for more, direct response copywriter Michel Fortin’s website (which I’m sure you’re already subscribed to) has interviews with Gary Halbert and John Carlton for you to enjoy. Plenty of lessons to be learned from both (and not just about the words you put on the page).

Swipe file on Clayton Makepeace’s website – you can download free samples written by masters, such as Gary Bencivenga, Dan Rosenthal and Jim Rutz from the Clayton Makepeace website.

Laurence Blume portfolio samples – visit UK based copywriter Laurence Blume’s website for a treasure trove of sample DM sales letters, email copy and landing pages.

So whilst the sun is out, grab a sheet of paper and a pen and start copying.

Feel free to paste links to high converting sales letters and other examples of great copywriting in the comments.

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Building traffic to your website is one thing. But you still have to consider what you’re going to do when visitors arrive.

Are you merely going to offer them the same self congratulatory copy they’ll find in your brochure? Or offer them useful content that answers their questions, demonstrates your expertise and builds trust in your business?

Well, thankfully my clarion call for investing in great content is now being taken up by the SEO brigade. No longer is SEO merely about keywords and begging for back links.

Now having content that people find useful and want to share is becoming vital if you want to improve your search engine ranking.

Focus on the reader, rather than where to place keywords

Last week I posted about some of the changes taking place in how Google ranks sites, and why human behaviour is becoming a key factor in its algorithm.

Increasingly, it appears as though it’s websites with sticky content, that engages readers for longer, gets bookmarked and shared on social media sites, that are experiencing a boost to their search ranking.

So to improve your exposure, your website needs content that assists people’s buying decisions or helps solve a problem. Luckily, this is something copywriters are adept at providing.

A key principle of copywriting is that it should focus on the needs, desires and pains of the reader, rather than praising yourself.

If Google is grading sites based on how people engage with their content then copy focused on the needs of the reader, rather than your own, is becoming vital for improving your position in the search results.

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Despite implementing redirects, an assortment of Wordpress plugins and anything else that might make Google happy, my website continues to languish in banishment (for UK listings anyway) until Google sees fit to forgive my stupidity and allow me back in from the cold.

So, in the meantime I’ve been scouting for SEO tips, and discovered a few things on the Conversation Marketing blog which copywriters ought to know:

1. Write enticing description and title tags – it appears that Google is counting how many clicks organic search results receive. So the more regularly your website’s description entices in a visitor the higher up Google will promote it. Simple.

2. Sticky content becoming more important – evidence suggests that websites able to improve how long they can keep visitors engaged are enjoying improvements to their search results in only a matter of months. So sticky content helps build trust in your business and with the search engines at the same time.

3. Social bookmarking carrying more weight – whenever your posts get Stumbled, Dugg or bookmarked in Delicious they’re being given the thumbs up by real people. So it’s practical and sensible for Google to incorporate these human endorsements into its search results.

4. Getting harder to fake it – bookmarking your own content or forming groups to game the system obviously has a limited shelf life when Google can track IP addresses. So to build sustainable rankings, websites must provide real value that gets naturally bookmarked and keeps visitors engaged for longer.

All these points reinforce the fact that SEO is about more than keywords and back links, or as Google’s Matt Cutts said in an interview last year, "SEOs are starting to embrace the fact that they are marketers. It’s a broader spectrum. You have to think about how you build buzz, how do you get loyal customers, how do you optimize your ROI.”

SEO (the white coloured variety anyway) now requires skills in analytics, page conversion and being able to write great content. Most copywriter’s should have at least two of these hats in their locker already. So maybe it’s worth completing the set now that SEO firms are emerging as website marketing companies.

More on this next week (or this week if the sun stops beckoning me into the garden).

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With magazines and TV struggling to cope with haemorrhaging ad revenue (and competition from the internet), it’s easy to get sucked into thinking that persuasive copy isn’t what people want to read.

Today’s consumer is more cynical of sales messages than ever, and can get annoyed when their attention is wasted on content that has nothing of value to offer.

So does the approach of your website’s copywriting need to adjust accordingly?

Should your content focus on hard facts, product info and objectively written cases studies?

Or does persuasive copy, with its slogans and emotion driving power words, still have a role to play?

Facebook and the rejection of advertising

For years Facebook has been struggling to work out how to monetise itself, and to pluck dollars from its millions of members. But how do you extract money from an audience that hates sales messages and thinks the entertainment should be free?

Facebook’s failure to generate revenue from its ads, despite its massive user base, reflects how people ignore, reject and refuse to respond to blatant sales messages online.

People use the web for information, not advertising, and like having control over what they want to consume. So, an effective way of engaging people with your website is to feed this hunger for informative, useful content.

