That’s not to say your site shouldn’t look professional. It’s your store front - a reflection of your business and quality of your product – so it has to convey image you want to present to world. But a clean, simple site can do that. Some of world’s biggest “e-tailers” like Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble, have very simple logos.

So let’s get back to key to a successful website – words. If you want to write copy yourself, think carefully about purpose of text. You are writing sales copy. And secret of all successful sales copy is to think like your customer.

To quote Ken Evoy again: “Web selling is about selling one customer at a time … one-to-one selling … you and customer talking together about their needs and wants.”

Most people make mistake of writing their websites for themselves. They tell how wonderful their company is, how long it’s been in business and technical details about products they offer. But customer doesn’t want to know about you and your company. The customer is interested in one thing … “what’s in it for me?”

So focus on benefits of your product or service. After every sentence you write, see yourself as your customer and ask question: “so what?”.

For example, let’s imagine you are selling a new email filter that keeps spam out of people’s mailboxes. Don’t bore your potential customer with technical details. Focus on benefits of having such a filter. For example, you might say something like: “Do you waste valuable time dealing with junk email every day? Ban-It Mail Filter is answer to your problem. Ban-it is most effective filter available to keep spam out of your mailbox and put back more time into your day.”

You are selling benefits – not features. Even experienced copywriters sometimes get two mixed up.

You need to have a clear picture in your mind of customer you are writing for. Write as if you were sitting in a chair opposite them and talking face to face. And tell them what your product or service can do for them.

That in a nutshell is secret of writing copy for Web.

If you can do this, potential of web selling is enormous. It outranks Gutenburg’s printing press, Marconi’s wireless and Bell’s telephone all rolled together.

So don’t waste fantastic opportunity presented by cyber-marketing. Make sure your website copy is doing job you want it to. If you don’t feel competent to write it yourself, hire a professional copywriter. The investment will repay itself many times over.

ENDS

You toy around with it and come up with this: A Man's Right To Elegance. How To Impress In Every Situation With A Watch That Does Far More Than Keep Accurate Time.

See how a good "swipe" file can help?

You can use it to adapt opening sentences. Or layout of a sales letter. Or guarantee you or your client offers. Even pace or emotional "tug" of a piece.

By using your "swipe" file, your creative juices are instantly flowing. There's no blank page. You already have something to work with. And as any good writer will tell you, it's easier to edit than it is to write.

So where do you get material for your "swipe" file?

The quickest and easiest source is Internet. Start checking out website sales letters. Print them out. Good or bad (even bad ones can inspire your work). Study them. And keep them close by in a handy file.

The other great source is from mailing lists. If you're already on a few lists, then start filing those pitches away when they arrive instead of tossing them out. If you're not on a list, try purchasing a product or asking for a catalog. It won't be long before you're on a number of lists and your "swipe" file is growing exponentially.

Two good places to get started are: Publisher's Clearing House, 101 Channel Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050; and Nightingale-Conant, 7300 N. Leigh Avenue, Chicago, IL 60648.

Try them both. Try any others that come to mind, as well. Just start building your "swipe" today!

____________________________________

Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. David B. Silva is author of seven novels and numerous short stories. He served as a magazine editor for eight years, and recently edited and published a small e-mail newsletter dedicated to writers and fans of horror genre.

Learn all you'll ever need to know about effective, result-producing copywriting from very best: http://www.thesuccessfulwriter.com/copywritingseminar.htm

Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. David B. Silva is the author of seven novels and numerous short stories. He served as a magazine editor for eight years, and recently edited and published a small e-mail newsletter dedicated to writers and fans of the horror genre.