Long form online sales letters have a bad rep. Many copywriters will roll their eyes at their bright red headlines, disingenuous storytelling and overblown hype that mercilessly preys on desperation and gullibility. It’s no wonder the format is often seen as the shady car salesman of copywriting.

But while we bemoan the rather scammy and, frankly, unethical approach of some long form sales pages to taking people’s money, the fact is they work. It’s true. In tests long form sales letters will frequently out pull a crisp and concise 300 word landing page. SEOMoz, for example, improved conversions 170 percent after changing to a classic long form sales letter style. With this in mind, is it time your website’s home page became a long form sales letter?

Long form sales letters contain your pitch in one page, rather than rely on visitors to piece it together themselves

A conventional website relies on visitors to click around, visiting separate pages to find out more about you, what you do and who you do it for, and then piece together your proposition themselves. A long form sales page, on the other hand, presents your entire pitch in one continuous flowing page. It grabs people by the hand and doesn’t let go until it’s taken them through your entire sales pitch, building trust, rapport and desire along the way.

Key aspects of a long form sales letter include:

Headlines focused on benefits rather than being clever

It’s believed that 80 percent of people will read the headline and only 20 percent will read the body copy. This reflects how vital the headline is in drawing people in and getting them to read the first line. So headlines must always focus on benefits and giving visitors a reason to read on.

Stating the problem

Sales letters take people on an emotional and psychological journey.  This begins with an introduction that hits on the pain points and the problem the visitor wants to solve. Get them agitated and conscious of the need to find a solution.

Building rapport with storytelling

People prefer to buy from people they like, know or trust. The only way you can do this in a sales letter is to tell them who you are and how you can relate to their problem. Tell them a story about how you’ve battled with their issue yourself in real life, and what led you towards finding a solution. Give them a reason to listen to you and to trust your opinion.

Explaining why the existing solutions aren’t working

It’s likely visitors have looked elsewhere for answers before arriving on your site. If they haven’t found the answers they need, tell them why. Explain why existing (i.e. competitor) solutions aren’t working and why you offer a unique alternative. Hit again on their pain points and why other solutions they might have tried haven’t worked. Then open their minds to the possibility that a salvation to their problems awaits.

Give them the solution

Much like the unveiling of Apple’s latest gadget, reveal your product as being the optimum solution to their problem. Explain how it overcomes the barriers you’ve already mentioned and why there is simply nothing else like it on the market. Tell them how all their worries and fears will vanish and a new world beckons in which they’ll be happy, wealthy and fulfilled (I think we might be veering into hype territory here, so but on the brakes before you go too far. Unfulfilled promises just means lost trust and refunds in the long run).

Provide proof

Nobody is going to take your bold claims at face value. So give them proof. If you can, add logos of businesses that use your product or, at the least, testimonials from customers. Even better, provide links to case studies along with facts and figures on your solution’s success rate, particularly when targeting the B2B market.

Guarantee

Offering a 30 day ‘no questions asked’ guarantee can feel like you’re throwing away profits, particularly if you’re selling a digital product. But guarantees are proven to increase sales due to the removal of risk. The increase in sales you’ll gain from a solid guarantee will more than cover the inevitable refunds.

People, on the whole, are honest (and forgetful), and the majority wont ask for a refund if your product delivers. This puts an emphasis on the need to not make false claims and to sell a high value product that fulfills the promise you make, another reason why overblown hype is never sustainable in the long run.

Justify the cost

A classic example of behavioral economics is how restaurants will stock an expensive bottle of wine to give their other wine prices context. People are more likely to buy the second most expensive because they will feel they are splashing out without going overboard. You can use the same tactics by comparing the price of your product to the other solutions available. How does your product help them to save time and money compared to the alternatives? Give your price tag context that frames for the prospect why they are getting value for money.

