Donna Knight's Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews

Category: Copywriting

Copywriting articles to help you improve your conversion ratio and make more sales from your website.

A Business Philosophy That Never Fails

This article is a broad overview of the kind of marketing that gets good results. We will discuss very specific ways to implement the plan. Now, I am not talking about the kind of plan that you might have learned in Marketing 101.

What I’m talking about, is a list of methods, philosophies, mission like statements that give direction to all my marketing efforts and those of successful marketers. Remember in a previous article, I said that marketing is EVERYTHING you do in your business, from ordering paper clips to handling customer returns? Marketing encompasses more than just advertising and web site design.

This article is based on a business philosophy that I believe in because I’ve seen it work. You might not agree with it completely, but I’m sharing this with you to help you in developing your own ‘business philosophy’.

A Business Philosophy That Never Fails

· What I think doesn’t matter. Only what the market wants or believes it wants is important.

· If you market and advertise your products like everyone else, you will get no response. You must differentiate yourself.

· Don’t market in a threatening aggressive way. Don’t ask for money in any significant way on the first contact. Even after several contacts, your customers don’t believe you or trust you.

· Trust takes time. So reassure them and sell them what they want. If they are satisfied with the first purchase from you, they are more likely to come back. And repeat business is where the real profits are in any business.

· Don’t fall in love with your merchandise or your products. If what you have in stock isn’t selling, dump it and reassess the market. Only what the market wants is important.

· Don’t get married to what your selling — i.e. if your customers want “D” and you’re selling “A”–find the best and cheapest source for “D” and sell them that! The market is the ultimate judge.

· Don’t sell your merchandise at the lowest possible price. Get a good price for your items. Charge enough to make a healthy profit. How can that be done with ‘commodity’ items? By adding value. Enhance commodity type products in a tough market with free tickets to a basketball game or a free car wash, etc… find something of value that may cost you nothing to acquire, but will be appreciated by your customers and makes you stand out.

· Only by making a healthy profit can you expect to be in business for the long term.

· The market does not respect “cheap” products or services, but they always like to think they are getting a ‘deal’. So whenever possible explain in concrete terms why this is a better deal for them than they could find anywhere else. Your “deal” could be a few hours of your time to help them through a particular set-up problem with your item, or it could be donating 10% of the purchase amount to their favorite charity, etc.–it doesn’t always have to be a deal by lowering your price.

· Put yourself in the prospects’ place. Feel what she feels. Think how she thinks. You must know him/her better than he knows himself. What is he/she like. What do they want, really want? It’s not your item isn’t what they want–it’s the results they will get from using your item that they really want: The new skills they’ll learn from your content, the knowledge they’ll gain to help them in their jobs or relationships, the feeling of pride they’ll receive by showing the item they just purchased from you to all their friends.

· People buy for their reasons, not yours. Therefore give them every reason possible so they can pick and choose the reason that suits them best.

· Strip everything from your business that does not directly produce sales, profits and new customers. The only business expenses you should have are the ones that will generate more sales and profits. Before buying anything for your business ask yourself, “Will this help me generate more profits or sales?”…if not, don’t buy it. It’s a waste of money.

· Focus all your energies and resources on selling something. You have to have something to sell. Is that obvious? Yes it is, but there are a lot of people who want to make money in business and don’t know what to sell! Find something to sell! Constantly develop or obtain new products to sell. When you find one that sells well with your existing customers, that’s the time to ‘roll out’ big to other lists.

· The money is made in the selling. You cannot make any money if you don’t have anything to sell. Obvious? Yes! But a lot of people will look for months for something to sell, because they can’t come up with a product or service to sell, or can’t get started or finish the book they were writing. Forget it !! Stop “looking” and start testing, testing, testing instead. TESTING and DOING is the key to success. Don’t worry about what to sell– just sell anything–if it works, keep doing it, if it doesn’t work–don’t sell it anymore–find something else. You never know what people will buy until you place the item in front of them. I would never have thought ‘pet rocks’ would sell and I would not have sold them if I had a retail store, but look at what happened! They became a nationwide craze.

