Conclusion..................

We have covered the fundamentals of good copy and explained how important spelling, grammar, punctuation and formatting are.  The most important aspect to keep in mind is grabbing the visitor's attention, keeping that attention and getting them to take the action that you'd like.

This action might be a sale, a download, or an inquiry, but to be able to provoke this action with your copy will be very gratifying for you.

Some key areas to focus on to produce good web copy are:

1.     Knowing what your visitors want

2.     Creating a USP that makes your readers choose you, over anyone else

3.     Choose good keywords and incorporate them into your site structure and copy.  Be aware of the search engines.

4.     Make your copy easy to understand with good formatting

5.     Write killer headlines and subheads

6.     Learn to write sales inducing bullet points

7.     Infuse your copy with power words and power transitions

Other points to think about are keeping lengthy details about the business and it's history to a minimum, unless it benefits the visitor in anyway.  They are only interested in how you, or your product can help them, so this need to be the focus of your copy.  Your web pages are written for your visitors, not you – remember this at all times.

All pages on your site are important, but the home page is the one that many people will find first, so you must take extra care in producing this page.

Because of the search engines and getting found for your chosen keywords are important to web copy, you need to make sure that each page on your website is focused on a particular keyword.  This is so that your site gets more chances of being found, when a particular keyword or phrase is typed into the search engines.

A good way to increase the numbers of visitors to your site is to keep adding new content, so make it a priority to add new pages to your site on a regular basis.  This will be beneficial to you on the following ways:

1.                     Adding new content to your site gives a reason to new visitors and subscribers to come back to your site.  More visitors will also help your search engine rankings.

2.                     Every page that you add is likely to be indexed by Google and all the other search engines and listed on their results pages.  This is why it is so important to pick good keywords and phrases and optimize your pages, with these words. Keyword research should also be an ongoing task, so your site is listed for as many of them as possible.

3.                     If you update your site two or three times a week, the search engines will sit up and take notice, resulting in them spidering your site more often.

So all in all, adding fresh content to your site adds additional value and increases the amount of traffic from the search engines, your site will receive.

Including fresh content to your site not only adds value, but also increases the amount of search traffic that it will receive.

If you take all this advice into account, you will be able to produce some awe inspiring web copy to achieve your goals.

Thanks for reading.

The Copy Secrets They Don't Want to Know

Here are some additional tips, that should help you on the way to create excellent web copy.

·        A good place to start is to look at other successful websites in your own niche to see how they use their copy.  Take notes, but don't copy them exactly, but by studying other successful websites, you should get some great ideas for what to include in your own copy.  A master copywriter to study is Gary Hilbert, he gives his copywriting tips away for free here: http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/newsletter-archives.htm

·        You can use niche forums and niche search engines to find out the kind of problems that people have in your niche, so that both your product and copy can give solutions to these problems.

·        This is a recent tip that I've picked up.  Apparently you can sneakily add in words that end in “ly” into your copy.  These words hypnotically influence your readers.  These words slip easily into the reader's mind under the radar.  This paragraph here shows you how clearly these words work powerfully to influence the reader.  Using these “ly” words makes your copy instantly more hypnotic.

·        Injecting empathy into your copy and really understanding what your visitors want is an important key to successful copy.   Your readers need to feel you understand.  You do this by entering their world and building a rapport with them.  Write like you are experiencing what the reader is feeling, go into detail about pain, the search for the solution and the gratification in finding the solution.

·        Try to get your visitor's email addresses by offering something free and of value to them. By getting their email address, you can market to these people through emails and use all these wonderful copy tips to create emails to sell your wares.

·        Lastly, you need to have the right attitude in your copy.  You have to ooze positivity from the beginning to the end and keep the reader's attention.  Ideally you want good copy all the way through, but especially at the beginning and the end.  Think of your copy as a show, or performance that you are presenting.