The benefits of informative copywriting

Publishing useful, informative content on your website offers numerous benefits:

• Improves your search engine ranking for your keyword phrases
• Increases traffic
• Keeps visitors engaged with your business for longer
• Assists your prospect’s buying decisions
• Positions yourself as a knowledge leader
• Builds trust and confidence in your expertise

With so many benefits to choose from, informative copywriting can indeed be effective at converting browsers into buyers (even if we don’t have a quantifiable ROI for it yet).

So, does emotion driven persuasive copywriting still have a role to play? Or will the whiff of a sales message have visitors running for the door?

Why people buy

It’s easy to jump on the anti-advertising bandwagon and think that all people really want to know is the nuts and bolts of what something does and why they should buy. But the fact is  people still make buying decisions based on the same impulses they always have: emotions.

Along with useful info, your website needs to satisfy your prospects’ emotional needs, with a persuasive pitch weaved amongst your website’s words.

Now, this doesn’t mean using hype, exaggeration and fakery to seduce prospects into falling in love with your brand – people hate it when they think they’re being sold a lie.

Instead, your copy should present a clear, logical argument which states the reasons why people should buy your product or service backed up with emotionally charged imagery of what their life would be like if they click ‘buy’.

The strategy of combining useful, informative content with a persuasive pitch is already used by legions of eBook and digital product sellers. Whilst I can’t promise that using these tactics will make you an internet millionaire (although plenty would), combining logic and emotion is a potent mix for turning clicks into sales.

So, should your website’s copywriting be informative or persuasive? The answer is both.

Latest from the bda blog

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Whilst it might have come true for some people, for the vast majority the internet marketing dream has remained precisely that. And new research shared on Graham Jones’ blog shows how difficult achieving online success can be.

Of the 179,000 applications on Facebook less than 1% have generated more than $1000 in the last two years.  Whilst you could question whether a study of fickle Facebook users is an accurate sample, Graham suggests that the data is a fair reflection of online success on the whole.

Rather than the conversion target of 5%, trumpeted by many internet marketing gurus, perhaps 1% (at best) is a more realistic target for your digital venture.

73% prefer to receive offers in print

So, I think the lesson to be learnt from this is not to base your marketing plan on chasing traffic and generating content on your website alone. Offline promotion still (and probably always will) has a vital role to play.

Many of those who have found success online have done so due to their success off it. And as a Pitney Bowes study suggests, the majority of people still prefer to receive promotional offers in print.

In fact, modern integrated marketing campaigns often comprise of an initial direct mail promo to build interest before directing people to a website or a personalised URL to develop the sales process online.

Don’t just build it and hope they will come

If, like me, you’re a freelancer it’s therefore unwise to base your business plan on building a website and praying enough clients find you. Whilst I’ve written for companies in Hong Kong, Australia and the U.S., the majority of my repeat business still comes from those I’ve met in person.

So if you’re struggling to find success online, print off some business cards, polish your shoes and start contacting target clients in your area, whether it’s cold calling, attending networking events or sending off a post card marketing campaign.

Because, as the research suggests, you could be ignoring the importance of offline marketing at your peril.

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Experienced copywriters won’t discover anything new. But I’m hoping the eBook will be useful for visitors looking for advice on how to make their sales writing more compelling (or to consider hiring me to write it for them).

It’s underlying theme is that showy writing isn’t sales writing: you need to focus on what the reader wants, rather than use elaborate, long words and marketing cliches in a misguided attempt to sound impressive. And that you need to motivate the reader’s emotional triggers if you want them to buy.

No signup is required, so the eBook can run free and, hopefully, help people discover how to use words to convince, compel and sell:

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“They were easier to read than ignore” – Victor Schwab

It’s often said that copywriting can’t be too long, just too boring.

And sales writing is often only tolerated at the best of times. So if your copy is to weave its magic it needs to be light, easy to read and captivating.

Here are 15 tips for making your sales writing more punchy and compelling for readers:

1. Aim for an average sentence length of around 16 words.

2. Vary between short and long sentences to give your writing rhythm.

3. Split long sentences into two if they’ll survive on their own. Use connecting words such as ’so’, ‘and’ or ‘because’.

4. Wield an axe to flabby language and unnecessary words. As Anton Chekhov put it, ‘Brevity is the sister of talent.’

5. Sales writing isn’t blessed with a reader’s patience. So ensure every word and sentence means something to the reader and adds to your argument. Don’t waffle or descend into a longwinded diatribe that’s of little interest to anybody but you.

6. Leave long paragraphs to novelists, and limit yours to a single thought. Two or three sentences is adequate.

7. Showy writing isn’t sales writing. Don’t use words just because they sound impressive. And leave jargon and corporate claptrap for the brochure (if you must use them at all).