· Realize the significant difference between being “professional”, having a certain “image” to maintain and getting “results”. Jay Abraham emphasizes this, and he’s right. This is a difficult concept to explain. The idea here is that RESULTS are all that count – your ‘image’ and being perceived by others as ‘professional’ are nice, but should take a back seat to being productive. If you’re worried about your image, you’re not going to be successful. All your efforts should be placed on satisfying customers wants.

· Always strive to be personable and friendly – the down-to-earth approach to business is what keeps people coming back to you. Even in this age of the Internet (or maybe because of it) people want to know who you are, as a person. Are you nice? Are you a jerk? Do you love kids and dogs or cats? Do you love to read books? What kind? You see what I mean.

· OK, I’ll say it again- only results count – if you want to be in business longer than the statistical averages then FOCUS ON RESULTS!

· If you’re not selling enough merchandise, at a profit, to make a living, stop what you’re doing and think! Start over…get out of that BOX you’re in.

· You get better results by being yourself rather than trying to impress your customer and clients with your superiority. Be humble, admit mistakes and move on. You’re a business person, but you’re a human being first.

· Don’t worry about who likes you and who doesn’t like you. People spend half their lives just trying to please people that will never like them back anyway. You’re much better off and will have a more loyal customer base by bonding with others who like you for yourself.

· Therefore my job is to: Sell merchandise I feel comfortable and proud of selling and which I know my customers will value more than the price they paid.

· Advertise, market and promote my product or service by being totally focused on the buyer and their wants and/or testing the market to see if it’s what the market wants at that moment.

· Don’t assume people will order from you without asking them to order it from you. They won’t. You have to ask them to order from you.

· Don’t over complicate the running of your business. Keep it simple and focused.

Business Philosophy, Final Thoughts

When someone buys from you, do you ever send a “Thank you” card or letter saying how much you appreciated their business? If not, then you have not learned the art of marketing.

Joe Girard made the Guinness Book of World Records for selling the most automobiles because he understood this one aspect of business: he appreciated his customer. He sent ‘Thank You’ cards, Christmas cards, Birthday cards and letters to his customers constantly- he built relationships with all his customers and his customers responded in droves by buying from him and no one else.

If your customer expects Y then give them Y times 3. Always do more for them than they expect. Very, very few local businesses (even most national ones) I’ve done business with has ever sent me a ‘Thank You’ card or even a coupon so I could get a deal from them the next time I buy something. You will generate a lot of goodwill and customer loyalty by just being thoughtful.

If you give your customers more than expected then your prices can keep going up. Psychologically it is better to charge your customers higher prices if, and only if, you can deliver more than they expected.

One final word about marketing. Develop a marketing attitude in everything you do.

What do I mean when I say, ‘marketing attitude’? I mean that you have to put yourself in your customer’s place, think about their wants and ask yourself continually how your product or service benefits them.

Stop thinking about what you want (at least while you’re selling) and never stop thinking in terms of communicating with your customers the more salient points and benefits and the results they will get when they purchase your merchandise.

BONUS: Three CRITICAL Business Strategies For The Real World

RULE #1: Do not use your cash to buy anything that does not help you produce more cash!

New business owners go out to buy every piece of equipment they can think of that they might need, but may never need and have little cash left over for marketing their product or service.

Don’t you fall into that trap. Only cash pays the bills and only cash can be used to generate more cash through marketing.

RULE #2: Treat Your Internet Business Like A Business And Get Serious About It!
Conduct all your dealings in a business like way, friendly and personal, but business like.

Order business cards that state something unique about your business on the front and back of the card. Also, if your sales volume really picks up and it makes economic sense, use an “800? number for people to call and order from you instead of only using online orders. Why?

It’s just one extra option. Remember that people buy for their reasons, not yours…that also applies to the way they like to buy. They will want to order the way they want to order, not the way you want them to order.

Also don’t believe that the only way to market your business is using online methods. Try sending postcards, letters and other offline methods to drive people to your web site. Think about every method that’s available to you and test all of them.