Other action verbs, words and phrases:

collide, shock, connect, handed, drenched, dump, pinpoint, trigger, scour, juiced, crank out, load, pogoed, harness, float, bored to tears, get into the trenches, haul, hammer it home, rampage, scramble, the underbelly, fuss, drag, pocketing, rocketed, smack/smacking, trashes, oohing and aahing, winced, frightened, hunt down, devour, hobble, nail down, snicker, cram, wail, huff and puff, size up,

Words to Avoid

Now some words to avoid, as they are overused and some alternatives....

Learn...

discover, acquire, digest, uncover, gain access to, obtain, secure, unearth, disrobe, expose, unveil, take in, observe,  disclose, revealed to you, unmasked, spill the beans, let out the bag, laid on the table, made plain

Pay/Cost...

ante up, take advantage of, invest, cover, contribute, chip in, furnish, provide, supply, goes for, initiation fee, access fee, requires a small sum, total amount, valued at, available for, offered at, worth

Sell/Sold...

happily involve, help obtain, provide expertise, supply with vital information

Buy...

reserve, claim, gain access to, acquire, get, secure, snatch this up, scoop up, snatch up, own, take home, make it belong to you, make this yours, when you choose to say yes, it's yours, get involved with this wonderful opportunity

Teach...

demonstrate, display, reveal, disclose, divulge, present, prove, uncover, meet the eye, parade, flaunt, direct your attention to, lead you through, confirm, expose, broadcast, open the door,

Power Transitions to Keep Your Visitor Reading

Power transitions will help you keep the reader's attention, all the way through to the order form.  They are very simple to use.

Headlines are not meant to sell the product, but to get the visitor to read the first paragraph.  To keep the visitor reading, you can use sub headings, which is why good copy uses sub heads, but there is another way to keep visitors reading and that is by using power transitions.

Power transitions are like paragraph headlines, as is it the first sentence of each paragraph that sells the visitor to carry on reading, instead of skimming, or even worse leaving never to come back.

Below is a power transition swipe file, so you can use them to encourage people to keep reading.  Don't use them on every paragraph, but sparingly every 2 or 3 paragraphs to get those visitors reading to the end of your copy.

