Copyright © 2005 Cathy Qazalbash
A1 Newsletters
http://a1-newsletters.com/
What is the importance of Ad copy? Your ad copy, sales letter
will make or break your business. You can have the best
product/service but without a good sales copy, you cannot sell
anything. Website visitors are becoming increasingly savvy, hype
and hard selling no longer work, as they used to. A subtler
approach is necessary and gets good results.
Common mistakes in business ad copy:
* Features not benefits
* Too much hype
* Misuse of graphics
* Using the negative trigger words
* Font hard to read
The most frequent error in ad copy, is listing features not
benefits. Your visitor does not need to know how fancy the
product is, they are just looking for the answer to "what's in it
for me?" Why should they buy your product, or use your service?
You will need to persuade them that the benefits for them are
irresistible and they would be seriously missing out if they did
not buy your product/use your service.
Here is one of the most irritating of all mistakes, hyping up
your product/service. Nobody likes to be played for a fool least
of all your prospective clients. Unbelievable exaggeration (hype)
does just that. It insults the intelligence of your reader and
will alienate them very quickly from the sale. Would you buy from
someone who treated you like this? Besides if your product is
good you will have enough real benefits not to need any useless
hype.
Graphics, be careful with these. Small relevant pictures can go a
long way to helping sell your product, especially if you are
selling hard goods and e-books. Some websites try to use cartoon
graphics and different eye catchers, this can divert your visitor
and take away from your sales message. Again this can bring down
the prestige of your site. Presentation is very important with a
business site. Your visitor needs to take you seriously in order
to buy from you, they need to know you are a professional.
Presentation in your ad copy is especially important if you are
offering a service.
Here is a more subtle mistake and one that with some careful
planning and knowledge does not need to happen. The use of
negative "trigger words." If you have been on the internet for
any length of time you will have heard about "Mr. Fire" Joe
Vitale, a legendary copywriter and article writer. Joe Vitale is
the master of the use of "trigger words" and subtle "Hypnotic
Selling." What are "trigger words?" These are words that
subconsciously spark a feeling of well-being and urge to buy in a
reader. For example "Ramp Up" your business with... "Boost" your
business using this... "Discover the secret".... I am sure you
have seen these and many more (there are over 200 ) When you have
looked at good sales pages.
Alternatively negative "trigger words" will have the opposite
effect, for example "low-income" "failure" and many more that you
can probably think of. These words generate an unconscious
feeling of depression and sadness with a reader and deter him
from buying. Don't you buy more when you are in an upbeat mood?
Be careful how you write your sales letter or even a small ad,
words are very powerful in copywriting and will make or break the
sale. As all good copywriters will tell you selling is all about
understanding your visitors' mindset.
Readable font, includes use of punctuation, capitalization and
color arrangement. Let me explain:
Excessive use of punctuation, especially the !!! exclamation
point and sometimes the??? question mark. This distracts the
reader and is a turn off for sales. Respect your reader's
intelligence and do not belittle your reader with this
unprofessional technique.
Too much CAPITALIZATION is also unprofessional and has the
same effect. Capitalization is known as shouting a word. Do
you the reader want to be shouted at? I am sure this does
not put you in a buying mood.
Color combination is also a sign of being a good sales person.
Always write with credibility in mind. As mentioned
credibility is very important in convincing your prospective
buyer. Unusual fonts and color combinations will take away
from your sales copy and leave an unfavorable impression with
your reader. Size is a factor too, make sure the font is
normal sized. Style of font should be Ariel, Times Roman,
Veranda, or similar styles, do not make a sales letter in
fancy type set, it will distract your reader, (selling art
work and cartoon drawings may be an exception to the rule).
Always keep your reader in mind. Write your sales letters as you
would to a respected friend. Remember your visitors are taking
time out of their busy schedule to read your sales letter, write
in a concise, persuasive, polite way, as you would expect to be
treated by a sales person when you want to buy something. With
these points, you will be able to ramp up your business with
sizzling ad copy and improve your sales 110% and more.
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Cathy is a freelance writer and copywriter. She has written over a hundred articles on small business development and marketing. She has also written promotional articles and sales copy for a variety of businesses. and is the publisher
of 2 online publications. Her resource websites are: http://advertise-your-business.com
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