RULE #3: How Specialization Can Increase Sales

The importance of specializing and knowing, inside and out, what you’re selling cannot be overemphasized. Specialization helps you focus and you build a more valuable knowledge base.

Although I have sold other products and services in the past, my focus is publishing information. I read just about everything I can get my hands on when it comes to information publishing. Sometimes I browse the business and periodical sections to gather ideas, see what’s new or find something I read a long time ago but forgot about.

I love business information, and I get paid to advise retail clients on how to improve their businesss. It’s my focus and I constantly find ways to build my knowledge and capture new opportunities.

Has this ever happened to you? When you purchase a new car (or anything) suddenly you start to see a lot of “your” car on the roads? It seems as if everyone has the same car you do. You didn’t notice so many people were driving the same kind of car you had before because you had taken your old car for granted and didn’t focus on it- but now that you have a new car, your focus has changed because of your interest in the new car.

The same thing happens in business. Once you pick a focus, a specialty, all of a sudden you are surrounded with great opportunities that you weren’t aware of before you started to focus.

You begin to see opportunities others are not even aware of. That’s the reason you specialize– to become aware of opportunities that others with less focus than you, pass up daily.

March 8, 2009
One Business Secret, Part 5

In the last few updates I revealed a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

Do you remember it? I called it “The One Secret”…

——————-
THE ONE SECRET:
“98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically.”
——————-

Let’s continue…

One of the things that amazes me about people in business is that they are constantly trying to sell things to people that they don’t want and in a way that they don’t want to be sold!

Now, there are some things that you have to bring to people’s attention before they know they want them!

After all, that’s what the marketing is all about!

I’m not talking about that.

What I’m talking about is marketing something down people’s throats whether they need it or not!

I’m in business for the long run. I am not in it for short-term profits. I think, for the most part, you will all agree with me on this. I mean, it just does not make any sense to use high pressure sales tactics on people- even though they may buy from you today-they will regret ever dealing with you tomorrow.

In fact there is a lot of resistance on and off the net to high pressure sales tactics and hype.

If you’ve ever received junk email or “spam” you understand what I mean. Didn’t it make you a little annoyed…?

The fact is it’s just not necessary. All you have to do is develop products that have real value and/or utility and are useful or attractive. Selling it is simply a matter of bringing it to the attention of someone who has the desire and means to purchase it following our “98% rule”.

Most people today are very skeptical of high pressure sales environments and boiler room operations and have set up barriers so they cannot be sold that way. What barriers am I talking about? Answering machines with ID call screening (is it Mom calling or a salesperson? They want to know!). TV remote controls (A commercial? I’m changing the channel!). E-mail “filters”.

Everyone is skeptical about what you’re offering and has some kind of system that prevents your message from getting through to them. How do you get good results with these kinds of obstacles?

By injecting your unique personality into your business – in other words, by being yourself. If potential customers trust and believe in you, they will buy from you. But they can’t know or trust you if you’re putting up a barrier by not letting them get to know you. Being human in business is OK.

By taking action and asking for the order in a polite, non-threatening way, repeatably. The average person won’t give you an order for your product until the 3rd or 4th request. There are many marketers who say response starts to tail off after the 6th request for an order. How many people in business give up asking for the order even after the 1st try!

Imagine the profits lost each year because businesses give up too soon! You have to understand your customer. It’s not that they don’t want your product – it’s that they have so many things on their mind that sometimes they need reminding. Done pleasantly and with respect, this is a powerful way to generate sales without prospecting constantly for new customers.

By knowing how to generate a never ending flow of potential customers who know and already want what you’re selling. In marketing this is called targeted ‘lead generation’. It’s accomplished through offering something free, or at a very low cost to a specific segment of the market that has a high probability of an interest in your offer.

Lead generation is used to entice prospective customers to make an initial contact with you. Once they do, you send them the free information or sample chapter from your book or content and sell them more of your content in each successive contact. Dan Kennedy (http://www.dan-kennedy.com/) is the master of this kind of marketing.

