Writing Great Copy | Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Archive for Writing Great Copy – Page 6

Landing Pages: Where to Publish Your Advertorial

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, June 6th, 2007

Last week we covered how to write an advertorial, described as persuasive copy written from the readers’ perspective, designed to educate and inform AND with a specific call to action (sign up, download, buy).

This is a form of sales copy dressed up in Sunday best. Even if your reader doesn’t buy, they will have learned something, or have been entertained, and you at least gain a favorable impression for next time.

Landing pages are one-page web site publications designed to get readers to click, register, or buy. This is where you publish your advertorial. There are smart ways to construct a landing page.

Roberta Rosenberg, the Copywriting Maven, has guest authored a post all about landing pages over on Brian Clark’s Copyblogger site. It’s a great learning piece because she critiques a landing page and gives 10 tips for improvement.

If you’re like me, you learn from examples, so I suggest you hop on over there now and learn more about what should go onto a landing page, besides good advertorial copy.

You will see she links to David Meerman Scott’s post about landing pages, and critiques his landing page for his new book The New Rules of Marketing and PR

Categories : On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Advertorial: Step 9- A Clear Call to Action

By Patsi Krakoff

Thursday, May 31st, 2007

The final section of a good advertorial asks readers to do something. It follows your irresistible offer, where you sweeten the pot by throwing in bonuses and extra features. But why should anyone act now?

Unless you mention reasons to act now, people will put it off, maybe say they will think it over, and then forget about it. You should include scarcity and urgency in your copy to get your readers to act and act now.

How can you let people know that your offer is only good for a certain time period, or until a certain number of sales or registrations is reached? The key is to be rigorously honest and authentic. Anything less and you will trigger your readers’ BS antennae and they will abandon at the point of purchase.

I once got an email promoting an ebook in which the author insisted there were only a few copies left. That’s actually a pretty funny thing to say since most people know ebooks are digital publications, but the author destroyed his credibility by not letting people know it was a joke.

If you are doing a teleseminar and the telephone line really truly is limited to 100 or 1000 people, it better be true. Most people know that when registrations fill up, the professional can simply get a bigger bridge line.

Including scarcity and urgency issues in your advertorial makes a lot of sense, as long as you are honest.

Categories : Email Marketing Tips, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Advertorials: Step 7- Provide Proof

By Patsi Krakoff

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

When writing persuasive copy, you want to come across as trustworthy as possible. One way to this is to be transparent about the fact that readers have doubts. Many people have been burned by buying worthless ebooks with nothing but fluff.

What kind of proof can you present to show you are real and your services good? Case studies are an excellent way to present a customer experience. Testimonials should also be included, but be sure they are specific and use full names and quantifiable results.

How has the product or service you’d like readers to try had an impact on the lives of others? Can you get people to record their stories? Audio files are very powerful. Your clients can use a telephone recording service to report their experiences. Video is even more powerful.

Here is how I include a section on proof in our Blog Squad Mentor program advertorial:

Categories : Email Marketing Tips, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Advertorials: Step 5- What’s Your Solution?

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, May 25th, 2007

To review, here are the 4 steps to writing persuasive copy in the form of an advertorial so that you can be educating at the same time as promoting your business:

1. Grab attention with a list of 3 or 5 horrible mistakes people make
2. Positioning: Why should anyone read or listen to you?
3. Explain the problem
4. Explain why most solutions fail

All of these steps are written with the reader in mind, what’s in it for them, explaining problems from their point of view. You connect with readers by showing you know how they must feel frustrated or even angry when dealing with this issue. Now it’s time to introduce step 5: describe your specific solution.

You can list the features of your product or services. One way to do this is to use the ‘feature…so that…benefit’ phrase like this: "Our program offers you an inexpensive way to access learning materials so that you keep more of your hard earned money."

Or, "our private membership site allows you to learn on your time at your convenience, so that you don’t have to spend days away from home and work at an expensive workshop."

Keep in mind, that solutions that save people time and money are very appealing. People don’t really care about the features of your widget, your ebook, your program. You do, but they are still looking for what’s in it for them. So spell it out for them.

I’m continuing to use our Blog Squad Mentor Program as an example of how I apply these principles to real copy:

Categories : Email Marketing Tips, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Advertorials: Step 3 Explain the Problem

By Patsi Krakoff

Thursday, May 24th, 2007

I just wrote about steps 1 and 2 to crafting an advertorial that persuades readers to buy or register for your product or service over at Biz Tips Blog.

Just to review, those steps are:

1. Grab attention with a list of 3 or 5 horrible mistakes people make
2. Positioning: Why should anyone read or listen to you?
3. Explain the problem

Once you’ve got their attention, promised to deliver information that’s relevant, and shown that you know what their issues are, you are ready to explain the problem.

This means revealing the 3 or 5 items promised in your attention-grabbing title. In this sample case, it’s the 3 Worst Online Marketing Mistakes.

Here they are, as we propose to use them in our sample Blog Squad advertorial:

Categories : Email Marketing Tips, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Are You Promoting or Educating?

By Patsi Krakoff

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

Adam Urbanski’s been teaching marketing for several years now and each time Denise and I are exposed to his wisdom, we come away with something new. This time, at his Attract Clients Like Crazy(tm) Boot Camp in Irvine last week, I learned more about writing advertorials. Adam calls this his Edumercial(tm) technique because it employs some of the powerful tips from late night infomercials.

