Short Copy: Understanding Its Purpose Can Increase Sales

Written by Karon Thackston


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Many times, short copy will pull a better response if a limited-time offer is made. "Zero percent interest until January 30th" or "Order before February 1st and get FREE shipping."

WARNING: Be very, VERY sure that your support copy is ready to go when you run short ads. For instance, I once had a client approach me about writing copy for a postcard campaign he wanted to do. As we went throughrepparttar process of his customers' most desired behavior, I discovered that he wanted readers to visit his Web site to getrepparttar 108147 additional information they needed in order to purchase. However, his Web site was hardly set up to sell anything to anybody.

Whilerepparttar 108148 postcard was fully capable of generating leads forrepparttar 108149 client,repparttar 108150 support information he had prepared was in desperate shape! He would have seen little return on his investment - not becauserepparttar 108151 postcard didn't do its job - but becauserepparttar 108152 "landing page" of his site was simply awful.

Whether you're asking readers of short copy to call, click, or come by, be sure your support staff or information is ready, willing, and able to handlerepparttar 108153 job.

Lastly, when you write extremely short copy, remember to stay focused. As I've said, there is not enough room to sellrepparttar 108154 customers within your copy, but there IS enough room to pique their interest. Userepparttar 108155 limited space you have to punch uprepparttar 108156 biggest benefits or end results your customers are looking for, and you'll see bigger returns on your investment.



Copy not getting results? Let Karon write targeted, persuasive copy for you. Visit her site at http://www.ktamarketing.com, or learn how to write your own copy at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Don't forget to subscribe to Karon's free ezine at http://www.ktamarketing.com/ezine.html.


How to write for the web

Written by Polly Nelson


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Ensure you are up to date Keeping your information up to date is hugely important. This is becoming more and morerepparttar case. More companies are moving over to content management systems and updating their content regularly. Being out of date even by days will hugely damage your credibility.

Keep it brief Leading sentences are 10-20 words. Keep it short. There is a limited amount of time that people stay on websites for. They don't lie onrepparttar 108146 sofa to readrepparttar 108147 web or carry it around with them (apart from possibly on a tiny phone screen). People read 10-20% slower online and screens are still tiring to read. You need to getrepparttar 108148 main point across quickly and clearly; briefly explain it and move on.

Stay Consistent Don't continually re-brand yourself on each page. You should also bear in mind thatrepparttar 108149 language you use in your other (offline) marketing materials must be consistent withrepparttar 108150 language you use online.

Be understandable Explain everything you say. Don't make assumptions about your readers' intelligence and don't be impenetrable in your turn of phrase. A great marketing strength lies in being able to explain what it is that you do and why it is that you do it so well; to someone who has no idea about your field of work.

Be correct Credibility is a big problem onrepparttar 108151 web. Many people believe thatrepparttar 108152 information they read online is not as credible as information in hard copy. To avoid fuelling this misconception, your content must be extremely good, and above all it must be 100% correct.

Good luck!

Polly is the research director for Fire Without Smoke Software and writes many technological articles for the Company. She was also one of the Company's founders.


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