Now I can’t tell you how to be yourself. Only you know what that means. The important thing to remember is that your unique personality must come through in order for your customers to get to know you as a person and ultimately trust you enough to order from you the first time, and then again and again.

Why I think this is so effective really doesn’t matter.

All I know is that it works. And that’s all that matters.

But if you want my opinion, it works because people are emotional and respond positively to other people who are not afraid to reveal a little bit of ‘themselves’ and enthusiasm for the product or service they are selling.

Next, you must not be afraid to take positive action to get what you want. Moving continuously towards your goals and business objectives despite obstacles is a rare trait. Those who move forward, despite obstacles, setbacks and distractions will succeed. GUARANTEED. This also means that to get what you want from others, your customers, you must not be afraid to ask them for their business continually.

Just be sure to ask in a pleasant, friendly way- the same way that you, yourself, would like to be asked. Fewer than 1 in 10,000 businesses do this the right way. Most are either too aggressive in their asking the customer for their order, or they don’t ask at all!

The good news is, asking for the order is very simple. All you have to do is ask! And don’t just ask once. Sometimes it takes asking 3, 4, 7 or even 10 times to get the order. This is huge secret that few businesses employ: They don’t know how to ask for the order. This has been my experience. Almost no one does this! And they are losing tons of money!

Constant communication with people who are interested in your product or service (and those who have already purchased from you) is the key to building your business successfully over the long haul.

March 1, 2009
One Business Secret, Part 4

In the last few updates I revealed a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

Do you remember it? I called it “The One Secret”…

——————-
THE ONE SECRET: “98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically.”
——————-

Let’s continue…

Investors and traders in stocks and commodities are notorious for making decisions that amount to thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars based on limited, emotionally charged and spurious information!

Your customers do the same thing.

It is amazing to me that individual investors would purchase ten, fifteen or more thousands of dollars in stocks based on a cursory knowledge of those companies operations, management capability, strategy for gaining market share, marketing plans or any number of factors that affect the company’s long term potential.

I have met a lot of investors who would investigate every possible way to save 30 cents on their favorite brand of cookies at the local market and buy fifty thousand dollars worth of stock in a company based on a single bullish newspaper article!

It’s crowd psychology- they don’t want to be the only one who doesn’t have the stock that they think everyone else already owns!

Even those investors that would never dream of entering into a business deal without the proper due diligence would buy thousands of dollars worth of stocks on tips, rumors and broker recommendations alone!

Got the idea?

The bottom line is this: People buy things FIRST because they want them and SECOND because they need them!

If you live in a big city like Boston, New York, or San Francisco, you’ll see many sidewalk demonstrations. Why do crowds develop around these street vendors? For the entertainment value! But, as they watch the skill at which the demonstrator uses the product, they see themselves ‘using it’ too, creating a ‘gap’ or a desire that now needs to be satisfied by buying the product. It’s a very effective way to sell.

The biggest problem selling from sidewalk demonstrations is breaking the ice- getting the first person to walk up and “buy”.

Most people don’t want to make that first move because they are afraid of making a mistake. The sidewalk demonstrators know this, so they ‘plant’ two or three people in the ‘audience’ who at the conclusion of the demonstration immediately, at the demonstrators ‘call to action’, step up and buy one. As soon as one or two people from the crowd step up and buy a line begins to form behind them – all waiting to purchase the product – kind of like ‘follow the leader’… it’s an amazing spectacle of crowd psychology in action.

Hard sell IS NOT necessary, when you understand, fully, what makes people buy!

In fact, you have very little “selling” to do.

LET YOUR CUSTOMER SELL HIM OR HERSELF!

February 28, 2009
One Business Secret, Part 3

In a previous update I revealed a simple formula for selling anything to anybody, at any time, in any country, online or offline, even if you HATE to sell!

Do you remember it? I called it “The One Secret”…

——————-
THE ONE SECRET: “98% of all human beings buy products or services emotionally and then justify those purchases logically.”
——————-

Let’s continue…

Back to our automobile purchasing example. Let’s take it from the very beginning…

The furthest thought from our subject’s mind is the purchase of a new automobile. Suddenly, they see, as they are driving about town, a brand new black BMW (that’s my choice, choose your own favorite car).