 But wait there’s more

A common long from sales letter tactic is to hit prospects with add-ons and bonuses if they buy from you today. You can do this in your sales letter as a final nudge towards whipping out their credit card or after they’ve made a purchase and have just felt the rush of spending money. Encouraging them to spend a little more is going to be much easier at this stage when they are in a warm, positive buying mood.

P.S.

After the headlines, the most read section of the page is the P.S. at the end. This is because people will often scan through and then look for the closing summary. With this in mind, the P.S. should restate your offer in a different way and highlight the benefits they’ll gain.

Long form sales letters work – it’s about delivery, not the format

You’ll see these copywriting principles used over and again in long form sales letters. They’re proven to be effective, and there’s no reason why you can’t apply them to promote your own products and services, whether you sell eBooks, B2B software or golfing holidays.

It’s for this reason that a new generation of long form sales letter style home pages are emerging.  Home pages that present the proposition in a single persuasive page, instead of relying on visitors to hop around to collect all the clues and solve the mystery of your offer on their own.

Along with SEOMoz, another great example of a modern long form sales letter is the AppSumo long from sales page. It uses many of the classic copywriting principles, including:

• A simple benefit laden headline
• Storytelling to build rapport and explain the problem
• Explaining why the status quo doesn’t work
• Why their solution is different and social proof to show they’re not just hot air
• A P.S. section in the form of a third party review, which restates the offer and the benefits buyers will gain.

As you can see from the AppSumo example, long form sales letters can be used in a way that’s classy, modern and will appeal to more sophisticated buyers. When organized correctly and applying all the key principles of copywriting in an ethical manner, they take visitors on a stroll through your entire sales pitch, leaving them better informed and interested at the end. With split testing tools freely available, isn’t it worth finding out whether it can do the same for you?

Video does convert. But it shouldn’t be left to do all the selling on its own

The rise of video as a marketing tool has led to many predicting the end of the long form sales letter. Who wants to read 2000 words when you can grab a coffee, sit back and just hit play? It is indeed true that video can dramatically boost conversions (with wild estimates of between 64 and 85 percent). While video is effective, it can’t do all the selling on its own. Many people will still want to read about your proposition and get the details they might have missed in the whistle stop tour of a promotional video.

Would you like to increase conversions 170 percent? Then maybe it’s time you turned your website’s home page into a long form sales letter is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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What’s your inbound marketing strategy? Don’t have one? Well, you’re not alone. Inbound marketing is one of those trendy concepts that generates a lot of marketing buzz but rarely gets done well. This is a shame because inbound marketing has the power to turn your content into a revenue generator and blog posts into fuel for your online marketing strategy.

What is inbound marketing?

Inbound marketing is about using great content to get the attention of prospects and to reel them in to you website. It’s about taking a strategic approach to content creation. Out goes ‘post and hope’, and in comes using content to politely take prospects by the hand and escort them through your sales funnel. They then emerge as engaged fans of your brand, primed to become loyal customers.

Inbound marketing works best as a multilayered strategy, with different types of content fed to prospects at different stages of their journey:

Stage 1 – Awareness

The first step in an inbound marketing strategy is to attract people to your website. You can achieve this with blog posts, press releases, service focused web pages, videos and eBooks. The trick is being able to throw out links to this content like a net so you can reel in prospects to your website.

How can you throw out content far and wide? After you hit publish, take these steps:

1. Syndicate your content using RSS. There are WordPress plugins you can use to syndicate your posts to web 2.0 sites, bookmarking sites and social networks to spread your content and attract visitors.
2. Post updates to all your social networks about the new post, making sure to tailor the message for each audience.
3. Bookmark your post in Delicious, Reddit, Stumbleupon and other bookmarking services. You get out of these sites what you put in, so it’s worth spending time bookmarking posts of other users to get their attention and to encourage them to bookmark yours in return. It also looks spammy if you only bookmark yourself, leading to the sword of Damocles to be dangled over your account.
4. Comment on blogs covering the same topic. Remember to add to the conversation and to say something relevant. Spammy comments are obvious and won’t win you any friends or links.
5. Start a new discussion in relevant forums. Add some thoughtful commentary and ask for feedback before posting your content’s URL.
6. Add a link to the post in your email signature
7. Add the content to your next newsletter.

