I have come across many web sites with sales copy that extends over more than 5 pages. It hops from one idea to next without remaining focused. I personally am lost in their premise after page 2. There is no doubt that your copy should be compelling but stick to point. Don't go overboard with your benefits list. A well laid out list of benefits will succeed at grabbing readers interest. If it's too long, people will simply click away to another site. Do you really need a benefits list longer than 5 or 6 key items?

If your product is that good that it takes 15 to 20 items to describe all of benefits, you need to take special care to capture them all and readers attention. I suggest dispersing several within body of copy. Don't itemize each. Carefully draft your copy with some of benefits included. If this proves too hard then simply use only most important. You can weed out ones that aren't necessary by going back and thinking in detail about your target audience. See if you can sort your benefits into different groups based on people who would make most use of each benefit. Then write several different pages of sales copy and advertise each to its respective group.

Remember that point to all of this is to capture a readers attention and drive home sale. Success will be very hard if you make your readers work hard to understand and see your point. Do yourself and your readers a favor by getting to and sticking to point.

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Writing Final Draft 20.You’ve done rough draft, 1st draft, and are into 2nd draft. You’ve put everything in your own words and are observing your outline structure. The article is starting to sound less like something you’ll get blamed for, and more like something you might actually claim. 21.Edit for readability, grammar and style. 22.Use active voice in all your writing. “Active voice” is a sentence construction where subject performs verb action. Don’t go to sleep on me, this is important. Example: “The dog bit boy.” Quick, active, easy. Here’s an example of passive voice: “The boy was bitten by dog.” Yikes! 23.Technology writing is full of hideous passive voice construction. Here’s another example from a technology marketing document: “This successful vendor interoperability was demonstrated at Summit in Chicago.” Ack! Instead, write: “Vendor teams successfully demonstrated interoperability at Summit in Chicago.” See how easy that was? PLEASE use active voice. Everyone will be so much happier. 24.If you learn nothing else about business writing in all your born days, learn to write in active voice. Subject all of your sentences to this simple little exercise and you will improve your writing 100%. 25.Please don’t be boring, but don't get too cute. I will stick in something funny every once in a while -- mostly because I get a big kick out of myself -- but don’t get too chummy.

Final Draft 26.You’re almost there – you see light at end of tunnel, and it isn’t a train. Now is time to polish sentence structure and word choice, and punch up your paragraphs. 27.Polish your opening paragraphs. Add a snappy lead, define what you're talking about and why it's important, and list three or so points you’re going to make. 28.Read through your article and make sure you’ve made those points. If you did an outline, main points should already be subheads. (See why an outline is so great?) 29.Polish your conclusion. The conclusion doesn’t have to be undying prose, but do restate your points and conclusions. 30.Read through one more time for overall readability. 31.Run your spelling and grammar check. 32.Save and send – but be careful to send right file! I accidentally turned in my rough draft once instead of completed final. Luckily this was with one of my oldest clients, so they contacted me and asked me for real article. A new client would simply have assumed complete incompetence on my part. 33.And for final tip: everything gets easier with practice. Good thing, too.