They watch it as it effortlessly glides through space, almost floating just ever so slightly above the ground.

The body glistens from a perfect clear coat applied with skill to give the car a deep, clear finish.

The driver of the car is as finely appointed as the car. Dressed to perfection, not a thread or hair out of place. They’re wearing a finely tailored suit–obviously not off the rack.

They’re tanned, happy and carefree. What secrets do they possess? Why are they so happy?

Is it any wonder, they are driving one of the best cars in the world!

Now our subject, whether they realize it or not, has become a potential buyer of a new car! She views this scene in her mind’s eye and then repeats it in her own mind over and over again, because it is pleasurable to do so. She plays it again and again, like a scene from their favorite movie.

Then…something begins to happen.

As they play this movie over and over in their minds’ eye, they replace the driver that they saw in that car with themselves behind the wheel. Now they are the ’star’ of the movie!

They are using the power of their imagination to imagine what it would be like to have that much power, grace and perfection at their beck and call.

When selling any product use the power of your customers imagination to see themselves benefiting or being pleasured by the use of our product. Let them run a little movie in their head by demonstrating the use of your product in different circumstances and how easy and beneficial it is to use. This that makes the sale possible.

If they cannot see themselves in a starring role and benefiting or gaining pleasure from your product, you have lost a sale.

Back to our example…a chain of thoughts and additional stimulus from outside sources begins to enhance their ‘feelings’ about getting a new car. What they are feeling can’t accurately be described with mere words because the process is hidden from them.

Their thoughts naturally turn to their own car, which is several years old and in need of bodywork, engine work, brakes, etc. A “GAP” begins to develop: They compare their current car with new models and see how deficient their car really is.

This comparison creates the beginnings of ‘desire’.

“It works fine now, but pretty soon it’s going to need a major repair. Then what do I do?” , they say to themselves. This act of comparing their present situation with the one that they have been repeating in their mind plants the seed of discontent – a “gap in satisfaction”, if you will – that eventually creates the buying urge.

From this point on nature will take its course. The “picture in their mind” of the new BMW, with them at the wheel, will intrude on their consciousness from time to time and that ‘feeling’ that they can’t put into words will make them do things that they aren’t even aware of.

For instance, they will begin to notice that one of their friends or business associates just purchased a new car. And they will inquire as to what model, where it was purchased, what the features are and why the person chose this particular model.

All of it ‘ammunition’ for them to use to justify to themselves and to their spouse or partner the inevitable purchase.

Friends will be more than happy to give our potential buyer all of their reasons for their purchasing a new car: “It’s good on gas”; “It has an extended warranty period for major repairs”; “It comes with GPS, and as you know, I do a lot of traveling”; etc… They will never say that they bought a new car because they, “had this feeling that they couldn’t describe in words that made me buy it!”

Are you beginning to see the picture here? People will want something because that ’something’, be it a car, diamond ring, stereo system, computer, rare and scarce book, e-book, a pair of shoes, etc. evoked in them some powerful, positive emotion that, when they buy it, brings them to some sort of ‘completeness’ or ‘wholeness’ that stops their discontent and desire.

In other words, the gnawing inside, from not having this object of their desire, will drive them to get exactly what they want-or at least to purchase and possess a satisfactory substitute if they can’t obtain the exact object of their desire – to quench their desire. All that matters to them is that they MUST stop the hurting by obtaining the object of their desire. To stop this hurting, they buy.

Then they will, almost every time, use all of the logical reasons they have accumulated during the ‘desire-to-justification’ stage for making the purchase.

But it was that original ‘movie picture’ in their mind, their emotional attachment to it and their discontent with their present circumstances that started the ball rolling.

You would think that larger financial commitments require more logical analysis before a decision is arrived and smaller commitments are generally more emotional or “impulsive”.

The fact is, sometimes the higher the price of the intended purchase the more ‘emotionalized’ the decision becomes.

Why?

