I couldn’t have said it any better than Nick Usborne over on his Excess Voice blog. Rather than repeat what he says, go over there right now and read what you shouldn’t try to do when it comes to keywords and writing online copy.

It’s really just common sense, if you are writing on your core topic, you will naturally use your key words. You don’t have to do anything else. You can’t trick the search engines, and you really don’t even need to try. Just stay on topic and if you do stray, just tie it all together. There is a reason you are writing, and a reason your readers will read. Just repeat that in your posts, your newsletters, and on your web pages.

So you can get a little clever in your article and blog titles, but just make sure the title says what it delivers.

My friend and colleague Adam Urbanski says that we are all in two businesses: our own unique services business, and the marketing of that business. So since we are in the marketing business, we must learn to write good copy: words that sell.

Writing copy that gets your readers to take action requires that you approach the writing process a little differently. In this series on copywriting, I’ve asked Lorrie Morgan Ferrero of Red-Hot Copy to share one of her secrets with us:

One of 20 Insider Secrets to Great Copywriting

By Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero, Expert Copywriter

Each weekday during my Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp, attendees (or recruits) get a daily drill
designed to reinforce the training I give on weekly phone calls. The drills are illuminating and fun. Plus these drills build your copy from the ground up. By the end of Bootcamp, you actually have a sales letter that would have cost you anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 to have written professionally.

So how do you get going? Grab a kitchen timer or stopwatch, a piece of paper and a pen. Your bite-sized drill today is to separate out the features from the benefits. So let’s do an exercise.

Before you write a single word of copy you must define your product or service using features and benefits if you want to really connect with your reader. (When I’m trying to get my features and benefits to poke their heads out, I like to write by hand. I think there’s a connection between the brain and handwriting.)

So we’re on the same page, here are the definitions of each.

• A feature is the adjective of the product. It describes what the product is.
• And the benefit is the emotional component of what the person gets out of the product.

  Now schedule 15 minutes of uninterrupted time to play and let’s go!

1. Set your timer for 10 minutes. So take a sheet of paper and fold it in half vertically. In the left hand column write the word “Features”. And on the right, the word “Benefits”.
2. Start brainstorming about what features you offer to clients. Then for every feature find a corresponding benefit. Benefits are what sell. Remember we all want to know, “What’s in it for me?” That’s just the way we’re wired. “How is your product or service going to benefit me?” While the timer is doing its thing, let the ideas flow freely.  Don’t judge your answers or edit yourself. Stop on schedule. (You’ll edit later).
3. Reset the timer for the last five minutes. Review your list. Circle the ultimate benefit –
   this is the benefit your copy and headlines should focus on.
4. Put the other benefits in order of importance. These will become your bullets and subheads.

It’s no secret. The amount of money you make with marketing comes down to how well you craft your words. It’s the most valuable skill you can learn for making money online. But not everyone wants to be a copywriter.

So I wanted to create a program that makes writing fun and effortless for entrepreneurs and copywriters alike. That’s how the Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp was launched. Recruits who have gone through it agree – the Bootcamp is the roadmap to a copywriting goldmine. You learn a proven process for writing copy FAST that improves your bottom line. Sure there are other ways to get there, but we get it done in 4 weeks flat (plus 2 weeks of follow up critiques).

Face it, if you’re in business you’re also a marketer. And all marketers know it’s the words that sell.

So where do you grab this Field Guide for more copywriting exercises? Sorry.

Only recruits of my Bootcamp can get it for now. So sign up today before the next session is full.
It will be one of the best business decisions you’ve ever made. www.red-hot-copy.com/rhcbootcamp.htm

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

International copywriting trainer, author and speaker, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been a freelance writer and journalist for over 25 years. Her words have made her clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now she focuses her vast experience on teaching others the skill of copywriting. Lorrie is the author of a highly acclaimed copywriting course, creator of the Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp and founder of Copy Campus, a unique membership resource site designed to support copywriters and entrepreneurs on all levels. Visit her site to learn more at www.red-hot-copy.com.