Stage 2 – Generate interest

Once you’ve attracted some visitors to your website, you need to get them subscribed to your content. Offer them something valuable in exchange for their email address, such as a case study, webinar, free sample, eBook or brochure.

Few people are ready to buy the first time they first your website. Getting people subscribed enables you to maintain contact and develop the relationship long after they’ve left. There’s a saying in the affiliate marketing world that ‘the money is in the list’ – in other words, you will generate more sales over time from people subscribed to your content than random visitors to your website.

Stage 3 – Convert leads into sales

Once you’ve got them subscribed to your content and created a line of communication, you can build a relationship over time. Continue sharing with them thought leadership, insight and valuable information to earn their trust.

Once you’ve got them feeling comfortable, give prospects that extra little nudge towards becoming a customer. Use flagrant bribery to get that first sale. Offer them a free trial, free demo, an assessment, consultation, estimate or anything else you can offer for free that gets them talking and ready to take your relationship to the next level.

Even after you’ve got a sale, inbound marketing doesn’t stop. Remember that it costs five times more to attract a new customer than to retain an old one. Keep the content machine rolling to ensure customers are engaged, retained and buying for a long time to come.

Final tip – If you’d like to streamline the timing and delivery of content personalised for each customer, take a look at marketing automation software by HubSpot, Marketo or Eloqua.

Add inbound marketing to your copywriting services

So there you have it. Yet another reason why copywriters are indispensible for gaining attention and converting prospects into customers online. The majority of businesses are still acting stuck in the dark ages of ‘post and hope’. But without an inbound strategy, firing off blog posts is like throwing fishing hooks into a pond without the reel attached.

So if you’re a copywriter, why not contact your existing clients with details of your inbound marketing package, comprising off blog posts, press releases, eBooks and videos all lined up and primed to convert more browsers into buyers. The beauty of inbound marketing is that it’s a strategy that never ends, earning you a nice retainer for your copywriting talents along with your inbound marketing expertise.

Turn Content into a Revenue Generator with Inbound Marketing is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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Last year, I received an early Christmas gift from Google. Instead of a card or a PPC voucher, I got repeated ‘Google slaps’ that sent me tumbling down to the wastelands of page three. I’m not alone in experiencing such a bruising encounter.

SEO forums are rife with distraught businesses that have seen their rankings plummet after a visit from Google’s cuddly sounding updates. Their crime: embracing what worked in SEO a couple of years ago. In other words, pasting the same keywords in their anchor text repeatedly, like some sort of SEO mantra.

It’s clear that Google has set its sights on punishing anyone for ‘over optimising’, and the days of relying on keywords alone for higher rankings appear to be over. So what’s the answer? Should we take Google’s advice and give up on SEO altogether?

Step 1 – Diversity your anchor text

If Panda and Penguin have trampled all over your backlinks, and put your business on life support, recovery is possible.

The first step is to make sure your website itself isn’t breaking Google’s cardinal rules. Pop your URL into SEOBugz to get a report on whether you’re guilty of keyword stuffing and other SEO misdemeanours.

The next step is to check out whether it’s your backlinks that are to blame. Check out SEO SpyGlass, ahrefs.com or Majestic SEO to get a free overview of your backlinks profile (more advanced stuff is available if you upgrade).

Step three is to then diversify your backlinks. The goal is to make them look natural and more random, and less like a virtual flyposting campaign. Include phrases like ‘click here’, ‘check out this site’ or paste your entire URL to deter Penguin and Panda from making another visit.

