3 Steps To Better Sales Copywriting

Written by J.L. Reid


Whether you’re wet-behind-the-ears or a seasoned copywriter, your craft will benefit by remembering one thing:

You’re nothing more than a salesperson.

There’s an old saying inrepparttar “business” that, “a copywriter is a salesperson sitting in front of a typewriter.” True, few of us are using typewriters these days. The principal, however, remains unchanged.

We’re in sales. I know this. You know this. We all know this. Yet why does much ofrepparttar 108064 copy out there, especially ads produced by expensive agencies, seem to missrepparttar 108065 point?

If all we’re doing is sales, albeit transmitted through a written or broadcast medium, then we’d better know what we’re doing.

Startingrepparttar 108066 process

While studying creative writing, I learned this storytelling maxim: every character has a motive for being in a scene. The same is true in a sales situation.

The salesperson’s motive is simple. He wants to makerepparttar 108067 sale and get his commission. But what doesrepparttar 108068 potential customer want?

First, what type of customer are they? Are they ready to make an immediate buy? Are they information shopping, looking for a great deal? Are they even looking for our product or service?

Ask Questions, then Shut-up and Listen

When selling to prospective customers ask questions that get them to reveal their needs. It’s a mistake to sellrepparttar 108069 product onrepparttar 108070 tip of your tongue. “Model X” might work, but if you listen you might discover thatrepparttar 108071 more expensive “Model Z” is whatrepparttar 108072 customer really needs. Once you know whyrepparttar 108073 prospect is there--whether they have an unresolved need, an emotional reason for buying, or they’re just shopping around--tailor your pitch to their specific reason.

Now when you makerepparttar 108074 pitch, tell how your product benefitsrepparttar 108075 customer, rather than rattling off product features you think he cares about.

When You’re Finished, Closerepparttar 108076 Door

By this point your spiel should be unforced. You knowrepparttar 108077 customer’s “hot-buttons” so everything should be smooth sailing.

After you’ve explainedrepparttar 108078 last product benefit, you (asrepparttar 108079 salesperson) are obligated to closerepparttar 108080 deal. The way you do that is simply to ask, “Are you ready to make your decision?” or “Is thisrepparttar 108081 product you’d like to buy?”

Hopefullyrepparttar 108082 answer is yes. If not, then you ask, “When would you be ready to make your decision? Can I contact you then?”

Web Copy – How Much is Enough?

Written by Glenn Murray


Web Copy – How Much is Enough?

By Glenn Murray *

These days, there’s widespread acceptance that a website is an integral part ofrepparttar marketing plan of any business. Likewise, it’s commonly accepted that web copy is a vital component of any website. But how much web copy is enough?

The pure volume of information available onrepparttar 108063 Internet is daunting – often counterproductive. There are approximately 550 billion documents onrepparttar 108064 web, and every day another 7 million are added. According to an A.T. Kearney, Network Publishing study (April 2001), workers take so long trying to find information that it costs organizations $750 billion annually!

Yet people continue to use it. Information gathering isrepparttar 108065 most common use ofrepparttar 108066 Internet (American Express survey, 2000). And it seems work-related searches are amongstrepparttar 108067 most common, with 48% of people usingrepparttar 108068 Internet to find work-related information, as opposed to 7% who use magazines (Lyra Research, 2001).

Interestingly, however,repparttar 108069 average person visits no more than 19 websites inrepparttar 108070 entire month in order to avoid information overload (Nielsen NetRatings in Jan 2001).

So how do you ensure your site is one of those 19? How do you make your content helpful without making it overwhelming? That’s what this article is about…

I’ve written several articles on what to write on your website in order to make it helpful. (See Engage Your Customer – Write About Benefits, Writing Benefit-Driven Web Copy, and Wording Up Your Website.) But that’s only halfrepparttar 108071 battle… Businesses also need to know how much to write. Here are 5 quick rules of thumb to help you decide how much is enough.

1) Know your audience (Reader or Search Engine?)

Think about whether you’re targeting human readers (potential customers) or search engines. This must always be one of your very first questions, asrepparttar 108072 answer will determine your approach to content.

In general, human readers think less is more. Search engines, onrepparttar 108073 other hand, think more is more (well, more or less…). In many ways, it comes down to a question of quality versus quantity. Human readers are interested in quality, whereas search engines are interested quantity. Human readers want you to answer their questions and make it clear how you can benefit them. And they don’t want to wade through volumes of text. Search engines want a high word count, full of relevant keywords, and short on diagrams. (See Writing SEO Copy for more information on writing for search engines. See Search Engine Optimization Unmasked for CEOs for an introductory article on search engine optimization.)

You need to think carefully about your audience. In most cases, it’ll be a trade-off. A high search engine ranking is important (or at least beneficial) to most businesses, so a happy medium is required. The following tips will go some way toward providing this balance.



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