February 22, 2012

Mistakes That Kill Your Sales Copy

You are probably going to make a few copywriting mistakes, especially when you are first beginning. All you have to do to avoid making them, however, is recognize what those mistakes are. It makes sense to do your homework before jumping into the real thing, as it will help you on the long run in crafting out a good copy. Here are a few of those mistakes so that you can avoid committing them in the future.

One of the biggest mistakes is not being familiar with your product. People that are thinking of buying from you are intelligent and they will put two and two together that you know little about the product. In other words, when you try to write a copy about something that you don’t have much knowledge on, it shows. Your prospective customers will be put off if they think you don’t know what you’re writing about. For this reason, studying every aspect of the product becomes necessary if you hope to write great, effective copy. The best way to make your sales copy succeed is to be absolutely clear on a product, and studying that product is the only way. It is crucial that you give your potential customers the benefits in an accurate and clear way if you hope to convert them into buying customers. If you don’t have any testimonials in your sales copy, you are committing a huge mistake. People aren’t going to pay with a credit card unless they’re sure the transaction is a good one. It is easy to see why this would happen since there are many scams out there. This is exactly why you should have testimonials from other customers/experts along with your sales letter. Testimonials from others supporting your product is what the experts use to make more sales. It’s a psychological fact that people like hearing that others had positive experiences. If you have experts leaving their reviews on your product, and they stand behind it, that’s extremely powerful. Make sure that you don’t use fake testimonials because people nowadays can smell out anything false. Keep your testimonials descriptive and full of facts. Another fantastic idea is to have testimonials that people can actually hear while also including photos of the people leaving them. It will cause people to trust you more.

How you position the price of the product within your sales page is vital. So don’t make the mistake of letting the readers know the price of your product right in the start of the copy, this just kills the curiosity and besides that your prospect might not go through your benefits and just leave. You need to show your readers what you are offering them and tell them of the benefits before informing them of the cost of the product. However, you need to make sure the price is clear when you do mention it. Make sure that it isn’t hidden in the sales page so that your potential clients can’t see it. At the right time you need to ensure that it is quite obvious. It’s important to understand that there are many ways to make your copy ineffective, but if you can avoid the previous mistakes you’ll go far.

If you would like to review sales page templates and learn more about copywriting, visit The Copywriter’s Brain.

Secrets to Effective Copywriting

The best copywriters have found the secret of making their work seem simple. Have you ever read someone else’s sales letter and thought, “that doesn’t seem so hard, I should do it?” On the other hand, you may also have actually tried to write a sales letter and discovered it wasn’t so easy after all. The basic principles of copywriting are not very hard to learn. Copywriting is a very useful skill for any internet marketer to have. If you want to sell anything online, you have to be able to convince people to buy it! These are some of the basic rules of good copywriting:

Back in the day, it was ok to use all capital letters in words to really make your point. But as you know, these days it’s generally considered rude and akin to yelling, or shouting. When you want to emphasize certain text in your copy, use the formatting codes for italics, bolding and underlining. Another copy device is using a color such as red for the words you want to emphasize. Also… USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS HARDER TO READ. Right? You can become much more flexible if you experiment and use these kinds of changes in format. Always avoid trying to pressure your reader, but you can effectively create feelings of urgency. Your campaign will be a dismal failure if readers get the slightest hint of “sales pressure.” It’s simple if you recall your own life experiences in sales situations. If a clerk follows you around saying “buy this buy this buy this” you will eventually leave the store (probably without buying anything at all). But you most likely did buy from the person who offered no pressure, explained the product benefits, and who was just polite and friendly.
You can also insert headlines into the text to introduce a new concept. By placing a large, bold headline in the middle of your page, you can introduce the next section of the sales letter and give readers a preview of it. Readers who are browsing your page will also be able to quickly absorb this headline. This is how most site viewers decide if they want to read the body of the page or if they want to click on to someone else’s offer.

Words sell, and pretty much nothing else will. It’s your sales copy that really is the sun around which your business revolves. It does not have to be difficult but it does take some time to learn. Even if you decide to hire a writer to help you, you should have a working knowledge of what that writer does. That way you can do your own copywriting when you can’t afford to hire professional help.