12-Copywriting Tips to Make Your Advertising More Profitable

12-Copywriting
Tips to Make Your Advertising More Profitable

Year after
year people make the same mistakes in direct-response
copy and advertising. You can avoid the most
common and costly blunders by following the following
proven tips…

1. WRITE IN
DIRECT RESPONSE LANGUAGE:

* Use short
paragraphs and short words. This article has 68%
short words-five letters or less. Strive for at least
65%-75%. Never go under 50% unless you are writing to
Ph.D’s.

* Make your
sentences and paragraphs flow like a breeze.

* Ignore
good grammar when you have a good reason.

* Keep the
bucket brigade going: Start paragraphs with And, But,
So you see, However…

* Use the
freshest concepts and the most colorful language you can
without disturbing the flow.

* Use hot
words: free, profit, new, now, secret, easy, save, guarantee,
today… and the hottest word of all: YOU!

* Use
bullets… lots of them.

2. WRITE
LOTS OF HEADLINES.

Always
think up dozens of alternative
headlines. Put your strongest benefits in them and test your best alternatives.
When writing headlines for web sites make sure they include key search words
and phrases along with the benefits.

3. DROP THE
WARM-UPS…

You’ll
destroy your entire letter/ad by starting off, “As a homeowner, you know how
maintenace costs are climbing every day…”. Take your first draft and try
cutting out the first two to three paragraphs… you’ll usually find the real
“meat” starts to appear in your copy after you have started to “warm-up” to the
writing.

4. STAND
OUT.

Separate
yourself from the competition as clearly as you can. Discover, isolate, and
dramatize all the reasons for doing business with you…today…, instead of your
competitor. Build your entire package or ad around these reasons (benefits).

5. SELL
BENEFITS, NOT FEATURES.

Readers
don’t buy products or features of products. They buy the benefits-of-use of the
product or features. Be
humble enough to realize that a buyer will not give you one red cent for any
product or feature until you convert the features into benefits-of-use.

6. LEARN TO
GIVE.

Most
advertisers and charities think of direct response strictly as a device to
“get”. Unfortunately, most readers also want to get. So, to succeed, you must
adopt a “give” attitude… beyond what you offer in the product or service. Give
them something immediately in your ad, your letter, your web page. Give them
news, business tips, interesting stories, resources, freebies, special deals.

7. USE
TESTIMONIALS.

They’re
proof that you’re as good as you say you are, and that you’ll do what you say
will do. Like…“I
increased profits by $100,000 last year using your services…”

Joe Smith,
President, Smith Corporation

The more
specific the testimonial the more power it has. Give full attributions whenever
possible. Testimonials give you believability and credibility.
You can’t do successful direct-response without these two essential factors.

8. OFFER A
MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE.

Whatever
you are selling, make sure you offer a money-back guarantee. It’s a critical
factor in getting someone to send in their monty to someone they don’t know or
maybe never heard of.

9. CREDIT
CARDS, TOLL FREE NUMBERS.

Credit card
purchases and toll-free “800″ numbers can increase your response by as much as
50%. If you’re on the web make sure you opt for secure on-line transmission

(SSL) of
credit card orders… or allow other means for your customer to provide their
credit information to you.

10. ASK FOR
ACTION.

It’s
amazing how often otherwise good copy never gets around to asking for the
order. If you don’t ask for action… you won’t get any.

11. BUDGET
YOUR TIME.

Devote
about one third of your writing time to the lead elements, headline, subheads,
teasers, opening paragraphs.

12. KEEP CURRENT.

Direct-response
is more scientific than other types of advertising. Like any fast-moving
science, it has it’s discoveries daily. This is especially true of writing for
the Internet/World Wide Web. Subscribe to industry trade journals such as
Target Marketing, DM News, Direct, and other relevant publications.

For more about toll-free vanity numbers, visit 800response here.