1.  What does all this mean?

2.  It gets worse...

3.  You're going to love this.

4.  Why?

5.  Now, don't get me wrong...

6.  Here's another thing.

7.  Think I'm mistaken?

8.  Now for the story:

9.  So what did I do?

10.         Listen:

11.          Here's  an important little trick:

12.         Want to know an even better way?

13.         Now check this out:

14.         It works like this:

15.         But wait.

16.         Here's an easy way to do this.

17.         What's that?

18.         And get this:

19.         Here's an illuminating statistic:

20.         Consider this:

21.         Here's what I mean.

22.         However, here is a curious fact:

23.         But what's next?

24.         Let us press on.

25.         But you know what?

26.         Onward.

27.         One other thing:

28.         What happened?

29.         Look:

30.         Why do I do this?

31.         Another example:

32.         Did it work?

33.         What's that?

34.         But, there's only one way:

35.         How simple is it?

36.         So what? Well here is the “so what” of it:

37.         Whatever you do, don't try to...

38.         I'm not kidding.

39.         Moving on:

40.         Let us inch a bit closer to the truth:

41.         So, what do you do first?

42.         Here's something else:

43.         Here's all I'm going to ask you to do:

44.         As if that wasn't enough...

45.         A tip:

46.         What am I saying?

47.         On the other hand...

48.         By the way...

49.         Now let's discuss

50.         A little-known fact about...

51.         Does all this sound a little over the top to you?

52.         Now, let me tell you something:

53.         Besides that...

54.         I'm not playing around.

55.         However, it's not always that simple.

56.         But there is a drawback.

57.         What this all boils down to is:

58.         But I'm not finished.

59.         And, speaking of...

60.         Here's the point:

61.         Hear this:

62.         Even better...

63.         Best of all:

64.         What I'm saying is this:

65.         Now the specifics:

66.         One last thought:

67.         Pay careful attention.

68.         That's the bad news. The good news is...

69.         Now I'd like to emphasize something here:

70.         Know this:

71.         But wait a minute!

72.         Let's push on.

73.         Now let's be real.

74.         The answer is simple.

75.         But don't stop there.

76.         Why did it work so well?

77.         Here's the secret:

78.         Next, what you do is...

79.         But, let me offer a word of caution:

80.         Would you like some of this action?

81.         Now pay attention to this:

82.         Come closer.

83.         Bottom-line:

84.         Now picture this in your mind:

85.         Speaking of...

86.         Why am I doing it this way?

87.         Which brings me to...

88.         Imagine this:

89.         Here is the most important thing you can do...

90.         What did I discover?

91.         I'll tell you something...

92.         It went down like this:

93.         But this was different.

94.         Big mistake.

95.         On with my story:

96.         But this was not to be.

97.         I could hardly believe it;

98.         Are you kidding?

99.         Let's bring it home:

100. Enough build-up, let's get to it.

Power Words to Infuse Your Copy

Most people write boring flat copy, it's lifeless because they use boring overused verbs.

Which of these sentences sounds best?

·        Did you talk to a crowd?

·        Did you enchant a crowd?

·        Did you thunder down on the crowd?

·        Did you command the crowd?

The last three sound a lot better than the first one, don't they?

Words like talk, walk and try – they are all overused.  Even words like increase, if you use them again and again will lose their power.  You need variety and passion in your copy.

I hope you can see the difference in power verbs and stale verbs.  Below is a list of commonly used words and a whole host of alternatives.  Use them and weep tears of joy, as you are flooded with sales!

Instant...

immediate, right away, simultaneous, within moments/seconds/minutes/hours, fast, in a jiffy,  wink of an eye, without delay, straight away, straight off, at once, promptly, shortcut, in a flash, go like the wind, shake a leg,

Without Effort...

automatically, accidental, intuitively, involuntary, knee jerk reaction, mechanically, naturally, reflectively, self-regulating, spontaneously, routinely, robotically, unconsciously, impulsively, posing no difficulty, easy as falling off a log, nothing to it, easy,  simple, effortless, a cinch, in a relaxed manner, casually, fool proof,  without any trouble, no practice necessary, almost over night, connect the dots, force you, sit back and watch, bypass, force-fed/feeding, fall into place, force-feed, tricking your brain, “quick-fix” solution, no “getting up to speed”, tap into,

Profitable...

lucrative, gravy train, make a killing, the goose that lays the golden egg, return on investment, wallet sweller, enlarge your bank account, fast track to profits, top dollar, multiply your investment

Inexpensive...

affordable, introductory pricing, wholesale priced, petty fee, bargain, economical, reasonable sum, meager, modest, lean, puny, dirt cheap,  a real steal, a fraction of the cost, below wholesale, pays for itself, budget friendly,

Empower...

conquer, triumph, clobber, humble, vanquish,  shellac, trounce, wallop, rain blows on, pummel, steamroll, monopolize, put you in the driver's seat, give you free reign, call the shots, dominate, reign supreme, command, tower above, tyrannize, be at the helm, manipulate, tear up, humble (as in humble the competition), sticking it to, blow the lid off of, collapsed, smack the snot out of, spank,

Increase...

boost, swell, snowball, accelerate, avalanche,  bloat, balloon, mushroom, fatten,  deepen, heighten, flood, drown, flush, overwhelm, swamp, downpour, gush, swarm, overrun,  crush, mob, explode, blast, burst, erupt, shatter, rain, blow the lid off,  maxed out, bursting at the seams, landslide, jack up, gorge, spike, merge, squeeze out,

Reduce...

slim, condense, defeat, downgrade, slash, vanquish, subdue, drain, carve up, shrink, dwindle, retire, shrivel, plummet,  disintegrate, destroy, squander, nose-dive, chop up, bankrupt, put the kibosh on,  torpedo, shatter, demolish, level, plunge, crash, shave, erase, suck down, melt away, vanishing, dwarf,

Fail...

fall short, choke, break down, give out, bomb, flop, flunk out, stink up the joint, ruin, bust, go under, go belly up, crumble, throw in the towel, flounder, burn out, blow your wad, come up short, sabotage,

Humiliate...