8. Use positive inspiring language on what the reader ‘can’ achieve and ‘will’ be able to do. Avoid negative terms that might dampen their spirits.

9. Break up up your page with subheads and bullets to aid skim reading.

10. Use power words to charge up your writing’s impact, such as ‘revealed’, ‘proven’, ’scientific’ and ‘breakthrough’.

11. Write in your reader’s language and the style they’re comfortable with. Read your target market’s magazines and newspapers to gauge the pitch.

12. People are hardwired to respond to stories. Use storytelling on how your product has solved someone’s problem to trigger the reader’s imagination and emotions.

13. Use facts or personal history to build rapport, empathy and to show the reader that you feel their pain.

14. Ask the reader a simple question early on they’ll say ‘yes’ to. This will precondition them to be more likely to agree with you and say ‘yes’ to your offer later on.

15. Sales writing is often compared to a conversation with a pal in a bar. So it should be conversational and sound similar to how you’d speak. Read it aloud to hear whether it flows smoothly.

Another tip I’d add is to keep a swipe file of the best sales writing you find. Study it, highlight key phrases and copy it out by hand to gain an understanding of how to write punchy copywriting that generates sales.

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Even in brighter times, it’s always been difficult securing funding for a web project’s written element. Businesses often care more about how their website looks than what it says. But not investing in quality copy is like creating a beautifully decorated cake with intricate icing and filling it with sawdust (analogy taken from Boagworld web design podcast about copywriting).

So unless you want customers choking on dry, bland content, here are reasons why businesses need to invest in copywriting:

Improve Google ranking and traffic – hammering out a conveyer belt of cheap, keyword packed content is easy. Writing engaging posts that attract links from other sites less so. But backlinks from relevant sites is an integral part of the magic equation that will boost your ranking and traffic. Investing in content also offers long-term value compared to pouring funds into the bottomless pit that is pay-per-click advertising.

Promotes your expertise – visitors form opinions based on what they read, and not just on the flashy intro. Your content reflects the professionalism of your business and the quality of your products. Content riddled with spelling mistakes and poor grammar suggests a similarly lazy approach to customer service.

Builds trust, confidence and sales – people are rarely ready to buy on the first visit. Maintaining contact with a useful, well written and informative newsletter enables you to build a relationship (and the sales process) over time.

Appeals to target market – different types of copy appeals to different personalities. Copy needs to be pitched so it appeals to the personality type of your target customer; this takes time, effort and skill.

Keeps visitors engaged longer – keyword packed content might appeal to robotic search engines, but is less appealing to real life people. If your content confuses rather than communicates, customers will shop elsewhere.

More interesting – when you’ve taken the time to research your market, identify your USPs and understand your customers’ problems then your copy will inherently be more relevant and interesting.

Competitive advantage – when you’re competing for clicks with rival websites one of the key differentiators is the quality of your copy. People are more likely to reward you with their time and attention if you’ve made the effort to engage them properly.

Works harder at selling – copywriting that talks about benefits rather than features, appeals to the visitors’ desires and ends with a call to action is going to work harder at selling products. Copy that isn’t structured or pitched properly is slouched outside on a permanent fag break.

More objective – when you work with a product all day it’s common for the jargon and techie language you hear to find its way into your writing. An external copywriter, however, can approach the product with a clearer perspective.

Helps navigation – clearly positioned links and copy that leads into other sections add to a site’s navigation. Copy pasted from an offline brochure is more likely to leave them stood outside gazing through the window, puzzled and unable to find a way in.

Written for the reader – it’s a common mistake to think that showy writing, packed with long words used to sound impressive, is good sales writing. But people have little patience on the web, and are more likely to be turned off by marketing speak and cliches than endeared to your company.

If you’re currently struggling to find work, consider using some of these points as the basis of an email or postcard campaign notifying potential clients of the benefits of your copywriting services.

Any you’d like to add?

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The different parts didn’t assemble as neatly as I’d hoped. I started off discussing business writing in general but by chapter seven I’d started focusing on sales letter and landing page copywriting.

So I’m now in the process of cutting unwanted material with a hacksaw and implanting fresh words to try and create the eBook I’d planned.

Whilst it’s still on the operating table, I thought I’d investigate how I can use my free eBook to convert visitors into subscribers.

I’ve noticed in recent months that more websites (and not just blogs) are using pop-up subscription boxes to signup visitors to their newsletter or RSS feed.

As  every internet marketer knows, few people are going to buy your product or service on the first visit. So you need to be able to maintain contact and build a relationship over time; using a pop-up subscription box makes signing up visitors to receive your content that little bit easier.

Unblockable (for now)

After a brief search, I stumbled upon a free Wordpress plugin for creating a subscription pop-up screen.