Step 2 – Plan for the future and create ‘linkable assets’

Backlinks are still what counts. But the era of being able to build your own mass of backlinks is fading fast. Google is steadily moving the goalposts so that the only links that count will be those you have no control over.

Links from article directories, already bursting with junk content, aren’t going to pass the test. Instead, you need links from high quality ‘authority’ sites – which is something we’ve actually known this for years.

Instead of links you can create, you need links from popular sites where people hang around (time spent on site is now part of the equation) and share with their friends in social media. These links can sometimes be bought, with money or a guest post. But the long-term strategy is to create content that will earn you links naturally (yes, I’m jumping back on the ‘content marketing’ bandwagon folks).

SEO is dead. Long live PR and Great Content

E-consultancy recently posted on how PR firms are now offering social media and SEO as part of their services. I posted myself on how copywriters should do the same. It is copywriters, whether freelance or working in a PR department, that can provide the well researched, engaging and compelling content that will earn exposure and higher rankings for their clients.

It appears that SEOMoz (big cheeses in the world of SEO) tend to agree, judging from their recent Whiteboard Friday video. They explain how the old way of link building is dead and that creating ‘linkable assets’ is SEO of the future, which can only be good news for us content creation types and the internet in general.

Recovering from a visit from Panda and Penguin, and building ‘link building assets’ to ward them off in the future is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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Email is enjoying a resurgence. Despite being often maligned and left to gather dust, as marketers play with their shiny new social media toys, email continues to generate responses and sales. Social media ‘gurus’ might tell you that nobody reads stale old emails anymore, but the figures tell a different story. Readership of email on smartphones has rocketed 300 percent since 2010, with no sign of it slowing any time soon.

Return Path’s global mobile email report found that more people are opening emails on mobile devices (37 percent) than through webmail (30 percent). This was backed up by Litmus’ ”Email Analytics” (Jan 2013) report which found open rates of 42 percent on mobile – higher than both desktop and webmail.

Want some more stats? This emailmonday post is packed with them. Here are some of the highlights:

• 78 percent of US smartphone users now access email on their mobile (Forrester Research)
• 71 percent of mobile purchases are influenced by email, surpassed only by recommendations from friends (87 percent) (Adobe “2013 Digital Publishing Report: Retail Apps & Buying Habits”)
• 38 percent of recipients said an interesting subject line led to them reading a mobile email (STEEL – “Are your emails ready for mobile devices?”)

• 57 percent check their emails on their smartphone or tablet while watching TV (“State of the Media”)
• 56 percent of US smartphone users have made a mobile purchase in response to an email, compared to 41 percent in response to text, 35 percent due to a Facebook message and 20 percent in response to a Tweet (ExactTarget “Mobile Dependence”)

So the figures are clear: email is on the rise and marketers need to respond. But with 48 percent of marketers admitting they don’t know how many of their emails are read on mobile devices (eConsultancy – “Email Marketing Industry Census”), a lot of sales opportunities are being missed.

Optimising your emails for mobile

So how should you respond to email’s resurgence? Firstly, you need to ensure your emails are optimised for mobile: make it readable without having to scroll across the page, keep your copy short and concise and check images render correctly.

Thankfully, many email marketing service providers, such as Mailchimp, are ahead of the curve and provide templates optimised for mobile. But what they can’t help you with is the larger implication of the rise of mobile email – and that’s the effect on your website.

Email is great for sending special offers, product announcements and friendly messages to build rapport. But when it comes to selling, emails seldom convert on their own. Instead, your emails need to act as step one in a ‘two step’ marketing strategy. Their aim is merely to get attention and to encourage them to click on a link to take step two to your website. Here is where the real selling takes place, where you have more space and time to provide more information and to tell the story about your product.

The implication of this is that not only do your emails now need to be optimised for mobile but so does your website.

Two thirds of internet traffic will soon be on mobile devices

It’s been predicted that soon one third of internet traffic will be on desktops, one third on smartphones and one third on tablets. A realistic guess when you consider that 12 million people in the UK now own a tablet, accounting for 30 percent of internet connected adults.

