Put Yourself into It!

You should know who your ideal customer is - write to that person. Write your copy as though you're speaking to a friend. Write in a conversational tone - don't be too formal. Forget all of multi-syllable words! They aren't going to impress your reader; in fact, they may have just opposite effect. Let your personality show in words you write. If you do, your reader will place a lot more credibility on what you have to say.

Describe Benefits NOT Features

The goal of your ad copy is to tell reader how he will benefit from what you have to offer. Consider your ads to be pre-sales letters. All you want to do is tell reader what your product, service, business opportunity, etc. will do for him. How will it make his life easier? How will it help his business? In other words, what's in it for him?

The object of sales letter is to create interest and make readers want to look into your offer. It puts them in right frame of mind to purchase once they know all of features. Your web page should do selling. Your sales letters or ads are just setting stage for final act.

Give it Some Punch!

In part one of this article series, I introduced a client of mine (AEwebworks) who suffered from some copywriting traumas. The basic diagnosis was a lack of synergy within copy, ineffective use of testimonials, a lack of focus on target customer’s buying process, and inability of current copy to support search engine goals of AEwebworks.

After doing some research, I created a plan of action for writing SEO copy that would impress engines AND AEwebworks’ visitors. You can view original copy in PDF format here: http://www.copywritingcourse.com/AEWebWorks-Original.pdf.

The Rewrite

After finding revelation that most of those who were shopping for online dating software were already familiar with features (and associated benefits) of software, I decided that focusing on those elements would simply make AEwebworks sound like every other developer of dating scripts. That would definitely not get results I was looking for.

My probing uncovered that almost all dating software customers have three primary concerns: installation, upgrade policies, and support. It just so happened that AEwebworks had phenomenal offers for each of these.

The headline was changed from:

“Get into Internet dating business with reliable, effective and profitable online dating software”

to

“Customizable, Full Featured Dating Software Complete With Free Installation, Lifetime Upgrades & Outstanding Support”

The new headline highlighted three extremely valuable benefits to visitor and also included one of chosen keyphrases.

The body copy began by making an emotional connection with customer. It recognized frustration customer faced when trying to choose between different dating software programs and dating scripts.