If you are a service professional like a coach, consultant, speaker or author, you know the problem. It’s a little different than pitching a widget or a thing that solves a problem. You need to sell without seeming to sell – you need to educate and inform rather than promote.

Learning sales letter writing and copywriting skills might not be the answer. For higher end sales such as your consulting services, you need first and foremost to build relationship with readers. And to do that you need to educate and inform, even over-deliver content that is useful and relevant to your readers.

Categories : Email Marketing Tips, Getting Read, On Writing Better, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Telling Stories = Stronger Connections with Readers

By Patsi Krakoff

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

"Now just the other day, I…" As soon as someone starts telling me a story, I listen up. Why? Because I am sure they are going to deliver something with impact – otherwise why would they be telling me? And most of the time it’s true: I get to laugh, or be outraged with them, or in some way feel emotionally in tune with the person telling the story.

The same is true for really good copy. I read a good post today over on Scott Young’s blog about 4 things that go into telling a good story. I am always amazed when I read wisdom on an 18-year-olds blog, but never mind that. Here are his 4 points, but if you’re interested, go read the whole post, it’s worth it, campfire picture and all.

1) Start with a Hook
2) Keep it Concise
3) Know Your Point
4) The Purpose of Stories is to Create Feeling

Categories : Writing Better Ezines, Writing for Others, Freelancing, Writing for the Web, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Reading = Good Writing, Good Blogging

By Patsi Krakoff

Monday, April 16th, 2007

What are you reading right now? Chances are, your reading influences your writing. I read a great post today over at Darren Rowse"s ProBlogger site, who along with Karen Andrews of Aussie Mom blog wrote about how reading can improve your blogging.

One tip from this post is to unplug yourself. Get away from your computer. Read a magazine or a book unrelated to your work, but connected to other parts of yourself, other interests you have. This will help you see more of your strengths and can help reunite the scattered parts of yourself.

Right now I have several books open: The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, The Power of a Positive No, by William Ury, Clear Blogging by Bob Walsh, and Bidding in the 21st Century (about bridge). I also am reading bits and pieces of A User’s Guide to the Brain, by John J. Ratey.

Admittedly, these are all work related, except for the bridge book, but they are topics for which I have a great passion. If I were to really "unplug," I really should get away from work-related books and pick up a good novel. This would expand my brain neural pathways even more, leading to better writing and richer use of vocabulary.

What are you reading this week? Can you suggest any good novels that you think I might enjoy?

Categories : About Blogs, Grammar & Common Usages, Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks, Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Writing Online: a Few Differences

By Patsi Krakoff

Friday, April 13th, 2007

The Basics Of Writing For Web Readers
by Debra Simpson, www.magicinwords.com, guest author

We’ve all written before, for school, work and maybe even for a print publication. But writing for your online audience is somewhat different than writing for print. While some of these differences are readily apparent, some aren’t.

Here are some basic, basic guidelines to follow when writing for your web site readers:

• Keep your words simple. Do not use technical jargons. The point is to make your piece as accessible to as many people as possible. You are not writing for a select audience. You are writing for everyone. And people have differing levels of reading comprehension. As such, you need to use words that will be understandable to everybody.

• Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. When writing for print publications you tend to write in compact and lengthy paragraphs. On the web we don’t have that luxury. Our readers will read from their monitors, which is more stressful on the eyes. If you keep your sentences and paragraphs short, you’ll be making good use of negative space – the empty space in between characters – which will allow your readers’ eyes to rest.

• The first paragraph is important. Our readers are impatient and easily distracted by what’s offered on the Web. They can move to another website very easily, so it is essential that you keep them interested from the very first words of your piece.

Categories : Writing Better Ezines, Writing for Others, Freelancing, Writing Great Blog Content, Writing Great Copy

Writing for the Web: No More Gatekeepers

By Patsi Krakoff

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

Anne Marie Nichols is author of a freelance writing blog about The Write Stuff and contributes this post about the demise of gatekeepers, the web, and some famous self-publishers that will surprise you.

Goodbye to the Gatekeepers?
by Anne Marie Nichols, The Write Stuff, guest author

Thomas Frey in his Denver Post article, "Gatekeepers on info highway disappearing", brings new prospective to blogging and the new media:

Enterprising people have begun to find the keys to unlocking their future, and it’s a future that doesn’t include the barriers provided by gatekeepers. Publishing an article no longer requires the approval of an editor. Articles can easily be published on blogs or Web pages without ever needing someone’s approval. Videos and podcasts can be posted on iTunes or YouTube 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The true impact is far more significant than any of us can imagine.

The no-gatekeeper lifestyle means you can create whatever product you want and sell it to people around the world without ever having to get someone’s blessing.

While he does have a point here, there has been plenty of instances in history when there weren’t gatekeepers. After all, wasn’t Ben Franklin the ultimate self-publisher? Like bloggers, when you’re the editor and the writer, little stands in your way.

Categories : About Blogs, Online Marketing, Writing Great Copy

Archive for Writing Great Copy – Page 6

Landing Pages: Where to Publish Your Advertorial

Advertorial: Step 9- A Clear Call to Action

Advertorials: Step 7- Provide Proof

Advertorials: Step 5- What’s Your Solution?

Advertorials: Step 3 Explain the Problem

Are You Promoting or Educating?

Telling Stories = Stronger Connections with Readers

Reading = Good Writing, Good Blogging

Writing Online: a Few Differences

Writing for the Web: No More Gatekeepers

Content for Coaches and Consultants

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services

Social Buzz Club