Because much more is at stake! But not 1 in a 100,000 will ever admit that they buy emotionally and then justify that purchase logically!

The market for our products and services are to the 98% of the population who make decisions emotionally. We don’t worry about the other 2%.

The odds are much more in our favor.

But caution is in order. Even though people make decisions with their emotions THEY JUSTIFY THOSE PURCHASES LOGICALLY! What does that mean to you?

Just this:

In your sales literature, on your web site and in your emails give potential customers every LOGICAL reason possible for purchasing your product or service, while at the same time, plucking on those emotional chords and enhancing their desire.

To prove all this to yourself, begin noticing your own buying habits. Notice your feelings as you begin making a purchase decision of any kind.

Even as mundane a thing as window cleaner… I find myself reading the labels and examining the look and ‘feel’ of the container it’s in.

A feeling like, “this one is better” comes over me. Something I read or saw made me want that particular one, but I can’t recall any details. It could be the packaging has induced an emotional state that reminds me of something good or pleasant. Most of the time I don’t even think about it. I just go on to purchase it.

My decision is totally based on what I felt I wanted…at the time.

… to be continued…

February 22, 2009
Learn From This Legendary Copywriter

This famous copywriter used to charge charge $300 a year for his newsletter or $7500 for a lifetime subscription.

If you don’t know who Gary Halbert is then this won’t mean much to you… but if you do know who he is then you’re in for a real surprise.

Over the past few years Gary was uploading his newsletters to his website. After he passed away fairly recently his son took over posting to his website.

Gary had a very distinct writing style: kind of an in-your-face style… but it works for him because of who he was.

If you don’t know who Gary is you should. You should get to know him and read him… his words are powerful.

He was very self-promotional and somewhat controversial as you’ll read in these letters. He’s given himself nicknames such as “The Prince of Print” and “The Ravin’ Maven of Marketing”.

Gary wrote about marketing for years and really knew his stuff.

One of his more recent offerings is “The Boron Letters”… a series of letters he sent to his son, Bond, while in jail at the Boron Facility, a light security prison (I think in California).

I told you he was controversial.

At least 17 “Chapters” of “The Boron Letters” are available online … these are “Gary” at his finest and deserve a read.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that multiple other successful copywriters have repeated the same advice that Gary has given, so you know it’s good.

You can view the “The Boron Letters” along with a couple of dozen other letters Gary has graciously made available to us at http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/newsletter-archives.htm

June 1, 2008
How Can You Make Money As a Bookaholic?

One of the most common reasons some people fail to make money despite having read everything they need to is they love reading more than doing anything else.

1) The first step in overcoming that problem is to recognize you ARE a bookaholic (or ‘info-junkie’), and admit it to yourself and you’ve won half the battle.

2) The next step is to start applying what you’ve LEARNED all these years READING.

CREATE your business by EXPRESSING yourself and getting it to FLOW FROM YOU. You have ABSORBED a lot of INFORMATION and now it’s time to be a teacher, let it out and inspire others with what you’ve learned.

If you prefer theory to practical application…

Then TEACH… teach others what’s going on in the industry and who is saying what. Give as much information as you are getting. Share your opinions and the facts as you see it.

Most people who are well-read also write very well. Most avid book readers should have no problem getting people to sign-up for your ‘newsletter’….

3) I’ll say it one more time. Take Action! Just start GIVING… giving of yourself and what you’ve learned, give a little back to others.

You can do this… and if you think you can’t then the choice totally is yours. But I sense in your letter that you’re ready to do something with what you’ve learned, you just don’t know WHAT.

Even if you have very little knowledge, or you think you have very little knowledge about a subject, there will always be people who are LESS knowledgeable than you, and those people are your market.

The key is to focus, not on yourself, but on how you can HELP others…. that will set you in motion.

