Why is it that
so many people fail to recognize this important truth?
Because to many
people - the idea of words and reading and writing is boring.
They'd much rather invest in flashy bells and whistles and things
they believe they need to succeed.
It's really quite
simple, good sales copy will help you sell more products
or services.
What most websites
lack these days is honest, persuasive, informative and
interesting content.
Business owners
want features & functions and gadgets. They want Flash Intros
on their websites to supposedly impress their visitors but don't
realize that people ignore them (and that means the owner wasted
their money).
They want things
that will in essence support their own egos and pride. (Yeah, sometimes I'm really blunt about things like that - please
take no offense). They want to boast about themselves and show
everyone that they are the best.
Unfortunately,
it's been proven that bells and whistles and self-boasting don't
sell anything to anyone.
They may impress
people for a short while but once the flash-factor has worn off,
people will be looking for what they need. If you can't convince them quickly that you have what they need,
you'll lose them.
Good copy takes
the place of your best salesperson and unleashes their
powers of influence on your visitors. Copywriting is
part art, part science. The mastery of copywriting has earned
many people a fortune for every piece they create.
Copywriting for
the web isn't all that much different than copywriting for mail
order or print - in other words Direct Mail.
One caveat though,
I'm not talking about content for your website as in articles
and case studies and about us pages. These items help attract
visitors through search engines and provide people with valuable
information to help them learn.
What I am talking
about are sales pages - pages on your websites that intend
to sell the product or service you have. The words you
write for those pages are the words that will create your
long term success or make you lose every visitor that comes to
your page.
In writing
successful copy or sales letters, everything counts. Everything
is important, starting with your headline.
The Headline will
capture your ideal target market's attention. There are headlines
you can use to try to capture more visitors and readers but if
they aren't interested in what you really have to offer, it will
be a waste to try to get more readers instead of getting more interested readers.
Once you attract
the attention of your ideal target market with your captivating
headline, there is of course the sub-headline.
The content of
the rest of the page will not just be about your product or service.
It's not just going to be about your company either. It will be about your visitor.
The biggest mistake
people make is trying to sell themselves instead of the product.
People don't really care about you, they care about themselves.
It's called self-interest and once you
realize this little tidbit of information, you will have a major
shift in perspective. If all your sales pages are about you and
how great you are, people just won't care.
When you
make the content of your copy or sales letter about your visitor,
things will magically start to change.
Good copywriting
will clearly demonstrate to your reader all the benefits s/he
has to gain from your product or service. They will start to see "What's In It For Me" and they will
start to picture their lives improving as a result of buying your
product or service. Features just inform, benefits sell.
In other
words; Features Tell, Benefits
Sell
You must also include
elements that add to your credibility and that increase the trust factor of your readers.
Testimonials that
show how people just like your visitor have benefited from your
product will help do that. People need some Social Proof and sometimes having a testimonial from a credible source
can make all the difference in your visitors' eyes.
Understanding human
psychology will benefit you greatly as you learn more about copywriting.
There are so many aspects of the human condition that can be catered
to in your copy that will help you sell more to more people. Curiosity,
ego, pride, belonging, status, are all human conditions that can
stimulated with your words.
There are many proven psychological devices that have helped people sell since the first days of advertising.
Here's
a little exercise for you to do in the next couple of weeks.
Think about the
last new purchase you made (a product you've never purchased before).