But how can you ensure you are providing a smooth experience on all these devices?

The answer, my friends, is responsive web design, where your website’s elements automatically adjust to suit the screen size of your visitor. People’s internet habits are changing, and are going online more often on a mobile devices. So having a responsive designed website will ensure you’re ready to greet mobile visitors when they arrive and to profit from email’s resurgence.

Email readership on smartphones is rocketing. But the biggest implication isn’t for email is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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This year will be my eighth as a freelance copywriter. The moment when I can boast of a decade’s experience beckons. But it’s a journey that’s been far from easy. Many a time have I woken in the middle of the night panicking at the loss of a steady income and a corporate pension. But then the morning dawns; I pour myself a coffee and get back to growing my business.

Recently I’ve been getting a surge of emails from people wanting to tread the same path (ideally without the sleepless nights). Whether it’s because of redundancy, a career change (often from the shrinking world of journalism) or simply a yearning to write, freelance copywriting appeals to many.

A common question is how to get started, when you have no experience or a portfolio to dazzle prospects with. I was in the same situation when I got started. I had little more than an English and History degree and a few plaudits on my writing style to fuel my aspirations. Thankfully, I had some savings to keep me going in the dark days when I was struggling to find enough clients that would give this plucky young copywriter a chance. But I don’t think I’d go the same route a second time.

If I could do it all over again, I’d work for a marketing agency for free (or a derisory sum). I’d offer to do all their photocopying (these days you can offer to look after their social media campaigns) in exchange for the chance to pass my rudimentary copy scribblings under their wordsmiths’ noses, for them to snort at before sending me scurrying back to the fax machine.

But working for free isn’t always an option. So if you’re ready to take the leap and to commit the requisite anxiety, blood and tears, here’s my rundown on the steps to take to to make the step into freelance copywriting a success:

1. Learn the trade

There are a few copywriting courses out there (Andy Maslen’s Copywriting Academy for example). But if you already have a degree in Journalism, History or English then you might be able to develop your skills simply through reading the copywriting classics and practicing. Here are a few books I recommend to get started:

Claude Hopkins – Scientific Advertising (it’s available for free!)

John Caples – Tested Advertising Methods

Bob Bly – The Copywriter’s Handbook

Joe Sugarman – The Adweek Copywriter’s Handbook (I reread this every year)

Strunk and White – The Elements of Style (a copywriter’s bible on writing clearly and concisely)

Robert Cialdini – Influence, The Art of Persuasion (not strictly about copywriting but more behavioral economics)

Andy Maslen – The Copywriting Sourcebook (gives a good overview of all the types of copywriting tasks)

It’a also wise to read everything by David Ogilvy (advertising and creativity) and Drayton Bird (direct marketing legend).

2. Create a website

My first website committed all the sins I now tell businesses to avoid: it was packed with flowery, verbose language that aimed to impress rather than communicate. Thankfully members of the MK Media Circle were quick to point this out before it had cost me too many clients.

My first website was built from scratch on Dreamweaver with minimal knowledge of HTML (and it showed). I envy anyone now getting started because WordPress makes the job a doddle. Installing the thing can still be a nightmare for non-techies, with horrifying acronyms like FTP, MYSQL and DNS to add to your lexicon. But once it’s up you can download a professional looking theme for less than the price of a seafood dinner and be open for business.

3. Create a portfolio 

So once your website is up, how can you persuade people to hire you without a portfolio? Simple. Create one yourself.

You can either write a few press releases, articles and put together a basic trifold brochure yourself. Another option is to freelance on Elance for a while. The rates of pay are appalling. But if you’re just getting started then it’s a good place to build your skills, experience and even get some testimonials you can add to your website.