The MaxBlogPress Unblockable Pop-up plugin is a breeze to install and start using. You simply upload and activate as you would a normal plugin, and then you  create your Pop-up within minutes using the straightforward editor.

You can specify your pop-up’s size, how you’d like it to appear and (most importantly) how frequently you’d like it to display.

Mine in action:

Whilst the temptation might be to flash up your offer at every opportunity, obtrusive pop-ups can be as annoying as a pushy salesman and risk causing visitors to leave and never come back.

So I’d recommend displaying your ad once or twice and then allow visitors to browse in peace.

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to be possible to use the plugin to to give away my eBook without using a separate autoresponder, so I’ll probably just add the eBook as a link in the footer of future posts.

Hopefully if the surgery is successful my eBook will be out of the operating theatre and ready to start seeing visitors next week.

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It’s believed that procrastination and writer’s block are caused by the writer’s desire to achieve perfection.

The fear of composing an awkward sentence or weak turn of phrase can be so paralysing that many writers simply can’t face the simple act of typing words into their keyboard.

But it’s also believed that writer’s block is a myth, because you can always write something.

First drafts can sometimes be a clumsy, repetitive and turgid mass of unrefined words.

But the beauty of a word processor is that you can go over your writing as many times as you like sculpting and moulding it until you’re left with a concisely crafted piece of writing.

This is why editing is so important in the writing process.

Here are my tips for editing your writing until it emerges from your words workshop clean, crisp and able to clearly communicate what you’re trying to say.

1. Read with fresh eyes

After you’ve finished your first draft, stand up and walk away from your keyboard.

Go for a walk, read a book or clean the dishes if you want to.

Just give yourself a break so you can go back later on and read through your writing with more objectivity.

It’s amazing what glaring mistakes or awkwardly worded sentences you’ll miss if you don’t give your brain a chance to refresh and read with a clean slate.

2. Read from the viewpoint of your target reader

Sometimes you might get carried away when you’re writing and use a style and tone that appeals to you. But you mustn’t forget the reader.

So you need to assess whether your writing achieves its objective of projecting an idea, feeling or image onto the target reader’s mind.

Does the tone match their personality type?

Does it risk confusing them with too much technical jargon?

Is it too Corporate? Or too conversational?

Imagine you’re reading your writing for the first time and assess whether it makes sense, holds your interest and presents a convincing argument.

3. Trim and prune

Clear, concise writing comes from brevity and adopting short words and sentences.

So replace long winded language, used to sound impressive, with shorter, punchier versions to instantly make your writing more readable.

You should also consider cutting sentences of over 25 words into two if they can survive on their own.

Also remember that one of your writing’s key aims is to maintain the reader’s attention. So consider the relevance of every single word and phrase.

Wield an axe to flabby, verbose language and refine the remainder with a scalpel until you’re left with a lean, toned and agile piece of writing.

4. Don’t trust Word’s spell check, and use the active voice

Ensure names are spelt correctly, commas are in the right place and you’ve scoured it relentlessly for typos. Reading sentences backwards sometimes helps.

Also check you’re using the right contractions (e.g. ‘you’re’ when you mean ‘you are’), and where appropriate writing in the active voice.

The active voice helps your writing to be concise, punchy and easy to read, and is achieved when the subject performs the action expressed by a verb.

A couple of basic examples:

Active – Matt has finally joined Twitter

Passive – Twitter was finally joined by Matt

Active – Matt will post more messages on Twitter

Passive – There will be more messages on Twitter posted by Matt

The warning signs of passive sentences are forms of be, such as am, is, was, were, are, or been, and frequently when ‘by’ is used to link to the subject after the verb.

However, the passive voice does have its fans, particularly in the scientific and technical writing community. The passive voice helps sentences sound  objective and fact based, even if at the expense of being flat and uninteresting.

You can learn more about writing in the active or passive voice here:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_actpass.html

5. Print it out, read it out

You might feel confident enough in your analytical ability to dissect your writing on screen.

However, printing it out and reading it aloud in its physical form can provide you with a clearer perspective.

When you’re reading words on the screen your mind can play tricks on you, such as missing out words or letters it feels are superfluous to understanding a sentence’s meaning.

Reading your writing aloud, however, slows your brain down and enables you to register and verbalise every word.

6. Walk away again before you hit publish

When you think you’ve finished get up out of your seat again and take another break.

After allowing your brain to refresh give it another read through, taking into consideration points 1-5, until you’re happy.

The beauty of writing is you can keep editing and refining your words until you can literally feel whether they’ll resonate, engage and persuade readers with your finely sculpted collection of words.

Want some extra internet marketing tips and advice?

Well then, head over to the bda blog for an extra dose of insight on branding, marketing and engaging with the shared passions of your customers:

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