Forget about attending some ’self-improvement’ seminars. You probably already know what they will teach you. Everthing you need to know is ALREADY inside you, you just need to recognize that and seek the answers INSIDE YOURSELF…

July 1, 2007
7 Power Words and Phrases to Use in Your Ads to Pull in Customers

By Donna Knight of DonnaKnight.com

Word can be used not only to influence people but also to change their mind about something. Choose the right words, and you have the power to persuade, entice and motivate. In marketing and promotion, power words are like tools used by people in multiple professions, including politicians and people in public relations. Adding just a few power words can make a world of difference in your ads and headlines.

The words “New” or “improved” create a sense of curiosity. Potential customers get the impression that the product is different from similar products. If it is a product she has been looking for, she may want to get it before anyone else does in order to have an edge over others in the same profession or social position. Laundry products have been advertised as new and improved for many years. You don’t have to spend a lot of time making an improvement in your product. You just have to make some improvement to make it better than the competitor’s product. You’d be surprised how just one difference between your product and your competitor’s can make a customer want to buy from you.

Another common but powerful phrase is “Money back guarantee”. This phrase is used to help the customer trust you enough to buy from you. After all, what do they have to lose if they can get their money back if not satisfied. When you offer a money back guarantee, the risk falls on you instead of the customer.

Many successful ads advertise the fact that they are revealing a little known secret. People are always looking for an advantage over others. They love to know that they may be one of the few people in-the-know about a particular subject. If they think you can supply them with some juicy tidbits of information that will help them achieve success in something, you’ve sold them.

Words such as “an Insider says that” is similar to “secret”. It conveys information from an expert that is not commonly known to most people. The catch is you must pay for this insider information.

The word “Free” in the headline of the message simply does wonders for you sales, even if you’re giving something away. The key is to give some interesting useful information while including information about your paid product which will provide even more information. If the free information isn’t very good, your prospects won’t bite. Likewise, you can’t trick people into thinking they’re getting something for free when in fact they have to pay. You will infuriate prospects and lose their trust instantly. Obviously, this is the opposite of what you want to do. In email messages, the word “FREE” is spelled “FR~E” in an effort to get past the spam filters many internet service providers have in place.

“You” is a word that should be liberally sprinkled throughout your advertising. It makes the prospect feel like you are speaking to them directly. Anything you can do to make your ad personalized will help. Use this word to get your prospect to picture themselves using and benefiting from your product. The best way to do this is to pretend you are the customer and think of very specific ways in which they will benefit from the product. Be sure to answer the customer’s possible objections to buying a product, as well.

The word “limited time offer” gives your visitors a reason to buy now. After all, if they wait, the price may go up or you may stop selling the product. Recently there has been a trend of selling a limited quantity of digital products, such as 500 or 1000. It’s one thing to have a product the customer wants, but you have to take it one step further to make them want it now instead of tomorrow. Once the visitor leaves your site, they are very unlikely to return, so it’s very important make them see the urgency of the situation.

The word “Power” is a powerful word itself. People love something that gives them power in their life, whether it’s the power to save time, money or work. It’s all about making something more convenient for your visitor.

The ultimate goal of an advertiser is to understand what your target market wants and then design your ad to push the right buttons so they’ll buy what they want from you. However, listing the advantages of using a product or service isn’t enough. For example, if you were selling a computer hard drive, you don’t just want to say the hard drive holds 100 GB of data. You want to let them know it will hold 50,000 mp3 files or 10,000 videos. You’ll see lots of ads for computer equipment make the mistake of giving technical details without making appealing to non-techies. They miss out on customers who might otherwise buy their hardware simply because they can’t read between the lines of what the technical specs mean in real world benefits.

Take a look at advertisements you have written and posted and see how you can improve them by adding a few power words to them. Keep in mind that most of what you write on the web is an ad, including your home page and your website links. Using power words will keep people on your site as they click through to find out more of what you’re offering.

January 14, 2007
How to Write Expert Online Sales Copy
How To Write Expert Online Sales Copy

By Donna Knight

Try to win the love of a man by wearing a pretty dress, and you’re in for a major heartbreak. Likewise, try to get a sale by posting just a product description and picture, and you’ll get your heart broken every time. Winning a man’s heart and winning a customer’s trust requires the same process, salesmanship. With winning the one you love, unconscious salesmanship may work; he may like you for characteristics you never knew were lovable. In selling a product, however, passive salesmanship won’t work. You have to consciously take steps to win over a customer.