4. Finding clients

My first few clients were found via relatives, friends and contacts from work. Then I read ‘Naked Conversations‘ by Shel Israel, started a blog called The Copywriter’s Crucible and managed to snag myself a page one ranking for my keywords. This helped me to get a steady stream of clients over the following years to keep the bean counter in my favour. But times change. A few Google algorithm updates later and I find myself in the wasteland of page 2 search results (I think I got hammered for the overuse of anchor text). Thankfully I get enough ‘long tail’ traffic from the last seven year’s worth of blog posts to keep my inbox alive.

But I digress.

To anybody starting out, my advice is to get networking in your local area. Business owners will pay a premium for someone they can meet in person with whom they can discuss the features of their widget face to face. As any salesman knows, people like to do business with people they know and trust. Also, in my experience, competing for clients on freelance bidding websites is generally a race to the bottom. That is unless you can find smart business owners that understand the value of well researched content that’s gone through at least three drafts and takes time to produce. Unfortunately, they tend to be in the minority.

So get some business cards printed, brush off your best suit and start attending as many networking breakfasts, Meetup groups and business events in your local area as you can (I seem to meet a lot of clients in coffee shops, bizarrely).

Another good source of work is local marketing and web design agencies. Along with requiring your services on a daily basis, they can give you access to larger, and higher paying, clients. I’ve written for some major tech brands over the years. I wouldn’t have got past their receptionist if I wasn’t working for them via a marketing agency. Big brands don’t look on Google for copywriters. They need the reassurance of a bricks and mortar agency.

Summary

This is a rather verbose version of how I respond to every email looking for advice on how to get started. My final tip is to not give up the day job without at least six months worth of savings in the bank (or a ‘runway’ as they say in internet marketing circles). Even then it can take years before you’ve amassed enough regular clients to live the copywriting lifestyle of your dreams. But if you have a passion for writing, are prepared to commit your life to studying the craft and are prepared for panic sessions in the middle of the night, then freelance copywriting can be a stimulating and rewarding career.

Doubts and fears over whether your writing is good enough or how much you’ll earn each month may never go away. But the one thing I’ve never doubted was whether I made a mistake abandoning my career in the corporate world to live by my wits and wordprocessor.

How to Become a Copywriter (or rather how I did it and what I’d do differently) is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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At this time of year it’s always good to reflect on what went well and what didn’t in 2012. A new year is around the corner, which means a new opportunity to learn from this year’s mistakes and to step forward in the right direction. For me, this means reflecting on the affiliate marketing campaign I embarked on this year; although, ‘campaign’ is a rather grandiose term for my shambolic progress.

I’d known about the affiliate marketing game for a few years. I thought, at best, it would be a nice little earner on the side or, at worst, at complete waste of time and a Paypal button away from being scammed. My mind soon changed when I discovered that a friend of a friend was earning a king’s ransom from selling other people’s stuff. So, after downing a cocktail of envy and greed, I decided this affiliate marketing game was worth a shot.

Setting up the websites was the easy part

I started out with the goal of pumping out a website a month. I’d then submit a few articles here and there, write a few guest posts and I’d be a Google update away from rolling in green. Oh, could I have been so naive? Suffice to say, my affiliate empire didn’t roll out quite so smoothly

WordPress makes creating professional looking site’s child’s play. These days, you can buy a professional looking theme for less than a seafood dinner. A sprinkling of HTML later and you’re good to go. Creating the content? Not a problem. Get your list of keywords from Google Adwords for topics, hammer out an article a day and you’re there.

So, yes, creating the websites was the easy part. Then I only had to get links. A lot of links.

SEO aint as simple as it used to be

I used to think I had a handle on this SEO malarkey. Turns out I knew about as much about SEO as a squirrel knows about quantum mechanics.

These days there is an endless war being fought in the search results. On one side is Google with its army of coding geniuses and on the other are veteran internet marketers eager to tear open loopholes in its algorithm. On a weekly basis, some of the brainiest minds on the planet at Google HQ formulate a new algorithm to demolish those who try to abuse the system. The affiliate marketers then survey the damage to their Clickbank accounts before regrouping for another assault with a new array of link burying tactics and automated bots.