belittle, disgrace, embarrass, humble, shame, take down a peg, deflate self esteem, throw for a loop, put on the spot, put to the blush, dishonor, blackball, blacklist, blow away, robbed, suffer, beg, demolish,

Permanent...

ever-lasting, fixed, certain, continuous, immutable, nonstop, perpetual, unceasing, uninterrupted, around the clock, lock up, lock into, capture, burn (burn into your memory forever), etch, install,

Hidden...

concealed, buried, clandestine, secret, invisible to most, under wraps, covert, classified, confidential, covert, hush-hush, top-drawer, need to know basis, private, overlooked, lock-box secret,

Try...

attempt, take a stab at, have a go at, take a crack at,  zero in, set (y)our sights on

Lazy...

lethargic, sluggish, spiritless, inactive, apathetic, inert, slowest, unresponsive, casual, easygoing, flabby, sloppy, dreamy, uninspired, unmotivated, passive

Pain...

nouns: misery, grief, heart ache, torture, torment, plague, living hell, martyr,

verbs: crucify, mutilate, mangle, disfigure, butcher, cripple, massacre, maul, slaughter, slaving away, 

Master the Art of Bullet Points

Bullet points are an ideal way to portray the benefits of your product or service.  The premise behind bullet points is that you want to create enough curiosity with each bullet point, that the visitor wants to buy your product, just to get the answer to that one bullet point.

You can create 20 bullet points, with which each will convince a different group of users, to buy your product.

Here is the magic formula for writing bullet points – promise your reader a huge benefit, with an element of curiosity.  You can tell them what they can get, but they have to get your product  to get the answer.

There are 6 types of bullet points, which are most effective.  You should use all 6 types of these bullet points in your copy.

They are:

1.       How To

2.       Mistakes

3.       Incongruent juxtaposition

4.       Instant gratification

5.       Fool-Proof

6.                Ease of Use

How To Bullet Points

These are the most straight-forward type of bullet points.  Here, you just write a “how to” plus a specific benefit.

Example:

How to qualify for social security disability pensions at any age

Mistakes in Bullet Points

People are naturally motivated to move away from pain towards pleasure, so you need to create pain motivators in your copy.  In a bullet point, you point out a mistake that can be avoided if they buy your product.

So hit on things that can cause the visitor pain and how your product can eradicate your pain.  It's not only the word 'mistake' you can use here, but words like: victim, hidden dangers, nightmare, scam, shocker, scare, crisis,  ruining, terrible, lie, ashamed, risk, warning signs, etc.

You can couple a pain bullet point with a promise of pleasure, or start a bullet point on a positive note, that ends on a negative note.  You'll want to do a mixture of the two types to get the most of this type of bullet point.

Examples:

“What criminals look for when they're taking notes on you! (And how knowing this mindset puts you back into control)”

“How to recession proof your business in 2010 (And how not knowing these three steps almost guarantees you'll struggle to turn a profit this year)”

Incongruent Juxtaposition Bullet Points

These are my favorite type of bullet points, as I think that they are the most powerful.  This is where you look for something that doesn't doesn't usually go with a benefit and tying the two together. 

One way of doing this is you can challenge conventional wisdom...

Example:

 “Why Pepper Spray is more likely to do harm than good if you're trying to protect yourself (often, that pepper spray in your pocket is used against you by your assailant, unless you know the simple way to use it correctly, every time!)”

Another way of creating this type of bullet point is to pick something minor, but interesting and tie it in with a benefit:

“How tapping on 7 parts of your body can help you lose weight”

As you can see from this example, you can mix and match the types of bullet points to create exciting reasons to buy your product.

Instant Gratification Bullet Points

One of the biggest benefits you can give a visitor is instant gratification, so to create this type of bullet point – you give a benefit that they can attain immediately after getting your product.

“Health alert: the 60 second test that can save your life”

You should always include instant gratification bullet points in your web copy.

Fool-proof Bullet Points

When people learn something, they often want to use that new knowledge every day.  Another way to describe this is, that they want a fool-proof solution.