The painful truth is products don’t sell themselves, no matter how good they are. You, the marketer, have to tell the prospect why they need your product. You must convince them of why they will love your product. You have to let them know they must buy now or they will miss out on an opportunity they may never have again.

While selling products online and offline have some similarities, there are some major differences you need to know. Online you don’t have the benefit of your potential customers seeing your trustworthy face and winning smile. People are much more resistant to parting with their hard-earned money to a faceless stranger or company.

Copywriting is the key to making a sale online and offline. The sooner you take this to heart, the sooner you’ll be making more sales than your little heart ever thought possible. Most people think the product is the most important element to getting a sale. The fact is even a mediocre product can sell boatloads with great sales copy backing it up. Good sales copy can convert an undecided prospect into a successful sale.

If you try to write sales copy on your own, without knowing anything about copywriting, you will fail miserably. All it takes is one word to win or lose a customer. That’s why many business owners willingly fork over $10,000 to an expert copywriter just to write one sales letter. They know that winning sales copy will earn them their investment back in no time.

If you don’t have hundreds of dollars to hire a copywriter, don’t worry. All is not lost. You can learn to write sales copy that sells. You just need to know some proven direct response copywriting rules.
1. Write an attention grabbing headline. There are 3 parts to a winning headline:
     A.   A line that sets up the main headline.
     B.   The main headline, using the biggest font you’ll use in your entire sales copy. Preferably it should be in a different color and in bold text. Most expert copywriters swear by red as a color that draws the most attention to the headline. Blue is another color frequently used by copywriters. It must be readable, i.e. no lilac.
     C.   A line that elaborates on your main headline.
2. Write an introduction that your readers can relate to. The most effective way to do this is to write about a problem that your target market has. Examples include baldness, acne, or lack of money.
3. Tell them why they should trust you. Tell them who you are and what are your relevant accomplishments. This helps establish your credibility and trustworthiness. Most people are wary of buying online. This section helps put a face on your product.
4. Now tell them about your product. The mistake many people make is they talk about the product before they explain what problem the product will solve and why they should buy from you. Internet users hate sales pitches. If you mention a product right from the start, they’ll be onto the next site so fast it will make your head spin.
5. Let them know why your product is effective. Here are two ways:
     A.   List statistics with sources related to the need for your product.
     B.   Show testimonials from satisfied customers who have already bought your product. To make testimonials most convincing, include:
       i. The customer’s full name
       ii. City and state or their website URL
6. List the features of your product. Don’t use technical jargon. Don’t always assume someone looking to buy your product is familiar with the technical terms associated with it. You can lose a customer just by using words they don’t know, no matter how badly they need your product.
7. Describe the benefits of your product. While all of these steps are important, this is one of the most important sections of the sales letter. This is usually where the sale is made.
8. Add valuable and unique bonuses. Tell the value of each bonus. Bonuses make customers feel like their getting way more for their money. They might even feel like they’re stealing from you. Some people will even buy the product just to get the bonuses.
9. Give them a reason to buy now. Ways to do this include:
  A. Threaten a future price increase
  B. Tell them bonuses are available for a limited time only
Whether you’re getting 100 visitors a day or 10,000, traffic will do you no good if you don’t know how to convert the visitor into a sale. I’ve had customers literally begging to buy a product that was not even available for sale just because of copy I wrote telling them what the product would do for them. Using these simple rules, you too can transform disinterested website browsers into customers who crave your product.

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Donna Knight is a Website Promotion Specialist who has sold everything from digital products, including ebooks and software, to hard goods such as computers and medical transcription equipment. For more tips to help you sell your product or service, visit her Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews blog at http://www.DonnaKnight.com
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Copyright (C) 2005 Donna Knight. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted to post this article in newsletters, free ebooks or websites as long as the article and resource box remain intact. For product reviews, you may substitute your affiliate referral link for the product URL.
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October 15, 2005