Boost Your Response

If you’d like to learn copywriting, check out these 3 free e-books.  They contain a wealth of solid copywriting instruction.

The three authors — Yanik Silver, Alex Mandossian, and Ben Hart — are successful marketers who’ve used their copywriting skills over the years to produce huge amounts of sales, both online and offline.

1.  14-Point Web Copy Analysis of a Winning Site

This book, written by Yanik Silver, is a great starting point for anyone eager to learn copywriting.  It breaks a typical web sales letter down into 14 component parts and explains each.

http://www.surefiremarketing.com/14-point_web_copy_analysis_ebook.pdf

2.  Alex Mandossian’s 21 Copywriting Secrets

In this book, Alex covers various topics, each important.  These topics include preparation, headlines, case-studies, selling strategies, and the order page.  The tactics he teaches will go a long way towards improving your copywriting skills.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1027442/Free-Copywriting-Ebook

3. How to Write Blockbuster Sales Letters

Ben Hart’s book is geared towards direct mail, but don’t let that stop you from reading it.  The principles behind persuasion are the same whether you’re writing an online salesletter or an offline direct mail piece.  In all, he covers 80 topics.

http://www.freesalesletterbook.com/

Today I have a FREE video for you.

It’s a critique of a lead generation ad I wrote. 

You’ll find the 7 principles I talk about in the video very helpful.  These techniques apply across the board … whether you’re writing lead generation ads or sales letters.

Here’s the link …

http://www.boostyourresponse.com/sbb

If you prefer audio, there’s also a mp3 available …

http://www.boostyourresponse.com/sbb/sbb.mp3

Enjoy!

Alex

No doubt you’ve heard Outback Steakhouse’s catchphrase, “No rules.  Just right.”  Well, when it comes to salesletters, the “no rules” approach definitely doesn’t apply.

There are certain rules you should follow if you want your ads to get the best response possible.  Here are four …

Rule #1: Be interesting

Include a headline that grabs the reader’s attention.  If your prospect is not interested after reading your headline, he most likely won’t read the rest of the ad.

Once the headline has grabbed the reader’s eyeballs, give him a reason to read the rest of your salesletter.  Start off with a story, or talk about the pain he’s in.  Above all, don’t be boring.

Rule #2: Be believable

One of the reasons prospects don’t buy is because they lack confidence in the sales message.  So make sure what you write in your ad is believable.

When you make a claim, prove it.  If you quote the results of previous buyers, be specific.  If you think your reader will doubt something you say, give him a reason why.

Rule #3: Use scarcity

Often times, it’s not enough to merely convince your prospect.  Use scarcity to compel him to click the buy button.

Scarcity comes in two flavors: time and quantity.   Limit your offer to a certain period of time.  Or limit the number of items available.  And always be truthful.  Buyers can smell fake scarcity a mile away.

Rule #4: Make your offer irresistible

Other than the headline, your offer is the most important part of the ad.  Make it irresistible.  So irresistible, in fact, that a prospect would have to be “brain dead” not to accept it.

Establish overwhelming value in the prospect’s mind.  Give an off-the-wall guarantee.  Include high-quality bonuses.

As an internet marketer, you have two choices when it comes to writing your sales message.  One, you can hire a freelance copywriter to write the copy for you, or two, you can write it yourself.

Hiring freelance copywriters can be an expensive proposition, and you may not have the funds to hire one.  If that’s the case, your only practical choice is to write the sales copy yourself.

If you know how to effectively communicate in writing, learning how to write decent sales copy can be accomplished in a fairly short period of time.  It’s just a matter of applying yourself and learning a new style of writing.

How do you learn this skill?

One solution is to buy a copywriting course.

There’s an abundance of courses available on the market today.  And generally speaking, just about any course priced $497 or above will teach you the basics of copywriting plus some advanced techniques.

However, before spending big money on a copywriting course, I suggest that you begin learning copy by reading books.  They’re a lot cheaper than the courses, and the information contained in them is excellent if you study the right ones.

Here are three books that will give you a great start.  After studying them, you should be able to write a decent sales letter for your product or service.

Each can be found at amazon.com …

1. The Ultimate Sales Letter, 3^rd Edition (2006), by Dan Kennedy, $10.18

2. Web Copy That Sells, 2^nd Edition (2009), by Maria Veloso, $14.93

3. Ca$hvertising, 1^st Edition (2008), by Drew Eric Whitman, $10.19

While you’re waiting for your books to arrive, here’s an excellent resource on the web.  In this free ebook, Yanik Silver describes the 14 elements of a typical sales letter …

http://www.surefiremarketing.com/14-point_web_copy_analysis_ebook.pdf