Example:

“How to permanently lock your mind into “survival mode”... so you'll never be surprised by trouble”

As you can see, the idea behind this type of bullet point is that you can “lock into” some knowledge that will benefit the reader for life.

Ease of Use Bullet Points

Another benefit that people often look for is to get something without much effort. The difference between this type of bullet point and the instant gratification bullet points is that the result may not be immediate, but you can do almost nothing to achieve the result.

Example:

“The amazing 10 minute strategy used religiously by the most overworked people in the world... to have better sleep, more energy and supercharged brainpower”

Test Your Headlines to See What Converts the Best

The headline is the most powerful text on any page, as it will set the tone for the rest of the site and is the deciding factor on whether more is read on that page, or not.

So if your headline is no good, then you run the risk of no-one reading the rest of your text.  The answer is to test a number of headlines, to see what converts the best.

So first, write what you consider the best headline to be for your product and write some alternatives as well and then test them all.

There are plenty of services on the internet that will help you do this, like Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/).  This will show things like, how many people visit your site and how long people stay at your site, so you can analyze whether you headline is working. 

The headline is the key to engaging the interest and attention of visitors to your site.  Sometimes it is just a couple of words that can make a huge difference to a sale, or a click away, so please make sure you test and keep testing your headlines.

How to Write a Killer Headline

Your website's home page is a key web page, especially if it is there that you want to persuade your reader to take an action, like sign up to your newsletter, or buying your product or service.  Obviously this depends on your site, as you may have a few pages, where you'd like your visitors to take some sort of action.

So, on the pages where you would like your visitors to take action, you need a killer headline to keep them reading.  I am going to share a system with you, on how you can create killer headlines.

Forget anything that you have read about headlines before and use the formula below and you'll be pumping out profitable headlines in no time.

The Formula:

Benefit + Emotional Response + Incongruency = Killer Headline

Okay, some explanation...

Benefit

Think about all the benefits that your information, product, or service has and write them all down.  Can you combine them or rephrase them to come up with a whopper benefit?   Once you have spent a little time thinking about this, pick out the strongest benefit.

Some benefits to help get your mind buzzing:

faster, bigger, better, stronger, longer lasting, more effective, easier, simpler, requiring less effort, cheaper, higher quality, getting a bargain, having more control, etc. etc.

Emotional Response

The headline serves one purpose only and that is to get the visitor to read beyond the headline.  So, your headline needs to tap into the emotions of your visitor.

The best three emotions to target are fear, frustration and anger.  However if you can't think of any way to evoke these emotions with your offering, think about happiness, courage and reduction of stress.  Obviously there are other emotions that you can consider, but these six are some of the strongest.

An example, let's say you have a product on how to raise children.  It is easy to evoke fear by painting a picture of the child being in danger, this will get many worried parents to read on.   Okay, the unfortunate truth is that more and more children are being abducted in shopping centers, so we can use that to create a headline like:

“The hidden danger many children face at shopping centers... and how you can immediately protect your child and take control of any unsafe situation that may present itself.”

Now we have benefit, plus emotion.  I think you'll agree that you can come up with some great headlines with those two elements alone, but the killer twist does lie in incongruency.

Incongruency

As we see so many advertisements in one day, our brains have learned to block out information that is not unique.  If we did not have this inbuilt survival mechanism, our brains would be bursting at seams, with all the commercials going around our heads – it would drive us mad! 

So, to get someone's attention, you need to take two things that wouldn't normally go together and put them together, like a fish on a bicycle, or a gorilla playing the drums.  This is the ingenious element of incongruency.

Let's add incongruency into that child safety headline, we had earlier, to demonstrate the curiosity this element brings out in us:

“The hidden danger many children face at shopping centers... and how a 38  year old  fish monger discovered a method to protect your child and take complete control of any unsafe situation”

Huh?  What on earth does a 38 year old fish monger have to do with child safety?

This headline evokes emotion, promises a benefit and makes you want to find out more about the fish monger, as he doesn't belong there!

It is quite easy to come up with these incongruencies.  Think about things about your product that are true, odd or unique and find something that normally is not associated with it.