But this is a war Google looks set to win. Its cuddly named yet merciless Penguin and Panda updates have been running roughshod over the thousands of links garnered from spun content, spam blogs and keyword stuffed articles. Many affiliate marketers continue to battle on. But they seem to be a dying breed.

Everywhere you look in the affiliate industry, you see more and more people touting ‘white hat’ as the only way forwards. They know the only way to win the game is to play by Google’s rules. Otherwise they are only an update away from having their affiliate empire (and income) destroyed.

Unfortunately I’ve learned all this the hard way, after sitting through endless webinars and hours spent trying to find consistent answers in contrary SEO forums. Ultimately, it seems that you can get away with spammy tactics. But the clock is ticking on how long before Google presses a button and annihilates all the thousands of links that didn’t obey ‘the rules’.

Cheap junk is temporary. Quality is forever

So what are ‘the rules’? Nobody knows for sure. But what is certain is that an ethical approach to link building, whilst slow, offers the most secure long-term rewards. This means posting regularly on your blog (ahem), syndicating your content, guest posting and getting active in social media. In other words, just push out great content and don’t worry about SEO at all.

As junk $5 articles and spun content find themselves consigned to the rubbish bin of internet history, good men and women are needed to produce the high quality, link worthy content that needs to replace it. Regular Crucible readers will know that I recommend that copywriters offer clients expertise beyond the words. In this respect, SEO is well within our jurisdiction.

It is us that will need to be at the core of future SEO campaigns, researching and writing content that positions our clients as thought leaders in their industry. It is us that can write the guest posts, build attention in social media and get the nod from Google that gets clients entry onto page one of its search results. So, as we look forward to 2013, start brushing up your knowledge on SEO and putting an SEO content package together. You could even offer it as a monthly subscription.

Ultimately, Google will win the war on poor quality content and inappropriately gained search rankings. This is something your clients need to know.

My partnership plans for 2013

This year I spent too much time (and money) on SEO. I just want to write. But my foray into affiliate marketing has only just begun.

I’ve done my research, surveyed the field and I’m now ready to advance. But rather than march alone, I plan to find some partners to go along with me. People that will free me to look after the content while they look after the traffic.

I’ve also already had my fill of junky overpriced eBooks and hype filled sales pages that dominate the affiliate marketing industry. Instead, I’m thinking of physical products, multimedia training programs and connecting people to solutions that actually works. Putting all this together is going to require a team with different skillsets and expertise.

But assembling such a team has never been easier.

As an early Christmas present, I’d like to offer you the gift. It’s only a small gift but one you may find highly valuable. My gift is this link to the The Business Lifestyle Podcast. It’s about people building robust businesses online, rather than simply chasing a quick buck. Suffice to say I’ve been working my way through every episode. If you’ve ever dreamed of building your own pixelated empire, I recommend you do the same.

Merry Christmas Crucible Readers!

Should copywriters be offering SEO services next year? Google certainly thinks so is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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“A good headline gets your foot in the door of the reader’s mind. An unfortunate lead paragraph can cause you to lose a couple of toes.” – Howard Newton, J.M. Mathes, Inc.

Where to start? Knowing how to starta sales letter is always a challenge. And so it should, because a weak opening can cost you dear. If it doesn’t maintain the interest you’ve painstakingly built with your headline, your reader’s interest can plummet faster than Felix Baumgartner strapped to a cannon ball. That’s if people continue reading at all.

“Remember that your readers will not go far along with you unless your first paragraph holds the attention and interest which your headline and layout have aroused.” – Victor Schwab, How to Write a Good Advertisement

Nick Usborne recently posted about the problem of weak openings. He explains that the reason so many sales letters fail right out of the gate is because too many copywriters write before they are ready. They don’t take the time to distil their thoughts on their message, proposition and why readers should be interested before they put fingers to keyboard.

