Killer Copy: Words That Are Like Magnets to Money

Written by David Garfinkel


I'll never forget what my accountant said five years ago when he sawrepparttar ad I wrote for my services: "How many scotches did you drink before you wrote this?"

He was kidding aboutrepparttar 150266 scotch. But he just couldn't believe anyone in their right mind would write such a bold and outrageous ad for their own writing, consulting and speaking services, as I had.

Well, I spent $300 on that ad -- $200 to run it in a local trade association directory, and $100 to have it reprinted as a flyer.

The following year, that $300 ad turned into $12,341 in new business for me. And $12,341 was just a tiny fraction of my total business that year.

Why did I make so much money myself while there were so many thousands of "starving writers" inrepparttar 150267 world? The answer may surprise you. You see, it's not because I'm a better writer. It's not my schooling. Not my resume. Not any talent I was born with.

It's all because I learned how to write "killer copy."

How do you write killer copy?

You start your killer copy with an emotion-packed opening statement that will getrepparttar 150268 attention of your reader. This opening statement may be:

* a headline * an opening sentence * a subject line on an email *repparttar 150269 header on a Web page

... or for that matter,repparttar 150270 opening words in a telemarketing script, radio commercial, or TV spot. What's important is that you understand - your first words count for everything - because you must captivate peoples' imagination with those words in order to keep their attention.

Here are examples of opening statements from actual successful marketing pieces:

a) "Takerepparttar 150271 luxury vacation of your dreams at a reduced cost because of this special offer" (from a travel agency's letter to business owners.)

b) "How to stop overwhelm before it stops you" (from a personal coach's ad aimed at stressed-out overachievers)

c) "Why almost every financial statement in family court may not discloserepparttar 150272 full net worth ofrepparttar 150273 opposing spouse" (from an investigator's sales letter to divorce lawyers.)

Then, after your emotion-packed opening statement, you just a) Make a promise b) Back it up with convincing proof and c) Ask for action

Let's look at how you do each of those three techniques.

1. Make a promise. The letter about luxury vacations starts with these words:

"Imagine taking your winter vacation knowing you aren't spending a penny more than you have to - secure that you have a team of travel experts making sure every little detail of your vacation goes smoothly. "Here's how you can have that vacation right now: Take advantage of an unusual promotion our company is doing. Let me explain."

Pretty exciting, right? Even if you don't think so,repparttar 150274 people who gotrepparttar 150275 letter did - becauserepparttar 150276 letter produced an amazing $5 million in sales forrepparttar 150277 travel agency.

2. Back it up with convincing proof. The personal coach's ad for stressed-out overachievers,repparttar 150278 one that begins "How to stop overwhelm before it stops you," contains this proof:

* 3 case studies, * 3 testimonials, * detailed credentials ofrepparttar 150279 coach * and a money-back guarantee.

Long Copy vs. Short Copy… If You’re Still Debating This, You’re Missing The Point!

Written by Eric Graham


I’ve seen this ongoing debate debate jump up again recently in several Blogs and message boards and I can’t help but laugh. It’s not a new debate… Ever sincerepparttar long copy masters ofrepparttar 149177 early 1900’s, people have been arguing for or againstrepparttar 149178 practice.

As a copywriter and conversion specialist, convincing my clients to test longer copy on their websites is often a very difficult task. After all, online customers have microscopic attention spans and are always in a hurry to move on.

Different visitors have different goals, different personalities and different buying styles. Some visitors will want to read everything you can give them before buying and then they still need “more information” before they can decide. Others just want to know “what are you selling”, “what does it do for me” and “how much is it” and they want to know it NOW!

It may sound like an impossible task to write copy that sells both of them… After all if you cut your copy to bone to sellrepparttar 149179 second visitor, you won’t have enough information to persuaderepparttar 149180 first visitor. And, if you wasterepparttar 149181 second visitors time by forcing them to read a 20 page sales letter to “get torepparttar 149182 meat”, they will leave.

(Fortunately, there is a way to satisfy BOTH of them onrepparttar 149183 same page… But more on that in a minute…)

There are two basic camps in this debate… The first group says “Long copy ALWAYS outsells short copy”, whilerepparttar 149184 second group says stuff like “…as a consumer, I don’t have time to read all that copy. I’ll NEVER buy from long copy.”

The part that makes me laugh is that 90% ofrepparttar 149185 people in BOTH camps have never scientifically tested copy of ANY length! They make these statements of absolute facts, with no test results to back up their claims.

The truth is, sometimes long copy out pulls short copy and sometimes short copy out pulls long copy. But you have to TEST it to know which is going to work for your site and your target demographic. (Actually there is one absolute when it comes to copy… Good copy always outsells Bad copy, regardless of length!)

Another thing to keep in mind is, just because you conduct a test and find that a shorter version out pulls a longer version, don’t automatically assume that “short copy is better than long copy”. If you are testing a clear, attention grabbing short message against a long, boring message, your test is not going to tell you much.

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