John Caples in Tested Advertising Methods compares the opening paragraphs to how baseball pitchers warmup. They’ll sling a few down the line before they are feeling ‘red hot’ and ready to throw for real. So it stands to reason that the first few paragraphs of a sales letter’s first draft aren’t going to be putting firecrackers under anybody’s chairs. The copywriter simply hasn’t had time to get into the zone and to get into the groove where they know what they want to say.

The only problem with a ‘warmup’ is that you can’t expect readers to wait around.

“Too many miss their chance to make a sale by starting with a few introductory remarks that lose the reader’s interest instead of holding it.” – John Caples, Tested Advertising Methods

Six ways of writing red hot openings that fire readers into the body copy

Joe Sugarman in the ‘Adweek Copywriting Handbook’ states that: “The sole purpose of the first sentence in an advertisement is to get you to read the second sentence. That is all.” It’s part of what he describes as a ‘slippery slide’, where every element must be compelling enough that readers find themselves unable to stop until they’re filling out the reply form at the end.

But what to write? One simply approach is to carry on the conversation started with your headline.  Reward the reader for sticking around by telling them about some of the benefits they can expect to get from your product. But there are plenty of other ways you can get the ball rolling. Here are some powerful ways of writing sales letter openings:

1. Startling statements that challenges the reader’s prepositions e.g. ‘Losing weight is hard. But the hardest part isn’t losing the actual weight – it’s keeping it off.’
2. Shocking fact or statement e.g. ‘Cutting out fat intake from your diet alone doesn’t guarantee weight loss success. You could still be storing fat if you consume too carbohydrates at each meal.’
3. A news announcement e.g. ‘Weight Smashers has found a new way of burning twice the fat with half the exercise.’
4. A brief preview of what’s in the article e.g. ‘Before the internet, the only people working from home were either looking after the house or the children.’
5. A quotation e.g. ‘Pain is just weakness leaving the body. We’ve all heard this in gym classes a million times. But does getting the body you want have to be painful?’
6. A story e.g. ‘One Sunday last autumn, I took my son to watch the local junior football game. It was the greatest example of discipline and organisation I’d ever seen. And I’m a sergeant in the army.’

These tried and tested ways of writing openings that are specific, fact packed, that arouse curiosity and create interest. For more ideas, flick through a magazine and see how they take you from the headline to the main body copy. But if you are still find yourself writing openings that feel like ‘warm up copy’, try chopping out the first few lines altogether and dive straight into the good stuff.

Six Ways of Writing Red Hot Openers that Get Readers Eager for More is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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Can you help? Or do you know someone that can? If so, can you message me directly (matt@copywriterscrucible.com) or post in the comments.

Thanks.

Matt

Anybody know a good Belgian translator/copywriter? is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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After some serious revisions, my latest eBook ‘7 Steps to Higher Website Conversions‘ is now hot off the press.

In typical Crucible stylee, I’m giving it away free and not even asking for an email address. ‘Why?’ I hear all the affiliate marketers out there splutter into their coffee. It’s because my blog isn’t a money maker and I don’t want to place any chains on my eBook. Instead, I want it to run free and find it’s way onto any other blogs or forums where people will find it useful.

As mentioned, it’s free. So I’m not asking for any money. But if you’re feeling generous, a backlink, Tweet or any other type of social sharing action would be much appreciated – both to help it spread and for my own satisfaction.

The eBook is an amalgamation of my recent website conversion post series. So if you’re late to the party and have just arrived here from Google, I hope you find the tips in the eBook useful. Who knows – it might even help to double your website’s turnover.

eBook Released – 7 Steps to Higher Conversions Through Testing (Not Guesswork) is a post from: Copywriter - The Copywriter's Crucible - Punchy copywriting by freelance copywriter Matt Ambrose

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